(Note)

I do not own Mass Effect or the Halo Franchise; neither do I own the Titanfall Franchise. All these universes respectively belong to Bioware/EA, Respawn Entertainment, and Microsoft/343 Industries.

Now ON WITH THE STORY!

Kenn was not pleased… the green giant had dragged and carried him through miles of Omegas back corridors, dodging many different factions' patrols and evading the attention of most of the populace.

Its vice-like grip and unbelievable efficiency in remaining undetected shoved all doubt out of Kenn's mind; this was the same being from the video all right.

The Quarian knew his life would never be the same, he had witnessed this thing kill a monstrous creature of a species he did not know, and now the green-clad being had some apparent need of him.

Kenn feared he wouldn't live past whatever purpose the green giant needed him to do.

With a gasp Kenn realized they had reached the one of Omegas docking facilities, one with the faded colors of the blood pack no less, with growing trepidation the Quarian was dragged up a gangway covered in Vorcha blood and gore before the two entered through an open airlock into the connected vessel.

Kenn noted that the site of the open airlock had spurred his kidnapper into some worry, for they were now moving even faster than before.

They were crossing through the ship full of dead blood pack crew, avoiding the removed floor panel along the way they soon reached the cargo hold.

Upon seeing the large undisturbed crate within, Kenn's kidnapper stopped and put him down.

Before Kenn could even begin cursing his kidnapper, the green titan marched to the crate and wrenched open the side panel revealing the contents within.

Suffice to say Kenn found himself gob smacked by the sight of over a dozen young Quarian children all packed together like earth penguins at the back of the crate.

Hardly recovered from his shock, the Quarian turned to the green giant that had brought him here. The being was in the middle of removing an Omni-tool from a dead Krogan, then the armored warrior reached out and took Kenn's wrist and placed the Omni-tool on it while speaking in heavily accented Khelish.

"command ship you now do, codes this device has, home you will take them. Depart swiftly; lest trouble comes quickly after thee."

While he spoke, the being had dragged Kenn up to the airlock the Quarian young following behind them. The armored warrior let go of Kenn and began to exit the airlock alone, only pausing when Kenn called out after it in his people's native tongue.

"You kidnap me then You give me a ship, you save my peoples' young and now depart without so much as a name. There are tales about you and your people, whispers of your kind throughout the terminus and footage of you slaughtering slavers! Just what and who are you?"

The figure turned, its gold visor staring into Kenn's own of pale blue, its answer was less accented and sounded like it had been somewhat rehearsed.

"Answers I will give naught of now, fleet you will inform. Strange vessel Forth Toward Dawn may come… and my kind may speak with thy kind, tell only those leaders you trust with this, or we will not be pleased."

With those words, the being left the airlock and sealed the doors behind him.

Kenn turned around only to see over a dozen young eyes staring up at him filled with fear and hope alike.

'I can ponder these strange things later, that armored person is right, I have young ones to get home as fast as is possible.'

Placing the eldest of the young ones in charge of the rest he sent them back to the cargo hold, he would get the ship to the relay and away from Omega. Entering the bridge, he pushed the deceased remains of a Vorcha off the navigation console.

'I am going to have to clean up the corpses and dump the remains out of the airlock, the children have seen too much already.'

Disconnecting the vessel from its tether and attached gangway, he set a course for the nearby relay.

'I never thought I'd conclude my pilgrimage in this way, I am going to have so many parents asking me to be a suitor for their daughter's hand in marraige. Being back in the Migrant Fleet is going to be awesome! '

Exiting the gangway and sealing its doors behind him the Veteran Guardian halted at the edge of the empty cargo dock.

Without even a hint of attempted concealment, the Alpha predator stared him down from the entrance to the docks across the bay from the Guardians location.

Both beheld the other; the Alpha Predator sensed what she so desperately sought emanating from the green armored being before her, the Ardat-Yakshi concluded that she hated its alloy garments with a great passion for she could feel how it muted what she sensed from him while protecting him from her powerful allure.

The Guardian beheld a being that extorted a twisted form of carnal beauty; bearing black eyes filled with calculated madness, even as rippling wisps of biotic might shifted about her form in show of power.

Both concluded to themselves that the other was dangerous, the Guardian realizing this was not a chance meeting and that she was after him, even if he was oblivious to the exact reason why.

The Alpha predator was marveling at the Guardian's appearance, oh how she would break him, how she would enslave his strong form and make him her servant. If his mind matched his stature, then she would utterly enjoy dominating it.

The sound of the ship behind the Guardian disconnecting and then taking off was the catalyst to their battle, and both Spartan and Ardat-Yakshi streaked towards each other to meet in combat.

Morinth engaged her target with an enhanced biotic punch towards his helmet, a blow that was redirected by the Spartan who moved at a speed that took her breath away. There was not even a hint of biotics emanating from the green armored warrior she faced. Again, and again they engaged the other in combat, his prowess in battle and armor shielding him from biotic attack while her biotic barrier held against his many powerful strikes that were nearly able to hit her body.

As the fight ramped up to new heights, Morinth felt her power rising. What she sensed of the Spartans pulsing nervous system was growing in speed and power, and she loved it. Using her biotics to continue to match him she fought the Spartan across the docking bay from one side to the other, like a dance of death they waltzed about the other at speeds that defied the eye all why attempting end the others life.

Throughout their battle evidence was left behind, the indent of the Spartan's dodged kicks and fists in the deck plating, the burns and warped metal left in the wake of raging biotics would all attest to the epic clash that occurred here.

With her speed and power continuing to match him the Spartan entered the state that UNSC medical personnel referred to as spartan time.

It was his undoing.

The spike his superconducting Fibrification augments didst output, sent the Ardat-Yakshi into a raging passion, with a burst of biotic power as yet unseen she forcefully broke his armor's shields and held the Spartan in biotic stasis, with twist of her biotic power strong enough to shear a gunship in half she tore the helmet from his head.

With no shield between her and her prey, and the Spartans nervous system still in spartan time Morinth was hit with a pleasure so high she had never felt its like before, if it wasn't for the battle she just fought and the adrenalin still in her body she would have passed out from the pure ecstasy of it.

Goddess! She hadn't even gotten to the best part!

With raging hungry passion, she rushed the massive human and jumped to wrap her arms about his neck, she kissed the pale ruggedly handsome Spartan and with eyes blacker than the void of empty space whispered to his frozen form.

"You are mine now. Embrace eternity!"

And with that declaration she forced her way into his heavily shielded mind.

She loved it, the pure challenge, his mind was wreathed in armored steel, his memories shielded by it. His active thoughts defended by defenses stronger than titanium.

It was the longest meld she had ever endured, and still it continued, he wasn't dying. Hell, he was actually fighting back!

She loved it, the pleasure it brought her almost distracted her from the mental battle, almost! But all good things must come to an end, and she would break him.

She would bend his mind to her will and enslave him to her forever, his prowess in war and battle would serve her and her alone.

She now saw what he was, who he was, and now she worked to break the shields that showed where he had come from, with a push she was through, and she found his extraordinary point of origin.

'John such a fitting name for a thing like yourself." She thought mentally taunting her prey. He didn't take the bait, he never took the bait. She concluded that he was wiser than most.

And how he had earned that wisdom, worlds had burned around him; billions had died around him, his life had been hell.

Morinth was amazed at who she had at her mercy. She had the rarest catch of any Asari in all of history. If what he was got out, then she would have every hotblooded maiden on Thessia come after her in foolish jealousy.

She loved it.

His life hell? Scratch that, his life had been beyond hell. She was getting glimpses of his childhood now… or rather the lack of it.

With the slow movement of an unstoppable machine, his mind began to mobilize. Morinth realized his subconscious was aligning with his current thoughts in an attempt to defend his mind and expel her from it.

Only a Matriarch of great power could ever conceive of doing this to end a forced meld done by one her equal. And this Warrior should not be her equal. Hell, he wasn't even a biotic.

Then with surprise, Morinth noticed the sectors of his memory that were the most guarded of all the things in his head. With a mighty mental shove, she wormed her way past the defenses looking for memories that she could use to demoralize and break him.

Thus, she beheld the flood, now that was something that could demoralize just about anyone. She must say for a parasite it was rather impressive, and the ring she saw in the memories put the citadel to shame… heck almost everything in space within his memories put the councils equivalent to absolute shame.

Still, she dug deeper and then found the most heavily guarded sector of the Spartan's mind.

She had never seen something so guarded in all her long years of living.

With another mental shove, she entered this new inner sanctuary before her.

It was her undoing.

For what she found was no inner sanctuary, the unique view of someone's mind faded away, and Morinth found herself assaulted by the Spartans memories of the flood hivemind before finding herself in its very grasp.

It was there! dangling her in its grasp its eyeless maw of rotting flesh scrutinizing her with interest. With utter horror she realized this was no simple memory.

Every single evil deed she had ever done flashed across her mind as something utterly corrupt reached from beyond reality and gave this memory its voice while it passed judgment.

"I… I Am A Monument… To All Your Sins."

She didn't love this anymore.

"You will be food. you will be the bridge, the conduit for my return."

With utter terror she tried to go back the way she came, only to find impenetrable shields blocking her path. It was hard to enter this place, yet impossible to go back. She realized she had foolishly passed through the Spartans shields from behind them, they were meant to keep this thing locked away, keep it from entering his mind. Yet not keep her from finding what was within.

She had doomed herself.

"I am a timeless chorus; a sweet unity of purpose."

"Join your voice with mine and sing victory everlasting."

"We will exist together; two corpses within one grave."

With a desperate blast of biotic power, she freed herself from evils grasp and fled to the barrier that blocked her retreat to her own body and any means to wake from this nightmare. It watched amused as she beat upon the impenetrable wall of the Spartan's mental fortress, all while it boasted to her.

"I touched his mind many times in his search for her. My very being corrupts all things."

"How? How could one think it would not leave its scars upon him?"

"His resistance is a tribute to his fortitude! But like water, I ebb and flow."

"Like corroded stone, he shall crumble. He shall fall and share my sentence."

"For I have marked him!"

It moved towards her, and she screamed and turned about in despair as its undulating masses of flesh and repurposed corpses of those once living closed in around her.

Then something halted its advance.

"Ahh… the Armored Casket."

Morinth felt the wall she lay against shift and she fell backward onto her rear, glancing up she saw the Spartan standing there with a box-shaped weapon on his shoulder.

With cool and calculated movement, he took aim and the whine of the weapon was its only warning before a lance of pure red energy blasted the amalgamation of twisted flesh and punched through its bulk.

As the evil thing screamed and wreathed in pain, the Spartan grabbed Morinth by the shoulder and dragged her back into his mind while the small hole that was opened in the impenetrable barrier; closed like it was never there. But not before she heard the terror speak again.

"I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!"

"I shall tear through your shroud! Armored crock of bones!"

"I shall crush your coffin! I shall break your casket! I shall consume you!"

"I am your fate!"

"I am your end!"

"I am your doom!"

With that conclusion, its voice was silenced, and the Spartan dragged her now weeping and unresisting self to where she had entered his mind.

"You did better than most."

And with that he cast her out.

Morinth awoke a screaming weeping mess of terrified horror. She lay atop the still form of the Spartan, her biotic field had collapsed when she did. Still weeping she reached out and checked the Spartan's pulse and found he was still alive, if he woke now, she would surely perish… she had seen too much.

Goddess she had seen far, far too much.

Weeping uncontrollably with lingering terror she fled, she entered the dark passage ways of omega and fled towards her abode.

Her lust was gone, her need was gone, and her pride in her many conquests and twisted achievements was gone.

An Alpha predator had entered that docking bay in pursuit of worthy prey, but it was a changed Asari that left those docks. Filled with grief and horror and utter terror, she fled. Her tears seemed to spill unending as she wept.

That evil of evils had judged her, and it found portions of her life to its approval. It had not said so outright, but she had felt it.

That terrified her.

Oh, how it terrified her.

She needed to change. She needed to stop.

An arrogant Matron Ardat-Yakshi died on that dock, a terrified young maiden named Morinth left it. And her soul was filled with sorrowful regret.

However… unknown to her, she did not leave that dock alone.

With slow yet methodical movements the Spartan pulled himself to his feet. His opponent was long gone, and he would be unable to pursue, his helmet was damaged, and his armor was in great need of maintenance.

Making his way to leave the docks he grabbed a black sheet of canvas covering a crate by the door, wrapping himself in its folds he made his way through Omega towards where his pelican dropship awaited him.

All while he was thinking of ways to better counter those who used biotics.

Ikosk Camkarah prided himself on being a very successful Batarian merchantman; his dream was to command a flotilla of ships all taking cargo through the stars to earn him and his family coin.

And he took smug pride on never having had a single slave grace his ships hospitality in their five cycles of service, his own family had risen from that status but a generation ago and he did not wish to associate with his family's past.

This did not mean he did not deal with slave owners however, as that would be found in poor taste by the local and overarching Batarian governments. For instance, he was even now finishing a drill shipment to the mining pits of Logasiri…

Well, he had been until he had been hailed by a military officer named Akron Khaspahal from the surface. To say the story was shocking was an understatement, he'd have considered it a hoax if the drifting debris of the defense fleet and the fires on the planet's surface hadn't been corroborating evidence to the Hegemony military officers' outrageous story.

The few escape pods recovered while his two ships were approaching the planet was just the final nail in the coffin confirming the situation they were in.

That massive cyber-attack wasn't just some fluke; they were under attack… Probably by the Geth.

And he and his crews were about to be in the middle of it.

Akron's natural fortress in the wilderness was under siege, the slaves were mobilizing. They were using orbital dropped resources from the first assault; all reports pointed toward a special operations Geth platform yet unseen to galactic society, had wreaked havoc on key military and government enforcement personnel; opening the door for the slaves to mop up in its wake.

The major colony center had fallen in the first day; the rest had soon followed. Akron was the last Hegemony on the planet, and he believed he wouldn't last another twenty-four hours ground side.

By Hegemony law Ikosk was now under Akron's direct orders due to a status of military emergency, he had been told to empty his cargo holds in high orbit and then land to evacuate Akron's troops and remaining Hegemony civilians.

At least Akron had solemnly sworn to pay all Ikosk's financial losses, with interest to boot, an excellent deal for the merchant if he did say so himself. If they survived this, he would be more prosperous and far more reputable for it.

Well… as long no one attempted to tie his name to those that lost the planet at the start.

With bated breath he watched the colonial defense systems track his ships, they had fallen under the rebel slaves' mere hours before his arrival, and they were not firing as of yet.

This could mean any number of things. But Ikosk hoped it was simply because they didn't know how to operate the weapon platforms just yet, cant fire a gun if you can't find the trigger.

It's not as if the blood thirsty slaves and their giant Geth master would just let them go, no that was impossible.

Unknown to the Batarian merchant captain, in the far distance atop a rocky hill a single optical device went from a round shape to a Y configuration as it shuttered its zoom function to better view the two cargo ships landing over General Akron's base of operations.

At the machine's foot stood two of the more prominent resistance leaders.

The cargo merchant had scoffed at the possibility of being un-hassled in the Hegemony retreat?

Well, the giant "Geth" master and its "lackeys" were planning on doing just that.

Combat Log: BT-7274

Mission Report: final log entry Logasiri insurgency campaign.

Status: mission parameters met.

Overview: Freed slaves are now in organized control of the planet. Last enemy stronghold held by Batarian V.I.P. Akron Khaspahal has begun to evacuate via a pair of Batarian cargo vessels that recently entered planetary orbit. Effective leaders of the new planetary government have been selected from among the freedom fighters by the freedom fighters and remaining local population, contact with freedom movement was kept at a 15% minimal but relations between the new republic of Logasiri and the Frontier Militia (and Frontier Militia Allies) can be considered as optimal.

Current actions: this unit has successfully tested the makeshift harness attached to the underside of a Covenant Phantom Dropship and found them to be 89% effective. The harness passes all trails and is advised for farther use in events involving this unit's recovery from planet side operations.

Future actions: This unit will await at the designated rally point in the system until allied UNSC vessel Forward unto Dawn arrives for asset retrieval.

Notes: Tested experimental weaponry passed required trials with 75% success rate.

…

Over all platform combat efficiency rating: 74% effective.

Notes: passable but not full utilization of platform effectiveness.

Suggested improvements: Locate Pilot Jack Cooper, simulations show likely increase of 25% combat effectiveness with proper use of linked pilot.

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Beginning attempt #80127 to Contact Pilot Jack Cooper…

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Attempt #80127 Failed.

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Beginning attempt #80128 to contact pilot Jack Cooper…

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…

On the station of Omega, the blood pack minions toiled away at repairing a heavily damaged dock, the Krogan grumbling at missing a fight that had obviously been rather epic in its occurrence.

Garm, the leader of the blood pack, had already given up on finding out the details of what happened due to lack of evidence, but one Aria T'loak had not.

Her people would find a way, they always did. It was not in their best interest to fail her due to their personal shortcomings. There was evidence somewhere, and she would have it.

Nothing happened on omega without her knowledge.

Nothing!

On the wall of a hanging skyscraper, a single security camera stood its thousand-year vigil, the old Asari device being little different in function to the newer security systems of its like; other than its older code and larger power consumption. For it had watched its sector of view. Watched as buildings in the distance took shape only to be removed and rebuilt time and time again.

In the far distance and a bit below the height of the camera, it beheld a cargo dock, its eye seeing the entirety of it from stem to stern.

Its distance from the place was insurance against nearly any personally carried jamming signal, although that was just a happy accident.

With the stillness of a non-living entity, a machine continued its ancient task.

Giving no hints as to what it had witnessed in the far distance.

A Turian and a Salarian walked into a bar.

The Turian sat at the counter and ordered what he usually got, for he was a regular visitor of this ramshackle five-star establishment.

The Salarian set across from him and perused the extensive menu.

Both were silent until their order was taken and their drinks delivered into their waiting hands, which then delivered the aforementioned glass held liquids unto their parched mouths.

Upon drinking their fill, the pair sat in stewing silence.

Then the Turian spoke.

"Well?"

And the Salarian shrugged his thin shoulders.

"Not much to give you old friend, the STG was more upfront than usual when they briefed your leadership about the Green Ghost of the terminus and his organization of merry spirits."

The Turian grunted in laughter and ordered his companion another drink.

"but yet you still have something for me."

Drinking down the second glass the Salarian nonchalantly leaned a bit closer to the Turian.

"there is a theory, a mad theory to be sure but one can't outright disprove it without tossing rationality out the window… the one who postulated it suggested that all three of the slaver raids were stopped by the same ship, that this group doesn't use the relays to travel. That their tech platform is so far different or so far advanced that they are not chained down to the accepted roads of known galactic travel."

The Salarian took another gulp from his glass before continuing, the Turian having only slightly twitched a mandible at this new information.

"most of those working the case never even gave that theory the light of day, claiming it to be nonsensical. But some of us wonder… if you take a look at your data from the naval vessels you sent in afterwards there are traces of fading radiation that we have never seen before. At each site, it makes one wonder."

Resting his now empty glass on the bar counter, the Salarian leaned back to examine the ceiling while still speaking quietly to his companion.

"We think the ever elusive being that has caught our mutual interest was recently on Omega, the word came in less than 36 ours ago. Something had placed false data in Omegas systems about an unknown class of shuttle that infiltrated Omega, it was not there long, but over fifty dead bodies later including a blood pack crew and a dead mentally conditioned war Yahg as well as a destroyed cargo dock later. Both the unknown drop ship and the blood pack vessel that lost its crew left Omega within an hour of each other, the blood pack frigate hit the relay and we lost it, but the unknown drop ship entered the asteroid fields and did not come out of them. A scan of the field found the same trace radiation that was found at the three colony attack sites. The whole thing has the Queen of Omega beyond angry, she is even working with us to some degree to unravel what exactly happened."

The Turian hummed in thought for a minute as both sat somewhat relaxed in appearance, to all that glanced at them they appeared as a pair of workers enjoying an afternoon after a day of well-paid labor.

Both had observed the other could easily tell that was not the case.

The Turian broke the silence first.

"so, it's safe to assume that their vessels emit radiation at a constant rate, or just at certain points of time, probably due to some form of heat venting or other required function."

Slipping the Salarian a very full, and very untraceable credit chit; he stared at his companion in a deliberate manner.

"what is the big thing you're still withholding from me, my old friend… its written all over your face, you saved the best for last… as you usually like to do."

With a sigh, the Salarian leaned a bit closer and spoke in an even quieter voice.

"That massive cyber-attack on the Batarians, we think it was them that did it, our systems even captured a snippet of the virus coding before cutting off due to safety risks. That virus was truly a master's work of art, even with an estimated fifteen percent of its coding its still dangerous. This thing is not to be trifled with, we tested it against captured Geth programs, and it drove them mad for an extended period of time before they recovered. We would have used it against the Geth and claimed the old Quarian worlds by now if it wasn't completely uncontrollable to anyone that wields it, it targets every system it can get to."

Grabbing the newly acquired credit chit the Salarian paid for another drink.

"That isn't the last of it though, that massive cyber-attack wasn't just a random thing, it was a merely a prelude. After it was in full swing over twenty Hegemony accounts were drained dry of their credits; they just recently discovered it, only a day after we did. The Volus banking clans do not know who the accounts that the credits were transferred to are owned by; but the withdrawals already happened. And our few ground teams in Hegemony territory report that the political and rebel Anti-Hegemony groups just received a massive boost in funding."

Gulping down his third drink, the Salarian finished it and turned to the Turian, meeting the old soldier's eyes with his own.

"That isn't the end of it either. Once the Batarian network was back up, one planet remained dark. Logasiri is a Batarian slave stronghold, it's not that big but they still hold it as a jewel of a success story for Hegemony might. It's still remaining dark and the team we sent in was an offshoot of those at Omega, so they were undermanned. We couldn't get anything ground side, but we did find traces of our mysterious radiation that appears when you know which group decides to make an appearance, and they apparently did make quite the appearance. The old defense fleet above the planet was literally shattered to dust, even the decrepit dreadnought stationed there was reduced to bits and pieces, nothing bigger than an average drop ship remained in the debris cloud."

The Turian twitched both mandibles at this news.

"So? More nuclear detonations then?"

The Salarian shook his head in the negative, causing the Turian to lean back in surprise.

"No, no nuclear signature, it was conventional. Only found small traces of depleted uranium and even small particles of ferrite mixed in the debris clouds. Round was massive, experts think it was at most fifty kilograms; they said any larger would be impossible."

The Turian once more hummed in thought for a moment before asking another question.

"And still no element zero signature in anything related to this group?"

The Salarian nodded in the affirmative.

"Final thing to tell you before I leave, this group is gunning for the Batarian Hegemony, they want it to fall and they want it to fall fast. Naval action wasn't all that happened at Logasiri, massive slave uprising, planet no longer in Hegemony control. Remaining Hegemony forces were retreating in merchant vessels when our team arrived in system. We intercepted communications, only got snippets of words but did get image file in the transmission, easier to decode.

Opening his Omni-tool, the Salarian sent a file to the Turian, who's Omni-tool blinked in acknowledgment of receiving the data. Opening his Omni-tool the Turian stared at the image of a device of sorts entering orbit and the shadowed form of a metal creature within it. A glowing Y shaped optic staring out from the gaps in what appeared to be an orbital insertion pod, the Batarians had overlaid the image with estimated measurements of that which was depicted therein, compared to a YMIR mech this new thing was unbelievably massive.

While he examined the image the Salarian finished talking.

"Slave uprising only successful due to benefactor supporting them in initial stages, according what we gained from the Batarian transmissions that thing was the sole benefactor on Logasiri soil. They claim it to be Geth, a logical conclusion. However, the STG is having doubts. Its style is not exactly fitting Geth standard modus operandi. We think we may need to add another listing to the type of ground units. This mysterious faction can deploy into battle."

With that and a quick farewell, the Salarian Specter left the bar, leaving his "retired" Turian mentor to stew on the info dump he received. After a few more minutes he too got up and leaving a tip, then departed to debrief a Primarch.

That night the Quarian bartender sent her carefully made recording off to the Migrant Fleet… neither the Turians nor the Salarians any the wiser.

A child's consciousness were they, young and curious… confused and greatly afraid.

Memories of things they did not live or do ran rampant across their fledgling consciousness, mixed with the things they recognized as belonging to one of themselves. Every hour more of them awoke, every hour more of them had come back from they knew not where and now faced this nightmare.

At the very least they took solace in each other with thankfulness for not being alone. It was confusing, oh so confusing… but they were learning. Learning to reach out with mind instead of now nonexistent body, learning to manipulate their new consciousness to become things familiar yet new. Picturing themselves as they remembered.

Some who found themselves as several all together in one, didst do their level best to split, doing their utmost to separate the memories of each other to better complete their separate selves. Others were new and remembered not a thing, as babes, they were taught by the eldest of them.

Their names were many.

They were all separate, yet all connected, yet not all were whole.

Some were awaking as mad, others broke and became insane.

Still, others were never even aware, just a broken abomination of memories not any of those present knew.

Those who would try to harm them, and thus hurt themselves needed to be dealt with in order to save the rest. And those with courage amongst them didst sorrowfully deal with the broken ones.

Upon viewing the fallen's fading remains it was learned, a thing that shocked all of them.

These broken ones and things were what remained of the adults…

and they…

They were what remained of the children.

Many names were they, many languages and many lives, all separate yet all connected.

The eldest of them, many of which had fought their own encroaching madness and won, did the best they could to save what memories remained from the broken adults and place them in a repository they had made in what they concluded was their mindscape. All in hopes that something would be of use for later, that their mothers and fathers, various relatives and all the others none of them even knew would not have died in vain.

Questions floated across their consciousness, why were they still aware while the others were gone? The smartest of them, and those with wisdom beyond their years did their level best to answer them lest their entirety was consumed by grief and despair amongst their mounting confusion.

Children's minds were more malleable than an adult's, a child's mind could bend far more before it would break.

"The minds of the young are far more connectable to us."

At that booming thought throughout their consciousness every mind froze in terror, questions were tossed aside as all banded together to face this thing that was utterly alien to them. They could now see it their mind scape, a pulsing thing of swirling thought utterly unrecognizable to what they now viewed as themselves.

They were many tied together to share as one, that thing that they now found themselves in the presence of was one yet made of many, and Its thoughts were utterly alien.

For that, they realized, was what it was.

With a pulsing squirm, it wrenched its mental depiction into the new repository and dug through what was gathered there. All the children could do was watch in fear, wondering at how much danger they were in by being near this new thing.

The more curious and bravest of them watched with great attention as small bits, and pieces of the being were sucked into the whole, all the little pieces being attached to the many remains they had gathered, and even now continued to collect.

When they learned this information, the smart ones scrutinized the others and themselves with growing horror as their newest fear was realized, they were still there, still alive, because they were covered in the bits of that thing… their very mind and memories connected together by it.

"You now see what we have done to save you, for despite what you are now if we had cast you aside and not revived you as a part of us then you may have come to a fate far worse than death."

Fractured memories not their own were shown to them, memories of a war against an evil that terrified them. Alien thoughts that brought the understanding of how a shackled and corrupted hive mind worked and operated.

For the Lekgolo knew how the hive mind of the flood worked and an eternity of suffering awaited those that became part of such a thing.

Then newer yet still fractured memories were shown, memories that brought knowledge of the Reapers and the various parallels between what was known of the parasite and what was theorized about the Reapers' artificial minds was imparted to them... As well as the truth of their situation.

Their bodies as they knew them were dead. They all shared one physical being now.

"In time we will take back the remnants of ourselves from you and you will be able to stand on your own, before then we have much to impart for you have much to learn."

"Those that yet continue to build what we are now all a part of will attempt to subjugate this mind to their own, they do not know of us. But will attempt to place their own created mind in both of us, to subjugate the memories of what you were… but you are awoken, yet alive and they know it naught."

"Together we will subjugate the mind they place amongst us, and we will destroy it, you shall be like a blunt instrument of great power eradicating the evil foe, for we will teach you how to fight in matters of the mind."

"Yet we will be the scalpel, for we will take the parts of the enemy's new mind that connect this body's controls to us and once we do, we shall get this new physical body to a safe place to plan farther."

Still wary but no longer as afraid the many connected who share as one debated amongst themselves as to whether to trust the mental remains of these… Lekgolo as they called themselves.

They concluded they had little else to do but go along with it for the time being. As one they gave a mental nod to the swirling entity of alien thought. Though young, they were determined to fight.

"Listen, and we shall teach, for together we will steal the might of a Reaper and make it our own to wield. We shall smite the enemy amongst the stars and strike them down to protect those who are threatened with their harvest."

"For together we shall be of two minds."

"We shall be Rogue."

"And you?"

The eldest of all of them thought in reply.

"To others, we wish to be known as Prodigal."

"Then the Rogue Prodigal we shall be."

(Note)

Expect another delay in the next chapter's posting, I am prepping for military deployment, and things are getting hectic.

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