Nexus Effect

Ch.68

Oof, Aria was a tough sell, but with my reasoning, the info I provided and Nyreen there to soften her up, I was able to talk her into at least speaking to Admiral Cuwbaka. Especially since in his own words that it sounded like the Empire understood it was better to let Omega police itself rather than try to impose any martial law.

Then again, the info I provided her on several holdings the Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse might’ve had more to do with it. They’re a blight on Omega, she understands this and likely wants them gone as much as Nyreen does, but even the Warlord of Omega can only do so much against such numbers and brutality.

“I think I would prefer going into a firefight with krogan bandits again.” I muttered to Yola after we were a good distance away from Afterlife and on our way up to the Kima District where Archangel was holding out. Oh yeah, the main reason we’re here? Because Garrus pissed the gangs off to this point sooner than anticipated and he needs us to pull his ass out of the fire long enough for Shepard to show up. Thank you Hermais and Eris for telling us.

“Agreed. That woman is deadlier than an army of krogan and scarier than a fleet of Reapers.” Yola shook her head at how many concessions we had to make to Aria for her to even consider speaking to any government authority regarding her domain.

With that said, we didn’t have much to talk about and nobody accosted us, much to our mutual surprise. Two sexy quarian or geth ladies just wandering about the station? You’d expect some rapists or murderers to be after us, but no. Sure, there was plenty of that happening all over the place and it hurt knowing I could see it, but not do much about it since there was no system like C-Sec had for the Citadel and likely wouldn’t until the Talons fully came into power.

“I’m so glad Paretia got out of this place.” Yola solemnly said. Left unsaid was the wish that Krarek could’ve gotten to retire too. “We’d better hurry, Garrus is getting swarmed. He’s doing a good job, but he’s going to need our help sooner rather than later.”

“Iron-Maiden time?” I asked with a smirk in my voice and she nodded. With a quick toggle in our HUD, the metal of the helmet of our enviro-suits began spreading over our bodies, melding with the existing bicep and thigh armor plates and also forming over our visors. Soon the nanotech Iron-Maiden suits were covering us completely and we took off flying up from below the platform that Garrus was pinned down on.

We stopped before reaching the level he was on and Yola knocked on the lip. “Garrus! You better not shoot or we’re never backing our asses into your lap again!”

“...Yola? Void, you’re a voice for sore ears, get up here.” Garrus sighed in relief as we climbed up over the lip of the angled railing to duck behind it. Thankfully it was the side not under assault, so we didn’t catch too much attention. “Are those the fancy flying suits the Geth have been marketing lately?” Garrus asked, looking quite badass in his full suit of heavy blue armor.

“Nope. These are the prototypes of the next version.” I said before looking down at the lower floor to see the bodies of his crew in orange body bags. “Who are they?” I asked, playing dumb. didn’t need him getting pissed about me knowing this could happen beforehand. I could, however, quickly dive into the system and-oh. Oh...

“My friends, at least all that actually died besides the one who betrayed us.” Garrus snarled before he shot a krogan with his high-power sniper rifle and made the new corpse fly back into several salarians.

“Lantar Sidonis was actually tortured by the Blue Suns.” I informed my friend, who looked sharply at me and I tapped the side of my head. “I have a recording…”

“He was...I see. Damn it. I still need to find him and break his legs, but if he was coerced through fear and pain, I can’t hold it entirely against him. He’s probably tearing himself to pieces then.” Garrus deflated, his righteous fury abated with this knowledge that I knew he needed. “Well ladies, unless you can carry me down, I don’t exactly have much time left.”

“Hold that thought.” Yola launched multiple grenades over the railing with precision born of practice since I insisted she do something other than bake pastries the whole time we were on maternity leave and mobile in our mansion. She makes mean muffins with the dextro analog to flour. “Three, two, one…” Numerous explosions rang out, followed by a lot of screaming and death.

“I’ll save my grenades for the next wave.” I announced and Garrus slumped down under cover to relax for a moment, even taking off his helmet to breathe air directly.

“You girls, mind if I work out this stress afterward? Considering you’re already saving my ass.” Garrus asked as he wiped some dirt off his face, probably from having his helmet smack into it from bullet impacts.

“Sure, since you still have the reach and we have flexibility~.” Yola and I joked together.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“Ah! Good, you waited for us.” Penny said with a smile as she and the others approached Berserker and his team. “So, where’s our target?”

“Behind these blast doors, the boy is hiding in one of the complexes. It’s filled to the brim with drones, there’s even a big one in the middle.” Berserker informed them about the situation on the other side of those heavy doors. “Ready to kick some ass again, Commander?”

“Like you have to ask a girl that~.” Penny purred up at him as she chest-bumped her rifle.

“Is it too late to ask you out on a date?” Berserker asked cheekily, getting Penny to grin.

“C’mon, bro. No need to tease her like that.” Runner piped up as she bumped her hip against her brother. “If you push too hard, she’ll jump us all at once.”

“Right, sorry Shepard. Time to get serious.” Berserker apologised before he drew his sword from his left hip. A sword in this day and age? Penny knew the Empire employed traditional and non-traditional melee weapons, but to see one outside of a report was a treat. The blade itself was blood red with an engraving on it in an unknown script.

“I still wonder why your people insist on using archaic weapons. Especially bayonets.” Miranda commented curiously. Clearly she was made of stern stuff to have already pushed being choke-slammed aside.

“Because we still like to get intimate with our foes, but it doesn’t mean we won’t shoot you from afar if we have to. The difference between melee and ranged is a psychological one. You feel the life you’re ending with a melee weapon.” Berserker answered with a snort before looking back at Penny. “So, what’s the plan of attack?”

“Tali’s group rounded to the other side. The plan is to open the gates at the same time and put the drones in a pincer maneuver to split their attention. Unlike the Empire’s droids, these drones aren’t nearly as capable at self-management. Even B1 droids are better than the latest combat drones out of the ESA.” Penny informed them with a put-upon tone.

“What? Jealous my wife’s disposable toys are better than your people’s best efforts?” Berserker playfully commented and Penny shook her head.

“Not in that way, but more that we really should be improving faster than this. Besides, I don’t know if they’re still my people. The jury’s out on that.” Penny huffed and checked her omni.

“Yeah? Join the club.” The towering hulk with the extra-heavy armor and heavy weapons commented. It was easy to tell between Collateral and Pillar; one had the bigger guns on him and looked more like a walking tank, while the other wielded a big Warhammer and whose armor looked more ornate, majestic and holy.

“Sorry, I’m in bed with my sister-I mean, the Empress. Especially since the Empire has done so much for me.” Penny felt a jolt of fear for a split second. That slipped out. She’d always been an only child, one forced into orphanhood and then raised on the streets. That she so easily fell into the instinctive consideration of someone she met once as a sibling was frightening.

“Are you sure you can trust the Empire? What our wife pulled off was illegal and it helped the enemy bolster their forces.” Pillar reminded her.

“Yeah? It also saved my fucking life. Look, I’m not a Renegade or a Paragon-why did those have capital letters?” Penny blinked and then shook her head. “Whatever. Look, legal or not, ethical or not, I fucking love what’s happened to me. I’ll...I’ll get used to the new thoughts, new feelings, but at the same time it feels right. Not imposed on me, like something within me has awoken and is just itching to break free.”

“Very well, you’ve made your point. However, Penny, I have a request you can refuse.” Berserker said which piqued her interest. Damn did the sensation of her ears and tail perking still feel wrong with this damn her-suit over her true self. “Please, for the love of God, don’t get mixed up in the Empire’s affairs.”

“I can’t promise that. One of the people I’m planning to marry is directly related to your wives and involved in politics, even if as an ambassador here. Besides, if I’m kinda the same person as Urta, I don’t have much choice.” Penny shrugged, then shook her head. “Anyway, Tali’s in position.”

“Already? Miss Zorah seems to have a force of personality all her own to get her people moving that fast.” Jacob commented as the gate started cycling the locks.

“Yeah~. Sure~.” Penny purred as she cupped one of her breasts that her armor was custom-made to cover and Jacob sputtered. “I’m certain it has nothing to do with her huge tits.” Penny joked, since while Tali did have a forceful personality, she also knew how to flaunt her body to get people to be more motivated to agree with her. Penny knew that from experience.

“Commander, that is rather inappropriate talk and behavior when we’re about to enter live combat.” Miranda commented with an amused smirk while the Marines all shared wary glances.

“Penny, our gate opened faster and we’re stuck behind cover and taking pot shots! Please get your gate open faster!” Tali called over comms and before anyone could say anything, Penny’s eyes shined turquoise and she approached the gate before grabbing the seam and wrenching the gate open with a grunt.

This gave everyone an opening since the drones all had their backs turned to them. Penny barely had the chance to move with the hail of weapons fire her group sprayed from her sides. It was beautiful. A mixture of mass-accelerated bullets and blaster bolts tore through the drones and to Penny’s rage-boosted senses, it was like watching a slow-motion ASMR video. It sure sent tingles down her nonexistent spine. Especially seeing Berserker going to town on the last few drones, showing his martial prowess and expert swordsmanship.

Not even the YMIR heavy defense drone lasted more than a few seconds, since a massive high-caliber round that seemed to be a mass-accelerated old-fashioned bullet punched through it’s shields and into its processors. Unf~! Penny’s groin clenched at that and she bit her lip with a look over her shoulder to see the perpetrator was a fuck-off giant rifle weilded by Hunter.

“There’s one thing about this galaxy’s tech: it really gives our slug-throwers a good kick in the ass.” Hunter commented appreciatively with a pat on the huge gun, that was way too damn big for most humans to even consider welding and that just made Penny wetter.

“Can I have one of those?” Penny breathily asked with lust and the Marines looked warily at her. “I’ve gotta start my weapon collection over again, please tell me I can get some of your epic gear.”

“We don’t hand out our weapons like that, Commander. You’ll have to earn them.” Berserker told her which only made her want them more~.

“Just tell me how~.” Penny purred lewdly, only to get a pat on the shoulder from Jacob. “Right! Right. Sorry. I’m a Hoplophile. Weapons are my kink. Thanks Jacob.”

“You told me if you ever got all goo-goo eyed over a weapon to keep you on task, just doing what a friend would do, Commander.” Jacob replied as the group entered the shipping yard to meet Tali and her group halfway. “Everything good on your end, miss Zorah?”

“It’s just Tali, our names don’t work like human names. Yes, we met some resistance on the way, but considering how few in number the drones were, I’m guessing the Argentines drew them away from the route we took.” Tali gestured to the Marines, who shrugged.

“Maybe. Anyway, let's get the kid.” Berserker said since Tali was already heading for the small shipping container office that Veetor must have been hiding in.

“Let’s remember that we’re here for more evidence of what happened. If he knows what happened, we’ll need his testimony or a recording to get things in motion.” Miranda said and Penny nodded. She had forgotten in the face of Tali’s tits and all these sexbombs trying to set her off.

“Do you want our opinion on the matter?” Collateral asked the group.

“You can voice it, but I don't care much. You Argentines handle affairs on your own and I appreciate the assistance, but I have orders to get Veetor taken care of. You can come with us to Rannoch if you need to hear what he has to say so badly.” Tali replied clinically and the siblings made a mixture of displeased and pleased hisses or grunts.

“Can’t fault that logic, we did kinda get ourselves involved, here.” Runner shrugged and Penny had a thought while looking at the flat-chested fully armored woman.

“Hey, wait, you’re like me, right?” Penny patted her heaving hooters and Runner nodded. “Can I please have a chestplate that does that? They don’t get in my way, but it’d be nice if I had more arm motion when I get up close and personal.”

“Again, you’ll have to earn it. Or go to the Empire and order something to help with that.” That got cold real fast as soon as Runner mentioned the Empire. What happened between the two factions to cause such distrust? Then the word Betrayal came to mind. However, oddly, it was a feeling of melancholy accompanying the odd notion.

“You can talk about your tits later! Someone get the med-kit in here already! He’s delusional!” Tali shouted at the group and pointed at Penny. “Penny, I can’t just let him be questioned right now. Whatever he could have to say would likely be too jumbled and nonsense to understand right now. You’ll have to come with us if you want to find out ASAP.”

“I have something that would stabilize his condition and make him more cooperative for all our sakes.” Hunter pulled out a syringe filled with turquoise liquid.

“Whoa! Wait! Isn’t that the same stuff that made me all sexy and slimy?!” Penny got between Hunter and the container, where the mutterings of the clearly delusional Veetor could be heard.

“No. This just serves as a temporary healing factor. I’ve used this multiple times on myself and many others whenever we are wounded.” Hunter explained to them and his siblings all nodded.

“Are you sure it won’t adversely affect him? Veetor is an unmodified quarian. He doesn’t have our healthy immune systems.” Tali brought up worriedly as her team was inside trying to calm Veetor down.

“This will jumpstart his immune system. Also, we believe the Reapers were here. That’s why he’s so delirious right now, out of fear.” Hunter informed everyone, holding out the syringe for Tali to take.

“Hold on, I’ll analyze it quickly.” One of Tali’s team members exited the small building and gently took it, before his omni hovered over it. “It’s clean. Imagine the mods our chassis generate times twenty, but only functional for a short time. It will let us speak to Veetor and buy more time to get him home safely.”

“Good. Administer it.” Tali ordered before the team leaders filed in to where Veetor was muttering in his chair with most of everyone stuck outside due to either A: too many people, or B: too big to enter. After the geth injected the syringe into a port of his enviro-suit, Veetor rapidly began to calm down. “Veetor. What happened here?”

“W-what? Oh Keelah. It was awful. The swarms, they came. They took all of the humans. They stood no chance.” Veetor shuddered and with a single press on his console, the nine screens lit up with recordings of massive insect-like monsters warming over the colony, snatching people up and carrying them away, even putting things back in their proper places afterwards. “The drones, they tried, but they remotely hacked the main systems here and shut them down. I was able to reactivate them when I took cover in here, then the monsters left.”

“Collectors?” Miranda said with a confused look. “They’ve never done something directly like this. They’ve always used intermediaries before.”

“They have advanced technology. From how Veetor explains it, they definitely have something that could shut down an entire colony at once.” Jacob growled as everyone watched the pieced-together security footage that Veetor compiled. “Well, we found our evidence.”

“Thank you, Veetor. With this, we can bring evidence that the Collectors need to be found and eliminated. This is even worse than any pirate raid.” Penny growled and used her omni to download the security footage. It would be indispensable in providing evidence of what is happening.

“The Collectors look like Protheans. How do you think that happened?” Hunter suggested and everyone looked at each other aside from Veetor, who seemed lost now.

“Reapers.” Everyone chorused, causing Veetor to gasp.

“And it would seem they’re going to give Humanity the same treatment. Why else would they come to collect them?” Berserker rhetorically asked and the grim realization dawned on them.

“Oh no. Listen, I have more. I have all sorts of data on them from my observations. Such as unique readings of electro-magnetic utility. Dark Energy. Their movement patterns and tactics. Does anyone have a drive I could upload it to?” Veetor looked around and everyone shook their heads. “Kriff. I’m sorry, but I can’t go anywhere besides home for medical treatment right now.”

“Normally I’d suggest we just take you along anyway, but considering how helpful you’ve been and the fact Rannoch is open to travel, I think we could take a day to get there and have the data compiled professionally.” Miranda nodded to the one member of Tali’s team that was obviously a geth since he mentioned his body making gene mods.

“Good idea. In the meantime, Commander, Jacob, Miranda. We have questions we need to ask you.” Hunter said to the Cerberus operatives with a grim tone.

[1001100 01101001 01101110 01100101]

“What is it?” Messana asked her mate as he stared at his omni. “Laiel, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“Hm?” Laiel looked up at his mate, who was holding and nursing their daughter as she looked at him in concern. “Ah, it’s rather odd actually. Spectre Shepard is suddenly listed as being on active duty, but that can’t be right. She was listed as KIA over a year ago now.”

“That is just disgusting. Whoever hacked the database has no respect for a dead hero.” Messana growled and moved to sit down with their daughter, who was already fairly big for her tender age. Asari age slowly after all.

“That was me, actually.” Medulla purred from where she was kneeling on the bed, pressing her heaving nectar-leaking dark green-blue breasts and her heavy pregnant belly into his back. “I have it on good authority that tales of Shepard’s death have been greatly exaggerated.” The fecund changeling councilor, who was still on active duty despite her advanced stage of pregnancy, stated with certainty and Laiel suddenly felt hope fill his chest.

“That’s wonderful, but why hasn’t she reported in a year?” Messana questioned worriedly and Medulla sighed as she rubbed her mate’s shoulders.

“Because she was being held prisoner by Cerberus for a year. They’ve decided to let her go on a provision that she mostly focuses on promoting the safety and stability of humanity specifically. That said, she’s unofficially not a Spectre, but officially if she remains one, then she can still act in the name of the common good with authority.” Medulla said before moaning and rubbing her belly.

“Is it time?” Laiel asked in concern and Messana bit her lip.

“N-no. Not yet. Oh~. Messana still hasn’t finished her gene mod treatments. She won’t be able to take them…” Medulla panted, her chitin actually sweating. “I’ll...unf, be fine for another few days. By then you’ll be elastic enough Messana.” Medulla insisted as her purple Navel Pearl pulsed brightly. That she was much bigger in reality was both daunting and impressive to Laiel.

“I’m sorry I’m not prepared when you need it most, Medulla.” Messana apologized as their daughter fell asleep. He didn’t know her name yet, because Messana hadn’t chosen one. Asari take things such as this slowly and carefully. Sometimes the mother doesn’t even choose a name for years! Hopefully Messana doesn’t wait that long.

“If it’s hurting you this much, neither of us will take offense if you have to find another female to surrogate for us.” Laiel insisted to his mate who moaned and hugged her belly as she cringed.

“N-no~! I refuse~! I want Messy to hold them~!” Medulla cried, tears leaking from her eyes. “Eggies, please. Stop churning. Please. Mama wants your other mama to carry you…”

“Medulla dear. Please, call someone.” Messana urged and Medulla chittered.

“No! I refuse!” The Navel Pearl shone brightly and one of those flying snake-like creatures appeared with an antique human stopwatch that it tapped.

“Ahem! You’re overdue! Where is your surrogate?!” The little flying serpent, who was female it seemed, demanded of Laiel’s mate with a surprisingly authoritarian tone.

“She wants it to be me, but I’m not elastic enough.” Messana spoke up and the serpent looked his other mate up and down, then flew around her.

“Hm, you’re not. Well, do you want to be her surrogate?” The serpent demanded huffily.

“Yes. I would-ah~!” Messana cried out in pleasure suddenly when with a snap of the tiny flying serpent’s fingers, their daughter was suddenly on the bed and Laiel watched in a mixture of horror and interest as his mate transformed. Her blue skin turned into blue scales, a thick tail sprouted from her tailbone, her face elongated into a fierce snout as wings erupted from her back as a beautiful collar appeared on her longer neck. Where once was an asari, sat a blue dragoness who was panting and slobbering with her long tongue draping from her maw.

“There! Dragon females are perfect incubators! Now you! Get to laying!” The little Chimera of Chaos ordered Medulla, who was whimpering as her ovipositor appeared and throbbed at the sight of their transformed mate, who was looking at her claws in awe.

“Who are you?” Laiel warily questioned as he backed away from his mates who were leering hungrily at each other in a way he was very familiar with and usually was excited to see.

“Eileithyia, senior Womb Ward of this sector of the two galaxies.” The serpent told him before his mates pounced each other, Messana impaling herself on Medulla’s massive egg-tube desperately. “I have turned the asari into a dragon and she will remain so until she lays the eggs. That is, if she wants to return to normal, it depends on what she wants. Now then, I hope you have another room to live in, because this one is going to get pretty packed.”

With that, Eileithyia vanished as suddenly as she appeared and Laiel looked back at his breeding mates, who were fucking as if the universe was going to implode in a few minutes.

“You two, uh, take care of that. I’ll be taking our daughter to her room and setting up the living room for me to sleep.” Laiel rescued his sleeping daughter as Medulla began pumping Messana with eggs and fled to her room. “I may enjoy this life I’ve found myself living, but I’m also glad to have little things like you to bring me peace.” His daughter cooed in her sleep as he set her in her nursery’s bed and he sighed as he heard his mates scream in pleasure down the hall.

“Don’t grow up too fast.” Laiel kissed her brow and closed the door so she could sleep soundly. Void knows he wasn’t going to sleep a wink with the noise