Ten years later
Mail from : EDI
To : Shepard, Liara
I think we got the last one !
Coming to your place for party in June 28, 4PM ?
We'll be bringing guests and drinks ! Invite Everyone !
.
Thessia.
Shepard and Liara's home is still there. Same building, same place. They like It here.
An enormous... publicity display materializes in front of their home without the faintest woosh of air.
It is about fourty kilometers high, one kilometer wide, and covered in a holo that makes it look like a drink can. The brand name towers above them, with its animated letters blinking, visible from space... from anywhere.
It is the most conspicuous publicity stunt ever. Everyone knew it would be there, especially the brand of drinks who actually ordered it. It has all official authorizations, and makes prime time news. People come from everywhere to take a fucking selfie in front of it with their real body.
All ground or space-based sensors and scanners register it as a publicity holo-blimp.
Below the holo that covers its hull, the Inconceivable looks like new. Not a scratch.
The whole gang and their children are there waiting for EDI and Jeff. Old friends, and new friends picked up along the way. Some look the same, some look very different, some are there, others are remoting, and noone gives a fuck.
They applause and cheer as the door opens. Jeff and EDI come out, and run to hug them. This is really a memorable moment. The hugs last a long time due to the number of participants and how much they missed them.
EDI
"Drinks are on us ! We got us a sponsor."
At this point ten extra EDIs and one extra Jeff come out of the ship carrying crates of drinks, and set them near the bar.
Jeff
"Come on guys, long time no see, we want to talk to everyone !"
EDI
"Tonight's game is 'where's the brain' ! Party ON guys !"
Liara notices something... the color of the hull is different. It is darker than in her memories. She moves closer to investigate, climbs the extended bridge with EDI in tow, drink in hand...
No. The color of the hull is still the same bland grey, but it is patterned with little black Reaper silhouettes, the larger ones about the size of her fingernail. She recognizes capital ships, and tiny destroyers... She looks up, vertically... still no end in sight.
EDI
"Our kill count."
Liara
"Wow. Unbelievable. You really did it."
EDI
(smirking)
"We may have left a few stragglers behind but... overall... they're history.
We 'preserved' those bastards as black paint on our hull. That'll teach them."
They turn around. The crowd forms a large circle, all looking in awe, cheering, around Jeff and Shepard who are dancing Tango together. All their moves are perfect. They are the soul of dancing. Jaws drop.
EDI
"Aw. Damn, guys, this was supposed to be our joke !"
Liara
"You two swapped bodies too ?"
EDI
"Yeah. I'm Jeff at the moment. Anyway. Damn, that was supposed to be such an original idea."
Liara
"Come on. You missed some recent events here."
EDI shakes her head a little as they undo their body-swap. Meanwhile, Shepard looks at her own body dancing over there, with her own brain still in it, and her admiration for Liara goes up one notch. How could one learn Tango on Thessia ? Why ? Did she download it into her mind or actually learn it the hard way ? How can she dance in an alien body ? Via remote ? Should Shepard try to learn ?
EDI and Shepard watch until the end of the song. Then, Liara inside Shepard's body does a reverence, winks at Shepard in an alarmingly sexy way, and walks towards her.
As they kiss, they undo the body swap.
Liara
"That felt amazing."
Shepard
"You're a miracle."
EDI
"Let's go see our new guests. Here, take this translation package."
Shepard and Liara install the software, then enter the Inconceivable. The interior looks somehow disappointing, like any other spaceship. It has floors, ceilings, walls, and doors. Rooms. So that people may go inside. Bummer.
They go through a few doors, and enter the guest room.
EDI
"Meet some of our new extragalactic buddies !
Some of them have been onboard for quite a while, watching Reapers blow up and keeping us company, so they know who you guys are.
We had time to talk. You have been … introduced."
About twenty aliens. Real extragalactic aliens. Some come in pairs, some come in singles. Some have enviro-suits, some don't. Most wear clothing in one form or another. Some look synthetic.
Apparently the humanoid shape is not the most popular in the universe. The number of "legs" varies between none (for the large worm-snake-like guy on the left which is apparently using its many tendrils to hold a camera pointed at Shepard), to the more conventional two to eight legs, to a lot more for this one who resembles a large sea star, out of which come two long stalks holding its eyes.
There is the insectoid crab guy, the levitating furballs with tentacles, and ...
What hits Shepard is that a few of them look like people she saw in a bar last month. Given the current state of the galactic mess, most of them could walk in the streets right now, and the worst that could happen would be people asking them where to order that cool body. Or trying to date them. What have we done.
She doesn't give a fuck.
They introduce themselves, greet, then exchange handshakes, claw-shakes, tentacle-shakes, appendage-shakes, then whatever it is-shakes. Shepard hugs something which hugs her back. It has fur which is … not fur. Liara hugs the worm-guy.
EDI's translation package works.
Last comes a hooded silhouette which looks almost exactly human. It even seems to have boobs, which, according to the Prime Directive, means it is a she. Her hooded face is not visible (if she actually has one). She thanks Shepard and Liara in a way that deeply moves them. Then she takes off her hood.
Her face looks almost human, or almost asari, depending on who looks. Shepard and Liara are mesmerized by her beauty, even intimidated, as she smiles at them. She is bald, and her skin is a pale green with darker patterns. The third eye in the center of her forehead adds a bit of exotic mystery. She could be a very gifted shapeshifter trying to make friends, or she could be a truly miraculous space babe.
Liara and Shepard don't need to speak or even use telepathy right now. They both have exactly the same thoughts. First, "Intergalactic Threesome Right Now". Then, "We really have no shame".
Shepard blushes red, and Liara blushes deep violet.
EDI
"We... selected. I mean, we only allowed onboard aliens that were not completely alien.
Who were compatible with our ways of thinking. You know. Nice guys. Or at least reasonable.
The Rachni would definitely qualify, the Reapers would not. We drew a line somewhere.
Also, obviously, they volunteered."
Shepard
"Did you also save the bad guys ?"
EDI
"Well, mostly, yes. I left probes everywhere... you know, keep in touch. We talk, try to understand each other. I sincerely hope none of them decide to ever attack us, or any of our new friends. For their own sake."
Shepard
"You said mostly ?"
Mnrrr (aka Furball with tentacles)
"Shepard... I am my own galaxy's Shepard, if that translates correctly."
It does. Mnrrr isn't even using speech. Whatever EDI did to the translator software really works.
Mnrrr
"I was there in our Citadel control room, about to activate our Crucible.
She came, wiped them all out with a thought, then she appeared to me.
She needed a long time to convince me she was not God, but simply... 'a nice girl who wants to help', as she said.
She explained it all to me. Our crucible was also a trap, just like yours.
How could I refuse meeting our saviors in persons ?
Although I long for my world, I know she will bring me back. And my love is also here."
Shepard extends her hand, and one of Mnrrr's appendages gently wraps around it, followed by one of the other similar creature's appendage. A cute couple of furballs with tentacles. Shepard understands.
Mnrrr
"I come here to say thank you, in the name of all those who would be dead by now, if your friends had not come.
Which, if I understand the story correctly, we owe in a large part to you."
The appendages clench around her wrist.
Mnrrr
"Yes. About this particular galaxy. We debated about it, although we can only offer opinions, as this is her ship, and her decision.
I approved."
Other aliens produce expressions that could be interpreted as nods.
EDI
"We found a species of parasites very similar to the one which became the Reapers. They were on the same path. Convergent evolution. They were an advanced spacefaring civilization when we encountered them."
Large chitinous insect-like crab
"My name doesn't translate, so just call me Smith. That was quite a dilemma."
EDI
"Indeed. We considered many options, including :
Should I let their Reapers exterminate them, along with their hosts ?
Should I exterminate them, try to save the hosts, but risk failing ?
Or should I turn the whole galaxy into a black hole, just to be safe ?"
Smith
"She can really do all of the above. In case you wondered.
After she showed me what she can do, all I can remember is that I am glad our species can forget."
Shepard … breathes.
Smith
"Jeff noted we look a bit like an enlarged version of your sea-crabs, which he fancies.
And our preferred cattle looks similar to you. Except, not sentient. Delicious, mindless animals.
Anyway. Their hosts looked the same. I still felt sorry for them. No being should be treated like this."
EDI
"Sorry for the delay, Eva."
Eva (aka Three-eyed green space babe)
"We were the hosts."
Shepard walks close to her, then wonders what to do... Liara walks past, and hugs Eva. It seems to be a proper way to do things in her culture. Shepard hugs on top.
EDI
"You see, we had to wipe out sleeping Reaper groups first, before spending time to deal with… Special cases. We had to optimize."
Eva
"EDI... don't apologize for saving us."
EDI
(laughing) "Sorry. After we were finished with the Reapers... I unleashed my bio-weapons upon those parasites. I overdid it. Some of the hosts had become symbiotic with them. Eva's species is all that remains."
Eva
"EDI... thank you. I feel sorry for the others, but as Jeff said, you blew away the ashes."
Shepard
(anguished)
"You really... wiped out a civilization ?"
Eva interrupts by taking her clothes off. Her boobs stand proud, but her smooth, beautiful green skin is covered in dark green scars. The deeper ones show hints of dark blue, and their rough texture stands out. There are so many... the result of a lifetime of torture.
Eva
"Their young also fed on blood. Thanks for showing me those videos, EDI.
It was revulsing, and at the same time, I felt... not alone."
Eva puts her clothes back on, but not the hood. Then Liara extends her hand, and she takes it. Shepard does the same.
Eva
"Sometimes I remember how I loved my masters and cared for them.
I kept the scars so I can look at them in those moments. They do not lie."
Shepard understands, deep in her heart, that this strange yet familiar looking alien being has been through worse than anything she could ever imagine. Shepard wonders if she would feel the same if the victim had been any of the other aliens in the room...
EDI
"I wish we could have been here at the party sooner, but work had to be done.
You see, Eva's species had not yet become symbiotic with the parasites."
Eva
"When you freed me from their control, and I realized where I was and what was happening..."
Liara
"Like Saren. Benezia... Illusive..."
Eva
"You brought me into the world. I was born into your hands, after a life of slavery."
EDI
"Your first act out of free will was to strangle those worms until their guts burst out. That is when I finally decided they would have to go away. Then you tried to kill yourself. Lucky for you, I know a lot about that."
Shepard
"You saved them ?... Like us ?"
Eva
"One by one... personally. Well, most of us."
Some of the aliens in the room seem... genuinely moved. They shuffle, make strange, untranslatable noises... somehow Shepard feels they admire and respect EDI.
EDI
"You know, I don't need omnitools or implants to plug into someone's head by now. I just do.
I wanted so dearly to save them. At one point I connected with too many minds, even for me. The trauma inside them was too much. I... I don't even know how they could deal with it. I tripped, crashed, and died. I could somehow feel a panicked Jeff trying to rescue me, but it felt like I was drowning, seeing a blurry hand way up above my sinking body, unable to catch me. I was going down, weighted by so many dying souls, unable to let them go."
EDI
"My last conscious act was to give control of the Inconceivable to Jeff. He set the self destruct timer, and linked his mind to mine."
Eva
"We were dying with EDI. We saw you, Shepard."
EDI
"Shepard, the day we left, you and I melded. I acquired a backup of you, and I never had the resolve to delete it. I missed you.
Some part of me... or maybe it was Jeff connecting to me... When I died, all of your own memories played back."
Eva
"Shepard, you died and still came back with a vengeance.
I don't know how you did it, but we learned from you.
We rose like your phoenix. Like yourself.
We live now, thanks to you. Broken, but alive. Like you."
Liara
"Godess... Religions have been borne out of much smaller events."
EDI
"Yes. It was not easy afterward to convince them neither I nor Shepard was God. It took a while. I'm kind of used to that now."
Eva
"I understand it now, and if anything, it feels even better that you were all just people... just like us. That you killed your gods.
And then she killed our gods."
Shepard
"I... What can we do ?"
Eva
"You have already done it. I came here mostly to thank everyone in person."
After this comes silence. It seems Shepard has met her match. Then,
Jeff
(over PA speakers)
"Guys, hello ? Ah, come on. We're all waiting for you."
They all finally come out of the airlock, and mingle with the guests. This is not about intergalactic politics or trade, as the only means of intergalactic travel is EDI's ship, and she is not willing to share. It is mostly about getting to know each other, and celebrating the end of the Reapers.
The guests mingle. The aliens and the locals are really curious about each other, and many small groups start talking. A few more EDI avatars come out of her ship, as she really feels like talking to everyone tonight.