Getting into the sky car, Osh closes her eyes momentarily and takes a few deep breaths, knowing her body needs it. After not reacting when Nyx gets in the car and powers it up, she hears her say, "Osh, you good?"

Osh opens her eyes after another deep breath and looks to the young Asari. "I'll be fine." She lies, knowing full well that she has dozens of serious injuries, "We need to get to the tower."

Nyx gives a disapproving look, "You're bleeding, and you look a little worse for wear."

Osh breathes out deeply before saying, "Nyx, I'm good. Take off," Nyx reluctantly does so after a moment of hesitation, but she is not fast about the act. When they are flying Osh then continues, "What I just did, overheating my body, I'm about to be in a world of pain."

"Then I will return..."

"No!" Osh thwarts with an assertive voice, stopping Nyx from returning, "I have 12 hours to do my job. We just need to know what that job is."

"And that is?"

"Listen in, and we will find out together," Osh says before a dial tone comes across the sky car's internal speakers.

"Shepard?" A voice answers momentarily later, "Tell me you are on your way to the tower."

"I am," Osh answers, "But I need information. Who is this Saren, and what is his end goal?"

"He is trying to open a relay to allow untold numbers of Reapers into the Galaxy. If he wins today, we are all dead."

Osh nods, "Understood, enemy profile?"

"Very dangerous," Ash tells her over the top of the sound of gunfire in the background, meaning Ash is in heavy contact, "He is a Spectre, and he knows how to put up a fight. EDI will send your PED a folder with details."

"Understood, I'll wait out on the folder." Osh responds as she guides Nyx to the Citadel tower's lesser-known entry points, indicating with her fingers, "Any other information?"

"Yeah, he flies around on a fancy flying board. It's laughable till you realise it is loaded with enough high-tech weapons to impress a Geth."

"You mean I'm about to fight the Goblin?"

There is a noticeable pause before Ash replies, "That's a good representation. He is dangerous, but Saren is all up himself and more than willing to talk about how he is superior to a Human when given the chance. Get him talking, then you buy enough time to put him six feet under." There is a sound of heavy gunfire before Ash returns to the phone, "We have a few CAIN shots, so we will drag the Heretics and Collector pawns away, but once we let loose, you are alone."

Osh nods to herself, then says, "Roger. For SA. I've already used Overdrive this morning. If you survive this, I will likely need your help. There are also 4 Human warships in the system, but no guarantees they are still alive and fighting either. This system is under a full Heretic assault."

"Negative on your rescue," Ash answers, "Most of my team are already shot to bits, and I used overdrive a long time ago now. I think you will need to come for us." There is a noticeable pause as some heavy gunfire is exchanged, "Look, it's getting hairy here; keep your head down and move fast."

"I will," Osh answers, "We're 2 minutes out from the docking station at the Tower. I need to prep. See you on the far side."

"To what awaits." The line then dies.

With a few nods to herself, Osh then engages a new call and is pleasantly surprised when it is answered within a few rings, "Osh?" Tevos asks while sounding most concerned.

"The Estate is safe," Ladochka starts, then cuts her wife's sigh of relief off to say, "But I have a new target at the Citadel tower. I need your access codes to the back passages."

There is a momentary silence till Tevos answers, "I've sent them. Osh, what is this about?" Freya silently confirms receipt of the codes.

"Saren is there. I've been told by the Normandy crew to kill him ASAP or this Galaxy is as good as dead."

"Goddess." Tevos answers, "Osh, be careful; Saren is as ruthless as he is capable. He was not granted the authority to be a SPECTRE for his charming looks."

"Charming?"

"Osh..." Tevos half warns.

Osh smiles a little in response, "Fine. Nor did I get to be an augment for my good looks. Pethio, I have this."

"Just stay alive."

"I will. How is the space battle going?"

There is another momentary silence till Tevos answers, "Hard to determine, that Reaper tore through half a dozen ships and swatted the Ascension aside just getting onto the Citadel, but the Heretic fleet is suffering." There is a slight pause before Tevos continues, "Those 4 Human destroyers escorting your embassy ships are proving their worth, however."

"Glad to hear it. Anyway, it looks like our stop is coming up; we have to go."

After a quick exchange of best wishes, Osh terminates the call and says, "That ship is..."

"Huge?" Nyx finishes as they both gawk at the giant fish ship docked to the Citadel tower. The ship is far in the distance, but due to the speed of their skycar, it is only a minute away. The vessel is being pestered by some Citadel-aligned ships, but for the most part, its shields appear unfazed. After a silent conversation with Freya, who has been hacking and ripping through any electrical system she can find, including the closed circuit security cameras in the Citadel Tower, Osh says, "We need to dock near the base of the Tower. I'll direct as we get closer, but we need to be quick to minimise the chances of that thing shooting us down."

"If it does try?"

"We won't have to worry about it." Osh answers before pointing to an airlock near the base of the Tower. "Down there. The moment we touch down, we get out and get inside. Do not stop for anything."

"Understood."

After a swift, bum-clenching landing, the duo bail out of the car and quickly enter the building where blood stains and bodies decorate the halls. From all appearances, it would seem that people had been gunned down in their backs as they ran away.

Walking with a rifle raised, they slowly make their way down a maze of corridors. "2 Enemy 30 meters around the next corner. Turians, look like some mercs on Saren's payroll. Knelled over a body."

"Is Freya in the camera's?"

Osh blinks at Nyx as she nods and says, "Yeah, every camera in this building. I'll take the one on the right, you the left."

"Ack."

"3...2...1..." The two round the corner, Osh kneeling while using the corner wall to expose as little body as possible, and Nyx is standing directly behind her, using Osh as her own shield. After firing a few shots, two Turians caught off guard fell to the floor in a slump, having breathed their last.

"What were they doing?" Nyx asks as they slowly approach and then fire again to 'double tap' the mercs. When absolutely sure they are dead, Osh takes some grenades from them.

"Stealing credits," Freya unexpectedly answers, "They went from person to person."

They put down another three enemies before Freya speaks again. "They have discovered your presence. A death squad is en route."

"Do they know where we are or general vicinity?" Osh asks verbally. She asks aloud for Nyx's sake.

"General vicinity. I have locked all others out of security systems. They are blind. We are not."

"Squad size?"

"16. 6 Krogan, 5 Collectors, and 5 Batarian mercs."

Osh thinks momentarily before nodding to herself at a plan, "They are coming down the elevator, correct?"

"Can you over-ride it? Make them fall to their certain death?"

"No, too many safety features are built in," Osh answers for Freya as they continue to patrol down a corridor, "We can, however, make it stop at random floors, buying us time to set up an ambush."

"Sounds like the start of a plan," Nyx answers, sounding a little uncertain, "Just make sure they think it is stopping at random floors due to a malfunction; we don't want them to think something is up."

"Nice idea," Osh replies, "But what is this about the start of a plan? I have a complete plan all up here," She taps her head, "Come, there are no more enemies on this floor, and we need all the time we can get."

The two take a quick jog to the floor above and where Freya is going to stop the elevator. Finding a few large wooden tables, Nyx helps Osh move them to the front of the elevator door. She knows the table won't stop anyone from getting out of the elevator, its purpose is to stop them for a second or two as they realise their predicament, and all she needs is a few precious seconds.

Then, finding a few large decorative art pieces, Nyx once more helps her move them into tactical positions that will best allow her to fight. Then with that in place, she removes any items someone could use as cover from near the elevator door and waits. "How long?" Nyx asks from behind her cover. She is out of breath from the rush to set up the kill zone.

"3 minutes," Osh responds. The elevators in the Tower are really slow.

The time passes in what feels like seconds, "5...4...3..." Osh begins counting aloud for Nyx before removing all safety devices from two grenades, "2...1..." Osh throws the grenades, and they pass into the elevator the second the doors begin to open. In the confined space, and with the elevator doors still mostly closed, the explosions are brutal and not much survives; even the Krogan die. The only thing left standing is a glowing Collector, but a few well-placed shots are enough to finish it.

"That was easy," Nyx says after peaking out of her cover and placing a few double taps.

"Thankfully so," Osh replies before standing and making her way over to the dead bodies. She takes a few heat sinks from them but dares not touch the grenades, fearing they could blow up in her hand if used due to damage sustained. Seeing an odd Collector weapon, she picks it up and aims it at the wall before trying the trigger to find it is a bizarre laser weapon.

"You are grinning like a child in a sweet shop," Nyx comments.

"Can you blame me?" Osh asks as she looks at the weapon and then finds a sling on one of the dead Batarians to steal and tie the weapon to her back. Satisfied, she then says, "Come, we have more stairs to climb."

"Not more stairs," Nyx complains.

"Only a few," Osh answers lightly, "We only have a km to climb."

Nyx audibly groans at the thought. Freya then speaks up, "Nyx, you will be glad to know this building runs on its own gravity generators. I will reduce the gravity in the stairwell to 20%."

The climb takes just under an hour to complete, with stopping every ten minutes for a quick break and a larger snack break five floors from the top. When they first started to climb, Nyx almost fell over a few dozen times, the reduced gravity hitting how well she could stay upright. Osh also lost count of how many times Nyx complained about her thighs burning.

"There is a large enemy presence up there," Osh says while Nyx rushes an energy bar and isotonic-rich drink into her face, "About 30 people. When we are about to enter, Freya will send an Elevator up, hopefully distracting those up there from our actual entrance."

"Any ID on Saren?" Nyx asks between gulps.

"Working at a control panel in the heart of the Council Chambers. If you get a clear shot, take it."

Nyx blinks to acknowledge the task, "So, what is our plan?"

Osh pulls out her omni-tool and Freya pulls up a schematic of the Chambers. "We will enter via this side door here," Freya highlights the door, "I take the left. You take the right cover here and here." Once more, Freya does some highlighting.

"By taking the right, you will face off with more of the Turians and Batarians. Use your biotics to finish them. If you come across a glowing Collector, let me know."

Nyx blinks along and accepts she will need assistance with the glowing Collector, "Any further deception plans in mind?"

Osh nods, "First, the elevator will arrive, and then Freya will set off the Fire suppressant system. It will give us a few critical moments of confusion and visual obscurity to get into cover. Once we are in, strap in cos we are in till the end."

Nyx blinks slowly and gives a slight nod of her head, "Then let's get this show on the road."

"No, wait," Osh holds her hand up before raising it to her ear, "Ash, we need some distractions put down soon."

There is a moment before a ragged and pained voice comes over the radio, "I have one Cain shot left, but we are pumped. " Pumped in this use does not mean pumped as if the weapon was a shotgun or even high of energy, but rather that Ash is out of energy, injured, running low on ammo and holding on by her fingernails for dear life.

"Understood," Osh says, "But we need it."

There is an audible groan before Ash says, "When do you need a bright spark?"

"2 mins,"

"That is all you have." Ash answers, "If I have it."

Climbing the last few stairs Osh and Nyx ready themselves outside the door that will take them into the Council Chamber. After a last check of their weapons and ammo pouches, Osh nods to Nyx then says, "To what awaits." Outside, a blinding white light flashes on the Citadel, dragging attention away from a small insignificant door they use to enter the main chamber.

/.../

Twenty minutes later, Osh takes a knee by Nyx's side; the Asari has taken a few rounds in the fighting; luckily, none of the sustained wounds is life-threatening on their own. Osh herself has taken a further wound or two to her right leg, and some light shrapnel to her chest, mostly from a Prime that got too close and managed to get a rocket somewhat close to her cover.

"You good?" Osh huffs, but a lot of blood comes out in a cough.

"I'm done." Nyx pants, one hand grasps the right side of her waist where a round has torn through it, rupturing muscles and shredding vital organs. Her second hand is loosely holding a pistol, but from how her hands are shaking, Osh doubts she would hit anything, never mind a determined enemy. "Ain't going anywhere. You got Saren yet?" Nyx has used her medical kit to self-help and stem the bleeding, but she needs more help.

"Ha," Osh chuckles as she fights for her own breath, "Not yet."

"How are you?"

Osh looks down at herself, and battered would be one word, "Still in fighting shape."

"Goddess," Nyx breathes out before coughing and then asking, "What are you made of?"

"Harder stuff," Osh jests, "But I think it's Freya keeping me standing."

"Not too far from the truth," The AI interjects with a whisper into Osh's ear, "You have sustained many critical injuries, but we can continue."

Using her hand that was previously holding her pistol, Nyx hands Osh a grenade and her remaining heat sinks, "Then finish this."

When Osh goes to collect the heat sinks and grenade, Nyx realises that the Human is missing a few fingers on her right hand. "Your hand."

"Tis but a scratch," Osh replies before choking down a laugh. "And I still have my trigger finger, so I'm all good." She then stands and passes a tub of gel over to Nyx.

"For your wound. It will stop the worse of the bleeding."

Nyx fails to grab it in the air, but manages to stop it from rolling away from her when it hits the floor. She then groans when reaching forward for it. "Don't go anywhere," Osh then says before adding, "I'll be back shortly."

"Don't go anywhere?" Nyx asks almost hysterically, "Where are you expecting me to go? Shoe shopping?"

Osh smirks at her before slowly limping away, and after a few steps, Osh straightens up, inhales deeply to refocus her mind, then enters a slight jog that could be best described as a shuffle until she reaches the top of the Council chambers and Saren comes into view. The Turian is still working on the console in front of him, seemingly not a care in the world for the carnage around him.

She finds some sturdy cover before firing her rifle at him numerous times, and after the fourth shot lands the Turian jumps off the pedestal and falls below into a garden area that is predominantly out of sight. Just as Osh moves forward to re-engage, the Turian rises into the sky on a hoverboard and throws some sort of grenade at her.

Not wanting to find out how dangerous the grenade is she ducks behind her cover and feels a powerful thump in her chest as the grenade detonates, her cover taking the blast without too much damage sustained. "I thought you wouldn't make it in time," Saren says aloud after the dust settles, and it's clear he hasn't killed her, "You have lost, you know this, don't you?"

Osh doesn't care enough to give him a response and allows him to continue his monologue as she repositions, "In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control, the Relay will open, and the Reapers will return."

Taking her omni-tool off she leaves it behind some cover and then uses its speaker to engage Saren, keeping his attention elsewhere, "Saren, I have a question for you." Freya talks using Osh's voice, allowing Osh to move silently and reposition.

Saren doesn't answer, he just stares silently, "Why is there no such thing as a mediocre biotic."

"What is this?" The Turian asks, confusion evident in the voice.

"Because they are all adept." Freya barely lets up a pause, "How many Turians does it take to stop a Reaper invasion..."

Using Saren's distraction, Osh launches herself at the Turian; she knows he has shields that can stop her rifle, but a knife is slow enough that it won't engage the shield auto-activation; all she needs to do is get the tip of the blade into a vulnerable point of his armour, and she can end it.

With the Turian being on a flying hoverboard, she is at the disadvantage of having to leap up at him, and the Turian sees her at the last second. He pulls away and up, but it is too late, Osh has already grabbed his shoulder and is pulling him off balance, and off his flying hoverboard. As they tumble onto the ground, Osh makes sure her knife sticks Saren in his neck and then wiggles the blade in any and every direction she can, slicing his neck open. It is ugly work, but ugly is still lethal.

Feeling his body go limp next to her after rolling off him Osh laughs slightly, "And that, Nyx, is why you should always wear your full armour." The Asari can not hear her, but she says it anyway.

"Osh, I am detecting a lot of activity in Saren." Says Freya.

Ignoring any discomfort or her need for a deep breath, she pushes herself onto her knees and looks at the Turian, he has extensive modifications, enough that she is wary. The fact some red lights and arcs of electricity are also coming off his body tells her something nefarious is at work. An internal bomb maybe? From how it is sparking and arcing, she expects it would blow up like some Yuitja wrist bomb.

With trembling legs, she pushes herself onto her feet, collects her knife from his corpse, then aims her rifle at the Turian's head and pulls the trigger time and time again till its shields collapse, and nothing is left of Saren's head but a horrible mush. Then she fires at his torso. "Dead yet?" She asks.

"Dead dead," Freya answers.

Osh fires another three shots before nodding, "So, now what?" She falls onto her knees and pants in deep breaths.

A series of loud crashes are heard as some weird-looking pods crash into the Tower and land out of view near the back of the council Chambers, somewhere near Nyx.

"Osh," Nyx whispers, her voice evidently under duress, "5 banshees, one glowing."

After a moment to think of anything she can do, Osh responds by saying, "Keep your head down, kid. Crawl out of here the second they leave."

"They are heading for you."

"Figures," Osh replies as she looks towards the top of the stairs. Sure enough a moment later the glowing banshee cresses the top of the stairs, followed by four others. At the top of the stairs, the Banshees then spread out and around the chamber, circling Osh. Curiously, despite being in full view, none of them attack.

Knowing she is too injured to fight this fight, never mind low on ammunition, she takes a few deep breaths. "End of the road," She says more to herself, then takes aim at the console Saren was working on and fires till it's no longer recognisable. When she has finished, she is surrounded by the Banshees. However, None of them have come closer than 10m, and none have attacked. All they are doing is watching, evaluating, assessing or something similar.

After what feels like an eternity, one of the non-glowing Banshees slowly approaches, and not wanting to simply lie down and expose her belly, Osh fires a few rounds at it, but the bullets harmlessly bounce off its shields. When it is close enough, with lightning speed, it grabs her by her neck and picks her up, allowing Osh to get close enough to plunge a knife into the sidewall of its skull. Attacking with enough force, she snaps the blade at the hilt as it buries deep into the Banshee's reinforced skull. The Banshee drops her as it collapses to the floor and flails its limbs before becoming still.

While gasping for breath, Osh pushes herself once more onto her knees. That trick will only work the once she thinks. The second she feels like she is stable on her knees, a force slams into her, pushing her into a Banshee behind her; then she feels its arms grab the back of her armour and sit her upright.

Seeing a bit of sharp isosceles-shaped glass on the floor from the fighting, she quickly swipes it and tries her chances at turning and plunging the glass when the Banshee's heart should be. Her efforts work, but also result in a hard backhand across the helmet, throwing her across the room with enough force to dislocate her right leg at the hip.

After coughing some blood and taking account of her situation, she eventually blinks and nods to herself, "Freya," she says mentally, "I do not get captured." She can no longer walk, has no ammo, and has limited weapons, none of any use. Fighting is now beyond hope. Freya is unusually silent, "Promise me you'll not let me be captured alive."

The AI is silent again, so not thinking she has much choice, she reaches for the pistol on her side. It may only have a shot or two left in it at best, but she only needs the one.

Knowing her own shields are down and knowing her armour, she raises the weapon to her neck, only to feel an impossible force stopping any movement before she can pull the trigger; then something hits her with great force, and the world goes black.

/.../

Tevos feels her hands shake uncontrollably as she looks at the monitor in front of her. The Ascension, the pride of the Asari fleet, is no more. After a heavy volley of Heretic fire, its core went critical, and the ship vanished in a flash of blinding light. At least 10,000 Asari perished in a fraction of a second.

"...Can confirm," A military advisor says, "Turian and Salarian representatives were onboard." And so would she have been if Osh hadn't stopped her.

The Turians would step up a Councillor in a matter of hours, and the Salarians would take a month to have a new member after the various families argued and fought for power. More often than not, a few notable Salarians will die in questionable accidents when a Councillor position opens up, and then when the infighting is complete, a new appointee will be established. It is an unwritten rule that you do not examine how many Salarians die in dubious circumstances in the build-up to an appointee.

The battle outside, while going the Citadels way, has been nothing short of a bruising brawl, the Heretic fleets, while low in numbers, are indisputably technologically superior and able to pack a hard punch. Most Heretic fleets can take on two Council vessels of the same weight class and not break a sweat. The Salarian in command of the battle was using the Citadel fleet's ability to out-manoeuvre them to his advantage. However, at the end of the day, the fleet had to protect the Citadel, which limited his options to a few battle-winning ideas.

One ship, the Fish Ship, had managed to punch straight through all their defences and get onto the Citadel, and as she thinks, it sits on top of the Citadel Tower, as if taking position on a throne. A dozen ships had been sent to kill it, including two Turians dreadnoughts, but it had managed to defend its position with unquestioned ease. Compared to her own vessels in technological advancement, this ship is in its own league.

The four Human warships that escorted the diplomatic ships and the party boat have joined the Citadel fleets, but they could only be used sparingly. Their means of power meant they regularly had to disengage to recharge their weapons, and to do that, they had to dock with the diplomatic ships. When fighting, however, they were directed to the most significant problems: the ships could take a punch and pack one. It greatly helped the Humman commanders are also willing to get stuck in deep. "Up to the elbows," As one quirky captain claimed.

The Heretics quickly realised the human warships needed to recharge regularly, so they repeatedly sent fleets to try to destroy the diplomatic ships. The diplomatic ships would vanish in stealth mode when they felt threatened, a feat no one realised they could accomplish. Their insistance in destroying the diplomatic ships, however, had let the fleet commander use this to his advantage and set up ambushes.

The Humans had offered AI assistance in coordinating the battle, but it was swiftly turned down. She knows Freya would be shaking her head, but the truth is, few actually trust the Human AIs.

Asari High Command is already standing up a fleet to reinforce the Citadel, but Tevos knows that they are two weeks away on a good day. The Turians have already redirected a fleet on Patrol, and they will take 5 days to arrive at maximum effort. The Salarians are preparing their own fleet, but it will take weeks to arrive, much like her own fleet. Should they lose the space battle, it is, at best, a 5 day wait before reinforcements come, and depending on the size and state of the Heretic fleet that remains in orbit of the Citadel, that fleet may not even engage the Heretics, but sit and wait for their own reinforcements.

The other species have all offered fleets of their own, the Hanar have a small fleet of 20 that could arrive in 9 days, the Batarians a fleet that could arrive in 21 days, the Volus a pittifully small but powerful fleet that could come in 4 days, and the Elcor have offered a fleet that will take 13 days to arrive. None of the fleets, however, are battle-tested, large enough or ready to engage the technologically superior Heretics, no, they would need to assist the Turian fleet. Of all the fleets minus the Turians, however, the Batarians have the best shot; their crews are often very experienced since their ships see the most action when policing their borders, but they fight pirates with pea shooters, not Heretic crack shots with Dreadnought MAC's to boot.

She had been tempted to send a message to Matriarch Ja'Noir, recalling her to the Citadel, but that War Party had already sailed, their matrons singing the song of war. She actually suspected the Humans would readily get involved since that Reaper is here. The embarrassment, however, of having to get Human help would be political suicide; the Turians would be biting at their mandibles to hang her, not that she would actually care about that. The truth is, the Humans live in a small corner of space, with a dismantled Relay, and would take the longest to arrive in any numbers.

As the space battle was waged, a large Heretic squadron had tried to gain entry to the embassy, likely in an effort to eliminate herself, but the commando contingent and the building's shields had managed to repel them with little effort. Considering she is now the sole Councillor, she expects a platoon of CSEC officers and soldiers to arrive shortly to bolster the building's formidable defences.

"Pethio," A soft voice speaks into her ear, and Tevos immediately recognises it as Freya. "We have a problem."

"We do?" She asks before a call comes across the room.

"The Dreadnought shields are down." 'The Dreadnought' was being used colloquially to refer to the Reaper. Turning to another screen, which is a live video of the Dreadnought, she couldn't help but raise a puzzled look. The ship didn't just look right; it looked like it was a giant insect flailing its legs due to being turned upside down as it drifted helplessly from its perch.

The Fleet Commander instantly ordered what ships were available to strike it. Within seconds 9 vessels had risen to the challenge, including one of the Human ships.

"Osh is... turn to monitor one."

Tevos immediately turns to the monitor to see Osh on her knees, looking like hell, while glancing at some grotesque Asari abominations.

She watches with uncontrolled horror as Osh tries to fight them off, but she knows deep down that Osh is beyond help.

After watching her wife get rag-dolled around the room, Freya speaks again, "She is asking me to kill her."

"No," Tevos answers, clenching her fists with enough force to draw blood from her fingernails. "There must be reinforcements we can send. Anything?"

"There is nothing," Freya answers softly.

It is then that the unthinkable happens, Osh tries to shoot herself, and the Banshees stop it somehow before one of the Banshees slams her across the room with some sort of biotic attack. A Geth prime then descends through some glass and with a thundering heart, Tevos can only watch as it carries Osh away, using its rocket boosters to take her out of the Citadel tower.

Just as the Heretic prime leaves the Tower the Reaper explodes into a hundred different bits, its debris, some hundreds of meters long, disassembling across the Citadel and into the Tower.

"I'm tracking Osh," Freya then that displays an image of Osh being transported to a Heretic scout ship. The ship, to her horror then flees the system at maximum burn.

/.../

3 Days later

With a stormy look on her face, Tevos leaves her shuttle, steps onto the lead human diplomatic vessel, and approaches two human representatives. "Ambassadors," She says aloud.

The two ambassadors give her a courteous bob of their head before greeting her, "Councillor Tevos," Mirrium Solivey says with a respectful bow of her head, "It is unfortunate times we meet."

"Indeed," Tevos says as she looks around the hangar bay.

"If you follow us, we will take this conversation somewhere more comfortable," Miriam says. Somewhere more private goes unspoken.

After getting into a private room all three take a seat, then Tevos says, "I will be to the point. The Geth are at considerable risk of having the Asari, Turians, and Salarians declare war."

"The fleet that attacked were Heretics," Mirrium replies, "And the Geth are willing to assist your war with the Heretics if it comes to that."

"As your message indicated," Tevos answers as she reaches for a glass of water, "What are they pledging?"

Mirrium places a datapad onto a table, "If your declaration distinguishes Heretics and Geth then they are willing to make considerable concessions. Locations of known Heretic stations, fleet strengths and compositions, Heretic resource gathering sites, methods to detect the Heretics, and permission to enter the Veil to pursue them." It had taken a considerable effort from all Human AI's to convince the Geth to provide something to the Council that may soothe their anger towards them. Right now, the Geth outright expect a blanket order from the Council that Geth and Heretic alike are to be considered of the same cloth and shot on site. Their numerous fleets are readying to defend themselves.

The Geth fleet, which will aid in the destruction of the Collectors, is on the verge of returning to Geth space and cancelling their mission. The only thing stopping them is that Hackett is in command, and he is likely to refrain from ordering them away or firing on them. Some quick planning had been made to ensure that, for the immediate future, Matriarch Ja'Noir's fleet and the Geth do not intercept one another.

"Of the Asari, Turians, and Salarians, only the Asari recognise the Heretics as a separate entity." Tevos answers with a small clench of her fists, "I will promise nothing."

Merrium nods in understanding, "Then we need to formally warn the Council that Geth in Human space is under our protection. We will not partake in any conflict against the Geth. Any hostilities in our space from either side will be dealt with under Human law." Merrium can see Tevos begin to react, then adds, "We will, however, assist in a war against the Heretics. Provide what information we have, be mediators between you and the Geth, and if requested, send a small contingent of reconnaissance vessels to the veil to assist information gathering."

Tevos taps her fingers, there is an ulterior motive to providing the reconnaissance vessels, she can smell it, "Despite any assistance you may provide, your stance will distance yourself from Council Trade and agreements. Are you willing to risk that?" Tevos asks, but Tevos already knows that the Humans have built strong relations with the Geth, probably stronger than what they share with the Council.

Merrium nods at Tevos, "The Geth played no part in the Heretics' attack on this station. We accept that. Our space is safe from any war your people declare." Once she finishes, there is a small pause before Merrium pushes a datapad across the table, "This is what we are offering. Take your time."

Tevos picks up the datapad before scanning it with her omni-tool, copying its data, then placing it back down on the table. "I will have my teams review it," She tells, knowing that she will have far too many meetings to spend time reading it. Currently, she is barely getting sleep, never mind time to read documents. "We need to also discuss another topic."

"Please go ahead," Merrium answers with a questioning look.

"Nuclear bombs on the citadel." Tevos says, getting straight to the point, "A human team used numerous nuclear bombs during their skirmishes with the attackers."

"And we are sure the team managed to be of great assistance to your defence." Merriam answers.

"Hmm," Tevos grumbles, "Make sure it doesn't happen again. We are still cleaning up the radiation. I have ordered an official investigation as is mandated, but for your team's assistance in the battle, it will find your team used appropriate and proportional force." Merriam bobs her head, "As for your ground team, how are they?"

"Shot to bits, but recovering. We suspect they will make full recoveries." Merriam pauses before asking, "Have they found Shepard yet?"

Tevos sighs before leaning forward, "We are tracking her movements and have a team deployed." And that is all she will say on the matter here.

Getting back into her estate, Tevos opens her omni-tool and looks at a countdown timer. She has some of the best Commandoes she could muster with such short notice meeting with Freya in four days. The AI secretly had a stealth ship studying some planets in the Terminus system and sent it to RV with her Commandos.

The plan, while barebones at the moment, is to use Freya's advanced stealth tech to get close enough to the Geth scout and disable it, allowing her commandoes to board it.

The issue is, she does not know how long Osh has. It is obvious the heretical AI's are doing something to her, but Freya does not know what at this time. Only that there are some comprehensive surgeries ongoing. Some surgeries are probably trying to keep her alive, but Freya strongly suspects others are nefarious.

Freya has also dispatched a second ship, supposedly her special frigate that she keeps up to date with the most advanced technology known to Humanity. Hopefully, It will RV with the other ship in just under a week and be able to carry out life-saving medical procedures on Osh. Freya is tight-lipped about how the ship can get there so quickly, but Tevos does not care.

.