Chapter 1: Emergence

Disclaimer: Neither Mass Effect nor Karakuridôji Ultimo belongs to me.

Author note: There's no Reapers in this fic, though the big bad here possibly will appear in a similar form. as for the manga series, the dôji have a different background and purpose here. With inspirations for the setting, and the big bad, drawn from multiple sources such as 9 and the Matrix.

Author note 2: Yes, I know I removed this story from the site earlier. Did it almost entirely on impulse after some deliberations on whether I took certain things too far. With some recent consideration I decided to put the story back up. Sorry for the trouble.

Date: 2651 G.S.

Location: Orbit above third planet from local star in newly discovered [Yet unnamed] system.

Dr. Mornoa stood in the bridge of the science vessel Uncovering sight, waiting for the completion of initial scans of the planet below. The atmosphere inside the ship was a gloomy one, work such as this is never an easy one.

The relay that linked to this system was discovered a year ago, but only recently did it receive the attention it deserved – mostly because the initial surveyors discovered a cache of Prothean technology on the system's fourth planet.

On the other hand, the third planet did not seem to have anything interesting of note, as it was completely shrouded by a seemingly impenetrable global storm. Because of this, it was thought to be a lifeless world. Recently though, just three weeks ago, the expedition that eventually set up camp on the fourth planet picked up a weak signal coming from the third planet.

A long-range scan was conducted, and it was confirmed that the global layer of clouds hid a surface covered by ruins left behind by an unknown civilization. The discovery of extensive radiation-coverage across most of the surface indicated destruction by a nuclear war, increasing the number of known sapient life – destroyed by such conflict – up to eight.

And now, Mornoa, a prominent archaeologist from the Salarian Union, had been sent with a dedicated ship and crew of his own to study the planet more closely, and to eventually effect a landing.

More than anything else, he wanted to get down there sooner rather than later. Whatever information might still exist on the surface is most likely in state of slow decay even now as they dither about in orbit. Time was of the essence.

"Are you certain?" the ship's captain; Veera, one of the few Asari on board, asked wistfully. She had not taken her eyes off the display as a section of the storm twisted with the collision of heavy concentrations of clouds, and caused a violent release of electricity.

"Yes." Dr. Mornoa replied, clenching his fist.. "What's taking so long?" he hammered those words across as if they were nails. His thoughts were the same as everyone else on the ship; what kind of boons and contributions could this species had brought to galactic civilization had they still lived?

Needless to say, he wanted to find out as much about them as possible. As quickly as possible.

Holograms plopped up and hovered between him and the canopy, showing dots across the map that indicated ruins of more than two million cities of various sizes across the face of the planet. Most of them being in the northern hemisphere. There were also mountains in odd places, but dismissed those as a local peculiarity.

He was somewhat relieved to see the ruins survive to this apparent extent.. but it also meant the cataclysm was relatively recent. He couldn't study all of these places even if he had a hundred life-times to do it, though. So he settled on just one location for starters. After a slight moment of rapid thought, he raised a hand and placed the index finger firmly against the western part of the largest landmass. "Take us down here." it was no coincidence that he chose this particular location.. as it's where those signals they detected earlier came from.

Veera scrutinized the image, and started on a nod as she turned to her crew. "Helm, take us in. Punch through the area with lowest weather activity." judging an approach through a thunderstorm to be less than desirable.

"Aye aye, ma'am." the turian helm replied as he broke orbit and turned the ship on an inbound trajectory. Guiding the ship skillfully into the planet's atmosphere.

Most of the trip down to the planet below was uneventful, until they met with the thick layer of clouds that obscured the planet. It shuddered as they pierced through it. A depressing sight awaited them.

What they saw was a darkened world fraught with storms. The mood on board managed to degrade from gloomy – to outright bleak, as they gazed upon the largely lifeless world.

"One big graveyard..." Veera whispered so softly that the words barely even left her lips before they dispersed into nothing.

Dr. Mornoa lowered his head mournfully before tapping in the coordinates of the city he chose as their starting area. "Bring us in, here.. All science teams; ready yourselves. Our work will begin the moment we land."

He received a few green lights of confirmation before handing his PDA over to the captain and calmly left the bridge to prepare alongside the rest.

Seventy-five minutes later.

Location: On planet surface; northern hemisphere; outside the Uncovering sight.

The old salarian looked outward at the cityscape surrounding them merely minutes after the Uncovering sight had finished executing a fine landing. Crews funneling out of it to begin their work. All wearing appropriate suits to protect them against the extensive radiation of their environment. Their Geiger counter went insane the moment they left the ship, and kept screaming until the scientists turned it off. There's radiation everywhere, so there was no point in trying to find a radiation-free area.

A tall monument with a statue on top overlooked the area from the center of the plaza. Only a few parts of it remained relatively undamaged.. Judging by the looks of the statue on top, the natives possessed physical traits similar to both Asari and Batarians to various degrees.

A turian member of the security team that tagged along with them stood nearby, also looking up at the statue with something akin to a frown before turning away. His interest drained almost immediately.

He turned slowly to examine his group as they moved towards him, wobbling clumsily in those big hazard suits. "Shall we move out?" Maelon, his assistant asked with eagerness evident in his tone. A promising young man who recently graduated, eager to prove himself on the field. A good lad with a productive future ahead of him.

Mornoa smiled, "Yes." gesturing at the uneven cityscape, with a blend of old-style and advanced architecture filling the view, which seemed to lead up to a tower in the distance, seemingly more advanced and recent than the rest. From the air, it looked as though something had broken it in half. Exactly what, he had no way of knowing without a proper investigation, but he had a feeling in his gut that they might be able to find something there. "Follow me, and stay close."

And so he and his group of six, along with a trio of security guards moved out. Similarly sized teams fanning out in every available direction. All eager to uncover everything these ruins might contain.

Date: 26th March, 3573 A.D.

Location: Europe – Germany, the ruins of Potsdam.

"Just what are they doing?" Promina asked in outrage, and managed a frown despite that his head was largely as featureless as a helmet with red slits for eyes behind his visor. He looked up searchingly at the hulking Orgullo.

The aspect of Pride; Orgullo, being one of the very few bulky dôji gazed back down at the comparatively diminutive minor dôji standing before him. "Nothing we can do about it except wait and keep checking the enemy's resource routes. This silent treatment they've given us these last couple of months might be an attempt to make us think they've gone weak. We must avoid growing careless."

"So all we do is... nothing?" Promina argued. "It doesn't make any sense! The kurozu hasn't made a move in months. Their power-grids are down, their factories are idle, military and all other mobile assets are cooped up in their bases. And all mining operations are inactive. And they only react when we get too close to their facilities, only to become inactive again after. What are they waiting for?"

"We've had this argument before, Promina." Orgulla rumbled tiredly, attempting to make the minor dôji scurry back to the others with a mild shove from his massive gauntlets. "Until the Grand Aspects agree on attacking them directly and in force, we'll continue doing what we've always been doing."

The communications officer held his ground for a split second until the advancing wall of his superior's gauntlet made him change his mind. Only offering token resistance that seemed almost childish before he finally backed off.

The rest of his platoon of five hundred dôji soldiers tried to listen in. All manner of eyes fixed on the aspect, though no words were spoken.

A tiny measure of appeasement was in order to distract them.

Orgullo managed a faint grin before he lifted his left gauntlet, using his Noh to conjure flames. After the initial burst, he pointed an index finger at the sky; as if to regulate the intensity; a grand fire appeared in the middle of the area in front of him.

The tension vanished in nearly an instant as dôji all around closed in to huddle around the fire. The aspect was quick to increase the heat spread to force the cold out of the surrounding area. Now he just needed to wait for the daily food supplies to arrive, and they'll all forget about the argument on the spot.

Speak of the devil.

A ball of energy appeared, right on cue. From it, a counter was conjured, on which a long line of packs filled with nutri-bars could be seen. But the one that pulled everyone's eye was the appearance of the aspect of Generosity, standing behind the counter.

Orgullo chuckled at the resulting frenzy as his soldiers fell over one another to get to the counter. Service's one of the morale officers among the aspects. Very beautiful in almost every way along with a terrific singing voice he is more than eager to use at the concerts he often arrange, and thus very popular to the point that he attracts courtiers as much as a corpse attracts flies. A rather morbid comparison, but then again, Orgullo's one of the Sins, speaking of rainbows and butterflies wasn't in his nature.

"Here you go, sir." one of the other minor dôji, one shaped much like an archetypical comic-hero approached him and handed over one of the boxes he just fetched. And he was in a brilliant mood, if one might say so.

"Thanks." he halfway huffed, snatching the food out of his subordinate's grasp. "So what's with you today, Justice?" Justice was only three years old, but that's practically an adult by dôji reckoning. He entered Orgullo's battalion just two months ago.

"Feeling great. I've been given two weeks' leave, starting tomorrow. My kid was born just a couple of days ago." Justice smiled, and looked like he was going to fish up and show off a photo at any moment like an overly proud and loving parent would. Judging from the gleam in his eyes... Justice wasn't too far off the mark.

The aspect shrugged, "Just don't let your guard down. Your dreamy expression is something I'd loathe to see during a battle."

"Sir, what's the odds of one happening right now?"

"Sir!" the two turned to see Promina coming back, wearing a mask of urgency as well as he's able.. "We've gotten a message from HQ!"

Orgullo for a moment expected that the tiresome git had gotten brave enough for another verbal exchange. But what followed made him give Justice a grin before he turned to the other, "Report."

"They've detected weird energy readings, and want us to investigate it immediately."

"Weird?" Justice inquired while he nibbled on a nutri-bar.

"As in: Unknown."

"...Anything else?" Orgullo asked almost hopefully.

Promina paused and placed a hand against his head, checking.. "It's faint. But there's a very faint kurozu signal coming from the area."

"Where?"

"Luxembourg city."

"... Shit. We got rapid transit available?"

"Aye. Priority call."

"We got a battle on our hands, at long last." Orgullo got up and stomped through the area, his soldiers clearing away to give the giant a wide berth. The great campfire vanished in a single puff as his mind wandered back to work, "Same procedure as always, we go in hard and fast! Hit them before they know we're there, and we'll all get back in one piece, just in time for dinner." he shouted at them like a drill sergeant.

"Good luck, hope to see you all soon." Service called out as he distributed the remaining food before he vanished along with the counter in a burst of light. His presence replaced by a golden orb courtesy of a certain someone among the big three. A spatial orb, adorned with the symbol of a crane, used to travel quickly across long distances when necessary, waiting to be used.

"Any questions?" Orgullo asked, looking at all those around him for a moment. When no one spoke up, he approached the orb and placed a gauntlet against it.. "Then lets go."

Location: Local tower/skyscraper, entrance to 1st floor.

They had no sooner entered the tower before they found themselves at an ancient site of terrible carnage. They found a lobby filled with the corpses of what must have been soldiers back during the war that reduced this world to such a sorry state.

"Something's wrong." Maelon observed, bringing up his personal scanner. They hadn't opened the front entrance yet, and he wasn't about to let the rest enter before he knew what's inside. "The bodies inside are too well-preserved."

"... You're right. These bodies should have rotted away by now, but instead they're just withered." another fellow archaeologist commented.

"Anything we should be worried about?" Mornoa inquired as he gazed into the place, rubbing the side of his palms against the glass to make it easier for him to see through, without much effect.

"That's strange." Maelon said, "There's no atmosphere in there at all. Not even the slightest sign of bacteria. I don't know how, but this place was hermetically sealed by... something."

"Anything dangerous inside?"

"No." he concluded with a whisper, "Everything's clear from the looks of it."

"Shall we open it?" Torvus – one of the guards, asked.

Mornoa gave a nod, "Do it." before turning away to radio back to the ship, "Captain, we've found something big. Deploy the buggy, we're going to need its transport capacity to get these new finds back to the ship for analysis."

Static belched back into his ear as the Captain answered; "Alright. Mind telling me what you guys found?"

The aging salarian hummed, turning back to the entrance just as the guards managed to open it with a small explosive, watching alongside the rest as the air suddenly popped in audibly through the new hole to fill the space within as if the lobby was an airless void. Shattered glass flowed in with the resulting wind and settled on the floor. "A miraculously well-preserved site of a battle."

"Nothing bad, we're good to go." Maelon confirmed, being the first one to enter – alongside Torvus who simply couldn't let one of the eggheads enter a potentially dangerous place first.

They quickly went to work, carefully lining up the bodies inside, and placed them within body bags before loading them onto the buggy after it arrived. All of the bodies seemed intact bar severe discoloration, and the thing about them being dead. All of them wore armor that ranged from what could be standard combat uniform to heavy power armor. The aliens also gathered the weapons lying around with great care, except Torvus who picked up what looked like a double-barreled handgun that seemed to be operational. And whenever he cocked it, the barrels split vertically in half. One of the others tried to tell him to put it down with the other gathered weapons, afraid that the gun might blow up in the turian's face.

Mornoa watched as this went on, until Maelon once again managed to fetch his attention. The old salarian approached the assistant where he stood examining what resembled a vent.. only, the grill that was supposed to be there was clogged by strange green substance.

"See this?" the young lad asked with fascination, his eyes on said substance.

"What about it?" Mornoa asked curiously, "It's what caused this place to become airtight?" it was a guess on his part.

"According to scans, there are pockets of gas in it." Maelon replied, "Only, this is no ordinary gas. The same substance can be found on the heavy armored suits too. And I'm guessing it might be in the bodies' bloodstream too. Imagine.. a type of poison gas with several ways of killing things. Aside from the obvious, being able to eat up oxygen, and eventually use it to harden itself?"

Mornoa pondered this information, "A gruesome weapon." he lamented at the thought.

"Yes." Maelon nodded enthusiastically, "Considering that the natives failed to get out indicates that the gas itself kills very quickly. The clogging of airways, vents and the burning of breathable gases made sure to suffocate those with gear appropriate for countering the former... Take those heavy suits for example."

The young one was apparently interested, but it greatly worried Mornoa. He couldn't understand what kind of people would develop weapons such as this.

Truth be told, it was something he'd rather not think about.. and was mercifully granted a distraction as the building suddenly shook with a sudden eruption of light and a surprised gasp.

Looking at where it came from, they saw Torvus standing there, completely stunned. He had just used the native handgun and fired a shot at the wall.. except now with the dust clearing away, the team could plainly see that the tiny weapon had successfully blown through a section of the wall, leaving a hole about ten meters across. No wonder he simply stood there, as if frozen solid. "This... thing... is wicked...!" Torvus managed to say after staring blankly at the wall he just destroyed.

Mornoa had no need to answer when Veera called in about the sudden commotion, one of the others already did. And considering how the turian down there kept wincing, she's probably chewing him out now about the reckless handling of foreign weapons he doesn't even have a license for.

"Nothing to worry about, Captain. No one's hurt." the salarian tossed in as they prepared to head back to the ship with all that they've found so far. "The other teams making progress?"

But Veera was not about to let Torvus off easily, releasing a rasping sigh of exasperation as she controlled her voice just enough to answer to the leader of this mission, "Seems like it. Right now we're having a little trouble keeping in touch with the second and sixth team. Probably just interference."

Meanwhile

Location: Downtown.

'Flash! Aah-aahhhh! Savior of the universe!'

"This is some strange interference." Sonus whispered while slamming a hand against the side of his helmet, trying to get his earpiece to work properly. He wanted to know what that big flash of light was, "Can anyone of you get in touch with the Captain? I'm only getting strange alien music here."

"Nothing but static, maybe your earpiece is broken." the lead scientist on the group he's guarding replied after making another attempt at hailing the Uncovering sight. He and the rest of his colleagues trying to analyze an old terminal in an attempt to find something to bring back to the ship. Sufficed to say, they haven't had much luck so far. "Should we head back?"

"That would be most prudent, yes."

But they did not get any further before Aeline – a fellow guard, suddenly opened up a clipped burst on something, shouting a shrill; "Contact!" while at it. Whatever she saw, it's gone now.

"Hold fire! What the hell did you just see?" Sonus shouted at the asari as she stared at the area in front of them.

She only managed to look back at him with great effort, "I don't know. A big tentacled.. thing... It slipped away before I could nail it-"

No sooner did she finish before the lead scientist and the others cried out in terror when something shot down at a subordinate of his, smashed the unfortunate one's skull with a snap of claws that appeared to be attached to a long metallic tentacle. Sonus and Aeline both opened fire at the strange thing even as it pulled the salarian's body up and out of sight.. before whatever the thing was discarded it back to them just a few seconds later – in a shower of pieces.

"Step away from the wall, now!" Sonus called out, clicking his mandibles as synthetic horrors appeared from the darkest shadows all around them. Dozens of them. Each of them with many tentacled limbs that flowed menacingly while its almost round 'head' stared at them with dozens of blood-red optics. He swallowed hard, trying to stare down unknown adversaries that so much resembled demons in this all-consuming darkness. He was about to fire when a wall of light suddenly stormed past him, killing several of the machines in one go in a shower of sparks and detonations. The lead scientist was hit by that beam as well, and was vaporized on the spot – with only an arm left in free fall. "W-what the-?"

He turned just in time to see several more machines shot down as another force made its appearance. But it only lasted for a second before his vision was filled with burning light.

Location: Downtown, close to Sonus' team.

"Enemy confirmed. Forty-seven kurozu hostiles in sight. Squid-variant. Warning, unknown targets in sight; humanoid; Six units." Promina reported the initial sightings as the battalion arrived in Luxembourg. A dozen fellow dôji rushing past him to take positions, a movement echoed across ten neighboring streets. The ground lightly shaking as Orgullo stomped past him.

"Humanoid? Some new variant?" he growled, "No matter, saturate the entire area, now! No survivors!"

Several voices called out as a dozen 'Karakuri henges' were initiated, bringing an assortment of arm-cannons into play.

"Maximum spread, fire!"

The line of soldiers opened up all at once, wiping out the targets before them with a couple of sweeping salvos. Leaving little behind but complete ruination.. Only the few kurozu-squids far enough from the ground managed survived to retreat.

Promina watched, and raised his shoulders very slightly.. it couldn't even qualify as a shrug. A fight against five hundred kurozu would have been a decent challenge to a few dozen minor dôji, but the other way around.. the only expected result was a massacre.

But he was curious about those humanoids. Did it not look like they were trying to defend themselves from kurozu assault? It was weird to think about.. as there hasn't been a single case like this since humanity died off.

His line of thought was interrupted as Orgullo called for the battalion to advance, just as the entire horizon seemed to be in upheaval. Promina quickly deployed his regular shotgun-henge, and hurried to help his comrades.

"Kurozu swarms up ahead!" Justice announced further ahead.

"Must be a thousand at least.."

Orgullo did not take his eyes off the scene as the flying horde of enemies continued to emerge from the ground.. Many dôji already in the process of picking them off by the dozen like they're flocks of pigeons. "Standard procedure: Split into groups of five and initiate claw formation. I want the skies clear ten minutes ago."

Individual squad leaders called out as most of the battalion took to the sky to engage their hated enemy that no sane dôji would ever wish to have peace with.

Location: Downtown, on the way back to Uncovering sight.

They did not know what just happened.. only that they needed to get back asap. It sounded as if a battle's going on over their heads, and all across the sky. But in this dark, they couldn't see anything but dozens of worm-like shadows that snaked through the air every time a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, each in pursuit of something that's even less clear. Otherwise, the air was filled with the echoes of gunfire, blasts, explosions and the insane screeching of metal.

"Duck!" Torvus shouted on the top of his lungs for the rest to lower their heads as something huge passed right over them, "Dr. Maelon, get do-" the shout died in his throat as he faintly watched Mornoa's assistant's now headless body tumble off the buggy. "The fuck is happening! Wasn't this planet supposed to be uninhabited?"

Mornoa grit his teeth.. having watched his assistant die as well. It was so sudden, and shocking that he couldn't answer the guard at all, only whimpering a faint; "W-what am I supposed to tell his parents..?" the poor lad...

Everyone kept their heads down as they finally arrived.. their driver in his panic stepped on it, sending them hurling towards the side of the ship while smashing away scattered wrecks along the way.. They would have praised themselves lucky if they knew that the area around them are littered with the bodies from other survey teams that attempted to retreat back to the Uncovering sight, only to be cut down by an unseen foe.

"Captain, open the hangar door! We're on our way in!" Torvus yelled through his earpiece.

The answer was immediate as the hangar opened up before them. It was a remarkably beautiful sight with all those lights. A view that looked like the safest place in the world, "Roger that. Hurry!"

The buggy quickly crossed the rest of the distance and almost jumped into the ship's hangar. The door closing shut behind them with a speed that could be best described as agonizingly slow in these circumstances. It went all the way without stop.. but not before the sliver of safety they felt moments ago were crushed as something tossed a disc-shaped device into the hangar, which subsequently transformed into some kind of an insect – before it rushed to the closest crew member and latched onto his leg.

"Uuwaaah, get it off me!" the salarian crewman cried out just before the little machine self-destructed, killing him and a colleague who had come to try and pry the thing off.

Mornoa cursed under his breath.. How many more will die before this is over? He thought miserably as he disembarked from the buggy and ran all the way to the bridge, where he found Veera and the rest already hard at work to get the ship started up, "Dr. Mornoa.. there you are. We're pulling out, most of our personnel are down..."

"There's no need to convince me, Captain." the salarian replied gruffly, "Take off, immediately."

"Uh... ma'am...?" helm's quaking voice reached them as a massive tremor shook the area. Several city blocks collapsed before their eyes as something enormous came up from the ground. They stood no chance of seeing all of it, and thought it was an abnormally gigantic thresher maw until a massive single blood-red eye showed itself, staring unblinkingly at them. The ship itself wobbling when something curled around it. "It's got us!"

"Bring up weapons, hurry!" Veera cried out.

Gunnery officer turned, "Trying. But I am not getting any response!"

"Bridge, what's happening out there? There's something trying to break into the hangar!" Torvus called in before the air suddenly split with a metallic scream, "It's breached.. it's...Guwaarghh!"

Silence ruled the bridge as the ship continued to be swing about, as if pulled by the giant still filling their vision. No one dared to look to the door behind them... not even as a number of blood-drenched tentacles with ominous claws suddenly destroyed it, and made a line for those inside the bridge.

Five minutes later.

Location: Close to the Monument of Remembrance. Post-battle.

The battle finally ended.. with at least seven hundred kurozu-squids shot down. While the dôji themselves managed to get past with just about fifty-two wounded. Twenty of that number; severely. What's left of the enemy forces pulled back to cover the kurozu-worm as it curled a large number of tentacles around the strange ship, and made a full retreat once the worm had fully pulled back into the hole it came from with the ship in tow.

"Ah.. victory." Orgullo called it. But Promina wasn't so sure. He had a sinking feeling that whatever the kurozu came here for... they got it.

He landed next to one of the 'wrecks' that was left behind by the strange humanoids. Their CO thought they were weapons or tools created by the kurozu, but something was odd about them.

They did not fight... much. Tried to flee. Too easy to destroy. And the wrecks left behind leaked some kind of red fluid. Promina prodded a nearby pond of the stuff with a finger and lifted it up to his eye-level. After a close examination, a thought occurred to him; Could this... be... blood?

Whatever it is... best pass this all of this information on to the aspect of Wisdom. He'll certainly know what to make of this.

"Front and center." his CO called out. The minor dôji turned around and hurried back to the rest. Regardless of thoughts... he's still on duty for now. A message could be sent later.

However, halfway there, he received what sounded like a broadcast.. Something about kurozu power-grids coming back online across the entire planet. It couldn't possibly be a mere coincidence that this happened right after the worm captured that ship. It made a report to the aspect of Wisdom all the more important.

I'm having a bad feeling about this..

Three days later.

Location: Fourth planet, Prothean archives.

"And since then, you haven't managed to contact them?"

Matriarch Benezia gazed at the landscape beyond the window of one of many habitation modules that have been established in the wake of the expedition's arrival to this red barren planet. A momentous sand storm could be seen in the distance. Dr. Mornoa, who went to investigate the third planet, was a friend of hers. Deep inside, she hoped that he and his crew's still alive.. but it's been three days, and the latest report was a desperate, incoherent, and garbled cry.

After they lost contact, the Council wasted no time in sending in a few of their top operatives.

With a heavy heartfelt sigh, she turned back to said operative, to answer the question. Over the last thirty minutes they've been replaying every report the expedition received from Dr. Mornoa's team during the short time they remained in contact, "Yes. We tried sending another ship, but they could not detect the Uncovering sight at all. Not even beacons." she paused for effect as she looked back at the Spectre; Saren Arterius. "What's worse.." another pause, "... I don't know what to call it at this point. But we've detected massive energy-signatures across the surface right after we lost contact with them. What do you make of this?"

"What else?" Saren focused his eyes on her as if they could burn a hole through her skull, "You've been had. The initial signal and inactivity was all to lure you in, in order to claim a ship. Whoever the perpetrators are, they're most likely in the process of reverse-engineering the Uncovering sight, all so they may build ships of their own."

Benezia's expression was filled with dismay at the implications. "Then... what is our next step?"

Saren looked thoughtful as he pondered this. But it did not last long before his piercing eyes regained their focus, "I will notify the Council about the details of what transpired here. Once I receive the order, I'll assemble a small team to investigate the alien presence. And since time's of the essence, I'll be pulling those I need from your crews."

"F-from my crews?" that seemed to unsettle the Matriarch even more.

"Yes. Even though many of them come from the lesser races, we will need what expertise they got." Saren muttered in a condescending manner. "And that, is non-negotiable."

Benezia nodded very grimly, with great reluctance. Her eyes widening as the door to her office opened to reveal the other Spectre that recently arrived; Nihlus Kryik, along with the current Spectre-candidate; Garrus Vakarian.

"Comrades." Saren addressed them without turning around, "We got much work ahead of us..."

Only one vaguely apparent attempt at humor in this chapter. Was watching Halo: Legends; Odd One Out, and decided to throw in something similar to one particular moment.