Chapter 1

I don't own Mass Effect

Ideas, blaze has pointed out that without eezo exposure asari have weaker biotics. in the fanfic and the meak Shall Inherit the galaxy liara says daughters of matriarchs have stronger biotics than others due to higher concentration of eezo exposure

I really need to find out why my stories aren't saving. Lost so much work on this, hell it happened again...for fucks sake! It's not even saving space or paragraph gaps I just lost about 3k worth of words I can't rewrite ones that were written perfectly.

I think it could be due to chapter size though it could be something else.

Edit, its definitely the size. I seems after 10K it has trouble saving.

Second edit, made minor grammar corrrections

story start


The cycle, the Reapers...the harvest.

Everyone knows these words and the horror that is behind them. Everyone also knows that before humanity touched the stars, before the schools and temples of Athame had been built. Before the first turian rifle and even before the salarians started to question there were the Protheans

The Protheans ruled the galaxy as they knew it for years, until they discovered that they were just a small fish in pond that was much bigger than they had ever realised. That the ones who had created the Citadel and Relays they had claimed for their own had returned and they were not friendly.

The heart of the Prothean Empire fell in moments, the sudden attack was completely unexpected. Rallying the rest of the Empire was able to fight back, and while the Reapers were able to advance the Empire made it as hard as possible to take that ground.

It took generations for the Reapers to fully harvest the Protheans. Each proverbial mile harder to take than the last, however eventually the Empire could struggle no more and collapsed. Too much ground had been lost, too many soldiers had died and not enough of them remained nor enough weapons to arm the ones that remained. Despite that, the remnants of that Empire struggled on, using barely functioning weapons or whatever they could get their hands on and for nearly a century there would be pockets of resistance found in nearly every system but eventually even those pockets would be discovered, destroyed, and then wiped out from existance.

The Protheans made many plans to survive and many fail safes, but the majority of them would end in failure and the ones that didn't...would only barely succeed.

But what if one, just one didn't fail but succeded completely?

What if one Prothean realised that not all, or maybe even none of the new species would be able to understand the messages they would leave behind. For either surviving Protheans, so no knowledge would be lost or to new species to warn them and so that the Prothean Empire would be avenged.

There was one species that was developing similar mental abilities as them. They also had the ability to reproduce with any sentient species meaning that even a handful of them could create a thriving population on any species homeworld. But one homeworld was more suitable then the rest. One covered up almost with water but still had more than enough land for them and the species native there to live. Compared to the homeworlds of the other species that one was more compatible than the others. The species of that world even looked somewhat similar.

This is the story of how a small team of Protheans smuggled and hid various asari on a planet that would one day be called Earth, each one having a warning of unsurpassed death and destruction ingrained in their minds.


When centuries had passed and the Reapers returned to the darkness they had come from, these asari started to wake up. Not all survived, some died in their sleep as the power keeping them alive had failed. Some had a fate far worse, they awoke but were trapped in a box of metal unable to get out, sealed tight by a malfunction or the weight of the earth keeping it shut. For those sad individulas the cold darkness was their first, last and only memory. Others only died due to the elements, others when they stumbled across hostile native species. Enough however found societies that would accept them, that they could integrate to.

No one knew what they were or even where they had come from, not even themselves. Some thought that they were supernatural forces made flesh, others said they weren't human. Others would then point out how similar to the women they looked, that a horse could not lay with an ox and produce offspring after all. Each kind of creature could only create more of itself by laying with its own kind, why would they be different?

They were called many names, but due to their magical power, their beauty and how the years never seemed to affect them most names however could be translated into...Priestess. These Priestesses developed a reputation of being healers, warriors and scholars, often without match. Having a Priestess in your village or town was a huge boon. No matter how long or short that stay was.

They carried with them knowledge lost to time, it is said that if a Priestess stayed at your village then your village could never truly die. That it and its memory would live on in her as long as she remained.

Their mere presence was also a boon, to earn the wrath of a Priestess was to court death itself. Bandits would go elsewhere, entire armies would circle around the village without harming it, trading for goods they might have otherwise tried to seize by force.

However with their presence also came tales, predictions of a future war so horrible words could not and would not describe it.

While they didn't know it, two very different species from two different worlds so far apart that they wouldn't meet for thousands of years, if ever, if not for the Relays. Began to grow and learn as one, walking along side by side. Two species melded into one.

The short life of the humans taught the Priestesses to value the time they were given. How could they waste years when their husbands, fathers and friends had so few yet seemed to do so much? They would never develop the habit of letting years pass by lazily. Unlike the asari that remained on their home world would.

The long life of the Priestess stopped knowledge from being lost, their magic abilities made labour easier and their mental abilities made teaching and learning quicker.

However, all was not always peaceful. Wars did and will always happen, it is a part of each species after all. But the presence of the Priestesses did reduce them, it is hard to fight or hate an enemy when you can experience their thoughts and feelings. Emotions carry more weight than languages after all and with the gifts of the Priestesses it was easy for both to be shared.

Sometimes there were Priestesses only on one side, sometimes they were on both, again raising the question of just where they had come from. Sometimes they would form a safe place where anyone who wanted to avoid the battle could go to. Whether they be young, sick or elderly or just tired of war. No matter which side won, the winner knew to let them be and those under their protection, lest their victories turn into defeats.

After each battle at least one person would ask "Is this the battle that you predict?" and they would answer "No, the battle passed down to me by my mother was much worse."

In time people would stop asking. There had been many horrible wars over the centuries yet the answer was always the same. Maybe it was less a warning about a war and more of a warning that all wars are horrible?

When science and technology had reached a certain level people started looking more closely what a Priestess was. When DNA was discovered they found the DNA of a Priestess was completely different. Long before that it was known that the second parent of a Priestess didn't need to be male but it was theorised that the Priestess was able to get the DNA another way or form the child in a way that didn't require sperm. Because, while the child of a Priestess was always a Priestess they were never identical to their mother, just similar. Just like any other parent and child that share the same gender would be.

This all changed however the day the Prothean archive on Mars was discovered and the day that once and for all it was known that the Priestesses were not native to the planet they had called home for thousands of years. By this point however, the civilisation and cities of Earth belonged to them as much as it to their humans brothers and sisters and the term being human had long since included the Priestesses.

There were many things uncovered inside the ruins discovered on Mars, ships, old weapons, crates of easo. An element that was produced naturally by the Priestesses and was the reason behind their abilities and exposure to it before birth was needed to give birth to those who had similar abilities to a Priestess. Aside from the ability to share emotions and mentally connect to each other that was, the greater the exposure the greater the chance of the child getting the gift.

That discovery caused pregnant and expectant mothers the world over to visit graveyards of Priestesses or ask one of them to bless her or her child. It was theorised that exposure to a higher concentration of easo would result in more powerful abilities, not only for humans but also Priestesses. However, before Mars there wasn't enough easo on Earth to prove it beyond doubt.

At first the biggest discovery was a large data storage device, that was however until a Priestess stumbled across a small artifact thay could easily fit in the palm of her hand. An artifact that made her lose consciousness, when she awoke she told how the artifact gave her visions, visions that were the same as the ones that had been passed down from Priestess to Priestess. Immediately the artifact was sent to Earth where it was passed from Priestess to Priestess who all confirmed the same thing. That while the artifact didn't show the exact same visions that had been passed down to each of them by their mother, it was of the same battle, the same enemy.

At first, it was believed that the ones that owned those ruins were the ancestors of the Priestesess themselves, and that the ones on Earth were the descendants of those who had managed to survive. After the first team returned, a second team was quickly sent to Mars, carrying a lot more equipment1. While there wasn't much evidence, there was enough to prove that whoever owed those ruins they weren't related whatsoever to the Priestesses.

After a lot of work, especially from the Priestesses that had come along they learnt the identity of those who owned that station...Protheans. After a lot more work they found the name of the enemy in the visions as well a better idea on what these... Reapers looked like.

While the origins of the Priestesses were never discovered it was obvious that the same race that put them on Earth were the some ones who built the ruins on Mars. The question was why?

For as long as they could remember, Priestesses passed information from one generation to another. One of the things they passed on when they were old enough was the first memory. The memory that had been passed on for far longer than any other. No matter where on Earth a Priestess lived, or where her mother had come from they all had that same memory though each was slightly different.

The message had changed over the countless years that had passed, but it was still there and it was still similar enough to be recognised next to the original. Much like a hundred faithfully replicated paintings, copied down to the finest and smallest detail can still be compared to the original.

So why was that memory given to them, why was it on the artifact? Was it to tell them how they died? So that they would always be remembered... or was it supposed to be a a warning . That no matter who you were or how strong you were, war was always dangerous. Or even worse... that these Reapers were still out there.

The Mars Archive was the first Prothean base ever found, however it wasn't the last. Each time there wasn't enough evidence to prove or disprove the existence of the Reapers, or if they were still around but they remained a constant boogy man hiding in the shadows.


Shanxi in the year 2517, lead military base.

"General we might have a problem." said an operator

"What is it?" asked General Williams.

"We've lost contact with some ships near the Relay." answered the operator making the General frown

"Send in a patrol, it's probably nothing. A problem with communications but you can't be too careful." ordered the General

Before the operator could do anything however alarms started blaring

"What is it now?" demanded the General

"Multiple ships of unknown make. Size varies between a few hundred metres to over a thousand, there's also what seems to be a large number of fighters incoming." said another operator

"Send a message to Earth immediately! Any and all channels, they need to know about this. Then start the evacuation notice."

"S-sir is it the Reapers?" asked someone nervously

"I hope not son, but if it is let's give them hell."

Elsewhere on Shanxi

"What's going on mummy?" asked a young Priestess. Less than a decade and a half old she looked almost identical to a human child aged between six and ten as a man in his thirties picked her up

"Nothing honey, daddy just needs to take you somewhere." lied an older Priestess

"Eleta please." begged the man quietly

"Take her, get somewhere safe. Whoever they are they're landing all over the colony." reaching out with one hand the Priestess touches his cheek "I can't lose you, I can't lose her...please."

"...Fine." said the man relenting "But you better find me after this is all over."

"For now and forever we will always be together." promised the Priestess as she began to arm herself "Now go."

Giving her one last look of worry the man ran out the door, reaching for a katana a gunshot goes off in the distance.

"DADDY!" screamed a familiar voice

Heart hammering Eleta bolted out the front door, there in front of the door, the love of her life. The only one she had loved in her 400 years was laying on the on the ground with her young daughter trying to shake him awake.

"Daddy?" asked her daughter fearfully

Automatically Elata trudged towards her love, the nearby invaders stopping upon seeing her

"That's an asari...Spirits there's an asari kid here too!"

Reaching the body her eyes turn black as she tries beyond hope to find any sign of life, no matter how small...there was none. It was a clean kill, the man who made her feel things that no one else ever had nor would again died almost instantly. Judging from the exit wound and how he was carrying their daughter when they left, the same bullet that took his life was less than an inch away from taking their daughters as well.

Reaching out a hand she grabbed the sleeve of a nearby woman in the midst of fleeing herself, carrying her own child, only a few years old with flaming red hair in her arms.

"Take my daughter with you." ordered Eleta

"...yes Priestess." said the woman with some hesitation as she drags her struggling daughter away with her. 'It is lucky that she had not let learned to use her gifts, otherwise it might not have been as easy for to pull her away.' thought Eleta as she continued to stare at the body of the man she loved

Behind her one of the invaders raises his rifle only for it to be pushed down by an invader next to him.

"Stand down, that's a kid and an asari kid to boot not to mention a newborn that doesn't even look like it can walk."

"But sarge."

"But nothing, we find out what's going on and then after we deal with what's happening we go find the kid."

Walking over to the asari who had yet to move, each turian took aim. There was no reason an asari should be here, no legal reason at least. Not only was this a new species but they were opening Relays, a clear violation against Citadel law.

"Ma'am I'm going to need you to come with us." asked one of the turians only to receive no response "Ma'am I promise if you cooperate you won't be harmed."

Finally, the asari looked up, but something was wrong, her eyes were completely black. That was only supposed to happen wh-

Letting out an unnatural shriek a biotic wave flew out from the asari, it was like she was the centre of a biotic detonation. Every turian within five metres stumbled. Before he could recover the asari was in front of him, one hand glowing in a biotic blade before it was shoved through his chest, tearing through barriers, armour, plates and flesh like it was nothing. His last sight was staring into the cold dark eyes of an asari. It was weird everyone said that when an asari's eye's turned black you...

Letting out a shriek to stun them Eleta charged at the invader who kept speaking in those horrible clicks, a blade of blue energy forming around her arm allowing her to easily tear through whatever protections it had. In the few moments the invader had left after she punctured its chest as she ravaged it's mind. It was not the one who killed her dear John, but it was one of the ones here. She also got a bit one why they had attacked, the reason didn't make sense, but it didn't matter. They had taken one of the things most valuable to her and almost took the other as well...she would butcher them all.

Pulling out her sword she instantly cut through another invader that started to raise his weapon, before he had even hit the ground she was on to a third and then a fourth. Each unable to protect themselves against skills that had been relentlessly honed for hundreds of years. Like a master who practised their art every day she had done the same.

When the group that killed her dear John lay dead she continued to find more, none would be allowed to harm her daughter. When that group too lay dead she searched for the next group and than the group after that. Soon the concept of time had vanished. Just how long had she been fighting? Minutes? Hours? Days? Time had lost all meaning to her, all that mattered was the safety of her daughter and to do that she needed to find the next group.

For any turian she encountered there would be no hope, no mercy none whatsoever. She had given herself over to the battle stance completely. While the asari on Thessia could use their melds to learn, to teach and to fuck, the Priestesses on Earth had learned these and more. They could use them to heal, to find what was wrong with someone and even to help it mend. It wasn't as accurate as modern technology but the ability to find what was truly wrong with a patient, not relying on the patient correctly identifying the symptoms or expressing how they felt and then help the body recover was a boon. But a Priestess most dangerous not to mention useful ability was battle stance. Instead of joining with a single mind the Priestess opens her own to the world around them, they became intimately aware of their surroundings down to the smallest insect. She became the world and the world became her. The more proficient the Priestess was the longer they could hold it, the greater the range and the more honed the stance became. No matter how stealthy you were, if a Priestess activated battle stance for even a second and you were in her field of perception she knew you were there.

If a blade was bearing down on her neck she would know, if their opponent had a wound, new or old she would know. If an attack was a feint she would know, as their muscles would betray them. People likened it to the echolocation of a bat. When a Priestess killed someone in battle stance they could also use that persons dieng embers to become stronger...to heal quicker to feel energised. It had its limits though, a death blow would still be a death blow and exhaustion was still a factor. But it allowed them to push far outside their natural limits.

As with all things there however there were drawbacks, it was hard to maintain for long periods. If a Priestess pushed too much she could easily suffer permanent brain damage, the more she pushed the worse the damage became. There also came a point where it became hard to tell their own wounds apart from the ones they were inflicting and she and long since gone over those limits. She was a dead woman walking, if not for the battle stance she would have been dead already. Eventually, she would either suffer a wound that the stance could not protect her from or she would be broken from the stance and succumb to the wounds and brain damage. If neither of those happened the stance itself would kill her eventually as her mind destroyed itself completely.

But it didn't matter, the turians had made a mistake, she had nothing to lose and everything to gain Her only goal was to kill so many of them that none would be left alive to harm her daughter. That they would be so stunned at the number of their dead at her feet they would not, could not think of anything else. She would break them or she would be broken, there was no other option. She had become an avatar of death, of destruction and vengeance, empty of anything else. That desire overwhelmed her, leaving her barely able to distinguish friend from foe. The Turians would learn why Priestess were feared, especially those that had been pushed into a corner as like a mother grizzly they do not seek out danger but should danger seek out those under their protection they will fight with a fury and strength that far surpasses what they would have been able to do otherwise and leave a trail of unsurpassed destruction behind them.

On that day the turians saw what an asari could do if she had the bloodlust of a krogan and it terrified them, they had become far too used to seeing the asari as a race of peace to be able to comprehend one that shrouded itself in so much death that she was wearing it like a cloak.

One of them had an asari girlfriend, and knew the legends and myths of the Ardat Yarsi. With her black eyes, body covered in wounds and blood that was not her own, one arm hanging limply from a sniper's shot that almost took it off completely, while the other was dragging a blade behind her what else could she be...but a demon made flesh?

On old earth maps, there used to be warnings 'here there be dragons'. Warnings, not to go too far into the unknown least they never come back. The turians didn't find any dragons but they did find a mother, a mother who became a demon to keep her daughter safe, The Demon of Shanxi.


Turian ground base, occupied shopping mall

"Commander we have a problem." said one of the various support staff

"What is it?" asked the turian in charge. He wasn't the top turian around, that was General Desolas but he was still up there. He didn't quite agree with the decision to subjugate this new race but orders were orders. Besides, if all goes well he'd get a promotion from this and might even get assigned to the home fleet. He'd get to see his family more often and a certain female turian with the prettiest scales he ever saw that also lived there. Just thinking of her made his fridges tingle and certain plates flex.

"We're loosing a lot of men in one of the outside sections. Over fifty confirmed so far." said the officer

While he would prefer not to lose any men, he knew such a thing was almost impossible. Fifty dead turians while not ideal was certainly not unexpected. Certainly not when attacking the planet of a new species.

"Send in reinforcements, the locals must be putting up a fight. Likely a team of their first responders or elite troops, tell them to be careful. Watch out for traps and sniper fire." ordered the commander

"Understood sir." responded the other turian

The commander didn't know it yet, but he just sent more men to their deaths. Not one turian would return, causing the commander to send in even more. This third group was luckier however...they lived long enough to talk.

"Sir we have a problem!" shouted out a turian over comms

"Calm down, have you engaged the hostile forces?" asked the turian commander

"THERE ISN'T ANY HOSTILE FORCES! It's a single asari and she's tearing us apart. She just cut Razik in half with a Spirits damned sword like it was nothing!"

"Asari? There's an asari here? Can you confirm?" asked the Commander

"Of course can confirm!" shouted the turian desperately "Now get us out of here before..."

Whatever the turian was going to say cut of by a blood-curdling scream.

"H-he's gone sir." said the support officer shakily

"...what is an experienced huntress doing here." mused the commander, he could grieve the fallen soldier later. For now, he needed to find out what was going on and to do that he needed to keep a clear head.

"Sir?"

"This isn't a vid, no one uses melee weapons in this day and age unless they don't have a choice. The only somewhat exceptions to this rule are krogans that want to be extra intimidating or asari who have at least a few hundred years of combat skills." said the commander

"But sir, we haven't seen any asari ships. Also the other Relay wasn't activated so how did she get here?"

"What on Palavan is going on?" wondered the turian commander outloud "How many biotics have we seen?"

"There have been a few, their strength seems to vary from an average turian to Cabal level and skill. Not nearly on the same level as an asari commando or huntress though." answered one of the support staff

"I want a general order to go out to all turians groundside." said the turian commander, after a support officer gave him a nod he continued "An asari has been spotted fighting for the natives, I want everybody that has the same profile as an asari to be checked over. If an asari is spotted alive or you suspect that you might be facing one, you are to bring her in alive if at all possible. "

"The orders out sir, sir it's going to be hard bringing in an asari alive in battle conditions. We don't have any non-lethal rounds either, aside from a small amount of training blocks which are still ship side." advised one of the staff

"I know but we don't have a choice, what makes it worse is this races females are nearly identical to asari. If there was enough of a difference we could single them out before overwhelming them. We need to find out what's going on here and fast. Did the asari make first contact without telling anyone? But if that's the case they would have stopped them from activating the Relay and ordered us to stop our attack."

For sometime there wouldn't be any updates then...

"Sir we have General Articus on the line." said a support officer urgently

"Bring him up." said the commander quickly as the General's face appeared he gave a quick salute. "How can I help you sir?"

"You can explain your last order commander. " responded General Articus gruffly

"Sir I had been ordering my men into a certain section of the colony to flush out and take care of what I thought was an organised resistance by a squad of experienced enemy combatants. However, when one of the last of those I sent in called for reinforcements he reported not a squad but a single asari attacking them before he died. I have merely tried to confirm or dismiss his claim."

"It's no mere claim, after hearing your orders some of my best started to go over their kills. One of them was an asari." said the General

"Then we need to bring one in to find out what's going on." said the Commander

"Way ahead of you Commander, we've captured one alive and I'm sending her your way. She's been knocked out but it shouldn't take much to bring her too. Find out what's happening, this could be anything from asari black ops to Eclipse and I need to know which before I inform the Primarch. I'm also sending you the bodies of every asari we recovered, one of them in particular is quite banged up."

"Understood General, we'll do our best."

When the Commander received word that the asari prisoner had made it to interrogation he made his way there. He was ten metres away from the makeshift interrogation room when there was the sound of a biotic explosion followed by the sound of gunfire.

Charging forward the Commander pulled out his pistol and kicked the door open. Inside the room was the dead body of the asari that they were supposed to be interrogating as well as the turian interrogator. The only one left alive was the guard who had his rifle out staring in shock at the body of the asari.

"What happened?" asked the Commander angrily

"Sir I." started the guard

"WHAT HAPPENED!" roared the Commander

"We had just started the interrogation after waking her when she lashed out with a warp...I don't." started the guard

"Why didn't you clamp a biotic inhibitor on her? She's a bloody asari or did you forget that?"

"But I did sir I swear, you can look for yourself." protested the guard. Pointing at the thin silver and cable like band around the asari's neck. Almost like a necklace

"Then you failed to set it up properly." shot the Commander

"Sir."

"Get out of my sight." shot the commander angrily

The guard wisely made himself scarce. Knowing full well that it was likely he was going to be demoted in the near future if he was lucky. At worst he could be facing a full discharge, it would be years before he would be accepted in turian society if ever.

"How in the Spirits am I supposed to get answers now?' swore the Commander outloud

Just then his omni-tool rang

"What is it." he snapped, this better be important

Not fussed the turian on the other side quickly answered. "Sir the chief coroner needs to speak to you. She says it's urgent."

"Patch her through." signed the commander tiredly "What is it?"

"You need to put the interrogation on hold immediately." came the coroner's voice

"Too late, the asari is dead." replied the Commander

"What happened?" asked the coroner surprised

"Idiot didn't know how to apply a biotic suppressor, as soon as they started asking questions she activated her biotics."

"It might not be their fault...did they ask their questions themselves or did they use a speaker to translate into any asari dialects?" asked the coroner

"The former as far as I know." answered the commander, he didn't remember seeing anything else in the room "Why do you ask?"

"I need you to come down to autopsy right away. I've got something you're going to want to see." said the coroner

Heading down to the makeshift autopsy...formerly a cool room for all perishables. Finding the coroner bent over one of the bodies he started speaking.

"You said you had something I should see?" asked the turian Commander

"Biotic suppressors don't actually stop biotics but the amp. Since most biotics need the amp to use their biotics it doesn't matter...tell me when she was being interviewed was there any audio output in asari?"

"Why?" asked the Commander

"Because there is no universal translator, nor amp which is also why the suppressor didn't do anything. She also has no signs of any of the usual asari diseases or vaccines. Also, the majority of them seem to have biotics on the level of a strong turian, not the strength of a typical asari. Part of that could be lack of an amp, but the amp just makes it drastically easier it does not make you more powerful. Like a lever lifting a boulder."

"What are you saying"

"I'm saying is that there isn't any sign of these asari ever being in asari space. No asari diseases nor any asari tech sir...I think that we might be dealling with a lost asari colony. It sounds crazy but it makes sense in a way." said the Coroner

"What do you mean?" asked the Commander

"What do you know about asari?" asked the Coroner

"Same as everyone else, blue skin, can reproduce with any other race and they tend to spend their first century dancing in bars or joining gangs."

"Yes, that's due to a 'wonder lust' they get when they start to get into maturity it typically starts in their 60s or 80s but can happen as early as 40 when they are more adult than child."

"I assume you're trying to make a point?"

"There were several times that the asari, mostly maidens would form a group. They sent out an entire ship, like a quarian life ship to explore distant reaches of space, a lot failed or were lost forever. Some though were found to have made colonies centuries later...I think...I thing that these asari may be from one of those ships..one that left before we joined the council... it's the only thing that makes sense. The lack of any amps, no asari diseases of any kind. The fact that they don't recognise turian is also evidence."

"Because they've never seen one." realised the Commander

"Exactly, asari can live for a thousand years. Without the use of a Relay, the space between them would take generations to travel that distance. It's odd that they don't have the amp but maybe amps just aren't commonly used by this branch of asari? That or that they lost the ability to make more."

"You suggest that they didn't use the Relay to get here?" asked the Commander

"Maybe...or maybe it was somehow shut down afterwards. Maybe after a few centuries or even close to a thousand years of unuse the Relays automatically shuts down? It would also explain why they were activating relays"

"...they were trying to get back to asari space. Also, if they don't recognize turians then there is no way they would know about the rules and regulations about activating Relays...aka almost no activation at all...This is bad really bad."

"Sir?"

"The asari have been petitioning for centuries to reduce the turian military and we just handed them a reason on a platter."

"I don't..."

"We just attacked an asari colony, or a colony that is at least partly asari. What do you think the Republics would do if any part of the turian Hierarchy attacked one of their planets? This is no longer some upstart race that's been breaking rules. This is one of the council races, the first council race in fact being attacked by another. A race whose daughters had no idea they were breaking rules as the last they knew such rules didn't exist. Worse, arguably they weren't breaking any. The law applies to stop those who don't know what's on the other side of the Relay...arguably they were trying to make it back to asari space only to be attacked in the attempt so arguably they knew what was on the other side.

The turian equivalent would be one of our frigates or dreadnaughts crashing on a garden world and then a few generations later their decedents face charges for using weapons now illegal to use in Council space as hunting rifles. I need to speak to the General about this immediately." said the Commander

In another reality, it would be months before peace came to this little world, but even if those in command tried, keeping a secret like finding a colony inhabited by lost asari was impossible to keep. Soon the turians would receive the order to pull back, so they could get a handle on just what was happening. Soon after tentative communications would start between the Turian Heirachry and the Asari Republics.

Originally the invasion of Shanxi would last over three months...here it lasted a mere three days. The first was constant fighting as the turian started their invasion of the species that dared break Council law, near the end of that day though new orders had come in to stop pushing forward and start pulling back. On the second day the invaders were no longer attacking but were merely defending the areas they had taken. By the third day even that had changed and when the sun had set on Shanxi the planet once again was under human and priestess control. The invaders were gone as quickly as they arrived.

They had not taken everything with them however. While it looked like they had certainly tried managing to retrieve everything they could it was impossible not to miss something, especially in the midst of battle. Even if they had managed to retrieve everything the info they gained from the bodies of the dead invaders and the handful of those they had captured alive were more than enough.

They found out that the people who had attacked them were called Turians and that they were part of a galactic civilisation and one of the other members...was the Priestesses. After countless years of wondering they now knew where the Priestesses had come from, but where they had come from was not who they were.

Meanwhile, the powers that be in Citadel Council, mainly the Councilors themselves, the Matriarchs and even the Asari public itself were in an uproar. A new species had been discovered, one that apparently been living with asari from a long lost ship and they had been attacked by a turian fleet.

In most cases it would have taken a month or so to organise who would begin diplomatic talks. What ship would head the fleet, who would be onboard it, who would begin and end the talks. Who would advise them, and anyone else who should be there, dozens of decisions, both big and small were needed. In a mere week however, the Destiny Ascension itself made its way through Relay 314, on board was Councilor Tevos herself.