A/N: Hello and welcome to DE5, the final (for now) chapter in the DE saga. Gonna run through some things real quick before I get started.

Firstly, even though this is called DE5, it is actually the sixth installment of my DE series. If you have not read the previous stories, I strongly suggest you do so before reading this. Secondly, I write these stories based on the idea that everyone reading them has played ME at least once. I do not go out of my way to explain tech and lore that is in the game, nor do I apologize for spoilers.

For those of you familiar with my writing style, I don't generally plan my storylines out ahead of time. This particular story has necessitated a little bit of foreplanning, mainly on specifics- the reason for the Reapers, what their purpose is, why they Reap, etc. Scene by scene things won't be really planned but the major milestones are pre-plotted. It's not my preferred method, but again…kind of necessary given the nature of this particular piece.

In this story I will explain where the Reapers came from, who built them and the Citadel and mass relay system, why they follow a Cycle of Extinction, and what it was that Del saw when she activated the Crucible and destroyed them. This is NOT Bioware canon. There are no leviathans, no star child. This is my own take on how I would have done it if I had been a writer on the game with any sort of creative control over the end product. You may not like my version of events, and that's just fine. Recognize simply they are MY version of events, and I think they explain things quite neatly.

Events in DE5 will take place roughly 100+ years after Del Shepard's death, approximately 320ish years after the Reapers were defeated. Melara and Irie, both young matrons, will be the focus of this story, but there will be cameos and even major characters in it that will be familiar, whether Bioware's or my own OCs. There will also be new characters as well. EDI, Chiktikka, Joker (after a fashion), Liara, Grunt, the rachni, and many others will make appearances, either large or small. Also, the original species I introduced in my AU, the rakir, will be appearing (Sokka and Sihra included), and possibly other new species of my making. However, don't look at my AU and think you know where I'm going with things…I may surprise you.

That said, the scene in the AU where Del unwittingly saves Melara's life WILL BE in this story, told from Mel's point of view. So…there's that.

Lastly, while the first DEs were updated quite often, due to a change in my workload I cannot update nearly as quickly. That said, I will strive to put up at least two chapters per week, Wednesday and Saturday being the most common days they will appear.

All right, here we go. Lock down your hard-suits and pick up your rifles. It's DE time!

Dark Energy: INHERITANCE

It was night, and the stars were lost in an endless blanket of steam and fog. The moon was alive with volcanic activity, and roiling magma and hot springs lurked just below the unstable crust, often breaking the surface to bubble in pools of sulphur and superheated rock. It was a dangerous landscape, a fact the small group of seven kept well in mind.

Omni-lights crawled through the gloom, rarely lighting up any more than a patch of solid ground a few feet ahead, as the seven quickly but carefully picked their way along.

"Ma'am," a young private said, addressing the armored figure bearing the slashes of an N7 captain. "Signal is getting stronger. It's about nine meters ahead- we should be on it any moment."

"Weapons up and move cautiously," she replied. "Laws, I want a continuous scan for any hint of a trap. These guys are not above playing nasty."

Rifles were lifted and the seven continued onward. It wasn't until they were only four meters away than the curving edge of the crashed slaver vessel formed out of the gloom. A turian figure peered critically at her scans, before she spoke.

"Looks like she got through the crash in more or less one piece. The hull has been compromised near the aft-point airlock, and I'm showing severe plate buckling at 17 meters. No significant eezo radiation or indication that their core shielding was compromised."

"Life signs?"

"No. They either all died in the crash or they've got maskers."

"We'll go in near the aft-point airlock. Keep your weapons up. Full scans and a sweep once we're inside- don't shoot unless you have to. We want prisoners, not corpses."

The ground grew soggy as they reached the breach in the downed ship. Knowing what water was on this moon would be incredibly corrosive thanks to the high sulphuric acid content in the sediment, they did their best to keep to the driest ground possible.

The turian lead the way into the breach, quickly scanning and then stepping aside as the others entered. They were in a cargo hold, one that looked to have been swept in some places by fire. Great swaths of the metal walls were scorched and blackened, and one corpse- little more than ash and bone, was slumped near a half-open door.

The turian gestured silently, indicating the gaping door and the hall beyond, before she headed that way, taking two of the others with her to sweep the rest of the ship. The N7 and her three remaining compatriots remained in the hold. One of them moved immediately toward the corpse on the ground and crouched to scan it.

"Nevil, do the full round of this room," the N7 said, then moved after the first.

"Results?"

"Human," came the reply. "Not that I think it needs to be said, but cause of death is incineration, likely from the power conduit explosion just here. I…interesting…"

"What is it?"

The younger asari peered closer, then reached under the remains and hooked out a set of dog tags. The metal plates were blackened but otherwise undamaged. She scrubbed a thumb over them. "Old fashioned dog tags. Holder Moore."

"You believe that?" the human private lingering nearby asked, looking at the captain. Dark eyes turned up to look back skeptically.

"What do you think?"

"Yeah, it's too convenient, and we wouldn't get that lucky."

"Can you match DNA?" the captain asked the younger asari, who had carefully removed the tag and chain.

"I will take a sample. If I can get some that is not too badly damaged, I can do a match once we are back on board."

"Ma'am, I have something," Nevil said suddenly, and the pair turned toward him, the captain straightening and then striding over, leaving the doctor crouched beside the corpse as she took her sample. Nevil had turned off his omni-beam and gestured at the wall.

"There's compartments here. Very cleverly hidden but not cleverly enough."

"This is what we're looking for," she said. "Can you get them open? Are you reading any life signs within?"

"No, there are maskers set into these walls, specifically designed to hide all life signs. I can get them open but it's going to take me a moment or two."

"Do it." She touched her com. "Vina, do we have the ship clear?"

{Just reached the helm, Mel. We've counted four dead, all human. Looks like a couple may have survived the crash and bolted.}

"Head back here but keep on full scans. We found some hidden compartments, and there are probably more throughout the ship. Those survivors may be hiding in them, so stay frosty."

"Hopefully they did take off," Laws said moodily. "Imagining them running blind into a lava pool is a very pleasant thought."

"Indeed, but unless that body actually is Moore we need one or two of them alive to weed him and the rest of the ring out."

"Here we go, Captain," Nevil said from the side. "The ship's cold, so there's not much power-but I think there's enough to open these."

"Do it. Lily, we need you over here."

As the younger asari secured her sample and headed over to them, the quarian tweaked another connection from a panel he'd opened in the wall, and there was a dim hum. The sound grew, but sluggishly. Laboriously, part of the wall and floor shifted and began to slide open. Two solid metal boxes, both the size of coffins, lifted out of the secret compartment. As they halted, Nevil immediately began working on getting them open, just as the turian and her group returned.

"We did thorough scans," Vina said without preamble, heading over to the captain. "We managed to pull a great deal of intel off their secondary computer systems but we found no other secret compartments, and the fore hatch is blown. Whoever survived definitely took off on foot."

"If they're still on this moon they're not getting off it now, not with Normandy in orbit. Notify Joker to snag anything that leaves this rock that isn't us."

"Already done," Vina replied, the nodded toward the caskets. "We found her?"

"Possibly," Melara looked back toward the caskets, her dark eyes brooding. "They could be empty for all we can tell with our scans. Laws, ping the shuttle to come around to our location, as close as it can safely land. If she is in there and alive, we'll need to get her to the infirmary as quickly as possible."

As the private stepped off a bit, Nevil made a triumphant sound. "I got it, Captain! Non-mechanical, heavy magnet locks…I'm going to need some help lifting this."

"Step back," she said. As he did, she moved forward, hands lighting up with a bright blue glow.

The lid shimmered in the wake of the dark energy wielded by the asari matron, then began to rise. She shifted it off to the side, letting it drop with a clang the moment it was clear. Quickly, Lily rushed over, her scanner already out.

"Goddess..." she said breathlessly as she got a look within. Melara peered into the casket as well and grimaced a little.

What lay inside made her heart and gut clench, a flare of anger tightening her chest. The prisoner had been reduced to little more than fur and bone, very clearly starved and tortured for quite some time. Wrists and ankles were so tightly bound the cords had worn through flesh and were nearly buried. Over her face there was a muzzle, similarly tight, sunk so deep the skin was starting to grow over it.

"She alive?"

"Yes…if you can call this life," the young doctor said, her voice softly horrified. "We must get her to the infirmary as quickly as possible."

"Is it her?"

"I think…yes, I am showing a sample match."

"Shit. Vina, get her out of there, carefully, and head for the shuttle. Lily, keep her alive. That is your top priority, no matter what you have to do. Laws, stand by. I'm going to open this second box and we have no idea who or what may be in it."

The lid shifted under her biotic energy the same as the first. As it was cast aside, Nevil and Laws peered within, the quarian male groaning. "Keelah…"

The occupant of this box was quite clearly dead, half-lidded and dull eyes staring blankly out of an emaciated face. Like the first, she had been muzzled and bound, but she appeared to have been more significantly tortured, part of her body literally peeled of skin among other wounds. Her throat had been cut deeply enough to nearly sever her head…and it had been done recently enough that the thick blood painting the inside of the casket all around her was still tacky in appearance. When she saw her, Mel's shoulders slumped a little.

Too late to save this poor soul, she thought. It was obvious the slavers had tortured her in an attempt to make her obedient and complicit, and when that failed, they'd cut her throat- an odd act of mercy for the bastards, and very out of keeping with Moore himself. It was far more like him to just lock her in and let her die. If he's really looking for complicit slaves, he picked the wrong species. They-

Despite the obvious, Laws had started a scan on the body, trying to gather as much information as she could. She was halfway through when she suddenly, visibly jolted and gasped. "Captain! I have life signs!"

"What? That's impossible, her damn throat is slit-"

"It's not her, it's…fuck me…"

The private's omni-tool switched off as she reached for the body, groping at its belly a moment. Finding what she was looking for, she slid her hands inside a thick fold of skin and dry fur. When her hands pulled out of the pouch again, she was holding something that- for a moment- Melara's brain refused to process.

It looked like a bundle of sticks and ragged cloth, a patched together child's toy and barely seven inches in length. Then, it moved, and realization rocked her.

"Get it to Lily. Now," she heard herself say. Laws pulled it close and ran toward the breach, Melara and Nevil following at a trot.

The quarian seemed even more rocked than the asari. "Was that a…a baby?"

"They're marsupial, they carry their young in pouches," Melara told him. "Moore either didn't know or didn't care. Being the cold fuck he is the latter wouldn't surprise me."

They reached the shuttle, climbing on board. Mel slapped the wall between them and the helm. "Get us back home, now."

The adult prisoner had been laid down on one of the benches, Vina crouched beside her. Lily, who had been tending to her, had turned her attentions the moment Laws had rushed aboard, and was now scanning the tiny thing in her hands.

"Male, only three month or so after birth. Captain, he is far too young to be out of his pouch, and my guess is he has been receiving no appreciable nutrition from his mother in days. He is very close to death. Even with our facilities I do not know if I will be able to save him."

"What about her?" Mel asked, gesturing at the limp woman with Vina.

"I can do little more for her until we are back on the Normandy, but she is not in much better shape. We could lose them both very quickly, no matter what we do."

Stepping back from Laws Lily pulled off her helmet and began to quickly strip out of her breast-plate.

"What are you doing?" Vina asked, confused.

"He is hypothermic. He needs warmth," she said. Gently taking the little bundle from Laws she tucked it under her shirt, cradling the dying infant against her stomach, skin on skin, with one arm underneath to support it.

A sound drew Mel's attention. Stepping past, she laid a hand gently on Lily's shoulder a moment, before going and crouching at Vina's side.

"I think she's waking up," her turian XO said. "I'd be a bit nervous if she wasn't in such shit shape."

"Can we get these bindings off of her?"

"Not until we are in the infirmary," Lily said, looking at them. "They are sunk deeply and there could be significant bleeding if we remove them now."

The dying woman shifted, eyes cracking. Her gaze was lifeless and dull, but as it focused it suddenly seemed to sharpen. Jolting weakly, she let out a grunt and tried to lift her hands. Melara caught hold of them well above the bindings, easily and gently restraining her.

"Fikkoga, fikkoga…" Mel said. "No ki nakiga gras vikoshta!"

The woman blinked at her, then slumped a little, far too weak to resist. Despite her muzzle, she tried to bare her teeth a little.

"Ni…mokina?" she whispered, voice little more than the breath from a grave.

"Mer tosik," Melara replied softly. "I'm a friend. Mer tosik. Nakiga…you're going to be all right, Prilekk. You're going to be all right."

Two of Lily's assistants were waiting for them the moment the shuttle docked. Lily carefully passed the infant to one, who turned and ran toward the infirmary while Lily helped to move the dying Prilekk onto a hover stretcher.

As her niece rushed off with her patients, Melara Shepard stepped off the shuttle along with Laws and Vina, removing her helmet as she looked over at her XO. "Get us on course for the Nakira observation base, send a priority one to let them know we're coming and what the situation is. Laws, get our scan data and what we were able to pull off their secondary computer to Joker, I want it dissected."

As the two headed off, Nevil fell into step next to Melara, his luminescent eyes worried. "We're not going to stay and scan the moon for the survivors?"

"We can't. Lily is smart but she has only a rudimentary working knowledge of rakir physiology. The Prilekk and that baby need to get to the research base as quickly as possible to get full and proper treatment. They have to be our priority."

"This is bad news, isn't it? Even if the Council approves the petition to uplift the rakir, the Ubuuta is going to think we're responsible for the Prilekk's condition. She's not going to trust us-"

"If the Prilekk dies we will have lost some significant leverage with the Ubuuta, if the Council even allows us to talk with her. Hopefully our other leverage will have to be enough to earn her cooperation. If the Prilekk lives then with luck, she'll see us as rescuers and allies. That'll swing some weight with her niece. Sokka is intensely loyal to her aunt, almost to the point of fanaticism. The Prilekk is our strongest hope to securing a treaty- so long as the Council sees our evidence and allows us to make first contact."

Nevil shook his head, placing his hand over his eyes a moment, before scrubbing at his thin gold beard with frustration. "Such a mess, all of it. I never could stomach or even wrap my head around politics. Such over complication of what should be such simple matters. I think I'll stick with the engine- math and mechanics are at least consistent."

As he headed back down to his post in engineering, Melara took the lift up to the Normandy's crew deck, stepping out and heading to the infirmary.

Within was a bustle of activity. Lily was beside the biobed where the Prilekk lay, once again unconscious. She was doing a full biological scan, the rakir female's internal systems appearing in holographic form hovering a foot or two above her actual physical form. For a moment, Melara paused and watched, not wanting to get in the way or be a distraction.

She had been hesitant to take her only niece down to the moon. Dr. Delilah T'Soni- Lily to her friends and family- had been her chief medical officer for nearly ten years now. Though she had some working knowledge of combat and fire-arms, Lily was not a soldier. Like her mother and grandmother, her abilities and inclinations ran toward the academic, and she was far more at home in a lab than she'd ever be in a firefight. Other than her bright green eyes, she strongly physically resembled Irie as well- to the point that some often thought they were sisters and not mother and daughter.

The day that Lily had come on board to take her post, Melara had promised Irie that she would always look after her child, keep her safe. Putting Lily into any kind of situation that may prove more dangerous than the already dangerous life of living aboard a Spectre's ship was never Mel's preferred choice. Still, she knew if they actually found the Prilekk she would need immediate medical attention, and Lily was the only one of the ship's small medical compliment that had any education in rakir physiology at all, even if that education lacked hands-on experience.

She's getting that now, she thought as she watched her niece work, directing her staff in injections and sterilization procedures, watching carefully as the brain patterns in the holograph stabilized slightly.

As she stepped back around her console and toward the patient, Lily spotted her aunt standing quietly near the door. Waving her forward with a nod she began gingerly looking at the bindings cutting into the woman's ankles and wrists.

"She is as stable as I dare to make her," Lily said as Mel drew near. "Her body systems are incredibly weak. I can keep her unconscious and we are starting some nutritive therapy to maintain her body organs but I am not confident enough for more. Too much too quickly and her body will be driven into shock. All three of her hearts are in a very delicate state, and such a shock could stop them immediately."

"Will she live?"

"I cannot say," Lily said softly. "Were she salarian or krogan or even human- another species I was more confident in treating- I'd still only give her chances at about nine percent. It is only a miracle she lives now. How her body is still functioning is beyond my understanding."

Grimacing at the wrist bindings she shook her head, looking at her assistant. "These and the ones on her ankles are far too deep. They will need to be surgically removed, and for that she needs to be a lot more stable. We will have to leave them as they are for now, but I want you to resterilize the area every few minutes. We can at least make sure no further infection gets in."

She turned her attention to the muzzle on the Prilekk's face. "Thanks to her bone structure this is not quite as deep. I think we can risk removal."

"How is the infant?" Melara asked, turning her head. She could not immediately see the baby, but she could see the back of the medic caring for it.

"In just as bad a condition. I do not expect he will survive. We do not have natal facilities, and the poor thing is so tiny and so withered that its veins are as fine as hairs. Toby is trying a high protein synthetic supplement and some electrolyte solution under its tongue but it is a shot in the dark at best."

She and her assistant carefully cut the muzzle at several key points, Lily looking it over again before she nodded. Gingerly, they began to peel the leather straps from the rakir's face. Inch by inch it came free, the sound like old tape being torn off of paper. Blood and puss began to ooze as bits were removed and discarded, and Mel grimaced more than once in unconscious sympathy.

She hated slavers as a rule, and this was a very good example why. They thought nothing of treating their captives like animals, breaking any soul with numerous physical and psychological tortures they could to make them pliant, subservient. They had no problem selling children and even infants, bolstering perverted black market sex trades. They also had no problem carving up their captives like slabs of meat, selling organs or- in the case of any unfortunate salarian or drell that may be taken- slicing them up and turning their glands into Grease- a highly addictive and extremely illegal narcotic drug sold to only the most twisted of cretins.

This was beyond what they would normally encounter when dealing with slavers, however. These slavers- Moore's slavers- had not only landed illegally on a Council sanctioned world, they had done so on a world that contained a young, bronze-age level civilization. The rakir were already facing extinction as a people thanks to a medical problem they called the Affliction, which caused an increasing number of their males to halt their growth at the onset of puberty, rendering them infertile. These 'stunted' males now outnumbered fertile males nine to one. Unless the Council allowed the entire species to be uplifted so that a cure could be found and disseminated, the rakir would go extinct within two generations- and now, Moore's slavers were somehow sneaking in and stealing them off their home world.

Worse, they had not just taken random rakir they had found isolated. The woman lying here getting a muzzle slowly peeled out of her face was none other than the Ubuut's Prilekk Utchibahna Sihra…the equivalent of a High Champion to an Emperor. She had been the only thing keeping the elderly and infirm Ubuut from being destroyed by younger rivals, when she'd suddenly disappeared on a Hunt. When she hadn't returned, the rivals and their Houses had performed a coup that had resulted in the death of the great Ubuut…and the slaughter of many of their own remaining fertile males. Sihra's loyals- a group of highly trained warriors called the One Hundred- managed to put down the revolution but at great cost. Now, Sihra's own niece Utchibahna Sokka had taken the throne and named herself the Ubuuta. She was a competent leader and was quickly reuniting the Houses of the Kodra into cooperation again, but far too many fertile males had been lost in the fighting- males they could never replace. Not without immediate medical help.

Moore's actions had not only tortured this poor woman, her companion, and that infant- they had led to a massacre of epic proportions and hastened the extinction of an entire sentient species.

And for what? What amount of wealth could possibly be worth this?

Melara had had dealings with Moore before. The man was a beast as far as she was concerned, a soulless, cold bastard who would shoot his own grandmother if he thought he could make a credit from it. She would have happily put a bullet in his brain before, but now she was going to make it her personal duty to track him down and end him.

If he's not already dead. Lily hasn't run her test yet…that body back on the moon could really have been him. If there is any justice in this galaxy, let it have been him.

The final pieces of the muzzle came free. Lily carefully sterilized the raw skin, using a little bit of medi-gel to soothe the irritated and swollen flesh, before she gently pried Sihra's jaws open and looked in her mouth to assess any further damage. She grimaced, a look of anger crossing her face.

"What is it?" Mel asked.

"We are dealing with utter barbarians," the normally gentle doctor said furiously. "She has traces of vegetable matter in her teeth."

"So they were feeding her?" the assistant asked, confused.

"Yes, but she would have been better off if they had not. Rakir are carnivores in the purest sense. They need meat to survive. Their bodies literally cannot processes vegetable matter, not unless it has been heavily predigested first, broken down by stomach acid. Even forcing her to eat a small amount of this would have put her entire digestive system into gastric distress- she would have suffered excruciating pain from it."

"Predigested?" Melara asked, confused.

"Yes," Lily said, and looked at her. "They usually eat herbivorous animals, which feed on plant matter. The only plant matter a rakir ever consumes comes directly from the stomachs of these prey animals after the acids have broken down the vegetation's enzymes. Even then, it's eaten only rarely and in very small portions. They call it 'bekata'."

The assistant looked disgusted but Mel just shook her head. "I've heard of more unpalatable dishes. You should see what vorcha eat sometime."

Suddenly Joker's voice broke through over the comm. "Captain, we have an incoming communication from Navis for you over QEC."

"Thank you Joker, I'll take it in my room."

Lily looked up at her, wide eyed. "I am sorry, Mel…I completely forgot what day it is."

"So had I. We'll be at the Nakira research base in just under four hours, Lil. Keep her stable, and keep me updated."

"I will. Go. Talk to Dae. I…we can have a drink tonight? Call Grandmother?"

Melara nodded, lightly touching her niece's arm again before she turned and left the infirmary.