A/N: Hello all! Hope you're enjoying the AU thus far. Just wanted to drop a bit of a note. I've had a couple of reviews and another couple of people who have mentioned it personally, so I thought I'd address it here.

The sentient being that Luka picked up is NOT a yahg. This is an alien race I actually developed quite a number of years ago. This new race is also going to feature in DE5, so I figured I'd test it out here. Not sure from the description I provided how it's getting confused with a yahg, but there you are.

Sorry for the confusion, I shall try to be better in my descriptions!

Also, next chapter should be Saturday. Sorry, work is still crazy. Thank you!


Glimmers of crimson fire reflected in the dark depths of Shepard's eyes as she looked over Jura's shoulder, and out the view screen of the Aswa. Beyond in the starry expanse of endless night, the Omega Four relay hovered, shining like a ruby.

"Why is it red?" she asked. Miranda was nearby at the navigation console, inputting some final information and making sure her signal array was working properly. "All the relays I've ever seen pictures of were blue."

"All the other relays use dark energy from massive element zero cores to power them," was the reply.

"And this one doesn't?"

"This one does not have its own energy source. It draws irradiative and thermodynamic energy through a small and constant warp field from the other relay it links to- which sucks it in like a solar panel from its immediate vicinity," she said, glancing up from her work to look at the shimmering tides of magmatic light. "The signatures match those of the galactic core. That's why I'm positive it leads there. An eezo core would be unnecessary with that much raw power to draw from, directly in its environment."

"Are we prepared to traverse the relay?" Liara asked as she and Ashley strode up into the helm. Shepard moved back a pace, but the asari's eyes were firmly fixed on Miranda.

"Just finishing our last minute adjustments, thanks to the data that buoy captured. Just five more minutes."

They'd sent two buoys through the relay already. There was no response whatsoever from the first one, but the second transmitted nearly six minutes of data. It gave Miranda the confidence that they could pass through safely- though how long that safety would last and if they'd be able to return was all still in question.

Shepard shifted awkwardly, looking out at the relay again. She had put on a hard-suit at Feris's direction, just in case. The armor felt stiff and heavy and she could barely imagine what running around in it would be like. Sam had tried to make her feel better by saying she looked born to wear it, but Shepard was not going to fool herself. Dressing up as a soldier did not make her anything more than a civilian who had only just learned the right part of a gun to hold.

Traynor stood at another station, double-checking the numbers as Miranda passed them through. The redundancy was not particularly necessary, but with the amount of risk they were facing, it was always better to be as absolutely precise as possible. Even the slightest miscalculation and the mission would end before it had even begun.

Finally, Miranda nodded and looked up. "All right, that should do it. We're as ready as safe as we're ever going to get."

"You are sure?" Liara asked. Miranda glared at her.

"I'm going on this ride with you, T'Soni. My life is on the line here too. I can't make any guarantees, you know that. If I'm wrong, you'll have about eight nanoseconds to shoot me before we all incinerate anyway."

As if no insult had been spoken, Liara only nodded and looked to Jura. "Put us on our heading, and keep her as steady as you can."

"Yes, ma'am."

As the asari put in the final set of coordinates, bringing the Aswa to bear and transmitting the signal code that would activate the relay, Shepard's fingers stole to her mouth, tapping a moment in nervousness before she forced herself to lower them.

Outside the view screen, the sleepily moving relay suddenly brightened, its rotating rings picking up a bit of speed as it activated and began to hunt for its projection target.

"Relay is powered and ready, we're showing green across the board," Jura said, sounding as calm as a hostess announcing the names of arriving guests at some expensive soiree.

"Here we go," Ashley whispered, almost breathless at Shepard's shoulder.

Everything seemed to go red and white as the relay snagged the Aswa, whipping it at unfathomable speeds, crossing millions of light-years in a single moment. The flash of light was so brilliant that Del's hand leapt up to shield her eyes almost without her command.

"Goddess!"

The pilot's gasp was almost perfectly timed with the light dying away again, and Shepard looked just in time to see something massive flash past the viewport.

"Jura!"

"I have multiple obstacles in collision range, looking for an open path!"

Shepard felt herself pale, as a hunk of ragged debris the size of a planet swung in close. There was a distant but ominous groan and she faintly felt the deck beneath her boots shudder.

"We have minor hull damage along the anterior starboard," Traynor said from her station. As the Aswa banked, yet more debris swung into view.

"Get us above this!" Liara said.

"There are just as many above us," Jura replied. "There may be an opening to port-"

"Do it!"

The ship slipped to the left, and for a moment Shepard could glimpse clear space beyond the crowded slabs of wreckage. As part of a hull went past, she suddenly realized what all this debris really was.

Ships. Trillions of ships- broken, torn apart, drifting, some of them possibly for millions of years.

Then they were clear, the view screen dimming slightly to automatically compensate for the brilliant light surrounding a sight Shepard had never thought she'd live to see.

It was a black hole surrounded by black holes, large enough to swallow entire sectors of space. Old stars, some in the process of supernova, swirled around it at the balancing edge of the event horizon like glitter caught in a swirling drain. Everywhere else, the seeming infinite ship graveyard moved in a slower swirl, an almost graceful dance to the inevitable that would consume every one of them in the fullness of time.

"Now we know why the other ships never came back, never signaled," Traynor said, breathless with what she was seeing. "Being tossed at speed into this debris field…they were probably destroyed in seconds."

"Captain, our shields are holding and I'm showing the internal radiation is at safe levels, but we will only be able to remain in this sector of space for about two hours. Any longer and we'll lose shields."

"That happens and we're cooked alive with radiation in seconds," Ashley said.

"Miranda, can you re-establish connection with the relay? Are we able to make a return trip when necessary?" Liara asked.

"From what I'm seeing, yes. The relay itself seems to have some kind of automatic buffer that prevents this debris from crashing into it, but that safe zone is fairly small. Still, we should be able to activate it and return to home space safely when we desire."

"What about communications?" Shepard asked. "Can we get anything through?"

"Negative," Jura said. "At this level of radiation our QEC range is only a few thousand yards, without enough signal strength to transmit back through the relay. Regular communications may as well be a tin can tied to a string. We'd have to send a drone with a physical information packet back through the relay to deliver any kind of data to the other side."

"Prepare the drone. We'll send it if necessary," Liara said. "We have ninety minutes to scan as best we can, see if we cannot pinpoint some kind of base of operations. If Osco is here-"

"No scan necessary, Captain," Jura said suddenly, her fingers flying over her console. "I'm reading a similar buffer to that surrounding the relay. It is…it looks to be a large ship, the size of a cruiser, generating the field. We'll have visual in seconds…there."

All eyes turned to the ship that appeared out of the tangle of ancient steel and tech like an island in a sea of storming magma. It was as idly drifting as the rest of the mess, but none of the wrecks came within several hundred kilometers of it, the bits that moved toward it almost gently bumping away on nothingness and changing their trajectory.

Shepard had never seen anything like it, and though she was probably the least well-travelled of the group, she was pretty sure none of them had seen it's like either.

It hardly looked like a ship. Only the reflection of light on its perfectly curved edge betrayed that it was substance and not mere empty darkness. It was so perfectly black as to be nearly invisible. It was shaped like a teardrop that had been stretched, and then flattened slightly on its narrow end.

There were no lights, no portals, no obvious weapons or docks or airlock doors. It appeared as seamless as an ebony pearl, perfectly smooth.

"Move us in closer, slowly," Liara said. "Continuous scans. Look for life forms if you are able."

Miranda turned to her console as the ship moved closer to the sleeping leviathan. When they reached the buffer zone, Jura slowed the Aswa even more, until the invisible field allowed them to progress rather than trying to 'bump' them away. It was only as they passed inside the scope of this field that any of the scans produced readings.

"That ship is made of a mixture of metals and materials that are only eighty-seven percent identifiable," Jura said. "Iron, nickel, tungsten…quartz? That cannot be right…"

"Captain, I am reading no life signs aboard the vessel, but there is active power. It seems to have been built with both an eezo core, and a thermodynamic environmental draw power core similar to the one that charges the Omega Four relay. The eezo core has long since gone cold but the ship is still drawing from its environment…and it seems may be able to do so indefinitely."

"No life signs?" Liara asked with a frown. "You are sure."

"There may be masking technology I am not familiar with, but from what I am reading with our instruments…no life signs."

"If my own readings are correct, T'Soni…that ship is just over 1.25 million years old," Miranda said.

"I think we found the source of Osco's advanced technology," Del said softly. Liara shook her head without glancing over.

"Yes, but where is Osco? If she is not here, how did she access this location without activating the Omega Four relay and tripping the Council's monitors?"

Stepping forward, she rested a hand on the back of Jura's chair. "Bring us in as close as you can. See if you can find some kind of docking port, or access point we can utilize to get on board. Ash, Miranda, Sam, Dr. Shepard- prepare to board. Expect hostiles regardless of our readings. Doctor, you will remain at flank until we clear you to proceed forward, is that understood?"

"Yes, of course," Del replied. Moving awkwardly thanks to the weight of her suit, she followed Sam and Ash toward the airlock, Feris handing her a helmet and then helping to attach a pack to her back. Unlike the weapon's packs the others would be carrying, hers held only a pair of pistols, some spare thermal clips, and some of her requested medical/data extraction equipment. It would boost the capacity of her omni-tool and allow her to run minor lab field tests without having to rely on an actual lab.

"You all right? You set for this?" Sam asked as she finished helping her fasten her helmet down, making sure it was locked.

"I'm fine," Shepard said. "Just want to get it over with."

"I hear you. You'll do fine. Just stay with us, don't get separated. We'll take care of you, ok?"

Del nodded, then looked over as Liara and Miranda appeared. The human looked less than happy.

"You are absolutely sure you are not mistaken in its identity?" the asari was asking.

"I've spent the last two years imprisoned, seeing those ships and the faces of the crew I was accused of murdering, every time I closed my eyes. I'm bloody goddamn positive."

"What's going on?" Ash asked.

"We have located a pair of airlocks," Liara told her. "We are about to connect to one now. However, there is a ship already connected to the second. Lawson identifies it as the Persuasive- one of the ships that was lost here during her initial experiments."

"What, intact?" Sam asked, shocked.

"So it would appear, though Jura believes from radiation signatures on its hull that it has been anchored in the same spot for at least eighteen months."

"Life signs?" Del asked.

"None."

"We should board it anyway, see if any crew remain-"

Liara fixed her with a look. "We will entertain that, but right now our priority is locating Osco and finding her research. All other matters are secondary."

The light above the airlock door suddenly flashed to green. Liara nodded. "All right, we are connected. Lock down and keep frosty. Ash, you and I on point. Take it cautiously but we only have ninety minutes before we have to return to the Aswa and head back for the relay. Make the minutes count."

As the airlock door opened, the others all drew weapons. Awkwardly, Shepard drew one of her pistols as well, waiting for the others to precede her before following.

It took Miranda a moment to open the interior airlock door. When she did, the door didn't slide or shift out of the way, but seemed to melt, flowing almost fluidly to each side and then solidifying, leaving a portal in its place.

"Direct molecular manipulation," Miranda said with no small level of awe. "Just a handful of this tech-"

"Osco has her hands on more than 'just a handful'," Liara reminded her. "Let's go."

They stepped in, the marines scanning their omni-lights and rifle-muzzles into every corner before they moved forward. Shepard, feeling a bit useless, followed silently behind, pausing only momentarily to touch the edges of the airlock door. It felt just as solid and impermeable as steel.

What people were these? she wondered. What must their lives have been like? What wonders did they see? Worse…what finally brought them down?

From the airlock they entered a corridor, just as slick, black, and featureless as the hull had been. Other than their own reflections and the bright flashes of the omni-lights, it was almost impossible to see floor or walls, resulting in the odd sensation of walking through nothingness and a faint vertigo as they could find nothing to really orient their vision on other than each other.

Liara seemed to be the only one unbothered by this. She moved on without the slightest pause, weapon up and ready. She walked like she'd been there a thousand times before, as if she owned the ship and everything upon it.

They passed out of the corridor and into a massive main room. Ringed by a solid wall of transparency that had been solarized to shield from the core's brilliant light and radiation, the room was vast but as featureless as the hallway. No living thing seemed to be in evidence. As they cleared this room and then fanned out to do scans, Miranda shook her head.

"I've still got no life signs," she said. "Not even bacteria. This place is utterly sterile, like a surgical suite."

"Someone has been here recently," Liara said, crouching as she focused her omni-tool on the floor. "There are footprints, smudges…bipedal."

"Well, whoever they were, they're not here now, or they're so highly cloaked our scans may as well be useless," Ashley said. Miranda had gone over, shining her own light on the smudged footsteps. Following them, she started abruptly as the floor suddenly started moving.

Every gun snapped that direction as she took a step backward. As it had with the doorway, the very floor seemed to shift upward, forming a low, pedestal type structure in moments. From its tip, a light flashed, and then passed over Miranda's face.

She started again and Sam caught her arm. "Hey-!"

"No, no, it's all right," Miranda replied. The light was focused on her eyes. "It's…some kind of computer network interface, projecting right on my retinas or stimulating the visual cortex directly."

"You have access to the computer?" Liara asked.

"Yes, and it's even in galactic! Either Osco managed a translation protocol or the computer itself is designed to extrapolate and adapt to any language of the user."

"Are her records there? Her research?" Del asked. Surely they could not be so lucky, to stumble on Osco's research and all the answers they were seeking- that easily and without contest!

"Not for the PMD I don't think. Some of this…some of this stuff is strange. I think…I think the records and mission of the original species who built this vessel are still in here. There are terabytes of information, we can't possibly process or transfer it all."

"Yes, we can," Liara said. "Are the ship's engines still functional? Can you pilot it?"

A pause, Miranda's eyes shifting as she accessed screens only she could see.

"I…think so, yes. Yes, I think I have it."

"We will finish our sweep of the ship," Liara said. "Then we will take this vessel and its data back through that relay with us to home space. We can dissemble its databanks there."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Del asked, stepping past Miranda to Liara's side as the asari headed back across the room, Sam and Ashley moving out to continue their scans. "Bringing this ship back to home space-"

"Those databanks may have the answer to the PMD and stopping Osco, or at least countering her technology," Liara said. "We have no other recourse."

"Yes, but…the galaxy isn't ready for this level of technology. Just look at what Osco's done with it! Putting that into the hands of even the Council-"

"The results could be less than ideal, I grant you," Liara said with a soft nod. "However, we cannot destroy this ship and potentially lose our only means at halting Osco from killing trillions or devastating galactic civilization. It is the only solution offered us right now."

"Captain," Sam's voice rang out, drawing their attention as the marine crossed back from the far end of the room. As the pair looked at her, she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "I found something. You might want to have a look."


Ruth- feeling slightly better rested and with her leg down to a far more manageable pain level- limped into the main lab and glared at the alien beast crouched behind the energy field of its new containment cell. Unreadable, the thing only glared back, its odd eyes bringing an almost demonic weight to its gaze.

"Trust me, you should kill that thing," she said as she refocused on Gellian, her cane clicking as she went over to her side. "It's nothing but death waiting to happen."

"She," Gellian said, turning her chair and smirking faintly at the other woman. Ruth blinked.

"That ugly fuck is a she?"

"That 'ugly fuck' is a mature female rakir of roughly- oh…forty years of age. That would make her the human equivalent of about twenty three. Given the style of her clothing and where Luka found her, she's probably of a fairly noble House of the southern Providence of Ekkust. Statistics would indicate she likely calls the city of Hevvak home."

"I take it you hacked into the anthropologist's records."

Osco nodded, rising and walking over toward the cell. Ruth followed her.

"Wasn't difficult. Fascinating species, the rakir. Everything in their culture is based on domination, predatory pack alpha mentality. Even their mating rituals require a fight."

Ruth wrinkled her nose. "And you're absolutely sure its female?"

"Positive. Why?"

"Well, it's a mammal isn't it? I don't see any mammary glands."

"The rakir are marsupial," Gellian said. "She has mammary glands, they're just tucked away in her pouch."

Ruth grimaced again. "If the females are this ugly, then I hate to see what the males look like."

"About a foot taller, a lot hairier, and bearing a wicked set of curved horns. Well, the fertile ones anyway. Oh, and I should probably warn you. She can understand every word you're saying."

Ruth blinked and looked at Osco, then back at the rakir. Only then did she noticed the thin metal collar around her neck, a tiny extension disappearing into one drooped ear.

"She can-?"

"She can, you ugly flat-faced naked pistafajikkaga!"

The rakir's 'voice' was not really her own. From her mouth, Ruth heard little more than what sounded like rasping snarls, guttural and deep-throated sounds. The galactic version overlapped with only a momentary delay, speaking in a rather pleasant female voice with a hint of Earth Britain about it. On the last set of sounds, the voice over had halted.

"Pistafajikkaga," Gellian echoed crudely, with an amused smirk. "Apparently that's one the anthropology team had not translated yet. Even so, I think the gist of it is evident."