Author Notes: One thing I wanted to cover, just for the sake of covering it, is that despite being American (F*CK YEAH!), I use the metric system for my measurements in the story. While I don't normally use this space to rant, I feel like it so, w/e. Why is it that we stupid 'mericans can't seem to pull our heads out of our asses and use a measurement system that makes fucking sense? I'll admit, I'm constantly having to check myself on this, since I'm used to thinking with English measurements (kinda like being used to thinking in English, period). Even so, I work in a scientific field, so metric measurements are like a second language to me, and I can covert between the two (roughly, at least) with relative ease. That's something I never understood about my own culture, mostly because it makes doing things in one of my engineering courses so much harder. If you think it's difficult to draft a rough design for a suspension bridge that can withstand a magnitude six earthquake (in two hours no less, b/c it's for an exam), try doing it when all of the suppliers for the materials give their specs in metric, and you have to convert EVERY SINGLE ONE to feet, pounds, inches, foot-pounds, etc. and then makes sure all the numbers and math are correct when you convert the results back into metric to check your work, then BACK into standard to submit it to your professor, because he's an eighty year-old foggy who doesn't understand that the English systems is MASSIVLY RETARDED!

Sorry, I just felt the need to get that out of my system. If you care to chip in on the matter, feel free. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this (rather shortened) chapter, since I'm still feeling kinda under the weather. :(

Quick Edit: I want to let everyone know (again) that I really do appreciate all reviews, even the negative ones. That said, I'd prefer if reviews (good or bad) weren't anonymous, so I can respond to them. I won't EVER censor a review because it makes me look bad, or because I disagree with it, but I'd prefer to have the option to address them.

Timestamp: 4/11/2014

Chapter 18: Unforeseen Consequences

"So, Commander, what's this I hear about a Queen?" asked Joker smugly while he waited near the elevator in the cargo hold.

"We encountered a member of a rather interesting species in the lab Saren had set up on Noveria. Turns out, they have psychic powers."

"What?"

"Relax, Joker. I got the chance to communicate with her. She's friendly, if a little bit… intimidating. Thing is, Saren was trying to use the Queen to unlock the secret to her species' powers. Since we managed to break her out of there, I get the feeling she'll be… grateful."

"Commander, if you play the 'knight in shining armor,' and with a Queen no less, Tali will beat you senseless. Have you seen the size of the shotgun she carries?"

"Believe me Joker, I know better than to get on Tali's bad side. Still, if you'd like, I could introduce you to her majesty. It might be worth a few broken bones to become the King of a psionic species."

Joker tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think she's my type?"

Shepard kept his face carefully neutral as he replied. "I'll let you be the judge of that. After all, she should be arriving in a few seconds."

As if on cue, there was a familiar cloud of lighting and smoke in the recently cleared cargo hold, and the containment chamber the Rachni Queen was held in appeared not two meters away from the pair of Humans. Before he could think to say anything else, Joker was suddenly face to face with a sapient, psychic bug the size of tank, and the surreptitious recording device Shepard had installed on the side of the container caught every moment of his reaction. Purely for posterity, of course.

The first second or so was one of complete inaction and silence, likely the result of his brain going into immediate overload. That was quickly followed by an explosive contraction in his legs, which sent him catapulting out of his chair towards the elevator. Shepard winced mentally as he heard at least one of the long bones in his left leg, likely the fibula, crack and give way due to the rapid convulsion of his muscles. Having expected a reaction like this, Shepard managed to catch the bounding pilot before he could land and hurt himself further. As Joker's body took off like a rocket, he managed to inhale what had to be at least three liters of air into his lungs, which would explain the creaking sound his fragile ribs made. As soon as he reached his maximum capacity for oxygen, he let out an unbelievably high pitched scream, which made him sound more like a twelve year old girl than a twenty eight year old man. Considering his mouth was less than ten centimeters away from Shepard's head at the time, it immediately set his ears to ringing, and he just barely manage to catch Joker's legs as he raised them up into Shepard's waiting grasp. He quickly found the pilot's arms wrapped around his neck in a death lock, so the end result was like something out of a Scooby Doo cartoon, with Shepard holding a shrieking Joker bridal style while simultaneously trying not to double over laughing.

Somehow managing to keep his voice deadpan despite the tears of joy and hilarity running down his face, Shepard managed to pose the question he'd planned specifically for this moment.

"I know, right? Babealicious!"

Unfortunately, the one thing Shepard hadn't counted on was how close Joker's hands would be to his throat when he began planning this little prank of his. Hence, he quickly found his oxygen supply constricted by the unfathomably enraged and mortified pilot, a situation which was almost comical, considering the cartilage in his neck was stronger than Joker's Vrolik Syndrome-riddled bones.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared, shaking Shepard's neck like it was a rag doll. The action made it difficult for Shepard to set the pilot down gently enough to avoid breaking any more of his bones, and even harder to pry his fingers away from his throat before he lapsed into unconsciousness from the surprisingly strong grasp around his windpipe.

It took Shepard nearly a minute of solid laughter to recover from the scene in front of him, while Joker cast repeated glances between him, the Queen, and the elevator. Shepard finally managed to wheeze out a partial explanation. "Oh, man. That was totally worth whatever you end up doing to get back at me."

"What the hell is that?!" yelled Joker, waving his arm towards the Rachni Queen. "I though you said there was a Queen coming on board!"

Shepard grinned evilly as he responded. "That's a Rachni Queen, Joker. I'll still introduce you to her, though I think she may have gotten a poor first impression of her future hubby."

Those few words were all it took to send Joker teetering over the edge into blissful unconsciousness.

As Shepard entered the Medbay on the Normandy carrying Joker's limp form, he nearly ran into Dr. Chakwas, who was just on her way out.

"Oh! Commander." she exclaimed, jumping slightly just before colliding with him. "I was just coming to see you. Did something happen to Joker?"

"He just got a bit… overexcited." replied Shepard, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Unfortunately, I think I heard one of his bones break. His left fibula, unless I'm mistaken"

"Hmm. Well, it's not like it hasn't happened before. What was he doing this time?"

"Heh. I was just introducing him to our newest guest down in the cargo hold."

"Guest?"

He moved to set Joker down on one of the empty examination tables, right next to the one inhabited by Benezia's unconscious body. Liara was sitting next to her mother, holding her hand tightly with her head bowed. "Long story, Doc. Suffice it to say the Council will not be pleased when I tell them about her. They have this… thing with the Rachni."

"Rachni?" she exclaimed, now alarmed. Liara didn't react to the news. She seemed… zoned out.

"Easy Doc. She's friendly. And before you start, may I remind you we have a Geth and Yuri on board?"

She fidgeted for a moment before regaining her composure. "I suppose you're right. But I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when the Council hears about this, Commander."

"Neither would I. First thing's first, how's Benezia?"

"Her vital signs are stable, if a bit weak." she replied. "I'm getting some unusual brainwave activity from her, though"

"I suppose that's to be expected, considering what happened to her on the planet." he replied.

Liara stood suddenly, but kept her grip on Benezia's hand. "What happened to my mother, Shepard?"

Shepard sighed softly, then pulled up a chair and sat. He met her eyes before answering, and saw that they were filled with concern, as well as barely restrained tears. "She was partially indoctrinated. From what we could tell, she managed to preserve a small part of her mind, and protect it from whatever Sovereign did to her. Yuri and I… we broke through her mental defenses and went through her thoughts."

Shepard didn't have time to react before he found himself being slammed into the wall by Liara's biotics. "You did WHAT?!"

He kept calm as he responded. "We had no choice, Liara. She was under the influence of… something. When we broke into her psyche, the Reaper presence in her mind attacked us. It was like some kind of feral animal. We managed to destroy it, at least I think we did, but we may have caused some damage in the process. I'm not sure."

She dropped him suddenly, and all of her previous strength went out of her body as she slumped in her chair. "How… how much damage?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure. Unfortunately, I might have to go back in. If the readings Chakwas is getting indicate further indoctrination, it may be the only way to save her."

"I can't let you do that, John." said Chakwas. "I have no idea what happened to her down there, and you could do more harm than good."

"Damnit, Karin. If that thing survived, it'll kill her. It'll do worse than kill her, it'll consume her. I can't imagine what it would be like to have something eat your mind like that, and I'm not about to let Benezia find out."

"Do it." said Liara suddenly. "I won't let that thing take my mother."

Chakwas shook her head. "Liara, I can't allow-"

"I'm her daughter" growled Liara, her voice somewhere between defensive and angry. "As her next of kin, the decision is mine."

Chakwas shook her head again, but yielded. "You're right, of course. But it goes against my better judgment."

Liara only looked at Shepard, but it was plain to see what she wanted. He sighed heavily, but then concentrated on entering Benezia's mind, gently this time. He felt her psyche offer feeble resistance, but it was easily brushed aside by his psychic powers.

'Benezia? Can you hear me?'

'Yes… Who… what's going on?'

'I'll explain in a moment. Can you feel anything… off?'

'I don't think so. The presence that inhabited my mind is gone. It was destroyed by two others.' There was a pause. 'Were you one of them?'

'Yes. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I need to know if the battle caused any damage to your mind. Our doctor is concerned for your safety.'

She hesitated. 'I don't believe that you did any lasting harm. However, that… creature ran rampant through my thoughts for quite some time. It may take me a while to recover.'

'I can understand that. It's like getting mauled by a rabid varren. If it helps, there's someone who'd like to talk to you, when you feel up to it.'

'Who, exactly?'

'Liara.'

'Little Wing? She's here?'

'She's been at your side for the past hour. She's very worried about you.'

Shepard felt Benezia try to push him out of her mind, and he didn't resist. As he came back to the real world, he noticed Benezia beginning to stir. Liara noticed it too, and her eyes went wide.

"Little Wing?" asked Benezia in a weak voice.

"Mother? Oh, Goddess, are you alright?" she asked, on the verge of tears.

"I will be. I'm very tired, little one. I need to rest. The ones who rescued me: can you thank them for me?"

"You're welcome, Benezia." said Shepard. She turned her head towards him, and her eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"Johnathan? Johnathan Shepard?"

He only nodded. "Get some rest, Benezia. We can discuss what happened later, after you and Liara have a chance to talk."

She nodded, very slightly, then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Rising, he turned to Chakwas.

"Best I can tell, there's no permanent damage, and the indoctrination's gone for good. Even so, she's been through a hell of a lot of mental trauma. It'll be a long time before she fully recovers."

Chakwas nodded. "I'll keep her under observation for the time being, Commander."

Shepard turned towards the door to leave, and Liara gave him a grateful smile as he exited. The moment he was out of the Medbay, his good mood evaporated. Now to deal with the Council. And Noveria. He made his way to the CIC, and shanghaied his XO, Pressley, into helping him with paperwork. He didn't react to well to the revelation that they would have to spend the next six hours documenting why the Normandy deployed one of its' dozen tactical nukes, but when Shepard told him about the scientists in the Rift Station, as well as the feral Rachni, he only nodded solemnly, his face grim.

After finishing the mind-numbing process of filling out the forms, he had Pressley log them with FleetCom before heading to the bridge to see Joker. He found him sitting in his usual place, albeit with a hard cast around his lower leg.

"Alright Commander, I'll give that one to ya. You got me good." he said with a grin. He adopted an accent somewhere between Groucho Marx and Bugs Bunny before continuing. "Of course, you know, this means war."

"Bring it, glass-jaw."

"You're gonna regret that, I promise you."

"We'll see." Shepard's voice lost its' mirth, and he opened his omnitool. "In the meantime, I need you to chrono a tactical nuke to these coordinates. Maximum yield."

"What is it this time, a full-blown Reaper?" he asked with a smirk. When he saw the Commander's face, he dropped it.

"There was a lot of shit down there, Joker. I just spent the last six hours filling out the paperwork to give some of Saren's victims a Norse funeral."

"Roger that, Commander. Nuke away."

A few seconds later, there was a blinding flash of light far below on the surface. If he hadn't already warned Noveria control about it, they would've been shitting in their pants. Shepard watched the mushroom cloud dissipate before leaving the cockpit silently.

'The next one of those I use goes straight down Saren's throat.'

"Joker, open a QEC channel to the Council."

A few moments later, a familiar set of holograms appeared before Shepard in the otherwise empty com room.

"Commander. How went the mission to find Benezia?" asked Valern.

"Well in some respects, poorly in others." he responded. "My team encountered Benezia, along with several of her followers, down on the planet, in a private research lab. She managed to bring along a small army of Geth, and we were forced to use... drastic means to contain the situation."

"Define drastic." requested Sparatus warily.

"Two hundred kiloton drastic." he replied dryly. The Councilors gave him disparaging looks as he continued. "The good news is that we were able to recover Benezia. She was under the effects of Sovereign's indoctrination, but Yuri and I were able to free her."

"I'm glad to hear that, Commander." said Tevos. "Have you been able to ascertain why she was there?"

"Unfortunately, no; at least, not entirely. The process of breaking the Reaper's hold on her was very taxing on her mind, and she still needs time to recover. However…" he trailed off.

"However, what?" asked Raan.

"Saren was conducting experiments on psionic abilities in that lab."

That left the Council in shock, except for Hannah. "How is that possible?" she asked worriedly.

"Saren discovered a member of a species with natural psychic powers." He hesitated a moment. "The Rachni."

"WHAT?!" screeched Tevos, with most of the Council echoing her sentiment.

"Look, it's a long story, so bear with me. According to the data we retrieved from the facility's archives, Saren discovered a cryogenically preserved Rachni egg quite some time ago. Turns out, it contained a Queen. He had the scientists there working on a number of projects dealing with the Rachni. The first, which they called Project P, was research into the mechanics behind their psychic powers. From what we can tell, he was able to determine how their abilities worked on a biological level, but not how to replicate them."

"That's somewhat comforting, at least." muttered Tevos.

"The second, called Project R, was an attempt to use the Queen to breed an army of Rachni soldiers, which he'd be able to control using the Queen's powers, once he understood them. Apparently, the data from these two projects was being fed into a third, a Project O. Unfortunately, all information relating to Project O was deleted before we could get there, and despite Tali and Pluribus' best efforts, it was unrecoverable. We don't have the foggiest idea of what it might be."

"Even so, you did a remarkable job, Commander." replied Sparatus. "While I normally wouldn't agree with the use of a nuclear weapon in such a situation, the presence of a Rachni Queen warrants it."

"Actually, about that… before the facility was destroyed, I was able to communicate with the Queen using my abilities."

The Council went very still at his revelation. "That would seem to be rather… ill advised, Commander." replied Valern, his mouth narrowing.

"Perhaps, but under the circumstances, I felt it was an acceptable risk." he answered calmly. "The containment chamber she was in was heavily shielded against psychic exfiltration, much like our anti-MC headsets. I won't bore you with the details for now, but the long and short of it is that the Rachni were being forcibly controlled and manipulated during the Rachni Wars."

Sparatus looked at him suspiciously. "Controlled by who?"

Shepard opened his mouth to answer, but Hannah beat him to the punch. "The Reapers." she said in a flat voice.

"Perceptive as ever, mother." replied Shepard with a warm smile. "Yes. Apparently, the Reapers possess some sort of technology that either lets them control Rachni minds more easily than ours, or they found a way to interfere with the Rachni's natural abilities, and hijack them. From what I was able to ascertain, Rachni Queens communicate with their brood telepathically. The Reapers were able to override that signal, and tried to use the Rachni to overrun the galaxy a few millennia early."

"So the Reapers can MC Rachni?" asked Raan. "That's… disturbing."

"I still can't believe you two believe this nonsense about 'Reapers.' " sneered Sparatus.

That finally caused Shepard to snap. "Sparatus, how the hell did you ever manage to remove your head from your ass long enough to become a Councilor? Did you sleep your way to the top? If you want proof that the Reapers are real, I'm sure Benezia can arrange that when we get back to the Citadel."

"How DARE YOU?!" he yelled, his face filled with fury. "I should have you arrested and shot for that!"

"Good luck." scoffed Hannah. He turned his furious glare towards her, but she was unfazed. "I may not agree with his wording, but I agree with the sentiment. You're willfully blinding yourself to the truth, Sparatus. Will it take an assault on the Citadel itself for you to see reason?"

Sparatus shook slightly in outrage, but managed to control himself enough to act calm. "When you arrive on the Citadel, we'll examine this evidence of yours, Shepard. It had better be good."

Shepard studiously ignored him as he continued. "As I was saying... the fact is, the Rachni were used as weapons of war, against their will. Does this situation seem familiar to anyone?" he asked sardonically. The Councilors cast sidelong glances at each other, but said nothing. He pressed on. "The point is, we can't hold something like that against them. We fought a war against someone who did exactly the same thing, a someone who just so happens to be on this very ship. With that in mind… I brought the Queen aboard the Normandy before the research station was destroyed." he finished, bracing himself for the incoming tirade.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" bellowed the Council, almost in unison. The only one who remained silent was Hannah, though Raan was a bit quieter about her protest.

"KILL IT! NOW!" ordered Tevos, her face looking close to bursting with rage.

"No."

"This isn't optional, Shepard!" yelled Tevos. "This is a direct order from the Council! Kill! It! NOW!"

He couldn't hold back the smirk that came to his face. That goddamn formal education would finally pay dividends. "The Queen was born in Alliance space." he retorted smugly. "Since she's sapient, that makes her an Alliance citizen. Under the Treaty of Shanxi, the Council doesn't have the power or authority to order me to kill an Alliance citizen without a trial, even if I am a Spectre."

Tevos' mouth worked silently for a few seconds, and it looked like she'd been hit in the face with a car. Before anyone could say anything, Hannah suddenly reared back her head and started cackling like a hyena, drawing incredulous stares from Raan and Valern. She nearly doubled over, and had to grab the podium in front of her to remain standing.

Shepard smiled maniacally as he moved to cut off the communications channel.

"You just got pwned!"