Rear Admiral Davon Fyster's job never seemed to end. The cruiser he commanded – The Aurora – was officially on shore leave. The Aurora was in low Earth orbit, and almost all personnel but a skeleton crew had been transported planetside so they could enjoy some much needed time off. Davon himself was not able to enjoy shore leave. He and a small number of his crew were needed elsewhere – a top secret Alliance R&D underground facility in a vast desert of Nevada, USA.

After supplying his superiors with the data package Rigel had sent him out of the blue containing more designs than he could count and numbers that made his head spin trying to make sense of them, Davon was ordered to take the N7s under him as well as his best pilot to this facility. The techs had been working day and night deciphering the designs Rigel had given them, but they'd run into several problems. Apparently, the designs weren't complete, so they were having to improvise. Davon didn't understand the specifics of it, but then he'd never been all that handy with the hard sciences. He was a soldier. He still didn't know why he was needed here. He understood why his men were needed, but not himself. They were serving to test the new weapons, shields, armor and half-finished ships the facility was producing. All Davon himself had done since arriving at the facility was check in on his people. He felt in the way, but orders were orders, and so long as he was here, he would do what he could to assist.

A door slid open in front of him as he stepped onto the floor of the live-fire range. A simulation had just ended, and he wanted to congratulate his team on a job well done. The new weapons were working well, but the skill of the men using them was allowing the techs to make improvements that had the potential to save lives in the future.

"Officer on deck!"

The team of N7s snapped to attention as he walked into the room.

"At ease, Iota team." Davon said, waving the formalities off. "I watched the sim. You all did well."

"Thank you, sir." Commander Wilkins, the team lead, said as his team went back to checking over their equipment so they could report to the techs on how well everything held up and performed.

"I was thinking, commander, why don't–"

"Admiral Fyster, sir!"

Davon turned around. There was a lieutenant standing at attention behind him. "Yes, lieutenant?"

"Forgive the intrusion, sir, but your presence has been requested in the Operations Room."

Davon nodded, and the lieutenant saluted before rushing from the room. Given his haste, he was likely retrieving other officers. Something must have happened if high-ranking officers were gathering together.

Davon was frowning when he turned back to face Commander Wilkins. "We'll continue this later, commander. Good work. See to it your men get some rest."

Commander Wilking nodded. "I will, sir."

Davon turned and left, walking swiftly towards the Operations Room. He didn't know what was going on, and he wanted to be informed as soon as possible. When he arrived, the room was packed with high-ranking officers, all frantically conversing with one-another.

"Admiral Fyster."

Davon turned to the voice and snapped to attention. "Admiral Hackett, sir." What was one of the most powerful men in Alliance space doing here?

"At ease. Come with me. We need to discuss some things away from the panic." Hackett said, turning a disapproving eye towards the screaming admirals behind him.

"Of course, sir." Davon said, confused as to why he had been singled out, and by Admiral Hackett no less.

"You are the only high-ranking Alliance official to have had extensive interaction with Rigel, Spectre Vasir's newest partner." Admiral Hackett began.

"Respectfully, sir, I have had very few interactions with Rigel."

"Few is more than anyone else can claim, so you're currently our expert on the man. Do you have any reason to believe he would attempt to destabilize the Alliance?"

Davon missed a step, stopping to look at Hackett in disbelief. "No, sir. I cannot even imagine the possibility. In every interaction I have had with him, he was concerned for humanity's well-being and actively working to help us."

Admiral Hackett nodded. "I'd assumed as much." An exhausted sigh escaped the admiral. "That means it's the other option."

"Sir?"

Hackett held the small datapad he'd been carrying out to Davon. "What do you make of this?"

There was a paused video on the screen. Davon took the datapad and watched the entire clip, his eyes widening as it reached the end. Aria T'loak had just commissioned the largest private fleet in history, putting a bounty of ten-trillion credits up as the reward after declaring herself the Shadow Broker. Ten-trillion credits – that was more than the value of some entire species' fleets, more than some other entire species had access to. Aria could just as easily have bought a fleet outright. Wait…

Davon rewound the video, freezing the frame on one of the alternate camera views following Aria. Standing far in the background was an armored human not wearing a helmet – it was Rigel. What was he doing there?

"As I'm sure you can understand, this announcement is making the Admiralty Board nervous." Hackett said, taking the datapad back from Davon and continuing down the hall. Davon fell into step beside him.

"Sir, I don't know what Rigel was doing there, but I can't see him doing this to hurt the Alliance."

"He didn't. He did it to help us."

Davon's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Sir?"

"What do you know about the Reapers, Fyster?"

"Reapers, sir? I… I think I recall Commander Shepard talking about them before she disappeared." Davon said, racking his brain for any detail he could recall. Where was Hackett taking this discussion?

"I am about to tell you something that you are forbidden to speak of publicly." Hackett said, his tone brokering no argument. "Everyone from the press to your fellow admirals will slander you and call you a lunatic for speaking of this, but it is the truth."

"…Sir?"

Hackett stopped beside the door to the hangar, sighing tiredly. "The Reapers are a race of sentient machines hiding in dark space. Their mission is to exterminate all intelligent life in the galaxy, and they will arrive soon. Sovereign, the ship that attacked the Citadel, is one of them. There are at least thousands more of them waiting to attack, and Sovereign alone was enough to nearly defeat two of the strongest fleets in the Milky Way."

"Sir, I thought that Sovereign was a Geth ship?" Davon said numbly, his head spinning as he absorbed the information.

"That is the official story that many would have us believe, but the evidence doesn't match up. Two Council Spectres are working tirelessly to bolster the military might of every race in the galaxy. Citadel Councilors have tried to assassinate each other. And a man from the future arrives to give us advanced technology while warning of a coming apocalypse?"

"Th… Sir, did you just say a Citadel Councilor tried to assassinate another Councilor?" Davon said in shock, trying to keep up with the insanity Hackett was speaking.

"I did. The galaxy is falling apart, Davon, and that's before our enemy even arrives. This move by Aria, Vasir and Rigel has the potential to put us in the best position we can for when the Reapers arrive. Every greedy company around will transfer into the ship-building business, doing everything they can to win the bounty. They'll cut corners in production, their vessels will be subpar, but anything we can field will be useful in the coming war."

"Sir…why are you telling me this? This seems above my paygrade."

"It might've been before, but not anymore. I'm having you promoted to Vice Admiral effective immediately."

Davon thought he couldn't be more shocked by this conversation, but hearing one of the most well-respected admirals in the Alliance saying he would see Davon promoted twice stole his breath away.

"Sir…I… Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"Sir, I can't accept this. If what you're saying is true, my crew needs me. I've worked closely with my men for years. I can't take this promotion. Surely there is someone more qualified?"

"You're wrong. I looked into your record after I heard about your interactions with Rigel. This promotion is long overdue. I need someone with your skills and experience in charge of my new fleet."

Davon was taken aback. "Your new fleet, sir?"

"With the entire galaxy rushing to fill Aria's bounty, the Alliance has to ramp up production to match the military might that will be available in a few month's time. Part of why I had you brought here was to see how well your crew worked with the technology Rigel supplied you. You and your men are the most familiar with it at present, and this new fleet will be made using as much of what he gave us as we can. As of this moment, you, Vice Admiral Davon Fyster, are acting commander of the Alliance's Ninth Fleet. Currently, the only vessel in the Ninth is the Aurora, but more will be built in record time. Rigel's designs have helped the techs. Their earliest estimate is that you'll have your fleet in two months. I need to know now, Fyster, are you up for this? The Ninth will be the main force that meets the Reapers. Your mission will be to stall them for as long as possible to give us time to organize more ships and a more cohesive defense."

Davon was silent for a moment as he ran everything through his head again. The literal end of the world, of the galaxy, and Admiral Hackett was asking him to be the vanguard. He'd be armed with untested, experimental technology and told to hold the line as long as possible.

Davon came to attention. "It would be my honor, sir."

Hackett smiled softly, reaching out to lay his hand on Davon's shoulder. "Thank you, Fyster." He stepped back, and waved his omni-tool in front of the hangar door. The door slid open, and he motioned for Davon to follow him. Half-finished and gutted starships laid bare on the tarmac all around them. Hackett led Davon to the far end of the hangar where a team in lab coats were frantically checking over notes on their datapads as they prodded a starship unlike any Davon had ever seen before. It was sleek, its design almost alien. Large guns the likes of which he'd never seen hugged the craft's underbelly.

Unlike the other designs Rigel had sent him, the design for the starfighter in front of him were not half-finished or compromised in some other way. The designs were complete and detailed. Davon wasn't able to make much sense of them himself, but he had made it a point to look them over personally due to the special way he received them. The other designs were all part of a series of data packages he received. The designs for the ship were sent independently with a personal note from Rigel to Davon – something none of the others had. The note simply read, 'For your daughter.'

"At ease." Hackett said, pre-empting the words of a woman standing with the techs in a pilot's pressure suit. "Is the ship ready for its test flight?"

"Yes, sir, Admiral Hackett." the pilot said, standing rapt at attention.

"I've heard good things about you, Flight-Lieutenant Fyster." Hackett said. "Your instincts are strong and you've never lost anyone under you."

Ericka Fyster straightened her back. It was impossible to see her expression under the tinted helmet she wore, but Davon recognised that his daughter felt uncertainty. "Sir, I have only ever engaged pirates. Their craft were leagues behind ours."

"Were you in the less advanced craft, do you think you could have still beaten these pirates?" Hackett asked.

Ericka hesitated, so Davon stepped forward.

"Yes, sir, she could have. She is my best pilot."

Hackett looked at Davon with something resembling regret before turning back to Ericka. "I'm promoting you to Commander effective immediately. I'm assigning you to the Ninth Fleet as commander of the fighter core."

Ericka's back was ramrod straight. Davon recognised the posture, his daughter was stunned into silence.

"Sir…there is no Ninth Fleet?"

"In two months, there will be. Your commanding officer will be Vice Admiral Davon Fyster. You have two months to familiarize yourself and your men with these new ships and prepare for combat. Expect to be deployed in a combat capacity in no more than one year's time."

Ericka snapped to attention and saluted. "Sir!"

Hackett returned the salute, then turned around. "Admiral Fyster, please come with me. We have logistical details we need to go over."

Davon stayed behind a moment, staring into the reflective sheen of his daughter's helmet, doing everything he could to convey the pride and love he felt. Only when he turned around and his face was hidden did he allow a single tear to fall.

X

Councilor Tevos smiled to herself as she watched the video on the datapad in her hand for the fifth time. Each time, it somehow became more amusing. Watching Aria stun those pompous idiots silent brought her no end of pleasure. Centuries she'd put up with their incompetence because she had no choice, and here Aria had shown them all up with a single proclamation. Oh, if only she could have been there in person to witness it. Not for the first time, Tevos found herself cursing bedrest. She longed for a body capable of withstanding bullets, but such was currently unobtainable for her.

"I do believe my old friend has just done our job for us, Councilor Anderson." Tevos said as she finally put down the datapad, an amused smile on her face.

"Not quite, but she has certainly made our job easier." Anderson said, grinning like a loon. He was enjoying Aria's politicking as much as Tevos was. "With the threat of an increased pirate presence on the horizon, no one will be able to stop us from increasing the size of the Citadel's fleet. Emissaries from all race's governments will also have to listen to us when we tell them to bolster their military forces. Aria's move was a stroke of genius."

"Indeed it was. I'm quite jealous I didn't come up with it myself. But you're right. Our job is not yet done." With a grimace, Tevos stood from her chair, pressing a hand into her side as the pain flared up once more.

Anderson rushed out of his seat, stepping around her desk to help her. "Councilor, you need to rest."

"I've rested long enough, Councilor. Will the Reapers allow us respite when they come to destroy all we have built?"

Anderson looked conflicted.

Tevos smiled warmly at him. "David, I will be fine. I know my limits well enough not to injure myself further. We need to capitalize on the chaos Aria has caused before it is too late."

Anderson sighed, but he stepped back. "Do not go anywhere without your guards." he ordered, eyes narrow.

Tevos laughed. "Oh, I believe I have learned my lesson, David. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a number of calls."

Anderson nodded. "Let me know if there's anything I can do." With that, he left her office.

Tevos moaned in discomfort as she walked to the window that ran the length of the back of her office, looking out over the Presidium beneath her. Despite how long it had been, Tevos was still unaccustomed to this strange, physical pain. She was far more used to a different, more visceral pain. Feeling the bullet tear through her skin, muscle and bone when Sparatus shot her was almost novel. It was certainly painful, but then she'd never been shot before. At least, not like that.

Tevos forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Aria had given her an opening, a grand opening. With the Pirate Queen's proclamation, she would now be able to easily ferret out indoctrinated traitors among her underlings. Any who protested the construction of new fleets or dragged their feet would immediately be suspect. While Tevos was not as confident in her ability to see into the minds of others as she once was, she was confident she could remove all of the Reaper's pawns from the board before the game even began.

This was her home. She had fought too hard for too long to earn a place such as this for her to allow some upstart machine to take it from her. She would do whatever she had to to safeguard it. If traitors threatened her home, they would be removed. If jellyfish-shaped machines threatened her home, they would be removed. If incompetence threatened her home, it would be removed. Tevos would not allow weakness when her home was threatened.

Tevos opened her omni-tool and placed a call, patiently waiting for the line to connect as she watched the skycars fly past in the window.

"Councilor Tevos. It is a pleasure to speak to you again. I trust you are recovering well?" Councilor Valern said from the other end of the call.

"I am, Councilor. Thank you, but that is not why I called."

"Hm. Would I be correct in assuming you wished to discuss Aria T'loak's brazen 'bounty'?"

"You would. I wanted to discuss plans for organizing the construction of new ships for the Citadel's fleet."

"I believe that would be an overreaction, Councilor."

Tevos frowned, turning from the view in front of her to look at her omni-tool. "In what way, Councilor?"

"Aria's bounty calls for the creation of new ships for her army. Would it not be better to prevent any new ships from being made altogether by such an openly hostile entity?"

Tevos's frown deepened. "What are you suggesting?"

"I suggest we deploy the Citadel's fleet against Omega immediately. Aria T'loak cannot pay a bounty if she is eliminated. Such an assault would also allow the Council to acquire Aria's bounty for the Citadel, reclaiming the stolen funds of the Shadow Broker. Our authority does not extend to the Terminus Systems normally, but Aria has made herself and Omega a clear and present threat to the Citadel, and we are therefore able to act." Valern sounded very pleased with himself. "With the prize offered in the bounty no longer available, any incentive to raise ships would be lost, allowing us to maintain our current fleet with no issue while simultaneously making a statement about the might of the Citadel. Surely you agree we cannot allow self-styled 'Queens' to openly declare they are equal in strength to ourselves?"

Tevos was glaring at her omni-tool, a furious scowl on her face as she said, "A wonderful idea, Councilor. I believe we should discuss this further. I will arrange a meeting with ourselves and Councilor Anderson so we can outline this idea to him. I am sure he will see the wisdom in your proposal."

"I leave it in your hands, Councilor Tevos. I look forward to speaking with you both." Valern disconnected the call.

Tevos clasped her hands in front of her, frowning out the window at the skycars passing by.

And to think she'd been having such a good day.

X

A chitinous form maneuvered between many monitors, inputting commands and inspecting readouts. A screen flashed brightly, attracting its attention. The screen displayed a video found on the Extranet.

The mind behind the creature was displeased. This should not have happened. There was a flaw in the system that must be eradicated. The integrity of the cycle must be preserved.

The chitinous creature began inputting commands. Soldiers were to be equipped. Ships were to be prepared. An anomaly was to be destroyed. Preparations were already under way.