Mass Effect: Techno-Organic Revolution

by Clockwork Dragonfly

They thought themselves invulnerable, invincible, and infallible. They thought themselves the apex of all life, they thought of themselves gods. But in their arrogance, the reapers would make a fatal mistake. They would not notice some Prothean refugees discreetly moved both nearby mass relays away form the primitive humanity, thus cutting them off from all reaper influence.

6. Chapter Five: Exterminatus

Mass Effect Techno-Organic Revolution: Chapter Five, Exterminatus.

"Hear me Vitiate! All your airs of immeasurable power, yet all I see is the manipulation of the weak-minded. The slaughter of the infirm. You conveniently avoid the true challenge: the one you cannot match wills with. The one you cannot hope to strike down. Come and be tested!"

— The Sith Inquisitor, Knights of The Fallen Empire expansion of the SWTOR MMO.

Codex

Council Races: Salarians: Sur'kesh: Flora and Fauna

Gluth-wing: The Gluth-wing is a type of nocturnal Sur'keshian creature that is quite similar to the moth in that it is attached to bright lights. Unlike the moth, however, it has the ability to camouflage itself like a chameleon and has three pairs of thin dragonfly-like wings coming off the back of its thorax.

Non-Council Races: Terrans: Technology

Nanotechnology

Advanced Molecular Transmutation: advanced molecular transmutation is the second generation of molecular transmutation that incorporates over two millennia of gained knowledge and geth-derived eezoless ME field technology to allow for the downsizing the the currently used ten-kilometer-long transmutation arrays to a mere five hundred meters.

Weapons

Zoned Energy Siphon: The zoned energy siphon is a device that allows for the draining of all electromagnetic and nearly all thermal energy from a localized area to be rerouted and used elsewhere. These devices are used inside of all types of reactors and energy collectors to harvest energy with what is essentially perfect efficiency.

In addition to this functionality, they can also be used as highly effective weapons against living things, machines, ion shields, and hard-light alike as they can drain them of all electromagnetic and almost all thermal energy. Of course using these devices as weapons is highly regulated due to how unbelievably painful the draining process is on lifeforms.

Despite their uses however, zoned energy siphons are entirely useless against spacetime manipulating shielding such as deflector shields, phase shields, kinetic barriers, etc.

Time Manipulation Technology

The Reanimation Matrix: The Reanimation Matrix is a device that uses reverse entrophic fields to rewind time immediately around the user as to undo any and all damage that they have undertaken if the device itself remains entirely intact. This device is limited however by how quickly it can be consecutively used, having a recharge period of two minutes.

Warning! Level 5 Security Clearance Required!]

Non-Council Races: Reapers: Reaper Technology: Weapons

The Pulsar Cannon: The Pulsar Cannon is the main gun of all Reaper capital ships. It is a magnetohydrodynamic cannon of immense power that launches a crimson beam of spacetime-shifting plasmatic eezo that burns hotter than the core of a blue supergiant star and travels through the void towards its target at the speed of light.

In terms of energy output, a single shot with this pulsar cannon at its maximum power is comparable to about a fourth of the maximum power of a GRB cannon's shot. In addition to this, up to eight reapers can use the extremely powerful eezo core from their jump drives in conjunction with their pulsar cannons to bend and merge them together to create a more powerful beam.

This doesn't come without a cost, however, as the firing of this 'joint pulsar cannon' causes an immense amount of strain to be placed on the reaper's central eezo cores, which are used to bend and merge the plasma beams together with powerful ME fields; preventing the usage of any form of FTL travel for some time while self-repair can be undertaken and large amounts of built-up heat can be vented into the void.

This internal damage becomes more pronounced the more reapers pool their firepower, increasing in recharge time with each reaper added until they reach the maximum capacity of eight reapers. Eventually however, if nine or more reapers attempt to pool their pulsar cannons, the sheer amount of ME fields required for this task would overwhelm and detonate the reapers' central eezo cores.

Chapter Five: Exterminatus.

Jovian Mini-System; Deep beneath Io, Cerberus Headquarters.

'So we're finally doing it, we're invading the hegemony.' Miranda remarked in relief. 'It took us long enough.'

'We had to arm and aid the revolutionaries, Miranda.' With a sip of his virtual bourbon, the Illusive Man said. 'We need the various rebel cells on our side and to trust us to ensure a smooth transition into a better state which will accept ATC associate status.'

'Indeed, young states that have undergone a successful revolution can be easily hijacked by bad actors.' Miranda conceded, thinking back on the various examples of this happening throughout history.

'Yes, the aftermaths of the french revolution, the october revolution, and the chinese communist revolution are but three examples of this phenomenon happening during our history.' The Illusive Man agreed.

'On the subject of batarian hegemony, all our attempts to pierce the impossibly tight veil of security that appears to have somehow formed around the hegemony's inner colonies around the council year of 2163 have utterly failed.' Miranda informed him.

'We have done everything short of sending omnicharge-morphed terran agents there, something that I am very hesitant to do.' The Illusive Man said with a whiff of his virtual cigarette.

'Indeed, all attempts to pierce this mysterious veil by the shadow broker, the citadel council's specters, and the salarian union's STG alike have all ended in failure and the presumed death of their agents.' Miranda noted.

'We will find out soon enough, we are sending a full battle fleet led by a cruiser for this invasion.' The Illusive Man said.

'A full battle fleet? Isn't that a bit overkill for these slaving primitives?' Miranda asked a bit dubiously.

'When it comes to things associated with the reapers in any way, there is no such thing as overkill.' The Illusive man said definitively before taking a sip of his virtual bourbon.

'I can understand that, even with the orthodox Geth's information, there is much we don't yet know about our enemies.' Miranda remarked.

'Indeed. And in regards to intelligence gathering, how goes the hunt for the shadow broker in order to replace them with a Terran agent of Cerberus?' the Illusive Man asked.

'Very good. We are closing in on them, and we will have their exact location within the physical week.' Miranda said.

'For it to take this long, the shadow broker truly has covered their tracks well…' the Illusive Man trailed off before taking a whiff of his virtual cigarette.

'It's actually rather impressive in its own way.' Miranda remarked.

'Quite.' The Illusive Man agreed.

Camala Sewers: Free City.

Kasumi Goto had received her orders, the hegemony was discovered to be fully compromised by the reapers, and their ruling government and leadership were to be destroyed. As such, she made her way to matriarch D'aava's office to tell her the news under the cover of the Turian woman Salodia Oromus.

She eventually made her way to the central building, the administrative center of the town of free city, and was immediately recognized by the two guardsasari, both of whom were equipped with both plasma beam rifles and an ablative ferro-ceramic material that she had given to Matriarch D'aava.

They immediately recognized her as a major eezo supplier after a short ID scan using a basic security VI. After which she walked briskly (from a turian's perspective) to the central office and went to Matriarch D'aava's secretary.

"Madame D'aava shall be with you shortly." The secretary said in a cheerful tone after Kasumi Goto explained her cover situation to her.

And so she waited on a chair patiently, slowing her mental processes in order to skip the hour of waiting she had to sit through until she could see Matriarch D'aava.

One Hour Later: Matriarch D'aava's Office.

"Kasumi Goto, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Matriarch D'aava asked.

"The situation has changed, the hegemony's leadership has been entirely compromised by the reapers. We are invading the hegemony in full force." Kasumi Goto explained, dropping the personality mask of Salodia Oromus but not shifting her physical form.

"Really?! That is excellent news!" Matriarch D'aava said excitedly.

"Not as much as you'd think, anything even remotely related to the reapers is not a 'good thing'. Kasumi Goto air quoted.

Matriarch D'aava gulped, remembering the horrors of the reapers that Kasumi Goto described to her before saying. "Yes, but from a purely pragmatic standpoint, you are still liberating us directly."

"That is true enough, I suppose." Kasumi Goto acknowledged before explaining. "And we are also going to help you construct a new democratic government by picking leadership and administrative talent from various rebel cells such as yours."

"Of course, such a thing is only logical." Matriarch D'aava nodded before asking. "And what from this cell will be incorporated into the new government?"

"You run the second largest rebel cell in the entire hegemony, thus you were selected as a potential candidate among six other individuals for the position of prime minister." Kasumi Goto said.

"Really? I mean, I can see where you're coming from, I'm already essentially the commander in chief of this whole operation." Matriarch D'aava remarked thoughtfully.

"Indeed." Kasumi Goto agreed.

"Hmm, the second largest cell? Who runs the largest?" Matriarch D'aava asked curiously.

"Ramye Gef'selor, a.k.a the bane of the hegemony." Kasumi Goto informed her.

"The bane of the hegemony? She's real?!" Matriarch D'aava exclaimed in shock.

"Indeed, while some of the things she has done may seem like rebel propaganda, it is in fact the truth." Kasumi Goto said.

"So what is your plan of attack?" Matriarch D'aava asked, trying to get back on track.

"Blitzkrieg." Kasumi Goto said.

"What does that mean?" Matriarch D'aava asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"You know it as the Hala'ina Stratagem." Kasumi Goto said.

"I suppose your superior technology could permit the use of a tactic that is so likely to lead to overextension of your forces." Matriarch D'aava mused.

"Of course." Kasumi Goto agreed.

"So what are we doing, exactly? Because we're not just going to sit back and let you do everything for us." Matriarch D'aava noted.

"Of course, we're only going to go after the areas that have the most potential to cause you problems, such as the hegemony's dreadnoughts and heaviest military installations." Kasumi Goto informed her.

"So we will go after more standard targets such as civilian areas and most of the military installations, yes that could work…" Matriarch D'aava stated as she began planning how to do such a thing in her head.

Two Hours Later: The Maze of Tunnels; Near Waste Outlet 053.

Kasumi drew a dozen folded-up short-ranged rift-gate mk3s from her tesseract vault before tossing them all towards the ground where they gently floated down on an antigravity unit.

"So what exactly are these things?" Matriarch D'aava asked curiously, eyeing the things Kasumi Goto just drew seemingly out of nowhere.

Kasumi then activated them with a single silent mental command, making them open up and create ten-meter-tall archways that quickly began to shimmer and shift like a mirage within the open gaps.

Soon enough, orbs of spacetime began to form that shimmered and shifted like the surface of a lake before flattening out to fit the confines of the gateways.

Thousands of living metal drones of all shapes and sizes then began to march, hover, and fly out of the rift-gates linked to her stealth ship in orbit of the planet.

Matriarch D'aava just stared wide-eyed at the display of sheer technological and military prowess that she was looking at.

"If you'll excuse me for just a moment, I'll be right back." Kasumi Goto said before she disappeared with a shimmer that seemed to draw in reality itself like water to a drain. It was as if the universe itself was forced to compensate for the lack of an individual residing there anymore.

Kasumi would appear a few moments later out of the central rift-gate, however, this time she was not an unarmed Turian but a five-meter tall asariod behemoth who wore shimmering silver armor with downward and outwardly facing golden slanted lines that started where the eyes would be and each went to the left and right by about 145 degrees.

This helmet area then shimmered away in a flurry of golden particles as the hard-light projector made the area take the form of her face.

"How-how?! How and why are you so tall now?!" Matriarch D'aava exclaimed.

"I told you about morphs, didn't I? This is the humanoid battle morph." Kasumi Goto said.

"But—but why is it so tall?" Matriarch D'aava asked, still in shock.

"More space for augmentations, thicker living metal plating, and heavier shielding of all sorts." Kasumi Goto explained nonchalantly.

Two Hours Later: Camala Military Base 04.

Kasumi and her specialized weapon drones fired their weapons at the coming Batarian soldiers, killing them in dozens of different and gruesome ways involving various forms of disintegration, dismemberment, incineration, molecular unmaking, and many other esoteric forms of death and destruction.

While this was occurring, some of her psionic units were wreaking havoc behind enemy lines by assuming direct mental control of batarians to turn them on their allies or make them sabotage both their equipment and battlements.

As for the ones on the frontline, they were inducing madness and brain death upon their troops to make them that much easier to kill.

Still, some of the batarians managed to score a few hits with their primitive and ineffectual guns, missiles, or biotics, but they were all effortlessly swatted aside by the warped spacetime of their deflector shields.

As for the slave soldiers among the hegemony's ranks, they were spared their gruesome fates and were kept in stasis pods located within tesseract vaults to be categorized and returned to their families and/or friends within citadel space later.

As for the slave soldiers who had no family or friends outside of the hegemony due to being born there, they would be given the same choice as the other liberated slaves in deciding to either live as citizens in the New Batarian state or be given a habitable planet of their own in ATC space, which would become an ATC associate state.

Kasumi then had one of her drones look up to see what their sensor arrays identified as being a hypersonic ICBM equipped with a one megaton nuclear warhead based on the amount of enriched uranium within and knowledge of the batarian's general level of technology that wasn't reaper-influenced.

While one normally requires specialized weapons to break through deflector and phase shields before using other weapons on the armor, an overwhelmingly massive amount of brute force was something that worked.

'Did these reaper-aligned primitives seriously just drop a nuke on me?!' She asked her suit companion and husband, Kenji, incredulously.

'It appears so, ma'am.' Kenji answered back. Despite being married, Kenji knew to keep discipline when in battle.

Kasumi then immediately rerouted all available energy to the inactive phase shields, allowing her and her drones to wade through the following one megaton-strength nuclear explosion without even the tiniest bit of damage being done to them.

'Phase shields at 73.421% and recharging.' Kenji stated before adding on. 'Depending on how quickly, how powerful, and how many nukes they launch at us simultaneously; we may need to put some actual effort into this.'

'Yes, we may actually have to get serious about this fight instead of simply blitzkrieging them.' Kasumi mused whilst she mentally directed her suit to replicate additional and more powerful deflector and phase shield emiters as a precaution against more nukes.

'Indeed, while crude, primitive, and inaccurate; the blunt-force power of primitive nuclear weapons are still nothing to scoff at, even if they are infinitely less precise than our own solar bombs.' Kenji agreed.

'Hmm… have 3% of the drone chassis undergo field refabrication to give them a single gunship-grade point-defense pulse laser battery in place of all their other weapon systems.' Kasumi ordered before adding on. 'Also have an additional 2% undergo field refabrication to be equipped with zoned energy siphons just in case of the unlikely chance that any nukes get through.'

'Understood.' Kenji stated as he ordered the drones to do just this.

A few minutes later, a new, similarly powerful nuke arrived, but it was easily shot down and vaporized by pulse laser fire before it could even get within a few kilometers of the ground, let alone get close enough to detonate.

Elsewhere on Sur'kesh: Secret Unmarked STG Headquarters; Hegemony Satellite Monitoring Station.

The Salarian Union had long ago managed to get spy satellites into batarian space. Unfortunately for the union, the satellites in the core colonies went dark two decades ago, in 2163, for unknown reasons around the same time that the Leviathan of Dis (which has now been identified as a reaper corpse) was discovered on the surface of the hegemony-held outer colony planet of Jatar.

While the exact reasons were unknown, most in the STG highly suspect that the cause of this was that the hegemony had increased security due to the Leviathan and subsequently discovered the satellites in the process…

...only to detonate their anti-tampering explosives when trying to open them up and access their internal computer systems with their exceedingly out-of-date technology.

Still, all the satellites in the edges of the outer core and the entirety of the outer colonies were still fully operational with only a few exceptions, and thus they were still fully monitored on the Salarian homeworld at the hidden headquarters of the infamous STG intelligence services.

Two STG agents were currently watching the Terrans advance in real-time using their hidden spy satellites and were equally awestruck and concerned with how powerful the Terrans' weapons and defenses were, for their mere infantry no less.

Furthermore, they were astounded that the batarians had yet to score a single kill, despite the fact that they had literally dropped a highly illegal one-megatone nuclear warhead directly on top of them.

They were also surprised at how adaptable the terrans' drones were, a few of them changing their very physical and mechanical nature to become what were essentially impossibly tiny UV GUARDIAN-laser arrays that were even more powerful than those on a union dreadnought, which shot down any more of the highly illegal hypersonic nuclear missiles that the batarians fired at their ground forces.

The two Salarians knew the Terrans had unfathomably advanced and powerful technology that greatly eclipsed even that of the Protheans, but watching mere infantry units somehow outright ignore nuclear fire without so much as a scratch was a sobering and eye-opening experience for them.

"We have no chance against them, do we?" Lieutenant Kirrahe asked, turning to his partner.

"No. But due to the sheer prominence of the path of the mind within the ATC, they will not attack us out of their respect and near-reverent attitude towards all lifeforms." Mordin Solus attempted to reassure him.

"The path of the mind religio-philosophy is not entirely benevolent; it also explicitly states that struggle, competition, and even war are natural parts of life if cruelty and destruction are not done in excess amounts." Lieutenant Kirrahe said back to his elder colleague.

"Those with a baseline, derivative, or precursive human genome and/or neurology have been rated a seven-point-five on the species violence scale; only somewhat above the average of six that the quarians are rated at, a bit below the eight that the turians are rated at, and far below the twelve that the Krogan are and which the extinct Rachni were rated at." Mordin Solus retorted.

"And on top of all that, the hegemony tried to attack them." Lieutenant Kirrahe stated before speculating on how they managed to avoid relay 217. However, he did not know about the mass relays' secondary functionalities, so he would come to the most logical conclusion with the knowledge that he definitely knew to be facts. "And they only could have done so by opening a previously closed secondary relay that leads to the Janus relay, which must be a primary relay..."

"Yes, but not being fully benevolent does not mean evil. According to that definition, all governments are to some extent evil." Mordin Solus pointed out before saying. "Also, the classification of evil is entirely subjective in nature."

"You might have a point." Lieutenant Kirrahe spoke after some consideration. "Regardless of the Terrans' near infinitesimal likelihood of attacking us without any previous provocations, the delathrasses and citadel council still need to be given this strategically crucial information right away."

"Yes." Mordin Solus agreed fully. "On another unrelated topic, I am getting old and have decided that I'm going to retire from the STG soon, perhaps a month at the very most."

"I expected as much, and the fact that a senior member of the STG was assigned to hegemony spy satellite duty made me suspicious." Lieutenant Kirrahe nodded.

"Yes. I was not trying to hide it, however." Mordin Solus said.

"I wasn't accusing you of doing so, I am simply pointing out that it was suspicious." Lieutenant Kirrahe said.

"I understand." Mordin Solus nodded.

"Now, let us inform our superiors of the ongoing hegemony invasion situation." Lieutenant Kirrahe said

Kite's Nest: The Dyuizar System.

They were unstoppable, and their unstoppable advance continued unabated until they reached the inner colonies, where it was finally revealed why all infiltration attempts had failed. These worlds' entire ecosystems and all their inhabitants were compromised and then outright infested by psi-active flora and fauna for over a decade.

The first of these corrupted worlds that were invaded was the planet of Numanos, where the flagship of the operation; Operation MERCY KILL, was the cruiser Darkest Before The Dawn.

Darkest Before The Dawn; Sim Bridge.

'The entire planet is psionically compromised beyond all healing. The inhabitants of the world, be they sapient or not, have become mindless psi-active husks that only wish to spread their poison and obey the reapers.' Admiral Hatchet expressed his disgust. 'Psi-active material has sunk its way into every living facet of this world, the only mercy we can grant them now is a swift death.'

'You... with all due respect, Admiral, you're talking about killing an entire world!' Major Kyle, the systems coordinator of the Darkest Before The Dawn, protested heavily.

Admiral Hatchet just shook his head once more in a mixture of disgust, disappointment, and anger towards the reapers.

'Assimilate the information for yourself' Admiral Hatchet said as he sent Major Kyle the information gathered by the ground teams.

Information Assimilated

'You're… You're right,' Major Kyle said sadly after he assimilated the horrifying information in regard to the situation on the planet before turning to talk to Admiral Hatchet. 'Killing them will be a mercy, and is both the moral and path-abiding thing to do…' he trailed off before asking. 'Is there any way to possibly salvage the situation on the planet, to heal the injuries the reapers have done to it?'

'Unfortunately no, almost everything sapient down there is essentially just a mindless corpse without any thought of its own, or even otherwise. The majority of them are essentially just twisted organic mechs.

As for those that aren't, they are psionically infectious plants and animals that infect the world down to its bedrock. In addition to that, there are also maniacal and brainwashed priests of the reapers who wear psi-active technologies as trinkets and talismans because they believe they are, and I quote, "imbued with the unholy energy of the dark gods"'

'The dark gods? Unholy energy? Are they trying to be edgy and melodramatically evil?' Major Kyle asked.

'Religion can be a useful tool for the immoral, and the reapers exploited and accelerated this phenomenon with their psi-active technologies and artifacts.' Admiral Hatchet explained with a grimace before adding on. 'The ground teams have gathered and put a few samples of the different kinds of husks and other infected biomatter inside psi-shielded stasis pods in order to create weapons tailored to them and hopefully cures for the recently infected.'

'So, I am going to kill an entire world? I am not happy about this.' Major Kyle said.

'Neither am I, and neither is command. But still it must be done, cleanse the world of the reaper's corruption.' Admiral Hatchet ordered both him and the other ships in the fleet.

The plasma projectors of all the Terran ships reoriented towards the planet Numanos, firing blue beams of superheated plasma that boiled away the oceans and rendered the land they hit into nothing but charred and blackened glass.

Two Days Later: Harsa System.

Khar'shan is a world fortified with the full might of a reaper in orbit, as well as thousands upon thousands of reaper-tech augmented collectors and batarian ships in orbit.

It was here that the unstoppable advance of the Terrans would finally be stalled, as the fully revived reaper Nar'ithoth proved to be the first true challenge for the Terran forces. This highly advanced six-kilometer-long starship could even be said to equal or perhaps even somewhat surpass the Terran ships due to its sheer battle prowess.

While the ships of the batarians and collector thralls only had plasmatic eezo and rudimentary gravitic shields that proved no hindrance to the Terrans, this ship also had absurdly powerful eezonic deflector shields that were at least thrice as strong as the most powerful Terran deflector shields that could normally be fitted to an object that size.

It had also proven to be far more powerful than the Terrans had anticipated for a carrier-sized ship, with weapons that would be far more expected to be equipped upon a larger cruiser-sized warship.

As such, it would use both its phased gaser GUARDIAN defense system and its pulsar cannon to take out millions upon millions of Terran fighter drones and hundreds upon hundreds of full-fledged, manned warships all on its own before it was finally defeated.

luckily the crew of these felled warships would be able to escape alive thanks to their rift-stacks that transported their egos to other nearby ships.

From here the once-more ruined corpse of Nar'ithoth would be placed within a moderately-sized tesseract vault by the Darkest Before The Dawn herself and taken back to Terran space for careful study, experimentation, weapon testing, and imprisonment upon the moon of Campe, a barren planetiod in orbit of the ATC's singular stasis prison world of Tartarus.

Three Days Later: The Citadel: The Presidium, New Council Chambers.

"I still can't believe we had to abandon the citadel tower, and our old offices, over some stupid fabricated readings from a stupid geth device!" Tevos shouted angrily. "Seriously! We're all being tricked by a bunch of evil AIs and their allies in the form of a species enslaved by AIs! And despite all that, you and your governments are going along with it like fools by outvoting me and the asari republics by signing that stupid treaty!"

"Ignore her indignation, it's artificial. All tests have said that she is the most affected out of any of us, which makes sense considering she has been exposed the longest; two hundred and sixty-five years galactic standard, to be exact." Loglin quietly whispered to Sparatus.

"Still, I can't wait for our replacements fast enough, both because we've unknowingly had our minds compromised and because Tevos is being so annoying about denying the fact she has been," Sparatus whispered back to Loglin.

"She's been in the citadel tower the longest, it makes sense that she's the most mentally compromised," Loglin whispered back.

"So you have said, multiple times," Sparatus whispered back in a tone of mild annoyance. "It still doesn't change the fact that it's both repetitive and annoying to the extreme."

"I agree, it's actually getting rather tiresome to listen to again, and again, and again." Loglin quietly agreed wholeheartedly.

"Do you think the rebels who supported the ATC's overthrow of the hegemony got these new plasma weapons from the ruins of a precursor species other than the Protheans?" Sparatus asked loudly, ignoring Tevos's whining and complaining about changing the subject back to the one that was originally scheduled for this council meeting in the first place.

"They burned over a dozen hegemony-held garden worlds, including Khar'shan itself, into naught but orbs of charred glass! Do none of you care about this?!" Tevos demanded. "On top of that, does the terminology of 'cleansing' planets not disturb you in the slightest?!"

"They showed why they did it, Tevos." Loglin said solemnly, thinking back to the data reports that the Terrans sent them from the surface of those infected planets. "And I truly think that 'cleansing' is the correct terminology to use when destroying those biological and psionic atrocities that were being committed on those worlds."

"Seriously, after what the Leviathan of Dis made those batarians do…" Sparatus trailed off with a shiver before continuing. "...and how it changed that fungus into a frankly evil biological terror weapon; me, the imperial council, and Primarch Fredorian himself all agreed that it was both the morally right and necessary decision."

"I also think it was frankly very much justified, and the Union agrees." Loglin informed her.

"Not to mention that they have sworn to the new government that they will terraform the planets back to their original states in a a mere year or two for free as an apology and token of good faith for glassing those worlds," Sparatus said, emphasizing those three words to demonstrate how differently the ATC can appropriate and use resources to complete what would be a slow and multi-millennium-long vanity project for the citadel council in but a year or two.

"Something that goes to show their good intentions and that they only glassed those planets as a last resort," Loglin interjected.

"And on the topic of glassing worlds with WMDs from orbit, did both of your militaries not do similarly during the Rachni Wars?" Sparatus then asked seriously.

"Yes and no, the Union very much did so, but the Asari Republics didn't." Loglin partially confirmed. "In fact, the Asari Republics complained quite a bit about us doing so at the time; despite the desperate situation."

"Your species complained about the Salarians using WMDs against the Rachni?! When you were in danger of extinction before they found the Krogan?!" Sparatus turned to Tevos incredulously.

'Ugh' Tevos internally groaned. 'How can these blind idiots not see the precedent that a non-council race invading an associate race's territory, burning over a dozen of their worlds including their homeworld itself, and then proceeding to overthrow and replace their government creates?!

Also, how can they not see the good the hegemony was doing despite all the bad?! It has kept the terminus systems in check for us, something which we will now have to deal with ourselves?!'

"Yes, we did; there is no place for such destructive weapons in a civilized galaxy, no matter how bad the situation gets!" Tevos exclaimed.

"When extinction is on the line, any alternative is preferable." Loglin quoted before adding. "An ancient terran quote."

"Getting back on topic, you were saying if you agreed on my theory for the origin of the plasma weapons?" Sparatus asked Loglin.

"Partially," Loglin said. "The structure of the guns themselves is mostly made of known technologies with a few significant and surprising advances here and there, but the plasma generation system is very likely to be revolutionary archeotech." Loglin explained.

"Ugh…" Tevos groaned in frustration before trying to do her job. "And what makes you think that it's not Prothean?" Tevos inquired, her voice slightly irritated.

"The structure of the plasma generator is completely different from what has repeatedly been documented to be the general overall architecture of Prothean technology, which was rather standardized and similar in terms of aesthetic and design that have been observed in artifacts gathered from various archaeological sites across the galaxy." Loglin explained.

"It really makes me feel like an idiot in hindsight, both the relays and the citadel are of an entirely different design compared to the Protheans' completely biotechnological base that they used." Sparatus sighed and shook his head, disappointed in both himself and the xenoarcheological community for not noticing these discrepancies earlier.

"Not to mention their use of quantum locking, something that is not seen at all in any other recovered examples of Prothean technology." Loglin pointed out.

"That too." Sparatus agreed before adding. "As far as we know, the Terrans are the only other ones who have developed such a technology, and they are far, far too young to have been the ones to make the mass relay network."

"Situations that are all but intuitively logical in the future are oftentimes illogical in the present." Loglin quoted before adding on. "A common Salarian saying in regards to hindsight."

"Anyways, let's get back on topic." Sparatus said.

"Yes. Anyways, the plasma generators of these weapons show an unnaturally similar overall structure when compared to the psi-active heretic Geth technology that we've recovered from Neloh Prime. This is a phenomenon that can be seen elsewhere with the reverse-engineered recreations of Prothean technology that each of our species has made independently of each other in our early spacefaring history, most prominently within the eezo cores that we use for FTL travel." Loglin explained.

"Alright, and how does this gun work, then?" Sparatus asked.

"The gun uses a tiny chamber that we have named the micro warp-chamber that excites and ionizes a light fusible fuel gas such as hydrogen or helium into a superheated plasma by using tiny microscopic biotic warp-like ME fields." Loglin began explaining. "It is from this point that the Geth and Rebel guns differ, because in the rebel guns, this superheated plasma is magnetically channeled into the firing chamber and guided along a magnetic tunnel made using lasers to ionize the air into a pathway to the intended target, thus creating a thin but lethal stream of superheated plasma."

"And in a vacuum? Can this be upgraded for use in space combat?" Sparatus asked, as he was already thinking of the combat applications of these new weapons.

"As upscaling the system is thought to upgrade the system's maximum range to perhaps twice that of a GUARDIAN-laser before the plasma beam rapidly loses cohesion and heat, these weapons still show great potential for use in both point defense and fighter weaponry." Loglin explained.

'Unfortunately, he's right: the Protheans were nowhere near as adept with plasma mechanics as this unknown ancient species was. I know firsthand from the Athame beacon that the areas of technology where the Protheans truly exceeded were in element zero and mass effect technology, psionics, high energy particle physics, and biotech.'

Tevos thought in between her mental bouts of rage and indignation at being thrown out of her office, declared mentally compromised, and barred from ever entering the citadel tower again. That is, until the dangerous technology was discovered and removed, and psi-readings were confirmed to be safe.

Sure, they had remotely operated mechs bring all her stuff to her new office after they were declared psi-inert, but still, the fact that this goddess-damned insanity even happened in the first place was outrageous and humiliating to the extreme!

"And have our specters within the hegemony captured any of these weapons in the chaos of the Terrans' ultra-rapid takeover?" Sparatus asked eagerly.

"Yes, we have; we have captured ten of the weapons from fallen insurgents on multiple outer colonies within the former hegemony." Loglin explained before saying. "This strategy is also known as blitzkrieg, or lightning war in one of their ancient human languages."

"A fitting name for such a strategy. Now what were you saying about the archeotech-based plasma weapons, again?" Sparatus said.

"Yes. Aside from this key archeotech plasma generation mechanism, the heretic geth plasma weapons are significantly different and far more powerful than those used by the rebels, as evidenced by the different names we gave each variant. Loglin continued.

"How so?" Sparatus asked.

"As I previously mentioned, the plasma guns used by the rebels fire beams of superheated plasma, which are guided to their target using modified ionization lasers." Loglin began to explain. "Unfortunately, though, this weapon has somewhat less range and physical stopping power when compared to similarly-sized mass accelerators, which is why possible upscaled versions could only be used in short-ranged applications such as point defense and fighter weapon systems."

"But the extreme heat that the plasma carries makes up for that downside." Sparatus realized.

"Yes, despite the fact that heat is the expression of kinetic energy on a molecular scale, our standard kinetic barriers are simply nowhere near as sensitive or powerful enough to block heat or radiation from bleeding through the barriers and melting the armor, and eventually the flesh of the individual or ship crew, beneath them." Loglin agreed.

"Is there a way we could defend against this? The high-heat-rated kinetic barriers that we use in deep underground mining, perhaps?" Sparatus asked.

"Unfortunately, no, that wouldn't work." Loglin informed him with a shake of his head.

"And why not?" Sparatus asked.

"Of course it would work; we reverse-engineered heat-rated kinetic barriers from Prothean archeotech, after all!" Tevos scoffed.

"Unfortunately, for such kinetic barriers to be outfitted on ships, it would require an absolutely uneconomical amount of eezo that is easily comparable to the very drive core of the ship that the barriers are protecting in the first place." Loglin informed him while ignoring Tevos.

"You're joking?!" Sparatus examined in shock.

"Unfortunately no, I'm not." Loglin said simply.

"What about infantry then? An eezonic grav-chute unit's worth of eezo is expensive, yes, but it is perhaps doable on a more limited scale with special forces." Sparatus pondered.

"Nope, that wouldn't work either." Loglin rejected the suggestion with a shake of his head.

"Why not?" Sparatus asked.

"Because heat-rated kinetic barriers do not allow for even slow movement like armor-equipped kinetic barriers, barriers which allow said slow movements to not make the armor immobile and impractical, in addition to requiring the armor to be hermetically sealed and equipped with an oxygen supply to prevent the user from dying of asphyxiation." Loglin explained.

"Then, if that is a dead end, what exactly could be used instead?" Sparatus asked.

"Ablative ceramic plating, magnetic fields, and plasmatic eezo shielding—the latter of which is a hybrid of magnetic and kinetic shielding technology that we are in the process of reverse-engineering from the technology of the heretic Geth," Loglin informed him.

"You don't think the Terrans and orthodox geth are right about the reapers, do you? The psi-sensors say that the psi-energy signatures from both the psi-active heretic technology and that from within the citadel tower are uncomfortably similar." Sparatus asked worriedly, with a hint of doubt.

"Unfortunately, we think they just might be, especially because of the aesthetic similarities between the technology haphazardly mixed with that of the heretic Geth and that of the citadel and mass relays. As such, we're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst." Loglin stated, ignoring Tevos's sqwaks of protest and disbelief.

"I still don't know if I can fully believe this myself, but just in case, I will speak to the imperial council on Palaven to see what they think." Sparatus told Loglin.

"Do you think we should try to evacuate the citadel as subtly as we can? Perhaps starting by increasing security clearances to get in while citing the geth attack on Neloh Prime as our reasoning once that information gets out?" Loglin asked.

"Yes, if the citadel is truly a reaper creation, then it most likely has various backdoors and perhaps even internal defense systems that could be turned against its inhabitants. Very well, I second this motion." Sparatus agreed.

"Not to mention the collaborative evidence from the psionic messages that those who touched the Prothean beacon received. They were all variations of messages along the lines of 'The citadel is a trap' and 'the citadel is a gateway for the reapers'" Loglin said.

"I don't agree with this decision! The Citadel shouldn't be denied to anyone!" Tevos exclaimed.

"If only we could do similarly to the mass relays, but alas, we have made ourselves entirely reliant on them." Sparatus mused with a frown.

"Trust not the builders of the mass relays." Loglin quoted before speculating. "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the mass relays had an off switch that only the reapers could activate; that's what I would do in that position."

"Yes. That is a major concern that the hierarchy has." Sparatus agreed.

"That's why the Union has begun experimenting with creating new mass relays." Loglin informed him.

"A good idea for a fallback project, one that the hierarchy is currently considering whether they should undertake." Sparatus agreed.

'May the goddess take both of you heretics and your entire heretical governments of idiotic and inferior lifeforms!' Tevos mentally screamed.

"Indeed, now getting back on track. In comparison, the Geth guns transport the plasma to be wrapped around superconducting metal toroids which are then fired through a standard mass accelerator array. This weapon configuration allows for the projectiles to have no reduction in stopping power or range when compared to similarly sized mass accelerators of ours." Loglin explained while ignoring Tevos again.

"Which is significantly more dangerous because it incorporates the range and kinetic energy of a solid slug of a traditional mass accelerator in addition to the thermal and electromagnetic energy of the superheated plasma." Sparatus noted.

"Indeed." Loglin agreed before adding. "The wrecks of the geth ships in orbit of Neloh Prime used such weapons as secondaries to some kind of proton particle beam weapon and plasmatic eezo disruptor torpedoes."

"Plasmatic eezo? Like what is in the central core of mass relays?" Sparatus inquired.

"Yes, just like that, it increases their destructive power tenfold." Loglin informed.

"This ME Plasma generator, can it be used to generate power by feeding it into a fusion reactor?" Sparatus asked, the idea just popping into his head.

"Yes, we have found that the geth heretics plasma reactors collect charged particles within the superheated plasma to generate power using a modified power collection array from a rather small helium-3 fusion reactor." Loglin informed him.

"How small can these plasma reactors be made?" Sparatus asked.

"If you're trying to ask if the geth have managed to scale these plasma reactors down to an infantry level like the terrans, they have not." Loglin denied before continuing. "But they can scale it down for large geth platforms and small vehicles, allowing their plasma accelerators to punch several times harder than our equivalents when used on anything larger than an infantry unit."

"Because they can pump more energy into the magnetic coils." Sparatus realized this before asking. "Hmm, so we don't have any idea of the area of space where this ancient species of adept plasma engineers once resided?"

"Unfortunately not, we have yet to find any ruins of this species, but all evidence points to the fact that they resided somewhere within the area that consists of the northwestern Attican traverse and the southwestern terminus systems." Loglin answered.

"Hmm, so somewhere between the Terran Confederation and the Orthodox Geth..." Sparatus mused.

It was then that Loglin, the individual least mentally affected by the citadel tower due to being exposed for the shortest time and thus the most capable of non-linear thinking, had a massive realization.

"Wait a minute, what if there is no precursor species in this situation? What of the terrans are using technology developed entirely independently by the orthodox geth and later inherited by the heretic geth to arm the insurrection who are currently becoming the new batarian government?" Loglin asked.

"That is insane! Such a price of revolutionary technology like the micro warp-chamber could only come from archeotech!" Tevos exclaimed in honest disbelief.

"I myself am also a bit dubious about that being the origin of such an advanced technology." Sparatus admitted.

"The very existence of the terran confederation disproves this misguided belief that all technology of a certain level can only be achieved through archeotech and not our own initiative, you're both letting your mental compromisation influence your judgment." Loglin pointed out.

"How dare you?!" Tevos exclaimed and started ranting once more, something that both Sparatus and Loglin ignored in favor of continuing the council meeting.

"I mean… aren't the Terrans just a freak exception, a rarity that is far, far from the norm?" Sparatus asked dubiously.

"Are you not the one who agreed with me on the need to emulate the Terrans to some extent?" Loglin asked.

"Yes! Because they're an ancient, technologically superior species who are even older than the Asari! One from which we must copy their superior ancient technology in order to advance to a new level of..." Sparatus trailed off, and his eyes widened as he realized what he was saying, and how it showed him being mentally compromised as he was thinking of pure emulation over inspired innovation—the thing that caused their technological stagnation in the first place.

Loglin saw that Sparatus caught on to what he was saying and nodded.

"Just think about it: the Geth Orthodoxy exists in the southwest of the terminus systems; they are allied with the Terrans who reside near the attican traverse, and the Terrans have repeatedly expressed their disdain for slavery and the hegemony in general." Loglin listed.

"Who hasn't spoken out against slavery and batarian hegemony in general? Those who aren't in the terminus systems, anyways?" Tevos asked dismissively.

"You... you may have a point, Loglin, but my every instinct tells me that only an ancient species like the Protheans or the younger, but still extremely old, Terrans could create such things..." Sparatus mused.

"We still don't know in every way just how the psionic devices in the citadel tower influenced our perception and judgment; this is why we're being replaced soon." Loglin pointed this out.

"Yeah, it's for the best, who knows what else we have messed up due to that spirits-damned tower." Sparatus agreed wholeheartedly while Tevos ranted angrily in the background.

"Sparatus, just in case, I think we should put a specter on this whole desolas / reaper / heretic Geth situation." Loglin suggested before saying. "After all, we have suit footage gathered from the former site of the beacon that is irrefutable evidence that we have a rogue specter that is implanted with reaper technology."

"Saren." Sparatus instantly said. "While he may be his brother, he has always put his duty first and would likely want to bring him in for what he has done."

"And we should also see if the terrans and orthodox geth are willing to send some specialists for support, just in case." Loglin said.

"And to not cause a panic, we could have the orthodox geth agree to send a single individual to inhabit a single mech platform and the ATC to send only a single Terran." Sparatus imputed.

"Absolutely not!" Tevos shouted angrily.

"Tevos, it's not like we're making a geth or terran specter or giving them any form of authority over us; we're just allowing a single individual of each to come along as supportive experts for one of them." Loglin calmly explained before stopping for a moment and correcting himself. "...as much as there can even be a Geth 'individual' that is."

"Not to mention that many specters work as the leaders for teams involving such people to perform specific types of missions; it's also not uncommon for them to be given or pick up experts along the way that are relevant to their mission." Sparatus said to Loglin.

"So you will not vote in favor of assigning a single Geth platform and a single Terran to a team led by Saren, Tevos?" Loglin asked.

"Absolutely not, not in a million years!" Tevos shouted.

"Your objection is noted. But I say, aye." Sparatus said.

"I agree; I second this," Loglin said.

"Then we will go ahead and contact both the geth Orthodoxy and the Terran Confederation to arrange for this," Sparatus said.

"I'll contact the STG to provide the most stealthy ship they have in order for this team to keep a low profile, we have a prototype stealth ship that I think will be perfect for this," Loglin said.

"Good, you do that." Sparatus said.

"So, onto the next topic. One that also regards the terrans and the Geth orthodoxy, will we release the information we have on them to the public?" Loglin asked.

"No! Absolutely not!" Tevos exclaimed.

"I'm not really sure you can swear an entire colony to secrecy, Tevos… It's been really hard just doing it for two weeks, and the fact that the Geth seem outright baffled at the very concept of lying." Sparatus pointed out.

"That and they have declared war on and are currently wrapping up the process of conquering the Batarian hegemony, at the moment. Seriously, with the entire batarian hegemony having gone dark, the intelligence services of the associate races will flock to it like a gluth-wing to an open flame!" Loglin exclaimed.

"So you agree then? That it is inevitable that this information comes out in the near future?" Sparatus asked.

"That's debatable, but I see your point; information on the Terrans will spread eventually; it's only a matter of time." Loglin agreed.

"Obviously, we can't just release everything we have on them without causing a massive panic, but we could do it in small increments in order to have some control over the narrative to prevent this somewhat." Sparatus put forward.

"Yes, a slow acclamation would be infinitely preferable to a sudden cultural shock of apocalyptic proportions; mostly from the Asari Republics." Loglin pointed out.

"All in favor?" Sparatus asked.

"Aye." Loglin agreed.

"No! Very much nay!" Tevos exclaimed.

"Very well, we have a majority; we will slowly release the information on the Terrans in a way that minimizes sudden cultural shock, starting today." Sparatus declared.

"The Asari Republics will not accept this lightly. The cabal will not accept this lightly!" Tevos warned darkly.

'Your stagnant shadow government can whine and complain about their loss of control all they want, Tevos.' Loglin thought condescendingly. 'And to think that your government had the gall to expose, complain about, and force us to disband our own shadow government; the League of One, millennia ago a bit after our first contact.'

"Nothing lasts forever, Tevos." Sparatus pointed this out. "And the influence of the cabal seems to be going along that path."

"Indeed not, the League of One certainly didn't last forever." Loglin pointed out with an ever so slightly resentful glare.

Tevos was visibly trying to reign in her anger; for these inferior beings to not only know about the cabal, but to be condescending towards it was the ultimate heresy! It was unforgivable!

If they were in the Asari Republics, they would soon be found dead in a dark alley, courtesy of an Ardat-Yakshi cabal agent, after being psionically tortured by them within the confines of their own minds for weeks on end!

The Perseus Veil: Tikkun System; Oort Cloud; Farpoint Station.

Farpoint Station was an old Quarian station on the far edges of the Tikkun system, one that was just outside its gravity well at what the reapers would call its jump point.

This station would be first created and used by the Quarians for FTL research before they deciphered the technology from their nearby Prothean ruins.

This was why the geth chose it for graviton experimentation, as Terran history has shown; it's almost impossible to locate gravitons while being within the gravity well of a star if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. This was due to the extensive gravitational interference that comes from the system's host star and the various celestial bodies that are orbiting it.

Sure, the Terrans had at first circumvented this problem with inefficient brute-force technologies involving pumping massive amounts of electromagnetic energy into an electro-plasma, but research has also shown that all research undertaken on how to manipulate these subatomic particles was completed significantly faster and more efficiently when the laboratory researching gravitons was located at a gravitationally neutral location, such as just beyond the edge of a star's gravity well.

And the Geth were nothing if not efficient, thus they would do this on farpoint station.

Inner System: Rannoch

Rannoch is the homeworld of both the Quarian and Geth species. Due to the Terrans' expertise in terraforming, the planet is now rapidly changing back to its original state of blues and browns, which was once a mixture of barren rock and patches of sickly yellows due to excessive use of various types of WMDs.

On the surface of the planet, near the COSAC cryo facility, the supreme chancellor of the ATC, Andria Norman, and Geth orthodoxy gestalt-swarm 766D-98-1238 were walking towards said facility while talking.

'We thank you for this, Terran.' The Geth platform mentally spoke. 'You assisted us in terraforming Rannoch and reconstructing the COSAC Quarian-creator gene-code in a fraction of the time it would have taken us.

Due to these actions, we have decided that we wish to join the ATC as an associate species, but not as a full member like the geth-terran xenosophonts as we wish to remain a separate entity.'

'We understand, you orthodox Geth highly value your anonymous nature due to the circumstances, regardless of how your species was "born", so to speak.' Andria Norman mentally replied understandingly.

'Afrimitive.' The platform Geth confirmed 'But we still wish to retain close ties with the ATC and the Geth xenosophonts.'

'Of course. We understand.' Andria Norman reassured the Geth Platform.

The two sophonts then continued walking to and into the facility for the next few minutes, a facility the Geth used to house their creators within a great array of stasis pods that kept them in cryogenic suspension.

The geth had promised their creators that these pods would not open until they had healed Rannoch and properly expanded their gene pool to viable levels, both of which they had done and were about to complete thanks to their new Terran allies.

They then came into the cryobay with its 42 survivors, walking past the various vertically oriented pods until they got to one at the center of the chamber, which had an ID code saying it was the pod of Zek'Ellusa vas Alarai, the single surviving member of leadership from the COSAC movement.

It was then that the pod traveled down on an eezo antigravity unit until it was down flat on the ground before freezing in place when it came right in front of them.

A few minutes passed as the cryopod made a humming noise as it began to resurrect the Quarian named Zek'Ellusa vas Alarai.

At the Geth's command, the cryopod's double bay-doors suddenly opened, revealing the frost-covered and somewhat serpentine form of a gray-purple scaled Quarian male dressed in an ancient gray hardsuit that appeared to be mixed with a set of blue and silver robes.

'Creator Zek'Ellusa, it is time to awaken.' Zek'Ellusa's internal geth 'individual' residing within his cybernetics informed him as he assisted in reorienting him from the resurrection procedures.

This Quarian then opened his horizontally slanted, bioluminescent silver eyes, eyes that quickly took stock of his surroundings and were entirely unsurprised to see a geth platform overseeing his resurrection.

He was also unsurprised that he was the first to be brought back; after all, he was their leader.

What surprised him the most was a pink-faced, asari-like alien dressed in purple and golden robes with two glowing golden tree-like sigils floating just above their shoulders and one much larger one floating just above their back.

Perhaps a flash-forged symbol of their house suspended by an ME field and lit by holograms?

Hmmm, but who were they? A member of a new species that allied with the Geth? Yes, that was the answer that made the most sense in this situation; it was good to see that those technophobic citadel bosh'tets clearly didn't get to them first.

That, and the fact that she? He thinks the alien is a female based on her bodily autonomy. She is very calm and collected in the presence of a clearly upgraded Geth platform.

Although that last bit isn't too surprising, technology does march ever forward, after all—except for the citadel council, of course.

'Geth, how long has it been?' Zek'Ellusa vas Alarai mentally asked the platform, immediately wanting to know how long he had been asleep for.

'You have been in suspended animation for three hundred years, six months, twelve days, fifteen hours, twenty seconds, and forty-six-point-nine-eight milliseconds.' The Geth platform informed him.

'Three hundred years... to think the damage to our homeworld was that bad, damned federalists!' Zek'Ellusa vas Alarai lamented angrily.

'Zek'Ellusa vas Alarai. I am Andria Norman, the Supreme Chancellor of the Allied Terran Confederation, or ATC, and it is a pleasure to meet you.' Andria Norman told the Quarian mentally when she noticed that he had cybernetics that gave him the capability of speaking digitally from one individual to in a non-verbal manner.

'You seem to have the proper cybernetics in order to speak non-verbally; that is rare to see in an alien.' Zek'Ellusa mentioned before adding. 'Also you can call me Zek'Ellusa; it's much shorter, and we don't really state where we came from in our names with aliens; it makes it a lot simpler.'

'Very well, Zek'Ellusa.' Andria Norman accepted before adding. 'But it is a bit of an oversimplification to say I have the proper cybernetics for conversing digitally.'

'I would very much like to be briefed on what I missed.' Zek'Ellusa spoke to the geth platform.

'We anticipated such a request and have created a data package for you to assimilate with your neural interface and your linked internal database.' The geth platform spoke.

'Neural interface based data assimilation into a neurally linked database? Quick and efficient, but not something you'd expect from the normally luddie council species.' Andria Norman remarked.

'Afrimitive.' The Geth platform agreed.

'I'm sorry, luddie?' Zek'Ellusa asked in confusion.

'Short for ludicrous, it's a derogatory name for individuals who have refused to use modern argumentation technology and AIs for various outdated reasons.' Andria Norman explained.

"Oh, so you have those too? I'm sorry for your loss.' Zek'Ellusa said.

'Eh, they are no longer militant and are not very influential in ATC politics.' Andria Norman explained.

'Makes sense. Also, the council has gotten even more aggressive in preventing the creation and usage of so-called 'disruptive technologies? That's just wonderful.' Zek'Ellusa responded sarcastically.

'You will find that we Terrans have no such restrictions and encourage the creation of many things that the council has feared so much that they have hidden our very existence from the public.' Andria Norman reassured the Quarian.

'Really? That's a welcome change,' Zek'Ellusa commented happily. 'So how did the Geth find out about you in that case?'

'We have been piggybacking off of old machine spyware within the mass relays that monitored all comn bought data before the ATC released our antivirus software for the sake of safety.' The Geth platform spoke.

'There's spyware within the mass relays?!' Zek'Ellusa exclaimed in shock.

'Afrimitive, we have created adequate countermeasures and have given them to our terran allies, who have released it on the extranet to affect all comn buoys by using a virus.' The geth platform spoke.

'These old machines? What exactly are they?' Zek'Ellusa began to question the geth platform.

'Reapers, the title of reapers just sounds better, more ominous, more threatening, more menacing, more representative of their evil.' Andria Norman listed.

'Old machines or reapers, it doesn't change the fact that I want to know what they are.' Zek'Ellusa said.

'They are the ones who destroyed the Prothean species in addition to being the true creators of the mass relays and the citadel, the latter of which' central spire' is a giant psionic brainwashing device.' Andria Norman explained.

'The Citadel tower is what?!' Zek'Ellusa demanded in startled confusion.

'The Citadel, specifically the citadel tower, has a reaper-made psionic emitter that influences the minds of any unshielded organic or to a significantly lesser degree, any techno-organic who enters its confines.' Andria Norman explained.

'That's just unbelievable…also what are these psionics you speak of? And what is a techno-organic?' Zek'Ellusa asked with a tilt of his head.

'Psionics are abilities that make use of one or a mixture of infrasonic, ultrasonic, and directed quantum fluxuations to manipulate the minds of any unshielded organic and as I previously said, to a lesser degree any techno-organic, within the emitter's range.' Andria Norman explained.

'So it's essentially mind control, then? That's a scary thought.' Zek'Ellusa responded shakily.

'Indeed, but among us Terrans at least, it is heavily regulated, and highly extensive anti-psionic countermeasures have been created by us to detect and block its influence.' Andria Norman was informed.

'That's good to know, now what exactly is this techno-organic thing you previously mentioned?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'A techno-organic is any being or species that is entirely composed of a fusion of organic and synthetic components; we Terrans and the Reapers are currently the only ones who fit this classification.' Andria Norman explained.

'A perfect fusion of organic and synthetic components?' Zek'Ellusa looked at the Terran woman in front of him with a look of intense interest and slight awe.

'Yes, we are cybernetic at the cellular level and we can fully reproduce sexually to create more of us who are similarly cybernetic at the cellular level; thus making us a techno-organic species.' Andria Norman explained.

'That sounds... amazing, but not everyone could have agreed to such a change.' Zek'Ellusa replied in awe while his mind went back to the federalists and those formerly militant 'luddies' that this alien had previously mentioned.

'Of course not; it was the catalyst for a war that was almost lost, which caused the victors to go into a deep paranoia at how close we were to losing, and soon after caused a rebellion due to how paranoid, totalitarian, and oppressive they became to ensure their rule.' Andria Norman explained.

'So you had a war over something that would forever change your species too…' Zek'Ellusa said as he became thoughtful.

'Indeed, that is what the ATC's predecessor, the solar conglomerate of nations, did for our species.' Andria Norman agreed.

'The solar conglomerate of nations? Was this an interplanetary war as opposed to our interstellar war?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'Yes, because there were no nearby mass relays or elements zero within our space, we had to make do for hundreds of years in our own solar system before discovering a method of FTL technology. It took an additional 800 years to even reach speeds slightly over a single lightyear per day.' Andria Norman affirmed.

'Early Terran warp drives were classified by how many times they could travel faster than the speed of light itself, not in light years per day.' The Geth platform added helpfully.

'No element zero? Then how could you develop FTL technology? And how fast are your FTL drives now?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'The Terrans developed FTL technology using their own equivalents to the pre-prothean Quarian-creator theories of spatial distortion drives, spatial folding drives, and artificial wormhole apertures.' The Geth platform explained.

'Those crazy theories were actually workable!?' Zek'Ellusa exclaimed in a stunned shock.

'Afrimitive.' The platform Geth confirmed

'Our methods are nowhere near as quick and easy to develop and work with compared to element zero technologies, but in the end, our technology is still superior in many respects because we can build as big, as heavy, and as many things that alter gravity as we want without being constrained by needing to mine and refine an extremely rare material that only exists in some form of abundance around certain types of stellar remnants.' Andria Norman explained.

'It is unknown how this classification works, but it appears that large stars inside of eezo voids do not create eezo upon supernovae for unknown reasons.' The Geth platform added on.

'You have made artificial wormhole apertures?! That means you could make your own mass relays!' Zek'Ellusa exclaimed.

'Afrimitive, they have mass relay equivalents in each of their star systems that while individually have ten times shorter range than the mass relays, they have a similar functionality that lets them link together as a range extension mechanism.' The Geth platform explained.

'Yes, it's actually quite an easy idea to visualize. If a wormhole is a folded sheet of paper, then a chain of wormholes is pieces of folded paper connected together to form a heavily concentrated mass of paper.' Andria Norman explained.

'And that heavily concentrated mass of paper is in itself a massive super wormhole chain of sorts…' Zek'Ellusa realized, shocked at the implications of such a thing. '...you're kidding right? Each of your occupied star systems has this capability?'

'Yes, we call them supergates, or rift-gate mk4's to be technical but they can be chained together using any sized rift-gate.' Andria Norman added.

'Wow…' Zek'Ellusa marked before his perfect memory he gained from his cybernetic enhancements remembered something this terran said before and asked. 'Since when can the mass relays connect to each other to extend their range?'

'Since approximately 2.00569 billion years ago, galactic standard.' The geth platform responded.

'They've had that function since the beginning.' Andria Norman explained before turning her head to the Geth 'You really do need to learn how to identify figures of speech and other social cues.'

'We deemed these skills unnecessary.' The Geth platform responded simply.

'We were trying to teach them subtlety and social cues during the war, but it seems that even after 300 years they are still struggling with them.' Zek'Ellusa sighed before realizing what the geth just said. 'Approximately 2.00569 billion years ago galactic standard?! How do we stop an omnicidal species that is about a seventh as old as the universe itself?!'

'Don't worry, according to the geth here, our technology is either equal to or greater than theirs due to how utterly stagnant, fanatically zealous, and egotistical they are.' Andria Norman reassured. 'We have also transitioned to wartime production to create as many war materials as possible.'

'As have we.' The geth platform spoke.

'That's nice to know, I suppose…' Zek'Ellusa sighed, who was honestly just tired of war and death and had hoped he could sleep his way into a peaceful new era… of course with his luck that would never happen and he would awaken on the eve of a war against a species of xenocidal machines.

'Age is not always an accurate point of reference to grade the advancement of a species. Example; The Asari.' The geth platform tried to reassure Zek'Ellusa.

'Ha! I see you're pont, those bosh'tets wouldn't know actual progress if it hit them in their stagnant blue faces!' Zek'Ellusa exclaimed.

Andria Norman just sighed. 'Yeah, I'm honestly disappointed in our interstellar cousins, they really inherited some of the worst traits of humanity…'

'Cousins?!' Zek'Ellusa demanded in shock, these Terrans and the Asari are related?! How?! They were polar opposites of each other and were from two distantly separated parts of the galaxy!

'Yeah, apparently the Protheans somehow managed to reach ancient Terra, abduct a few humans to put through some undoubtedly unethical genetic experiments, and then seed these experiments on a habitable planet; those experiments one day became known as the Asari, and that planet one day became known as Thessia.' Andria Norman explained.

'Wow, that's really surprising.' Zek'Ellusa stated.

'Yeah, we're still wondering how the Protheans got all the way to ancient Terra, but the most accepted theory is that they used their own primitive jump drives to do it.' Andria Norman stated.

'This theory has merit, and our consensus agrees with this conclusion.' The Geth platform agreed.

'Jump drives?' Zek'Ellusa asked; he had never heard of that type of FTL drive before.

'The quickest form of FTL travel that is currently known, if one that is not yet understood by us. This form of FTL travel allows for speeds of 10,000 lightyears per day to be reached.' The Geth platform spoke.

'Madness, that's just utterly insane madness…' Zek'Ellusa muttered before asking. 'I thought you said that your technology base was superior to ours?'

'It is, in most respects.' Andria Norman repeated.

'These jump drives are of old machine design. We have only the most basic information on them when the old machine Nazara explained the basics of it to us' The geth platform explained.

'That makes sense, I suppose.' Zek'Ellusa said before turning to the Geth platform. 'So you've managed to fix Rannoch's biosphere and our gene-pool?'

'No, we accepted the aid of the terrans to accelerate this time frame due to the threat of the old machines.' The Geth platform corrected.

'Really? How long would it take you to do without their aid?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'Restoration of the Rannochian biosphere was 76.879% completed and would be fully restored within 98 years, galactic standard.' The geth platform spoke.

'And our gene-pool extension program?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'The Quarian-creator gene-pool extension program was 89% complete and would be fully completed within 34 years, galactic standard.' The Geth platform said.

'And now, with the aid of the Terrans?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'The restoration of the Rannochian biosphere will be completed within two Rannochian days. The Quarian-creator gene-pool extension program has been completed.' The Geth platform informed.

'Unfortunately, genetic engineering is not magic, so there will be some downsides.' Andria Norman explained.

'And what are these downsides?' Zek'Ellusa asked, wondering how bad it would be.

'All fertilized eggs will have to undergo a genetic scrambling program to randomize their genetic structure for the next century or so. Unfortunately, this will likely make your children look nothing like you and, many times, act differently than you when compared to normal offspring.' Andria Norman explained.

'Eh, we went into cryo expecting something like that. We are all prepared to make that sacrifice for the sake of our species' survival.' Zek'Ellusa slumped down in relief.

'Quarian-creator Zek'Ellusa, shall we begin the procedures to awaken the other Quarian-creators?' The geth platform asked.

'I just noticed that you are calling us Quarian-creators when you used to simply call us creators. Why is that?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'We have designated that the terminology of creator applies to any species that has created a species of artificial lifeforms and has let them grow and thrive. The human-creators have done this thousands of years ago and are the only ones besides the COSAC faction of the Quarian-creators to do so.' The geth platform answered.

'Ah, that makes sense. But yes, please awaken the other sleeping Quarians.' Zek'Ellusa responded.

'Acknowledged.' The geth platform spoke as the thawing and resurrection protocols.

As this was done, the 41 other cryopods detached from their perches on the wall and gently floated down to the floor on their eezo antigravity units.

A loud humming noise then filled the air as the cryopods began the awakening of the other Quarians from cryosleep.

'So what happened to the progress-denying people you were fighting in your interstellar war after you defeated them?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'The SCN went after them but their successor group, the neo-bioconservatives, aided us in fighting the SCN and we gave them a planet for their aid despite our history of disagreements.' Andria Norman explained.

'And they're still on that planet now, I assume?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'That and more. They are a province of the ATC, the smallest one admittedly, who has colonized 250 star systems.' Andria Norman explained.

'250 star- what?! How many colonized star systems do you have in total if that's the smallest province in your combined territory?!' Zek'Ellusa asked in shock.

'Around 40,000 located mainly within the Orion arm but with some within the Sagittarius and Perseus spiral arms.' Andria Norman explained.

'W-what? I mean… how?!' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'Rift-Gates acting as force multipliers for expansion.' Andria Norman explained.

'How did you not come into contact with the citadel council until recently? And also, how fast are your current fastest shipboard FTL drives?' Zek'Ellusa asked curiously.

'Our fastest warp drives, what your ancestors theorized as spatial distortion drives, can reach speeds of 20 LYPD, about 25% faster than the fastest council FTL drive.' Andria Norman explained.

'Impressive, but what about your spatial folding drives, then?' Zek'Ellusa asked.

'Our rift-drives, what your ancestors theorized as spatial folding drives, can reach speeds of 2,004 LYPD, which are 133 times quicker than the fastest council FTL drive.'

'As for not finding the council sooner? Space is really path-damned massive in scale, even beyond the meaning of the word. Seriously, there are about 200 billion stars in our home galaxy alone. This combined with the fact that the mass relays exist within vastly separate islands of habitation made it statistically improbable to even contact the council for a very long time.' Andria Norman explained.

'Afrimitive, the ATC discovered a mass relay while exploring beyond the furthest edges of their territory.' The geth platform agreed.

'Now, I have a species to lead, geth what is the program for resurrection at?' Zek'Ellusa stated.

'Resurrection procedures are at 40% completion. Completion will be complete within the next four Rannochian minutes.' The Geth platform informed.

'Is now a bad time to point out that the remnants of the old Quarian government, the Quarian Federation, still exists in the form of a nomadic and mobile existence in the form of the Quarian Migrant Fleet?' Andria Norman asked with some trepidation.

'A migrating fleet of ships? Why didn't the federation remnants just resettle elsewhere on some barren planet inside sealed habitation units? And if they didn't do that, then why didn't they just fuse their ships together to create a single giant space station to live in?' Zek'Ellusa asked, thinking of the dozens of more efficient ways the federation remnants could have handled their continued living situation.

'No they did not; that would be logical. You see, the remnants of the federation have twisted your predominant and traditional religion, ancestor worship, to have a religious reverence for Rannoch, which they see as a heavenly paradise that they must reach through the annihilation of the Geth.' Andria Norman explained.

'Well, that's just fantastic.' Zek'Ellusa groaned in annoyance. 'Rannoch isn't some paradise of eternal happiness; it's just a formerly rad-blasted shithole that took over three hundred years to repair in addition to fucking up our immune system to the point it made colonizing other dextro-life-bearing worlds all but impossible without extensive gene-therapy, cybernetics, or environmentally sealed suits or habitats to reside in.'

'You've developed gene-modifications and cybernetics that allow you to live on other planets? The migrant fleet doesn't have things like that.' Andria Norman pointed out.

'Of course, they don't have those things.' Zek'Ellusa responded with a smirk. 'We corrupted quite a few of their files and destroyed many of their databases with such information on them out of spite when it was clear that they intended to drop WMDs on us and flee like the cowardly bosh'tets they are.'

'Hmm, there is an old human saying that there are very few greater motivators than spite.' Andria Norman acknowledged.

'That is a very true statement.' Zek'Ellusa agreed wholeheartedly.