AN: Greetings folks, and welcome to yet another story of mine. This idea has been percolating in my brain for years. Hopefully I can do it justice. Reviews are love, and feed my ego. Also, please bear with the formatting. I work on OpenOffice and it doesn't like to play ball.

Chapter 2

Secrets, Lies and the Cycles Eternal

Phoebus stood there, facing down a revelation that if true, could force his people to flee once again. We cannot flee! To do so would make us no better than the Ori!

"Vengeance, what kind of numbers can we expect? And how far into this Cycle are we?" he asked determinedly, desperate to provide the High Council with as much information as possible.

Vengeance gestured again, replacing the Reaper with invasion statistics before replying. "At their height the Prothean Empire consisted of almost four hundred worlds, with each world protected by extensive orbital defence platform networks. We had over seventy-five thousand warships of varying sizes and specifications with at least thirty thousand equipped with particle weapons as standard". He lets loose a sigh, "We were crushed within three centuries, with only scattered remnants that soon died out or went into stasis".

Phoebus was about to interrupt when Vengeance answered his second question, "We are currently sixteen thousand years into this cycle, with approximately thirty-four thousand left before Arrival".

Thirty-four thousand years... Okay, we can work with that. Numbers aren't everything, especially if we have chance to prepare. Phoebus shook himself, glancing to his fellow scientists who all nodded their agreement. They would follow his lead.

"Okay Vengeance, please send over all data you have on these Reapers. I and my team need to speak with our High Council, they may also want to speak with you at some point".

The ancient VI nodded solemnly, "very well, I shall be here". And with that he disappeared, but not before Phoebus' personal computer registered a file download.

Phoebus briskly turned to his colleagues, "Lets get back to Atlantis, the High Council are going to shit themselves over this and I for one want to see it". He let loose a macabre chuckle at the looks his fellow scientists threw at him.

Things are about to get a lot more dark and twisted from here on out ladies and gentlemen, a little humour never hurt anybody.

Over on the opposite side of the solar system the ACB Constantia was acting as guard to several science vessels who were currently examining the massive tuning fork shaped construct at the edge of the solar system. Captain Dux was currently trying not to strangle his Academic counterpart.

"There's no chance in hell that I'm going to let you just try and activate an unknown piece of alien technology! Have you lost all sense?" Dux was pacing agitatedly across the expansive bridge of the Constantia, arms clasped firmly behind his back. Ever the consummate professional, that didn't stop him from expressing his opinion when someone was about to do something monumentally stupid.

"Yes, it could be something as innocuous as a communications hub. But it has the same amount of likelihood to be a bloody massive star-killer, I mean just look at it!" The Captain, using his three centuries of experience managed to reign in his temper. It would do me know good to murder this pissant in a fit of rage, however justifiable it may seem at this time.

The lead scientist however, was undeterred. "Captain, we need to know what this device does, what it is truly capable of. My department has so far determined that at the core between those rings is a massive lump of matter that exudes dark energy on a scale our people have never before seen or documented! This could be revolutionary in the field of dark matter, and you would halt this discovery on some paranoid knee jerk reaction?!"

Here Nixus scoffed disparagingly, "where's your sense of adventure?"

Dux stopped pacing for a moment, before calmly turning to face Nixus. "My 'sense of adventure' is right here Nixus, but unlike you I know when to keep mine locked away". Turning away from his life-long friend and rival Dux stalked to the comms hub, pressing the button to summon the High Council.

He waited for all of fifteen seconds before his call was answered. They must be busy today.

In a golden shimmer of light all seven Councillors appeared before him, shocking the normally composed man into a gasp. All seven? This can't be a coincidence.

He looked at the serious expressions on all seven faces before he locked eyes with the woman in the centre; High Councillor Lamia Sal. "High Councillor, we have something to report".

"What is it Captain Dux? Have you discovered the purpose of this device?" Questioned Lamia, her eyes now focusing on a miniature version of said device floating above the sensor console. The Captain sighed quietly before responding, "All we know High Councillor is that the device utilises a core of solid dark matter or something close to it. We haven't had any luck accessing computer systems of any kind, Nixus wants to attempt to bring it online but-"

"Then do so Captain" interrupted Lamia brusquely, "time is no longer with us. I'm sending you a data packet with everything we've learned from the base on Parabellum. And Captain, it's not good". Nodding to both men the High Council disappeared in a flash of light as the communication was cut.

Captain Dux and Nixus both gathered round the nearest console, eyes flashing through the most pertinent points of data, each point caused them to pale the more they read before finally they rocked back on their heels, looked at each other seriously before Nixus spoke.

"Well, shit".

It took seven days before they managed to activate what they now knew was called a Mass Relay, they tried everything they could think of before they finally resorted to trawling through the Prothean data to see how they managed it. It turned out the answer was alarmingly simple.

All they had to do was send a signal, a small innocuous piece of code that the Protheans discovered from the Inusannon, who in turn were assumed to have discovered it from the race before them. With the information now available to them they knew it was an obvious trap, but with all traps the best way to defeat them is to spring them. And that's exactly what the Alteran intended to do.

It took several hours for the Mass Relay to come online, after sixteen thousand years of inactivity it was surprising that it didn't in fact take longer. Once fully functioning the scientists and military personnel all had to admit that it looked very impressive, the core alight with an eerie blue glow, a by-product of the massive gravitational forces only held in check by two equally massive elliptical rings.

According to the Prothean data it was only possible for a ship to travel through a Relay intact if they could generate their own mass effect field. So it was decided that a probe would be built with its own mass effect core to scout the opposite end of the Relay. It only took a few hours to fabricate using Prothean blueprints as a base, though they added a self-destruct protocol and a subspace communication hub to allow for instant data transfer.

With bated breath Nixus instructed the probe to start recording before sending it towards the largest transportation device his people had ever seen. With an agility only matched by their drone weapons, the probe sped towards the Relay rapidly, not even pausing to scan the device. Once within a few hundred metres of the core it sent the needed signal for transportation, the Relay responded almost instantly by lancing out with a bolt of dark energy, forcibly propelling the probe in a flash of blue light.

On the ACB Constantia both Nixus and Captain Dux watched, eyes glued to the holo-projection as the probes-eye view of real-space FTL blurred back into normal space-time after barely two seconds. Nixus blinked in shock. Not as fast as wormhole travel, but still depending on how far the twin relay is will make all the difference... now lets see, thirty-six light years! But that's barely a quarter of a seconds travel at top speed for an Aurora-class.

As the data streamed in the probe continued its exploration of the system it now found itself in, triangulating its position before locating another eleven Relays in the next few hours. All of them dormant. After surveying the star, which it identified as Arcturus using the database on the Constantia, the probe took basic scans of the planets within the solar system before heading back through the Relay to Sol. Bringing back more questions to the crews of the science flotilla than the answers it provided them.

It had no true designation, but the few organics of the many cycles who discovered its existence referred to it as the Catalyst. It was a good a name as any other, so it took it for its own.

The Catalyst remained dormant between the end of one cycle and the first activation of a Relay, but it knew instantly that when it was awoken by the activation of Relay 319 towards the galactic south, that it was far earlier than any other cycle before this one. The Protheans held the record, activating their first Relay some thirty-eight thousand years into their cycle.

It had only been sixteen thousand years this time.

No matter, it thought. Extra time to prepare meant little in the long run, all organic life succumbed to preservation and ascension in the end.

Examining the logs of the activated Relay was all the moment of a thought. All the Catalyst could tell was that a small object, most likely a probe passed through the secondary Relay where it returned after several hours. More than likely scouting the system. All organics are the same, always predictable in their actions and reactions.

Firing off a signal to the Vanguard it allowed itself to feel a small amount of satisfaction. Perhaps this cycle will be different. Or perhaps not, only time will tell.

As like most days the Central spire of Atlantis was a bustling hive of activity, administrative staff ran day-to-day operations, that ensured the entire governmental pyramid didn't collapse around their ears. Then you had the legislative staff, who balanced proposed laws against the needs and wants of the Alteran people, which was always a tricky job. They tended to work very closely with both the Science department and the Judicial Branch as well, ensuring no overzealous scientist overstepped there bounds and blew up a solar system... well at least not a second one.

But at the top of all this efficiency and hard work sits a room, a room that had once been loaded up with the most advanced anti-infiltration devices and soundproofing known to Alteran-kind, a room that now sat bare with all its protections stripped back and replaced with broadcasting equipment.

The Alteran High Council was now in session. Publicly.

It was a political move unlike any other that had come before it, the High Council truly wanted the people to know and have opinions on the decisions made within this room. For they knew that not everyone was made out to be a politician, but not a single Alteran was ever called stupid. At least, not to their face. The High Council also realised that they had a limited point of view, which while expanded upon by advisers and experts in every field still fell short of a critical need. The need to... think outside of the box. With every extra mind put towards a problem you will be sure to experience an overlap of ideas, but there will always be a portion of ideas that no one other person would have ever thought of.

That was the High Councils hope, their desire for a progressive and open empire that would no longer stagnate on its ancestors achievements. But instead bring new life and new ideas to the table. Starting with the Reapers. They had plans for the genocidal AI race, plans that relied heavily on playing on the Reapers expectations of organics, organics that have sang to their technological tune since before the Alteran had even existed.

They never said it would be an easy plan, but all the grand ones never are.

Broadcasting once again across Sol, the citizens of the newly re-established Alteran Empire were shocked to their very core. The holo-projections of the High Council spoke with zeal, about a grand plan to ensure the survival of the many races yet to escape from the surface of their home worlds. To protect them from the machinations of synthetic beings with ideas above their station, purporting their twisted version of Ascension upon the mortal races. To teach them about the wonders of the universe, the many mysteries embedded in the very fabric of space-time itself.

To do all of this, they needed the help of the people. Whether that help was as humble as an opinion, or as life changing as military service, they would accept whatever the Alteran people were willing to give. For they were done with running, done with chasing the ideal situation in which their people could thrive without having to actually fight for it, as they had done for the past sixty million years. They wanted the Alteran people to rise beyond the idea of Ascension, beyond the limitations of galaxies. What they wanted was to be invincible, eternal. But most of all they wanted to reach out a hand of friendship without wondering whether that hand was about to get bitten off. They wanted equals in this new universe, and they were determined to find them.

The broadcast ended to the sounds of rapturous applause of millions of people and the pingpingping of the unanimous vote to endorse this new venture.

In his apartment that he no longer shared with his mother, Thessarin cast his agreeing vote to this new plan. Vowing to himself and his mother that he would be at the forefront of this plan, one way or another. He was yet to reach his third century of life, but already the higher-ups were taking notice of his work ethic and drive to improve his fellow crew members aboard the ACB Infinitas.

Hopefully, I'll be Captain of my own ship one day. A new class of ship as well, not those old ACB relics. Sighing to himself Thessarin tied his hair in a messy knot atop his head, walking out of his room he grabbed the twin practice swords by the door as well as the stun-pistol from the bedside table before making his way to the communal training areas.

It was time for him to get serious. No more coasting through physical training, less time spent hungover after a weekend of too much drinking. He needed to focus if he was ever going to captain a ship sometime within the next century or so, he wasn't a prodigy like the revered Captain Dux, Thessarin had to scrape and drag his arse through the academy at every turn. His mother claimed he was bored too easily, and she would be right about that. Thessarin wanted to jump right about a ship the day he turned sixteen, but the law states that to serve aboard a military vessel you need to attend the Navy Academy for at least a century.

Which was all bullshit in Thessarin's humble opinion but rules were rules, and he wasn't about to jeopardize his career prospects by kicking up a fuss over a century. Odds were he'd live to well over ten-thousand, that's without taking further gene modification into account. Or the risky business of Ascension. So he had time to spare, but not so much time that he wanted to risk missing out on first-contact with another species. It'd been over a hundred thousand years since his people had last made peaceful contact with another species, that had been with the Vanir, who were technically traitors charged with sedition at the time.

I can just see it now... though Thessarin wistfully. First contact made with a completely alien race, with different cultures and different values. Will they be homogeneous or will they be like us? With different skin tones and facial features, will they even have faces?! So many possibilities! Hell what if they're attractive? That'll certainly light a fire under the more isolationistic of us.

Thessarin continued to daydream while staring out of the window, looking out upon an overcast sky and misty shoreline, imagining purple beaches and green skies. Trees made of crystal and aliens with backward knees of all didn't matter to him, he just wanted to explore, to see and to know everything.

"Nixus! We've got new orders from the High Council". Said Captain Dux as he strode onto the bridge of the Constantia.

Nixus slowly pulled his attention away from the still scrolling data forwarded from the Prothean Archive, "What orders Captain? Are we to send a manned scout through the Relay?" He sounded tired, his eyes were starting to strong from looking at the same information over and over again. But he couldn't pull himself away.

The technology base is just so... backwards. He thought to himself. To change the mass of something simply by passing either a positively or negatively charged electrical current through an impossible element seems so... dare I say it, fictional. Like a storyteller who only has a passing interest in thermodynamics and decided not to include the part where this should all be impossible. If you want viable real-space FTL just bend space-time around the ship and be done with it.

Nixus was forced from his rambling diatribe against this particular universes fundamental physics by Dux's fingers snapping not two centimetres from his face.

"Oh, sorry Captain my mind just keeps getting lodged on scientific impossibilities. Don't mind me". Nixus unsuccessfully bit back a yawn, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Dux.

Dux frowned minutely before lifting his subordinates chin slightly. "When did you last get any sleep Nixus? Don't tell me it was before the mission because that was over 37 hours ago!" he sounded worried even to his own ears and stepped back immediately. "I'll give you a brief rundown on what's going to be happening in the next few days and then you are going to get some sleep for at least the next ten hours, not arguments" he stated seriously. A murmured "yes captain" was the response.

"Twelve hours from now our Flotilla will jump to Arcturus via hyperspace, before we begin construction of mass effect cores for each and every ship in the flotilla. The intention behind this is to allow us to map the Relay system in the immediate area surround Sol. Unfortunately it will have to be done manually, as the Protheans, in a moment of tactical genius wiped every known Relay from their computer systems galaxy-wide in an effort to slow the Reaper advance". Here he sighed sadly.

"It only bought them a few years at most". Shaking his head he continued briefing the exhausted scientist.

"While exploring we are to actively scout for any sentient species whether they're spacefaring or not, it doesn't matter. If they are then we are expected to establish contact, if the species is still gravity bound then we are to release the real-time observer satellites, have them phase-shift to prevent any collisions and move on to the next system. As we reach each Relay system a single ship will perform a short range jump into hyperspace for a quarter second, to map out the maximum distance of eezo based FTL according to the Prothean Archive, that should give us enough room to find any potential stragglers".

"..right" Nixus muttered. "We're essentially going to ever so slowly uplift the other races and watch out for Reaper activity at the same time" he snorted. "Sounds delightful".

"We're not uplifting anyone" refuted Dux. "We are to only establish contact if the species in question has achieved viable spacefaring technology. By that point they should be at least culturally peaceful enough and wise enough not to try and blast us into pieces. It wouldn't end well for them if they did something so monumentally idiotic" Dux let loose a snort of his own at that scenario. Idiotic indeed, drones have always been a good deterrent.

"Right, you" Dux pulled his friend out of his seat. "Bed. I won't have the only person I can trust around here not to blow up a Mass Relay falling asleep on the job".

The Captain looked down slightly when his oldest friend didn't even bother to fire back an acerbic barb before smiling softly. He's actually fallen asleep while being dragged back to his quarters. The lazy bastard, always getting me to do the heavy lifting. Literally it seems.

Smiling to himself once more the Captain couldn't help but wonder what was on the horizon for his crew, his friend or his people in the coming years. They were certainly starting to get exciting.

Nothing like the threat of annihilation to bring out the best of a species I suppose.

The next day, precisely twelve hours and point two-five seconds later found the Scout Flotilla exiting hyperspace at the edge of the Arcturus system, all thirty ships spreading out into a standard defensive formation.

Captain Dux stood with Head Scientist Nixus aboard the ACB Constantia about to give the order to begin construction.

"All vessel" spoke Dux with supreme confidence, "begin construction. Once all mass effect cores have been installed power down your hyperdrives and pass through the easternmost Relay. Once on the other side assume formation and wait for my command, Dux out".

Turning slightly he addressed the now well rested scientist to his right, "Are you ready to make history?"

Nixus smirked, "Naturally Captain, naturally".