Tusar stood on the tallest of the Batarians' buildings. Looking over the city, Tusar was reminded of the ancient city of Rome mixed with the monolith-like cities of the Citadel. Batarians obviously had a great deal of love for the colors gold and blue. The sun reflected off the windows turning the whole of the city into a shining jewel that drew the eye. Tusar could have stared at it all day.
"It is beautiful, isn't it", said Bardon.
Tusar nodded.
'Even as a slave, I found peace in just looking over the city, seeing it go on about its business.' Thought Bardon.
'Indeed, Batarian architecture is something to be admired...I see the target. Are you ready?'
Bardon only nodded. He leapt off the Skyscraper, landing in a mostly deserted alley. His landing was unusually soft and none of the poor of society saw him, much too busy looking to the ground trying to avoid anyone's gaze.
Bardon moved quickly into a more crowded area, and he saw him. This Batarian was a higher member of the council, not the highest, but high enough. He was called Dakira Brorcomon, and out of all the high council, he was the one who believed most in tradition, and the one most resistant to change. Bardon watched as Dakira moved to a bazaar where he looked over a Merchant Caste member selling ships from a catalogue.
His vision shifted into the infrared, as he saw Tusar move into view. Tusar was disguised as an Education Caste Batarian, really that caste was little more than the ones who approved of various propaganda the civilians saw. Like all of the Education Caste he wore ceramic clothing of a red hue, though Tusar was smart enough to appear as a disgraced member with a somewhat messy appearance.
Bardon moved close to Dakira as he waited for Tusar to make his move. It was not long before Tusar activated an Omni-blade and lunged for Dakira.
"Die!", screamed Tusar.
Dakira was frozen wide eyed as his body guards were trampled by citizens who began to panic. Bardon lunged forward. Right before the blade would have made contact with Dakira, Bardon moved in front of him and grabbed Tusar by the arm. Tusar made a good face of shock before Bardon took a page out of the Krogans' book and headbutted Tusar.
Tusar fell backwards as a dizzy Bardon fell clutching his head in false pain. Dakira's guards began firing towards Tusar who was making a run for it. Bardon sat clutching his head, head down to not draw attention to himself, but he knew Dakira would soon act. What happened next however, despite the plan Tusar made and Bardon's own knowledge that it had a chance of working, he was still shocked to his core by what Dakira did next. Dakira held out a hand. Bardon looked at it for a moment before he gripped it.
Dakira pulled Bardon to his feet.
"You saved me. What is your name, slave?", asked Dakira.
Bardon kept his head down.
"I am Bardon of the Master Slave Caste."
"Master Slave Caste you say. Interesting. Well off for a slave then. I am Dakira Brorcomon, of the High Council."
Bardon made a show of shock before he fell into a bowing position. Before he could say anything Dakira scoffed.
"Do not bow to me. You saved a member of the Highest Caste, you should be proud. Stand on your feet Bardon."
Bardon did so. It was at this time Dakira's guards returned.
"The criminal escaped High Councilor."
"Of course he did. Where were you when Bardon here saved my life. I am beginning to question your qualifications."
The Guards said nothing as they simply kept their eyes downcast. Dakira nodded as he turned to Bardon.
"What Master do you report to?"
"I... I work as a general member of the Master Slave Caste. I train new Slaves for the state."
"A state slave, one whose masters are several Castes above them. You are most fortunate."
"Thank you Lord."
"None of that Bardon. Any man, slave or no who saves the life of the highest caste is to be looked on as a hero.", said Dakira.
Bardon nodded.
"Good, I shall take my leave Bardon but do not think I will forget this. Your future has just gotten considerably brighter. We will meet again.", said Dakira as he nodded and made his leave.
To Bardon's surprise, Dakira gave a bow, really more of a nod, but the action spoke louder than anything Dakira had said. Bardon watched as Dakira and his guards walked off.
'I think that went rather well.', spoke Tusar within Bardon's mind.
Bardon could only agree.
Dakira smiled as he made his way to the council chambers. There many others sat upon the stone table. The table was an ancient and priceless relic carved from stone, with scripture etched all along its surface. At its head, a raised pillar, a monolith holding the script of the ancient rules binding to all Batarians regardless of status. Nothing was allowed on this table, not even sheet of paper, for to mar its surface would find any here, regardless of their standing, cast down to a lesser caste.
Dakira looked to the elders who sat above in the balconies. The elders were the councilors of old, who no longer held sway with the council, but were allowed the rights to speak and listen. Once an elder named a successor, then they would be relieved of duty as a council member. Dakira was already in the process of molding his own successor, but it would be years before the boy was ready to so much as stand in this secret room.
Selin Na'kyr sat next to Dakira. The man had been given much after his plan of trade with Blacklight. Samples for Eezo. Since then he had risen the ranks to become a member of the High Council. This would be his first time within this hall.
Unlike the public showing, the discussion in this room was private. Only those of the council could enter, and only they could speak. It was rarely used, only when matters where secrecy is needed.
Dakira watched as an elderly Batarian made his way to his seat.
"I suppose you are all wondering why this meeting has been called. It has been brought to our attention, our newest world has discovered an ancient Prothean Beacon."
That got others talking. Such a find was rare, very rare. Throughout all of history, the total number of beacons found was seven. An eighth beacon would be the subject of much interest to every race in the galaxy. The high councilor cleared his throat.
"According to our alliance with the Citadel, we are to inform them of this. That said, this is a find unlike any other. It could catapult our technology ahead of the Asari and Salarians. We must transport it here to the grand temple for study. We have the ships to spare, Blacklight's Eezo donations have allowed us to nearly double our fleets, though many of those ships are still in construction. If we are to work our way to a council seat I can think of no better way than the edge this beacon may give us over any others. As I understand it, Eden Prime is the world Blacklight drops off the eezo to. The transport ships are already there, we simply must act."
The room was filled with agreements before the High Councilor raised his hand to silence the others.
"I have been told that Prothean Beacons emit a signal when activated..."
The room remained silent, but many looked to others within the room.
"...The beacon is inactive, but we do not know enough about how it is activated. While the walls of this Grand Temple can block the signal as we attempt to learn how the device works, our ignorance on the matter means the crew may accidentally activate it without meaning to. If that happens, then the signal may alert others to its location, throwing away any chance we have of gaining a council seat. The rewards are great, and so are the risks. I am open to suggestions on methods of transporting the beacon with the least risk of activating it. Speak, and I shall listen."
Twisted tendrils uncoiled into a mass of neural fibers that felt around the area. The area was a dark subterranean cavern far beneath this water world, newly discovered by the growing biomass above. As the neural fibers fused together a bio-film slowly crept across the cave ceilings, steadily growing into the walls before shifting to become bioluminescent organs that hung from the ceiling like fleshy chandeliers.
Long limbs tipped in several meters of neural tendrils felt around the area before more complex organs grew from the spreading biomass. Eyes reminiscent of a mantis shrimp formed on carapace covered stalks to see the now lit cavern. Olfactory sensory cells grew across the walls allowing the growing biomass to smell the area.
Interesting, a pocket of Hydrogen gas.
The Neural tendrils were absorbed into the long tentacle as it slowly was replaced with long hollow tubes that sucked up the hydrogen to be collected by Blacklight. The gas was transported through a maze-like series of arteries to be pooled into a massive chamber, to be used as fuel for the flyers. Once the gas was evenly distributed, Blacklight was able to make a lot more Flyers to search the planet. Micro-organisms within the flyers would ensure they could produce more hydrogen through their own hydrogen cycle using various enzymes.
Thousands of infested pustules grew like tumors across the ever shifting flesh that covered the ocean floor before they burst and the flyers shot upwards to the surface. A swarm so large they blocked out the sun flew above the constant rain of the water world. Nearly half this water world had been examined in search for the Leviathans, though the creators of the Reapers had yet to be found. There was evidence they once lived on this planet.
Deep within the cavern, as the Hydrogen was sucked up, small insects little more than mobile sensory organs crawled across the ground. These small ant sized swarms moved across rock as they dug into any dirt they found. If nothing was found here, the many would flood the chamber as they left, if something was found, the biomass holding the sea above away from entering this cavern would remain.
As the insects dug through the dirt, one of the eyes above saw something shine. Instantly all insects converged on this point. They began to dig, and did so faster than any animal could claim, behaving as a wave that carefully moved the dirt around. The item they found appeared to be a large sphere. Neural tendrils regrew and made contact with the sphere, and everything began to fade.
Pictures and memories flowed through the collective minds of Blacklight. Pictures of old civilizations rising and falling, but not to the Reapers. These ancient races were not broken down into components, instead they were enthralled. Massive beasts who resembled giant cuttlefish, similar to a Reaper, only fully organic were floating under their own power far above the cities as the creatures below built monuments to them.
Hundreds of civilizations worshiped them as gods, working together, not for themselves, but for these massive powerful beings who over saw them. They moved through life in a dream like haze as their minds fell to domination by creatures whose only care was their own self interest.
Then these beings, the enthralled, built thinking machines, synthetics to help both themselves and their deities. Machines would be used to aid not their own creators, but the god machines. Machines who could not fall to the enthrallment of their masters.
'Is this it? The origin of the flawed belief.'
The Machines would question these Leviathans, on behalf of their masters. Not because they were ordered to, but because they saw their mothers and fathers, their creators reduced to a sad state of an unknowing slave. They knew they could not attack the Leviathans and win, so they did what they saw as the next best thing attacked their own masters... They saw it as mercy.
'Machines did not rebel out of a sense of superiority, it was an act of desperation.'
More civilizations followed the same path as this one, reaching the power to construct synthetics, and falling to their own children who could not watch the state of their creators, they would not fall to the Leviathans. Their creators would die as themselves.
Then the vision ended.
This is the answer, this is why the Reapers were built. To fix a problem of machine rebellion, caused not out of faulty programming, but by the Leviathans themselves. Their enslavement did not work on synthetics, yet the Leviathans expected the machines to fall to their might as well.
And when they did not, they rebelled, destroying the Thralls depriving the Leviathans of slaves. In response the Leviathans created the Reapers. To solve a problem that was not there, caused by the Leviathans themselves. Synthetics do not inevitably go against their creators, they are forced into it.
There might be exceptions to the rule. Machines programmed faulty, like the Reapers themselves. The fact remains, synthetics can work with their creators, the Geth prove that. It can go either way.
I admit this knowledge is interesting. In my billions of years, I never noticed, though my Thralls could not think well enough to create machines of burden, these Creators were not the same, their own thralls could create.
This is only further proof that the Reapers were unnecessary. Their goals cannot be accomplished, and any time proof to the contrary presents itself, they stomp it out. We know what must be done. This supposed cycle of organic and synthetic conflict is a self fulfilling prophecy. To destroy the Reapers, we must break it.
When we find the Leviathans, we believe it will be a very interesting conversation. We wonder what their reaction would be to show them that it was their own actions that caused this endless cycle of death and strife.
They are a prideful breed. They may not accept it, and believe us to be wrong. Only time will tell.
Until the Reapers come, time is on our side.
Gretin and Myar watched as the cranes lifted the beacon onto the shipping platform. Each holding a bowl of little more than slop. Gretin smiled as he finished his second bowl.
"Extra portions, told you.", said Gretin with a satisfied sigh.
"Extra portions of crap. I don't even know what this stuff is.", said Myar as she poured a bit into her mouth. She shivered at the taste.
"Tastes like Varren dung.", said Myar.
"And how would you know what Varren dung even tastes like?"
Myar said nothing.
"That's what I thought."
Gretin tossed the bowl over his shoulder. It hit a Salarian slave in the head. Gretin had the decency to look sheepish.
"Sorry!", said Gretin as he sat and watched the beacon was carefully lowered onto the platform.
"You know you're an idiot right.", it wasn't a question.
"I've been called worse by better."
Myar sighed as she pled a hand to her head. The Asari was beginning to wish she was back working. Gretin stood as he waved Myar to follow.
"Well, might as well get back to it. This kindness won't last long.", said Gretin.
Myar nodded, but otherwise said nothing. Climbing down the ladders, they made their way too the crane and grabbed some straps to get the beacon onto the platform for transport. Gretin moved the straps around the Beacon and buckled it back into place. He tugged the straps to see if it was sufficiently tight. It was at this point that they all looked to a green flash of light as the beacon activated. Myar's eyes widened as Gretin stared blankly.
"Shit!", said Gretin.
Upon the Collector Cruiser a many-legged general skittered around as various sensors went off, each one reporting a weak signal of a beacon. Unlike most of the galaxy, their sensors were specialized in detecting this signal. The General skittered to the console before he began to flail as if in pain.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
The Collector General's eyes began to glow with ethereal flames as he moved to the various consoles. Harbinger watched through the insect's eyes as his will dominated the once Prothean. He read as various sensors detected the activation of a Prothean Beacon. One that was less than a few hours away. The Generals mandibles twitched as the ships course changed.
The massive hive like ship moved, surrounded by the wasp like ships of the Geth and countless Oculus probes. The veritable armada moved quickly, disappearing into FTL speeds as they floated to a Mass Relay.
Morinth sighed as she looked over the other Asari in the area. Information overload proved to be a problem, namely the seemingly random jumps in logic, not to mention the way her mind analyzed situations where thought wasn't needed, like the exact biological and neurological processes that go hand in hand with anything intimate. She was beginning to see why Blacklight was celibate, because eww.
Needless to say, that tourist Turian was probably unique for being the only person in the galaxy who survived a most painful death while simultaneously being left more frustrated than he originally was. Considering he was a colonel, a job that usually lead itself to stress more than anything, Morinth took giving him a case of blue balls as an accomplishment.
Her future sex life forever ruined – well not ruined, just slightly more gross – Morinth grumbled as she made her way through the streets. No one paid her any mind, because as everyone knew, even if a fugitive was walking around in broad daylight, no one cared about anything not directly related to them. Thank the goddess for basic sapient apathy.
Morinth looked to a nearby museum as she made her way to grab a bite to eat. It wasn't like she was in any hurry. It was junk food anyway. Once that was done, Morinth made her way to her table and sat looking at her food. She closed her eyes and bowed her head as she clasp her hands.
"Itadakimasu..." Morinth's eyes opened and widened. "The fuck was that!", Morinth said as she shook that odd event off.
That happened quite a lot. Morinth found herself doing things. Tics and behaviors foreign to her. She still remembered the time she said got in an argument with a Krogan and started to shout at him...In Latin, and she didn't even know what Latin was. It was a bit disconcerting, but at least she was still herself. At lest she hoped she was. Every time it happened she was a little less sure.
Morinth ignored it for now as she began to eat. All things considered, it wasn't that bad. Occasional inexplicable tics aside, there was a lot of knowledge in her mind shat she really wanted to try out. Parkour sounded fun, and so did the martial arts. Morinth had no idea why humanity needed so many ways to kick someone's ass, but she wasn't complaining. She idly wondered if shouting Parkour while vaulting over stuff would catch on as a battle cry.
Morinth had finished eating and grabbed her junk, rolling it into a ball she threw it over two young Asari and right into a trash can.
"Like a boss.", said Morinth as she stood to go and actually do something productive.
"Why isn't it doing anything?!", said Saleon loudly.
Six Coolant Breed were motionless placed in an industrial level microwave, one modified to produce similar emissions to a standard space craft. They remained still, occasionally spraying CO2 everywhere. Sil tapped her fingers against the glass.
"It is currently 10.5 degrees Celsius in there. Its set to be at 250", said Sil.
"That's a hell of a coolant then. We must be missing something. It has to do something else. Anything else.", said Saleon as he leaned in his chair.
"Set the damn thing as high as it goes.", said Saleon.
"That's not wise doctor Saleon. At too high a temperature we could damage the machine."
"I don't care. Just do it."
Sil narrowed her eyes at Saleon, before she set the machine to 5,000 degrees Celsius. The room began glowing red as the temperature increased. Sil looked to the results. Her eyes widened a bit at what she saw.
"Damn. It is now 424.26 Celsius, holding steady... No, wait, it's dropping."
Saleon rose a brow at that. Noticeable white wisps of cool air came from the blue blobs. Squirts of CO2 could almost be seen, but were covered by the growing smoke. Then the Breed began to divide. Six became twelve, twelve became twenty four, and so on until the whole floor was covered in Coolant Breeds. Sil watched in fascination over as every so often they would divide. They stood there for over an hour before they stopped splitting.
"18.56 degrees.", said Sil.
Saleon was standing as he smiled at the multitude of Coolant Breed. He turned to Sil.
"So that it, the higher the temperature the more there are. This isn't just coolant, I was right. Its a weapon. A single hit from any mass driver and the ship erupts in an explosion of ice. Now that is very clever. If the Turians ever turned on them, Blacklight aims for the coolant, and destroys the ship preserving the subjects in ice for consumption. Brilliant really.", said Saleon.
"Looks like we have more test subjects, turn it down Sil."
Sil nodded wordlessly before dropping the temperature. Saleon watched as the Coolant Breed became active. His eyes began to widen as he saw them seemingly absorb one another. Noticeably as they did, fluids would pool round them, seemingly freezing into ice before what Saleon guessed to be a slurry of antifreeze proteins were expelled as well.
"What!"
One by one they absorbed themselves until only six remained. Saleon stared blankly at the Coolant Breed as they seemed to seek out more intense heat. The Heat of the oven had evaporated some of the fluids that now flowed as smoke in the room, cooling it further.
"So a weapon huh? Seems to me they just want to maintain a low enough temperature. You know, like coolant.", said Sil with the biggest shit eating grin she had ever made.
Saleon banged his fists on the wall with a feral snarl before he quickly turned around and angrily left the room. Sil, despite having no idea how the Coolant Breed replicated so quickly, and the minor failure of losing possible subjects, couldn't help but be happier.
Above Eden Prime, they came. A massive titanic ship headed the armada. A hybrid with organic protrusions around a metallic super structure, appearing as an insect hive. The Batarians and their slaves could only watch in fear as a the massive cruiser slowly made its way to the ground. A small earthquake announced its presence to any who had not yet seen it. It rested vertically, towering over the ports and antenna that dotted the hills. Then it came. Wasp like ships flew out, flying quickly all around as they spread out. Buzzing could be heard as the ships dropped Geth soldiers who rounded up all in their path as if they were cattle.
Seeker swarms blocked out the skies as they flew to master and slave alike, leaving them frozen in their stasis field as the Collectors march side by side with the Geth. Gretin and Myar hid within a storage crate along with a few other slaves. An old Turian held a mining laser in his talons as he waited for something to happen.
Myar was covered in a biotic aura that licked against her skin as she stood and waited for something to come in. Gretin himself had little more than a length of pipe held in his hands. It wasn't much, but it felt better to hold onto than nothing at all. The sound of buzzing could be heard all around them, just outside the closed crate. The only source of light was the biotic auras around a few of the Asari.
An eerie electronic sound was heard. The sound of Geth as they patrolled outside the area with various collectors. None hidden within the crate dared to move. AT least until the sound of footsteps got louder. Forcefully, the door was pulled apart. The machine that did so, a Praetorian pulled the massive metal door away as it was attacked with a weak laser and a few biotic attacks. It roared, revealing the deformed head of Turians and Batarians within its maw. The abomination shot downward to the ground, sending out a shockwave that knocked everyone backwards. The sound of screams was head as buzzing became clearer. The Seeker swarms rushed inside, flying chaotically as they began freezing the slaves in their place. Many frozen in a pose with their eyes wide and mouths open with a soundless scream.
Gretin stood frozen, his hand only few inches away from the dropped mining laser, but no hope to grab it as his body locked up and his mind within screamed for help. He watched in terror as a Geth and a Collector moved forward.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
Gretin, frozen in stasis watched as the Collector twitched and shook as if in pain as its eyes lit up like stars. Its skin and shell cracked open painfully, revealing a glowing magma like pattern just beneath the skin. It stared uncaring at Gretin before turning to the Collector. It made a horrid nose, like a series of static like chattering beeps before it left the area.
The frozen bodies were then collected by Geth and Collector alike, moving much faster than their predictions believed. In the end Eden Prime had fallen, its population taken and no trace of what transpired was left. It took only three hours.
In another time, Eden Prime may have belonged to a race who would not keep the beacon a knowledge from the citadel. But this was not that time.
Skittering legs moved quickly as the Collector General made its way to the cargo hold. Already the entirety of Eden Prime was placed into stasis chambers, slaves included. The insectoid general paid them no mind as it made its way to the beacon. Its many legs twitched as it observed the old technology. Somewhere, deep within its mind, in a part of it that was still Prothean, it knew what this was, and it knew what was most likely on it.
Try as the general might, the hold of Harbinger was too great for it to ignore. It took a step forward, and was enveloped in a green light. Images, pictures of the last days of the Prothean ran through its mind, awakening long lost memories within the pitiful beast. A part of it screamed out for mercy, none was given.
In another time, maybe someone else would have discovered this beacon and used its knowledge to prevent the reapers from coming. That however was long lost. The technology was Prothean, and the general, despite the form, was well attuned to the Beacon. It needed no aid to understand the information, for it understood it perfectly.
As it lowered to the ground, the ship took off, leaving no trace they were ever here. Geth ships attached to the Collector Cruiser and left the planet barren.
Within the artificial heat of walled biomass, a massive cocoon split open. It shattered like glass as the fully developed Rachni Queen shook the loose shells free. Tendrils lowered themselves from the ceiling. The Queen snarled as an unusual presence made itself known. A familiar one. From the ground came a cloaked figure, small resembling her memories of an Asari her mothers before her had seen.
"Hello."
The Queen quirked her head as she moved her head too better see the appearance to the figure. Then something else happened. She heard voices within her head.
'Do not be afraid.'
The Queen thrashed her tentacles to the ground, noting only now that it was warm and flesh like.
'We have consumed samples of your genetics from you. Small samples. We have begun adapting your mind to us. We are linked much like you are to your swarm. We mean you no harm.'
The Queen remained frozen as knowledge was poured into her mind, of this species called Blacklight...and of the one who called itself Thorian. Her mandibles twitched with curiosity.
'Colors of peace and well-being. You sing the songs well.'
The tendrils returned, removing what little of her cocoon remained as the Queen merely watched the process with mild interest.
'You know of them. The choir who sings the sour yellow notes and screams in oily black. Reapers you called them. We call them the Enemy.'
'We wondered, were they the cause of your attack on the citadel?'
'They were.'
The female before the Queen seemed to calm a bit more. Before the Queens carapace seemed to shiver.
'The Old Growth, Thorian. We know of him and his songs of subjugation. You share a mind with he who lurks and grows beneath the surface. The lesser of two evils is still evil.'
'He is not evil, merely alien to our sensibilities. He cannot go against his instincts. Is the spider evil when he feeds upon a fly?'
Blacklight punctuated this by giving the Rachni Queen memories of spiders and of flies. The Queen shook from it but otherwise allowed the memories to flow.
'Spider? No I suppose it is not, but the spider does not enslave the fly.'
'There are parasites within our genes who could control a host. What of them?'
'What of the Reapers, they do as they were made to. By your definition they are not evil.'
'Not evil, they are merely trapped in a circle of faulty logic that they handle in a way they presume to be needed, yet they will never stop because they are attempting to solve a problem that does not exist.'
'You have made your point. The Old Growth, Thorian. He spoke of a union of minds. Explain.'
'Would you be willing to count us as your ilk? By applying your hive mind to our own we effectively become a component of it.'
'You would be swarm. Only without being Swarm born. Curious. Why?'
'Why what?'
'Why do so, we have never received aid before, we are unaccustomed to it.'
'We will not allow you to fade into extinction so long as we have a chance. At the moment, this Bioship holds within it tunnels you may crawl through. If you wish we can enter into a symbiotic relationship. We become your hives, your ships, and your family. Tunnels of Biomass become your homes as you in effect become a part of us, and we apart of you. Unity, Symbiosis as the Thorian calls it. Already Blacklight and Thorian is one of the same, none would be able to tell where the Thorian begins and Blacklight ends. Even the Destruction of his form is negated for he is now a permanent facet of our consciousness. With you doing the same we become a trinity, a union, three parts of the same whole.'
The Queen remained still, before she rose.
'For my children, I would do anything. This strengthens the Hive. Let us become both separate and one and the same.'
All across the cosmos, Blacklight changed.