Okay here is the next chapter. Also I will be describing the Quarians from what Bioware showed us what Tali looks like, I'm just going what Bioware showed us. So enjoy and write back.

November 30 2683/2183 CE

UNSC Normandy

Med-Bay

It had been a couple of hours since the Normandy left Eden Prime after the OSA fleet secured the area. Commander Shepard had begun to wake up from the explosion by the beacon and he could hear a voice mentioning it. "Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think he's waking up." Shepard raised himself from the bed and sat straight up to face everyone.

A woman in medical scrubs with grey hair walked up to him. "You had us worried there, Shepard. How are you feeling?"

Shepard was looking like he wanted to barf. "Like the worst hangover to come the morning after shore leave. How long was I out?"

Chakwas looked at her clock. "Going on about fifteen hours now; something happened down there with the beacon, I think."

"It was my fault," said Ashley, with the guilt clear in her voice, "I must have triggered some kind of security when I approached it, and then you had to push me out of the way."

Shepard appreciated her honesty. "You had no way of knowing what would happen."

"Actually we don't know if that what set it off," said Chakwas, looking at the medical chart, "and unfortunately, we may never get the chance to find out."

"The beacon exploded," explained Ash, "a system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. The lieutenant and I carried you back here to the ship."

Shepard was grateful they didn't take him to another medical facility "I appreciate it." Ash blushed a little upon hearing those three simple words.

Chakwas began looking over her test results when she scanned the commander. "Physically, you're fine. But I detect some unusual brain activity—an abnormal set of beta brain waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

Shepard got up and lean against the bed. "I saw... I'm not sure what I saw. Death. Destruction. Nothing's really clear."

Chakwas thinking to herself how interesting this is. "Hmmm. I'd best add this to my report. It may- Oh, Captain Anderson."

Shepard turned his head to the doors and speak of the devil; it was Anderson. The concern was very clear on his face. "How's our XO holding up, Doctor?"

"All the readings look normal, Captain," she said not looking up from the medical charts in her hands, "I'd say the commander's going to be fine."

"Good to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you in the comm. room follow me."

Anderson took the Commander out of the room and to the elevator.

UNSC Normandy

Comm. Room

Anderson and Shepard walked into the comm. room there Shepard saw Nihlus all patched up and Spartan-092 standing offside to the corner. Nihlus turned his body to face Shepard "Commander I'm glad you're alright, how are you feeling?"

Shepard just stretched a little as if to make sure things were proper. "Like a new man. What about you?"

Nihlus moved his arm and leg. "Your medical technologies are incredible. I thought I would be out for a least a week to recover, but it's almost like it never happened."

Shepard wanted to gloat about their medical technology…he wanted to shove it in Nihlus' face about that fact…but now wasn't the time. "Anderson, do we know how the Geth breached our defenses at Eden Prime?"

Anderson walked over to the table and began pushing a few buttons. All of a sudden holographic image of Eden Prime before the attack came up on different angles. "We managed to pull up the recording of Eden Prime before the attack." He then zoomed in on the Exodus Relay. It was all quiet for a few seconds until a fleet of over fifty Geth ships along with that mother ship of theirs came up right behind them.

Shepard couldn't believe it: the Geth were coming from the Exodus Relay. "How the hell did the Geth come from the Exodus Relay?"

Nihlus just had a thought. "Maybe they came from the Theta relay in the Shanxi system?"

Anderson shook his head. Like he'd been there. "No, according to the defense fleet that guards the Theta Relay, there was no activity in the area. So either the Geth have the ability to mask their ships from our sensors, or they found a way to manipulate a Relay to take them straight to the Exodus relay; we may never know until we investigate this further."

Everyone in the room agreed. It was Nihlus that broke the silence to voice the question that was on everyone's minds. "How will the OSA respond to this attack? Will they retaliate against the Geth?"

"No, I'm afraid not," said Anderson, with a sigh of aggravation, "with this attack on one of most secured colonies, the OSA will be too busy protecting the others in case somebody in the Terminus Coalition gets any funny ideas."

Nihlus was confused about that. "I thought the Terminus Coalition was under the control of an Asari by the name of Aria T'Loak. Would she really risk it?"

Shepard answered that question. "Aria maybe in charge, but there's many factions in the coalition who wants nothing more than to see the destruction of the OSA. Thankfully, Aria won't allow anyone to defy her as long as she's in charge."

Anderson then asked his own question to Nihlus. "What will the Citadel Council do? Are they going to fight the Geth?"

"No, since the Geth didn't attack any members of the Citadel they can't act," began Nihlus, his sigh and negative nod telling everyone they needed to know, "instead they will go after Saren for his part in attacking Eden Prime."

"I'm guessing that the probability exists that the OSA Senate will demand the Council to give Saren over to them, so that he can be tried in an OSA court."

"It's not that simple Captain. The Council will never hand over Saren to you."

Shepard was outraged before he decided to put in his two-cents. "So what? They're gonna protect Saren from us and let him get away with it?"

Nihlus turned his head to Shepard. "I never said that. They won't allow you to judge him in an OSA court; they would want to make it a fair trial."

"Why the hell are we talking about putting this guy on trial?" asked Jerome, the fury barely being contained in his voice, "Why should we be giving him a chance to fight back when we should be putting a bullet in his head?"

Before Nihlus could argue what the Spartan said, Shepard stepped in. "Nihlus what can you tell me about Saren?"

Nihlus calmed down for a second "Saren's a SPECTRE, one of the best…a living legend in the same vein as your Master Chief. But if he's working with the Geth, it means he's gone rogue."

Anderson then took the chance to add in his own grievances. "A rogue SPECTRE is nothing but trouble. Saren's dangerous, and he hates Humans."

Shepard and Jerome said at the same time "WHY!"

Nihlus took that question "Saren lost his brother during the Relay-314 incident. And he thinks humans and the other races under the banner of the OSA are growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. Many species in council space think that way, but most don't do anything about it because they're afraid that you will do to them what you did at Tortuga."

Shepard was angry and it showed on his face. "It seems Saren's not afraid to face us. He's got balls I'll give him that, but he didn't come to Eden Prime to kill humans. He wanted the beacon."

Anderson then stepped forward to Shepard. "You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"

Shepard leaned against the table and just thought for a second. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision."

Anderson was curious. "A vision? A vision of what?"

Shepard looked at everyone in the room. "I saw synthetics, Geth maybe. They were slaughtering people; butchering them."

Everyone was a little skeptical about that. "We'll tell the Senate and Council about that. But I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight to the galaxy. This attack was an act of war. He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of Geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy."

Shepard was not happy about that "I'll find some way to take him down."

Anderson was pleased to hear that "There's one more thing. One of our engineers, a Quarian by the name of Tali was able to get a Geth's memory core from the one we captured."

Nihlus was a little curious. "I thought the Geth fried their memory cores when their destroyed or captured as defense mechanism."

Anderson just smiled "That's the benefit of having Quarian allies." Nihlus on the other hand just stayed quiet while Anderson went up to the table and began pressing buttons; this pulled up an audio recording. "Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit. And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

Nihlus had a bunch of question to ask, but was interrupted by Joker. "Captain we're getting close to the Citadel. Do you want me to dock?"

Anderson just looked up "Joker, pull us into the OSA docking control when we get there. Nihlus, go up to the bridge to alert the Citadel fleet not to fire on us; Shepard, you're with Nihlus."

The commander and Nihlus walked out of the room leaving Anderson and the Spartan. He looked at the Spartan with urgency in his eyes. "Makes sure this information makes it to the UNSC brass—we owe them an explanation." Anderson then handed him a copy of the information and gave it to the Spartan "Yes sir!"

UNSC Normandy

Bridge

Shepard and Nihlus made their way to the bridge, but they weren't the only ones there; Ashley and Kaidan were standing off to the side waiting to see the Citadel. Shepard went up to Joker, and the pilot responded to the commander. "Good timing commander, I was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that council races' tax dollars at work."

In space the Normandy moved toward the Mass Relay.

Serpent Nebula

Widow System

UNSC Normandy

Bridge

The Normandy came out of the Widow Relay and as the Normandy broke through the nebula it made its way to the Citadel. Before the Normandy came any closer the Citadel fleet demanded to know who they were. Nihlus told Joker to open a link to the fleet "this is Spectre Nihlus Kyirk, authentication 0021-Palaven." The fleet verified the code and allowed the Normandy to pass through to the OSA docking.

Williams commented on the new Asari dreadnought. "Look at the size of that ship. It's no bigger than an OSA cruiser."

Nihlus defended the ship if it was a Turian dreadnought "The 'Destiny Ascension' is the flagship of the Citadel fleet. It possesses the latest advanced technologies and the new javelin torpedoes. In other words, it's ready for a fight."

Before Ash could say anything, the OSA docking control operator came on the line. "Normandy! docking bay 4 is open. Please continue and on course."

Joker responded, getting his hands on the controls. "Roger that OSA control we are on approach."

The Normandy pulled into the docks and there you could see Unggoy, Kig-yar, Huragok, and Yanme'e ready to inspect and repair the Normandy.

Citadel Presidium

OSA Embassy

When the OSA embassy was created, the Council gave them a whole building for them to set up shop. The embassy was a mixture of Human and the other OSA race designs, but the flag was the OSA's. The embassy was equipped with the latest defensive technologies and was guarded by the best Spartan, Sangheili, and Jiralhanae troopers, along with a pair of Mgalekgolo for support…it also sported an AI to protect from hacking attempts. The embassy was always on constant watch by the Salarian STG.

Captain Anderson, along with Shepard and his team, were standing around waiting for the OSA ambassadors talk with the Council. Udina was the one talking to the Citadel Council "This is an outrage! Saren attacked one of our colonies! We should be the ones to bring him in."

Sparatus, the Turian Councilor, was obviously not going to have any of it. "So that you can drag him off to serve time in Tartarus or another one of your space prisons? The Hierarchy will not have that."

Obligation was not pleases by this statement "Are you protecting a traitor to you and an enemy of the OSA? This could be seen as an act of war by the Senate."

Tevos soon stepped in when she heard the word 'war'. "We are only trying to understand why Saren did this. If you take him away we won't know his motives."

The Sangheili ambassador slammed her fists down on the table. "We already know the motive! Saren wanted the Prothean beacon and use the information gleaned from it to kill our allies! We will not wait around for him to attack again. If you won't do anything about it, we will send someone after Saren ourselves."

Valern spoke up to the ambassador. "That would breach the agreement we signed; and besides, you could trigger another war with the Terminus Coalition—and this time we could get dragged into it as well."

Tevos then quickly tried to defuse the situation. "We've already assigned a SPECTRE to hunt down Saren and bring him in to justice."

Udina was not going to let a SPECTRE, much less a Turian one, at that to hunt down Saren. "Saren is obviously hiding in the Traverse, which is outside your jurisdiction. We will send someone in there to hunt him down."

Spartus had enough of this Human thinking he's above the Council. "If you think the Hierarchy will be stopped by some jurisdiction you are mistaken. We will send in our fleet and bring in Saren ourselves."

Before anyone could say something they would regret Tevos had an idea. "Sparatus, Valern, everybody please listen. I have an idea; instead of sending in a fleet and risking a war with both the Terminus Coalition and with each other, how about we cooperate with each other instead?"

Upon hearing this, everyone was listening to Tevos. "What did you have in mind Councilor?" asked Obligation

Tevos was glad they were listening. At last, they were making headway for better relations. "If you would allow it, I would like to send one of our SPECTRE's on your ship. This way we can bring him in together."

There were some who didn't like this idea, but it was better than war. It was then decided to go along with Tevos's plan. The councilors had agreed to the arrangement, and had adjourned the meeting.

Anderson stepped up to the ambassadors "That went well."

Udina just looked at the Captain with a good amount of pride in his abilities. "That Anderson was politics; ever since we defeated the Terminus systems and destroyed Tortuga, we've only made the Council look weak in the eyes of the other Council races."

The ambassadors were grinning at what Udina said. Shepard wasn't smiling—it was here that he voiced the most important question. "What about Saren? Who are we sending after him? One of our SPECOPS operatives?"

Udina shook his head in depression. "I'm a afraid not. SPECOPS have their hands tied up helping out with the Batarian civil war. So instead we will send you, commander, along with the Council's Spectre, but watch over him carefully, we don't want him trying to steal OSA secrets." The ambassadors left to go make preparations leaving the soldiers to themselves.

Shepard turned to Anderson. "Are there any other leads we can follow on Saren?"

Anderson thought for a second. "You should talk to Barla Von over in the financial district. According to Intel, he's an agent for the Shadow Broker. Saren and the Broker have an alliance together."

Shepard was a little surprised. "I thought we weren't on good terms with the Shadow Broker…especially not after we destroyed a couple of his bases when he took part in helping the Terminus systems in their planned attack on Elysium."

Anderson nodded…and Shepard was right; the OSA never had a good relationship with the Shadow Broker. "You're right about that, but what else do we have? Go and meet Barla Von and I will get the Normandy ready for you." Anderson saluted Shepard, and walked out of the Embassy.

Citadel Presidium

Financial District

Shepard and team made it the Financial district in an air car. Once they found the bank, they walked into Barla Von's office; sitting behind a counter was a Volus with his fingers locked together. Knowing that this was the person to talk to, Shepard walked up to him. The Volus was quick to start the conversation "What's this? One of the Earth-clan? Ah, a very famous one, yes? You are the one called Shepard. You've had quite a history in your military career."

Shepard didn't like being spied on…and made his annoyance clear in his voice. "I don't like strangers keeping tabs on me."

"Forgive me Earth-clan. My name is Barla Von and I know why you're here."

Shepard was glad he was getting right to the point. "Let me guess, the Shadow Broker told you the OSA would send someone to talk to you about Saren."

Barla Von just began crunching numbers. "I am an agent for the Shadow Broker. And he did tell me the OSA would send someone to me for information on Saren. And I am ordered to give it to you for free."

Ash was suspicious "What's the catch?"

Barla Von looks at her "There is no catch…the Shadow Broker wishes for a truce. A temporary alliance—a ceasefire if you will, to stop Saren. And if you're wondering why I don't know…but I have heard rumor among the other agents that Saren had recently betrayed him."

Shepard didn't believe him, but needed something. "What's the information?"

Barla Von pulled out a chip and gave it to Shepard "The information you seek is contained on that disk. But there is one more thing; the Shadow Broker hired a Krogan mercenary to go after Saren; he's yours if you want him."

Shepard was a little hesitant. "Not to kick a gift in a horse's mouth, but why would he give us a Krogan to help us? I thought the Jiralhanae have been pushing for the OSA to include them under our banner. And how do I know this isn't some kind of trick to get OSA secrets again?"

Barla Von just shook his head "it's no trick commander. "The Shadow Broker is determined to stop Saren, and is too busy with that to try and steal OSA secrets. The Krogan's name is Wrex and you can find him at Chora's Den if you want him."

Chora's Den

Chora's Den was a bar for all species to go to, and not just for Turians or Humans…not exactly a high-class one, but still decent for the prices charged. Shepard and his team walked in to the bar. There he saw Asari dancers and bartenders. Shepard looked into the crowd and sees a Krogan matching Wrex's description sitting at the bar. Shepard went up to him, ordered a shot of whiskey, and sat down. Wrex was just finishing his drink when he saw the Human sitting down next to him. "Do I know you, Human?

Shepard takes a drink before answering. "I'm going after Saren, and Barla Von told me you were too."

Wrex then realized who he was. "Ah! Now I recognize you. All Krogan know of the great Commander Shepard of the UNSC who took down a nest of Thresher maws. I've heard a lot about you. We're both warriors, Shepard. Out of respect, I'll give you fair warning. I'm going to kill Saren."

Ash liked the Krogans attitude but found that he wasn't too bright "Saren knows we're coming. We have a better chance if we work together."

Wrex relaxed in his stool. "My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend."

Shepard had a little grin on his face. "I think we're going to get along just fine, Wrex."

Shepard and Wrex got up from their seats and shook hands "Let's go. I hate to keep Saren waiting for our appointment."

OSA Docking

Bay 4

Shepard and his group made it to the OSA Docking bay. There they met Anderson and Udina talking with someone. Shepard went up to them and as they turn to face them Shepard sees a Turian in blue armor and a head piece over his left eye.

Udina was the first to speak "Shepard, the Normandy is ready for you to go after Saren, but let me introduce to Council's chosen Spectre."

The Turian stepped forward. "Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian, I am the Spectre the Council chose to accompany you to go after Saren."

Shepard wasn't so sure about this Turian. "I hope you understand who's in charge here."

"This is your show, Shepard," said Garrus, letting out a cough, "but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do—truth be told, I never liked the bastard. I'm coming with you."

Shepard just crossed his arms "You're a Turian. Why do you want to bring him down?"

Garrus got a little tense there for a moment "Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people! The sooner we get rid of him, the sooner we rid my people of his stain."

Shepard was satisfied with the answer he gave him. "Welcome aboard Garrus." As the Two shook hands, Anderson and Udina walked up to Shepard.

Shepard faced his superiors. His question was simple. "What kind of leads do we have?"

"Saren's gone, so don't even try to find him," began Anderson, "but what we do know is that he's after the Conduit. He's got his Geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues, but thankfully we're making it difficult for them with our own fleet."

Udina then took over the coversation. "We do however, have one lead. One of our outposts went off the grid, but not before they sent out a message saying Geth were attacking. We can't spare any ships until the Geth in the Traverse have been dealt with; so head to Feros."

Shepard was little disappointed. What he wouldn't give for this to end quickly. "That's all we have on Saren?"

Udina was the one to answer. "We do have one more lead; Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the recording. She has a daughter a scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she's involved, but it might be a good idea to try and find her…see what she knows. Her name's Liara; Dr. Liara T'soni. We have reports she was exploring an archeological dig site on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster."

Shepard thought it over "I'll check out the Artemis Tau cluster."

As if on cue, Anderson pat Shepard on the back with a small grin on his face. "We'll try to pass any information we get while you're out there. Good luck Shepard."

UNSC Normandy

Bridge

Shepard walked up behind Joker. He was sitting in the pilot's seat like he always does "I heard what happened to Captain Anderson. The man survived a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Just watch your back, Commander. Things go bad on this mission, and you're up next on their chopping block."

Shepard looked at Joker with a bit of a glare, but found himself cooling down. Anderson was a great soldier—truly, if he were any better he'd be a Spartan…and unfortunately, he was needed elsewhere. "Saren's out their somewhere. And we're going to find him."

"Everyone on this ship is behind, Commander, one hundred percent. Intercom is open. If you've got anything you want to say to the crew, now's the time."

Shepard pressed the intercom button. "This is Commander Shepard speaking, we have our orders: find Saren before he finds the conduit. And I refuse to let anything get in our way. The Council wants to ignore this…that's no surprise. They refused to help independent colonies and didn't stand up to the Terminus Systems. That's why we're going to do this on our own. Wherever Saren goes, we'll follow. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too…we need to do this. Not just for the OSA or the Citadel, but for the sake of every other species in the galaxy. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all... we will stop him!" Shepard then cut the intercom.

Joker was impressed with the Commander's speech. "Well said, Commander. Captain would be proud."

Shepard turned around and started walking. "The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't afford failure…Joker get us to the Artemis Tau cluster."

Joker was ready for him to say that. It was here that he saluted. "Aye, aye Commander!"

The Normandy pulled out of the OSA docking bay and made its way to the Relay in the system… from there it would be a couple of hours till they get to the Artemis Tau Cluster.

Shepard was happy everything was going ok. "Equinox! Can you get the ground team ready for me in the comm. room? Tell them to wait for me there; I have to make one stop in engineering."

"Yeah sure," said Equinox sarcastically in his Athenian Scholar avatar, "why don't we put a Council SPECTRE and a Krogan mercenary hired by the Shadow Broker in the comm. rooms and let them look through our communications."

Shepard didn't like it when the AI talked back. "Fine then, send some guards to watch out for them. And also make sure Williams and Alenko are there to."

UNSC Normandy

Engineering

Shepard stepped out of the elevator and went to the right door to the engine room. When he entered he saw a Huragok a Yanme'e, Quarian, and a Human all at their posts. Engineer Adams noticed the Commander walking in. So he went up to welcome him "Commander welcome to engineering. Anything I can help you with?"

Shepard was impressed of the many aliens working together…this would eventually be the future one day. And it was just the way he wanted it. "Just wanted to borrow one of your people for a second; the Quarian named Tali."

Adams was confused, but brushed it off. "Wait right here commander, I'll go get her." Adams then walked off to where Tali was working.

Shepard waited for a few seconds and then saw Tali coming over. When the OSA helped the Quarian people, giving them a home and fixing their immune systems, they we're able to live without their suits, and when we got a good look at what they look like, they almost looked human, if it weren't for their three finger and toes, and then there's their silver eyes and strange lines coming down from their forehead and neck. Tali had long dark brown hair. She had silver eyes like the rest of her people and was wearing the new Quarian engineer's armor, which was a mixture of their old enviro suits and Human engineering ones.

Tali was very nervous. She didn't know why the commander would want to talk to her "Hello Commander. Is there something you wanted to talk about?"

Shepard notice she was nervous and try to calm her down. "Relax Tali, I just wanted to ask you if you would be willing to join me on the ground side when we go on missions together."

Tali couldn't believe it. She was being asked to do more than just take care of an engine. "You mean it? But why? I'm a Quarian! My people are only good as engineers."

Shepard just smiled at her honesty. "You're not just good with engines Tali, your people created the Geth; that means you know more about them than any one else on this ship. I want you to come with us if we come across any more Geth."

Tali was a little hesitant; all she ever knew was engines…but she also took weapons training to stay safe. "I think I can do more good with you than I could ever do up here. And besides, I won't have to worry about my competition. I thought my people were experts with engines and ships, but those two the Huragok and Yanme'e crewmembers of yours really know their stuff."

Shepard was happy to know Tali would be coming with them. "Glad to hear it Tali. Now come on we need to get up to the comm."

Shepard and Tali walked out of the engineering bay and into the elevator together…

UNSC Normandy

Comm. Room

In the comm. room, Shepard and company all gathered around the table to discuss the plan. Shepard was pressing a few buttons and pulled up pictures of Saren and Benezia.

Shepard looked up to see everyone waiting for him to speak "Alright, here's the plan: according to Intel, Saren's disappeared and nobody knows where Benezia is. All we do know is where her daughter is." It was here that Shepard flashed the image of an Asari in a scientist's coat. "This is Dr. T'soni…we'll be heading to the Artemis Tau cluster to pick her up. After that, we'll head to Feros and deal with the Geth there. They may have some Spartans there, but I highly doubt even they will be able to hold for much longer if we dawdle…so we'll have to be quick about it so we can get them some much-needed reinforcements."

Garrus was feeling left out in the plan. "Then what, we wait for Saren to appear somewhere and go after him?"

Shepard had a feeling this Turian was going to be a problem. "Garrus we can't rush this. We'll wait until Saren makes his move. But in that time, I do have something else."

Shepard pulled out a disk and placed it in a slot. "Equinox is it clean?"

Equinox appeared next to Shepard. "It's clean! No viruses, or spyware. Looks like the Shadow Broker really does want a truce."

Shepard nodded his head. "Yeah, for now…let's see what's on this disk."

On the holotable, images appeared. A planet covered in snow, and buildings across the planet.

Garuss was the first to speak with recognition in his eyes. "That's Noveria…it's controlled by the Noveria Development Corporation. They dabble in dangerous experiments that are too dangerous or controversial elsewhere. They are all about business."

Shepard remembered hearing something about Noveria. Then it clicked in his head "We know. The Council funded synthetic insights to create countermeasures against our AI's."

Garrus wasn't surprised. He was aware of the OSA's intelligence organization's that rivaled the Salarian STG and the Shadow Broker…and the rumored three-way war in the shadows ONI was waging against them. "Why are we looking at this?"

Shepard pulled up the information in the disk "It says here Saren has investments in Binary helix. That, and something big has happened at Noveria."

Ash then spoke up. "You think it's a good place to start first Commander?"

Shepard was thinking it over again. "No, we stick to the plan. And we'll save Noveria for last…dismissed."

As everyone left the comm. room. The Normandy made its final jump into the Artemis Tau cluster…

ONI

Freelancer HQ

ONI Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser "Susanoo"

Onboard ONI's new class of ships was the HQ for project Freelancer and the command post for Director Church. In the office of the director, he was talking to Alpha—his personal smart AI on unlocking the information in the Prothean beacon. "Alpha I don't want any excuses. What have you learned from the information?"

Alpha appeared in front of the Director. He had the appearance of a younger version of Leonard Church. "Listen carefully and read my lips: the Protheans encoded the information in such a manner that only organics can access the information."

The Director was not happy about Alpha's attitude "You told us about that. And we installed the Life-workers' technology on this ship for you to decipher it."

Alpha just got more annoyed "It will take at least a week to decipher it, but I did uncover some bits of information. I think it's part of a message!"

Director was curious. Messages tended to be important. "Show what you already have to me."

On the holoscreen, the Director saw images of flesh and metal and it stopped. He couldn't make it out what that was "Alpha, did any of it make sense to you?"

Alpha shook his head in frustration. "No, the Life-workers' technology only helps in unlocking the information. It can't decipher what it means—we'd have to think like a Prothean in order to do so."

The Director wasn't pleased by this. "Alpha, continue trying to unlock the information." He stands up and heads to another holoscreen and on this one he saw Shepard in the comm. room telling his team about the information he obtained…

You all are wondering why the director can see the Normandy, well he put monitoring devices in it and the only one who knows is Equinox. The reasons why will be explained later. So you guys already know what to do write back and tell me what you think.

Codex: Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser

The Infinity-Class Battle Cruiser is ONI's personal capital ship for dealing with many threats. It lacks a dreadnought's size and armor, but it is definitely faster and can hit just as hard. It is the result of collaboration between Human shipwrights, Quarian engineers, Jiralhanae weapons designers, and Sangheili plasma specialists. This ship lacks any rail weapons save for its three nose-mounted Mass Accelerators, but it does in fact have many plasma and laser weapons to deal with most threats, including a nose-mounted Plasma Accelerator cannon mounted in the middle of the Mass Accelerators. This is not a ship to be trifled with.