Deep space

To what should the prayers of the galaxy be offered?

Is it to their societies and lives?

Their spires of metal and time?

Or to the bonds of war and peace?

Not to them.

The devotion of the galaxy should not be offered to saints and heroes of their societies.

But what else can they pay devotion to?

The maws of the void?

Trespassers from stars now lost?

Or the hordes of the mindless devourer?

It is none of this.

The only thing the stars should truly be afraid of is not the hosts of perverted flesh… nor the battle cries of deceived fools… nor the screeching voice of oblivion.

What the universe should only be afraid of is but only one thing.

The harvest.

This overbearing purpose that would see all who were once able of loving something beyond themselves turned to ashes and be destroyed for the sake of this macabre dance that has existed since time immemorial.

To its servants in their eternal splendor.

It is to the hunters of the dark beyond to which fear should be offered.

It is to the implacable mechanisms to which toil and effort should be focused upon.

And to their angels to whom time and sacrifice have no meaning.

To those which the echoes of existance's death cry should be gifted.

They were the end of all things.

All for them…

All for the mission…

And he was their vanguard…

None can oppose the cycle.

In the dark corners of space where the light goes to die and the void hunts for its next prey a single figure stirred atop his dark throne of steel and desolation.

Saren rose from his slumber.

As the turian's cybernetic eyes adjusted to the darkness of the chamber in which he now resided, was it that he remembered the incident that had propelled his existence towards the fulfillment of his species destiny…

The next step of his people's evolution…

The har-

"Keep your deceit to yourself, Sovereign" the turian spoke irate as he looked towards the ceiling of the chamber into which he had recluded himself from 'his' followers.

Some may have called him mad for speaking to the emptiness had they met him prior to the galaxy discovering his… excursion to that human world.

But Saren knew better.

The chamber trembled slightly as the ancient one reacted to Saren's discovery.

The turian watched observantly as the machine trembled some more before the whole mechanism in which he was stopped its tantrum.

Saren mussed in delight as he had fought off the presence of Sovering in his mind once more.

But he knew that this agreement of theirs would not last.

His memory remained muddled as to when he had first met the old machine but he knew for certain that his current path was only such because of chance and the discovery of something that should have remained lost.

The old machine had approached the then spectre with an offer that the turian had only accepted after he had made sure that there was no other alternative: Serve the reapers to save his species or die like the rest of the galaxy was destined too.

This was the moment their fates had become one.

Or maybe their destinies had been intertwined as far back to the days in which he still had a brother that had not been consumed by madness.

Saren now just hoped that his supposed ally would not reconsider their… alliance.

For he knew that Sovereign only kept him around as long as he proved that he could still be of use to the steel god.

But the cracks were beginning to show.

Every day he had to remind himself that he was Saren Arterius, turian patriot and sole hope for the galaxy.

This was the only thing that kept him sane and in full control of his faculties.

So he knew that he was still… him.

Some may call his sanity already into question.

They would call him a traitor. A mad man who would sacrifice the innocent to complete his mission.

But they lacked vision.

The turian had dedicated his life to his people and the galaxy for most of it. Be it by his service as a Spectre to the council or by stomping out any threat who would dare to rear its disgusting head up.

Much like the humans.

The mere mention of that name brought a sour taste to his mouth as those primitives did nothing but revolt him.

They needed to learn their place.

"And you will remind them of this…" the voice of Sovereign spoke as he tried to woo him under his influence once again.

"Save your pleasantries. I still don't understand why you had us divert so many resources to track down a single asari" Saren spoke disgruntled as their diversion from their task had been an irrational step in his eyes.

"She was on the cusp of revealing our presence" Sovereign replied "Her work could have jeopardized our return".

This was not much of a surprise to him.

It was only due to how incompetent the council had been in this whole ordeal that they had not discovered the true nature of Sovereign even as he massacred an entire human colony without much effort.

Saren thought that this particular loose end had been taken care of with the last desperate gambit of his lieutenant but fate had deemed it as unfit to make this easy on him.

It had been less than four days when his agents in the citadel had reported the presence of the Normandy on an alliance dock and visual confirmation had then been sent to hint that somehow confirmed that not only did Shepard survive the ordeal but also informed him that the asari in question had also survived.

This angered the turian.

"Since our lieutenant has already failed in that regard. We may presume that our plans may already be in peril" Saren shuffled in his seat and pressed a button on his arm rest "Vanguard. Report to my chamber".

The geth did not answer with any words but after some time Vanguard entered the chamber in which Saren communed with the ancient being.

The machine kneeled as he looked at Saren -What is requested of us?- the programs who made the being he wished to speak with had transformed themselves into another geth platform of the prime configuration.

"You failed us once again on the planet of Therum… Your god is not pleased" Saren began to speak as he stood up from his seat and began to address the machine as if Saren was some sort of religious leader like he had been instructed to do by the being he now stood upon "Your people were promised salvation if your duties were performed as expected of you".

The prime bowed its head to simulate shame.

Preposterous.

-Rescue for the target was not expected. Configuration of rescue elements were also not expected- said Vanguard as he tried to make an excuse for his failure.

Saren did not have an opportunity to read thoroughly through the report of what had transpired as he had seen the whole affair as a disaster but he was mostly aware of how it had ended.

The machine reared its head and began to explain -Multiple organics formed a task force under the leadership of human organization: alliance- the machine stopped kneeling and turned to look at the ceiling -Mission parameters were within reach until an anomaly changed the priorities of 63.3% of our consensus-.

Saren understood thanks to Sovereign that the geth in front of him was an amalgamation of several programs rather than the singular unit usually housed in a platform as he had believed most geth to be.

This gave his lieutenants extreme martial abilities as he was the best strategist and fighter the geth could present to him. But this also meant that every action it took was a consensus made on votes. This wasn't much of a problem as these programs had acted in unison for most of their service to him.

For something to break their consensus and change his priorities in such a manner there must have been an exceptional anomaly.

"Was the change due to the organics that tried to rescue Doctor T'soni?" Saren asked.

-Yes- the geth turned to look at Saren as the turian returned to his seat -Leadership… and membership…-.

"Explain" he commanded.

The geth nodded -The organics were led by Shepard, John. Subject has been designated as an alpha threat to the return of our masters. Appropriate countermeasures were put in place should confrontation result in loss for geth and warmaster Hak. Membership was composed of several races… one in particular generated dissonance in our consensus as we couldn't acertain a fitting countermeasure-.

Saren felt angry at the mention of that name.

The foolish human proved once more why his species was undeserving of the lenience they were shown.

It was due to his actions that his task to save the galaxy had been placed in peril.

"But if it wasn't Shepard who instigated your distraction… Then who was it?" Saren asked.

-...- The geth did not answer.

"Well?" He asked once again as his patience was approaching its limit.

-...- The prime turned towards the ceiling -Eden prime anomaly. Origin: Unknown. Designation: Xiltar-.

Sovereign began to shake violently at the mention of that name.

To Saren it would seem that this alien had not only managed to gain the old machine's attention but somewhat of its hatred as it would seem.

But this mattered little to Saren.

"Your first failure as I recall… Your utter incompetence managed to jeopardize the return of the reapers…" the prophet of the geth began to berate his most fervent follower for its ineptitude "Sovereign will wish that this mistake is remedied… but not before judgment is passed onto you".

Saren wasn't sure if these words had come directly from his own mind but they nonetheless reflected his current disappointment with his top lieutenant's incompetence.

And Sovereign seemed to think much the same.

"You have failed the old lords and now you will stand at the mercy of its judgment" Saren said with cold glee as the chamber began to shift while hatches and beams seemed to twist around him.

The geth vowed its head once again and awaited for its god to deliver its due punishment.

And Saren was painfully aware of how Sovereign rewarded failure.

Then the light of the chamber dimmed into darkness.

It began with a tremor…

Then a yellow light that snaked out of the ground…

Then a piercing sound as tendrils of light and code perforated metal and faith.

Saren could not see clearly what was going on but the screeching of metal being torn apart and the jolts of electricity that emanated from the construct told him enough information of what was happening.

And then the screaming began…

It began with a sob that came from nothing that was alive.

Then a screech of agony.

Then abject terror at being torn apart by your god.

Sovereign mangled the form of the geth with this manifested energy while making scraps and ribbons out of perfectly crafted armament that used to be this geth.

But it was the code that was being sundered even further.

The turian could see as sparks of blue light were torn out of the geth while the lights of the machine's head changed between a yellow and red color.

The butchering of the being continued for some more time before the light recedes as quickly as it had first appeared and darkness reigned once again.

"Rise" one order from Sovereign reverberated across the chamber and sent a shiver down Saren's spine.

With that order a red light flickered into existence as what had been the geth prime came to life.

What rose in its place was not what had originally kneeled.

As a dim light began to emerge once again, Saren was faced with the gift of the old machine.

A monster.

"RISE… AND SERVE YOUR MASTER'S WILL".

The geth rose far beyond its previous stature and towered over the turian while staring down at him with one single unflinching eye.

This… this would be the only thing his enemies would not be able to face.

The turian smiled.

-What is your bidding?- the geth asked one question with such a cold and unnerving voice that he almost sounded like an echo of Sovereign.

But this did nothing to disturb Sovereign's champion.

"Our lord had charted a course for the world of Feros… the next step in unlocking the secrets of the protheans lay in that world".

-Feros… human colony- the geth looked up one final time -Decree?-.

"EXTERMINATION" echoed the voice of the reaper into the mind of Saren.

Saren agreed with the reaper.

"Launch an assault on the world" Saren began before he clicked some more keys in his armrest "Benezia's acolyte will give us the key to the knowledge of the ancients…" he dispatched some more orders before he turned to the geth once more "Go and serve your god".

But the altered geth did not move.

-And Shepard?- he asked with some distaste in the word.

But Saren simply smiled "I have a contingency in place" he then clasped his hands together and reclined in his throne "Thanks to one of my contacts in the hegemony theyl… Well, let's just say that when the humans come to investigate the silence from one of their worlds it will already be too late".

The geth seemed content with the answer and departed the chamber.

Saren on his part began to chuckle slightly, before that chuckle turned into laughter and then that laughter was replaced by a frantic cackle that was joined by metallic chittering.

None could oppose his plan.

None could stand in the way of Saren Arterius.

None-

NONE CAN OPPOSE THE CYCLE