I own nothing except for original content.

To answer the reviewer who told me to remove Nephilim from my story, not gonna happen. It affects nothing. It was an ass pull by a character under a little pressure. He needed a name to call his species, and that was the first thing he thought of.

Also, sorry for all the time skips. Kind of necessary for a series like Mass Effect, especially when most of the time skipped over has nothing narratively important other than 'time passes and stuff gets done.' Next chapter begins the storylines of the games.

Also I apologize for the long wait and short chapter. Life has a way of getting in the way. 60+ hours a week at work kind of drains all free time and energy.

XxXxXxX

I stood on the balcony of my swanky apartment on the Citadel, reading over my latest report form Varla Bon. The Winter Group had rapidly expanded with all the cash I had tossed at it, and currently included six mining conglomerates, three major shipyards, and one military manufacturing complex, and was currently in talks to acquire a system or two as colonies of the Nephilim. The Quarians were still talking over my offer to make them a client species, and to give them a world to grow their food on until they were able to adjust to living on planet rather than on ships. One liveship was halfway through production, and my first mil-spec cruiser was just starting. My take of the proceeds the company was making was only 10%. Everything else going either to pay Varla Bon or being funneled back into the company. Just as I finished reading the report, there was a knock on my front door. I didn't need to be a rocket surgeon to know who it was. It had been six months to the day since I escaped the fucking salarian scientists.

"Well its time for me to go complete my tour of duty."

I clicked a few buttons on my omni-tool, and activated the alarm system, then stepped out the door. Standing just down the hall were three Turian soldiers. I nodded, and they turned and marched away, and I fell into step behind them.

XxXxXxX

10 years later. 2172

I sat in the Pricilla's newly added armory, currently waiting on the last part of my custom designed high caliber sniper rifle/heavy machine gun to be flash forged, making use of the 30 minute wait to read Varla Bon's newest report on the Winter Group. I was the owner of no less than 5 space stations, orbiting one of 3 garden worlds I had "colonized", two dozen dreadnaughts, 10 supercarriers, 20 carriers, 50 heavy cruisers, 20 stealth frigates, and the crown jewel of my fleet, my superdreadnaught. The NSV Abysswalker was a monster of a ship. Her main gun could rip right through any dreadnaught in the galaxy with ease. She had a proprietary shielding that was based on what I could remember of the Cyclonic shields from the Normandy. There were enough GAURDIAN turrets that she could face tank a battlegroup's missile barrage no problem. And she possessed enough Javelin missile pods to wipe out that same battle group. To say nothing of her own battle group. Two supercarriers, four carriers, 10 heavy cruisers, and four stealth frigates. Granted, none of the ships were fully functional at the moment, only being crewed by just enough to keep them working, and not much more. But I had a plan to fill out the rest of the crews, and bring them up to full battle capacity. That's why I was currently gearing up for a firefight, while my SOVI was navigating the ship on a course for an uncharted world called Feros.

Just as I finished reading the report, the flashforge dinged at me, and spit out the last part of the shaving block and heatsink hotswap modification, allowing me to put in a new shaving block once the one I was using ran out of material or drop out the heatsink and replace it, should it get too hot to continue firing. Currently I could get 4000 rounds of HMG fire or 400 rounds of sniper fire out of a single block. And with my illusions and inventory, it was no issue to keep dozens of the blocks with me at all times. So I slotted in the final piece, then tossed it in my inventory, and equipped it, then checked the fit of the large backpack that housed the mass effect drive that powered the weapon, as well as the cooling mechanism, allowing me to essentially have unlimited fire as long as a shaving block held out, and easily switch out a heatsink should I fire continuously for long enough to overwhelm the external cooling pack. I'd spent the last 10 years off and on tweaking and prototyping the design on my leave time, and was confident this was the final iteration. I finished adjusting the fit, and SOVI came over the intercom.

"Ten minutes to Feros."

"Good. Once we get in atmo, run a scan for any large non-organic structures. Find the nearest group, and fly low in a search pattern Scan for active aqueducts. Then alert me, and land nearby."

"Affirmative Captain."

I gave the backpack of my new monstrosity of a weapon, that I dubbed the Devastator, a good tug to make sure it was firmly in place, and then equipped the other 4 weapons I intended to take with me. A pair of heavily modified Carnifex handcannons on my hips, a beefed up Krogan Claymore shotgun attached to the underside of the pack of the Devastator, and a Mattock modified to shoot full auto clipped to the right side of the pack, all with the swappable heat sinks and shaving blocks. Then I pulled on my Ascended Pyromancy glove, and stuck a sheathed Blue Flame catalyst/dagger to a magnetic attachment point on my thigh. Then I pulled my helmet on, the white faceplate standing out against the black of the helmet. Finally, I attached the business end of the Devastator to the magclips on the left side of the pack. I scrolled through my inventory to make sure I had some incendiary and sedative gas grenades. And so, with all my preparations done, I made my way to the cockpit. Just as the doors slid open on the elevator, SOVI spoke up again.

"Captain, scans have revealed an abandon city with multiple towers, and a functioning aqueduct system. There also appears to be approximately 5 Turians walking along the ducts, doing maintenance. Scans also detect multiple moving plants deeper in the ducts. Do you still wish to land?"

'Man, am I glad I upgraded her scanners, and upgraded SOVI to an AI. The upgrading with souls is so convenient.'

"Yes, put us down a klick from the location of the Turians. Once I get on the ground, fly in a holding pattern, and prepare to call in the fleet for the Parkinglot Protocol. There is a being down there that could end all life as we know it."

"Affirmative. I have put an alert through to the Abysswalker battle group to prepare to be mobilized."

"Thank you." Just after that, I felt an ever so slight jolt as we touched down, and opened the air lock doors. I painted the location of the turians SOVI had detected, and set off at a light jog. Of course, a light jog for me was faster than most beings could sprint, so I made the trip in no time flat. I slowed down just as I got to my destination, and spoke to one of the Turians, who had completely ignored me.

"I would like an audience with the Thorian."

The mind controlled Turians froze for a split-second, then spoke as one single monotonous voice.

"Why do you wish to speak to me?"

'Damn, that's fucking creepy as hell.'

"I have a proposition for you. I need crew for my fleet, and you need protection. Someone will discover you, and kill you to keep a being with mind control powers from existing. So, you use your creepers to man my ships, and Ferros will be under my protection. We will keep up the aqueduct feeding you water, cultivate biomass for you to feed on, and teach you what you wish to learn, on top of how to operate my fleet."

There was silence for a moment. Then, "You would risk a being capable of mind control being given access to starships? You must be desperate."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's about the size of it. There is a race of sentient machines coming to wipe out all Intelligent life in the galaxy, including you. I'm attempting to build a fleet to combat them, or at least slow them down a bit, to give us all a shot at surviving. And as for your mind control powers, I'm not really worried. All current members of my military are Quarian. They live in sealed enviro-suits. No spores getting in there. And I'm immune to mental effects. And my ships are equipped with an advanced VI. It will lock out any unauthorized persons from interfacing with controls. So yeah, you are far more valuable alive, and working with me, then dead or against us. We can teach you how to operate the defense systems of our ships, how to do repairs, and everything else you need to know to be a functional part of my military. Then once you've got a handle on that, you can help drastically decrease production time on my superdreadnaught fleets. I'll put all my quarian shipbuilders on the "day shift," and you can take over the "night shift". If you can help me get ten more superdreadnaughts built in the next 8 years, then we might stand a chance against the Reapers. You help me, you get to live for as long as possible. But, turn me down, and I will turn this planet into a glass parkinglot. You are powerful. Immensely so. Should you fall into the Reaper's hands, you could cause untold devastation. I can't take that risk. Help me, or die. Those are your options. You have 1 hour to decide."

The enslaved turians began to metaphorically bristle, and became visibly enraged. "You DARE threaten ME? I have survived on this planet undetected for millions of years. I have seen the rise and fall of dozens of civilizations, and consumed all who stood before me. You are an insignificant insect before me, nothing but a speck of dust. What makes you think you could pose a threat to me? On this planet, I AM GOD!"

I shook my head. I had hoped it would be a bit easier to convince it to join me, but also, it seems that a bit of intimidation would be necessary. So I began to flare my Killing Intent, and Malefic Aura, along with activating my Flash Step, simply for aesthetics. A black, writhing miasma began to creep up my body slowly the sporadic red lighting of my Flash Step adding an unnatural ambiance to the sight. Then a wave of pure Intent to murder hit the turians, causing them to become visibly afraid, even through the mind control. Then I spoke in a even tone. "A God? Don't make me laugh. You are no god. I have faced beings with more power in one finger than you possess in your entirety. And killed them with my bare hands. You are nothing. It would take only moment for me to end you. I wouldn't even be slightly winded after killing you. As a matter of fact, I could have bombarded this planet with out ever stepping foot here, but I decided to offer you a chance to live a life in the open, one where you didn't have to stay hidden for your own protection." I let my KI and Malefic Aura dissipate. "Now, are you in or out?"

The slaved turians relaxed, and then were silent for a few moments. "Very well. I accept."

I nodded, glad I didn't have to take another life pointlessly. "Good. I'll send over the Abysswalker, and have them pick up a few creepers, along with a spawning pod and one of your neural nodes. Then they can start teaching you."

"I shall await your people. Now please, leave me. I must rest."

I nodded, then called SOVI to pick me up, and sent a message to the Abysswalker battle group with my plans for them.

XxXx xXxX

10 years later. The closing days of 2182.

I was reading the scouting reports from my stealth frigates. The Geth were being seen more and more in the Terminus Systems. The batarians were becoming more and more aggressive. The turians were ramping up production of military ships. Apparently my fleet of 20 Abysswalker class Superdreadnaughts had scared the brass on Palaven into increasing their military. I even sold them the cyclonic shield tech for their ships.

"Good. Everything is in order." I closed out all my reports, then spoke to SOVI. "SOVI, set a course for Eden Prime. And send a message to the R&D on Ferros. Ask for an update on Project Newton."

"Course set Captain. ETA 4 hours. Message sent. The R&D team has sent a reply. Report will be compiled in 2 hours and forwarded to me. I will let you know when I receive the report. Relay Jump in 5….4….3….2….1. Jump initiated." I felt a slight jolt as the Priscilla rapidly accelerated to FTL speeds, before the inertial dampeners kicked in. "Jump successful. Drift negligible."

I thanked her, then went down to my forge and changed into my smithing clothes, which were a simple pair of leather bracers on my wrists, nondescript leather pants, and a leather band around my forehead whose sole purpose was to protect my hair from the heat. Embarrassingly, I'd become almost as attached to my hair as a certain buxom blonde brawler. Poor Sir Alonne had nicked my hair after I botched a dodge. And you know how pyromancy is linked to emotions? Well I may or may not have cast a Forbidden Sun powerful enough to turn his arena into a crater. Poor bastard was incinerated instantly. But I digress. I turned on my induction forge, and pulled two almost finished swords out of my inventory. They were a pair of beautifully curved 7 foot long katanas, forged from an alloy of titanium, tungsten and lightning infused titanite. Both blades were only lacking their edges and hilts(A/N can't remember the proper term, and to lazy to look it up). I had spent the last 6 months or so practicing forging monomolecular edges with this alloy, and I had finally perfected the craft a week ago, and intended to finish these blades today. I had already finished all the individual pieces of the blades, so all I had to do was forge down the edges, quench them in my unique quenching fluid, a combination of dragon, demon, and god blood, and put the things together. I picked up the first blade, and ran it through the coil of the forge and cast Observe on it. Conveniently, Observe could tell me even the temperature of an object ever since I had maxed it out. I allowed the blade to heat up to the optimal temperature, and then pulled Andre's Hammer out of my inventory, and began to forge.

XxXx xXxX

2 hours later

It hadn't taken quite as long as I thought to finish the blades, and I even had time to adjust the pack of the Devestator to hold the blades and allow me to draw the massively long swords quite easily. All I had to do was grab the hilt, and the pack would release the blades from their slotted magnetic sheaths, allowing me to have the blades at the ready with a simple flourish. I spent a few minutes repeatedly drawing and sheathing the blades until it had become a thoughtless action. I then set all my gear to a preset, and then went to the bridge to check on our progress.

"Captain, I just received the report from Ferros R&D. Forwarding to your omnitool."

My omnitool then gave a ding as I received the report, and I Immediately opened it, and gave it a read.

'Project Newton is greenlit. It passed all testing procedures. Good.'

"SOVI, send a message back. Tell them to begin production on a model for the Priscilla, the retro fit all of my vessels, begging with the Reaper Response battlegroup. Then I want all the Superdreadnaughts and liveships outfited. Send schematics to all production facilities, and have all production shift focus. I want all ships in my fleet retrofitted by the end of next year."

"Message sent, Captain. ETA to Eden Prime, 1 hour and 24 minutes."

I nodded. "Thank you SOVI. I'm going to get all the necessary immigration paperwork filled out, and get a house purchased. When we arrive, alert me, and follow all docking procedures."

XxXx xXxX

1 month later.

I had just walked through the door of my home after I returned to Eden Prime from a trip to Feros to have Project Newton installed on the Priscilla, and taken her on a shake down run, when I heard the tell-tale sound of a Reaper entering the atmosphere rang out, loud and clear. Like Gabriel's Trumpet sounding the end of days. I smiled a smile that I'm sure would have sent anyone same running for the hills, and hit my preset for my combat gear, and drew my custom Carnifex handcannons, and took off at high speed towards the location of the spaceport.

"Finally, the real fun begins!"