Hello, again, everyone, and welcome back to my MechWarrior/BattleTech - Mass Effect crossover.

For those of you that guessed which sub-story arc we're going into now, congratulations. We're entering the Leviathan DLC story arc. We get to see how things change with the Inner Sphere tagging along for the ride.

Don't forget that I have a poll on my profile. If you want to vote on the choices presented, go ahead and do so. Every vote helps.

As always, leave a review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the MechWarrior/BattleTech or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, WizKids, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc., etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

Citadel

Serpent Nebula

September 19th, 2186

It turned out, Dr. Bryson lived at the Presidium, or rather that was where his laboratory was at anyways. Landing the skycar, Shepard looked around at the exterior of the place. From what he could tell, much of the small lot was taken up by a building that stood around two stories in height. The lawn had a large boulder that split it down the middle, while glass walls and doors allowed one to look inside. Right now, they were were translucent, enough that he couldn't see too well inside.

He wasn't the only one to be present here as well. Three men were standing outside, all of them in body armor, just like Shepard. Unlike Shepard's armor, which was black with a single red stripe bordered in white, these men were wearing dark gray armor that had pixellated patterns all over the surface. Only one had his helmet off, and it was a face that Shepard recognized. "Victor, good to see you," Shepard beamed.

"Good to see you as well," Victor nodded. "I see that you got my message, and took the necessary precautions."

"You suggested wearing body armor, so I did so," Shepard shrugged. "Still, I agree with you on the gut feeling. Something's off with this whole thing. Best to come in prepared."

"Agreed," Victor nodded. "So, shall we go inside?"

"After you," Shepard replied. With that, both men walked to the door and went inside.

If the exterior was quite bare, the interior was anything but. Looking around, they could see a lot of items and other doodads scattered around the place. Shepard could see a flight of stairs that went upwards, likely to a bedroom, while the room in front of him was filled with all kinds of items. To his right, though, he was shocked to see what looked like Reaper tech, though it was held in a holder that had various electronics working overtime.

Victor, seeing it for himself, was more than a little worried. "Uh… I don't think that's very smart, having Reaper tech like that around. Unless, of course, this is some kind of device that's designed to nullify any Indoctrination present. I read the file on what it does; nasty shit, I can tell you that."

"I know," Shepard nodded. "The worst part about Indoctrination is that whomever is influenced by it thinks they're doing good. That's one thing I hate about the Reapers: they turn good men into monsters that thing they are doing the right thing."

"I know the feeling. Should I step outside?"

"I don't know. It looks like this technology is designed to shield a user from Indoctrination. I'll talk to Dr. Bryson on that, but you should be fine if you don't stick around for too long. It takes weeks, even months, for Indoctrination to permanently set in. A few minutes exposure shouldn't cause any trouble. I know because I had to get inside of a dead Reaper for a few minutes."

"Alright. Still, I'm going to do a psych evaluation when this is over."

As they walked inside, they could hear a sharp, baritone voice up ahead. Apparently, the speaker was talking to someone, as he was being very concise with his instructions. "… I want you to match this against all known locations and update the map. Then contact the field teams for a progress report."

Fortunately, they didn't have to look far for the speaker, as he was standing in front of them at a huge holographic monitor. While his back was turned to them, his assistant was standing at just enough of an angle for Shepard to see him. He was a relatively young man with darkened skin, short black hair and brown eyes. "Yes, sir," Derek Hadley, according to the nametag on his uniform, nodded.

A moment later, seeing a glance from his assistant, the man turned around. Dr. Garret Bryson, as the nametag cleared identified him, was a tall man, about as tall as Victor, with dark brown hair that was graying and receding, clear blue eyes and tanned skin wrinkled through time and stress. Spotting the two, he said, "Commander Shepard, Kommandant Steiner-Davion. We've been expecting the two of you. Just a moment." Turning to Derek, he said, "And Hadley? Could you gather the Leviathan data for us?"

As they moved towards another room, Bryson said, "Apologies, Commander. The rest of my team is out investigating leads right now." Extending a hand, he said, "I'm Dr. Bryson and this is Task Force Aurora."

"Shepard," was the reply. "Also, this is Victor Steiner-Davion, our liaison from the AFFC."

"Good to meet you," Victor said to Bryson as he shook the man's extended hand.

"The same to you," Dr. Bryson nodded. "I have to admit, I've hunted for leads for various cryptids and the like, but even I was skeptical that people could travel from other universes. I guess that's what happens when you become too skeptical."

"I guess," Victor shrugged. "By the way, about that Reaper tech?"

"It's alright," Bryson reassured him. "That device that section of a Reaper is inside is designed to nullify the Indoctrination field it produces. In addition, we perform regular psych evaluations to catch Indoctrination before it becomes permanent. It takes between four weeks to 3 months for the effects to become permanent. You'll be fine."

"Don't blame me if I don't take your word for it. I've read on what that shit does."

"That's understandable."

As they talked, they walked into a room that had a large image of the galaxy. A counter was present, with some walls that had photographs taped to them, and there was a glass section that had various artifacts behind it. One of those objects was a large, spherical orb. It was about a meter in diameter, had a glassy texture and was black in color.

As soon as Victor saw it, he immediately became suspicious of the object. While he was already suspicious, given the fact that there was seemingly inactive Reaper technology around, this orb caused the feeling to become nearly palpable. Something is off about that thing, he thought to himself. I don't know how or why, but I really don't like the look of that thing. His guards felt the same way, as they subconsciously reached for their weapons. To dispel the feeling, Victor began examining other parts of the lab.

Shepard, though, didn't really notice anything odd, as he continued to chat with Bryson. "What's your mission here?" he asked.

"Our mandate is to investigate legends, rumors… old stories about the Reapers before anyone knew about them," Dr. Bryson explained.

"That's an interesting goal," Shepard prefaced, "but is anyone doubting the existence of the Reapers these days?"

"The Alliance is still desperate for intelligence," Dr. Bryson countered. "Reaper motives, their operational tactics… anything that can give us an edge."

"And how did you end up in charge?"

"When the rest of the galaxy says something doesn't exist, I take that as a chance to prove that it does."

"So you're in it for the challenge."

"For the truth. Even as late as 2148, Humanity thought aliens were still a myth. That was within my lifetime. One that myth was proven to be reality, our entire history changed."

"Reapers were part of that reality too."

"Even they have a history, Commander. If we can just uncover it, there may be a weakness we can exploit."

"Sounds useful," Victor noted.

"That it does," Shepard admitted. "Could've used your help three years ago, Doctor."

"Yes," Dr. Bryson nodded. "If people paid more attention to your Prothean beacon, we might not be in this mess. But now with new information we've uncovered, a breakthrough is near."

As he said this, one of Victor's guards noticed Derek coming towards them, but that wasn't what alarmed him. What alarmed him was that he held a gun in his hands, and the fact that his eyes appeared glassy. "GUN!" the man shouted, before tackling Dr. Bryson to the ground.

Bryson, who saw what was going on, shouted, "Derek, what are you doing?!"

Apparently, whatever was influencing Derek didn't have full control, as the man seemed to be struggling to raise his weapon. "H-help!" he gasped. "I-I can't h-hold them b-back l-long!"

Victor, who had responded to the guard's shout, promptly tackled Derek to the ground, before punching him between the eyes. Derek's body went limp, like a marionette who's strings had been cut. The gun fell out of his hands, while his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. "Anyone hurt?" Victor asked.

"No," Shepard replied. Looking at the guard that tackled Bryson to the ground, he said, "Good catch!"

"Thanks," the guard nodded. "I noticed the gun and glassy eyes, then put two and two together."

"Derek!" Bryson shouted, clearly fearing for his assistant's well being. Getting up, he ran over and began shaking Derek. "Derek! Are you alright?! Derek!" When no response came, he said, "Get a chair. I'll try to revive him."

"Before we do that," Victor countered. Motioning for a chair, he had the guards bring it over, then, pulling out a flex-cuff, Victor looped it around the back of the chair, and Derek's wrists. "There," he nodded with satisfaction. "If whatever happened to him does so again, he won't be a danger to anyone."

It didn't take long for Derek to come too, as just a minute later, he gasped and jumped slightly. When he looked down, his expression went from shock to confusion when he saw that his hands were tied up. "W-what's going on?" he asked. "W-what happened?"

"You can ask Dr. Bryson that," Victor frowned. "You tried to attack him."

"WHAT?!" Derek asked, shock plainly written on his face. "I-I would never do that! W-what's going on?!" Then horror dawned on his face when he realized what might happened. "Dr. Bryson?! Is he -?!"

"I'm alright," Bryson replied. "Victor's right, though. You nearly pulled a gun on me; it was only thanks to his guards that I'm still here to tell the tale." A sympathetic expression came on his face as he asked, "What happened? Do you remember anything?"

"I… I was gathering data when you arrived and then… It was dark… and… and cold… like I was somewhere else."

"And then?"

"I don't know… A… a gun was in my hand. Then someone tackled me to the ground and then everything went black. That's… that's all I remember of… whatever happened to me."

"OK," Bryson decided. Looking at Shepard and the others, he said, "It's obvious that whatever happened to him was abnormal. I've never heard of anything like this happening to anyone before. Do you?"

"I do," Victor replied. "My father, Hanse Davion, was nearly replaced by a doppleganger that Maximilian Liao created in order to rule the Federated Suns as a puppet state. Ardan Sortek, my father's bodyguard, however, conclusively proved that the fake was a fake, and that my father was the real one. Having read that report in full, I can only come to two conclusions."

"And those would be?"

"That either he was brainwashed by someone who was skilled enough to do it quickly, or someone directly controlled him after doing the aforementioned possibility over a very long period of time. In fact, his entire account reminds me of reports that I've read on Indoctrination. The symptoms are very similar, but not identical." Then a new line of thought occurred to him. "What about that 'Leviathan' creature that Bryson mentioned. Does that have anything to do with this?"

"Maybe," Derek frowned, still getting over the shock of what had happened. "It's… some kind of creature. Our field teams have been tracking it. That artifact, the orb-like one, came from our researcher, Garneau. He -"

"Wait a minute!" Victor frowned, looking at the orb. Already, he could see a clear difference from earlier. For one thing, it was now glowing, with an ethereal blue color that was mixed with warmer green colors. "That wasn't what it looked like a minute ago. It's glowing now!"

"What could that mean?" Bryson asked.

"I don't know, but it can't be anything good," Shepard frowned. "Victor."

"Right," Victor nodded. "Everyone out of the building, right the fuck now! No exceptions! I want everyone checked for any neurological changes and radiation damage. Go!" With that, everyone scrambled out of the building, while Victor cut Derek free, before hauling him out of the building proper.

Once they were outside, Victor keyed his comm. "I want an AFFC medical team down here on the double! Possible Indoctrination threat down here. Repeat: possible Indoctrination threat down here!"

. . .

Around two minutes later, the medical team arrived, and were busy scanning everyone that had been inside of the building from head to foot. One such doctor was currently scanning Shepard for any neurological changes, with others doing the same for Dr. Bryson, Derek, Victor and his guards. Eventually, the head medical professional said, "Well, I've got good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?" Victor asked.

"You, your guards, and Shepard, are doing quite nicely. No major changes, though there were a few anomalies, though those can be easily accounted to natural biological changes."

"And the bad news?"

"Dr. Bryson and Dr. Derek have shown some unusual neurological deviations from the norm. Derek's, however, is the worst off, but we feel that Bryson can go in for short periods of time. I recommend only ten minutes per day for him, but Derek needs to remain out of the artifact's field of influence."

"How can you tell that he needs to do so?" Shepard asked.

"When we got mention of the reports of Indoctrination in your government, we went over what you shared with us in order to find out how to detect Indoctrination. We happened on a scan that you took of Dr. Kenson after her passing when you killed her at the Bahak system. That allowed us to compare her neurological scans to that of a baseline human being. We found major differences in the electrochemical makeup, as well as in the structure of their neural pathways. Using that, we can determine if someone's Indoctrinated by checking their neurological makeup."

That explained quite a bit to Shepard. "If we'd known about that, we would've rooted out anyone that was indoctrinated quite some time ago. So, what's the verdict?"

"Like I said, Bryson can go in, but he needs to be monitored regularly. Derek, however, needs to stay away from artifacts like that for a long time, maybe even permanently. The rest of you can go in. From what I can tell, it takes weeks, if not months, for this level of change to happen."

"Alright," Bryson nodded. "I'll go in, but once those ten minutes are up, I'm out of there."

"Good." With that, everyone, except for Derek, went back inside.

"Here. This was an outgoing call that I sent to Hackett." A moment later, Bryson walked over to a computer console and hit an icon.

A moment later, Hackett's voice came over the speakers. "Dr. Bryson, do you have an update?" he asked.

"Admiral, the 'Leviathan of Dis' that we've been investigating - I think we're onto something," Bryson's voice said.

"Give me the brief."

"About twenty years ago, the Batarians discovered a Reaper corpse that died in battle. They covered it up and denied that it existed. But I'm intrigued by the larger implication."

"What could have killed a Reaper in the first place?"

"Exactly! That's the real Leviathan!"

"It's worth pursuing. Continue your investigation and update me on your progress." A moment later, the video log ended.

"There's more," Bryson explained. "I sent Hackett a follow-up message a couple weeks later. A moment later, he played another video log.

"Admiral, the Reapers are shadowing my field teams as though they're hunting Leviathan themselves," Bryson stated in the recording. "Whatever it is, I believe that Leviathan is nothing less than a Reaper-killer – almost an apex predator – and it has them nervous. If we could just find it, imagine the impact on the war. I'm formally requesting assistance in tracking it down."

"You'll have it," Hackett nodded. "This is now your top priority, Doctor. Find that thing." That log ended moments later.

"Hackett probably sent you guys to help out," Bryson finished.

"I'm a little worried," Shepard frowned. "Anything that can kill a Reaper can cause a lot of collateral damage."

"Well," Victor frowned. "As one man once put it, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Still, we won't know unless we find it."

"Agreed," Bryson nodded. "In addition, I got a field log from Garneau detailing a discovery he made. My ten minutes are about up, so I've got to go. Good luck with your search." With that, Bryson left the lab, leaving Shepard, Victor and the guards inside.

"Any ideas?" Shepard asked.

"Looks like Bryson handed you quite a few data-pads," Victor noted. "Let's look through them. There might be something of use on them." With that, they began to sort through some of the datapads.

Picking up one, Shepard noted that it was about the artifact that Garneau had found, the one that had caused the panic from earlier. Playing the log, he heard Garneau's voice on the file. "Dr. Bryson, it's Garneau. I'm sending you an artifact I found. About the only thing I found, in fact. Maybe it's nothing, but I'd swear that Leviathan came through here. I'm going to crunch some numbers, burn up the rest of this project travel allowance. Maybe I can project our Reaper-killer's movements. I'll check in when I get to the next site."

"Interesting," Victor noted. "Garneau appears to be our best lead, but he doesn't make any mention of a location."

"Let's focus on what he does say, then," Shepard suggested.

"Good idea. He mentioned extrapolating Leviathan's path and crunching numbers. He wasn't flying blind. He had data, data that we can likely find here."

"So, how do we narrow it down?"

"I've got an idea," one of the guards suggested. Looking at the galaxy map, Shepard noted the guard was standing right in front of it. "From what I can tell, Bryson and his colleagues are using a galaxy map search program to help narrow down locations. If we can find data that we can compare to known star systems they visited, then we can narrow down where Garneau's current location is at."

Shepard's eyebrows raised upwards, while Victor got a glint in his eyes. "That's an excellent idea," Victor noted. "What's your name?"

"Sergeant Ian Hastings, sir," the guard replied

"Sergeant Hastings, when we find out where Garneau is at, you're definitely coming along with us. A good soldier uses his intelligence more than his strength, and that's exactly what you've done. Check the labs for anything that might help us out. That goes double for you, Richards."

"Yes, sir!" the guards replied. With that, they began searching the lab for any clues.

Moving into the nearby lab, Shepard noticed a wall that had photographs taped to it. Walking over, he closely scrutinized the photos. "Looks like Bryson was tracking unexplained creature sightings," Shepard mused.

That was when his comm crackled. "That's correct," came Bryson's voice. "Sorry for the interruption, Shepard. I figured out that I can keep in contact with you via comms, so I can help direct you that way."

"Sounds good," Shepard nodded. "I've noted your unexplained creature sightings wall. Anything here to note?"

"Yes," Bryson nodded. "Hit a nearby switch on the table. That wall's covered with a kind of ink that only shows up under UV light." Nodding, Shepard hit the nearby switch he spotted.

When he did, the entire wall seemed to light up with mathematical figures, equations and a rudimentary star map. "Clever," Victor noted. "It's a good way of hiding information. Bryson, what are we looking at?"

"An extrapolation for a course," Bryson replied. "Using the data we found, we began to extrapolate a potential path to find Leviathan. Garneau was following it."

"Good idea," Victor noted. "Sergeant Hastings, add this as a search filter for the program."

"You got it!" came Hasting's voice.

That wasn't the only thing to take note of. Spotting some nearby rocks and a scanner, Victor walked over. "Bryson, what's this? Looks like a scanner and a bunch of rocks."

"Those are more than just rocks," Bryson explained. "Those are meteorites with traces of Element Zero inside of them. We figured that Leviathan might have need of Element Zero, which is obvious if it can take on a Reaper. It's not consumed as fuel, but Element Zero does decay after several centuries of active use. As such, Leviathan would need to replenish it's stocks every so often in order to remain active."

"Smart thinking," Victor noted. "Track the location of Element Zero deposits in the systems on the map, and you have a list of Leviathan's refueling locations. Hastings?"

"Already done!" came Hastings' voice.

More searching yielded a few data pads, as well as a child's drawing. Ignoring the drawing for now, as it seemed irrelevant, Shepard activated the datapad. A moment later, Dr. Bryson's voice came in loud and clear. "March 7th, 2186: I'm looking at the Rachni. Their movements during the Rachni Wars suggest alien influence, but the timing's wrong, and the Rachni weren't implanted with Reaper tech. What if Leviathan was preparing the Rachni to fight the Reapers?" A moment later, the journal entry ended.

"Could that be possible?" Shepard asked.

"Possibly," Victor shrugged. "Bryson?"

"That's correct," Bryson added. "We were also using ancient Rachni fleet activity to look for Leviathan. There are a few items to check in the lab that should help with that."

"Got it." Using the nearby computer, Shepard pulled up data on the Rachni. "Look at this," he said to Victor. "These are recorded sightings of ships matching those that the Rachni used. Think we can use this?"

"Definitely. I'll have Hastings' add it to the map."

As they looked around, Victor found a data pad. Finding a video recording of a message Bryson sent, he played it. "Sir, this is Bryson," came Bryson's voice. "We know the Reapers are after Leviathan. Studying Reaper hunting patterns could be crucial to finding it."

"That data is classified 'Top Secret', Dr. Bryson," came the voice of an Alliance officer. "If it falls into the wrong hands…"

"It won't. The data's encrypted. I'll keep the decryption key safe… close to my heart."

That had Victor intrigued. "Close to his heart," he mused. "What does that mean?" Then he remembered the child's drawing that Shepard had ignored. Wait a minute… he realized. What if that child's drawing has something to do with it? Curious, he decided to move upstairs.

Upstairs, he found a bed, as well as a small end table that had another piece of childhood art. "Anne Bryson, age nine," Victor noted. "I didn't know that Bryson had a – wait a minute!" Peering more closely, he thought he saw a series of numbers written with a yellow crayon or marker. Then it dawned on him. "Sergeant Hastings? Can you come here for a minute?"

Just a few seconds later, Sergeant Hastings came over. "What is it?"

"You notice something odd?" Victor asked. A moment later, he showed Hastings the picture.

"I do," Hastings noted. "There's a series of numbers and letters hidden in the image. My guess is that we can use those numbers to create an encryption key."

"Can you do it?" Victor asked.

"Yes," Hastings nodded. "Remember, Victor, I came from MIIO when I was assigned to you. I received training in intelligence gathering, specifically in HUMINT and IMINT. I can definitely get this done." Pulling up his omni-tool, he quickly went to work. "Just a bit longer… there! I've just made an encryption key. Here."

"Thank you," Victor nodded as his omni-tool received the data. "You've just done a major service for the Federated Commonwealth. Remind me to get you a promotion some point."

"Thanks, but no thanks, sir," Hastings countered. "I much prefer being an NCO. Allows me to be on the field."

"Well, either way, you have my thanks." With that, Hastings returned to the galaxy map, while Victor, noticing a data pad, walked over to it. Finding an audio log, he played it.

"Dr. Bryson," an Alliance officer said, "per your request, I'm clearing Task Force Aurora for intercepted Batarian communications pertaining to the 'Leviathan of Dis.'"

A moment later, Victor heard a pair of Batarians on the recording. "Commander, the dreadnought is in custody, but the Salarians may have surveillance footage."

"Our ambassador will issue a full denial," came the second one. "Give me a preliminary analysis."

"Several million years old at least, and the technology outstrips anything on the Council."

"Excellent. Our scientists will work day and night to bring it's secrets to the Hegemony."

"One concern, Commander. The real Leviathan of Dis, the thing that destroyed this ship, is still out there, unaccounted for."

"Irrelevant. The ship is our top priority, and as far as the galaxy is concerned, there is no Leviathan of Dis. Never was."

Intriguing, Victor noted to himself. Shepard did mention that he convinced a terrorist, Balak, to side with the Alliance in defeating the Reapers. We'll have to more closely examine the Batarian Hegemony, or what's left of it, once the war is over. With that, he walked down to the ground floor and over to a second data pad on the desk he was at a few minutes earlier. Encrypted information. Well… open sesame.

A smile came onto his face when the data was decrypted. "Interesting," he noted. "Shepard, have a look at this."

When Shepard came over and looked at the data, he noted it too. "That's odd," he frowned. "Looks like the Reapers are hunting for something."

"Agreed. Get this data to Hastings. He might be able to make some use of it at the galaxy map. Besides, it's high time that we narrow down this information."

With that, they made their way over to the galaxy map, where Hastings was adding in search filters. Spotting the data, he said, "One moment, adding another filter." A moment later, he said, "Here you go. I also checked this room for information, from Prothean relics, to Blackout Crimes."

"Blackout Crimes?" Shepard asked.

"Crimes where the perpetrator claimed memory loss," Hastings explained. With that, they began using the search filters to see where Garneau had ended up at. Activating one of the filters, Hastings said, "Five possible locations. We can check them, unless you want to narrow the search."

"Yeah," Victor noted. "What about Element Zero locations?" He added that filter a moment later.

"Down to three," Shepard noted. "We're getting warmer. What about alien sightings?" A moment later, he added the filter.

That was the Eureka moment. "There we go!" Victor noted. "We have a match for all of the selected parameters. Looks like Garneau's destination is the Aysur system, located in the Caleston Rift. Bryson, you hear that?"

"Yep," Bryson nodded. "That was the next system that we were going to check on our course extrapolation. Garneau went there, but he hasn't reported in for some time."

"We'll check it out," Shepard nodded. Looking at Victor, he asked, "I don't suppose you can call in some support?"

"Yeah, I can," Victor nodded. "In addition to the AFFC, Hanse was able to secure an alliance with the Taurian Concordat, which is no mean feat given our history with them. They promised around four Concordat-class WarShips upgraded with the latest technology. Three of them are currently heading for the front lines of the Reaper War, but one was kept open in the event that you and your team needed some orbital fire support. You'll also be meeting the newest member of the team."

"Oh?"

"Edward Wright. He's a Corporal in the Taurian Defense Force. He'll be your liaison between your team and the Taurian Concordat. He's already onboard the Normandy waiting to report to you."

"Then let's go. We've got a Leviathan to hunt down."

(Author's Q&A)

galacticarmor2 Alt: I will at some point. Also, Shepard handed that one before he got yanked into the world of BattleTech.

SulliMike23: I won't spoil anything, but I will say that the Illusive Man will soon have a very bad day.

Chronus1326: I don't know about that. Volus are merchants and they prefer to leave the fighting to the Turians.

Guest: Thank you.

edboy4926: Yep, Thane's going to live, and Leviathan is going to have a surprise waiting for it.

Just a Crazy-Man: Yep. Once more unto the breach.

MarauderPrime12: Thank you.

RandomReader: That is true. There will always be some people that can't let go of their prejudices. What matters is that they don't gain control of any major position of power.