Chapter 13 – Learning Curve

January 24th, 2211, 0346 hours – Aboard the SSV Hippocrates, Deck 12, Pedestrian Corridor 30A

10 hours and 46 minutes after Outbreak.

Cade raised both of his arms above his head in one of the most elaborate, extra yawns that I had ever seen, the barrel of his Vindicator nearly scraping the top of the ceiling. I remember my mother telling me back on earth that yawning wasn't just a trait specific to humans. Animals of all sorts—our dog, cats, tigers, lions, they yawned too.

And apparently so did alien species.

And it was contagious. Mere moments after, Private Galen Verus yawned into the crook of one arm while the other worked to keep his M-8 Avenger pointed steadily down the corridor we were currently travelling down. Cade snapped his jaws together and sighed happily, scratching the scales on his neck.

He tilted his head towards the salarian padding alongside me. "You tired, Doctor Veers?" he asked him.

Jaelen grinned and shook his head. "No, Spectre Kitiarian. Salarians require at most two hours of sleep a night cycle, a side-effect of rapid metabolism. I am quite alright, thank you. And please, do call me Jaelen. Doctor Veers is my father," the scientist answered.

Cade chuckled and huffed. "I know about the two hours thing, I'm just wondering when you found time for the two hours. And while we're on the subject of names, please call me Cade. Spectre Kitiarian makes it sound like I have a real job."

The salarian's grin vanished like a wisp of smoke on the wind. "The last time I slept was right before the outbreak began. Prefer to do my sleeping right after lunch," Jaelen replied.

"Ah," Cade acknowledged. He didn't say anything after that.

Things were a bit quiet after that, not a single one of us wanted to be reminded of what our lives had been like merely eleven hours ago, at least not while we were still on this ship.

I pressed the stock of the silenced N7 Hurricane Accer had given me deeper into my shoulder and kept walking. Boasting a 40 round magazine and a rate of fire of nearly 925 rounds per minute, the N7 Hurricane was, in my opinion, the best submachine gun ever developed by the Systems Alliance.

It was, also in my opinion, the perfect weapon for close quarters combat. At a length of only 32 centimeters without the silencer attached, it was much shorter than any assault rifle currently in production, yet had a comparable magazine size and an un-bested fire rate. That gave it not only competitive stopping power, but also a much higher degree of maneuverability, albeit at the cost of accuracy at longer ranges.

It possessed much less recoil than the M-9 Tempest, another mainline submachinegun, and didn't rely on the three-round burst function like say, the M-4 Shuriken. It was stylishly designed, rugged, and highly configurable. I'm talking five kinds of telescopic sights, silencers, grips, barrels, you name it.

I am not even going to bother comparing it with shotguns, shotguns sucked.

Private Verus coughed and looked at the salarian. "Jaelen, how old are you exactly?" he asked curiously.

"Why, I will be turning 25 this year," smiled Jaelen.

Verus' eyes went wide with surprise. "25? You're younger than I expected," the turian stammered.

Cade slapped one hand on the young turian's shoulder, making him stumble mid-step. "Salarian lifespans are shorter than most species. The average lifespan is about 40 years, so Jaelen is actually just about middle-aged," my friend explained to the rookie marine.

Jaelen nodded. "Yes, I received by undergraduate degree when I was ten, my masters and my doctoral by the time I was thirteen."

"Hey, I'm 25 as well," Cade pointed out.

The salarian beamed at the Spectre. "Ah yes! We are now partaking in a custom that the humans call 'twinning'," he smiled.

"Huh?"

Private Verus yawned one more time, trying his best to stifle it but failing miserably. I looked back at him and he glanced sheepishly at me. As skilled as he was, he was still just a kid by anyone's standards. He had potential if not the experience, and I would make sure he got that experience.

"Hang on, kid. In a few hours your circadian rhythm should kick in and you'll feel a lot less tired," I told him.

Galen cocked his head in confusion. "My what?" he asked.

"Your internal clock, rookie," Cade clarified.

Jaelen nodded vigorously. "Yes, not an expert in alien chronobiology but am confident that turians possess analogous mechanisms to the human circadian rhythm."

"Um… Okay,"

We continued down the corridor, weapons raised. Jaelen had the M-3 Predator that he had gotten from god knows where while Cade still had his Vindicator and what little ammunition remained, his beloved Meera having ran dry hours ago. My Snakebite was likewise hanging empty on my back, and the N7 Valkyrie I had borrowed had maybe two reloads left before its ammunition block also dried out.

My pistol was fine, and the N7 Hurricane I was holding had a few more reloads in it. Private Verus had borrowed a spared ammunition block from Percival and was ready for action. Hopefully we wouldn't need it once we hit the Biology labs.

"Jaelen, a thought just occurred to me," Cade spoke up, "what if the biohazard is some sort of airborne virus? Won't we need sealed suits?"

"Highly, highly, highlyhighlyhighly doubtful" the salarian assured him.

Cade frowned. "But it's a biology lab," he stated.

"Yes! Mostly work with plants, producing resistant crop strains, that sort of thing. Some work on genetics, some microbiology and even pharmacology, but no viruses, no deadly pathogens, no diseases," Jaelen assured us.

"Besides, illogical to perform such work aboard a large, densely populated ship. That work best done on smaller ships or isolated facilities. Easier to contain, less potential infection vectors. Think Noveria, or perhaps frigate-sized starships," he continued.

"And what if the saboteurs brought something?" Galen asked nervously.

Jaelen smiled at the young turian. "If it had been a virus or pathogen, depending on their lethality, decontamination protocols would have activated. No biology lab left." he said assured him.

"So what would simply trigger a lockdown?" I asked.

Jaelen stopped smiling and turned his gaze to me. "Foreign matter," he said ominously.

Galen swallowed nervously and Cade started tapping on the barrel of his Vindicator. My gloves tightened around the handle and the barrel of my N7 Hurricane. We weren't far from the biology labs now, a couple dozen more meters and we'd soon encounter whatever caused the lockdown.

"Everyone, stop whispering. Be quiet!" I commanded.

"We didn't say anything!" Cade whispered back.

"Yes Spectre, no one said anything," Jaelen assured me.

I internally shrugged and pressed the stock of my N7 Hurricane even deeper into my shoulder. I'd likely find a bruise there the following day, the next time I got a chance to take off my armor. If I got a chance.

The lights in the corridor flickered gently as we approached the door. Standing in stark contrast to the dimly lit corridor was a bright sign on the wall indicating that we had reached the biology labs. The letters were all big and white, the sign clean and shiny. The air around us seemed to instantly take on a murky, soupy quality.

I looked down towards the ground. The deck seemed carpeted in what I could only describe as a sort of putrid, green fog. It was odorless and heavy, judging by the fact that it hung low to the floor, but didn't seem like it would impede our movement.

"What is that?" Galen asked nervously as he eyed the green mist.

"Do not fear, likely a by-product of some of the plants we keep in the labs. Loss of power earlier probable cause," Jaelen assured him.

I turned back to stare at the rest of the group. "Seriously, stop with the whispering."

Cade narrowed his eyes and squinted at my face. "Cloud, your eyes are kind of weird. Your pupils are dilated," he pointed out.

I ignored him and unclipped my helmet from my back and sealed it over my head, hiding my eyes. Behind me Cade and Galen did the same, their helmets sealing with a hiss as their suit began to draw upon their back-up air supplies.

Jaelen pulled what looked like a large, completely transparent rubber bag with a small metallic device on the side from his pocket. He placed it over his head and tapped a few commands into his omni-tool. It suddenly inflated and went rigid with a slight pop. It sealed tight around the collar of his uniform, creating an air-tight environment. The device affixed to the helmet would provide him with some measure of airflow, it was a specialized filter that would recycle any CO2 he exhaled and let filtered oxygen in. Uncomfortable and a bit fragile compared to our helmets, but it would work in a pinch. It was designed for emergency use.

I palmed the activation button and the doors slid open. Immediately a cloud of roiling, thick green gas came billowing out the door.

I stepped inside, weapon raised, my eyes darting from corner to corner. The labs were absolutely filled with the weird, green gas, reaching just above the height of my navel and giving the impression that the room was nothing more than a giant kiddie pool. A kiddie pool filled with green gas, fucking weird.

I could see several lab tables running parallel with each other, and multiple massive glass containers that stretched from the ground to the ceiling. They contained all sorts of different plants and flowers. This part of the biology lab was quite large, with a number of offices dotting the sides and a bunch of doors that led to other parts of the labs.

I couldn't see my boots through the thick, green fog, couldn't even see past my stomach for that matter. If you've ever watched the old Star Wars movies like Cade and Percival made me watch, it's kind of like the swamp Luke finds himself in. The swirling mist above the lake, picture that, but a sickly, putrid green.

I made my way in deeper, weapon sweeping back and forth. Cade and Galen took up positions on either side of me, their weapons covering our flanks while Jaelen took the rear, omnitool and Predator both cautiously raised. The room was very warm, perhaps nearly thirty-two degrees Celsius. I could feel my armor's temperature regulators whine lightly as they shifted to compensate.

The salarian scientist looked around at the gas and smiled. "Ah! Green fog byproduct of plant species Sporobolis Lasianthus, plant found commonly on salarian world of Dagnes. When heated past thirty degrees, plant emits a green fog. Self-defense mechanism, useful for concealing plant from herbivores who are most active during those temperatures."

Cade looked at the green fog swirling around his waist and then back towards the salarian scientist. "Is it toxic?"

"No," Jaelen laughed. "Green color due to chlorophyll. It is darker in this plant."

He pointed at one of the plants in one of the massive glass containers. It was a putrid green, colored exactly the same as the fog.

"Is this what was causing the lockdown?" Private Verus asked.

Jaelen shook his head and frowned. "No, couldn't be. Sporobolis Lasianthus and all metabolic by-products are in database, wouldn't trigger lockdown."

I frowned as well, my eyes darting around the fog. "Keep your helmets on for now, just in case. Jaelen, what's our next step?"

He walked over to a nearby console and booted it up. Jaelen tapped a few buttons and a miniature asari made of purple light appeared over it. It was the lab's Virtual Intelligence, or VI for short.

"Biology lab VI, run diagnostic," he said.

"Running diagnostic… Lockdown in effect, an unknown lifeform has been detected, please remove," the VI reported.

"What? What lifeform?" Jaelen frowned.

"Running diagnostic… Lockdown in effect, an unknown lifeform has been detected, please remove," it repeated.

I shivered and looked at Jaelen, who looked back at me in fear.

I caught movement in the corner of my eye, something moving just under the cover of the fog, moving too fast for me to make a positive identification of. I immediately snapped my weapon towards it and fired a burst.

No dice. I kept my weapon trained on the spot and began to advance steadily towards it. Cade and Verus were instantly alert, weapons firmly trained on the point that I was heading towards. I could hear the young rookie begin to pant heavily. Damn this fucking fog.

Suddenly a series of rapid footsteps started up on my left. I turned towards its general direction and fired another quick burst. Whatever it was, it was moving fast. I could see the gas above it move slightly in the direction that it was heading. The slightest hint of a long, jagged tail broke the surface of the gas like the tip of a shark's fin.

Private Verus let out a shout and suddenly he was pulled down into the fog. A few bullets erupted from where he'd been pulled in, followed by grunting and heavy breathing.

"Cade!" I screamed.

My friend immediately triggered his booster jets and launched himself towards the spot that Galen had gone down in.

"Jaelen, vent the room!" I yelled.

The salarian immediately nodded and hunched over the console, typing frantically. I slowly backpedaled towards him, my gun making wide sweeps of the room. I could hear more footsteps, and a soft, insect-like chittering.

"He's okay!" Cade called out. I watched as my friend pulled the young private out of the mist. Galen coughed and hefted his Avenger out of the fog, his head darting back and forth around the room. Cade patted him twice on the shoulder and stood back-to-back with his fellow turian, their weapons covering each other.

"Galen, what was it?" I asked him.

He coughed once more and opened up his radio. "I couldn't see, sir! It grabbed my leg and pulled me down!"

"Eyes sharp. Jaelen, how much longer?"

The salarian didn't cease his typing as he responded. "Not much longer, maybe another two minutes?"

More footsteps again, this time headed directly towards me. I aimed just a tiny bit ahead of the moving green gas and fired a burst. I felt the air knocked out of me as something collided with my stomach and knocked me backwards on my ass right into the fog.

My head spun around as I tried to see what was attacking me, but I couldn't see more than a few centimeters past my face thanks to the fog. I felt a heavy weight on my chest, then got the impression of a pair of snapping pincers trying to punch their way through my helmet. I couldn't make out what it was through the green gas.

"Cloud!" I heard Cade call out.

I kept calm, years of experience kicking in. I raised one hand and grabbed one of the pincers and used my other to pull the Talon from its sheath on my lower back. I immediately began jabbing the space behind the pincers. I felt resistance, indicating that my attacks were most certainly hitting something, but there was no sound to indicate that my target was in any sort of distress or pain.

Something grabbed my leg and began tugging violently at it. A mote of panic creeped into my throat then, but I violently pressed it down, channeling it into anger, then into rage. My amp kicked in and wrapped my leg in biotic blue flames. I ripped it out of whatever had been savaging it and kicked out as hard as I could, the adrenaline and the drugs giving me an abnormal amount of strength.

My leg met resistance again. I felt something crack beneath my armored boot, then a wave of angry chittering washed over me like static.

The weight left my chest as whatever had pounced on me first decided to leave. The tugging at my leg stopped and the chittering withdrew. I grabbed the N7 Hurricane lying beside me and hastily scrambled to my feet. I could see ripples in the green gas again, this time moving away from me. I fired another burst at it but was given no indication that it had hit anything.

Cade and Galen moved towards me, backs close to the wall and rifles trained towards the interior of the room.

"Jaelen, how much longer?" I asked behind me.

"Venting…. Now!" he shouted.

Immediately a small alarm began to pulse and the gas level began to drop. Jaelen turned and took up position beside us, his Predator aimed and ready.

I watched as the gas drop to reveal the serpentine figures of not one, nor two, but four Chimeras. Unlike the larger one that had been following me around the ship, these were much smaller, about twelve feet long from head to the tip of their tails and maybe two and a half feet tall.

Like their older cousin, they were almost completely comprised of the twisted, synthetic flesh of changed organic beings. They had six legs, four thinner ones in the front and two large ones in the back, all made up of jagged, synthetic flesh and terminating in oddly human fingers. Each one had a long, jagged tail roughly six feet long that ended in a cruel barb. Jagged metal spines rose from their backs, armor plating covered their limbs and chest.

Each one had the headplate of a krogan, each one had a pair of pincers that had once been the arms of whatever hapless victim used in its creation, and each one had a small, human mouth between them.

One of them, the largest, was leaking dark blue blood from a series of stab wounds around its neck, obviously the one that had pounced on me. It had a blue headplate. The rest were arranged behind it. One of them crouched on top one of the lab tables, its long, sinuous tail thrashing back and forth above it, his headplate a deep red. Two smaller ones flanked the one with the blue one, their headplates a deep green. Their fingers dug tightly into the ground, their pincers flexing slowly, open and close, open and close.

"One for each of us?" Cade quipped.

I ignored my friend and instead threw my left hand forwards. A massive, rippling purple Singularity flew out of my finger tips and careened straight for the Chimera pack, crackling and humming with biotic power.

They all darted out of the way of my biotic attack, scurrying in four different directions. Cade and Galen both picked the red-plated and one of the green-plated Chimera's respectively and began unloading directly at them. Jaelen squeezed off a few shots from his Predator at the smallest Chimera while I fired my Hurricane at the blue one.

My Singularity slowly expanded, picking up microscopes, pens, papers and even coffee mugs up from the lab benches before exploding and scattering debris all over the room.

The Chimera's were too fast. Any bullets that did connect either glanced off of their armor plating or if they did penetrate, didn't seem to slow them down in the slightest. Cade put burst after burst into the torso of the red Chimera to no effect. Galen had a bit more luck, a few of his rounds blowing off the forelimb of his Chimera. It chittered angrily but otherwise kept running and dashing around.

Jaelen fared the worst, not one of his shots managing to hit his Chimera at all. His role as a scientist and not a soldier proved to his detriment here. The Chimera he was firing weaved in and out of his shots. Jaelen's Predator pistol spat heat as it overheated, putting a halt to his gunfire. Sensing the salarian's vulnerability, the small green Chimera leapt at him, forelimbs outstretched, in an attempt to bring him down.

Blue fire danced between my fingers and I made a throwing motion towards the green Chimera. A crackling blue Warp flew out from my outstretched fingers and collided bodily with the abomination, encasing it in broiling blue flames that began to eat at its synthetic flesh.

It fell to the ground mid-pounce, writhing in pain. It's long, serpentine tail lashed back and forth as it rolled around to try to put out the flames.

Jaelen was quick on the draw, he brought his omni-tool up and fired an Incineration bolt directly at the wounded Chimera. The bright, fiery plasma bolt slammed into the creature, mixing with the drug-enforced Warp fields coating it to create a biotic explosion that tore the creature to bloody chunks. It lay still, headplate smoking, its body completely charred.

The other green Chimera howled, sounding disturbingly human-like, at the demise of its twin. Its preoccupation allowed Galen to pin it in place with gunfire. Cade picked up on the opportunity and triggered a homing grenade before lobbing it towards the Chimera. It flew towards it and detonated in a bright, orange explosion. The explosion tore off its two hind legs, making it easy prey for combined fire from both Cade and Galen.

The red-plated Chimera pounced at Cade. My friend triggered his boosters and propelled himself out of its intended path, landing with a roll into his favourite three-point stance.

Instead of dashing forward again, knife outstretched, Cade whipped out both his Carnifex's and began unloading them mercilessly at the red Chimera. The heavy slugs blew chunks out of the creature. One forelimb was blown off and another lost a hand. Half of its headplate cracked in half. Galen and Jaelen both fired alongside Cade, pouring round after round into the writhing creature.

Eventually it gave up and died, wreathed in a pool of blue, oily blood, bits and pieces of its synthetic flesh scattered in a wide circle around it.

The last Chimera, the blue-plated one, jumped up from where it had been hiding behind a lab table and looked as if it was mournfully regarding the corpses of its brethren. It chittered quietly, the only other noise coming from it being the sound its fingers made as it padded down the table. We all trained our guns on the synthetic abomination.

"Save us," a voice suddenly whispered in my head.

"What?" I asked.

The barrel of my Hurricane momentarily dipped as I regarded it with confusion. The Chimera seized the moment and pounced towards me, pincers flexing and the human-like fingers on its forelimbs outstretched.

I sprinted towards it and dropped into a slide, sliding beneath the grasp of its outstretched hands. All the while my SMG spat bullets at the underbelly of the beast as I slid underneath it. The rounds tore open the softer flesh of its stomach. Blue, sticky blood fell like rain onto my armor.

It landed amidst the rest of the group. Cade and Jaelen both leapt out of the way. Its snakelike tail whipped towards Galen but he managed to duck underneath it and jump backwards.

I stood up and raised my hand. A Singularity flew out and this time it snagged the creature, my gunfire having wounded and successfully slowed it. It was lifted into the air where it hung, defenseless.

"Please," the voice whispered again.

I ignored it and brought my hands together, then quickly ripped them apart. The singularity detonated, tearing the blue-plated Chimera into two halves.

Both halves fell onto the deck of the biology lab, blood and entrails and cables spilling forth from the gaping wounds. The lower half twitched and squirmed, its tail thrashing against the floor. The front half of the Chimera began to crawl towards me, its disturbingly human-like fingers scrabbling against the floor as it dragged itself in my direction.

I walked up to it and jammed one boot down onto the nearly-destroyed headplate, holding it in place. I raised my N7 Hurricane and fired a long burst right into its mouth, between the two pincers.

The chittering stopped and it ceased struggling.

The VI flickered back to life. "Lifeform vital signs no longer detectable, lockdown lifted,"

Cade and Galen both removed their helmets and let out simultaneous sighs of relief. I glanced at Jaelen who simply shrugged at me. Virtual Intelligences sure had come a long way.

January 24th, 2211, 0412 hours – Aboard the SSV Hippocrates, Deck 12, Biology Lab

11 hours and 12 minutes after Outbreak.

Jaelen removed the medical storage container Rentea had given him held it by the straps and placed it on the table beside him. "I'll need some time to do a full DNA sequencing and tissue scans."

Outside the room, Cade and Galen patrolled the rest of the lab, ensuring that all entry points we're properly secured until we were ready to leave and to make sure that nothing jumped on us while Jaelen scanned all his tissue samples.

"How long?" I asked him.

He fiddled with the knobs on his Illumina Technologies DNA Sequencer and removed the first of the containers from within the medical storage container. Back on the bridge, him Rentea and Barthilus had shown Percival, Cade and I the internal organs of one of the Corpsers.

They had been tinged silver, much like the autopsy photos that the scientists of the Prometheus division had shown me shortly before this whole fiasco started. It implied a link, a common thread, and Jaelen had asked for leave to study acquired tissue samples once we had lifted the lockdown in the biology labs.

We were currently in what I surmised to be his own personal office and workspace. I could see pictures of him and Rentea, and of one more salarian who I knew to be his brother.

The hope was that Jaelen would be able to sequence the DNA genome of these creatures and give us some valuable insight on how they were created, how they bred, how they triggered these horrific changes in their hosts, and how it was linked to the phenomenon back on Earth and by extension the Prometheus project. With the theft of the Prometheus Data by the saboteurs, anything we learned here might be all that we got to bring back to the Citadel Council, and the only thing that could use to contain and fight another outbreak.

He removed container after container from the storage container, each one filled with tissues obtained from Corpser biopsies. A rack of testtubes came out, each filled with a sample of Corpser blood from every single one of the converted species. The DNA sequence beside him hummed quietly as it spun up to full power.

"Hard to say, will depend on the amount of DNA in all the samples, then maybe another ten minutes to download all that data and make multiple copies. Will notify you when finished, Spectre," Jaelen replied.

I nodded and paced around the room. A picture of Jaelen and his brother, Tago, caught my eye. They were standing side by side, Jaelen's arm around his brother's shoulder, both of them beaming at the camera. I gently picked it up and took a closer look.

By the looks of it, Tago was receiving his doctorate. His skin tone was a much darker grey than his brothers, but they shared enough similarities in horn shape and facial structure that I could readily believe that they were biologically related. Two small earrings decorated his left horn.

My mind flashed back to the Containment Airlock where we had encountered the first Chimera. It had been made from the converted flesh of its victims.

I remember its right forelimb. It had once been a salarian, two rings embedded in its left horn the only indication of who it had once been.

I remembered at the time I had been too busy to tell Jaelen in fear of what the knowledge might do to him.

I remember not telling him back at the bridge, once we had met again, and not telling him back at the medical deck once we were finally out of danger from saboteurs and those creatures alike.

I let out a sigh and looked down at the floor.

"Jaelen, about your brother…" I began.

The salarian scientist stopped unpacking the storage container and waved his hand dismissively.

"No need, salarian eyesight sharp, miss very little. Knew, back at the Containment Airlock," he smiled sadly.

I swallowed and raised my gaze to meet his. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

He brushed away a tear but the smile never left his face. "I understand why you chose to do so. Wanted to spare my feelings. Agree with your decision, your assumption that the knowledge could have left me paralyzed, compromised, unable to survive events that followed. Luckily your fellow Spectre was there to protect us all."

I nodded. I wanted to feel some sort of relief, some sort of lifted burden at his absolution of my sin, but none came. I should have known better. Nothing could ever wash away our actions, good or bad. They stayed with us from the moment we choose to commit them to the moment we die.

Jaelen sniffed long and hard, then let out a sigh. "I will heal in time. Solace found in the knowledge that we will survive to bring this information back to the Council, to ensure that something like this never happens again. Will not bring brother back, but will stop others from suffering the same fate. It is what he would have wanted," he said quietly.

I nodded again. "I'm sorry," I said softly.

Jaelen smiled once more at me. "No apologies needed. Thank you, Cloud."

He returned his attention to the DNA Sequencer. I sighed and walked out of the room.

Cade lounged atop one of the lab tables, Vindicator at his side. He had one leg up on the table while the other swung loosely off the ground. Galen stood beside him, his rifle held in both hands. By the looks of it the two turians were chatting quietly. Unlike his posture a few hours earlier, the younger turian marine no longer slouched nor cowered in the presence of the turian war hero. His stance was tall and proud, his speech smooth and stutter-free. They had now fought together, spilled blood together, the change was almost remarkable.

The glanced towards me and nodded. I nodded in return. I moved further down into the labs, looking for a private room.

I spotted an open office a few meters away and made my way inside, closing the door behind me. Cade and Galen would probably assume that I was taking a quick nap and wouldn't deign to disturb me.

I removed the helmet clipped to my back and placed it on the desk inside. I slumped into a nearby office chair and placed my gun beside it.

I pulled out the data drive that the saboteur, Olivia Flanagan, had given me prior to her departure from the main engine room.

If you want to dance again, come find me. I'll be waiting, handsome.

I plugged it into my omni-tool and booted it up. A slightly distorted and grainy video began to play and I quickly lowered the volume.

An attractive, brunette woman in a ridiculously tight white and black catsuit appeared on screen. Her face could have been chiseled from pure marble for all the expression her features seemed to display. Her blue eyes were a bit less intense than mine, her face was somewhat broad and her jawline was quite prominent. I settled in and hoped to God that this wasn't going to evolve into one of those videos I'd had the misfortune of walking in on Cade watching.

"Entry Log 9, the year is 2191, March 1st, Galactic Calendar" the voice began. Whoever the lady was, she had a heavy, distinct accent that sounded like it originated from Earth's Australian continent.

"My team and I have begun to analyze the Reaper Cores we've pulled from their deactivated starships. We've discovered something truly amazing."

2191 was less than five years after the Reaper War had ended.

"We know that each Reaper flagship is formed from genetic material created by captured and converted space-faring species. We surmised that if we were to directly analyze the DNA of the synthetic-organic composite used in the creation of their starships, chances are we can categorize Reaper starships not only via their structural differences, but also by the DNA of the captured species used to create them."

Was this woman Systems Alliance? That was most certainly not a Systems Alliance uniform. Hell, if it had been, maybe I would have signed up.

"And we have! Of the seven Reaper Cores we currently possess in this facility, three of them contain identical or near identical DNA. We are currently naming the species used in their creation the Cefaratti, seeing as how there is no way to speculate what the original species might have called itself…"

"Three of the other Reaper Cores are created from the DNA of other species that we are currently naming the Sahndori, the Kehldori and the Qualldori."

The woman on the screen pursed her lips and looked off-camera for a moment before resuming her log.

"But the seventh, it possessed DNA like we had never seen before, DNA unlike any of the others. In each of the seven cores, much of the DNA of the originator species was heavily infused with what we have firmly identified as Reaper DNA. After the activation of the crucible, this Reaper DNA was, for lack of a better word, rendered "inactive"."

"The originator species of the other six cores are also inactive alongside the Reaper DNA. DNA transcription and translation have stopped, but in the seventh…"

"Like I said… the DNA of the seventh is unlike anything we've ever seen. It is not inactive, it is not dead, it is alive. It's transcribing and replicating itself, creating new proteins that we don't have the slightest clue as to what they do. The process was slow, almost undetectable at first, but in the last few months we've noticed irrefutable signs of activity and life. We believe that this DNA isn't natural, but rather artificially created and inserted into the genome of the originator species."

I watched, silent and brooding, as a look of worry descended upon the woman's face.

"Shepard told me what happened atop the Crucible, told me what really happened. If what she told me was right, then—"

I bit back a bitter curse as the video suddenly garbled and the sound cut off. As much as I wanted to slap my omni-tool in frustration, I knew that it was the video and not my equipment that was currently malfunctioning.

"—everywhere. The DNA is alive, we do not currently know what it does, only time will tell. We are currently calling the originator species the—"

The video ended abruptly and I cursed every single god I knew, their mothers, and their mother;s mother's in sheer frustration at the cliffhanger that it had left me at.

I rewound the video, going over the garbled bits again to ensure that it was the video and not my omni-tool. Satisfied and yet disappointed that it had been the video and not my equipment, I quickly made a copy and stored it in my omni-tool. I sent a back-up file to Cade and Percival, alongside a note detailing roughly its contents alongside a plea for secrecy and an emphasis on the absolute necessity of getting this information back to the Council.

My mouth was set in a grim line as I pondered what I had learned. Someone two decades ago had noticed and discovered something different about a certain subset of Reaper Cores, something involving the DNA of the originator species the Reapers used to create them. Unlike all the other Reaper Cores and the DNA that they contained, this subtype's DNA acted differently. It was still alive.

If I was a betting man, and I wasn't, I would bet that this somehow had something to do with both the phenomenon back on Earth and the outbreak aboard the SSV Hippocrates. Hopefully, Jaelen would discover something with his DNA sequencer that would give us more pieces to the puzzle, but as it stood this video was a vital piece, a keystone so to speak.

My mind went back to Olivia's message. She had given me the data drive containing the video, fully expecting me to watch it, then told me to find her. I rubbed my jaw and tried to deduce the location where that she'd await me. I cursed her for being so damn cryptic, for being so damn crazy, for maiming my friend and for the death of Sarah, but as soon as the anger entered I banished it back. It wouldn't help me one bit, it would only hamper my thought process.

What about the video might give away where she'd be waiting? Australia? Dozens of different possibilities immediately raced through my mind but I discounted them as soon as they occurred to me. She had to be on board the ship still. She might have left, might have somehow boarded a stealthed ship and abandoned the system, but some part of my told me that she was still here, that she was still waiting. She was insane, she was a psychopath. If I wanted to figure out where she was, I'd have to think like her.

I knew where she was.

A loud and rapid knock at the door pulled me out of my musings, the voice of Jaelen pulled me back from whatever dark corners of my mind I had ventured into in my attempt to deduce the location of the insane redhead.

"Cloud, you need to see this."

That's two for two, Jaelen. Two for two.

January 24th, 2211, 0421 hours – Aboard the SSV Hippocrates, Deck 12, Biology Lab

11 hours and 21 minutes after Outbreak.

"See the greyed out sequences?" Jaelen asked. He was holding a data pad with a long string of what I recognized to be DNA sequences displayed in long, small rows.

Cade and Galen stood behind me, both of them straining to peer curiously over my shoulder at the datapad in Jaelen's hands.

"Yes," I answered. Maybe 95% of the sequences were greyed out

"That is the DNA of the original host, one salarian named Mylon Tarrat" Jaelen said.

He then tapped the last 5%, it was subdivided into two colors, red and blue. He tapped the red one first, blowing it up on the datapad.

"That is confirmed Reaper DNA, categorized and archived by nearly every major intelligence agency following the conclusion of the Reaper War —STG, Spectres, Systems Alliance, Asari High Command, every single major body conducted research on destroyed Reaper constructs and managed to mostly identify what is now colloquially known as "Reaper DNA". It is inactive, it doesn't degrade, and no one knows what it does."

"So, are you saying that whatever's causing this isn't Reaper DNA?" Galen postulated.

Jaelen looked at the young turian and shrugged.

"Hard to say. Reaper DNA inactive, not translating, not transcribing, not degrading. Completely inert. Could make assumption that Reaper DNA not responsible, yes," Jaelen replied.

Cade reached around me and tapped a talon on the blue portion. "And what about that last part?" he asked.

Jaelen frowned. "That, Spectres, is what is interesting. These sequences not found in any known genome belonging to any life form we've categorized in this galaxy thus far. It is different, very different. Like DNA, but not like DNA. Altered DNA, perhaps. Do not have the tools I need to examine it for now, need to get off ship, get to lab."

The salarian expanded the blue DNA portion. We were treated to a microscopic recording that Jaelen had made of the DNA in question. I watched as a ribosome slid along the chain, creating new proteins. The process was fast, faster than I would have been led to believe, given my crappy elementary understanding of basic genetics.

"It is creating new proteins, fast," he explained. "I cannot deduce their function in our given situation, but given time and equipment, may be possible. Need to get this off the ship, need to get to a real, real lab," Jaelen emphasized.

"But where did this DNA come from? How did it get mixed up with this Mylon Tarrat's DNA? We assumed that infections were spread from the infected Corpsers onto the non-infected, and that the infection originated from the Changers that were created at ground zero of the outbreak." Cade asked wondered.

"Did you watch the video that I sent you?" I asked my friend.

He looked at me and flapped his mandibles sheepishly. "Just the first few seconds. Thanks by the way, Spirits, I didn't you'd ever be comfortable enough with me to send me a—"

The moment he opened his mouth I began a silent count to three to stop myself from punching the scales right off of him.

"It's not that kind of video," I said coldly.

Cade laughed. "I know, just teasing. I ran an auto-transcript software and read it."

I sighed. "Well then you should know that not every Changer we've encountered was someone who was at ground zero. Those Krogan for example."

Cade cocked his head towards me. "You think that this DNA somehow originated from the Reaper Core then?"

"I do."

Jaelen cleared his throat and tentatively raised his hand. "Ahem, what video are you talking about?" he asked. He looked at Cade, then to me, then back at Cade.

Cade and I shared a long glance with each other. At this point, Jaelen was magnitudes more useful than either of us when it came to understanding and eventually combatting this DNA, the phenomenon on Earth, and any future outbreaks. In his hands, this video could be instrumental in developing a cure, or a way to reverse its effects, or any number of potential applications.

But on the other hand, sharing it with him would significantly increase the chance that it might fall into the improper hands. Granted, the saboteurs were the ones who gave it to me, but I shuddered to think what might happen if the STG or the Asari Commandos got their hands on it. Heads would roll, there would be a possible witch hunt for that woman and the possibility of widespread panic over the fact that the Reaper's left us a little parting gift that could potentially wipe out the galaxy.

It all boiled down to whether we could trust Jaelen.

Cade coughed. "What do you think?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "The usual. Trust them 'til we can't, then shoot 'em".

"You are a complete asshole, I thought Jaelen was our boy."

"You've known me for less than a day," Jaelen pointed out.

I shrugged again and tapped the Predator holstered at my waist, then sent Jaelen a copy of the message I had sent to both Percival and Cade, along with the plea for secrecy. Jaelen ran his own auto-transcript software just like Cade had and quickly scanned through the document. His eyes grew wide as he finished.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked.

Jaelen looked to be in slight shock. His eyes flicked between my face and Cade's. "I… need to get to a lab. I believe they are related, Spectres, and that thought scares me very, very much."

Cade racked the charging handle on his Vindicator and hefted it onto his shoulder. "Well what the hell are we standing around here for then, let's get back to the bridge, then off this ship."

"Agreed," I nodded. "Let's go see if Camilla figured out a way to program the self-destruct. If that doesn't work, we can simply point it towards the nearest star and max the engines."

"Yes," Jaelen agreed. "Destruction of these creatures and containment of this outbreak still a priority."

I moved out of Jaelen's office, my N7 Hurricane in one hand with the barrel pointed up, Cade close behind me. Jaelen came out after him, his medical container with all the samples in one hand and his Predator pistol in the other. We marched out of the office and made for the exit.

"Guys? Wait for me!" Galen called out.