The Courier Effect

by jabinker

After the 2nd Battle of Hoover Dam Courier Six thought he could relax, maybe even take ED-E along for some fun but after something happens with the transporter to the Big MT both Courier and ED-E find themselves in a brand new setting only seen in a sci-fi epic! Join both heroes as they try to survive and navigate this new setting while making new friends and enemies along the way.

2. Chapter 2

Okay so I saw someone talk about it and before ever writing the 1st chapter for this story I actually looked it up if you could take off the PipBoy in Fallout. And actually yes you can remove them.

"The 3000A is locked with bolts and can be removed wholesale, replaced, or temporarily displaced to allow for clothing to pass under it." -The Art of Fallout 3. And also don't forget that Doc Mitchel gave the Courier his PipBoy and also the chance to switch from the PipBoy to the PimpBoy.

Though I don't really blame them for saying it since I was also curious if they could even take it off(Though if they couldn't no doubt there would be so much sores, dirt, and rashes from swimming too much in radioactive water.)

---

Courier Six was amazed at everything he was seeing.

When arriving at the Citadel he was amazed by the sheer size of it. Two of its arms alone could probably fit the entire Wasteland residents alone! Though before docking at the station the Doctor had to give Courier a lot of shots so he wouldn't spread anything or get sick from this new environment. Which he didn't mind really, after all from how many times he had to use a stimpak on himself he got numb to needles. And of course a quick crash course of the Citadel and the Council races and non council races.

There was the Asari, the very first Council race that had discovered space travel thanks to an ancient civilization called the Protheans which everyone based their tech off and while the Courier couldn't be one to judge due to the level of technology from where he was from he did found it so weird how no one tried to expand or diverge from this stuff, if anything it felt like everyone was just stagnating themselves from the reliance on this stuff. He found the Asari to be somewhat unnerving in the way how human like they were. They had the same shape of a human female, five digit hands and feet, but no hair at all anywhere on their body and instead of head hair they had a weird crest thing. They are the most influential of all the races with almost all Asari being known for their elegance, diplomacy, and something called biotics. Surprisingly every single one of them are all female, no males at all.

Next were the Salarians. They reminded Courier of the Geckos he saw all the time in the Wasteland, though he doubted any of these Salarians could breathe fire or were the size of a Super Mutant Behemoth, though the latter part were just rumors he had heard one time. They were the scientist or espionage race apparently. So a bunch of stealth nerds basically.

The third race to be on the Council were the Turians. They were the militaristic and disciplined race and apparently only got their seat on the Council for defeating the Krogans in their rebellion. Though one thing he found absolutely disgusting was the fact that they and the Salarians apparently made a bio weapon that made all Korgans sterile. Sure the Courier has seen many things before but that? That just disgusted the man that they would do something like that. No matter how terrible the rebellion must have been no one deserved to see their newborn to be dead in their arms.

Turians mostly made up the military roles of the Citadel fleet and were also the cops of the Citadel basically. Though they are called imperialist by many, that many mostly being Krogans. It reminded the Courier of the NCR, with the whole imperialist culture and all but at least with the NCR they never made bioweapons and were at least the better option to be with then something like Caesar's Legion.

Then there were the races that were on the Citadel but didn't have a seat on the Council. There were the Volus, the merchant and bankers of space, similar to the Caravans of Wasteland. Elcors which looked like something that could pull a ton of carts and keep on trucking, Brahmin, just minus the extra head. There were the Hanar, weird floating creatures that if Courier Six wasn't told which was the head he would have definitely talked to the ass of a Hanar. Then finally there were humans. Not much to say or add besides the fact that many were from different planets or from different countries back on earth. Man, once this is all over and done with maybe he should go to earth and actually see what all the countries look like, it would be such an amazing change from nuclear waste with no life at all on them.

Then there were the non-Citadel races. There were the Batarians, they enslaved any and all other races, minus Krogans. They reminded Courier of the Fiends and definitely of Caesar's Legion. There were the Krogans, who definitely reminded the Courier of Death Claws from how deadly they were. Though minus being head of gangs or being mercenaries. He learnt of how their homeworld Tuchanka was nuked and left basically in rubble and filled with deadly creatures. So basically the Wasteland.

Then finally there were the Quarians. A whole nomadic race living in their spaceships not staying in one place for long. Their ships are mostly old or broken ships that they repair and reuse. With all of them having to wear an environmental suit due to their weak immune systems, the consequence of living on a spaceship for so long it seemed. They reminded the Courier of the Brotherhood of Steel. Both being fascinated by tech and having a suit that many recognized immediately. Apparently almost all races look down on Quarians because they made the Geth, and that was apparently a major huge no no since there was apparently a law that said making AI's were illegal. The Geth then got sentient and soon a war started between the Geth and Quarians, which then led to the latters defeat and forcing them to leave their planet and live on their spaceships. No one ever saw what a Quarian ever looked like under their suit so the Courier really was curious what one looked like underneath their suit. Though that was 300 years ago so he didn't know why anyone would still be mad at them for so long, maybe Asari? He didn't know.

The Courier was slightly disappointed though about how none of the alien races seemed to have any cool abilities at all. The only power any race seemed to have were biotics with Asari being the only one able to use it naturally while every other race had to use a different method of doing so. Okay maybe it was too much to ask if they had any cool abilities, he wasn't definitely disappointed that none of them were say faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Or shoot fire from hands. Definitely not disappointed at all.

The Courier was brought out of his thoughts as he heard someone clear their throat and he looked at the person, or well Turian to be exact, who had his arms behind his back with two other Turians behind him as well wearing blue armor and had their rifles lowered.

"I assume you are this Courier Six the Council has told us to pick up?"

The Courier nodded his head and put his hands in front of his body.

"Yes sir I am Courier Six," The Courier then jerked his head to the side motioning to ED-E. ", and this is my friend ED-E. Say hi ED-E."

"*Beeping noises*"

The Courier saw the two Turians slightly raise their rifles when ED-E spoke, seeing their fingers, talons?, near the trigger. The Courier quickly raised his hands and got in front of his friend.

"Wait wait wait! ED-E isn't an AI! He's a VI!"

The Turian in front of the other two raised a plate eyebrow before raising a hand signaling the others to lower their rifles. The two guards looked at each other before doing so.

"I hope that you are telling the truth, Courier, AI's are prohibited and bringing one straight to the Council could get you sent to jail and the extermination of your… robot. For safety reasons however your robot shall stay here in C-Sec."

The Courier looked back at ED-E who bobbed up and down and the Courier nodded his head as he stepped aside as ED-E floated forward as the head Turian motioned for three more C-Sec officers to come to escort ED-E to somewhere else. The Courier watched as the two Turians escorted ED-E to a different location while the third one had stayed behind while also holding onto what looked like a cart.

"We were also notified of your stash of Geth weapons that you had obtained. If you could put the weapons there."

The Courier nodded and looked down at his PipBoy before pressing a few buttons and suddenly a pile of Geth rifles dropped down onto the floor surprising all of the C-Sec officers that were there in the area. The head Turian jaw was wide open at the pure shock at what he had seen. It's as if it wasn't normal for people to just suddenly drop a huge pile of stuff on the ground, heck the Courier did that all the time back in the Wasteland whenever he needed to sell stuff. The third C-Sec officer then began to pick up the rifles and began to put them on the cart while the head Turian shook his head out of his shock and looked back at the Courier.

"I- I see very good then. If you could, follow my men as they will escort you to the Council."

The two C-Sec officers that were behind the head Turian then escorted Courier Six out of C-Sec and out into the Citadel. From there he could see the beauty of it all. The greenery, the water, the sky or well the fake sky but still, and of course the residents! He almost just wanted to stop and just explore everywhere but of course he needed to just get this over with quickly. The quicker he got it done the faster he and ED-E could run around like school kids and explore the Citadel. The two C-Sec officers then led Courier to what seemed to be some kind of vehicle, it reminded him of the broken down vehicles that he saw while on his travels. He remembered one time trying to repair one so he didn't have to walk across the Wasteland all the time but it was a bust however and he was never able to fix it no matter how hard he tried.

Getting into the back seat of the vehicle he saw as it lifted up into the air and then flew towards his destination. It was an amazing sight to see as he looked out the window and could see all the Citadel's residents from down below living their lives as the vehicle sped above them. The Courier was glued to the window as he just watched down below that when the vehicle finally did reach the destination he was almost sad to even leave it. Stepping out of the vehicle he was amazed at the looks of the Council room chamber. Just like the Citadel it was decorated with greenery as well and filled with different races as well though he could see that these races were the more higher ups in society. It was filled with mostly Turians, Salarians, Asari, and of course humans as well. Though the humans were far fewer than the former three races.

The C-Sec officers led Courier Six through the room towards the back end of it. There he saw a podium facing towards a window which on the other side was space. In front of the window stood three figures. A Turian, Asari, and a Salarian.

'They must be the Councilor's' The Courier thought as he walked up the stairs and towards the podium. Reaching the podium the two C-Sec officers backed up a fair distance as the three Councilors looked at the Courier, each with differentiating opinions on the man in front of them.

The Asari Councilor then spoke up. "The man known as Courier Six has arrived. This session shall commence." The Asari councilor looked at Courier. "We have seen the report sent to us by our Spectre Nihlus. You claim to be from an alternate universe despite not only being human, which is a part of the Citadel races."

The Salarian councilor then spoke up. "Including wielding weapons that do not exist or is even possible with our current level of technology. And the usage of guns that are considered antique and including having a robot that is able to use the same laser and plasma weaponry as you."

The Turian councilor then spoke up as well. "And let's not forget that you happen to be on a planet that happened to be attacked by Geth at the same time."

The Asari looked at the Courier again. "Councilors Valeren and Sparatus have brought up good points, do you have an explanation to our questions?"

The Courier that these were going to be asked. Putting his hands in front of him, the Courier cleared his throat. "Councilors to be honest, neither me nor my friend do not have a single idea as to how or why we have arrived on the planet we have arrived on." That was half the truth. Courier Six did know how he and ED-E arrived thanks to the Big MT Transportalponder though he didn't understand how or why it brought them here. "I would also like to add that from where I am from that the plasma and laser guns that you are referring to are more common and are also as common to see being used as a gun is."

"And I want to add that despite my friend's choice of weapons he is actually an old discontinued model of a robot made long ago."

The Salarian councilor, Courier Six guessed to be Valeren, stroked his species equivalent of a chin. "Common you say? Hm interesting really. From Spectre Nihlus report the only faction that seems to use plasma guns is the Geth."

Councilor Sparatus nodded his head as he looked at the Courier. "Councilor Valeren is correct. We also saw from Nihlus report of your "world's' history. As much as it would be fascinating to be speaking with one that is from an alternate world it is quite hard to believe it to be true even if you gave them books that are quite old or apparently do not exist. There are possible technologies that you used to support your claims of such."

Valeren nodded his head. "Sparatus is correct. And also from the medical reports attached to Nihlus report you have more implants than is legally allowed. Many of which are hard to even scientifically be possible, after all, technology of unknown origin inside of your body working alongside vital organs?"

The Courier couldn't deny any of the claims that they were saying. After all, how often do you come across a guy who says he is from an alternate dimension and also happens to have implants inside of him that are right next to organs like the heart or brain? You would either call him crazy or some kind of infiltrator that is sent to kill someone. And he guessed they were also correct about the books, after all he doesn't know the technology of this universe so he guessed it was possible that type of tech existed. The only closest thing from his was the Book Chute in The Sink, though it only cleaned or destroyed it into blank books instead of, say changing it. The Courier could only nod his head.

"I can agree with you Councilors, if I was in your shoes I would be having a hard time believing what I would be saying too. Though I want to bring up a point. What would I gain from lying to the Citadel's Council? I have nowhere to call home nor any identification to have to go anywhere. There must be a way to convince you all that I am telling the truth."

The Councilors all looked at each other before the Asari councilor, who was silent as both Sparatus and Valeren had talked, spoke up. "There may be a way to see if you speak the truth or not."

This got Sparatus' attention. "Tevos are you certain? Are we sure its even worth the effort of melding minds?"

The Asari now known as Tevos nodded her head. "Yes, Sparatus I do believe it is worth the time to see if he speaks the truth. Plus even if he isn't speaking the truth we can learn who sent him and his robot."

Valeren nodded his head as well. "Tevos does bring up a good point Sparatus, we can quickly learn if this Courier is speaking the truth or not."

Sparatus looked at his fellow council members before sighing and shaking his head. "Very well then, Tevos bring in someone to look into his mind."

Tevos nods and with a push of a few buttons she calls in another Asari. This one was wearing a dark blue dress with holes exposing her sides, purple detached sleeves, and bright blue eyes. She quickly walked towards the podium and right next to the Courier. The Asari bowed as she looked at Tevos.

"You have called for me, Councilor?"

Tevos then motioned her hand from the Asari towards Courier Six. "Shiora, the man right next to you is a man who calls himself Courier Six. We are asking if you can do a mind meld with him. Specifically we want you to look for these things," Tevos then began to read off a list of things to look for. "The Great War, the Mojave, Super Mutants, NCR, Caesar's Legion, and the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. Those are things we want to look for to see if Courier Six is indeed telling the truth or not."

The Asari now known as Shiora nods and faces the Courier as he faces her.

"Courier Six if you could kindly remove your helmet. Melding minds requires me to make contact with your skin. And do not be worried. I shall only look for memories that support claims of your world's history."

The Courier didn't really know what a mind meld was but he guessed if it got the Councilors to believe him he didn't care. His hands moved up to his helmet and removed it allowing Shiora to put her hands on both sides of the Courier's face as she closed her eyes.

"Focus your mind Courier, allow me access to see your memories," Shiora opened her eyes as the Courier saw her eyes, no longer was it the bright blue eyes he had seen but now it was only black as Shiora continued. "Embrace Eternity."

Silence filled the room as the Councilors watched waiting as Shiora looked through the Courier's mind. Only a few moments later did Shiora stop the mind meld as she let go of the Courier's head and backed up from the man as she took a few breaths as the Courier himself had to support himself on the railings to not fall over.

"Shiora what did you see?" Tevos asked, almost leaning into the podium. She wouldn't admit it but she was also curious about the Courier and if he really was from an alternate universe. The idea that the human in front of them was actually from an alternate universe and not just a human from outside of the Council Space made her excited to learn. After all, when will it be the next time that she will ever be able to meet another alternate universe?

Shiora slowly was able to catch her breath as she looked at the Courier before looking at Tevos. "Councilor Tevos I have looked into the Courier's mind and looked for what you asked for."

"And? What did you find?"

"The Courier is indeed telling the truth. The images and memories I have seen were too detailed to be fake."

All three councilors looked at each other with surprised looks on their faces before looking at the Courier who had put his helmet back on.

"Thank you Shiora, you may go now." Shiora bowed and soon left the podium as the councilors glanced at each other before focusing on the Courier.

"Courier Six it seems that you are indeed telling the truth." Tevos said as Sparatus nodded as well before speaking. "Yes it seems you aren't just some human babbling on something crazy after all."

The Courier was relieved to see them at least believe him and not try to throw him into the looney bin. He didn't really want to fight his way out of here and get ED-E and become wanted criminals for killing the councilors. Not really a lifestyle he wanted, to have to look over one's shoulder constantly.

Tevos then spoke again. "Now that we have confirmed that you are indeed not from here we can have the necessary people create all the necessary papers, ID, records, and an Omni-Tool for you. Though it will take time."

The Courier was more relieved but also internally groaned after hearing that last part. If there was one thing he hated was waiting for something like this. Valeren then however got his attention with what he had to say.

"Yes, however, thanks to you bringing some Geth weapons to us we can speed up the process. However, you will need to put down some of the information yourself like basic information like date of birth and other information."

Valeren then pressed a few buttons as another human soon came up to the Courier and gave him what he was told was a datapad. Looking at the screen of the device he could see several blanks in need of filling and so the Courier got to work filling it out. After a few minutes of filling out the device he looked it over again to make sure it looked right. Almost everything was filled out with the exception of his date of birth and his name. The former being obvious since he had lost most of his past memories after Benny had shot him in the head two times so he never really bothered to figure it out though he did remember having a weird happy feeling when it was December 31st so he guessed it that then, though the year seemed to be a bit hard to put down since it WAS 2281 back in the Mojave, so doing some quick math of how old he was and what year it was he put down 2160 and him being 23 as of right now.

Then the Courier looked at the blank name. This was something that the Courier never really thought of before. He remembered Doc Mitchell asking the Courier if he remembered his name but him telling the doc that he didn't. Heck he just went by Courier or Courier Six for the entirety of journey throughout the Mojave and he didn't even stop once to think of a name due to him just wanting to find that bastard Benny and get revenge. Even after the second battle of Hoover Dam he never really thought about getting a new name.

Staring at the screen the Courier started to brainstorm ideas of a name he could use in this new world. He knew he couldn't just use Courier or Courier Six since those weren't really names, at least not names that he was given by his parents or himself. The Courier then thought of any historical Wasteland figures names he could use. His first thoughts were to use the names of the Vault Dweller, Chosen One, or the Lone Wanderer. Though Courier Six immediately remembered that no one seemed to have gotten their names at all and had just called them their titles.

When the Courier thought of that it made him think about himself really. If these great and amazing people who had not only changed the Wasteland for the better, but also stopped something or someone who had threatened the Wasteland, what did it mean for him? Would he have been like these legends and go down in Wasteland history, a man whose name was never known? Would he even be remembered at all? Just a tale that would be eventually forgotten about and have his credit be taken by the NCR?

Shaking his head the Courier just needed to focus right now and think of a name for himself to use. He didn't need to have these thoughts again at a time like this… The Courier then thought of any myths from the Wasteland that he could use as a name. Then he thought of one, he did remember on his travels of a man in a blue box helping people across the Wasteland wherever he was. Though the description of this man always seemed to vary, he was old or he was young. He was thin as a stick or how he always seemed to joke about his eyebrows. Or how he had a long scarf or how he really liked bowties. It always varied and especially those who seemed to be with this mysterious man. Though one thing the Courier DID notice was that this man had one thing constant no matter who it seemed to be, a name, that name being John Smith.

Liking the name the Courier then typed in the name and handed it to the man as he looked back at the Council. Hopefully the blue box man doesn't mind the Courier using his name otherwise he might have to start running away if he saw the real John Smith around. A beep was heard at the council's podium as they looked at it before pressing a few buttons and looked at the Courier with Tevos speaking.

"We have sped up the process of your papers and you are now legally a citizen of the Alliance. Welcome to the Citadel, John Smith."

Okay NOW he hoped the blue box man doesn't come after him. He did hear he was a good runner. The Courier nodded and bowed as well just to show his thankfulness at least.

"Thank you very much, Councilors. I am very grateful for what you have done."

Turning around the Courier then began to walk away from the podium. 'Well that was easy. Though I feel like something is supposed to hap-'

As if the universe was reading the Courier's thoughts, Sparatus spoke up, stopping the Courier in his tracks.

"If you can wait a moment Mr Smith I do have a question for you."

Turning around the Courier looked at the Councilors and he could see a certain look in each of their eyes.

"We were wondering if it was possible if we could have our scientist study your plasma and laser guns. It would be very beneficial towards the Citadel and her safety."

Ah there it is. Sighing internally the Courier then put his hands behind his back.

"I'm sorry, Councilors but I'm afraid my answer is no."

He could see the disappointment in their eyes as soon as he said no. Valeren then spoke as well.

"Are you sure? Surely you understand that studying such weapons could be very beneficial to us and the safety of the Citadel and the other races?"

Tevos spoke as well. "Valeren is right. Mr Smith surely you must realize that if you allow us to study you or your robots weapons we could handsomely reward you even more than the credits you will have gotten just from the Geth's rifles."

He could see it in their eyes, they wanted his weapons. Sure he could just give it to them and get even more credits to probably even live lavishly. But the Courier had to think about the consequences as well, which the Councilors were obviously not thinking about at all, only about the power they would get from it. The Courier shook his head again.

"I'm sorry, Councilors but my answer is still no."

Sparatus then spoke up as well, clearly not pleased with being denied toys. "And why not? Why not allow us to study and recreate weapons like yours? What makes it okay for you to have and use them while the Citadel fleet and her allies cannot?"

Sighing internally the Courier knew he had to bring out the big guns for this one so it could end peacefully and no one got hurt. That weapon? His tongue. Standing his ground the Courier gave his answer to the very displeased Sparatus.

"Because Councilor I have seen what weapons like these have done to people. You have never seen or smelt the scent of burning flesh from a laser or plasma. I have, and I have also seen what dangers it poses if in the wrong hands," The Courier then began to pace back and forth. "Tell me Councilors say if I DO allow the study of my weapons? You get brand new toys for your soldiers, sure, but soon other races will start demanding to study or even steal and kill for these weapons? What then? Soon you will have to make brand NEW weapons to have an edge over the weapons. New and deadlier weapons. But also what's stopping them from just making even deadlier weapons? What's stopping them from even supplying rebellions across the galaxy? What's going to stop them from rebelling or even taking over your homeworlds? How long would it be before the other races that have a grudge against the other races get ahold of these weapons?"

"Say like the Krogan? Oh they are definitely still pissed about the Genophage so what happens if they get ahold of these weapons? Get revenge against the Turians and Salarians. And what's to stop the Batarians? Oh they'll get it alright and they will gun for every other race turning them into slaves. And from what I've read, oh they'll definitely gun for Asari and humanity. If everyone had weapons like these Councilors it would be your worst fear realized, it would be chaos everywhere in the galaxy and it won't just be in one corner, oh no it will reach everywhere and it will, and I mean it when I say it, it will reach the Citadel."

All three Councilors stood quiet after the Courier had spoken his piece. He knew he had to strike points like these. He stills remembered helping Cass finding out about what happened to her caravan only to find burnt corpses and piles of ash and goo. Learning that it was the Van Graffs who had done it pissed off the Courier so much that he had just stormed into the building and killed each and every single bastard in that building. He knew that a lot of the alien races held grudges, it was just universal no matter what species it is, and if they got their hands on laser and plasma weapons? It would be utter chaos everywhere. After what felt like hours Sparatus was the one to break the silence.

"I can see what you are saying Mr Smith. Very well then your weapons shall not be studied upon."

Both Tevos and Valeren looked at Sparatus with surprise on their faces, as if they couldn't believe him of all people would say that. And that's what he was hoping for. Courier knew he had to strike a chord with the Councilors, but also more specifically the one who's race was more militaristic. The Courier nodded his head with a smile underneath his helmet.

"Thank you, councilor. I do want to say however that your weapons are clearly more advanced than any of mine. Plus with all those Geth rifles you have now you will most likely come up with something more useful than whatever you could have gotten from my guns."

After hearing that the other two Councilors nodded their heads.

"Very well Mr Smith you do bring up very valid points. Your robot and Omni-Tool are waiting for you at the elevator. We have also made sure to put red tape on any and all mention of you being from an alternate world. Now then if that is all, this meeting is adjourned."

Soon all three Councilors left their podium leaving the Courier very relieved, and to be quite honest, exhausted mentally. He was never one for politics, that was especially true when dealing with the BoS and Hardin's issue and then trying to convince HIM to help the NCR. Just thinking about it was giving the Courier a headache so he decided to stop thinking about that whole headache of a memory and walked down the stairs and back to the elevator and true to the councilors words ED-E was there waiting for him and in his hands was a small bag. Walking up to the robot and petting him he grabbed the bag and looked inside to see a small device in it. Grabbing it he attached it on his right arm and activated it, soon a glowing orange transparent device appeared on his right arm. A ding was heard from it as he saw it automatically fill in his information and soon a second ding was heard as he saw a notification about receiving a transaction of over 1 million credits!

'Damn 1 mil!? This Geth stuff must be really valuable!'

The Courier felt the urge to immediately spend the 1 mil on so much stuff. Like food, clothes, a hous- Shaking his head he quickly banished those thoughts away as he didn't want to use this much credits as soon as he got them. He didn't want a repeat of the "Caravan incident". Shuddering at the memory both Courier and ED-E went into the elevator and began their new experience in this brand new world.

---

The Courier was just captivated by the sheer beauty of the Citadel. All around him was the greenery of trees and plants, and they weren't fake either! The water was clean and the Courier could even see his own reflection in it! …He definitely was going to need to shave soon. It almost made him want to just jump into the water and go for a swim. Though he did have to stop himself since he didn't want to cause any trouble from just harmless fun, yet. Though the Courier did almost shoot a hologram of an Asari once. At least it didn't start shooting lasers at him.

He did ask many questions about the Citadel, where to visit, where to sleep and eat, and where the markets were. He did hear about a nice sushi place where the floor was glass and you could see fish underneath so he was definitely going there whenever he had the time. Walking into the Wards district of the Citadel the Courier and ED-E were heading to the markets to see what was available to them. Maybe they could get a ship and become like the Regulators that he's seen in the Capital Wasteland, though he doesn't think they will accept fingers… Looking down at his Omni-Tool he had to constantly move and look at the map on the device to even know where he was going.

'Geez and I thought Pre War maps were confusing, I mean seriously it can't even show the floor above me's map! And why can't I change this stupid thing's colo-'

The Courier was brought out of his thoughts as someone had bumped into him. Looking away from his Omni-Tool he looked down at the person he had accidentally bumped into and noticed her unique outfit. She wore a purple hood over her head, a helmet with a purple tinted visor obscuring her face, a silver right arm with tubes coming out from them though it looked more like it was a suit and not something like he had seen with Saren. Her outfit was a skin tight black suit that seemed to show off all her features with purple over her chest area, outer area of her thighs and hips, her legs bent backwards like a Turians and he noticed that her hands had only three fingers while her feet only had two. This must have been a Quarian, the Courier thought. Though before he could apologize for bumping into her he noticed that her left hand seemed to be pressing down on her side and he could see red blood leaking down her suit. She looked at the Courier before almost falling down to the ground with the Courier swiftly catching her.

Though before Courier or ED-E could say or do anything they were forced to get behind cover as a hail of bullets came their way. ED-E played his battle music as the Courier pulled out a Stimpak and grabbed the arm of the Quarian.

"ED-E distract them while I give her a stimpak!"

ED-E gave a few beeps as he began to fire his lasers from the cover while the Courier inserted the Stimpak into the Quarian's arm and injected its contents into her. The Quarian gave a yelp of pain or surprise the Courier didn't know as more men soon started to come and fire at the threes spot. Looking into his PipBoy he pulled out a 10mm pistol and a few mags and gave it to the Quarian who was just now shaking her head as if she never had felt the effects of a stimpak before or something similar the Courier didn't know.

"I'm hoping you know how to use a gun cause we got a lot of shooters!"

The Courier then pulled out a unique .45 pistol, the weapon looked to be heavily customized with a shortened barrel, a skeletonized hammer and trigger, officer-length slide and a snake-skin grip. The Courier peaked from his cover as he watched the hail of bullets either stop for a few moments and then keep going. He didn't know how exactly this world's weapons worked exactly since all he knew about weapons here is that almost all his guns were antiques minus the laser and plasma or any weapon from the Big MT, and that Geth weapons seemed to be very sought after. The Courier quickly got behind cover again when they started to shoot at where he was peeking from.

"Shit!"

The Courier looked at where he was almost shot at and could see to his surprise that the bullet holes weren't the same size he expected to see from rifles that size. He could see that they were more so tiny than anything with their size probably no bigger than a single grain of sand. The Courier quickly popped up from his cover and began to fire at the shooters seeing that most of them were either Turian, Salarian, and only one Krogan. The Courier fired his gun at the closest guy and was able to break his shield, or as he had heard from Nihlus and Anderson Kinetic Barriers, if only he had something like that back in the Wasteland and paired it with a Power Armor? Hoo boy would he have been almost unstoppable. The Courier quickly got down as they focused fire at him. The Courier reloaded his gun and looked at the Quarian who was also peeking and firing the 10mm before moving away from the edge to reload he decided to ask the Quarian a question.

"Who are you?"

The Courier said as he finished reloading and took potshots hearing a guy scream in pain and a thud.

"Are you seriously asking for my name while we're in a firefight right now?!"

The Quarian asked as she finished reloading and popped from her cover and fired off a few rounds but then had to get back down behind cover.

"Yeah! Might as well know the person I just gave my gun name to! I'll start, the names John!"

As if listening to the conversation one of the shooters raised their voice and pointed to where the three were.

"It's him! That's the other one our boss wants dead! Kill them all and our pay will be doubled"

As soon as hearing that the mercs soon started to shoot more at the three as if the promise of a bigger pay was making the bullets more deadly. The Quarian had to stay behind cover as soon as the bullets became almost a never ending storm.

"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, but just call me Tali if we survive! What did you even do to want you dead?"

"Nice to meet you Tali and I could ask you the same thing!"

The Courier said as he then pulled out a small cylindrical device and pulled its pin before throwing it over the cover and at the gang before dropping back down to cover and waited before a loud blast was heard and many of the mercs yelling or dropping their guns. The Courier and ED-E quickly began to pick off many of the mercs with Tali quickly joining in as they shot many dazed and confused mercs before they soon got their bearings and began to fire back.

"Uh let's see I think I might have pissed a Turian by the name of Saren on Eden Prime. Stopped him from killing another Spectre by the name of Nihlus."

The Courier could see the white eyes behind Tali's purple tinted visor widen as she wasn't an answer like that.

"So you're being hunted after Saren too?"

"I guess so! Wait you too?"

"Yeah I got information that can prove that he was the one behind the attack on Eden Prime!"

"Yeah I guess that'll get any bad guy pissed off!"

The Courier popped up and was about to shoot only for him to be fired upon by many of the remaining mercs. The Elite Riot Gear did it's job at protecting the Courier but it wasn't able to protect him fully as he could feel the small projectiles shoot through his least armored areas. He quickly retreated back behind the cover as he could then hear his PipBoy geiger counter go off and make the Courier's eyes go wide.

"W-what the fuck they have radioactive bullets?!"

The Courier cursed out as he pulled out another Stimpak and injected it straight into his arm as he felt the wounds heal but could still feel the radiation there. ED-E began to fire plasma from his gun, shocking Tali as she looked at the Courier only to be shocked to see that he was now holding a green rocket launcher with a flag painted near the back of it, the flag having 14 painted white stars on blue and red and white stripes. The Courier popped up and fired the rocket, shocking almost everyone as a bright red rocket shot forth at the mercs and forcing them all to get away. Not many mercs survived from the blast radius as many had their limbs fly off their bodies or even had them explode causing a bloody and gorey mess everywhere. Now the merc gangs numbered was lesser than it was a few minutes ago with only onTurians left, zero Salarians left alive, and one very pissed off Krogan that was charging straight at the Courier.

'Ah shit' The Courier thought as the Krogan had dropped its rifle and had charged forward towards where the three were. Dropping the Red Glare the Courier had to push Tali out of the way as the Krogan came and jumped over the cover and rammed straight into the Courier. All of the air was rammed out of him from that strike, yep Krogans definitely earned the comparison of this world's Death Claws just from that hit alone. The strike had sent the Courier crashing into the wall hard. As soon as he made contact with the wall he felt a bone break inside him. The Courier dropped to the floor and tried to get up but the Krogan had already gotten to him first. The Krogan grabbed the Courier by his legs and slammed him into the wall again and the Courier could definitely feel something break again this time being his legs. The Krogan dropped the Courier and was about to stomp his head, however the Courier was saved by ED-E who had begun to fire lasers at the Krogan grabbing the aliens' attention. The Krogan then charged towards ED-E however he had moved at the last second and fired more lasers at the Krogans back with Tali doing the same.

ED-E fired off a few more lasers before the Krogan was able to smack the eyebot into one of the stands and giving the poor eyebot a big dent in its frame. Seeing this the Courier gritted his teeth as he struggled to his feet slowly. Tali wasn't faring any better as the Krogan had smacked the 10mm out of her hand and slammed her into the ground giving time for the remaining mercs to begin to reconvene.

"All this trouble for two people?" One Turian said as he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Tali. "The pay better be enough for those dancers for a whole week."

However before the merc could pull the trigger the sound of whirring was heard causing everyone to look at the sound only to see an armored individual standing where the Courier should have been. He was wearing gunmetal gray armor while only the shoulder pauldrons, forearms, chest, and shins protection being a green color. The helmet was also a gunmetal gray with tubes on both sides of the helmet a black visor slit staring at them. Though what they should have been paying attention to was the minigun the pissed off armored Courier was now wielding. Before any of the mercs could even begin to get to cover the man pulled the trigger as rounds began to spray out from the minigun shredding through all of the mercs as if they were paper. Not even the Krogan could have survived the spray of rounds as the Courier limped forward focusing his fire on any of the mercs that tried to move, which was basically everyone. Only after a few seconds later did the Courier let go of the trigger, or the minigun had run out of ammunition he didn't know, but he had stopped firing either way as he put away the minigun and just limped forward more limping past the shredded pieces of cheese that used to be the mercs before reaching the stand where ED-E was located.

The man struggled before finally being able to kneel down to check on the Eyebot and thankfully for the Courier the eyebot played victory music letting the man know that it was alright. Breathing a sigh of relief and hanging his head down he shook head.

"Ah geez ED-E you gave me a scare there bud."

With help from ED-E the Courier was able to stand up to his feet again and walked towards the now frightened Tali who had covered her head and gotten into a fetal position most likely from the sound of the minigun. Changing back into his Elite Riot Gear outfit the Courier offered a hand to the Quarian.

"Hey, they're all gone now."

Tali looked up at the man and looked around, seeing that he was indeed correct as she gave a sigh of relief and took the Courier's hand and helped her up though with a lot of struggle. A groan of pain was heard catching the three's attention and they could see that it was one of the merc still alive, though barely. The Courier looked down at his PipBoy again before pulling out a gunmetal-gray mechanical glove with a hydraulic piston powered ram mounted atop his forearm. The Courier then knelt down next to the wounded Merc and used his other hand to grab the merc by his collar pulling him closer to the Courier.

"Alright pal you got me in a pretty bad mood so better start explaining or I'll shove this power glove so far down your throat it'll come out your ass."

The merc's eyes widened as he began to whimper out an answer. "I- I.. we were hired by someone to take you out! It was a huge bounty big enough for someone to live fancy!"

"Who sent you? And don't try to lie, or I'll beat you to death with your own spine."

"We were just hired by someone named Saren! He wanted us to take out the Quarian and those who saw him on Eden Prime.

"See? It wasn't that hard at all."

The Courier let go of the scared Turian and patted him on the side of his face who then just fainted from either fear or blood loss the Courier didn't know or cared. The Courier stood up with some trouble and turned and limped back to ED-E and Tali slowly but as he limped back to them his vision began to get blurry and sway side to side before finally everything became black.

---

Darkness. That's all the Courier could see. Confused he tried to look around but all around him was darkness more darkness and a tumbleweed, oh, no just more darkness. Suddenly a bright light was beginning to shine in the darkness before finally the Courier woke up. Opening his eyes instead of seeing the inside of his ERG helmet he saw that he was no longer wearing it. He quickly sat up and looked around to see where he was. Last time that he woke up not in his armor and in an area he didn't know about he was experimented on by the Think Tank. Hopefully this time he didn't have any new implants inside of him.

"Ah you're finally awake."

Looking towards who spoke, the Courier saw that it was a female doctor who had red hair and green eyes with white skin and a weird accent the Courier never heard of before. Though vaguely remembers hearing a pre war recording with a similar accent.

"Where am I?"

"You are in my medical clinic right now Mr Smith. You were brought in by a Quarian and a small robot. You're quite lucky actually, if they hadn't brought you here you would have succumbed to the poison and radiation bullets.

'Oh you gotta be kidding me poison?! First radiation and now poison? What kind of world is this?'

Ironic coming from the guy who uses weapons never seen or invented before. Beeping noises were heard as the Courier looked ED-E had quickly come up to him and bobbed up and down, happy to see that his friend was okay. Laughing, the Courier petted the eyebot with a smile.

"Hehe nice to see you're safe ED-E."

The eyebot beeped again just as glad as the Courier was. The Courier saw the dent was still there in the poor little eyebot. No doubt he'll have to repair ED-E soon and look into getting these kinetic barriers if people are just now using freaking poison and radiation bullets. What's next, fire bullets? The Courier looked at the doctor.

"So how long will I have to recover?"

The doctor brought up her Omni-Tool and typed in a few buttons before looking at the Courier.

"Well normally I would say a couple of days to heal especially since you took an attack from a Krogan but your body seems to have healed faster than a normal person should. I had to run a test to make sure but once I was able to get the radiation out your body seemed to not heal as fast. Tell me, have you been in contact with anything radioactive?"

Oh if she only knew.

"Uh yeah my planet has some areas with radiation, kinda hard to avoid but we try our best to avoid them."

The doctor nods before going to treat another patient in the room. Before the Courier could ask where his helmet was it was held right in front of him. Looking at who was holding it he was surprised that it was Tali. Grabbing the helmet he put it back onto his head and breathed a sigh of relief to have the helmet back on. The Courier then got out of the bed and stretched a bit before looking at Tali.

"Thanks for bringing me here. I guess I owe you huh?"

Tali just shook her head. "No need to thank me. I'm just repaying you for what you did with me."

The Courier nodded and just shook Tali's three fingered hand gratefully. "So what do you plan to do now? Saren is sending his hitmen after you and I don't think I will be there to protect you."

Tali shook her head. "Honesty? I have no idea. I was hoping to at least bring evidence that will implicate Saren on the attack on Eden Prime to the Council but I was denied to see them. Being a Quarian doesn't make it easy especially here when everyone just blames your race for creating the Geth. And to be quite honest I thought you would have treated me the same way, everyone just calls Quarians like me a suit rat, thinks we're up to something, or here to steal. But it is nice to see someone help me even if you don't really know me."

"Ah no need to worry about it. I just help wherever I am. And hey I gotta admit you're a pretty good shot with a 10mm."

"Oh I almost forgot to give it back to you."

Tali's hands moved to grab the gun but the Courier held up a hand to stop her.

"Oh you don't need to return it, I have a ton. Besides, I have a main one I use. If you need more magazines I can give you some."

Tali hesitated for a few moments before nodding and putting her hands in front of herself.

"And what about you John? Since Saren is after you too, what will you do?"

The Courier just shrugged and crossed his arms. "I don't really know. I mean I know what it is like having hit squads being sent after me so I'm more experienced with it. Though I usually figured out where their base is to take them out. Saren though? Guy probably has his own spaceship and could be anywhere in the galaxy and top it off him being a Spectre? Guy is basically untouchable and even if I did get him I'll be in major trouble."

"I may know of someone that can protect you both."

This had gotten both Tali's and the Courier's as they looked at the doctor.

Tali tilted her head in confusion. "How so?"

"I know a man named Fist who can help you. He's an associate of the Shadow Broker, if you can trade the information for protection not even someone like Saren could touch you."

The Courier was now impressed. He may not know who or what a Shadow Broker was but if they can make it so not even Saren could get them it would be nice. Though hopefully there won't be any strings attached, or have to wait super long under protection. He really didn't want to wait out until Saren either croaks or gets killed, the Courier really wanted to just explore the stars. I mean who wouldn't want to? Especially when the only thing the Courier knew was the Wasteland, so being able to just go and explore the galaxy and visit planets with all its unique environments excited the Courier beyond belief.

"Really? Well that does beat having to deal with constant hitmen after me and ED-E and not worrying about them eventually getting a tank or worse a nuke."

The doctor nodded and pulled up her Omni-Tool as she sent a message and then a few moments later she put it down and looked at the three.

"I sent a message to Fist. He's willing to meet you there, you will find him at Chora's Den, it's a bar in the Lower Wards."

"Thank you very much doctor Michel."

Huh so that's her name? Well that's nice to know. Nodding her head doctor Michel then went to treat a Volus patient. Walking out of the clinic the group began walking towards Chora's Den, on the way the Courier handed Tali more magazines causing her to look at him in confusion.

"Never hurts to have too much ammo."

Tali shrugged and took the extra magazines and put them in her pockets. "Thanks, I will admit though it does feel so weird to be using an antique gun that uses actual bullets. It has this kick to it my normal pistol doesn't have." Tali looked at the Courier. "Though I am curious as to how you even got these guns? Actually, a better question would be where did you even pull out that minigun or rocket launcher?"

The Courier shrugged and held up his PipBoy allowing Tali to see it. "PipBoy. Where I'm from Vault Dwellers, people who lived their whole lives in vaults, wear these things. It's similar to your Omni-Tool, eh kinda. PipBoys mostly store information you gather, help you keep track of what you are carrying, the state of your weapons or armor, status of your limbs, map of whatever area you are in, it has a geiger counter and a radio. The screen even doubles as a flashlight. You can even take these things off. Got mine from a Vault Dweller, he just didn't need it anymore."

Tali stopped making the Courier stop as well and allowed Tali to look at the RobCo device. "Fascinating design and functions." Tali played with the little wheel on the PipBoy, which the Courier couldn't lie since he did that too whenever bored, before looking at the Courier. "Though I am curious as to why your planet has this instead of the normal Omni-Tool or why it needs a geiger counter, or why your planet has the need for people to live in vaults."

"Ah good questions. Don't really have all the answers for them, but I can try to give answers. PipBoys have geiger counters since my world has been through a lot, so of course there are going to be geiger counters on them. From what I can tell, Omni-Tools seem to be used mostly in combat while Pip-Boys really aren't. Why do people live in vaults? Uh, different reasons really. I think there are 122 vaults in total? Though a lot of them are either abandoned, destroyed, blocked off, or well everyone died because of a malfunction or radiation or just happened to let in the wrong group."

Tali looked at the Courier with her wide white eyes, surprised to hear about that last part. "Keelah. It must be hard living in vaults in your world…"

"Oh trust me they are living the best life compared to everyone outside the vaults. I can attest to it since I'm one of those people who were born outside the vaults."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We got slavers, raiders, drug addicts, robots whose programming got messed up, and before you say anything it's not AI just more an error in their codes. Uh what else? Oh yeah we got different factions, which is super "fun" yay… There's also mutated animals and insects who can also grow big and also did I mention big mutated animals? Yeah cause those are the worst, cause they can either be friendly enough to be used as cattle or kill an entire town."

Tali just took in all this information about where John was from. She didn't know what world he was from but it must have been difficult to live there if they didn't use any of the normal guns she saw everyone else use but actual bullets. Tali then looked at ED-E.

"And what about ED-E?"

This made the Courier look at his robotic companion who beeped confused as to why the two were looking at him. "ED-E? Oh he's an eyebot. They were used for various purposes like radio, medical, and repairs. Though those were older models, ED-E here is well the only new model of an eyebot. Found him broken down and in need of repairs in a town and after repairing him he's been with me ever since."

After saying that that had gotten Tali's attention. "Really? So ED-E is the only model left? What about it's schematics?"

"They were destroyed and no backup exists sadly. Which makes it difficult since while ED-E can tell me about minor stuff to repair if he gets a major hit and shuts down I wouldn't even know where to begin to repair him."

"I see. And how do you exactly understand ED-E? All I am hearing is beeps."

The Courier went to say something but stopped when he realized that no one besides him could actually understand ED-E. That then made the Courier wonder WHEN did he actually begin to understand robots? He guessed it must have been something natural for all Wastelanders at that point that no one really stopped and went "Hey how come we are able to understand robots all of a sudden?". The Courier just gave a shrug that said "I don't know", and had just left it at that as the three continued walking.

Entering Chora's Den was way different from any bar the Courier had ever been to. It was loud, there were so many flashing colors, a bunch of Asari strippers were just dancing in select spots, and the music.

'What on earth is this music!?'

It almost made the Courier want to cover his ears just to muffle the loud music. Though he just soldiered on. Moving past all the drinkers and dancers the group was able to get to the other end of the room and to another door with a Krogan bodyguard and had to move to the side as a red armored Krogan stormed past them clearly not in a good mood. Walking up to the Krogan bodyguard he took a step forward.

"Sorry but no one passes through here."

Tali then spoke. "But we're supposed to meet Fist. Tali and John are supposed to meet him."

The Krogan was about to say something but stopped as he put a finger to his ear listening to whoever on the other end had to say before putting his hand down and stepping aside allowing entrance to the door. He motioned for the three to walk through the door as it opened. Walking into Fist office the group saw an caucasian male with black hair, blue eyes, a scarred upper lip and chin, black armor and a red undersuit. His whole vibe reminded the Courier of Benny. It just wanted to make the Courier think of all the ways to kill him for shooting him in th- The Courier shook his head to push away those thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking like that now, especially since it was someone working with the Shadow Broker. He shouldn't be thinking of what to kill him with like Benny who he killed with the .357 revolver, or was it with the Ripper? Actually he couldn't remember at all, it must be because of what weapons to use on Benny that he had actually forgotten what weapon he actually used and what weapons he didn't use. It just felt like all of them were used to kill Benny. Reaching Fist's desk Fist was in a chair that swiveled around to look at the three.

"I got Doctor Michel's message about you two and your robot wanting to make a deal with the Shadow Broker. Give me the information and I'll hand you over to the Shadow Broker."

Oh boy the Courier really had to resist the urge to just shoot the guy now. Everything about him just screamed Benny to him. Tali shook her head. "No deal, we want to meet with the Shadow Broker face to face."

Fist nods his head. "Of course of course. I'll message him right now."

Fist then brought up his Omni-Tool and typed his message before sending it and looking at the three with a small smile that really made the Courier want to put a bullet between Fist's eyes. "Done, go to the back alley by the markets and you'll meet with the Shadow Broker face to face. I'll meet you there. I just need to deal with a few more things."

The three looked at each other before leaving Fist's office and then Chora's Den as they made their way to the meeting spot.

"*Beeping noises*"

"Yeah ED-E I agree with you, it definitely feels like a trap."

Tali looked at the Courier. "Glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought so too."

"The guy practically screamed weasel just from how he looked and acted."

Tali didn't know what a weasel was but she guessed it must be a human saying. "Do you think you can handle yourself?"

"Heh I should be the one asking you that. I know you're able to handle a 10mm and your fancy pistol but in a full out firefight by yourself? I highly doubt you'd last long in one, especially one from where I come."

"John please before leaving the Flotilla we are trained to handle ourselves during our Pilgrimage. If I can survive not getting shot with you and ED-E I'm pretty sure I can handle myself back wherever you're from."

When hearing this the Courier smiled underneath his helmet and playfully elbowed Tali in the arm. "Hah! Ah I like you already Tali! Would you mind telling me more about your people? The codex from what I've seen doesn't really explain much about Quarians. I mean you don't have to of course but if you do want to talk about it I can talk about some of the stuff from where I come from. To make it fair of course."

Hearing this Tali smiled at the Courier when he wanted to know more about her people, as in actual curiosity and nothing weird like she heard from her fellow Quarians who had been asked different questions on their Pilgrimages.

"Really? Most people don't usually care about asking questions like that from a Quarian but sure I'll gladly tell you more about my people. I'm actually quite curious about some of the machines and material from where you come from. Maybe after this deal with the Shadow Broker we can talk about it later."

"Yeah that sounds nice."

Reaching the back alley of the markets the Courier could instantly feel like it was a trap. The red tinted lighting, the three armed guards and no Fist. Two were white armored Salarians with a black visor hiding their faces, and one Turian. Man Courier was not having any good luck with meeting any good Turians. The only good ones he met were Nihlus and Sparatus and the ones at C-Sec.

Stopping the Turian walked up to the group. "Did you bring it?"

The Courier put his hands behind his back as he pulled out his .357 revolver while Tali spoke.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?"

The Turian then put his hand on Tali's hood before moving downwards to her arm. "They'll be here. Where's the evidence?"

Tali then smacked the Turians hand off her arm. "No way. The deal's off."

The Turian backed away and motioned with his head at the Salarians as they looked over towards the threes direction and pulled out their own pistols and walked towards them. Tali quickly pulled out a weird looking grenade and threw it at the Salarians as she and both Courier and ED-E got into cover as ED-E began to play his battle music.

Both Courier and Tali aimed their pistols at the enemies and fired, the Courier with his .357 revolver and Tali with her unique pistol while ED-E fired plasma from his cannon. Suddenly the sound of more rifles being shot was heard from behind as both Tali and Courier looked behind themselves to see a Turian in blue armor with a glowing blue visor over his left eye, the same red armored Krogan from before, and to the Courier's surprise it was Commander Shepard coming in to their rescue. Now their numbers going to six they were easily able to wipe out the three assassins with ED-E getting the last shot with his laser turning the Turian into a pile of ash.

Shepard and his group approached Courier and Tali while ED-E played victory music.

"Fist set us up! Oh when I get my hands on him!"

Shepard looked at his two allies before looking back at Tali. "Were you two hurt in the fight?"

Tali calmed down a bit before nodding. "Me and John know how to look after ourselves. Not that we don't appreciate the help. Who are you?"

Shepard was about to speak, however the Courier had beaten him to the punch.

"He's Commander Shepard, he's with the Alliance. Me and ED-E saw him back on Eden Prime."

Shepard and his group looked at the Courier while he was searching the dead bodies for anything good. Hey he wasn't able to do it back to those other guys before passing out, so might as well do it now before C-Sec arrives and takes the bodies away.

"Courier Six I presume?" Shepard asked with an eyebrow raised. He remembered Anderson and Nihlus telling him about Courier Six and his robotic companion ED-E and how they were able to handle themselves back on Eden Prime, and of course the detail of Courier Six's habit of searching bodies for stuff. The Courier stood up and walked to the group already having pocketed everything he could grab from the assassins.

"It's John Smith actually," The Courier held out his hand to Shepard. "Nice to finally introduce ourselves without worrying about Geth and Saren. Though I doubt you just happened to be in the neighborhood with your friends at the same time we were here."

Shepard shook his hand and nodded. "You're right. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."

Tali nods her head. "Then I may have a chance to repay you for saving our lives. But not here. We need to go somewhere safe."

The Turian then spoke up. "We could take them to the human embassy. Your ambassador will want to see this anyway."

---

The Courier was quite surprised when Shepard started to explain how much effort he went into with finding evidence against Saren. Almost as much as when he had helped Cass figure out who murdered her Caravan. The Courier had also learned Shepard's two friends' names as well. The Krogan's name was Wrex who was a bounty hunter battle master, and Garrus a C-Sec officer who just so happened to be the lead investigator on Saren. Then of course Courier introduced ED-E and Tali to Shepard's group as well.

Walking into the human embassy there was a man wearing a beige outfit with blue clothing underneath the beige clothing as well. And next to the man was Captain Anderson who acknowledged Shepard with a nod. The man was looking out the balcony before facing the group when he heard the door slide open.

"You're not making my life easy Shepard. Firefights in the wards? An all out assault on Chor's DEN? Do you know how many-"

The ambassador stopped talking when he looked at the Courier, ED-E, and Tali.

"Who are they? A man, a robot and a Quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?"

"You wanted proof Saren's a traitor? They have the evidence."

"Really? Maybe you two better start at the beginning, you two?"

"My name is Tali, Tali Zorah nar Rayya."

"John, John Smith. Friend here is ED-E."

"*Beeping noises*"

"We don't see many Quarians here. Especially ones in company with a man dressed up as that and a robot. Why did you leave the Flotilla?"

"I was on my Pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood."

Well at least Courier was able to at least learn more about some Quarian stuff. "What does a Pilgrimage mean? Is it to some kind of religious place for your people?"

Tali shook her head at Courier's question. "No its not that. Pilgrimage is a tradition among my people. When we reach maturity we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Alone we search the stars, only returning to the Flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way, we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood."

"What kinds of things do you look for?" Shepard asked.

"It could be resources like food or fuel. Or some type of useful technology. Or even knowledge that will make life easier on the flotilla. Through our Pilgrimage, we prove that we will contribute to the community, rather than being a burden on our limited resources."

Nodding Shepard asked Tali to continue. "Tell us what you found."

"During my travels I began hearing reports of Geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the Geth have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious. I tracked a patrol of Geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one to become separated from its unit. Then I disabled it and removed it's memory core."

Anderson then asked a question. "I thought the GEth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism."

Hearing this the Courier glanced at ED-E, it made him wonder if the Enclave had done something similar with ED-E and made it so when ED-E was killed all data on him would be wiped. The Courier then asked another question.

"How did you manage to preserve the memory core?"

"My people created the Geth. If you're quick, careful, and lucky small caches of data can sometimes be saved. Most of the core was wiped clean. But I salvaged something from its audio banks."

Well that was good to hear at least. Though that did mean the Courier had to be quick if a situation like that ever happened with ED-E. Tali then brought up her Omni-Tool and with a few press of buttons she played an audio recording of Saren's voice.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"Thats Saren's voice. This proves he was involved in the attack!" Anderson exclaimed. And the Courier could tell from the way Anderson talked about it that he and Saren had a history together.

The ambassador shook his head when Anderson said that. "Maybe, but the Council wouldn't believe it. No doubt they will dismiss it claiming it to be forged audio."

"Get them! Make sure they don't live!"

Everyone practically jumped when the voice of Saren played and looked around before the voice played again but this time all eyes fell upon the eyebot as he played the recording once again.

"Oh yeah I forgot you could do that ED-E."

The ambassador's eyes were wide open before shaking his head to get his thoughts straight. "Are you saying your robot was able to also get a recording of Saren's voice?"

The Courier nods. "Yeah back on Eden Prime me and ED-E after saving Nihlus from being shot in the head we were able to get a few shots in at Saren before he retreated and ordered more GEth to attack. ED-E may be able to record stuff but he's unable to edit them so no way the Council will be able to say it's forged."

"Great to hear but Saren said something about Eden Prime bringing him one step closer to finding the Conduit. Any ideas what that means?" Shepard asked.

"The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon. Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology… like a weapon."

This got the Courier's attention immediately. An ancient alien civilization that had built a weapon that the bad guys are trying to find and use? Oh by this was starting to sound more and more like something from those pre war comic books he always found. Tali then spoke up.

"Wait… there's more. Saren wasn't working alone."

Pressing a few more buttons Tali had played the same recording as before but this time there was another voice, this one female.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about the Reapers."

"Okay asking the most obvious question here but what are Reapers?"

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished. At least, that's what the Geth believe."

Huh. A hyper-advanced machine death gods basically. The Courier has been around but never has he ever heard of something like that before. Well now he's faced aliens, a ghouls distant cousin, and, oh yeah, in an alternate universe basically. Might as well add fighting machine death gods to the list of things he fought. The ambassador crossed his arms.

"Sounds a little far-fetched."

The Courier couldn't really blame the guy. I mean there's so many questions you could ask from just what Tali had said. Shepard wiped his forehand as he spoke.

"The vision on Eden Prime. I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."

"The Geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back."

Huh. A high leader who is the leader/prophet to multiple gods with devout followers? Yeah it was reminding Courier of Caesar and the Legion. The ambassador crossed his arms.

"The Council is just going to love this!"

"The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them."

"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor."

"The captain's right. We need to present this to the Council right away."

Wrex then motioned towards the Courier and Tali.

"What about them?"

"You saw us in the alley, Commander. You know what we can do. Let us come with you."

The Courier was surprised when Tali had spoken for him as well. Though before Shepard could say anything another voice spoke up.

"I say bring them along Commander. I can personally attest to the Courier's and his robots capabilities in a fight. And if the Courier says the Quarian can fight then I'll believe him."

Everyone's attention then fell onto the person who said that and all eyes fell onto the speaker who was Nihlus who had walked into the room. Shepard then spoke.

"Nihlus. It's good to see that you're back up. And if you say the Courier and Tali can be useful then I will take your word."

Shepard then looked at Tali. "Though what about your Pilgrimage?"

"The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this? Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy. My Pilgrimage can wait."

Shepard nods and looks at the Courier.

"And what about you? Do you want to join us?"

The Courier thought about that. Sure he could just go into hiding and just wait until either Saren died, he died, or these Reapers came and just killed everyone. But then just like what Tali had said about her Pilgrimage, if Courier had just said no to wanting to come along what did it say about him? Would he have been labeled a coward? Seriously this quest literally involved trying to stop Saren from summoning machines that are basically gods, that was way above something he has ever seen or faced. The Courier then thought about this world. It wasn't his so why should he care or bother to help stop this threat? But then his mind wandered to all his companions that he had made over the course of his journey in the Mojave. They would be scared shitless if they learnt that they had to help stop machines from wiping out all organic life in the galaxy, but then he remembered that despite the odds they still followed and came along, not because he forced them too they could have left anytime they wanted to but they just went along. The Courier sighed mentally and knew what his answer had to be. He just needed to do the right thing, like he always has back in the Wasteland.

The Courier nods his head. "Yeah sure I'm in. Might as well add stopping hyper advanced machines to my resume."

"*Beeping noises*"

"ED-E says he's in as well."

"Anderson, Nihlus, and I will go ahead to get things ready with the Council. We will also need to take your robot along with us though to present the case. You all can take a few minutes to collect yourselves or rest but then meet us up in the tower."

And with that Anderson, the ambassador, Nihlus and the ED-E had left the room leaving the group to collect themselves.

---

Walking up the steps to the Council chambers both groups move forward to the podium so they can finally prove that Saren was in fact a traitor and had gone rogue. Courier Six was mostly nervous as to how ED-E was doing, sure he knew ED-E could handle himself for a while but in a world like this when enemies have poison and radiation bullets? The Courier of course will be nervous for his robotic friend. The groups finally reached Anderson who was waiting for them.

"Come on, Udina and Nihlus are presenting the evidence to the Council."

Walking up the steps the Courier could hear both the recording from ED-E and the recording from Tali being played to the Council. Everyone walked up to where Udina and Nihlus were standing with ED-E floating in front of the podium playing the recording.

"You wanted proof? There it is."

Udina said while pointing a finger at the Council.

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

Councilor Tevos looked at Sparatus. "I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia."

The Courier was confused as to what a Matriarch was but thankfully Tevos had began to explain what one was.

"Matriarchs are powerful Asari who have entered the final stages of their lives. Revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides and mentors to my people. Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic, and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

Councilor Valeren then spoke. "I'm more interested in the Reapers. What do you know about them?"

"Only from what was extracted from the Geth's memory core. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished."

"The Geth believe the Reapers are gods. And Saren is the prophet for their return."

"We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren's searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime."

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?"

"Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers. That's bad enough."

"Listen to what you're saying! Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out life in the galaxy? Impossible it has to be. Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something!"

"I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to face the truth. Don't make the same mistake again."

"This is different. You proved Saren betrayed the Council. We all agree he's using the Geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why."

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander. A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the Geth to his will."

"Fifty thousand years ago, the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization. If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again."

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position."

"That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your entire fleet in!"

"A fleet cannot track down one man."

"A citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the Geth from attacking any more of our colonies."

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems! We won't be dragged into a galaxy confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!"

This had made the Courier speak up when Sparatus said that. "And why not? If it was an Asari or Turian or even a Salarian colony all of you would be sending in fleet after fleet to hunt down Saren while also asking the humans or any other race to help your search."

"He's right, if this was one of your colonies you would be searching the Traverse without caring for war! I am sick of this Council's anti-human bull-"

Tevos raised a hand interrupting Udina. "There is another solution. A way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies."

Sparatus looked at Tevos. "No! It is too soon. Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres."

Nihlus walked up and stood side by side next to Udina. "With all due respect Councilor Sparatus I will have to disagree with you. Shepard may have done only one mission but I can vouch for him. You don't have to send in fleets into the Traverse, and the Ambassador gets his human Spectre. Everybody's happy."

All three Councilors looked at each other before finally looking down at their consoles and all three pressing a button. Tevos looked up and looked at Shepard.

"Commander Shepard, step forward."

Nihlus and Udina moved to the side and Shepard stepped forward. Soon people in the Council chambers started to gather around looking at what was about to happen. Human, Turian, Salarian, and Asari all gathered from the second floor to the first floor from the sidelines watching.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." Tevos began speaking.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." Valeren continued.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Tevos continued.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." Sparatus continued off Tevos.

"You are the very first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species." Tevos finished off.

Shepard bowed his head. "I'm honored, Councilor."

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"Any idea where to find him?"

"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Udina."

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

The Councilors then left their podiums as soon everyone watching then left and continued on with their business. Anderson walked up to Shepard and gave him a handshake.

"Congratulations, Commander."

"We've got a lot of work to do, Shepard. You're going to need a ship, a crew, and supplies. Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up."

Anderson nods and both he and Udina leave. ED-E floated back to the Courier who petted the small eyebot, who beeped happily when receiving the pats.

"I thought the ambassador would be a little more grateful. He didn't even thank you."

"Until I find Saren, I haven't done anything. Come on."

Nihlus walked to Shepard. "Shepard before you go I want to wish you luck with hunting for Saren. Saren used to be my mentor so I know how dangerous and cunning he can be. Never let your guard down even when you think you have him figured out. Oh and make sure he doesn't get his hands on our friends from a different universe. No doubt he and many will want to recreate their weapons."

This had gotten everyone's attention as Nihlus walked away leaving everyone in the group shocked and confused as all eyes were now on the Courier and ED-E.

'Oh that mother fu-'

---

Authors note

Originally planned to release this chapter a week later after the first one but the heat got insane in my area so writing and brainstorming ideas made it hard to do so.