Kasanytea Kyto moved through the clinic as she monitored the quarrians who had arrived. Most of them were in beds, curled up muttering to themselves while others were helping the asari move around trying to help out their fellow kin. While the process of waking them was quick, getting them to accept that their suit, something they wore for most of their lives was gone, was another thing to deal with. It took longer for them to accept it, so they needed regular care to ensure that the trauma of having their suit removed without warning can be fixed.

She looked over the new arrivals making notes. Some of them were doing better as they began to sit up and move, but she was still a little concerned about them. There was always a lingering feeling about loss with quarrians without their suits. It was almost like phantom limb syndrome. When a limb got removed, the nerves would still send signals to the missing limb. The same was slightly true for quarrian suits. While they weren't attached like a limb, there was a coldness when one was removed.

That was the hardest mental point to fix if it could. As she ran through a check of another set of patients, the door opened and she looked toward it. Her eyes widened as she noticed Sonja walk in carrying a quarrian in her arms.

"Lady Shepard," she muttered in surprise as she walked up.

"Sorry doc, got you a new patient," Sonja said as she walked over to one of the few empty beds and lay the quarrian on it. "She's one of my friends who arrived yesterday,"

"A friend from the outside? Really?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah. They're my crew and arrived yesterday," Sonja then looked at the doctor, whose expression betrayed her concern. "Why what's wrong?"

"Rumour has it that this may be the last wave," the surprise on Sonja's expression was a first for the doctor as she gulped and continued. "This is based on the higher-than-normal people we have been receiving," she indicated around her. "Most of these people arrived or were bought here yesterday. The archive at Atlas City has numbered at least 200,000 people, in a queue. So many that they got city watch to help out. They are guessing that we have just over 100 million people,"

"That's ten times the amount we've been having," Sonja gasped.

The asari nodded. Normally the waves came with a set number of people. That number is normally capped at 10,000 new people worldwide, or arkwide, as it were. Sometimes it was, but it was never anything like 100 million people. Something was going on,

"Yes, but like I said it's a rumour. We won't know for sure until all Wavers are registered," The doctor said before she walked up to her newest patient. "Suit withdrawal?"

"Suit withdrawal, I also need to get her registered," Sonja nodded

"Not a problem, we have an office for the Archivists to register those who stay here," the doctor explained.

Sonja nodded. "Good, how long?"

"A week," Kyto said. "Maybe a little longer. It's hard to tell but when she comes out of this state, she'll need some therapy in order to for her to get back to normal. But how long that will take will depend on how strong her will is," she sighed. "Some take longer than normal. But I'll do what I can,"

"Thank you, doctor," Sonja smiled. "I have a doctor of my own. I'll send her to you when she gets registered,"

The asari slumped and smiled. "Thanks, I need all the help I can get,"

While Sonja took Tali inside the clinic, the team looked around at their surroundings. The buildings were made out of rocks and bricks giving them a European village vibe. Three light lamps stood along the roads at 5 metres apart. The roads were also well paved despite the dinosaurs walking along them. Aside from a few, people just walked by without batting an eye towards the walking primordial animals as they went around their daily lives.

If it wasn't for the dinosaurs and low tech, this place would have been indistinguishable from some places on earth. When they entered, they were bombarded by stalls offering food and wears from things like raptor burgers to t-rex leather. The latter of which turned out to be quite expensive due to how hard it was to treat the hide. The burgers however were delicious despite the fact that the meat came from the same species as the ones pulling their carts.

They were on the main street that led to the entrance and the middle of the city. The middle was mostly dominated by shops as well as several residential buildings, most of which turned out to be blocks of flats. This made sense to the team as building outwards would cause more problems with the local wildlife, not to mention the surroundings. But there was no clear reason for the central tower in the middle of the city outside of decoration. But there was one thing that caught Jack's and a few crewmates' eyes.

A wooden platform had been set up before the big pillar with 8 lengths of rope hanging about three meters away from each other. Each one ending in a hole. As they watched 8 people, men, and women of different species walked up onto the main platform. The 8 wore white and black outfits with chains around their ankles and wrists. Two guards per prisoner walked them to a length of rope.

Once under, the guards wrapped the rope around the prisoner's necks. But there was an issue with a couple as they tried to struggle. It didn't last long as the guards managed to get the ropes around their necks. One of the lead guards then stood to the side and read out their crimes. While the crew were too far away to fully hear the crimes, they did hear the odd piece like banditry and slavery. As soon as he was finished, the trap doors opened up and the bandits fell.

Several of the crew winced, but others watched as a couple of the bandits trash as the life was choked out of them. Jack watched them until the last one kicked. When he died, she looked down at her food with a sigh and placed it to one side. Her mind drifted back to her 'talk' with Sonja earlier that day and began to understand why the command said what she did. This wasn't Citadel space, or the terminus, or human space.

This was the Ark. A world trapped in time with a feudal system in place to keep the peace. This also meant that they wouldn't waste money on imprisoning people for long. Bandits and slavers would be executed as soon as they were sentenced. A brutal yet efficient system to keep resources in check. This is what Sonja was trying to say. Here, life may be expensive, but they would remove you from the equation if you weren't a cog in the machine. She also figured that it was the same for the cannibals and bandits too. If you didn't pull your weight, you were dead.

Being told was one thing, being shown was another. She looked at her burger and picked it up before eating it slowly. Processing what she had seen, and learned about this world. Unknown to her, Miranda watched her with a frown. The former commander of the SR2 didn't have the best record when it came to command, or reading people. One of the few 'flaws' her father seemed to have missed out.

But even she could see that Jack was in deep contemplation of what she just saw. Miranda didn't say anything, but she did hear what Jack and Sonja had talked about and wondered how the criminal was reacting. A pang of guilt filled her as she remembered the 'talk' she had with Jack after they went to the prison she was held and experimented on when she was a child. She tried to deny it but she knew what that kind of life was like. Her own father did something similar.

She was about to speak up before Sonja came out with a concerned look on her. The crew climbed up onto the carts with the commander following, but they didn't set off as she bit her lower lip.

"Outside of the Collectors," she spoke after a moment. "Has anyone heard of any localised mass disappearances over the past few months?"

The crew fell silent as they looked at one another, but Kelly was the first to speak up. "I have a friend in the Alliance who was looking into a few incidents where groups of people have been taken. They were deep in Alliance territory as well. From what I heard, an N7 training group, university and several smaller outposts vanished overnight. Cerberus looked into them but there was no evidence to show that the Collectors were the culprits. We just assumed they were,"

Sonja hummed and nodded at that stroking her chin.

"Why what's wrong?" Garrus asked.

"The doctor said that there are an estimated 100 million new wavers," the commander said but the others just looked on confused. "Normally we get around 10,000 people. Give or take a few hundred, but that has largely remained the same. If the clinic doctor is right, we have over 100 times that now. And if that's the case, you guys might be some of the last to make it here,"

"Why's that?" Liara asked.

"Well, one of the theories we have, is that if the numbers exceed 10,000 then we aren't going to receive any more wavers," Sonja then looked to the others. "And when that happens…"

"You think it's about the Reapers invading?" Mordin asked.

"Maybe," Sonja shrugged. "But we may never…"

"Lady Shepard, Lady Shepard," a voice called and a young man wearing a blue and white uniform came running up. He panted as he reached the cart. "Lady Shepard, the Lord Director is calling for a conference. You are requested,"

Sonja groaned as she leaned back. "Tell him I'll be there in 10 minutes, I just need to drop off my crew at the Archive,"

"Very well, I'll let him know," the young man said before running off.

"Fucking politics. This is why I wanted a farm," Sonja muttered taking the rains and driving the cart towards the Archive muttering curses under her breath.

It didn't take long to reach the building, which was fashioned after the British museum, but what did surprise her was how many people were waiting. While she didn't count, there were more than a hundred waiting to be registered. The commander frowned as a member of the Archive walked up. She was an asari dressed in what looked like a scientist's coat.

"Lady Shepard, it's a pleasure," she said bowing before looking at the others. "I assume you found these Wavers?"

"Yes, interestingly these people are my friends and crew," the Commander said.

The asari blinked at that. "Really?" she frowned. "That's rare, I can put them on a priority, but…" she looked back at the queue waiting to be registered. "It's going to be at least 12 hours before we can get them sorted,"

"Then what's with the queue?" Garrus asked.

"That's for the people we have scheduled to come in today. We have taken temporary control over a vacant flat. You can wait there till we call you," the asari explained.

"Do we have a choice?" Jack asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Jack…" Sonja warned before looking to the archivist. "That'll be fine, but I need to get to the Director's palace. He's called a conference, I need to see what it's about,"

"Very well, I'll take them to the place we are housing all new wavers," the asari said as the commander climbed off the cart.

"Sorry guys, but you know how politics are," Sonja shrugged.

"It's fine, it's not the first time you left us," Garrus smiled as the asari climbed onto the cart.

"Just keep an eye on the crates, Ark coins aren't easy to come by," the commander smiled as she made her way westwards.

OOOOO

The large room was bustling with the high class of Rok city. The main people who made the decisions about the city's future. There were 10 major players in all, 5 of them were all business owners while there were 2 military families, 2 scientific families and one from the Archive. While science and technological advancement had stalled due to the Ark, high tech was another ford for quality. All of them were dressed in fine silk and leather as well as some of the best jewellery around.

So, when the door opened for Lady Sonja Shepard to walk in, the commander looked as out of place as a Krogan in a fancy dress party. As she entered the chatter quietened down as the amazon walked by them and took her seat at the table. As she walked past them, Sonja picked up a few whispers about her lack of decorum, but she ignored them. It wasn't the first time or the last.

"If you are going to talk about me," she said as she pulled out her chair. "At least have the balls to say it to my face,"

That pissed a few of them off, but the military nobles smiled at that. Out of all of the nobles, they respected her the most. The others less so especially the business nobles, but the Archive noble had little to say on the matter. He was less inclined toward politics and more focused on what the Ark was about.

Sonja put her feet up on the table and leaned back without a care in the world. It wasn't long before Lord Director, Shirogo, walked in. The man wasn't tall or strong, but he was selected for his good tactical mind and business acumen. Unlike the nobles, Lord Directors were elected based on their achievements in business and war. This was because cities acted like city-states, so they need to have a leader who was aware of both business and military.

The others moved to sit at their respective chairs, the Director also did the same while looking down the table at everyone.

"Lady Shepard, your arrival here is fortuitous," he said as looked at the group in front of him. "One of the Archive ships passed over a force advancing on the city. Estimated at 8,000 troops,"

The room turned silent as the nobles looked at one another.

"That's 4 divisions," Alistair Shape, one of the two military nobles muttered.

"And Rok has 2," Sonja said. "So, the bandit attack was a probing attack,"

"Looks like it," nodded Daniel Nioh, the second of the military nobles. "We cannot stand up to a siege, not with those numbers,"

"We can offer our personal guard," one of the business owners said, but Dan shook his head.

"That would only add a few dozen at best," he said. "Not enough for what we need. We also cannot fully arm hunters or rangers to even counter that number. We may have field pieces, but I bet so do they,"

"What if they don't?" Sonja asked turning eyes toward her as she took her feet off the table. "My old crew arrived in the wave. If I can get them registered, we can take out their field pieces if they have any,"

The nobles looked at one another with surprised looks.

OOOOO

"Sarah look out!" Lynn yelled as the middle sister jumped with a wooden spear in her hand.

She threw the spear into the side of the raptor. While it did cause a gash, it largely bounced off the dino's hide causing it to yelp in pain. Abby then moved up with a sharpened rock and slammed it down on the creature's head causing it to stumble around. Lynn then jumped on it and used another even shaper rock to rip out its neck. The raptor fell choking and spluttering before it died.

"What the fuck, I thought these things were extinct," Lynn muttered as she grabbed the sharp stone.

"You're telling me," Abby agreed as she bent down to poke at the giant lizard. "But given that we aren't home, I suppose this isn't unusual,"

"Wasn't Ashley helping that…." Sarah paused as she dug through her memories. "Miranda person?"

"Yeah…" Lynn muttered. "But from what I heard from big sis, they are meant to be big fugly bugs, not giant lizards,"

Abby was about to say something when a snap of twigs caused the two marines to react quickly by readying themselves.

"WAIT DON'T THROW!" a female voice said as a raven-haired woman followed by a drell, a tanned-skinned woman and muscular man with a tattoo on one arm. Between the muscular man and dell was a purple-skinned humanoid who seemed to be muttering to himself.

As they approached the two women held their hands up. "We're not going to attack, we've just got here,"

"Who are you?" Abby asked as she readied a rock.

"My name's Oriana, me and the people with me arrived yesterday." the raven-haired woman explained.

Abby lowered her rock. "It's the same with us, were washed up at a beach to the south,"

"Same," the dark-skinned woman said. "I'm Sam, by the way. Samantha Traynor,"

"James," The muscular man added.

"Kolyat," the drell said.

"Kal…Reegar…." the purple-skinned man shakily said.

"I'm Lynn Williams, these are my sisters Abby and Sarah," she introduced and pointed to the two.

"Williams?" Traynor frowned. "Any relation to Ashley Williams?"

"She's our older sister," Sarah smiled. "Why do you know her?"

Traynor looked from the three sisters and then to her partners. "Fuck it, this is classified, but given the fact that we don't know where the fuck we are…," she took a deep breath before looking up, "She was working on a mission with Cerberus before we lost contact about two months ago when we got word her ship was going through the Omega-4 relay,"

"She what?" Abby yelled before Lynn covered her mouth.

The two groups fell silent for a moment before looking around keeping an eye open for anything. But outside of the odd noise, nothing came their way.

"Keep your voice down," Lynn growled. "We don't know who or what is out there,"

"Sorry," Abby said as she moved her sister's hand from her mouth. "But how did Ashley get through Omega-4?"

"Apparently they had an IFF signal that they used to get through," Traynor explained. "I'm not sure how, I had a friend on there and she was keeping her mouth shut,"

"You had a friend in Cerberus?" James asked with a frown.

"Yeah, she supported what they did to a degree. She's not a racist but felt that we needed an even footing with the rest of the Galactic nations. Hell, the last message I got from her was that she wasn't happy with what she was doing and planned to rejoin the Alliance. Apparently, her commanding officer was a bit of a bitch and royally ticked off a few of the crew," Traynor explained before she shook her head. "I would love to talk more, but we have other things to worry about,"

"Agreed," Abby nodded as she looked towards the west. "We saw a tower in that direction. We were hoping to find answers,"

"We saw it as well," Oriana agreed. "What do you say we stick together?"

"Agreed," Lynn nodded before she and Abby took the lead.

They moved through the trees at a decent speed trying to keep an eye out for dinos or something else. By the time they reached the tower, the sun started to set in the distance as the seven entered the stone building. James and Kolyat lay Kal up against a wall before cracking their limbs while Sarah walked up to a crate at the far end of the tower. She opened it up and looked inside.

"Guy's, there's clothing in here," she said pulling out a set of cloth clothing.

"Nice, I've been feeling naked," James said as he walked up to the crate and pulled out clothing for everyone.

They all got dressed, except Kal who needed help due to his mental state. As night dawned, the group looked in the other crates to find MREs, tools and a note that told them to get to a city called Vallus to the north to get registered and find help. However given how dark it was, they decided to hold off from going anywhere until it was light outside. James set down some mats he found in the crates. After setting them in a circle he got a fire started and started to cook some of the MREs.

But they never saw the grenade that landed by the crates.