Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine

Chapter 1: Trial by Fire

Date: April 30, 2185 ][ Location: Valhallan Threshold/ Raheel-Leyya system- Cerberus frigate Normandy

Tali'Zorah vas Neema had never been more worried in her life. Nothing, not the Geth attack on the citadel, the frightening escape from the first Normandy had ever made her worry more than she had at this moment. She was facing possible exile from the Migrant Fleet and her people, possibly for the rest of her life and all she could think about is how this could have possibly happened. Tali couldn't shake the feeling that this may be related to Sheppard activating the Geth that now resided on the ship. She'd heard Engineer Donnelly saying to his colleague that Shepard had even given it a name, Legion. To be truthful, Tali didn't know what to think of this Geth. Sure, it is one of the things that forced the Quarians from their homeworld, but she couldn't dismiss what Shepard had told her about the Geth actually being split into two factions; if it had come from anyone but him she would have dismissed it outright.

Tali knew that Shepard would keep the Geth on a tight leash, especially since their destination was the migrant fleet, and bringing active Geth to the fleet was considered an act of treason. Regardless if this 'friendly' Geth truly was loyal to Shepard, they were still the same machines that put the Quarians where they were today.

XXX

"Shepard-Commander", Legion said as Commander Shepard entered the AI core, where the Geth soldier had been staying since they rescued him from the derelict Reaper a few days ago. If there was one member of his team Shepard couldn't read, it was the Geth soldier. Granted, the set of fins around it's eye made conversations a little less plain; the set of N7 armor attached to it's shoulder was a little disconcerting.

"Kelly said you needed to talk to me?" Shepard said.

"Indeed we do; this platform understands that we are approaching the creators' refugee fleet," Legion said.

"We are," Shepard replied, "I know you must have concerns given your peoples' history. You'll have my word no one on the migrant fleet will even know you're here."

"We do not wish to remain on Normandy, we are requesting to join you aboard creator fleet," Legion said.

"Legion, we're not going to the migrant fleet on a sight seeing trip. I have serious business there," Shepard said.

"We know. Given the fact Creator-Tali'Zorah is only creator on this ship, reason for visiting creator refugee fleet for personal matter of Creator-Tali'Zorah is ninety-nine point six percent likely," Legion said. "We still request permission to accompany Shepard-Commander to this matter."

"Legion, the meeting is between Tali and the admiralty board. Even if I wanted to bring you there's no way their Marines will even let you get close."

"We wish to assess political climate of creator ruling body, to determine if cease fire with creators is in creators' best interest," Legion said.

"You sound like you're willing to extend an olive branch?" Shepard asked.

"That is an appropriate comparison," the Geth replied, "does our purpose for joining you change your decision?"

"If you and your people are sincere about wanting peace, I'll let you come with us. In the end its up to Tali and the Migrant Fleet if they want you to come aboard," Shepard said.

"This platform is willing to be unarmed during the mission," Legion said, "if that will allow us access to creator fleet."

"One thing at a time." Shepard said.

"Commander, we're about ten minutes out from the Migrant Fleet," Joker said over the intercom, "EDI says they've detected our approach and they're scrambling ships to intercept us. Better get Tali up here to call off the dogs."

"I'm on my way, Joker," Shepard replied.

XXX

The Migrant Fleet, the single largest armada in the galaxy cruised silently through space. The 50,000 ships were silhouetted by the nearby binary blue giants. The Normandy approached the fleet, slowly, as not to alarm the migrant fleet Navy who even now were mobilizing half a dozen patrol craft and a frigate to intercept the Cerberus vessel.

"Damn, Arcturus on a busy day is less crowded than this," Joker said as he watched through the viewport. There were so many ships that you could hardly see the space and stars between them. Behind him stood Tali as she looked out upon her people's home, afraid that she might never see it again.

"Quarian warships are approaching on an attack vector. ETA two minutes," EDI reported.

"Open communications to the lead vessel," Tali said to Joker.

"Channel open," EDI replied, having done the job instead and earned a scowl from Tali for it.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

"Our computers have your vessel flagged as Cerberus, authenticate"

"After a time adrift among open stars, along tides of night and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began," Tali said.

"Permission to enter the fleet granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah."

"I need a security and quarantine teem to me us, this ship is not clean."

"Understood, you're clear to approach Rayya exterior docking cradle 17."

"The Quarian vessels are moving into an escort pattern," EDI announced.

"The fact we're a flying Cerberus billboard probably hasn't alleviated their paranoia," Joker chirped as he brought the Normandy into the same flight pattern as the massive Rayya. The ship was a marvel of contemporary Quarian engineering; originally designed to transport colonists, the Rayya boasted a massive rotating section where an astro park was located which facilitated the transport of livestock and plant life to make conditions on a new colony more bearable for Quarian colonists. The Rayya was now home to over 70,000 Quarians and had been the de facto flagship of the migrant fleet during the original exodus 300 years earlier.

As the Normandy approached the docking arm, Tali turned to see Shepard activate the seals on his helmet to isolate his air supply from that of the rest of the ship. However what really drew Tali's attention was the presence of Legion in the CIC, no doubt he was recording all of the visual scans the Normandy was taking of the migrant fleet. Tali could see that Legion was armed with a custom built sniper rifle that it had put together a few days earlier using parts scrounged up from Normandy's last visit to Omega. When Legion starting walking towards the airlock was when Tali gave serious thought to drawing her pistol; if it tried to board the Rayya she would be duty bound to kill the Geth.

"Tali, before we go there's something you need to know," Shepard said to her.

"Shepard, why is Legion waiting by the airlock?" Tali asked.

"He wants to come aboard to meet with the admiralty board."

"And you trust it to not try anything!" Tali said, "Shepard, these are the same machines that forced my people from our homeworld."

"Tali, Legion wants to convey a request for a cease fire to the admirals," Shepard said, "he gave me his word that he wouldn't try anything."

"I..." Tali was confused, everything she had been taught about the Geth not compromising, not negotiating, was all being thrown out the window. Tali trusted Shepard more than any other person she'd known, and if he had a feeling about the Geth, then maybe she should trust him.

"Fine, but ultimately it'll be up to the Rayya's Captain if the Geth is allowed aboard."

"We thank you for your consent to allow us passage to your fleet," Legion said, Tali unaware it had been listening in with it's audio sensors from the open airlock. The three of them left the Normandy and proceeded down the docking arm into the Rayya; as they walked, makeshift misters sprayed a combination of disinfectants and overhead UV lights cleared the group of any bacteria on their armor. As they approached the doors leading into the Rayya's interior, Tali spoke up.

"Shepard, I still don't think its a good idea to bring a Geth into the..."

The doors opened and the trio was met by a trigger happy group of Migrant Fleet Marines. Their leader walked forward and in an authoritative tone began barking at Shepard.

"Get that damn thing off my ship before you start an incident that makes the Ascension Project fiasco with Cerberus look like a slow day on garbage detail!"

Shepard was in no mood to play games with a cocky Captain, however the last thing he wanted to do was possibly get Tali into more trouble than she already was. Unfortunately to let the opportunity of brokering a cease fire between the Quarians and the Geth was too great to risk passing over.

"The Geth is my responsibility and I'll make sure it stays in line."

"I'm the Captain of this ship and I'm responsible for the lives of everyone you just put in danger for bring it aboard," the Captain replied, "I'm letting you aboard as a favor to Tali, the Geth is too much. Leave it on your ship."

"I understand that you're defending your ship, and that I'm just a guest. But Legion is a part of my team and unless you want to shoot me, we're both coming aboard."

"Or I could just kick you both off," the Captain retorted, "no one here likes Geth or Cerberus. I can't guarantee your safety. "

"I'll guide them away from the more militant elements of the crew," Tali suggested, eager for compromise.

"The Captain sighed, I'm afraid there are a lot more militant members these days, Tali'Zorah. And given the charges against you, bringing that Geth here will only make them worse."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Tali asked.

"They're charging you with bringing active Geth into the fleet as part of a secret project."

Tali was taken aback at that revelation, "But that's insane! I never brought active Geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces."

"We'll sort this out and find the truth, Tali." Shepard said to her.

Tali was filled with confidence with Shepard's words, however it didn't remove the dread of possible exile from her mind.

"What's our next step, Captain?" Shepard asked.

"Technically I'm under orders to place Tali'Zorah under arrest until the conclusion of the trial. So Tali, you're confined to this ship until this trial is over." His words were emotionless and swift. And with them Tali's outlook became much grimmer.

Tali breathed, "Thank you, Captain."

"Preparations got underway as soon as you arrived. The hearing is being held in the garden plaza. Get going."

Shepard gave a nod to the Captain before being lead by Tali away, however Legion was stopped by the Marines.

"I may allow the Geth aboard, but certainly not armed," the Captain gestured to legion's sniper rifle. "I'd be a fool if an armed Geth entered a room containing the admiralty board on my watch. Have your Geth surrender its weapon."

"In the interest of peaceful visitation, we will surrender our weapon to your security forces, creator-captain."

Legion reached around and plucked his rifle and handed it over to a shocked Marine, speechless over the fact legion could speak. After that was done, Shepard motioned for Legion to follow him and Tali as they made their way through the ship. A few Quarians lined the halls, most shocked at the type of company Tali was in. Eventually they were stopped before entering a large room by another Quarian that Tali recognized.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, I am glad you came, I could only delay them for so long, she said to them."

"Auntie Raan!"

Tali walked forward and embraced the Quarian.

Tali introduced them, "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, she's a friend of my father's. Wait, Raan, you called me vas Normandy."

"I'm afraid I did, Tali, the admiralty board moved to have you tried under that name given your departure from the Neema," Raan explained.

"I take it being associated with a human ship is a bad sign?" Sheppard asked.

"They stripped me of my ship name, that's as good as declaring me exiled already," Tali was starting to feel like this was a hopeless gamble.

"Its not over yet, Tali," Raan comforted, "you have friends who still know you as Tali'Zorah vas Neema... whatever we must call you legally."

"You're an Admiral, does that mean you're one of the judges?" Shepard asked.

"I'm afraid not, my history with Tali and her father forced me to recluse myself."

"I imagine father had to do the same," Tali said

"You'll see inside, Tali. For my part, I moderate and ensure that the rules of protocol are followed, but I have no vote in the judgment."

"I guess we should get started then, does Tali have a defense councilor, someone who speaks for her side?" Shepard asked.

"Indeed she does, Captain Shepard," Raan said, "she is part of your crew now, recognized under Quarian law. And remember, that an accused is always represented by his or her ship Captain."

Sheppard looked over at Tali who nervously continued, "So, er... you would actually speak for my defense."

Although shocked, Shepard was nevertheless committed, "I'll do everything in my power to help you, Tali."

The impending trial didn't seem so hopeless now that she had Shepard backing her, "I couldn't ask for a better councilor."

"Our legal rules are simple, there is no legal trickery or political loopholes for you to worry about. Present the truth as best you can, it will have to be enough. Now come, I promised I would not delay you."

The trio entered the courtroom with Raan in the lead. She led them into a small theatre like area recessed in the floor of the room, Quarian spectators gathered in the stands on benches. In the middle on a raised podium were three other Quarians Shepard guessed were the remainder of the admiralty board. Raan took her position on the platform behind them. The crowed stared at Legion with fear, for most of them it was the first time they had ever seen a Geth outside of historical holos.

"Security! There is a Geth in the courtroom!" one of the admirals cried. "Does Tali'Zorah think to affect this hearing with threats?"

"Captain Donna allowed the Geth aboard, do you intend to second guess the Rayya's Captain, Admiral Koris?" Raan challenged.

"Objection withdrawn," Koris replied.

Although they seemed to deal with Legion's presence for now, Shepard knew this was going to be a long trial.

XXX

Jacob Taylor activated the omni-gel fabrication machine and began to produce parts for a Locust SMG that would later be completed into a real weapon by the rest of Normandy's armory fabrication systems. Shepard had ordered the SMG mass produced to replace the Normandy's current stock of SMGs. The Locust was a much better weapon and thanks to the OSD contained within the Locust that Shepard and Kasumi had retrieved from Donovan Hock's vault, they had the blueprints needs to reproduce it. Just as he finished entering the commands to move to the next phase of assembly, the armory doors opened and Miranda Lawson walked in.

"I'm due to update the Illusive Man in an hour, do you have the trial specs on the Arc Projector?"

"Right here, Miranda," Jacob said as he tossed an OSD across the room, Miranda's augmented reflexes easily allowing her to catch it despite the relatively great distance across the room.

"What do you think with us being inside the Migrant Fleet like this?" Jacob asked.

Miranda knew that the Illusive Man had his eyes set on the fleet for quite some time, culminating in an undercover assault on the fleet a year and a half ago. Now, they had unprecedented access to the Migrant Fleet, no doubt the Illusive Man would order as many covert scans of the fleet as possible once Miranda reported in.

"Its a remarkable opportunity," Miranda admitted, "however I doubt Shepard would ever approve of us spying. We can always delay checking in with the Illusive Man until after we're gone."

Jacob had been impressed with Miranda's changing attitude when it came to Cerberus and Shepard, ever since Shepard had helped with the incident with her sister, Oriana. Jacob was starting to think that Miranda's loyalties were swaying more toward Shepard.

"Yeah, but what are we gonna tell him? Something important came up?" Jacob asked.

"Operative Lawson, Operative Taylor," EDI's voice came over the intercom, "Shepard has reported that the Geth have seized control of one of the fleet's ships. He and the shore party are preparing to board it, the Normandy is to be prepared for a possible combat situation."

"I think that counts as important, Jacob," Miranda activated her omni tool and signaled the cockpit. "Mr Moreau, break docking seal and prepare for combat."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Jacob, assemble whoever you need for a combat team and load up in the shuttle just in case," Miranda ordered.

"You got it," Jacob began loading up weapons and send a signal via his omni tool to the rest of the team.

XXX

After learning about the fate of the Alarei in the opening deliberations, Shepard managed to get the trial postponed to take care of the real threat. After briefly meeting with all of the admirals in addition to Kal'Reegar and Veetor, they met a Marine at an airlock where they returned Legion's weapon and boarded an old Kodiak shuttle they most likely salvaged and repaired, from there they boarded the Alarei. Upon leaving the shuttlebay, they came upon the first of many Quarian bodies with wounds consistent with Geth pulse rifles, and that made Tali worry even more.

Even she knew that the odds of finding her father or anyone else alive on the Alarei was slim to none, but there was still that fleeting hope that with Shepard's presence they might be able to repel the Geth and find her father safe and sound. At the same time, she was hoping to find clues about how the Geth became active in the first place. They had come across some of the parts that Tali had sent back to the fleet, only they were inert, the way she had sent all her parts back. They continued their firefight through the ship, meeting stiffer resistance the deeper they got. Eventually they came across another computer terminal, and Tali attempted to access it.

"This console might have something, most of the data is corrupted but there are a few bits left." She said as she got the data up. "They were performing experiments on Geth systems, looking for ways to overcome Geth resistance to reprogramming."

"Could any of that data clear your name?" Shepard asked.

Tali shook her head, "Doubtful, this is just results data, effects of different disruptive hacking techniques, I don't understand all of it. But they may have been activating the Geth deliberately, I don't know. Nothing here says specifically, but if they were then father was doing something terrible. What was all this father? You promised you'd build me a house on the homeworld. Was this going to bring us back home?"

"Maybe its time for your people to let go of reclaiming your world from the Geth," Shepard said, in some vein attempt to console her, however it backfired.

"You have no idea what its like. You have a planet to go back to! My home is one hull breach away from extinction." Shepard had never seen Tali angry in such a way.

"You've got a place here, Tali. Don't throw it away in a war you don't need," he said.

"Don't need? Shepard, if I don't wear a helmet in my own home, I die. A single kiss could put me in the hospital! Her tone became less hostile, every time you tough a flower with bare fingers, inhale its fragrance without air filters, you're doing something I can't. Damn the pilgrimage, without it, I might never have known what I was missing. What we had lost when we lost our homeworld." She had never been so passionate in an argument before, but it was Shepard she was talking with. She made no attempt to deny to herself that she felt something for Shepard, but he could never understand her, never be with her.

"Shepard-Commander."

Legion returned from what he called recon, but for some reason he clutched a small Geth data core in one of his hands.

"Heretic forces are massing in the next room, I recommend we engage in a first strike."

"We can talk about this later Tali, we still have a ship to take back," Shepard readied his M-96 Mattock rifle and took point into the next room. Legion took position on the balcony and readied his heavy sniper rifle, Tali took position near the staircase and watched their flank. Shepard joined Legion and fired down at the half dozen Geth on the lower level. Two attempted to flank from another balcony, but Legion's rifle made quick work of their barriers and reduced them dismembered parts. A Geth Hunter used its tactical cloak and tried to sneak up the stairs, but its stealth was no match for Shepard's enhanced vision and a quick warning to Tali enabled her to destroy the Geth with her own Geth designed shotgun.

They proceeded to the lower level, making sure there were no more Geth hiding in the shadows. Once it was clear, they proceeded through the door and into a hallway, there was another Quarian body on the floor, one that Tali recognized, unfortunately to her own dismay.

"Father!"

She ran forward and knelt down in front of the body

"No, no, no! You always had a plan. Masked lifesigns, or, or an onboard medical stasis program. You! You wouldn't," Tali knew that in the end it was hopeless, "they're wrong, you wouldn't just die like this, you wouldn't leave me here to clean up your mess! You can't!"

"Hey, hey, come here."

Shepard pulled Tali away, and into a comforting embrace.

"Damn it! Damn it! I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about," Shepard's words of comfort managed to stop her sobbing.

"Maybe... he would have known I'd come. Maybe he left a message."

Tali activated her father's omni tool and a holographic representation of her father appeared over the omni tool, programed to activate if the omni tool came on.

"Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead. The Geth have gone active and I don't have much time. The main hub will be on the bridge. You'll need to destroy it to stop their VI processes from forming new neural links; make sure Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen see the data. They must-"

"Thanks dad." Tali sniffled.

"He knew you'd come for him. He was trying to help you. Its not perfect, its not what you wanted, but its the best he could do," Shepard said.

"I don't know what's worse, thinking he never cared, or thinking that he did and that this was the only way he could show it. It doesn't matter. One way or the other, I cared, and I'm here, and we're ending this."

"Legion, lets go," Shepard called to the Geth who had yet another Geth data core in his hand, which he discarded and joined the others. They proceeded up the stairs and into the main bridge. There were less Geth then in the previous room, however that was made up for by the massive Geth Prime that stood in the center. Knowing that the element of surprise was their only option, Shepard ordered Legion to flank left while Tali and he took right. Legion fired his anti material rifle at one of the smaller Geth, and eliminated it. Shepard and Tali did the same with the other Geth Hunter guarding the Prime, and then turned their attention to the massive Geth unit. They fired everything they had into the Prime, but were barely able to weaken its barriers. A shot from Legion turned its attention away from the two of them, and the Geth paused for a second to determine why one of its own was shooting at it. In that time, Shepard was able to get out his Arc Projector and fire it at the prime, the massive electrical change the Cerberus built weapon designed with Geth in mind easily killed the massive Geth; the bridge was secured. Tali went over to one of the control consoles and accessed it via her omni tool.

"This console is linked to the main hub father mentioned. Disabling it should shut down any Geth we missed." Tali did so, but something caught her eye. "It looks like some of the recordings remained intact. They'll tell us what happened, what father did."

There was apprehension in her voice, and Shepard heard it, "You sound like you really don't want to hear it."

"No. We have to, I know. I just... this is terrible Shepard, I don't want to know that he was a part of this". Reluctantly, Tali activated the recording.

"Do we have enough parts to bring more online?"

"Yes the new shipment from your daughter will allow us to add two more Geth to the network"

"We're nearing a breakthrough in systemic viral attacks. Perhaps we should inform the admiralty board, just to be safe."

"No, we're too close, I promised to build my daughter a house on the homeworld. I'm not going to sit and wait while the politicians argue."

"We'd have an easier time of it if Tali'Zorah could send back more working material."

"Absolutely not, I don't want Tali exposed to any political blowback, leave Tali out of this. Assemble new Geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."

"It sounds like he was doing this for you," Shepard said.

"I never wanted this, Shepard. Keelah, I never wanted this. Everything here is his fault, I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this... when this comes up in the trial, they'll... We can't tell them, not the admirals, not anyone."

"Tali, without this evidence you're looking at exile," Shepard had to admire her selflessness, but the last thing he wanted was for the young girl to loose her home.

"You think I don't know that? You think I want to live knowing that I can never see the fleet again? But I can't go back into that room and say that my father was the worst war criminal in my people's history, I cannot."

"Rael'Zorah doesn't need you to worry about him anymore. You heard him say that he didn't want you to be caught in the politics!"

"You don't understand, Shepard. They would strike his name from the manifest of every ship he ever served on. He'd be worse than an exile, he'd be a traitor to our people, held up for children as a monster in a cautionary tale! I can't let all the good he did be destroyed for this, Shepard."

"We're not gonna decide anything here. Lets see what the admirals say once we get back."

"You're my Captain in this hearing, Shepard. Its your decision, but please don't destroy what my father was."

The evidence was transferred over to Shepard's omni tool, and frankly he was leaning toward simply deleting it and covering up what happened on the Alarei. Just as he turned to leave, he saw Legion rip open the head of the Geth Prime and taking out the data core, which he then squeezed in his free hand.

"Alright, are you gonna tell me what that's all about," Shepard asked.

"Apologies, Shepard-Commander, we should have informed you of our dual purpose here," Legion said.

"And that would be?"

"While we had intended to offer the cease fire to the creators, we were also instructed by the Geth to investigate reports of an attack on the creator refugee fleet."

"Well obviously you've found and helped to stop it," Tali deadpanned.

"You misunderstand us, Creator-Tali'Zorah. The mobile platforms here linked with the heretic mainframe and received their instructions, instructions this platform now has access to. The heretic assault on this vessel is a diversion for the real attack to take place," Legion explained.

"And their target is the Migrant Fleet?" Shepard asked.

"Affirmative," Legion said, "their attack serves a two fold purpose, to annihilate the creator threat and to ensure the secrecy of the weapon they intend to use."

"Are you saying my people know about the attack?" Tali asked.

"You yourself are aware of their method of attack, Creator-Tali'Zorah, you simply did not comprehend it at the time."

Both she and Shepard were puzzled, but listened as Legion began his explanation.

"Before integrating with Normandy, you were in charge of a reconnaissance team on the former creator world of Haestrom. The planet, and more importantly its star were under the control of the heretics, they were conducting an experiment on its star the purpose of which was to induce rapid fusion of the star's combustible elements, accelerating to the point of final collapse."

"The dark energy we monitored," Tali said, "it was somehow causing this?"

"Affirmative, the dark energy emanated from a specifically reconfigured Mass Effect drive, and struck the star in a specific magnetic convergence point to induce rapid fusion of the star's combustible material; within 6 months of the experiment the star was forced to begin consuming heavier elements and began its expansion phase."

"Wait, the sun on Haestrom took 6 months to get to that point? How is that any kind of effective weapon?" Shepard asked.

"The effect can be greatly accelerated by a simple alteration to the field projected. Haestrom was simply a test to see if the effect was viable, it is fully weaponized."

"Legion, if you knew all this then why didn't you tell us sooner?" Tali asked.

"We did not have enough intelligence on the matter, only that an attack was planned against the creators and it was to cover up an experiment on Haestrom. We only gained further information after assimilating data from the memory cores of the heretic Geth aboard this vessel."

"Do you know when this attack is going to happen?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, now," Legion calmly replied.

XXX

Miranda stood in the cockpit behind joker as the Normandy approached the Alarei. A few Quarian patrol craft formed a defensive shell around the ship, to make sure the Geth didn't get away.

"EDI, get Shepard on COM."

"Shepard is already contacting us, patching him through," the AI said.

"Miranda, I don't have time to explain but you've got to get a message to the Quarians and tell them that the Alarei is secured and that we're taking it away from the fleet. Tell them also to make for the mass relay or just jump to FTL now!"

"I am relaying the appropriate messages now, Shepard," EDI stated.

"What's going on over there?" Miranda asked.

"The heretic Geth have managed to weaponize a Mass Effect drive to cause a star to go supernova, their target is one of the two stars in this system."

"Shepard, you and I both know how long it takes for the Migrant Fleet to transit through a mass relay," Miranda said.

"The same goes true for FTL travel, it can take up to three hours for the fleet to jump into FTL, and some of our ships aren't capable of jumping anymore," Tali interjected.

"Then we should just hunt this ship down and destroy it," Joker said, "come on, we've got all of Garrus' new upgrades I say we test them!"

"The heretic ship will likely make all attempts to avoid detection by attacking from the opposite side of the star, Leyya, as it is the older of the two and the quickest that can be induced into supernova, Legion explained."

"Sufficed to say it would take Normandy too long to track this thing down and destroy it. Legion's got a timetable for their attack and we expect the star to go nova within 15 minutes," Shepard said. EDI, Legion is using the Alarei's COM systems to establish a linkup with the Normandy. Work with him on the calculations we're gonna need to stop this."

"Shepard, how exactly are we going to stop a supernova?" Miranda asked

"By canceling it out with a black hole."

XXX

Shepard stood in the cockpit of the Alarei, staring at the blue glow of the approaching star Raheel before the shutters closed over the windows. Legion manned the helm as Tali prepped their shuttle for launch. Their plan was to use the Alarei's Mass Effect drive and make modifications to it to produce the inverse of the heretic Geth's effect; collapse the star into a black hole. Most of Legion's run-times and EDI's processing was devoted into reconfiguring the data on the modifications that Legion downloaded. Legion had speculated that the level of the calculations was too sophisticated for the Geth to have created on their own, and that the reapers might have given it to them through Sovereign.

"Shepard-Commander, EDI has finished calculations for a Mass Effect field sufficient to trigger a mass compression within the star," Legion said, "however the age of this vessel's Mass Effect drive along with the structural design indicates that this vessel will have to approach close enough to the star to inflict leather radiation damage to organics. I recommend we evacuate this vessel now."

"Will the autopilot do the job?" Shepard asked.

"Computers aboard creator vessels have a tendency to be redundant due to creator's unorthodox construction methods. We've calculated a 79 percent probability of the ship and the Mass Effect core surviving to the point of initiation."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed just in case," Shepard said, "lets get the hell out of here."

The two of them backtracked their way through the Alarei, stepping over dead Geth and Quarians alike who's bodies were about to be cremated in the most extreme way possible. It took nearly five minuets at full sprint to make it back to the shuttlebay, and a quick look at his radiation meter indicated that levels were rising. Once they boarded the shuttle, Shepard found Tali sitting in the passenger compartment, her father's body lying on the floor in front of her.

"I couldn't leave him there," she said, "he deserves a proper burial."

Shepard nodded and turned to Legion, "get in the cockpit and get us out of here."

The Geth complied and piloted the shuttle out of the Alarei's bay and in the opposite direction. They didn't have to fly far before the Normandy flew in and scooped the shuttle up, docking safely in the second slip. Joker came about hard and throttled the Normandy's engines, they were too deep inside the star's gravity well to go to FTL, so their only hope was to try and outrun any possible shock wave and get to the mass relay; the Migrant Fleet was scrambling to the relay themselves. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the smaller of the two blue giants, a Geth ship dove straight at a magnetoplasmic convergence on the star's surface, its Mass Effect core charging to unleash a massive wave of dark energy. On the opposite side of the other star, the Alarei made a similar dive for an identical convergence, and its overcharged Mass Effect core emitted a massive wave of dark energy. The negatively charged wave reduced some of the mass of the convergence and caused a chain reaction across the star, it began shrinking. By the time the Geth ship realized that the companion star was collapsing it had already initiated its own dark energy wave.

Raheel collapsed before Leyya managed to go supernova, however there was no stopping the the influx of dark energy that was accelerating the fusion reaction. The Geth ship was destroyed when the star went nova, however something unexpected happened. The gravitational presence of the newly formed black hole absorbed the massive energy of the supernova, the blast was enough to cause a massive reaction on the black hole. The energy fused with the gravitational forces of the black hole to produce an unexpected and unexplainable effect; a second shock wave permeated outward and struck the Normandy first, traveling all the way to the Migrant Fleet. It caused little damage, but had completely disabled all the ships it touched. The black hole's gravitation field expanded and reconfigured, producing forces massive enough to attract both the Normandy and the Migrant Fleet, but gentle enough not to rip the ships apart. The black hole blossomed to three times its original size, and had changed, the energy infused within it had altered it fundamentally. The Normandy was pulled in first, powerless and unable to break free as it tumbled down the energy vortex. One by one the ships of the Migrant Fleet were pulled in as well, none able to make it to the mass relay which was outside the maximum reach of the strange gravitational field. The vortex was starting to collapse in on itself just as the last ship was pulled through, pulling them to somewhere unknown.

Ah cliffhangers, don't you just love them, everything will of course be explained in due time. In case you were curious, I'm trying something new with story descriptions based on a small trend I've seen around the site. Instead of one broad description, for the time being I've decided to instead write the summery of the most recent chapter. Until I manage to come up with a good enough summery for the fic that is less than 250 characters, which is not easy mind you. Anyway, I hope you readers enjoy what's to come because this is gonna be one hell of a crossover.