Nexus Effect

Ch.51

“So let me get this straight. Captain Garble, you are with ONI from Andromeda. You came here seeking leads on the extinct Rachni when you had confirmation that the last queen of the Rachni is alive. Then you were ambushed as soon as you disembarked from your ship and lost it under heavy fire. Is that correct?” Shepard questioned the two Imperial spooks after she arrived.

“Yes, ma’am.” Garble answered with his partner nodding in agreement. Even though the dragon was still naked, that didn’t seem to bother him and he was keeping it professional.

“Now then, you’re my girlfriend’s daughter who is only two years old?” Chrys nodded. “Okay then, one: that’s bad news on both parts. Two: I need you both to leave because this is my jurisdiction and I cannot risk either of you getting hurt unless officially signed to my team.”

Garble looked at his partner, who nodded. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but we came in as a four-man squad. Two more of us went in deeper to secure the target while the lieutenant and I held the droid forces off at this point.” The dragon informed us, a bit late in my opinion.

“I see, you want us to help them out and complete the mission.” Penny replied with a nod of understanding.

“I wish we could join you, but as a Spectre, you’re now overseeing this operation. Here’s our frequency to get in contact with them. We tried to raise them, but no luck. Please, bring them back, they’re my brother and sister.” The unnamed fully armored lieutenant pleaded with Penny and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll do our best to get them out of there. Yola, Martra, Chrys. Take these two back to the Normandy and keep them company.” Commander Shepard ordered and they promptly complied, the two of them jumping onto Martra’s back and hurrying to the freighter.

“That was nice of you to say, honey.” I complimented her as I leaned in to hug my girlfriend, which she gladly accepted and returned the gesture.

“They may be Imperial spooks, but they’re good people.” Penny replied before breaking the hug.

“It’s strange, something about that lieutenant’s red markings feels as if it’s connected to our goddess, but why?” Wrex questioned as he was in deep thought. “Bah! We’ll ask him and his siblings later. C’mon, we got people to save and see if what they said is true.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with them being on board the Normandy? They are Imperial spies after all.” Liara’s concern had merit.

“I’m sure. They wouldn’t risk anything that could jeopardize any form of relationship between us. Right now, we have a job to do.” Shepard cracked her neck and led us onward.

“They run about in squads of 8, so there might be more.” Chrys suddenly informed us over comms. “There are solo agents, but be wary. They aren’t the only ones out here, though.”

“Thanks for the heads-up Chrys. Alright, let's see what Tela was doing here. Saren said she took over his place at this site before things started happening.” Penny said as we started moving though the Security stations. Damn is it weird to hear Saren’s name in a positive light.

“This damage, it isn’t from the droids...look!” I pointed at a droid that was sitting at a console, typing away. “Don’t shoot! Hold on, let’s speak to it. It’s a T-1. They’re not combat droids, they’re tactics platforms.” I approached and it held up a hand as the other kept tapping away.

“Hold a moment. I need to ensure no more hostile creatures escape. They’re in the system. Running rampant across everything, assimilating it, altering it. I can slow them down, but we don’t have much time. What were those fools thinking, waking the beast up?” The droid rambled in frustration before he pointed towards a hallway. “That way. If you want to make yourselves useful, prep your guns and shoot anything on more than two legs.”

“Thank you, sir. I expect we’ll be seeing you later?” I replied with an edge to my tone and he sighed as he continued typing away.

“Yes, yes. My escape is currently impossible. The last of the organic components of our deployment have already fled, leaving me to a certain doom. At least I thought so, until that dragon and his team came bursting through here. If you act fast enough, I may even survive to leave as your prisoner.” The T-1 huffed and shooed us away.

“Think we can trust it, Nora?” Shepard questioned as she led us down the indicated hallway.

“Not a chance, but if his survival hinges on ours, he won’t stab us in the back.” T-1s are conniving and brilliant droids, to the point that they prioritize their own survival over their masters. So long as we don’t endanger him, he won’t betray us. How he isn’t Indoctrinated I haven’t a clue, but he seems too cooperative to be a thrall.

“I have to wonder what the researchers here were working on. Some manner of animal most likely if we’re hunting down things with more than two legs.” Liara commented and I shuddered.

“Garble said he was here investigating a lead on the Rachni. The Empire is all about the preservation of species. Maybe the scientists here bit off more than they could chew?” I suggested while using Garble as a convenient excuse for knowing even that much.

“Rachni? Void, if it is…” Wrex growled uneasily before he roared at the sight of a few green foot-sized insects. “It is! Rargh!” Wrex charged in, kicking one of the bugs into a wall where it exploded and he blasted the other two. “These idiots! They’ve somehow spawned Rachni!”

“Damn. Keep your eyes open at every angle, people. If we’re dealing with bugs, they could be anywhere. Hopefully the other two are still alive.” Shepard groused and I lamented the necessity. If I remember right, these specific rachni are actually feral, something to do with severing the queen’s control over them? Stupid scientists.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“How are things going between the Geth and the Migrant Fleet?” Messana asked Ambassador Medulla, who seemed absolutely chipper to Laiel if he understood her species’ emotional tells.

“Considering it’s been less than a day and the crew of the Alarie are transmitting all sorts of excited reports back to the fleet proper, very well.” Medulla replied as she read her omni.

“So, we don’t have to worry about the Geth anymore. Good.” Laiel breathed a sigh of relief. One less potential risk to the safety of the Citadel races was one more potential war not waiting to rear its ugly head.

“I am still rather shocked at these developments. Synthetics have never gotten along with organics before in known history. It is why we had those laws and still have several prohibiting the reckless creation of them.” Valern commented as he too poured over his omni’s reports.

“That’s just it though: your people approached it from the wrong angle. We knew, from the beginning, that AI and other forms of synthetic life were just that: alive. The only reason we ever had a droid uprising was because of fringe factions of the Empire, or the former governments of other races not adhering to our Sentient Rights laws.” Medulla informed them.

“So the Empire was not a galaxy spanning government at one point? Your extensive histories tend to fluctuate in their claims of territory.” Valern randomly asked and Laiel had to wonder what his game was this time.

“Of course not! That took thousands of years! To be fair, we still haven’t fully occupied every square inch of Andromeda, in fact, that just might be outright impossible. We came here because this is the closest Milky Way has ever been and if we were going to come here, it was now or never.” Medulla replied with a tilt of her head, possibly wondering over Valern’s questioning what was nearly common knowledge by now.

“Hm…” Valern read his omni and nodded. “I see two incidents where war with AI had started, three if we account for gene therapy. Only one was truly with the Empire. The first incident is with a Geonosian Trade Federation, which was a faction of this former government and these are the same droids that are attacking us now, correct? Do you know if these Geonosians put any hard code commands into their droids?”

“No, the specific groups manufacturing those droids were known as the Baktoid Combat Automata and Baktoid Armor Workshop. They played fast and loose with their designs, such as stripping down features for cost and efficiency. Including leaving them so dumb they could at best be called functioning idiots.” Medulla chittered in agitation. Laiel was getting better at reading her. Imperials seemed more likely to express their emotions from his experiences.

“I see. What of the Clones of the Grand Army of the Republic and the E-Shan Droids of the New Imperial Army? How have the ‘sentients’ of those factions been treated?” Valern now questioned and Laiel understood what the salerian was getting at.

“Are you insinuating that we may be hypocritically mistreating our synthetic or tank-born citizens?” Medulla straightened up, her eyes narrowing in a dangerous leer.

“From the historical records given, as I understand it, the Empire split quite violently just one hundred and seven years ago. The Grand Republic and the New Empire, if I’m correct. These factions treated their artificial life as disposable tools, much like the Batarians had done to their own slaves. I’m just wondering if there is any lingering sentiments to those factions, or if any clone and droid holds resentment to the Empire?” Valern relentlessly probed.

“Which faction do you think won then? Considering veterans of both factions are respected citizens and are treated with respect, I can guarantee everyone won in the end, despite all the death and destruction the war caused.” Medulla asked rhetorically.

“Wait, it says here that the Empire was still around as these two fought?” Messana questioned as she too looked at her omni.

“Please, you can’t be this naive.” Medulla huffed in what seemed to be a mix of exasperation and amusement. Laiel would agree with her sentiment, he’d figured it out from the reports before.

“You swooped in, took them both to task at the same time and forced them to join you or die. A very pragmatic move which left you still ready and able to extend your government and military here.” Laiel replied and Medulla’s eyes seemed to sparkle. What did that gesture mean?

“Some of our leaders weren’t in the mood for long-winded discussions. Especially our War Gods, who were very displeased how this whole scenario turned out. There’s more to this war than you might think. I suggest you read through it more thoroughly in your own time.” The Andromeda Ambassador said with a smile, one that seemed rather mysterious.

“It seems this council needs to view your history a bit closer. Our overview since first contact seems to have overlooked some very important recent history. Understandable with how long your empire has been spacefaring. We apologize for the sudden tangent from the subject at hand, it's just a bit of a surprise to see a nation such as yours recover from being reduced to one world, to reclaiming all of its territory in such a short span of time.”

“Our War Gods are efficient. Especially Empress Urta. Now then, speaking of which, several of the Royal Cabinet are visiting the galaxy at the moment…”

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Holy fuck, Luna. Where did that come from?” Empress Urta huffed from her place in bed while one of her wives, Princess Luna of Equus snuggled against her side.

“It has been too long since I’ve ravished you dear. I just wanted to enjoy you before work pulled you away again.” The beautiful black-coated cat-eyed sharp-toothed bat-winged alicorn purred as her beautiful pale blue nearly-silver eyes leered hungrily at the slime vixen as she patted the Fertility Goddess’ bafflingly massive belly that reached for the ceiling.

“Hmph, between the lot of you, I can barely get any rest. Work, sex, work, sex, it’s never ending.” Urta chuffed playfully and rubbed her womb before it suddenly vanished, replaced with rippling washboard abs. “At least half of that is the fun part.”

“Uh, hey guys?” Hermais chuckled nervously as the avian-featured draconequus entered the room. “We have a situation with the Doom Marines.”

“What happened, are they alright? Do they need support?” Urta quickly asked the Goddess of Knowledge, worried about her husbands/wives.

“No! No, no, no. They’re-.” Hermais was interrupted when the doors to the room slammed open. The Director of ONI entered with Berserker tailing behind her. From the angry look on the Director’s face, she was mad about something and so was the red draco-wolf.

“Berserker? Oh no, what’s going on? What happened this time?” Urta whined with resignation that more than likely someone, or multiple someones if the ONI Director was here, have decided to try poking the giant demon bear that is the Marines and all associated peoples from them down to their refugee citizens. They are independent from the Empire damn it!

“Urta, this time it’s not just one or two morons trying to pull wool over our eyes.” Berserker huffed with a gesture to Director Heatherlin for emphasis, who held up a datapad for Urta to snatch up and quickly skim over.

“Oh, come on~! Really?! How did this slip past any of us?” Urta groused and handed the pad to Luna, who hissed through her sharp teeth with murder in her eyes.

“So-called treaties with the ‘Legions of DOOM’ to provide military assistance in subjugating-fuck no!” Luna threw the pad across the room, where it exploded in a spray of shrapnel and sparks, but nobody even flinched. Not even Director Heatherlin, who maintained her cool. “Cocoa should’ve seen that coming from lightyears away! How did your people miss that, Director?”

“I have no excuses. Netwatch only just fished this out of the senate offices a few hours ago and are now working with Blessings from Cocoa to find the perpetrators while these and other associated illegal directives are purged from our policies.” Heatherlin replied, the changeling as calm as a stone wall in the face of her department’s failure to do their damn jobs.

“My people are not happy about this and have voted to sever any and all political ties to the Empire, effective immediately. This won’t affect our marriage or militaries thankfully, but any bargaining power your government may have had is now gone, so nobody can fuck with what we’ve got working.” Berserker declared and Urta slumped into the bed with a groan.

“Oh, Bryan, I know you and your people are very independent, but was this necessary?” Urta questioned her husband, feeling saddened at how his people think the Empire was trying to strip them of their freedom. Well, sadly, the evidence was damning and along those lines. From the beginning it was laid down that nothing can interfere with their autonomy.

“Yes, it is. There were those that tried to impose Imperial Laws on us in the past, it didn’t work out so well. Then the wars and betrayals came into play and the same people tried again, with some success, causing civil unrest that needed to be dealt with quickly. You haven’t forgotten those.” Bryan brought up and Urta rubbed her eyes. The fucking Kaminoans and Hutts really lit a fire under the asses of the Argentine Alliance back then.

“Of course not.” Urta grumbled and puddled her slime body on the bed a bit. “Can I stop being empress please? It’s been centuries.” Urta mewled in downtrodden exhaustion.

“Don’t look at me, I ain’t taking up the mantle. Besides, that’d defeat the purpose of us being autonomous.” Berserker's statement rang true, if he or any of his siblings were to do that, it wouldn’t look good from any perspective.

“Besides, you can’t step down until the Senate meets for a vote and that only happens when they want a change in policy.” Luna rubbed Urta’s scalp and the immortal fox slime whimpered.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“According to what I’ve ripped from the systems, the scientists were trying to utilize the Rachni Queen’s offspring as disposable soldiers. Idiots. Fools. They deserved to die.” I huffed in disgust at my memories being confirmed. “Also, according to this, the Council had tasked them to try and see if the Rachni were even capable of diplomacy, since all attempts during the Rachni Wars were impossible due to how entrenched the Queens were.”

“Yes, it would be hard to parley with someone who is kilometers beneath the ground.” Liara commented with curiosity at what we’d uncovered while fighting our way through the hordes of Rachni soldiers and engineers. “But why would the Council be involved in this?”

“Saren was the one in charge here before Tela took over. He was just supposed to oversee it to begin with and then he had to move on, so left it to her. She’s clearly taken a diplomatic mission and turned it into a potential super-soldier program.” Penny said as she looked over what I found.

“Fat lot of good all this did. The Rachni are monsters! They should’ve smashed that queen egg instead of trying to play nice with it!” Wrex snarled as he wiped some ichor off his thankfully covered foot.

“Wrex, if they’re sapient, then it’s the Council’s duty to see if their species was even capable of joining society. Then there’s the Empire to consider. If they have sent ONI here, then they have a vested interest in the Rachni, we have those survivors from the lab too” I replied while wondering how in the devil those eggheads survived.

“Yes, one of Tela’s cronies among them tried to kill us while we looked for a back door in here. Shepard, are we sure they’re not a threat? I know you want to save them, but they could all be loyal to that bitch.” Wrex snarled as we rounded a corner in the ice cavern and took out some turrets and B1s with casual ease. It seems the T-1 wasn’t coordinating them at all.

With the coast clear, I hacked the large door and we entered to find there were no Rachni wandering about in the massive room, but there was an asari peering into a glass cage. “Matriarch Benezia!” I called out as we rushed towards her.

“Mother!” Liara shouted in realization and the woman turned to us. “Mother, what are you doing?!”

“Liara? What are you doing here?” The more mature version of Liara questioned worriedly.

“That is what I’m asking!” Liara demanded more heatedly and Benezia blinked.

“I don’t quite know. The last thing I remember clearly was being aboard Sovereign, speaking to Avitus and trying to dissuade him from his current course. Then I was here, hearing someone’s voice, but without words, feeling things without feeling, knowing things I didn’t before.” Benezia turned towards the cage and looked back to us. “She would speak with you.” The woman spasmed and blinked.

“This one was silenced, her music muffled. I broke the mold, freed her song.” Not-Benezia said and the others tensed up while I approached calmly. “Your song is new. Unusual. Similar, yet not to the memories this one has of another.”

“I am Nora. I am a Living Intelligence using a synthetic biomechanical body to interact with the universe.” I approached the glass cage and pressed against it to peer into it. The Queen was looking directly at me.

“Ah, this one knows what you speak. A life of metal and lightning rather than flesh and blood. You are different from the others, however. More, like the one my translator met. One with a chorus of a song so beautiful.” The Queen gently nuzzled the barrier separating us and I felt a profound sense of awe even though I knew what and who she was. “You are a Reaper.”

My heart dropped into a void. “W-what…?”