SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Normandy II, Deck One – Captain's Quarters
Shepard let out a light sigh as he relaxed in his bed, watching the television holo-screen. It had been nearly two full days since the annihilation of the Reapers; celebrations were still going strong, and cleanup had already begun. True to his word, before his sacrificial deletion Catalyst had sent a huge amount of data to the servers of many of this Realm's groups and the DDF's; analysis confirmed it contained gathered data on each & every sapient race ever 'harvested' by the Reapers. It would take years, if not decades, to go through it all, even with multiple AIs working round-the-clock to comb through it.
Watching the screen that showed a meeting in the lightly-damaged council chambers of the Citadel – still in Earth orbit until the DDF figured out how to safely move it back to where it was – Shepard saw an unfamiliar face representing the Batarians; Balak had died in the final battle, when his flagship Teremak took a hit from a Leader-subtype Reaper's main gun to the ship's bridge. Furthermore, the Asari councilor's podium was currently occupied not by Tevos, but by Matriarch Aethyta serving a planned-temporary role until a new Asari Councilor was picked (though popular opinion meant that it'd probably be her). The day after the end of hostilities, somebody had snuck onto the extranet a recording of the initial meeting of Shepard, Udina, & Liara with the three Councilors, as well as one of Udina's dying speech.
The response had been uproarious. The revelation that Councilor Tevos had been so cold and uncaring toward Earth's plight had turned nearly the entirety of the galaxy's remaining humans against her, and the further revelation that her attitude was the number-one motivating factor in Udina's betrayal, which led to the Cerberus invasion of the Citadel and countless non-human deaths, turned a large number of the Turians, Asari, Volus, and other races against her as well. Faced with overwhelming public outrage/disapproval, Tevos had been forced to resign her position of Councilor, retiring in disgrace.
At the moment, there was an interview going on with all the varying heads-of-state and military leaders of the various participating factions. Presently, Urdnot Wrex was giving the reporters a layman's-terms rundown of the Krogan war strategy used against the Reapers, with Bakara and the other representatives listening and occasionally chiming in.
"…Yeah, it wasn't exactly easy for us, but the challenge is what makes it enjoyable. And look at what we accomplished! Helping the Turians and Quarians give the Reapers hitting Palaven one hell of a nasty surprise, successfully preventing the Reapers from taking any of our clan 'cities' on Tuchanka and keeping the ones who were trying tied up so they couldn't cause more trouble elsewhere… And of course, the whole 'curing the Genophage' thing. …You know, though, there is one thing that bothers me right now."
"And what would that be?" Emily Wong asked.
The old Krogan had a little smirk. "I'm a bit bothered right now… because I just lost The Game."
The council chamber was filled with various angry or frustrated reactions from the many spectators, camera crew, military personnel, and even Aethyta and Sparatus (Valern tilted his head quizzically, confused). All across the civilized galaxy and at any points 'outside' where DDF viewers were turning in, especially human colonies and gatherings, billions of viewers simultaneously cried out in anguished frustration. Wrex laughed openly at the reactions he had garnered.
Elsewhere, back on Equestria, Discord abruptly turned away from his current task of making a Husk pack dance the conga, looking up to the sky with wide eyes.
"Somewhere, something wonderful has happened…" he muttered.
-Break-
Eve T'Lesh stood atop an otherwise-empty bridge within the Citadel, watching as people of various species moved about, surveying the damage. She'd come here to find solitude, not wanting to join the celebratory festivities despite multiple people's invitations to her. Now that the war was finally over, she could go back to her hunt. …Though now, she knew about a half-dozen or so humans who would be spared, bright points in an otherwise-dark species.
"What do I do now…?" she wondered aloud.
Suddenly, the gem at the head of her staff chimed and flashed; before the war broke out, she'd dispatched multiple magic-based 'drones' throughout inter-Realm space, searching for clues of where the object of her true search might be. Occasionally, she received reports – images of potential items of interest that might point her in the right direction. She called up the holographic image taken and sent by the drone… and her eyes widened. Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she looked around, and then began to focus her power for an inter-Realm 'space bridge' jump. A niggling doubt about her chosen path was at the back of her mind, but she forced it down, and then with a flash of motion she vanished.
-Break-
"Commander…"
"Fleet-Admiral Hood, sir? What can I do for you?"
"Sorry to interrupt your well-earned R&R, Commander Shepard, but I wanted to let you know about something my boys and the Arbiter's people just found. We did some digging, and discovered the coordinates for a 'meeting ground' for Jul Mdama's people in our Realm. The Master Chief, Cortana, and Gamma-1 are getting set to head out and investigate tomorrow. I'm not ordering you to go with them, but I'm letting you know you can if you want to."
"…Let me speak with my crew, Fleet-Admiral, and then I'll get my things ready."
"Are you sure? You just ended a galactic-scale war…"
"Sir, if Mdama and his people find any doomsday weapons or the like, or accidentally release some Flood from storage… I'd rather help nip this in the bud before it gets bad."
"Understood. Good hunting, Commander. Hood out."
As the communication cut, Shepard thought; he would have to be ready for anything.
"And," he said to himself, "there's one last thing to be done – something I've been forgetting to do for over six months now, something of vital importance that must be accomplished!"
-Break-
*THOOM*~
"…Really, Commander?"
*THOOM*~
"*Sigh*… Probing Uranus…"
-BOOK 27 END-
And that's it. Now, there's going to be a bit of a break before the next Book's start, because I have lots to occupy my time – working on an essay, redoing some older Books' chapters a bit, I just got Super Smash 3DS and will be getting Pokémon Alpha Sapphire soon… But don't worry; odds are it'll be out before the end of the year. Keep an eye out in the Nanoha/Halo crossover section for Teana's Travels Book 28: Requiem.