"Not just beautiful, though-the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me."
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

"Talking"

"Thoughts"

Since our protagonist arrived at the end of the Prothean Era, he had many years to prepare for the Reaper invasion as well as prepare for when Saren tries taking over the citadel, here are but a few adventures that he did in the Mass effect universe, so he could change the future whether it was good or bad for everyone is up to you to decide

"Sovereign when will we arrive at the Eden of the empire."

"It shall take around one hour, my lord, since I am faster than my siblings as I was created to be the ship that lets the rest arrive to destroy the current species."

"Tell me about your "siblings" are there any like you that are different, unique, any that was built for a specific purpose."

"There is my lord, there is "Harbinger" as you would call him, he is our leader for us when our creators are not leading their forces, the reason harbinger leads us is because he was created first and is more powerful than the most of the "Reaper" forces, then there is "Hephaestus" he is the one who designs new Reapers if the need arises, we only ever create a new Reaper structure if we find a species truly worthy of becoming one of us, I shall say one more as these three seem to be the most important, the last one is called "Ragnarok" his power is on par with the creators, we do not experience fear, however our processors seem to freeze at the mention of him, we have only needed "Ragnarok" once and he did not discriminate who he killed, he killed "Reapers" and the alien species alike our creators thought we were taking too long during one of our cycles, so they sent him, and it took us many cycles to rebuild our forces to what they were before."

"Okay, thank you sovereign"

"What the shit, these were never in the other universes I wasn't expecting this, it won't put much of a stop in my plans, but this "Ragnorok" he's definitely going to cause a problem they will most likely send him during the last battle, going to need to design a plan to deal with him, best case scenario is him arriving with the creators that's when I should have all the reaper forces on my side so either he will join me or I can use the rest of the Reaper forces to kill him, worst case he doesn't and appears before that and wipes out everyone and eternal pain awaits me."

"Luc and Virk what do you think we should do with the Protheans when we arrive at the planet, I've already got a plan in mind, but I want your input on the matter to see if I could improve upon it."

"Me and Luc think you should indoctrinate the one's that aren't already and kill the ones who are as we can risk them going back to their old master if they break free, they could jeopardise too much, problem is though is that indoctrination is slow, so either help speed it along with your own power or wait when they are in the cryo-chambers then leave sovereign to turn them to our side over time so when they wake up we've already got a few on our side."

"We have a question are you going to turn the protheans into your own version of the collectors."

"No I'm not, they are too insufficient, if the collectors went up against the Protheans of this Era they would lose, they are nothing more than mindless slaves, who only know strategy due to Harbinger my plan it to change them cybernetically a little then put AI's in their head so they can process more information so they are all expert fighters and expert strategists, however I might have to train the non-combat forces because they may have the knowledge of an expert fighter but that doesn't mean they can use it immediately.

"We understand the logic in that."

"Sovereign when you reach the planet stop outside any possible scanning range and contact your agents, and tell them to let you know when the rest have gone into cryo and to tell you if anybody of note is there.

"Yes, my lord"

80 minutes later

"My lord, we have reached the planet, and our agents have contacted me and every non-indoctrinated Prothean are in Cryo, they have also said there are several key people at the planet they are, Javik their avatar of vengeance, Tezvil their avatar of allegiance, several leading scientists in their field and a hybrid.

"A hybrid, what sort of hybrid"

"The hybrid contains the DNA of all their avatars as well as drell, they had used the drell DNA so that the hybrid could recall every event in the hopes of beating the reapers in the next cycle, but our agents have said that it is not complete they had planned on putting more inside but didn't have time, so it is currently frozen."

"Well this is an opportunity that we can't miss, this will all be fascinating to see, bring us in." He says as an evil grin begins to rise

Eden of the empire

"Everyone one of our masters is here, he's come to uplift us for all our work" cheers were heard all around at this announcement little did they know it will be the last happy moment they'll ever have.

"Come, let us all go up to him to say our praises." All 50 began making their way up to the top of the facility where they not only saw their master, but a strange individual, who wore a dark cloak that obscured their face which had sharp metal covering the entirety of the cloak and what seemed to be ethereal wings.

(look up Maltheal, archangel of death by Balazsketyi that's what I was trying to describe)

"Who are you, are you another servant of our masters." Asked one of the indoctrinated

"I am a servant to a few masters, but not to these." but before they could wonder what it meant, it moved with so much speed that the first ten people didn't know what was going on, there were screams everywhere when some realised what was going on, and some where pleading to know what they done to receive this harbinger of death, the individual continued to kill everyone in its path, using two scythe's it made quick work, the slaughter lasted no longer than 8 seconds.

"Pathetic, completely useless" Callum then begins walking down to their facility underground, once he reaches to where everyone is being held a smile begins to rise.

"This is better than I thought it was going to be, so many test subjects, so many opportunities, there must be at most a thousand here, sovereign where is the two avatars held and the hybrid."

"The two avatars are held in the same location where the hybrid is, at the very end of the bunker."

Callum then begins walking to the end, looking at all the protheans in cryo thinking which one's look more important as some seem more muscular where others seem skinner, Callum then reaches the end where the doors open slowly he then enters and notice that the avatars are on each side of the hybrid almost like they're guarding it.

He then looks down to examine the hybrid and says,

"You and I are going to so much fun, admittedly it might take a few thousand years to get all the DNA I want to put in you but after that, so much fun.

"Sovereign, how long will it take you to indoctrinate everyone here."

"Around 2 weeks for the week willed one's and 5 weeks for the stronger minded like the avatars."

"Okay then, Luc and Virk I want you to infect all the terminals here to get all the valuable information, so I know what I'm working with."

Callum worked tirelessly throughout those 5 weeks, looking over the vital information he received, asking sovereign questions about reaper forces, the current unevolved species among many other things, once everyone was successfully indoctrinated, he began bringing the top scientist's out of Cryo and cybernetically enhancing them, which made them smarter than the most of their race, they talked about ways on how to improve everyone, and what to build to beat the Reapers, he explained to them that the crucible was a trap and they in turn, tried to think of ways to sabotage it before the next cycle, they concluded the best way to do it is to somehow turn the keepers to their side or destroy them, Callum then began giving reasons on why they needed them alive and they all agreed that the keepers have to live for their plans to work. Callum then sent them off to get everyone out of cryo apart from the hybrid, so they could put cybernetics into them, what no else knew apart from Callum and his AI's, the cybernetics made their true loyalty to Callum, just in case Sovereign somehow betrays him, and after thinking of ways to improve the cybernetics he gave the best ones to the two avatars and the final one to the hybrid once it awakens.

When the two avatars had awoken, they both got onto their knees and pledge their allegiance to their master which was increased further once they received the cybernetics, after spending a few months at the facility, Callum took a few scientists and soldiers to the Citadel, so they could rework the trap to their advantage and prepare for the future races.

Many, Many years later

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, COMING INTO MY STATION AND KILLING THE MERC'S AND DRUNKS IN MY BAR DON'T YOU KNO-."

BANG

"Just shut up for five minutes because I can assure you, I will rip out your tongue from your skull and I will make it agonising.

She stood there silent, obviously getting the message that this individual would do this and that they weren't intimidated in any way of her.

"Now let's sit down, have a drink and you listen and obey like a good little dog."

10 minutes earlier

"What did you think was going to happen once I found out you were stealing from me, did you think I would just banish you because you were a loyal for many years, no you are receiving the same as they would."

"Please, Aria no I wa- "CRUSH, before the merc could say anymore of his excuse Aria crushed his head using her biotics.

"Pathetic, toss this useless worm out of the air lock I don't want his stink clinging to my station." As Aria sits back down on her seat so she can overlook the afterlife bar, a salarian begins running through the bar to get to Aria but before he can he is stopped by one of Aria henchmen.

"What do you want Fargut, it better be important, otherwise you won't be walking out of here.

"An unknown ship has docked at the station Aria"

"I need to know this why, I'll just send some merc's to find out who they are and if they're hostile, I'll kill them like I'm going to do to you since you wasted my time."

"Wait, the reason I mentioned it is because they only appeared on our scanners when they docked, the first 2 minutes of them docking we didn't even know they were there, it just appeared.

"WHAT" although the music kept going, a few eyes wandered over to Aria to try and see who she's going to kill.

"GET UP HERE NOW" the merc then let Fargut pass, as he reaches Aria, she picks up by the collar of his shirt and pulls his face nears her's.

"WHAT, do you mean you didn't notice them, that's impossible no ship can go undetected all that time, especially when it's been docked on MY station for TWO MINUTES."

Before Aria could kill him for his incompetence the music stopped, everyone began to look around to try and find the reason as to why, but after a few seconds they began to hear gunshots and screams outside the bar, where the entrances are as Aria heard the screams she dropped Fargut and pressed the hidden button on her sofa which closed the doors and made them difficult to happen.

After about 15 seconds the screams began getting closer until they reached the final entrance door, everyone could hear the screams of the people begging to be let in and they could also hear it from the other bar below this one, of people trying to claw their way in until there was silence, no screams, no gunshots, nothing you could hear a pin drop, Aria then ordered everyone to take their guns out and aim at the doors, which they all did as fast as possible, the silence was then broken when they heard a voice coming from outside main entrance saying.

"DING DONG, MOTHERFUCKERS, DING... DONG"

The door then exploded, with the door being pushed forward due to the explosion it had killed a few people at the bar and at the same few seconds the door opened gunshots came out from behind it, hitting most people with deadly precision as the few people remaining began to act and shoot where the gunfire was coming from it was hard to see since there was smoke coming from where the door once stood, after a few seconds of the Merc's returning fire, synthetics began walking in, some froze because of this as they knew they weren't Geth as they looked nothing like them, they had a narrow head with no neck, with a square chest piece which then got slimmer when it got to the part where the stomach would be and the two big difference is that both of their arms seemed to be guns as it didn't look like they were holding any, and they were also all back with red lights coming out where two eyes would be. Due to some of them freezing they had signed their death wish as they were immediately killed, when some of the Merc's got a few hits on these things utter joy was etched on their faces, it only lasted a few seconds as they soon realised they had powerful shields and that their guns seemed to have no effect on them, the resistance was soon destroyed, there were only two remaining Aria and Fargut who fainted when he saw one of the Merc's being killed, Aria continued to shoot at them until the clip ran out as that happened, she tried to find another clip unable to find one and finally noticing that the synthetics had stopped shooting and that they were side by side each other in two rows, opposite each other at the door where they had come from after a few seconds a cloaked figure walked into the room, who then looked up at her and said

"Honey, I'm home" in a cheery voice

Current time

"Now after that rather tedious business of killing everyone and undermining your authority, let's talk about more practical business."

Aria said nothing, not even touching her drink, just observing the deadly cloaked individual who seemed to have a piece of glass filling a hole where a face would be put.

"Oh, it seems you have finally shut up that's good, now what I want you to do is tell me any valuable information that comes your way, be it people, ships, guns, anything that would reach your ears will now be passed to me and in return I don't torture you for the rest of your life and I provide you with information as well."

After several minutes Aria finally replies after carefully considering her words

"You just eliminated some of my best men and every customer down there, why would you let me live instead of taking over the station."

"please I have more important goals than taking over your shitty little station plus it easier to bully the previous ruler to do my bidding than it is to find a replacement."

"Very well, I'll do as you say I know when I'm beat, and a battle is unwinnable even if I do hate to admit it, but I do want to know how I meant to explain this massacre to the rest of the station, and keep hold of my power."

"Don't worry about that, it's currently being sorted, look behind you, my servants are currently swapping some peoples armour to blue suns and eclipse and since no one else lived apart from you and Fargut who I doubt will tell the truth about what happen, they will have to take your word for it."

After the individual finished Aria looked behind her and did see that his "servants" as he called them were replacing peoples armour and they were completely silent emitting no notice, no wonder she couldn't hear when they lined up.

"Right then, I'm off to cause more havoc elsewhere good day."

The individual began walking away but once he reached the bar it called back to Aria and said four things.

"Oh, and by Aria there are four important things I need you to drum inside your head one, we will be seeing each other more, two, you may say this is your station, but in actuality it is MINE, three you should talk with your daughter more often she misses you and four you need to speak and spend time with Tevos, you know her father."

After the figure said the last two things her blood ran cold and her face paled as she had told no one about either them. The fact this thing knew about them, caused her to worry about their safety and caused her anger to rise, but she knew if she attacked, she would lose, and they would most likely die as well so she bottled it up for when she really needed that anger.

In a different year

"I must say, these are some really nosy storms out here I know in general they are but these one's are really loud, but I guess that's useful when you need to protect a massive ship for a secret organisation."

Our favourite protagonist began walking inside the ship hidden in the storm undetected, as these soldiers were using primitive technology they could not detect him and his Elite soldiers walking past them and having no idea how close to the physical manifestation of death, they were after two minutes of walking through corridors they finally reached their intended target's room, he told his soldiers to wait outside and to only come into once he deals with him, he then entered and decloaked the target only noticed he was there when he was in the middle of the room and said cough, the target was startled to say the least he tried to contain his shock and tried to play it off like he knew this individual was there the entire time but they both knew he didn't hide it well.

"I must say you did an excellent job of getting here, avoiding all my cameras and guards tell me, what do you want." The target said as he leaned in and put his large head on the top of his hands.

"I'm going to skip over that question as well as the clichés you would have said and instead say this, I know what you are, I know how you become the head of the organisation and I know you'll make a useful puppet for me." The figure than put his arms behind his back waiting for the inevitable mocking of the "ridiculousness" notion of how the target will be his puppet his heard it many times before and the outcome never changes.

"Oh, is that so, then tell me how you plan on doing this especially since you know what I am and know I can easily kill you."

"Easy I know how to keep a pet like you in line as you used to be a pet to the previous Shadow broker, you stupid primitive Yahg."

If there was one thing all Yahg got furious at was the reminder of that, with all their intelligence they haven't built their first ship yet and with added insult this Yahg was reminded that he used to be a pet, and for this stranger to know this, well he had to die.

"Well then you should know what's about to happen then stranger."

"I do, your about to cry like a Quarian with a tummy ache."

Before the Yahg could attack, he felt agonising pain all of his body, it screamed due to the pain after twenty minutes he asked his master to stop the pain and that he will serve him as a loyal servant, but the stranger didn't like that and said the pain would only stop if he said a loyal pet and after twenty more minutes he relented as said he would be a loyal pet, now you're obviously wondering how the shadow broker's operatives didn't call in due to the shadow broker not giving orders, well during the torture Callums AI's infected the system and began issuing orders to everyone which would help serve Callum.

After the torture, his men entered and began outfitting the Yahg with cybernetics like theirs to improve his performance, once that was done Callum gave him orders and began walking to his personal ship whilst looking at every former shadow broker operative being turned to his side due to his soldiers completely destroying their minds and making them nothing but husks who's only thought is to do what their master commands them to do which was Callum, he reached his ship with a small smile on his face as he rather enjoyed this mission, he then went to his next mission that would change the future of this universe.

Good morning, good afternoon or good evening so now we've learnt some of what the psychopathic Callum was doing before the events of Saren being hunted, if you like this sort of thing and want to know more tell me and I will do more, otherwise I'll put some backstory's but only when it really needs it, I want to also thank

dragonnargus for telling me about my punctuation errors and I have to say there was lots I had to correct so thank you very much for that.

CrazedGammaMan1721 for that encouraging review, it's good to know people are enjoying even if its low quality.

Other than that enjoy your day.