Jason pushed the moment of panic down. The Asari had played her cards openly, knowing her tacit references would either be understood or outright dismissed. This wasn't a meeting that was going to go well if he started a verbal relay in circumspect. He didn't know her, and trust needed to be earnt.. not just assumed..
"I want to make something very clear." He started sternly but not unkindly, "No one owes me any debts or favors.."
Ethos stirred, its attention turning outward. A thought trickled down Jason's spine.
{We are being scanned.}
"You appear to have me at a disadvantage.." Jason continued, backing against the waist high railing that ran in front of the glass walls of the elevator. Jason rubbed his temples, closing his eyes in the effort of concentration to focus on the torrent of information that Ethos was running a thought's reach from his consciousness.
The stream abruptly stopped.
Jason opened his eyes. Liara was turning to face him, giving him the first opportunity to really look at the Asari. She was young, even by Asari standards. But she held the composure of someone who carried the weight of experience and loss far beyond her years. She was focused, sternly attentive, but the depth of her eyes betrayed glimpses of a person acting a role that was better suited to a less passionate soul.
Jason broke the doubtless mutual judgment. "You have a very curious way to extend such an earnest greeting. You offer in one hand but you work to subvert with the other."
A furrow of mild surprise crossed her otherwise impassive expression. "I do not-"
"Did your scan tell you much? I'm impressed with the phase coherence you have in a hand held device. Are you processing the results or is your.. friend?" Jason tapped his ear. Mirroring the invisible earpiece that Asari wore. "Who else is talking to you that is worth compromising your introduction so thoroughly?" Jason took a deep breath, letting his anger quell in the descending silence. "If you actually value my cooperation then you should explain yourself. I dislike being manipulated as much as I detest seeing it being done to others."
Jason held his tone flat. The mere prospect of a fight an Asari in such a confined space, with no weapon and no plan, was suicidal. Asari were natural biotics.. she would have every advantage.
Liara's expression shifted through various thoughts before she looked away, addressing someone.. someone remote.. and then, without breaking eye contact with Jason, slowly reached up to remove an almost invisible earpiece. She snapped it in half, to an electronic pop, and then powered off her omnitool.
She gave Jason a long suspicious look. "My assistant. And only to provide me with situational information.. I have to take precautions. My relationship with the Shadow Broker is hostile. I have worked to sabotage his network and operations for over a year, building my own network to counter his own. An action that does not come without consequences and cost. I've paid dearly for lapses in trust and lost friends to ignorance and betrayal."
"Don't expect what you're not willing to give or earn."
Liara blinked. She looked lost in thought for a split second before her expression softened. "You remind me of.." she stopped and shook her head. "Forgive me. I am sorry." She raised a hand to gesture at Jason. "I had to take the opportunity to learn who you were beyond a chance face ID and a rumor. You have disturbed the broker's plans in ways he cannot predict. I found you because Kessera linked you to a weapons merchant in the wards. The broker does not know this. I came, in part, to find you, to warn you.. or.."
She paused and let out a ponderous breath while watching Jason carefully.
A small question crossed Jason's brow, "..or?" He prompted.
".. to recruit you." Liara finished slowly.
Jason digested this, slowly dipping his head in thought. "I can't dispute your reasoning. It makes a lot of sense. But I do not like your method. If I decide to challenge this broker it will be to undermine him entirely. You, I think, are working to meet his method.. are you willing to risk becoming him to beat him? Because that is a game he will have the advantage to win in every round. That is an endurance race and it is not my battle." Jason shook his head. "I presume you once had a working relationship with the broker? before it broke down.. what did you do?"
Liara looked away. "I betrayed him to rescue a friend he was selling into an unknown fate."
Jason frowned. "Slavery?"
Liara shook her head but did not elaborate. There was obviously more but he was not going to get it. Here was a person willingly stuck in a pit of consequences of their own making.
"You must have very good reasons to do this to yourself.."
He offered an olive branch. "Let me help with resolving your ignorance of me.. What did you learn?"
She glanced down and lifted her arm, pausing for Jason's nod before bringing her omnitool back to life.
"The scanner is a prototype I acquired from an organization I had dealings with a year ago, the same who assisted with.. my friend." She seemed momentarily occupied with a distressing thought before dismissing it. "It is unlikely I will have dealings with them again.. It's based on salvaged Reaper Technology from Sovereign's Crash site.." The Asari flicked through results, her confusion growing more and more evident. "I.. don't understand.. what are you?"
"Human." Jason rubbed his shoulder.
Liara looked up, glancing as though to check Jason was actually there, her expression carrying several layers of confusion. "I've never.. You don't even register with my omnitool scans! Are you a hologram?"
"Not even close.." He kicked a foot on the steel frame of the elevator.
Liara's expression grew distant in recollection. "I.. I have seen something.. once.." she continued slowly. "A paper.. an artifact.. several years ago while studying.. but that's impossible.."
Jason was intrigued but shrugged, "Many more things are possible than we give credit for-"
The elevator control panel reset. A small jolt signaled the resumption of their journey.
"Our time is up.." Jason stated the obvious but added a hook out of his own captured curiosity. "I would be interested to resume our discussion when there is more time."
Liara had a haunted look. Jason raised a hand to delay her reply. "Jason.." He added. "My Name."
The light flickered on along with all the control system panels. Liara pulled the hood of her long shawl over before the security system came online.
Jason continued. "It is largely irrelevant, and you wouldn't find it because it died a long time ago. I would appreciate keeping it like that because it benefits someone in my situation."
Liara nodded. "And the rest? How may I contact you? You don't have an omni tool.. or any technology for that matter."
Jason cast a small smile, reaching inward to momentarily dwell in the common mindspace with Ethos. He felt his vision shift in deepening detail where he saw the Asari's irises widen in surprise. (Mirroring his own initial shock when he'd seen his own eyes in triple take reflection at the workbench barely a few days ago).
This time he saw the two subtle golden rings in the darkened reflection of the Asari's eyes.
"If I can trust you then I will find you."
—*—
Zol looked up as Jason entered the shop. "You took a long time. Did they drag you up to CSec?"
"No. Just a concerned detective acting on reflex rather than thought. Means well.. but he's going to get himself in a mess if he acts before he knows what he is working against." Jason rubbed his neck. His neck hurt, his back hurt.. a lot of things did actually.. "I need to get out of this suit.. It's like wearing a cardboard collar. Did you speak with any of the other merchants? Was there any take up?"
Zol grinned, handing Jason a datapad.
"Zol?" Jason stared at the log that was ticking up.. "This is over a thousand registrations.."
"More's coming.. people aren't stupid, they are gonna jump on a bargain, everyone loves credits."
"..especially their own.." Jason added as he put the pad down and headed for the back of the store. "I knew having you as head of marketing was a good call."
Zol grunted as he chuckled. "You pay and I'll have the station on board in a month…"
Jason was halfway to the workbench when Zol called after him that there were some Jobs waiting on thr bench for him.
Jason acknowledged before disappearing behind the gloom. He pulled of the suit and packed it away.. it would probably be useful again later. The thing was fitted but uncomfortable. He did wonder what happened to proper folded collars.. the new things felt like they would strangle or grab you in the neck if you got into.. erm.. needful situations.
He put it aside and rubbed his arm. It felt like he'd pulled a muscle.. or six. Even his legs hurt. He'd been on the go for a while, maybe he just needed rest.
Jason pulled on a simple T-shirt and the closest thing to jeans he'd been able to find, then set to work on Zol's jobs. The mental break would be good.
Ethos had been quiet aside from needful interactions since his last ryncol addled sleep.. He wasn't keen to distract it, it was occupied with something.. he didn't see value in being annoying. It wasn't like it was going away anytime soon; a thought he tried not to dwell on.
Jason pulled out the first repair item and unwrapped it.
Something Liara, had said had started to eat at him.. first off the name T'Soni had finally caught up with him. He had remembered where he'd read it before, required Alliance reading on the Asari.. it had included summaries of significant socio-political figures. Matriarch Benezia T'Soni was a major spiritual and cultural force within the Asari Republics. Notable for her political views leaning toward greater Asari influence in galactic affairs and not just council matters. It was curious.. Family names were particularly influential in Asari society, which made him wonder..
Jason pulled up a search terminal and read between tasks; soon realizing he had been face to face with the future head of house T'Soni.. and a trained biotic.. and a family renegade. Liara had certainly been making a name for herself, since… another name came up again, and this one came up a lot: Jane Shepard, Specter.
The galaxy's model poster-child.. well.. most of the galaxy.
There were vastly differing views on what she had done and was purportedly fighting for, or against. A vast propaganda machine touted her for System's Alliance recruitment - it was nice to see that somethings about humans didn't change (even if it was asinine). We love a good hero, especially a sellable role model. The irony being that their value is only wholly recognised, and them being venerated to hero-hood, after their death. This was a staunchly human trait. Many actual living legends had deftly skirted hyper-fame because it (andagain because of humans) undermined the very thing that they were supposed to be good at.
Other species often turned heroes into political figures, modern humans tended to turn heroes into political power.
..Dammit.. he was becoming a cynic.
Jason put down the shotgun microelectronics he was working on and glared at the terminal: he'd finally remembered what Liara had said.. Sovereign's crash site and salvaged technology.
What exactly was Reaper Technology? … The way she'd said in passing as a matter of fact comment suggested the idea came through first hand experience. Which begged several questions.. Like, what did the Geth do in making the Sovereign dreadnought that was so spectacularly different? Why was it seen as advanced and what made it so secretive and coveted? There definitely wasn't the same furore over general Geth technology.
Trying to hide new technology while leaving it out and exposed to the galaxy was a bit like trying to put a wooden bucket over a fire.. sure it worked.. until it very much didn't (or you needed another bigger bucket). Which meant that there were three scenarios.. no one knew anything because it wasn't special or it was an open secret where people knew of it but not about it, or it wasn't a secret.
Jason ruled out one and three.. but two was a bastard to unpick. There were half truths and then all the actual details that you needed access to specific people to be able to learn.
He stretched in his chair and stared unseeingly at the screen.
Would it be stupid just to ask? He drummed his fingers on the workbench for a second. But.. who?
Jason reopened the terminal and searched. Pulling up profiles of Shepherd's former team members and known associates. She had some powerful connections.. which made sense as had been a Specter. But what set her very much apart was that these people walked with her. It was one thing to know influential people but to have them literally on side and in the fray was curious.
Urdnot Wrex, Zol had mentioned him, was the enormous force now dragging the scattered Krogan into some semblance of a more unified argument on Tuchanka . Liara T'Soni, daughter of an extremely influential Asari - that he'd been surprised to read had died just before the Citadel battle - was now an information broker with a vendetta against one of the most powerful people in the known galaxy. A Quarian.. Tali'Zorah, the daughter of one of the migrant fleet's Admirals. Ashley Williams.. granddaughter of Admiral Williams, one of the venerable Shanxi command who Jason, controversially, argued actually prevented more bloodshed in the face of horrific odds. Garrus Vakerian, a Turian, a CSec detective whose father had only recently retired from the force with distinguished honors; was doggedly capable and driven. Kaiden Alenko, an actual human biotic who had single-handedly broken the first council supported human-biotic training center. And then there was Galactic Human Councilor Anderson, who had been Shepard's commanding officer and who's ship she'd actually taken over for Specter ascension and hunting down Saren. Some of these were the kind of people that other influential people could take serious issues at them getting involved in questionable activities.
There were still more.. her entire Alliance crew vouched for her actions after the destruction of the Normandy. It wasn't proven that the Geth had destroyed the Normandy SR1.. the evidence had pointed to something else that no one had an answer for.. publicly anyway. But the Alliance had never taken the loss of a vessel well. If the cause could not be fully attributed then the commanding officer was accountable.. Shepherd was a Specter, but also still a Commander. On her head it fell.. just softly.
Jason paced around the cleared area around the workbench. Shepard didn't need vetting, or proving. She'd already moved the world around her. Jason turned over the small quartz vial he'd been fidgeting with. He felt very strangely disconnected from something that was important. He didn't know how or why it was important but the reality of it bent the universe around it even though it was hidden; while everywhere he looked he was struggling to avoid the ripples of its lingering influence. There had been something big… there was something big… and Shepard was quite literally in the middle of it. Every instinct he had pointed to her. She knew.
Dammit, she probably had all the distinguishing details that anyone else would disregard. Except.. she also had these other people, powerful and, or, capable in their own right, yet loyal. They must have trusted her. A lot.
But she was dead.
And without her it didn't seem like they were going to directly continue her path. They'd scattered.
Jason shook the vial letting the small bubbles drift along the length, only gathering when he tipped it; he watched as they slowly accreted to merge back together and displace the viscous content at the top of the vial.
Jason realized he needed to understand the greater context to be able to find the fulcrum. Maybe the truths could come together, if you could tip the scales or find someone who could. The whole truth couldn't hide or stay broken forever. It tended to rise over the weight of illusion in the end. But you could rely on chaos to distribute it if you managed the environment.
He could try Liara.. but it would not be free, she would want something in return; most likely trailing into involvement he was not ready for and would risk exposure in a universe that was barely into weeks of familiarity for him.
The others were all far afield except for Anderson and the Alliance personnel who he could not directly account for. He was still wary of this Alliance, having barely scraped the surface of it yet.. and Anderson was too far up the political tree and too firewalled to make any direct contact with.
Jason stared at an image of the Citadel that lingered on the screen, the full body armored form of Shepherd stood in front of it with an assault weapon in hand. It was an old image. Jason tapped the holo where a very large thing was pointedly missing in all the current materials. He smirked.. it was hidden in plain sight.
—*—
An hour later Jason was walking alone along a heavily reinforced perimeter fence. On his right the Ward rolled onward in the usual glittering spire filled space, while on the left was a dusty gray and dark void that contrasted heavily against the saturated warmth of the station and the nebula beyond. From this perspective, against the farther lights, he could see long streaks of buildings in the gray where jagged ruins descended along violently cropped heights. Tracking the paths of enormous inbound objects into distant petalled voids. This wasn't one crash site, but many. What hadn't broken in the collisions was shattered by blast waves that had twisted and toppled most of the tallest towers, leaving a shadowed tangle of a complex flattened cityscape.
No wonder it was kept dark.. if the grid could be energized it would merely highlight the scale of the destruction.
Even with it shuttered and fenced, the effect of its presence had spilt beyond the exclusion zone. Even here at the edge of the live side of the barrier, there was an emptiness that overflowed. Everything was still and still starkly quiet, which was merely the start of the layered unsettledness of the dead zone.
All other wards had some variation of night life.. either galaxy bound trade, transit services or recreation, but not here. This was eerily quiet. Even the skycar routes had routed around this space, stripping it of the seeming life blood of civilization. The black stillness of the dead region behind the wall had driven any life from the adjacent buildings. What had survived on the periphery of the zone was all repaired and made so perfect that you had to look closely to see where new panels had replaced gouges, blast or shrapnel damage. This work had however not stemmed the outflow… the adjacent buildings, sometimes extending to over a city block away, were utterly abandoned. Massive towering buildings stood lit but empty. People didn't want to live or work here. Just the plants that the keepers dutifully tended.
Jason wandered along long carved streets, the dim street lighting cast pools of warm light on the gray paths between the glass facades. He looked into the hauntingly abandoned foyers of entire city blocks of empty skyscrapers. Everything existed, just without purpose. A surreal and dystopian state of spotless abandonment.
It didn't look like the council had poured excessive resources into repairs beyond the superficial work. Which was strange. The council could build a functional city on a planet in mere months if there was the will for it. But here the keepers were apparently left to it with years still on the clock.
A shadow crossed the nebulus light spearing through the open ward arms. Jason glanced up and out of the Citadel where the defense fleets lingered.. Asari, Turian, Selerian and Human. The human fleet was large, prominent and far more significant than he remembered. The number was only bested by the Turian presence; but both of them lingered under the shadow cast by the gargantuan flagship that was always somewhere in view, the Asari's Destiny Ascension.
Fleets.. That was where the money was going.
Jason reached his target. Several hundred meters directly into the zone was the crash terminus of a large piece of the dreadnought. It was a guess from his wanderings, but it felt adequately informed. The scale preceding it and the void surrounding it exposed it not by its presence but by the lack of everything else. Jason walked around the buildings and ducked into the quiet maintenance entrance of a giant residential spire. There just wasn't anyone to notice or stop him. Everything was unlocked or easily circumvented. The stairwell door clicked and slid open with a little effort, which opened to a dizzying descent far down toward the sublevel access.
He found what he had hoped for near the bottom. A keeper junction and tunnel entrance. The subtle layer of fine gray soot indicated it was the right direction. Jason pulled the hood over, slowly exhaling as the familiar click of the hard plates locking let his mind shift gear. He reached for the console when a sharp pain ran up his left arm. He grabbed his wrist in instinct to apply pressure which didn't immediately help. The biting pain spread up his wrist like teeth boring down to the bone. Jason stumbled to a knee. He ripped off the glove and tore at the coat sleeve as the pain spread into his hand and up his arm.
He grabbed his forearm to stem the.. it wasn't blood..
"What the fuck.."
Thousands of black tendrils pierced out of his skin, eating up rapidly over his hand as they folded in and merged, weaving and laying out along the contours of his fingers to seal them in a thickening layer. Jason shivered as the pain abated. Still gripping his forearm, he turned his left hand over. Now completely enveloped.. it was almost like a gauntlet… there was even some sort of plating over the top of his hand. He turned it over again, balling and flexing his fingers effortlessly. He swallowed, forcing down the nervous shock.
"Ethos.. what is this?"
{We detect a sleeper remnant in the vicinity.. the risk of an encounter necessitates the use of adequate protection and environmental isolation.}
Jason grimaced as he tightened his grip. He could feel whatever it was stalled by his effort, but it was not stopped.
"Could you have asked me first.. I.. I don't want to-". Jason raced to fit his memories and fears into the web of plausibilities he could fathom. "-become something else.."
Ethos seemed to consider something before it responded by unwrapping Jason's hand for a few seconds before enclosing it again.
Jason grimaced as he watched in reserved caution.
It still hurt.
{We recommend you submit. The Collective's imperative is unavoidable. Fallen must survive. Engaging with a member of the Swarm places knowledge of the collective's decisions at risk. Us, at risk. You may be capable of interfacing with a swarm member without direct reprisal, but we cannot without exposing the Collective. We are attempting to provide you with the defenses necessary to undertake your decisions for your collective.. nothing more.}
The penny finally dropped, Jason's eyes widened. "You mean a Sleeper.. one of those.. Holy shit-". He clenched his teeth as the momentary break in pressure lost him a few centimeters.
{If you choose to proceed then necessary defenses are required. The Fallen do not die idle. A swarm sleeper shall not either.}
"Reaper.. They call it a Reaper, here.. she did.. Do you know anything? What can you tell me?"
{Our Collective knows them only as their hostile brethren. We do not have any knowledge of their kind other than of our own memories that the Collective left with us.}
"Fuck.. Dammit Ethos.. you could have told me, something.. fucking anything."
{They are machines.}
"And you aren't?" He flexed his hand, a dark matte had replaced the metallic sheen of plates over a black threadless underlayer.. it all had heavy mechanical overtones, but also a hint of organic fluidity laid over a base form.. his form that was still human.
{Negative. We are not. We are as much a machine as you are, just a different kind. The others, the sleepers are of our kind, but they have no awakened minds. They are their own. A mechanical mind.}
"Why are they here?"
{We do not know.}
"But you fear them.."
{They will retaliate if they learn we are here. It is not permitted. You are our defense within this collective. All the Fallen are at risk if through you we are compromised. This is an outcome that we cannot allow. You must submit to this for both our survival if you intend to proceed.}
"What if I don't?.."
{We would prefer your cooperation in adaptation.}
Jason closed his eyes, letting out a staggered breath.
Fuck.. if this was half of what Shepherd knew then he already had enough of the madness of puzzle to understand why this was buried. There was more. There had to be a fuck ton more to make sense. He could feel he was at the edge of even Ethos' knowledge.. it had its own context. But.. for some forsaken reason It trusted him, even if it was out of necessity, but it had.. and he couldn't fault it.
"This is going to hurt, isn't it.. what's going to happen to-"
{We shall assimilate your wares for integration.}
"You mean my clothes.."
{Affirmative.}
"And how do I.. get it off of me. You know.. to be normal."
{We shall assist you to learn.}
"Ethos?" Jason hesitated, he had to trust it.. but he needed to know something first. "Am I still human?"
{Affirmative. But also, Us.}
Jason slowly stood up. He could feel his heart racing in the lingering stress and adrenaline.
He let go.
The piercing started again, more slowly this time, which was worse.
"Ethos.." Jason grimaced as he tried to steel himself. "Just get it over with.."
—*—
Jason glanced around the gray dust strewn and almost alien landscape; picking his way across the tangled ruins. The keeper tunnel had opened into the depths of the scar. The top of the deep gouge created a new horizon almost twenty meters above that blocked the ward's cityscape from view. Stricken metal and glass lay everywhere except for the countless weaving paths the keepers had been clearing through the mangled carnage.
Jason climbed a small hill of debris, his boots making easy purchase on the smooth metal below as he reached the steep top. A hooked metallic claw protruded out into the void from the edge.
It wasn't a hill.
Jason bent down and brushed off the soot. The metal beneath his hand was different.. a deep purple-blue in hue and thickly formed. Heavy plate, it was still cold to the touch like it absorbed the radiant heat around it.
He jumped off the ledge before he had thought of the fall distance. Catching himself in an easy three point landing in a surprise reflex that he quickly shook off.
Dusting his hand off as he stood, Jason turned around to inspect the underside of the remnant. It was a limb.. of sorts. It was on its side so he could see the broken remnants of enormous articulated segments. The sheer size alone was intimidating, but add to it the subtle organic distortions and it became terrifying.
He followed the segments back to where another hill rose. This one was strewn with enormous sinking cracks among a vast field of deep, almost black, metal. He could make out the broken attachment remnants of other limbs along the periphery.
This was the underside, the thing had crashed in on its heavily plated back.. the impact shattering the superstructure. He Peered into one of the dark crevasses. There was still structure within.
He lowered himself into the void. Finding grasp on twisted spur of wrenched metal and dangling streams of tubes as he climbed deeper. But with the descent also came the Silence. It was more than deserving of its own name. The station always had some sense of noise; whether it was damped by the masses of infrastructure or in the remotest corner you could find, there was some sound even when it was quiet.. the station, like ships, had a sound, a feel.. a heartbeat in a way. ship engineers would attune to it, professing to 'know' their craft.. but any engineer knew it, things had a life and fighting chaos to fulfill its purpose animated it. It was never silent. Not here. It was oppressive, like it had substance as though the thing around absorbed every hint of free energy. It burrowed into the mind.
Jason stretched down to find footing at the bottom of the steel crevasse. There was something solid under foot, but he was between dangling crushes of arm thick cable like cords and cracked sheets of layers of black metal plates. He could barely make out the darkness that spread out in two directions. A little inward to the left path was sealed by the crush. Leaving the only path to the right.. and to the bow. He pushed on, inward and downward… or in the context upward in the carcase. Till the space opened into a shredded tangle of slithering black petelled metal.
Something caught his eye, Jason crouched on his haunches in the small open space. A sliver of silver lay on the floor.. A crest. Turian crest, or a side crest. The metallic carapice bone lay hauntingly in the settled dust.
Jason looked up and frowned. High above there was a large metallic seat. The floor around it was rippled and distorted with hints of deep conduits that fed into it… like it was grown. A large console was similarly affixed to the floor a little way in front of it. Hints of a different metal caught its eye.. there was something more familiar affixed to it.
Jason reached down to grab his pistol, remembering the torch… and cursing as his hand grasped at nothing.
Dammit. He hadn't brought it.
He'd been trying to not get distracted by the full body armor that now enveloped him.. or was.. fuck.. he didn't know.. he wasn't starkers.. that mattered. He'd buried a moment of panic when it had not stopped at his neck and continued up through the helm, dissolving and integrating the hood as it covered his head.. a loss he regretted as one of his last tenable hooks to another life. He hadn't time to protest. But.. this was better. Much better.. even though he was loath to admit it.
He knew Ethos wouldn't be smug, it would just wonder why Jason had doubted in the first place. Which just made his annoyance reverse direction. He'd have words with Ethos, later.. right now the presence of the entity was notable by its absence; he could sense it watching but it was incommunicably detached..
He pondered for a moment. He was in control, right? He concentrated, trying to see the hooks that Ethos managed. His perception shifted around him, the black and silver shifted to crimson imbued with streaking tendrils of blackened red. Death surrounded him.
It suffused the walls, ceiling, floor, the chair, the console.. everything.. except for the silver terminal attached to, the presently upside down, console above. The vision was grating on him.. he shifted it back to the enhanced dark, trying to ignore the instinct to avoid touching anything.
Jason pulled himself up a mass of tendril like conduits, reaching for the console and grabbing the terminal that pulled off easily in his hand. He slipped to the floor, holding the thing in a quandary of what to do with it. He didn't have a power source to examine it or an omnitool to scan it. It looked like standard council tech. He'd have to examine it at the workshop. Jason fumbled for a pocket and swore before he stopped and realized he was being stupid. He held the terminal up and checked the small passive magnetic pads, holding his left arm out he attached the thin bar to an armored plate along his forearm. It'd do.. storage may need to be a discussion for later.
Several passages led on from this central chamber, Jason climbed up to a doorway and followed the meandering passage beyond. It opened into a study.. maybe Saren's. It had been organized.. but the content of the desks and shelves were strewn chaotically throughout the room. Even, strangely, a large Prothean artifact. Or it looked Prothean to Jason. A portion of a stone finished pillar. Broken and now shattered open and cast across the floor where it had met its final end.
What was Saren doing with Prothean tech?
Jason picked up a green crystalline shard from the broken device and peered through it. He'd always wanted to study raw Prothean tech, but it was severely restricted and even more so since joining the council accords.. maybe that had changed. He paced around, collecting a handful of Prothean data disks.. which led him to the last intriguing find, which was something he'd preferred not to have found.
A Geth.
The large crumpled form was impaled on a failed beam, the slumped form having bled out a pool of a white liquid.. cooling fluid or lubricant. The body showed severe impact damage and its power source was broken … thrown around in the crash, killed but unable to disintegrate. He shook his head. From what he'd read, something like this was unbelievably valuable. Jason looked around and at the collection already in his grasp, already suspecting he was going to be coming back.
The last chamber he could gain entry to was worrying. Masses of cloning pod-like tubes lined the long walls. All were dark and many of them empty. Those that weren't empty had occupants.. former occupants. Some simply shattered and indistinguishable forms languishing at the bottom of the pods.. some more .. humanoid .. than others. The worst was the large pod, the cracked glass distorted the view of the inner, but it was undeniably Turian.. or was Turian. Jason had seen images of Saren and this bore more than a trivial likeness, except as a clone it was twisted and deformed. Mechanical intrusions pierced it, bulging its torso as though to burst it open.
What was Saren doing? Jason glanced around, half expecting the thing to come to life. He shifted back to the other vision for a moment... everything was dead, or as dead as he could tell. The olive green fluid in the pods had something to do with preventing the deterioration of their content. A fact he felt obligated to act on..
Half an hour later, after a heavy climb and trek, Jason slid down to sit against the wall in the deep basement where he'd begun. He must have been down there for hours.
{Six hours, fourty three minutes.}
"So you're reading my thoughts now too.. Welcome back by the way.. I could have done with some help."
{Negative. We determined your capabilities were adequate.
If you were distracted the sleeper's remnant autonomic response would have compromised you. We were observing.}
Jason rested his head against the wall. Helmet clicking against the metal. "That thing is dead."
{It was passively attempting to affect your human biology. We counter acted its influence, in your current state you are resistant but not immune.}
"I'm not following you.. what exactly would it do to a.. normal.. person?"
{We are uncertain. Simulations show triggering of genetic expressions from presumed junk portions of your genome.. the effect is not immediately evident. We suspect the concentration of effect is on neurology, with targeting areas of the cerebrum; with likely effects on emotional and empathy processing and cognitive rationalization. We are analyzing other species' DNA to determine whether similar or related responses may be invoked, if so then we may be able to detect affected persons. We have already begun erasing unrequired and suspect coding in your own DNA.}
"What?!" Jason replayed the conversation. "Fine.. just.. just not, you know.. something important.. just ask, please.."
{Understood. The process will take time and adaptation, additional coding space is required.}
Jason thought for a moment. "What is the range like on this.. field?"
{Critical expression will require concentrated exposure. At our current range it is still perceptible but would have a severely limited response, unknown effect.}
Jason stared at the door. "I think I can tell you right now that every species I am aware of is affected.."
Ethos paused for a moment. {How do you arrive at this hypothesis?}
"No one wants to be here. You saw the place when we arrived.. there is no one.. this place is eerie beyond the dead zone's presence. I can't explain it. But I can see how someone could come here for work, but live? No. Not a chance. I'll wager it is that."
{It is a plausible leap, but we do not have your subjective perspective. We shall continue our analysis. }
Jason chuckled. "You tell me what you find when you're done. But first.." Jason stood and stretched. He was tired and hungry. Apparently he powered his armor. "I've two errands to run that I could do with some help on…"
—*—
Zol was in the shop when Jason jogged. It'd been a busy day after a busy night. A run had felt like a good way to clear his mind.
The big guy's demeanor was unnerved. Several of the larger wall ornaments were set out with primers and ammo crates. He shot a yellow gaze to Jason the moment he entered, waving his assault rifle by way of a come over gesture.
"Zol?" Jason looked around the worrisome active armory. "Problem?"
"We have Geth."
Jason retried the comprehension fit. Feeling he was missing some keystone in the design. "Geth?"
"Geth."
"Zol, did you go to the workshop?"
The Krogan nodded.
"And you found a large steel frame with a tarp over it."
"Yes, so?"
"You removed the tarp."
"Yes."
"And you found?" Jason desperately fished.
"Geth."
Jason ran a hand down his face, closing his eyes. "It's not a Geth, Zol. Just a platform.. a broken platform.. but a valuable platform nonetheless.. powerless and coreless.. the core is actually on the workbench… if you looked."
Zol turned to Jason, "I just saw Geth."
"Zol, did you shoot it?"
"Yes."
"A lot?"
"What's lots?"
"Okay.. just.. stay here, I'll.. I'll sort it out."
—*—
"And in Citadel News today.. An explosion at the wreckage site of the Geth dreadnought triggered a minor evacuation of the sectors
232 to 257. A mandatory safety check by Station Security in concert with site recovery officials concluded that a minor power relay damaged in the initial incident had ruptured. There are no reported injuries or casualties-"
Jason flicked off the news panel and wandered through to the patient waiting area of Dr Michelle's clinic. It was after hours, but she had answered the call. Letting him in before she was on her way.
He sat on a deep chair in the dim and quiet room. What was it about doctors' surgeries that was just different.. unnerving in a completely different way to anything else. He had promised he'd check in, he'd not promised when though - and was
expecting a berating for that.
Ethos had gone quiet again after dropping things off at the workshop and wrapping up Zol's jobs. Now it would just respond with a comment on ongoing repairs. Which didn't help. Not when he could pretty much shift at will any part or all of himself between a plain normal person and a seamlessly armored soldier.. he wasn't a soldier. Although he found himself starting to question that tenet given his.. obligations.
One small but useful side effect was that he could reform his attire.. it was going to save on cleaning for sure. He just couldn't get attached to anything without knowing it would essentially get destroyed; stoking the age old question on whether a perfect recreation of something, equal to the original in every way, was the original.. if the original didn't exist would you know the difference? He tried not to dwell. Technically he could choose not to subsume stuff in the shift.. but it felt stupid.
Jason ran a hand through his hair, stopping and looking down at his hands. The silvery black lines that were etched deep in his right were bugging him.
A few times now he'd shorted things out on the workbench. An uncomfortable annoyance when you're used to not being that conductive. Getting arm deep into an assembly was part of the job. Risking killing a circuit wasn't.. which was worrying him. It wasn't just burns.
A sound made him look up to the scowl of the Doctor greeting him. "You better get yourself an omni address and make an appointment like normal people."
Jason smiled. "It's good to see you too, Doctor."
"Chloe." She smiled and turned to walk off, pulling a white coat off a hook as she did so.
"I'm also not normal people…"
"I may be more certain of that than you. Come on. I want to update your records."
The exam room was the usual piercing white. She checked his shoulder and torso.
"Four days.." She shook her head. "People, even soldiers with the Alliance's current generation genetic enhancements don't heal severe internal damage in four days. You've been resting? Correct?"
Jason shrugged sheepishly. "Not exactly."
She scowled at him and at her scribbled notes. "I'd say you'd need to eat more and put on weight but you already are 70% over the target for your height and build.. Arm." she commanded. "Relax." She lifted his arm and let it drop, a frown crossing her eyes.
"Doctor?"
"It's just off, everything is just off.." Chloe shook her head. "I can't get a scan off of you so this is going to be old school.."
She brought up a microscope on a cart and asked for a hand. Jason offered it cautiously. Dr Michelle pulled out an old fashioned needle and stabbed his index finger, dabbing a slide and slipping it under the scope.
They watched in real time as it focused.
"Hmm.." Dr Michelle slowly zoomed in as she examined the small shadows, eventually focusing down to a single red blood cell. The digital analysis picking part of the core functional organelles within. It then stopped and threw an error. "Not what I expected.."
Jason looked at the partial breakdown and the still image frame beneath. "Why is there a nucleus?"
Chloe looked up from her diagnosis. "No there isn't.."
"Then what's that.." Jason tapped at a large dark section.
She zoomed in, pulling up a spectral analysis. "Metal. Carbon, various silicates.. a lot of it." She scratched her head and looked at him curiously.
Jason slowly exhaled.
She looked at him with a hint of worry. "You know what this is."
It wasn't a question. She had probably read it on his face.
"Yes." Jason answered without looking at her.
The doctor nodded slowly to herself.
"It's not Alliance, not Cerberus.. Asari? Turian? Selerian?"
Jason shook his head. "No.."
"You won't tell me for what reasons?"
"Shepherd.. I think. For now. She found something, and I think she died for it. I think what I found is linked. I don't know it all yet.. I don't know who I can trust."
Chloe stared at him, the depth of her stare bored through him like she was staring into his soul.
"Do you have evidence?"
Jason nodded. Scan records from inside Sovereign were at the forefront of his mind. There was far more.. depending on the evidence of what..
She closed the microscope and handed him the slide and needle. "You deal with these. I have a contact, she's visiting from Sol. Be at the InfinityThree lounge on Kithoi.. tomorrow, same time. I'll arrange it."
—*—
The Kithoi entertainment district attracted a different kind of clientele. Specifically, high profile faces looking for enforceable anonymity and privacy. It was taken very seriously by the proprietors and attracted a vast swathe of usual Presidium dwellers, their influence and their credits, into the district.
Jason made his way up the meandering epic viewed walk toward the entrance of the lounge.
"With due respect and formality." The giant Elcor Maitre d' raised a hand. "Welcome to the Infinity Three private lounge. Please state your name or reservation number."
Jason handed a small note with the Doctor's quickly scribbled reference number. The Elcor nodded to a human server, beckoning Jason to follow.
"Glad you made it." Doctor Chloe Michelle's smile was the only face he immediately recognised in the small private room. "Come, I've someone you should meet."
A slightly gray haired woman was looking out of a ceiling height window, a small drink in hand.
"Doctor? The associate I mentioned who may be of interest to speak to."
Chloe disappeared. Leaving Jason feeling awkwardly stranded, like he was interrupting something. She finished her small drink in one last pull. Raising the glass before putting it down at the small standing table.
"Thank you." She said, "Seerice Ice Brandy. Small rituals are important."
Jason instantly shuffled the face to the crew of the Normandy SR1.
"Dr Karin Chakwas, it is good to make your acquaintance."
"I'm impressed, that took you all of half a second."
"I'm not going to salute, if that's what you mean."
"I should hope not, I didn't come here for more Alliance formalities. I would say at ease, but you're not a soldier are you?"
Jason picked up two glasses from a passing server. "The same?" He nodded to the empty one, the doctor took the thin offered flute. Jason looked out over the expanse and into the galactic beyond. Dipping his head and raising the glass before finishing and letting out a long breath.
Jason shook his head, "Soldiering is not my meter."
She was watching him. "A curious phrase.. I've not heard that said in a while. Normally admitting a chosen limitation is seen as a mark of weakness."
"Trying to know yourself means tempering natures that would lead you to dilute your logical faiths .. I'll do it, but I won't embrace it. If that's a weakness then I will wear it."
"Have you ever considered the medical field?"
"I'm an engineer, an operative and a researcher by study, practice and trade in various permutations…I don't think I have the time or bedside manner."
Chakwas laughed. "It doesn't take much. Just the ability to care and nudge."
"A duty that is best left in better hands, Doctor."
"Doctor Michelle said you have information and questions."
"I very recently came across some curious experiments of a former adversary. These are of a cybernetic disposition. A very specific disposition.." Jason pulled out a small data card and offered it. "This is encrypted, I believe you will be able to guess the key."
She looked Jason in the eyes. "How recently?"
"Days."
Dr Chakwas pulled open her omni tool and scanned the disk. Looking at Jason when she opened the encrypted package. He had considered that 'Reaper' was a bit on the nose, but
It communicated a message in its own right. Chakwas briefly looked through the scans.
"This is very detailed.. I will need to go through these more carefully.. how did you obtain this?"
"I scanned it."
"These cybernetics in general are nothing like what we have encountered before. They make our own inventions look like child's play. There would be many who would be interested to see these devices in various nascent states of development. There's evidence these could be reactivated.. is this secure?"
""I have dealt with it. My concern is whether this could have been replicated elsewhere. And not just in S-" Jason bit his tongue, he was right about to reveal an exposing detail.
The Doctor crossed her arms. "You were going to say Sovereign weren't you?"
Jason looked away in minor self defense.
"Chloe wouldn't have brought you here if your affiliations were questionable. You're not in the Alliance but you're further down this rabbit hole than any other programme I am aware of."
Jason leaned against the glass wall.
"Deeper than I will admit to anyone. Which is why I need context. I can't quantify the risks, it wasn't my fight. I just need to know whether there you're confident the risk is resolved or something like this is being handled."
Dr Karin Chakwas thought for a long moment, "Can I contact you when I have an answer that is not mixed truths or a lie?"
Jason smiled sanguinely and nodded. "I could not ask for more."
She opened her omni tool. "I'm not detecting your omni proximity node.. are you offline?"
Jason shook his head. "No omni tool. If you pass a note to Dr Michelle I'll find a way of getting in contact."
—*—
Jason shifted uncomfortably in his bunk. He'd given in and bought a charter. Five grand. But it was direct, return and promised discretion. A reference from Zol, which carried gravitas .. and consequences.
The vessel was mixed precleared freight, crew of three and a small private cabin. The human captain had greeted him and left it at that. Meals were Alliance MREs.. you mess it you clean it. And the crew stayed out of his way and he theirs.
Jason had the misfortune of time.. three days either direction. He'd not been unprepared. The terminal console on the small cabin desk felt like it glared at him.
The contents had been haunting. He was barely a few log entries into the hundreds, many encrypted in complex ciphers. The first were recorded on Palaven years ago. Conversations with Saren's brother.. Desolus. Saren's fervor then worried him. Rambling rants about the blight that humans would bring on the galaxy and some temple artifacts buried on Palaven that would be the redemption of the Turian race..
Images that Jason still had burned into his subconscious. The vacant pallor of grayed skin and silvered carapaces, wound with artificial intrusions that glowed the same ethereal blue as the hollowed eyes.
Different species but the same horrors as he'd encountered. This trail of Saren's ran all the way back to Shanxi.. of all places.. something the Turians had lost there in their battle haste. An artifact on a research ship.
Jason didn't like the connotations.. the further back one dug the more disturbing the history became.
As for the data disks.. the Protheans were not what he expected, or had believed. Each disk carried the tales of war. A long war. One that had crushed their empire and left the galaxy burning behind them. What they didn't not explain was why or who; just, the enemy and the betrayers. And hints to a haven. An arc on a hidden world somewhere among the dark and forgotten stars. A few references actually.. possibly at different times or retellings. It was hard to be certain.
The comm in the room chirped and fell silent. That was his signal. He had five minutes. The freighter was inbound to the Elysium capital Illyria, their vector over the remote outskirts was part of the package. Jason packed his few belongings into a small hard shell pack with its own dampener and made for the cargo hold. Walking past a crewman who pointedly ignored him as the rear door split cracked open in a swirling rush of wind that whipped at the cargo straps..
The early morning gray billowing in the low continuous cloud layer.
Jason kept walking, not bothering to glance back before the ramp vanished underfoot, the roar of the atmospheric thrusters continuing behind and accelerating away.
He closed his eyes, avoiding the pelting damp of the cloud as he approached the lower terminal velocity of the planet. The moment of freedom was intoxicating. But it couldn't last.
He had a purpose here..
Jason opened his eyes letting the fiery focus overtake him and shifted. The armor scaling back his immediate perception to let another take its place.
The ground was approaching fast. An alpine forest stretched away in most directions but some smaller clearings had hints of thick snow drifts. One was in the right direction; serving as a break.. there was limited scope for a good landing.
He brushed the snow off as he pushed his way out of the drift. Reaching back to verify the small pack had indeed a) not been assimilated, and b) survived. Pass on both counts.
There was a small road cutting through toward his target, but the forest was more direct. Jason glanced around, checking the vicinity for any obvious activity. Briefly feeling disoriented by the sprawling alien nature of the outdoors and trees before setting off into the rolling mists.
The target was a cabin.. which was a very poor description of a large double story house nestled in the deep forest. It was just after dawn, 05h37 local time, when he finished a check of the perimeter and located a viable entrance. A path through a small tended garden and an unlocked backdoor that lead into a scullery and then a kitchen.
The homely open cottage was finished in warm oaks and well loved family wares. A long wooden table looked over a large multi paned window, while frames on the walls behind captured family pictures… A mother and two girls. He didn't look beyond what he needed to see. Everything about this felt haunting. He wasn't that sort of actor.. or agent.. he did stuff.. not, this.. he wasn't an invader.. but this was necessary.. he needed to know.
Jason reached back and pulled out the quartz vial. Placing it neatly on the kitchen island counter and then settled into the farthest corner of the table. Leaning on the wall by a long curtain to let the black armor break his motionless silhouette into the background.
An hour later sounds of movement pulled Jason from his thoughts. Idle pacing along a corridor, wooden stairs.. A robed figure with streaks of graying hair pulled up in a ponytail wandered into the kitchen. Idly fiddling with a coffee machine for a minute before turning back with the white mug in two hands.
Jean leaned back against the counter and drew a long sip. Her eyes blinking over the lip of the cup as a small frown crept across her older features. She slowly placed the cup down and walked toward the center island. Picking up the vial and slowly turning it over in her hands. She rubbed the burned exterior and held the content up to the early morning light. Her eyes widening in surprise, or fear.. the momentary fumble making her snatch at the vial to shakily plink it down on the long table.
Her head bowed. Jason couldn't see her expression.
"It's been a while, Jean.."
The woman's head snapped up, her panicked searching gaze scanning the room till it finally locked on the shape of Jason's form.
"SAM!" She shouted at the top of her voice. "We've got company."
The instant thump and sprinting footsteps on the upper floor rattled through the house.
"Jean?.." Jason held out a hand. "Jean!.. it's me!"
The woman's face flinched in an uncomprehending frown.
Jason cursed and concentrated. Grimacing as he unshifted the helmet portion of the armor. She could see his face..
"Jean.. it's me, Jason.."
Someone burst through the side door, pistol in hand and fired directly at head level before he'd finished the word.
Instinct kicked in. The world slowed and shifted to reds as he raised his right hand and felt the pulsed push of a field, a barrier shield barely a meter across that he could hold for a fraction of an instant; long enough for the bullet grain to impact and dissipate its momentum.
The field collapsed, time shifting back as he reached out to catch the small grain as it fell. Cradling it in the palm of his hand before dropping it on the table.
"Well. That's new.." Jason looked up.
Jean was holding an open hand up in front of the pistol. The young woman holding it was Jean's splitting image.. just younger, blond and cursed with a few subtle hints of her father.
Jason frowned. "Jean? Where is Alun?"
"Jason?"
".. mom? Who's this?"
"Jason!? Is it really you? How..? What..? You haven't aged a day! Where-"
"Mom!"
"What Sam?"
"Protocol."
Jean was suddenly wide eyed again. "It's too late to cancel. They'll be enroute already. Sam, get the skycar… You.." she turned back to Jason. ".. You get in it.. we leave in five minutes."
"Who is coming?" Jason frowned.
Sam spun around and looked between Jean and Jason. "Does he know?" The question clearly was not meant for him.
Jean shook her head. "No. But he should."
Sam looked Jason over. "Military?"
"No." Jason answered. "Friend."
Sam raised an eyebrow and then sprinted off. Jean was pulling a massive bag from a cupboard. "In the car.."
Jason didn't move.
"Look.. not yet.. if you want to NOT die then we go first and then we talk.."
"Who is coming, Jean?"
She glared at him searchingly, "Cerberus."
A few minutes later the skycar vanished into the mists. Sam was piloting the blazing pace.
"I thought you had two daughters?"
A huff from Sam was quietened by a pat from Jean.
"Alexis is in training. Sam, here, is on leave."
"Alliance?"
Jean nodded.
Sam mouthed something to Jean, who just shook her head. "Sam wants to know who you are."
"Mom!"
"Like I said.. A friend."
"We don't have 'friends'.. not your kind."
"I was." Jason looked at Jean who didn't turn back, and added. "A long time ago."
Sam steered in for a landing in a mountainous region. It looked like pristine skiing territory. They jumped out of the car in a small clearing while Sam parked it in a garage that was cut into the mountain side.
The cold stung. Jason shifted to the full suit, garnering glances from Jean and Sam. He hefted the packs in one go into the refuge. Dumping them in the hall and excusing himself to head out to scout the perimeter. The two were sitting at the dining table when he returned slightly covered in snow.
Jean beckoned Jason over. A mug already set at the table, the vial stood balanced in the middle.
Jason sat, then considering the audience closed his eyes and shifted to a plain T-shirt and jeans.
"Holy shit.."
Sam earned a glare from Jean. "Language."
"I'm not twelve.."
"Twenty."
"How the hell do you know?"
"Because nineteen years is how much time is between the last time I saw you and Jean on the Citadel, and here and now."
"What were you? five?" Sam pouted in annoyance.
"Thirty." Jason ignored the stare and looked back to Jean and continued. "That's for you.. For me it's been two weeks."
Jean looked at him in disbelief. "You died-"
"You never found me."
"We searched."
"Where? No one knew what I knew."
"We tried."
"I know Cronus put me to this."
"We had to-"
"Fuck, I know Jean. Do you think I didn't know that my best friends were being threatened. I knew you guys.. I trusted you.. I just want to know WHY. After everything we'd been through, just Why?"
"We didn't have a choice."
Jason sat up as a realization hit, "You'd gone back.. back to Titan."
"With Sam we needed the security... Alun, was going to tell you.."
Jason shook his head. "No. I don't buy that. You would not have been allowed to."
Jason fumed inwardly, picking up the vial and holding it out. "What is this?"
Jean leaned away from it.
"I said.. What is this? I fucking know you know."
A weapon safety clicked. "You don't get to threaten my Mother."
"SAM." Jean hissed. "Of all the people in this galaxy he actually has a right too. Put that away."
Sam blinked in surprise and looked at her mother, lowering the weapon.
"It's blood." Jean answered.
"Blood? Asari?"
"Human."
Jason turned it over, "Bullshit."
"A human by the name of Ben Hislop.. it was a sample taken in 2157 at his detention on Palaven after his presumed death on Shanxi. The original subject was changed, altered and enhanced cybernetically. He'd come in contact with something the Turians are in complete denial over. But Saren had been convinced by its capability, he wanted access to it, to understand, control it. Cronus obtained it through negotiation with Saren Arterius, it was a complex trade.. Saren suspected Cerberus was watching him, working to subvert him, so leaned on Cronus when he found a lead."
Jason slowly sat upright, keeping his hands flat on the table as he fought back the vitriol reflex. "You worked with Saren Arterius?-"
"Titan was collapsing, Jason.." Jean continued softly as he pinched the bridge of her nose as she worked through visibly difficult memories, "Cerberus had every edge. They had insight and connections that undermined Titan from within. Cronus was desperate to match Cerberus' leverage and promised to share results with Saren.
All he thought he needed was a compatible blood type.. when he found out you fit the bill there was no way to change his mind.
Cronus thought if you could see through to your failures and took to the changes Saren had detailed, then you would return.. and somehow be more compliant."
"Bullshit.. Cerberus is obsessed with humanity for its own interests. Cronus is almost no better and more deluded.
Do even you know who Saren Arterius IS? The THINGS he was allied with and the horrors they wield? I barely know a fraction of it and I am fucking terrified."
"There's also something you should know.. Titan is no more.. Cronus passed a few years ago, an accident.. Rhea packed it in soon after, but she negotiated a defense pact and truce with Cerberus, in exchange for funding and skills. The girls are safe. They know the history. They keep their mouths shut and are left alone. I'm a non-participant."
".. where's Alun?"
"Jason, you have to understand he was not the same after you disappeared. He blamed himself because he knew you would see through him and still do it anyway." Jean pointed to the vial. "When we eventually learned the truth of That he nearly took his own life.. he hoped you wouldn't come back."
"…He's working for Cerberus isn't he."
"A consultant.. No more. A fixed two year contract and then he's done."
Jason got up and walked to the large glass window overlooking the rolling boreal forest that stretched out below.
"Where did it all go so wrong..." He slipped into Ethos' shared mind space, knowing his eyes would change but not caring. The golden glow caught in faint reflections on the glass. Sam glanced at Jean, who held up her hand.
"I've been to the other side, Jean.. not by Cronus' desire; but by my own folly and arrogance. I've seen the realm of the things called Reapers and I know they are feared by creatures far, far more capable than us.
Cerberus is a dangerous distraction. All they've ever done is stoke fear and doubt. Humanity doesn't need them.. humanity needs vision and leadership, not a hound."
"You know about the Reapers?" Jane looked at him with concern.
"Of.. not about."
"Jason?" Jean started, watching his focus shift from a distant infinity to her in the faint reflection. "Could you.. not..?" She pointed to his eyes. "It's unsettling. I don't know if I'm talking to.. you."
Jason blinked, letting the space fade. "I can't begin to trust an organization with the same obsession with primacy as Saren.. I don't know what Cerberus really is, it feels sour.. it always has. If there's a link between Saren, Cerberus and the Reapers then-" Jason stopped when Jean placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to guess." She turned him round. "The nanites in that blood are the same thing we found that turned humans into the cybernetic husks that the Geth were creating.."
Jason didn't move, "Turned humans into.." he repeated.
She nodded. "From direct, unprotected, exposure to the like that's in that vial.. yes." they create this-" Jean brought up an image on her omnitool.
Jason shook off a shudder.
Jean continued, "We think there is signaling to direct the rate and degree of cyberneticism they create. But left to their own devices inside a biological host the rampancy is catastrophic and lethal." She subtly tapped her omni tool to bring up a scanner.
"You know them?"
"I dealt with three on the Citadel.. they disintegrated."
Sam glanced up. "When? I thought you said two weeks.."
Jean tried to catch Jason's focus. "She's not wrong."
"During the battle on the Citidel.. I was trying to find my way back. I ran into Geth .. and those.. I lost more time."
"How do you 'lose' time?"
"The same way the seventeen plus years before.. space-time, you don't even know it's happening."
Jean turned to Sam, nodding a signal that he read as a clear. Noticing that the young soldier relaxed and lowered her surreptitiously readied weapon.
"You have zero prevalence of cybernetic intrusions.. But, biologically, I don't understand any of the readings.." Jean cocked her head in question. "It's really you, isn't it.. you all that time ago. You found something.."
"I think something found me. The deeper you go in all this the more insane the web becomes.." He held up a hand, wincing as he let it momentarily shift to a gauntlet and then back. "Trust me when I say I know only a small part of this. It carries on down.. which is why I came.. I need to know what Shepherd found-."
"Mom.." Sam cautioned.
"He has a right to ask."
"You can't talk about this.. The Alliance has designated it Top Secret."
"It's Need-To-Know, Sam."
"It's been escalated. He's not Alliance."
Jean looked at Jason.
"We were all Alliance, Sam. But Jason was more Alliance than your Father and I.."
"Was.. Exactly!" Sam snapped.
"What? Am I supposed to take an oath of allegiance to my own species's descent into hyper militarism.. if you want that, you're not going to get it." Jason waved a hand in dismissal. "I wasn't ever part of that."
Sam gave Jean a confused look. "What do you mean by 'more than'.. you're either Alliance or you're not.."
"Stop thinking in black and white, Sam. You know better than that." Jean berated. "Actions are absolute. Comprehension and ideology are not."
Jason looked between the two generations. He smiled and shook his head. Both turning back with an echoed "What?"
"Just realizing how much I've missed." Jason turned away from the two.
Jean quietly sighed. "Sam's right, Jason. There is too much at risk at the moment.. there are crises on multiple horizons and the last thing the Alliance needs is an unsanctioned breach that could compromise existing efforts. Humanity's needs have changed.. we've changed, you've changed-"
"I have not changed."
"If you've not changed then what are you?" Sam's question stung as it cut to the core.
"Who and What are different questions.. Samantha. Who, I can answer." Jason let the shift start, working up starting with boots. He focused on a change.. a mimic that felt appropriate. He felt vindicated when Jean made a surprise gasp when she recognised the gray and black thin plate hardshell armor suit. "In a former allegory.. I was Crius, a Lieutenant of Rhea and Cronus.. Arms Brother to Coeus and Phoebe and a sacrifice for the life of Leto. .. This is how I was blindly sent. By my Friends. A suit made to imprison what was meant to be crafted within."
Jean turned to look away. Sam cast him a dark scowl as she comforted her mother.
Jason pressed on, "Why? Because I dared to believe in the Systems Alliance and not some arsehole's vision of what they wanted it to be."
Jason felt the weight of the mental burden needed to maintain the armor's appearance and shifted to Ethos' sleeker black. He let his tone drop for a moment, letting subharmonics take over. And for the first time feeling like he was speaking from within the shared mindspace with Ethos and not just cohabiting it.
"Now I AM THIS. SUFFERED TO EXIST BECAUSE OF CHANCE AND CURIOSITY." Jason relaxed, unnerved by his own theater.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I've seen the Reapers, Jean. I've struggled through time, accidents and died before I escaped them. I've plundered the carcase of Sovereign and sought to grasp the rationales driving Saren and Shepard. It's not just Specters, it's not just hubris, racism or revenge. It's more.. Saren feared something.. a fear that traces all the way back to Shanxi and further. Shepard squared against it. Someone like Shepard doesn't leave a mark because they want the glory; She was on to something big. And since She and Saren have died the whole galaxy is hell bent on burying the story. Why? That's all I want to know.. Because in this void there are subversive poisons like the Shadow Broker who, left unchecked, are eating at the foundations of order and civilization. What and Why.. If you can't or won't give me that, then at the very least help me to get it so I can understand."
Jean said something quietly to Sam, earning Jason a scowl. Sam hugged her mother and left the room.
Jean waited till the door finally clicked. She wiped her eyes.
"It's worse than that, Jason. Sam doesn't understand. None of them will, not yet. They think it's a fight, something to be countered with pure discipline and force… You need to talk to Alun."
"I thought you said he was working for Cerberus?"
"Yes.. but you'll fall under Rhea's agreement. It won't be easy, but I can get you in. There will be a process.. stages, interviews.. a couple of months.. I'll need to get you embedded in an Alliance detail for protection and political parity with Alliance Intelligence."
"Jean? Why do I need to speak to Alun for answers that I'm almost certain you can give me? .. And whose protection?"
"Because, Jason, I could only tell you what I learned, it will be incomplete, but he may eventually be able to get you first hand answers."
Jason unshifted the helmet, confusion etched over his face.
"Say what you mean, Jean.. firsthand from who?"
"Whom."
".. whom?"
"Shepherd."