Chapter 22: Deal with the Devil

The Migrant Fleet

The Perseus Relay, three hundred years ago, the quarian people were forced away from their home and became the joke of the galaxy. Today was different, when quarians on their pilgrimages found out that they were truly taking back Rannoch they dropped everything and joined back with the fleet.

However the plan still had its opposition, especially from the Civillian Fleet under the control of the Admiral Zaal'Koris, but it didn't matter the emergency powers were absolute plus the flotilla was near the Perseus Relay, this war was happening rather Rael wanted it to or not. He had the power to stop it, if he chose to, only the one who invoked powers could drop it but Xen was holding data that could get him and more importantly Tali exiled. In the end, it would be his war…it was times like this that he wished he had a drink.

The door opened, and Shala came in."More ships have docked with us, Rael" Shala said.

"And?"

Shala sighed. "They are excited that we were going to take back the homeworld" she said. "Everyone is working harder than they ever did before; this war has given them hope"

Rael sighed; hope…he had given his people hope…no it was far from it, he had signed his people's death warrants. They were completely going in to this blind they didn't know geth's true strength, not even Tali's pilgrimage gift told them how much the geth have evolved. He lowered his head. "I see"

Shala looked at her friend. "For someone who declared war on the geth, you don't seem happy"

"Because this shouldn't have happened…we should have just colonized a planet in the Terminus"

Shala frowned. "If you felt that way, then why fight for the war? Why invoke the emergency powers?" Rael looked away. "Rael what happened?"

"Do you know what happen on the Alarei?"

"Yes…the geth infiltrated the ship…why are you asking?" Shala asked.

"The incident at the Alarei, I…I caused it…" Shala's eyes went wide.

"W-what?"

"I and others from the ship, rebuilt and activated the geth for weapon testing on the geth consensus" he said. "They found their way into the system, and proceeded to slaughter everyone, I was the only survivor"

"Y-you deliberately networked the geth to sapience?!" she asked. "You broke…"

"…our most sacred laws, laws that predate our flight from our homeworld" Rael finished. "I know…"

"Then the charges against Tali…they were true…"

Rael lowered his head, remembering how much he had hurt his daughter, the disappointment in her eyes was almost too much to bear back then. And now his friend, now had the same eyes, but he kept going...it wasn't like it mattered, the damage was done. "Only because I didn't tell her what the parts were for…"

"Then, Haestrom was your doing…I always wondered why you didn't contest this order…" Shala realized in horror, Haestrom was a death zone, many of the marines and researchers died on the planet. Only Tali and Kal made it off, and only because the Normandy was there at the right time… "I-if Shepherd wasn't there to save Tali…Keelah! Your own daughter!"

"After stopping the geth, Shepherd had all the evidence they needed to clear Tali, but they kept it to themselves, and Shepherd made me promise not to go to war with the geth"

"The colonization plans were from Shepherd?" Rael nodded. "And the reason, Tali isn't here?"

"I didn't call her; she doesn't need to suffer for my mistakes"

"Don't try to act noble now! You just did this so you wouldn't face her!" Shala said. She then punched Rael hard, and the man fell to the ground hard but she wasn't through Shala kept on beating on him…angry with what he put his daughter and now his people through "My best friend loved you, if she could see you now…!" Rael didn't defend himself, he just took the blows. The com broke through and Shala stopped.

"Admirals, everyone is ready, we will be making the jump soon"

"Understood" Shala said. She looked at Rael, who got off the floor, she resisted the urge to punch him again. "What changed your mind?"

"Xen, she threatened to expose everything, my involvement, Tali covering it up, and her relationship with Shepherd" He said. "Which is why…she asked me to invoke emergency powers"

"Which makes an Admiral immune during times of war, even immune to other Admirals" Shala said grimly. "I don't know who you are, but you are not the man I used to know, I'm only glad Tali isn't here to see how much further you've fallen"

"I'm sorry…"

"What you have done can't be fixed with an apology…" She said walking away from Rael.

The Illusive Man

The Illusive Man was in his usual place, overlooking his projects, and investments like any other puppetmaster. He opened a com and an Asian looking man answered. Kai Lang was formerly a lieutenant and N7 marine in the Systems Alliance known for having anti-alien attitudes. He joined Cerberus after he was dishonorably discharged from the Alliance where he is one of his top sweepers. Though he is loyal and efficient with his work, he has a short temper and a huge sadistic streak that sometimes get in the way of his missions, like his mission to retrieve Gillian Grayson.

"Sir"

"How's our newest recruit?" He asked.

Lang scoffed. "Inconsistent, one minute she is completing the course in three minutes and the next, its three hours" he said. Another man appeared in a white lab coat, he had an annoyed look on his face.

"Mr. Lawson, explain"

"The control chip is a prototype, I wanted to test it more, but Mr. Lang here insisted a field test"

"You were taking too long"

"Enough, both of you, can this be improved?" Illusive Man asked.

"Yes, I can study the data and make an even stronger one, it shouldn't take long" They then heard a scream coming from the new recruit, she held hands up to her head and started to smash her head against the ground. "Damnit, she's trying to fight the chip, foolish girl, just like her sister"

"I'll handle this" Lang went up to the woman who was writhing on the ground and stomped on her head hard.

"Mira…da" Was all she said before she was out.

"Work out the problems and I expect a report within the next month" Henry and Lang nodded. A man walked in.

"Sir, we have a problem"

Illusive man smoked a drab. "What is it?"

"Our cyber division has gone rogue, they just packed up their equipment and left" he said. "We haven't been able to find them"

The Illusive Man frowned. "Who was in charge of that division?"

"Dr. Brynn Cole and Gavin Archer"

"Search for them and exterminate, we can't let the Council or the Alliance get a hold of them"

"Sir!"

The Perseus Veil

Deep within the veil, the geth was hard at work building up their forces for the coming war, due to Shepherd destroying the heretics, the geth was a lot weaker before and had to rebuild. Legion went back to the consensus to help, its data on organics of the Normandy crew had been invaluable, but the one that stood to the other geth, the confrontation with Tali.

Data recording

"Damn geth, I knew we couldn't trust you, I won't let you endanger the fleet!" Tali growled.

"Creators preformed weapons test and were discussing plans to attack us, we believe it is necessary to protect our people, just as you protect the other creators" it said. "You protect the Creators from us, and we must protect our people from you"

"You…" Shepherd came in.

"Stand down both of you" Shepherd ordered. "What in the hell is going on here?"

"This…thing scanned my omni-tool, and it's going to send data about flotilla back to the geth" she said. "That's not going to happen"

"We only do this to protect our people..."

"Tali, your dad were running brutal experiments, I could have reported that and got him exiled, but I didn't because it was you" Shepherd said.

"I know, but…"

Shepherd then gazed at Legion. "And you, if you send that data, you will guarantee the Quarians attacking the geth" he said.

"Analyzing this new data"

"That damn war was three hundred years ago, both of you will have to get over that at some point, or we'll all be paying for it when the reapers come"

Legion and Tali looked at each other. Tali put away her shotgun. "Look I can't let you send that data, but what if I give you some non-classified data to send, Legion?"

"The exchange of information would be agreeable, Creator Zorah. We express regret that previous actions might have caused hostile interaction between Creators and the geth."

The consensus looked at this data, with more questions, usually when an organic saw the geth their first instinct is to shoot them. However, not only did the Legion model successfully join the organic crew, an organic stopped the model from being destroyed by a creator, it was obvious they did not know enough about organics. "There was a seventy-five percent chance of Creator Zorah destroying the Legion terminal" the consensus said. "Once Shepherd commander intervened, the threat decreased by thirty percent, this is unprecedented"

"The leadership of Shepherd-Commander is one factor, but there was more"

"Explain"

" Creator Zorah is bonded with Shepherd-Commander, without this, it was almost guaranteed this unit would have been destroyed"

"Shepherd-Commander and Creator Zorah, bonded? This is illogical…humans and the creators have incompatible software and thus cannot create offspring"

"EDI, explained that Shepherd-Commander and Creator Zorah were in love, which had an effect on the outcome"

"Love, an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment, to think it has such a powerful effect"

"Yes, it is one of the re…" A rumble shook the consensus. "Alert: energy buildup coming from Perseus relay, signal confirmed, the Creators"

"Sending out cruisers" The geth cruisers was sent out as the quarians came out of the relay, they fired and was disabled by the Quarian's ship. "Alert: new Creator weapon"

The Migrant Fleet

Gerrel smirked. "You should be proud Xen, your weapons are a success"

"Was there any doubt?" she asked. "Shala are your patrol fleets ready?"

Shala didn't answer. "Shala!"

"Huh? Oh yes, they are ready."

"Back up the heavy fleet, while we charge the Arc Cannon"

"Of course" The com broke through, it was Korris.

"Who the hell do you think you are Gerrel?!" He asked angrily. "You converted the ships under my command into dreadnoughts and I don't find out until now?"

"This is war Korris; no one is skipping out on their responsibilities"

"But they're civilians! They don't have combat experience!" he said outraged.

"Now is the best time to get it"

"Damn you, Gerrel!"

"Just make sure you are ready when we call you" He cut the com off.

"Gerrel, I'm not sure how feel about this…" Shala said.

"We are winning and once we wipe out all the geth, the homeworld will be ours"

Perseus Veil

Meanwhile, the geth were getting pounded by the Quarian's new weapons, each blast from the weapons, dimmed the intelligence of the consensus. Even though the geth, were synthetic and shouldn't feel emotions, they felt nervous, maybe even fear. "Alert: dreadnought weapon firing" The Quarian's weapon fired and hit the geth ships, causing them to be dead in space. The geth was losing badly, only a miracle could save them, unfortunately, what they were getting was a curse.

"New data uploading, scanning source, origins confirmed"

"DO YOU WISH TO PRESERVE YOUR EXISTENCE?" A voice boomed in the consensus, it was alien, even to the geth, but it was familiar. It was an Old Machine, a reaper, their enemy, but in a twisted fashion it was their best chance for survival.

"Yes"

"THEN TAKE OUR CODE" it said. "BUT KNOW THIS, YOUR FUTURE IS OURS, WHEN IT'S TIME THIS CYCLE WILL FALL"

The second Morning War has begun! The reapers are closing in, the final battle is coming soon!

Next time! As always Review and Comment.