CHAPTER 40: This Wheel's On Fire

2185 CE

Obviously the first thing I did once we got back was to check my email. I sent a quick email off to Aye-Aye just letting her know I survived. Were were definitely going to need to sit down and have a talk soon. Aye-Aye and me. Probably Liara too. And maybe Shiala for that matter... Even in my head that sounded awkward. I thought of faking my death again, but it probably wasn't a good idea.

Liara would know better, and with Garrus still alive s would Aye-Aye. The only person it was liable to be effective against was Shiala, and honestly talking to her wasn't awkward at all.

Also, faking your death to avoid awkward conversations probably wasn't the sort of thing you wanted to get a reputation for. If you ever really needed to fake your death people would look for you anyway. Would make it a lot harder to avoid awkward conversations then.

Speaking of awkward conversations, Liara's email promised a whole host of awkward questions, like 'where?', 'when?', and 'how?'. Maybe 'what?', too? Probably not 'why?' at least. Liara could figure that out on her own. She'd probably do the same exact thing in my place anyway.

Grandfather,

How did you manage this?

I've never seen so many books in my entire life. Not 'so many books at once.' I mean 'so many books' at all.

Is this all automated?

When did you even have the time to do this?

Sincerely,

Liara

2185 CE

I didn't email Liara back, but I did email Wrex and the Alliance. Wrex, to tell him we all survived. The Alliance, to inform them of the existence of the proto-Reaper, what it was made from, where it was, and so on. Kaidan would probably have a report to send soon enough, but in a very real way that Human Reaper was a mass Human grave and it was important that the Humans, not any of the other Council races, dealt with it as a result. Also, I really didn't want Cerberus ending up with the damn thing.

Shepard was still getting treated when I headed to the medbay to get some medigel for my liver wound. She had a relatively mild concussion and some other injuries. Nothing modern medicine couldn't fix up. Though it did need a bit more in depth treatment than just slapping medigel on it.

When EDI alerted Shepard to an incoming call from the Illusive Man, Chakwas forbade her from leaving the infirmary. I volunteered to take it instead, and Shepard either thought that was a terrific idea, or was just not very sanguine about her chances of getting past Chakwas. I on the other hand had a perfectly good redundant liver, and a doctor too busy restraining Shepard to stop me.

Either way the result on my end was the same. I headed up to the conference room to take the call.

It's odd, but I've never actually seen the Illusive Man before. He looks almost exactly like Martin Sheen, even in hologram form. His eyes are still glowingly cybernetic, so it's clearly the same man.

'Nakmor Krell. I wasn't expecting to see you here. What happened to Shepard?' The Illusive Man observed.

'She's fine. You just called at a bad time. Chakwas won't let her leave the infirmary just yet. So, you get me instead.' I explained.

I paused.

'Has anyone ever told you you look like Martin Sheen?' I asked, curious.

'Who?' The Illusive man asked. Martin Sheen existed in this universe. I'd checked. Keith David and the rest of the cast too. They all lived at the right time. I'd checked. Similar filmographies too Didn't remember enough to tell if they were the same or not.

'Old Human actor. He played a gay Irish-American lawyer with a taste for musical theater in Grace and Frankie.' I explained.

'I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that movie.' The Illusive Man admitted,

'You really aren't.' I agreed happily. It was after all, a series, not a film.

'I've long admired your work, Professor. It's because of you that we know of the treachery of the Asari, the puritanical militarism of the Turians, and the unethical horror of Salarian science. Without you Cerberus never would have been founded.' The Illusive Man smiled.

'Don't kid yourself. First; I had very little to do with Cerberus as an organization. It would have existed even if I didn't. Second; if the only thing you learned from me was fear, then I fear I failed you as a teacher. The fact that you took my teachings about the state of the universe and decided Humanity needed an equivalent travesty to the other Citadel species fills me with shame.' I lectured.

'Humanity can't go unarmed into shark infested waters, Professor! I refuse to leave Humanity unarmed! Cerberus shall be its dagger!' The Illusive Man countered.

'A dagger at its own throat. The way to overcome barbarism isn't by lowering yourself to that level, it's by elevating everyone out of it. You'd help plunge the galaxy into an endless arms race and then argue it was inevitable, so you needed to strike first. Humanity is better than that. It's idiomatic in your language. The word Humanity can mean you as a species, but can also mean kindness; benevolence. You do your species no favors in ignoring those.' I instructed.

'They say to never meet your heroes. I never thought you'd be this naïve.' The Illusive Man shot back.

'Naïve? There's nothing naïve about optimism. There's nothing naïve about wanting things to be better. The only thing naïve here is your backwards way of thinking where the galaxy will be a better place because of how you actively worked to make it worse.' I replied.

'The galaxy is a better place because of me! I brought back Shepard! I saved everyone!' The Illusive Man argued.

'You helped. This time. That doesn't make you or your methods right.' I warned.

'If Shepard hadn't been so foolish as to destroy the Human Reaper, I would have been able to show you just how well my methods worked.' The Illusive Man replied.

'What do you want?' I asked, done with his bullshit.

'To control the Reapers and use them to advance the lot of Humanity in the galaxy! To aid the oppressed like the Krogan!' He added the second bit a bit too quickly for me to believe him.

'I mean with this conversation, Jack. Why are you calling?' I correct.

'To speak to Shepard.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Call later. Shepard's busy.'

With a motion, I cut the comms.

'Boring conversation anyway.'

2185 CE

'What's this?' Mordin asked as I handed him the package I had just finished. It hadn't been done in time for the Collector base, but after a few more hours work on our trip back to civilization, it was finally done.

'Jump pack, and some advice. You'll need both.' I admitted.

'Somewhat concerning. The advice?' Mordin asked, curiously.

'Shepard has a copy of Saren's Genophage cure; I hope it helps you save more than one of them. I've included some schematics for retooling your suit's mass effect barriers to be a little more powerful by adding the jump pack's generator's power to them when it isn't in use. Finally, the STG sabotaged the Shroud. Something to do with the temperature, I think. Shepard's about to buy us six months until the Reapers invade. When those six months run out there will be a Reaper at the Shroud facility and it will explode with you inside it if you deploy the cure.' I blurt out in a rush of consciousness.

'Fascinating. You mentioned 'them', you meant fertile females, then?' Mordin asked.

'Yeah.' I nodded.

'Schedule tight. Six months? You are certain?' Mordin confirmed.

'Six months from the Alpha Relay explosion in the Bahak system.' I agreed.

I paused.

'Your best bet is Wrex. With him in control and Eve, that's a name you give her, alive to temper him... That's the best result for all of us, I think. You should reach out.' I decided.

'Already have. Gave me a communicator on Tuchanka before we left. Initially not secure, but was able to fix issues. Reached out after conversation in Medbay.' Mordin confessed.

'Huh. He never even mentioned it.' I muttered, amazed.

'Have been told Urdnot Wrex has excellent poker face.' Mordin admitted.

I laughed. 'Better than mine, at least.'

I looked at the package meaningfully, then back at Mordin.

'Good luck.'

'Hope to not need it. ' Mordin replied.

'See you soon.' I nodded.

I paused. And sent him an email.

'What is this?' Mordin looked at his Omnitool.

'Invitation to give the opening lecture at the University of Tuchanka, I plan to start it up once the Reapers are dealt with.' I replied.

Mordin smiled. 'Thank you. Will pencil into my calendar.'

Author's Notes:

One more Chapter till hiatus. I might end up splitting this into 4 arcs rather than 3. The interregnum between the games is... definitely shaping up to be its own arc just getting things into place. I might timeskip a bit of it, but a lot of it is set up and thus needs to be dealt with.

This chapter is named for a Bob Dylan song, but the specific version is sung by Charlie Winston. Next Chapter is also named after a Bob Dylan song (also sung by someone else). It's my opinion that Bob Dylan is an amazing poet and well deserving of his Nobel prize in literature, but he's also a terrible singer. The album this song is from (Chimes of Freedom, songs of Bob Dylan) is actually one of my favorites for that reason. It's almost all Bob Dylan cover songs (with one song sung by Dylan himself).

I think I've mentioned before that ongoing themes in this story are kindness, honesty, teaching, diplomacy, and cooperation (in other words 'Humanity' in the other sense of the word). People have been talking about fleets of superweapons hidden in the dark places between the stars. Fleets of superweapons don't really fit those themes all that well. Don't worry, I have something that does a lot better. Also, something that fits with the actual time that Krell had unobserved in which he could actually build and hide something.