(World: Virmire, pre-Virmire Normandy and Post-Virmire Normandy.
Game: Mass Effect 1
Participants: Sorin and shining
Male Shepard

Sorin and I have some parts planned, but we'll have time to chat with the crew before and after.)

In the garage-like area of the SSV Normandy SR-1, members of the human Spectre Commander Shepard's multi-species crew worked. Except the massive, armored alien known as a Krogan named Urdnot Wrex, who just stood at the wall with arms crossed.
The reptilian turian known as Garrus Vakarian worked on the Mako APC, the human requisitions officer on his stock, and the human Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams on her computer.

A single beam of light touched down in the center of the room, depositing a young man in dark clothing with red eyes and black hair. He had barely enough time to take in his surroundings before three guns were pointed straight at him from Williams, Wrex, and Vakarian.
"Ah crap," Isaac Zivaku muttered, holding up his hands.

====

"Oh dear. This isn't Rapture either." Matt said, walking on to the scene where three soldiers were pointing a gun at a young man a bit older than Matt. "I knew I should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque."

At that moment, the very familiar Turian turned around and aimed his assault rifle at Matt. The latter simply lifted up his arms in the air. "I come in peace?"

Garrus couldn't help but roll his eyes, which is as expressive as a Turian could be. "Why do you humans always say that?"

====

"Because we do. And you're pointing guns at us." Isaac kept up his hands, even as Ashley lowered her gun.
"Who are you two, and how did you get in here?" asked the black-haired Alliance soldier.
"Um..." This part of explaining was something Isaac had always had trouble with.

(Bioshock 1 or 2 Rapture? I'm considering a topic in the latter, the beginning of the game.)

====

As if things weren't bad enough another beam of light touched down by Isaac revealing a human girl with cat ears and a tail.  "Maybe this wasn't the best place to land."  Jess muttered as her ears twitched slightly at the sight of the guns.

However that wouldn't be the last person as a burst of flames appeared behind Sheppard and the rest.  "Oh crap."  Pyro Mireu said as he looked around.

====

"Jonathan Mireu?" Isaac asked, mostly under his breath. Pyro's... alarming entrance immediately attracted the attention of all three guns, Jess more than a few stares. "Pyro, or...Jess, right? Help me out here and explain us," the demon whispered, not reintroducing himself yet.

====

"Oh, about time you two got down from our shuttle." Matt said, getting a confused look on Garrus' face, which wasn't much considering a Turian's incapability to make facial expressions. At least those familiar to humans.

"Shuttle?"Garrus asked, confused.

"Yes, we happen to work on surveying worlds. But... we were separated from our ship while on the shuttle and got here." He explained. Matt didn't think they'd actually believe the Interference explanation. Especially considering the Mass Effectverse  was sci-fi. In other words, mostly ruled by science.

====

"On a stealth capable ship with shielding," Ashley said sarcastically.  "Yeah, real logical.  Why are you really here?"

====

"Great job Matt."  Pyro said as he held his hands up.  The Normandy was the most advanced ship when it came to stealth and all it did was hide the emissions.  The idea that a ship could go undetected by the Normandy was stupid.

It was then Jess noticed Isaac.  She stiffened as she stared at him.  She remembered what she did while she worked for his future self and it was something she just wanted to forget about.

====

Isaac then looked to each of the threats in turn, reading their hearts for information getting basics on their enemies and some science of the world, he spoke. "Listen, everyone calm down. We just escaped a Cerberus holding cell."
Ash lowered her assault rifle. "Cerberus, eh?"
"Yeah, nasty ba******," Isaac agreed. "Biological stuff like me and her," he pointed to Jess, "and experimental biotics like him," Pyro was pointed out. "He got us out. We're lucky we landed on a ship at all, let alone this one."
"Just more reason to hate them," Garrus reasoned, lowering his own gun.
Isaac could not believe he just pulled that off. "Besides, maybe we can help you out." He looked to Matt, mouthing. "You owe me big time."

====

"What about you?" Garrus asked, staring at Matt. The latter simply shrugged as he lowered his arms. "Cybernetics. They wanted to replace my... body parts for implants that would enhance a person's strength. They only managed to get to my left arm."

He lifted up the sleeve, revealing part of his automail left arm then covered it up. The Turian simply shook his head. "And now we have another reason to shoot them in the head."

Matt walked over to the new guy and managed to whisper to him. "Money, check or credit card?"

====

"I'm thinking more along the lines of a favor later down the line," the demon told the unknown Interference. He then looked to the Krogan. "And you? What's gonna get you to lay off?"
The alien lowered his shotgun. "Humans..." he muttered.
"Anyway, your names?" Ashley asked, putting away her assault rifle in the storage locker.
"Isaac. Isaac Zivaku," was the response. The resurrected demon hoped that Pyro would use his real name.
"Ashley Williams."
The turian with the eyepiece introduced himself as "Garrus Vakarian."
The Krogan, after several seconds, only said "Wrex."

====

"I'm Jessica Mireu."  Jessica said glad that these guys were lowering their weapons.

"I'm Pyro.  Jess' older brother."  Pyro said, doing what Isaac hoped and used his real name.  Unfortuantly their ideas on what Pyro's real name is, is different.

====

(Has he legally changed his name to Pyro? In that case, that's pretty awesome.)

"Martel damn it..." Isaac muttered under his breath.
"Seriously? Your name is Pyro?" the requisitions officer in the corner asked.
"Nickname based on biotic skills," Isaac covered up. He didn't even look at Pyro, muttering under his breath with his mouth barely moving, "Do you want to get us all [i]killed[/i]?"
A disembodied, male voice came up in the room. [i]"Anything going on in there?"[/i] asked a pilot that players of the game would recognize by voice. [i]"Getting energy spikes coming from that area, but they level off pretty quickly."[/i]

====

"Trinity. Matthew Trinity. But you may call me Matt." Matt introduced himself. He then walked over to Jess. "And it is lovely to see you again, dear maiden. How have you been?"

====

"You are a crazy pyrokinetic. You are naming yourself Pyro. They have guns. I don't think most of us do. Do the math, Jon." Isaac still did not raise his voice, even as Garrus answered the disembodied voice.
"Stowaway Cerberus refugees, Joker. The flux was a biotic entrance."
"Joker" replied. [i]"Them? I'll send down the commander to see them. Check things out and all."[/i]

====

"Joker, huh? All we're missing is the Ace, Queen, King and Jack for a Full House." Matt replied and chuckled a bit at his own joke.

====

"Wrong kind of joker," Ashley said, palming her face in exasperation.
About five minutes later, a man with blue eyes, light skin, and very short black hair came into the garage from a nearby elevator. He had a bit of a mustache and beard, but only a five-o'clock-shadow. His black and gray clothing seemed to be military grade, like that of Ashley. The first human Spectre and leader of this experimental ship looked over the new arrivals. "So, Joker probably already told you I was coming. I'm Commander Shepard."

====

"I'm Pyro.  That's Isaac, Matt and my little sister Jessica."  Pyro said as he stepped forward to the Commander.  It seems like they were in luck that this Sheppard was a Paragon.  If he was Renegade he probably would have demanded how they got on the ship as soon as he saw them.

Jess narrowed her eyes at Sheppard.  She was still wary of the whole situation she found herself in.

====

(For future reference,  Shepard has one "p" in it.)

"Isaac Zivaku," the demon of the group introduced himself. "That guy's Matt Trinity. So, we aren't exactly up on the news here, what with just getting out of a cell and all. Where's this thing going?"
"'This thing' is the SSV Normandy, an experimental ship. We were just heading out to Virmire in the Sentry Omega cluster. It'll take a while, so you all might as well meet the rest of the crew. We have a quarian named Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and other engineers over there," he pointed to a section of the garage with a door on it. "And plenty of people up on the upper level."
"While I'm grateful that you will take us in, I really think we Cerberus freaks need to talk a little bit amongst ourselves." Isaac needed to know some more about this universe, and to get their cover story straight. "You okay with that?"
"That will be fine. But are you all sure you can handle yourselves? We aren't going to Virmire on shore leave."
"We'll be fine."
Shepard walked back to the elevator with a nod. On the way, he passed the Krogan.
"Shepard."
"Wrex," was the equally gruff reply. With that, the protagonist left.
Isaac looked to his fellow Interferences, speaking in a whisper. "In case you Mireus ask, yes, I am alive again. Now that I pulled a cover story out of my a**, would you all mind telling me where we are and what's going on here?"

====

"It was a joke. I am sure you are familiar with Skyllian Blitz poker, correct?" Matt commented. When the group were allowed to speak between themselves, he replied. "Mass Effect, the first one. From what Shepard said, I'd say we're in the middle part. The assault on Virmire. And you are?"

====

"Martel, are you deaf or something?" The tense nature of their situation had made the Aselian demon in no mood for any nonsense. "I said my name's Isaac Zivaku twice. I can guarantee that I've been at this longer than you have. Just has the inconvenience of being dead for a few months of your time. We need to come up with a solid cover for us. I only got the basics from my abilities. Those terms I used I only half understand. Only Cerberus I really know is a three-headed dog, not a prohuman extremist organization. Anything we need to know, Trinity, to make our story believable?"

====

"Shepard is a Spectre, which means he is one of the top soliders of the Council.  He's going after Saren, a rouge Spectre, who is working with the geth to bring forth the Reapers."  Jessica said surprisingly.

Pyro blinked as he looked at his sister.  Before he could ask Jess spoke up again.  "I remember this from what Elena told me."

====

At the mention of Elena, Isaac's eyes narrowed. He looked at Jess, realizing that he had forgotten to check for something. The demon looked at her forehead for horns, and her eyes for hints of red. Only when he dud not see them did he calm himself. "Anything else?" he whispered. "Spectre sounds an awful lot like protagonist and major villain, but thats about it. If Elena was involved, I'm guessing this is where she got the Geth. Anything else, to help out?"

====

"The genophage. Considering where we're going, it's important you know about it. And the krogans as well." Matt replied.

====

"What about it? A virus or something?" Isaac was more asking for Pyro and possibly Jess than for himself. If he wanted, he could have read the information in Matt's heart. "That Wrex guy is a Krogan, right? Yeah, I wouldn't want to cross him by the looks of him."

====

"I know pretty much everything that happens from Elena."  Jess said.

"I played the game so I know too."  Pyro said as he nodded.  "So what are we going to do?  I'm the only one who can use my powers since it has a back story."

====

"I can fly, since Jess and I are the bio freaks. Maybe they'll lend us guns." Isaac looked to the many lockers next to Ashley, who had gone back to work with the rest. "At least six other people here, if it's one locker a crew member." He looked to Matt, seeming to stare into him, even THROUGH him for a few seconds, then whispered again. "Krogan genophage. Keeps Krogan population down to one successful birth every thousand. Produced by the salarians. A population control device." He paused. "That about right?" He then looked to the Mireus. "And the Reapers? Give just the basics on them. Then we should talk to the crew."

====

"Why yes. That is correct." Matt nodded and explained. "Reapers are sentient machines the size of warships. Quite powerful and capable of indoctrinating any and all species."

====

"Really now..." Isaac mumbled. "I take it indoctrination is mind control. Okay, who'll talk to who? I'll go to Garrus. But we should talk to all of them eventually."

(Please control who you're talking to, and see that you have their location and personality right. Kaidan, Liara, etc are available on the upper level. Everyone knows about the group now. Shepard is talking to Joker if you govto see him. War Hero/Colonist background, I would say, but you guys can decide that. After one conversation each, we'll probably have a "two hours later" time skip.)

====

"I'll talk with Tali."  Pyro said.  Tali had always been one of his favorite characters.  She was a powerful Tech user and a interesting character.

"I guess I'll talk with Ashley."  Jess said with a shrug.

====

(Am I being too bossy? Just want to make sure. Only reason I act this way with this game is...well...you guys know how complicated a Virmire topic is going to be, even without the crew talks.)

Isaac walked over to the M35 Mako APC, and spoke to Garrus as he leaned back against the vehicle, arms crossed. "So, you have anything we should worry about, Garrus? Any crazy problems that could screw up the mission that Spectre told us about?"
The turian did not even look up. "Nothing anymore. Shepard helped me with my trouble. That sick salarian Dr. Saleon is dead."
The demon spoke up again. "How bad could a doctor be?" He realized his hypocrisy, having once aided the demented Dr. J.S. Steinman.

(For the sake of decency, I'll cut out here. If you don't remmber why, it can be explained simply as "40,000 for a full set." Don't worry, I'll show Isaac's reaction.)

====

Matt had followed Isaac and Jess but separated from the two and walked over to the krogan battlemaster, Wrex. Said krogan was cleaning an old piece of armor. "Nice armor there."

"If it isn't the Cerberus kid! What do you want?" Wrex asked, glaring at Matt. The Interference didn't buckle, know that it was a natural expression of krogans. "Wondering about that armor."

"This? It's an old family armor. Used to belong to my father." Wrex simply said. "Told Shepard about it. Helped me get it back."

(I know about that sicko, Greg. And I'm definitely sure Sorin does too.)

====

(It's fine Greg, don't worry about it)

Pyro walked back into the engine room and spotted who he was looking for.  A female in a strange suit that covered her entire body.  "Hey."  Pyro said as he walked toward her.  She stopped her work to look over at Pyro.

"Oh hello.  You must be one of those Cerebus escapees.  I am Tali' Zorah nar Rayya."  The now identified Tali said.

"You can just call me Pyro."  Pyro said as he smiled to one of his favorite characters in the game.  "What are you doing?"

"Looking over some data that Shepard gave me on the geth.  I'm going to use it to complete my Pilgramage."

~~

Meanwhile Jess walked over to the human solider.  "Hi."  The Neko said simply.

Ashley looked at the younger girl.  "Hey, Jess right?  What do you want?"

Jess shrugged and replied.  "The others went off to talk so I did the same."

Ashley nodded before looking at where Pyro went.  "Is that Pyro kid really your bother?"

"Yeah but we aren't related by blood.  He helped take care of me when we were experimented on.  We don't know his real name so we just call him by the code name they gave him, Pyro.  Normally I doubt he'd want to be called that but he seemed to have liked the name."  Jess said trying to keep it in line with the cover story.

====

(I actually also assumed that Tali would be given the Geth data.)

About two hours later, Isaac was more or less certain that he had spoken with everyone on the ship. After his conversation with Garrus, the talk with Urdnot Wrex had been incredibly awkward, but the Krogan seemed to be nice enough, even if he did have a bit of a personality that reminded the demon of his angelic brother. Liara T'Soni the asari scientist was shy, but kind with him. The human Doctor Chakwas and Navigator Pressly were both very professional, but he had found a way to talk to them, the former better than the latter. Ashley Williams was somewhat friendly, if a bit wary of his apparent status as head of the "Cerberus freak" group. Isaac resolved to give Pyro or Jess more charge when they were alone again, to get her off of his back. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was friendly, if a bit cold about talks concerning the Geth. If a bit reserved, Kaidan Alenko seemed like a good man, just with a lot of emotional baggage. The rest of the crew was kind, and seemed very loyal to Shepard, which in Isaac's opinion was good enough news.
The Aselian demon met up with the others at the cockpit with Joker and Shepard. As the seated pilot and standing commander talked, the remaining Zivaku brother mouthed to his fellow Interferences one question.
"Krogan have four?"

(By far one of the best WTF lines in the first game. Well... Being referenced, anyway.)

====

Pyro choked back a laugh when he heard what Isaac said.  "Oh yeah I remember that conversation.  It was freaking hilarious."

Jessica glanced at Pyro not knowing what he or Isaac were talking about.  "Look we need to think about what we're going to do once we reach Virmire.  If I remember what Elena told me, not only is one of the members of Shepard's team is going to die but Saren will be there as well."

"Jess has a point.  It'll be a tough fight since she and you can't use your full powers."  Pyro said to Isaac.

====

"And Sovereign as well." Matt added in barely a whisper. "But what I am most interested in is the weaponry. I hope to collect a few.... souvenirs of this little trip."

====

"We're Interferences," Isaac mouthed.  "Messing up what happens in games is our job. We can avoid any deaths, I think. And Pyro, I'll improvise. I'm getting good at that."
Joker took notice of them, as did Shepard.  "So, you kids are gonna be working with us, are ya?" the former asked. "I hear you've got some Cerberus research in you. Anything we should know?" He leaned over the chair, looking back at the group.
Isaac shrugged.  "Like I said, I'm one of the biological freaks." He unfolded his demonic wings from his back, spreading them wide.
Joker's eyes bulged, but he managed to calm down.  "....Huh."  He looked to the others.  "From descriptions from the commander, you're Pyro," he said, pointing out the right person.  "So that makes you Wings," he pointed to Isaac, "you Metal-Arm," Matt, "and you......" He looked to the remaining Interferences, noting the cat-like appearance.  "Screw it, too easy."
Isaac looked to Shepard as he retracted his wings.  "Is he usually like that?"
"Pretty much. You get used to it."
"I'm right here!"
"You all might want to go down to the requisitions officer belowdecks," Shepard continued without pause. "He'll sell you equipment you'll need to survive there."
"...Sell?" Isaac asked.
"He needs to make a business. Alliance orders."

====

"Ah. I know the man. But I could not make a purchase." Matt said. "He said I needed your permission." He meant Shepard.

====

"I'll deal with that," Shepard said.  He walked off toward the elevator.  Ten minutes later, he returned.  "You shouldn't have trouble anymore."
"What took so long?" Isaac asked.
"Elevator."
"....Ah."

(I HATE those elevators.  Everything except them improved in the future.  I know they were an excuse for loading screens, but still.)

====

Pyro winced in sympathy, as he remembers how much the elevators had sucked.  It was really annoying to wait that long in a freaking elevator.

"Come on, let's go get some weapons."  Jess said as she started to head back toward the elevator.

====

"Yeah," Isaac agreed.  He walked back toward the elevator, and it opened as he came close.  He turned around, waiting for the others to get in before he started it up.

====

Matt walked into the elevator and yawned. "Wake me up when we get to the cargo area."

====

"Oh, and Jess," Isaac added in a whisper, ready to push the large green button to go down.  "About what Pyro and I were talking about.... It's a guy thing."

====

"I figured as much.  I may have amnesia but I can still figure those things out Isaac."  Jessica said, a bit harsher than she probably intended but just staying around Isaac brought up bad memories of the past.  Something Jess just wanted to forget about.

Pyro meanwhile was waiting for Isaac so they could go with the slow elevator and get the weapons.  He was glad that he could still use his pyromancy as he was never a gun person.  Pyro prefered to just punch people out with his fists as well as lighting them on fire.

====

"For the record, you were pretty much asking for it," Isaac noted to Jess under his breath, not bothering to mention what.  "But let's forget about that for now."  He pushed the button, and they started on their way down.

(Sorin, from the previews I gave you before, you probably should be able to tell what he's talking about.  Just don't mention exactly what it is, okay?  I haven't even got the last of the needed permission yet.

Whoever wants can post when they get down.  It's a five minute ride of 10 feet.  Or thereabouts.)

====

The requisitions officer just stood there, checking his stocks when the elevator opened. Out walked Matt, same smiling expression but the officer thought he saw a tinge of annoyance flashing in his eyes. "Elevator?"

"Elevator." Matt simply said.

The officer nodded and brought up a screen. "Check the stock and choose what you want. Once you have everything just slide the credits. "He pointed a a sliding slot, those which were similar to where you slid a credit card into an ATM.

"All right. Thank you for your help." Matt said and began moving through pages.

====

Isaac also looked at the different pages.  Assault rifles, sniper rifles, armor, pistols, shotguns.  Even some "omni-tool" things and "bio-amps."  He decided against asking about those, but made a mental note to get one of the former at some point, after searching a native's heart for information on it.  The name made it sound very useful.  "When you get what you want, Matt, I'll take a look."

====

Matt made his purchase, searching his wallet and seeing all his Munny converted into credits. He slid one through the receiver and the requisitions officer gave him his weapons and an omni tool. "Pleasure doing business with you. Your turn my very creepy friend." He said, looking at Isaac.

====

Both Mireus went up to grab their guns.  Pyro took a pistol and a shotgun(I don't really care about what kind they are) while Jess took a sniper rifle and a pistol.

"I'm good to go."  Pyro said.  He wasn't the type to wear armor.  He had his powers to fall back on so he wasn't too worried.  Jess nodded in agreement.

====

(I know it doesn't matter. I probably won't give a name to mine again. Just thought I'd specify.)

Isaac nodded. "I guess we should--"
"[i]We're coming close to Virmire.[/i]" Joker told the crew. "[i]Whoever's going down to meet the salarian STG should suit up and get in the Mako. Shepard's on his way.[/i]"

(You guys can pick who will join in on the Mako run. I'm keeping that part to three or four posts. It's a possibility to have a different team after the meeting at the salarian camp, after all.)

====

"Great, let's do this."  Pyro said as he put his new weapons away.  He still wasn't much of a gun user but it would be best for their cover if they used them.

Jess nodded in agreement as she also put her weapons away.  Personally she wanted to get this done as soon as possible so she could avoid being around the geth.

(I say Tali and Liara.)

====

(Okay. Someone else will have to control them in combat, though. I never used Liara and Tali outside of Normandy conversations, and nearly never used biotics in the first game, and tech powers only slightly more.)

Isaac nodded, walking over to the Mako.

(After shining posts, it'll start the mission.)

====

Matt followed, walking to the Mako and climbing inside. "Comfy. And very homey. We'll be snug as bugs in a rug."

====

"Let's hope it drives better than it fits us," Isaac grunted as Shepard entered, followed by the quarian and asari team members.
-----
[i]About 45 minutes later...[/i]

Isaac kept his back flattened against the burning APC, the mass effect weapons of the two severely weakened Geth Armatures and Geth Colossus bombarding the Mako. As Shepard ducked back behind the vehicle for cover while his weapons cooled, the demon yelled a question over the gunfire. "How much further?"
"I think this is the last batch," was the reply, before the commander turned, letting loose a barrage of gunfire at the nearer Armature, causing an explosion and decreasing the enemy amount by one.

(Other Armature is near death, so one full overheat of any ammo (sans upgrades) should do the trick. Go to town on the Colossus if you want, though.)

====

Pyro and Jess teamed up to take down the remaining Armature.  Their combined fire easily blew the giant machine to pieces.

"Damned thing."  Pyro muttered as he sent streams of fire right at the Colossus.  Jess just kept firing with her pistol, since unlike Pyro she couldn't use any of her powers.

====

Matt merely sniped the Armature with the sniper rifle he bought. He made sure to wait a few moments for the weapon to cool off before firing again. "Looks like he got two shots of my whiskey."

====

"So your whiskey is a sniper rifle," Isaac deadpanned. "Right." He looked to the quarian who was firing her shotgun at the remaining Geth construct. "Tali! What's the shielding situation?"
"It should be--Keelah!" The young alien woman dove behind the vehicle as a blue blast almost hit her. Standing up, she continued. "Should be enough to weaken it or kill it, if we work fast."
Liara nodded, another biotic Warp damaging the Colossus' shielding as Tali's Overload completed the destruction.

(You guys can finish it off. Use Shepard (Soldier), Liara, and Tali if you want.)

====

Shepard was just laying down fire with his assault rifle.  The fire was enough to distract the Colossus from Pyro who formed a large fireball between his hands.  "Infernal Meteor."  He muttered as he threw it at the mechanical enemy.  The Colossus was knocked down which let Jess finish it off with her pistol.

====

Liara saw the fireball as it hit the Colossus, but decided against asking about it. Those were strong experimental biotics.
Isaac quickly looked to the group of natives, and was certain that they did not seem suspicious of them. Good. He climbed back into the Mako as Tali took up the position of driver again, Shepard and Dr. T'Soni following suit.

A few minutes later, the battered Mako stopped at a beach. Isaac climbed out, and saw that the majority of the team that had stayed on the Normandy had joined them. Kaidan, Wrex, Garrus, and Ashley were all there, as was a salarian team. One spoke as Shepard came to him.
"You must be Commander Shepard. I'm Captain Kirrahe. We just need to wait it out for reinforcements."
Isaac stepped up beside the Spectre. "We [i]are[/i] the reinforcements."
Silence for a moment. Then: "...You're joking."

====

Matt walked out of the Mako and heard Kirrahe's comment. "Surely you jest. If he was joking, it would involve a batarian, a human and a krogan walking into a bar."

====

Pyro rolled his eyes at Matt.   "Yeah, we're all your going to get dude.  But don't worry, we'll kick some serious *ss."

Now it was Jess' turn to roll her eyes.  "Pyro shut up."  She muttered to her brother.

====

"We came to investigate what Saren is doing here," Kaidan said as he approached.

Kirrahe was not happy. "[i]Investigate?[/i] I've lost teams [i]investigating[/i] this place. We need to destroy it."

"Why?" Isaac and Shepard asked simultaneously.

"Saren has apparently discovered a cure to the Krogan genophage."

This immediately got Wrex's attention, and he approached the salarian. "What? How?" He stopped. "No, it doesn't matter how. We can't destroy it."

Shepard pressed on. "With an army of Krogan, he'll be unstoppable!"

The Krogan crewmember looked to the human Spectre, then to the salarian captain silently. Isaac could feel the tension in the air.

Kirrahe was the one to speak. "We have to stop them, keep this mistake from reemerging." Wrong move.

Wrex pointed at the special task group leader. "We are [i]not[/i] a mistake!" And he stormed off, down the beach.

Kirrahe watched him go, then looked to Shepard. "Is he going to be a problem?"

"I'll take care of it."

Ash and Kaidan approached the group of humans. "He's not stable, is he?" Ashley asked.

"He could do a lot of damage if you aren't careful, Commander," Alenko added.

"Be ready to fire on my signal, just in case," the protagonist told the former.

"Aye aye, skipper," she confirmed. For the briefest moment, her gaze softened. Isaac only barely noticed it. Then she walked off.

The demon looked to Pyro, Jess, and Matt. "This is bad, right?" he whispered.

====

"Oh of course it's not bad. That is the poster boy for Understatement of the Century." Matt replied. "It's worse. Krogans were known for breeding at an astounding rate. They rebelled against the Citadel and were rewarded with the genophage, which makes them still as the newborns."

He couldn't help but chuckled at his little joke. "Let us hope our Shepard can tame the wild ram."

====

Pyro had a knife out, ready to throw it.  Everyone was so focused on Shepard and Wrex that if he had to, he could use it to disarm someone.  Personally he liked Wrex and didn't want for him to die, though he had a feeling that Shepard would be able to talk it out.

Jess was hissing slightly at the alteration.  This was the absolute last thing they needed right now.

====

Isaac listened from a distance as Shepard approached Wrex. "I'll keep an eye on Williams," he whispered to the others.

Wrex spoke, turning back to Shepard as he did so. "This isn't right, Shepard. If there's a cure for the genophage, we can't destroy it!"

Shepard was as calm as he could be. "I understand you're upset, but we both know Saren's the enemy here. [i]He's[/i] the one you should be angry with."

Wrex was unconvinced. "Really? Saren [i]created[/i] a cure for my people. [i]You[/i] want to destroy it." He paused for a moment, then: "Help me out here, Shepard. The lines between friend and foe are getting a little blurry from where I stand."

Shepard seemed...[i]annoyed[/i], of all things. "I don't have to explain that to you, Wrex."

The Krogan took a few threatening steps forward. "Indulge me. I've been loyal to you so far. Hell, you did more for me than my family ever did. But, if I'm going to keep following you," he drew a shotgun on this, aiming at his current employer, "I have to know we're doing it for the right reasons."

Shepard drew his own shotgun, aiming at the battlemaster.

Isaac swore. Things were getting really tense. He drew his pistol, but was unsure of who to aim at. He saw Ashley reaching for her pistol not so far away.

====

"Calm down, my gothic, emo friend." Matt said to Isaac. "Wrex won't betray him. I have a good feeling about this." He had already talked to Wrex on the Normandy and considering the krogan had his family armor. Matt was calm about the situation.

====

Pyro rolled his eyes at Matt.  Since his knife was hidden he probably wasn't seen as a threat so he could act in case something went wrong.

Jess sighed as her ears lay flat against her head.

====

"If you call me either of those things again, I'll stop being friendly," Isaac warned Matt.

Meanwhile, Shepard spoke. "Wrex, these Krogan are not your people." He lowered the shotgun, holding it in his right hand loosely. "They're slaves of Saren, tools. Is that what you want for them?"

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Ashley aimed her pistol at the back of Wrex's head, and Isaac took aim at her, ready for a disarming shot...

Urdnot Wrex paused, still aiming. Then...

"No. We were tools for the Council once. As thanks for wiping out the Rachni they neutered us all. I doubt that Saren will be so generous." He kept aiming for a few more seconds, then stood straight again, putting the gun away. "Okay, Shepard, you made your point. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to follow your lead. Just one thing: when we find Saren, [i]I want his head.[/i]"

Shepard walked away, his charisma having worked, as Ashley lowered the pistol. Isaac sighing with relief as he did the same.

The demon looked at Shepard as he passed. "You're good."

The human Spectre nodded his thanks.

====

Matt ignored Isaac's threat. It wouldn't be the first time someone threatened him and he sincerely doubted Isaac would be the last. "See? There was nothing to be worried about, friend. Everything turned out fine."

====

Pyro sighed in relief as he made his knife vanish in a burst of flames.  Pyro liked Wrex and he did his best to make sure he didn't die in the game so he was glad that the krogan would survive.

"Alright so do we have a plan on how we're going to take this place down?"  Jess asked as she walked over to Shepard her tail twitching in irritation.

====

Shepard did not know. "Kirrahe?"

The salarian captain looked to Wrex. "Thank you for dealing with him," he told the commander. "We have a nuclear bomb. If we can use your ship to transport Otto a location inside of the base, we can completely obliterate this facility." He outlined the battle plan. Shepard would lead a small force of his own soldiers on the true assault, while Kirrahe would bring his salarians on a different route to serve as a distraction, with one of the human Alliance soldiers, Kaidan or Ashley, going with them as a communications liason to Shepard. If necessary and possible, the [i]Normandy[/i] would pick up the salarians to escape.

The two humans were arguing over who would go in the shadow team.

"With all due respect, Chief," Alenko told Williams, "I think I should go."

"Why is it that whenever anyone says 'with all due respect,' they really mean 'kiss my a**'?" was the irritated response.

Eventually, Williams was chosen to go with Kirrahe, the Interferences with Shepard. Everone was getting set up to go when Isaac, checking the sniper rifle he had stolen from a defeated Geth en route to the beach, looked to Pyro. "Just thought I'd mention before we go," he whispered solemnly. "Greg's dead."

====

Matt blinked as he overheard what Isaac whispered to Pyro. "Greg? Who is Greg?"

====

"Damn."  Was what Pyro said in reply.  "I'm sorry dude."  Even if Greg and Isaac weren't that close they were still brothers.  He ignored Matt as he he checked his own weapons.  He wished he could just use his powers but that would attract too much attention.

Jess also heard what Isaac said thanks to her hearing and her ears layed flat against her head.  She sighed and messed with her own sniper rifle.

====

Isaac gave Matt a sidelong glance. "None of your business." He then sighed, looking back to Pyro. "Thanks. I'm dealing with it."

The salarians began gathering at Kirrahe's tent when everyone was ready to go. The captain addressed his troops.


He stood still, hands clasped behind his back as he spoke with utmost seriousness. "You all know the mission, and what is at stake. I have come to trust each of you with my life -- but I have also heard murmurs of discontent. I share your concerns. We are trained for espionage; we would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way."

The salarian captain began pacing back and forth, eyeing his men all the while. "Think of our heroes; the Silent Step, who defeated a nation with a single shot. Or the Ever Alert, who kept armies at bay with hidden facts. These giants do not seem to give us solace here, but they are not all that we are."

He paced faster. "Before the network, there was the fleet. Before diplomacy, there were [i]soldiers[/i]! Our influence stopped the rachni, but before that we held the line! Our influence stopped the krogan, but before that, we held the line! Our influence will stop Saren; in the battle today, we. Will. Hold. The [i]line[/i]!"

Isaac's eyes widened slightly at the impressive speech. "Not bad," he whispered.

Kirrahe turned to Commander Shepard. "We are ready, commander."

(One of the best speeches in the entire game, I think. If not [i]the[/i] best.)

====

All of a sudden, the speaker system came to life. "[i]Can't let you do that, Captain Kirahhe![/i]" A voice that the interferences should know quite well. "[i]This is Colonel Joseph Fischer of the Archangel Performance Team. We were able to hack into this bases security systems using several backdoors found by Commandant Lee. We'll be performing a pickup for anyone setting up the nuke.[/i]"

====

Mat simply shrugged at Isaac's telling him off. Well, he should've expected that Matt might've overheard him. During Kiranhe's speech, Matt cleaned his guns. Sure they were new, but he still liked to be prepared. After the speech though, Joseph spoke from the speaker system.

Matt's reply was to shoot one of the speakers, surprising a salarian that was standing besides said speaker. "Hey! Careful where shoot that thing!"

"Why did you have to ruin such an amazing speech, redhead?" Matt sighed. He had nothing against Joseph but the guy just ruined the very purpose of the speech.

====

"[i]So you rather someone die then, Matt?[/i]" Was Joseph's reply. "[i]I dunno, the trade-off seems worth it to me.[/i]"

====

"Do not put words in my mouth, redhead." Matt retorted. "You could've at least waited until the mission started before communicating with us."

====

"[i]What? And actually be a big damn hero and get yelled at for it? Screw that! I'll get it out of the way now.

====

(Let's all wait for Sorin after this post, okay?)

Kirrahe's facial expression at the moment of Joseph's interruption could best be described as a "what the hell" face by human standards. "How did you get this station?"

Isaac palmed his face. Fischer just [i]had[/i] to kill the moment. He put his hand in his pocket, gripping his Valor Shard there to communicate. [i]Damn it, Fischer, I'm trying to help us keep a low profile here! You can't just jump in and hijack speakers any time you want! We almost got shot today![/i] He took a deep, silent breath to help calm down.

Shepard looked to Matt. "You know him?"

[i]For the love of Martel herself, do not screw this for me, Fischer. Follow my lead.[/i] Isaac answered. "He's an ex-Cerberus operative who helped us escape the facility. From a splinter group off of the main one. They didn't like what Cerberus was doing to people like us."

"Didn't know Cerberus had splinter groups, too," Kaidan noted.

"Interesting," Liara commented.

"Weird, but true," Isaac admitted and lied.

====

Joseph was quick to catch on. "[i]While Cerberus's goals ARE noble, not everyone agrees with The Illusive Man's methods. I was part of the team responsible for people like Isaac. I didn't care for it. So I got myself a little rebellion going.[/i]" He chuckled. "[i]As for how I got this station, this base originally belonged to Cerberus. Saren decided to vacate it personally.[/i]" Work with the idea that Saren hated humans, and it would be logical that he would steal this base from Humans.

====

If Pyro could he would've face palmed right along side with Isaac.

[i]Joseph you can be such an idiot sometimes you know that right?[/i]  Jess said through her own Valor Shard.

====

"Well, next time, you should have better timing red head." Matt replied and shot another speaker, causing the salarian besides him to jump again.

"Hey! Those are expensive!" The salarian yelled but Matt just ignored him.

====

Isaac glared at Matt.  "Stop shooting stuff.  We need these guy to help us if we're going to stop Saren."

Kirrahe was annoyed, yes.  But he recognized their need to get moving to destroy the genophage cure facility rather than bicker. "Right then. Have your ship ready to pick up one of our teams if necessary. In any case, we should go."

Ashley Williams rolled her eyes at the behavior of the "Cerberus" team. "Yeah, let's get moving.  We have to stop what's going on here. If I've gotta blast stuff with my boomstick, might as well start fast."

(Do I have approval for a time skip to Rana Thanoptis?)

====

(Yes)

Pyro smirked as he cracked his knuckles.  While the chances of him actually punching out a few geth would be slim, he still couldn't wait to get into the fight.

Jess' tail twitched and she glared at Matt as he shot the speaker for now real reason.  "Well let's go."  She said.

====

(Yup.)

"I'm done shooting." Matt placed his gun away. "But I am still stressed. Let us commence with the assault and create a bloody salad. Lord knows I need the stress reliever."

====

(Joseph gave the go-ahead, and said we can tell him when the main part he is needed for comes up.)

[i]Some time later, after many battles...[/i]

Isaac, Tali, Wrex, and Shepard all ran into the office, pointing their guns in to shoot at any enemy Krogans, indoctrinated salarians, or Geth inside.

The room had a large window that gave a good view of the ocean below, along with a small table and many chairs around it, a computer on the table. An elevator door was near the table.  A blue-skinned asari in a brown suit with an orange midsection on it and orange collar stood up from under the desk, frantic as the weapons were momentarily aimed her way.

"Don't shoot!" She raised her hands to shoulder height.  "Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late."

"We're not going to hurt you." The protagonist reassured her.  "Who are you?"

Her arms lowered as the guns did, and she approached.  "Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist.  But this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse."

Isaac was intrigued. Did she know about indoctrination?

Apparently so.  "Do you think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain, too!"

The demon spoke up.  "Indoctrination? Isn't this a breeding facility?"

Thanoptis shook her head. "Not this level.  We're studying Sovereign's effect on organic minds.  At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."

Tali was incredulous. "You helped him, and you don't even know [i]why[/i]?"

The neurospecialist was irritated by this.  "I didn't have any [i]option[/i] of [i]negotiating.[/i]  This position is a little more...[i]permanent[/i] than I had expected."  She calmed down.  "But I can help you. This elevator behind me goes down to Saren's private lab. I can get you in."  She walked over to the elevator, and activated it with a keycard, a green light coming up on the activation panel.  "See?  Full access.  All of Saren's private files.  Are we good?  Can I go?"

But they had more questions.  Isaac and Shepard interrogated the scientist, and learned more and more about indoctrination.  As it so happened, Saren himself might have begun to be affected himself.

By the end, Isaac was enraged.  He pointed a pistol at Rana Thanoptis, who raised her hands.

Rana cringed. "Just don't hurt me!"

"We won't," Shepard said, shooting a glare at the "Cerberus freak".

"I guess not," Isaac sighed, lowering the gun.

"Well, they're right. They're just going to let me eat you," Wrex said flatly.

The asari's eyes widened in terror.

"I'm gonna blow this place to hell and gone.  If you want to make it out alive, you'd better start running," Shepard said, angry with the asari.

"You wouldn't..." Dr. Thanoptis blurted out. "But I'll never....." She screamed, running out of the door between several members of the group.

Wrex looked to the human Spectre. "You enjoyed that, commander."

Isaac glared at the battlemaster as Tali also stared incredulously. "What the hell? Eat her?"

"It got her out of here."

====

Pyro punched Isaac in the head, gently, by his standards anyway.  "The last thing we need is for you to go shooting people we don't need you to."  Pyro whispered annoyed at the demon boy.

Jess' tail twitched in irritation.  "Come on, let's hurry up and blow this place up."

====

Matt walked back into the room, he had gone ahead while the others dealt with Rana. "My friends. I found something you may want to see with your own eyes."

====

(This may seem like I think what you did is bad, Shining, but don't worry. I'm fine on it.)

Tali looked at the direction from which Matt had come as Shepard walked to a locker and began hacking it with his omnitool. The elevator had been turned [i]off[/i] until Thanoptis used her access card. How did he...? Nonetheless, she decided not to ask. They didn't have the time.

---

In the elevator, Wrex spoke to the quarian machinist. "Hey, Tali. Who do you think would win in a fight, you or Shepard?"

Tali answered, a bit annoyed. "Is that all you Krogan do, size people up for a fight?"

"Yes."

"..."

Isaac coughed into his hand during the uncomfortable silence, which lasted for the rest of the way down.

---

Finally, the universe natives and Isaac exited the elevator at the bottom. They entered through one door, and saw the private lab itself.

There were two levels separated by a ramp. The upper level had a computer, which did not seem to be active at the moment. The lower had a large metal stick coming up from the ground, surrounded by a circle of green light at its base.

Shepard knew what it was. "That...that's a Prothran beacon. Like on Eden Prime."

====

Pyro cracked his knuckles as he stared at the beacon.  He knows what was going to come up.  It would be better if he and the others just stood back and let Shepard talk.  Hopefully Sovereign wouldn't know about Interferences.

"Why does that thing give me a bad feeling..."  Jess muttered as she looked over the beacon.  While it didn't seem that threatening it just rubbed her the wrong way.

====

"Yes. But that was not what I wanted to show you all." Matt said, having forgotten to mention that he had gotten lost while following the others and had somehow arrived in the beacon room.

He walked forward to the beacon and kicked it. "You can stop hiding, you know..."

====

Nothing happened when Matt kicked the beacon. Perhaps he was not looking at the right machine.

The commander gave the metal-armed boy a look as if to say he was crazy. Then again, judging from earlier events involving shooting speakers, he probably [i]was[/i]. Still, he approached the stick, and stared at it for several seconds.

Isaac just watched, waiting for what would happen. Then something did.

Shepard clenched his eyes shut as a bright green light from the beacon caused him to hover in the air for several seconds. He was very tense, as if something were invading his mind...

And then nothing. He landed on the ground again, the light stopping and returning to normal, and stared for several more seconds. Then, finally, he stepped back.

"Do I want to know?" Isaac asked Wrex.

"Probably not."

The computer had a very large red hologram hovering above it when then returned to the upper level. It looked like a large mechanical cuttlefish, squidlike. Isaac had seen it before, or something like it. Where? Aside from videos of Saren's flagship.

"Why do I get the feeling something really bad is going to happen?" Tali asked.

"Judging from what I hear, because something is," Isaac replied.

[color=Red][b]YOU ARE NOT SAREN.[/b][/color]

The game natives and Isaac turned to the hologram.

"That's...not a VI," the human Spectre muttered.

[color=Red][b]INTERFERENCES, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.[/b][/color]

Though this confused the Normandy crew members, Isaac was shocked. This was one of those Old Machines Kaith had spoken of in the War of Heaven and Hell. In one sentence, his carefully kept cover had been destroyed. Even if he tried to cover it up, this being could tell his lies. There was only one reaction he could make.

"Oh f***."

====

"Crap."  Jess muttered.  She really didn't want to explain the whole Interference thing to Shepard and the others and hopefully they wouldn't ask too many questions until the battle was over and that they could escape.  Unfortunately Pyro had something else in mind.

"Yeah like we actually care about that dude."  If it was the right place Jess would have face palmed.

Since Soveriegn knew about Interferences there was no reason to hide it anymore.  Plus even without them Shepard and co would be able to beat it.  Plus it meant Pyro could stop holding back and use his full strength.

====

"Oh dear. It seems our very large and fat friend here is spouting nonsense." Matt replied. Despite what the mechanical Cthulhu ship would say (yes, I know what the thing is, Gregzilla. Just in case you ask), it had no proof of what Matt and the others were. Still, he inched closer to Pyro and whispered. "Please restrain yourself and wait."

====

Isaac scowled at Matt.  "Just drop the act.  It's easier."  Unlike the automail user, the demon did not think it worth it to whisper.  This thing was millenia old at [i]least[/i], and would be able to sell them out quite easily.

Shepard, Tali, and Wrex looked to them.  Shepard asked the question on their minds.  "What's going on?  What is that?"

[b][color=Red]RUDIMENTARY CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH.  YOU TOUCH MY MIND, STUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING, BUT FOR THE OUTSIDERS.[/color][/b]

Tali shuddered.  "Yeah, this...this isn't a VI."

Wrex glared at the Interferences.  "You have to explain yourselves when we're done with this thing."

Isaac nodded.  "Deal."

[color=Red][b]THERE IS A REALM OF EXISTENCE SO FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT.  I AM BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION. I...AM SOVEREIGN.[/b][/color]

This shocked Shepard and the rest, the commander understanding what this ship was.  "Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found.  It's an [i]actual[/i] Reaper!"

[b][color=Red]REAPER? A LABEL CREATED BY THE PROTHEANS TO GIVE VOIE TO THEIR DESTRUCTION.  IN THE END, WHAT THEY CHOSE TO CALL US IS IRRELEVANT.  WE SIMPLY...ARE. [/color][/b]

The Krogan was incredulous.  "The Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago.  You couldn't have been there.  It's impossible!"

Isaac gave the alien a blank look.  "Wrex, how old are you?  Fourteen hundred?  More?"

"This is different, liar."

[color=Red][b]ORGANIC LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A GENETIC MUTATION, AN ACCIDENT. YOUR LIVES ARE MEASURED IN YEARS AND DECADES. YOU WITHER AND DIE. WE ARE ETERNAL. THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION AND EXISTENCE. BEFORE US, YOU ARE NOTHING. YOUR EXTINCTION IS INEVITABLE. WE ARE THE END OF EVERYTHING.[/b][/color]

"You say this as if you have a point," Isaac cut in, sounding bored.  "Are you getting to it?  I mean, seriously, we have work to--"

[color=Red][b]SILENCE, INTERFERENCE. LEAVE US.[/b][/color]

"Eh, shut up."

Shepard cut in.  "There is an entire galaxy of races united and ready to face you."

[color=Red][b]CONFIDENCE BORN OF IGNORANCE.  THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN.[/b][/color]

Isaac coughed into his hand.  "Hypocrite."

Tali was confused.  "Cycle?  What cycle?"

[color=Red][b]THE PATTERN HAS REPEATED ITSELF MORE TIMES THAN YOU CAN FATHOM. ORGANIC CIVILIZATIONS RISE, EVOLVE, ADVANCE. AT THE APEX OF THEIR GLORY, THEY ARE EXTINGUISHED. THE PROTHEANS WERE NOT THE FIRST. THEY DID NOT CREATE THE CITADEL. THEY DID NOT FORGE THE MASS RELAYS. THEY MERELY FOUND THEM, THE LEGACY OF MY KIND.[/b][/color]

Shepard again.  "Why would you construct the mass relays, then leave them for someone else to find?"

[b][color=Red]YOUR CIVILIZATION IS BASED ON THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE MASS RELAYS, OUR TECHNOLOGY. BY USING IT, YOUR SOCIETY DEVELOPS ALONG THE PATHS WE DESIRE. WE IMPOSE ORDER ON THE CHAOS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. YOU EXIST BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT.  AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT.[/color][/b]

Isaac looked to his fellow Interferences.  "Anyone else here think this guy's a bit too full of himself?  Even for a giant galaxy-killing ship."

====

"Eh seems typically cocky.  Nothing to worry about too much."  Pyro said shrugging.  Now that they didn't have to hold their powers back anymore, getting out of the base would be much easier than breaking in.

"Isaac since you and Pyro are letting itgo you two can be the ones that have to explain everything."  Jess said as her tail swished in annoyance.  As usual she hated explaining this kind of thing so it would be better for her to just throw it onto Pyro and Isaac.

====

"What does one expect from a Reaper?" Matt shrugged. "Anyway, enjoy explaining everything to our friends here."

====

Isaac looked to the neko and Matt.  "...Fine."

Tali was still focused on Sovereign. "They're harvesting us! Letting us advance to the level they need, then wiping us out!"

"Thanks for the input," Isaac muttered, noting that he was just reiterating the obvious at this point. He was ignored, however.

Shepard was annoyed with the ship.  "What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?"

[color=Red][b]MY KIND TRANSCENDS YOUR VERY UNDERSTANDING. WE ARE EACH A NATION, INDEPENDENT, FREE OF ALL WEAKNESS. YOU CANNOT EVEN GRASP THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE.[/b][/color]

"Where did you come from? Who built you?" Shepard asked, as Isaac just rolled his eyes at the Reaper's attitude.

[color=Red][b]WE HAVE NO BEGINNING. WE HAVE NO END. WE ARE INFINITE. MILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER YOUR CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN ERADICATED AND FORGOTTEN, WE WILL ENDURE.[/b][/color]

Isaac gave up on his sarcastic responses. They were evidently lost on this being. "Just tell they where the rest of you are. Cut to the chase."

The three natives turned to him at this, Wrex speaking.

"You knew this?"

"Save it for later."

[color=Red][b]WE ARE LEGION. THE TIME OF OUR RETURN IS COMING. OUR NUMBERS WILL DARKEN THE SKY OF EVERY WORLD. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR DOOM.[/b][/color]

Finally, Isaac had enough. Time to drop the guise. "Hey, buddy.  You're a super powerful enemy in a video game universe who has a stick up his a** the size of a planet.  Your enemies are a ragtag group of heroes.  You all ready lost."

Tali stared at him.  "A video [i]what?[/i]" This couldn't be a game.  It was her life.  It couldn't all be a lie.

"[i]Later.[/i]"

Shepard added to Isaac's retort.  "You're not even [i]alive.[/i] Not really. You're just a [i]machine[/i].  And machines can be [i]broken[/i]!"

[color=Red][b]YOUR WORDS ARE AS EMPTY AS YOUR FUTURE. I AM THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. THIS EXCHANGE... IS OVER.[/b][/color]

The hologram cut out, and a nearby computer exploded, sparks and metal flying toward them.  Isaac and Shepard were forced to momentarily duck before they were relatively safe again. The Normandy crew turned toward the Interferences, but a transmission from the pilot cut them off.

"[i]Commander, we've got trouble.[/i]"

The Spectre touched his ear to speak.  "Hit me, Joker."

"[i]That ship, Sovereign?  It's moving.  I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way, and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there--[/i]" A crackle. "[i]--fast![/i]"

Tali looked to the broken console.  "The console is shot.  Orders, commander?"

The man in charge was ready. "Let's head to the breeding facility. Joker can pick us up after we set the nuke. But first, we need an explanation."  He, with the quarian and the krogan, turned to the four others among them.  Slowly, the two besides Shepard reached for guns.

Isaac sighed, palming his face.  "You first, Mireu."

====

Suddenly, Joe's voice echoed into Isaac's head. [i]Uh, Isaac, it's Joseph. Is everything alright? We lost our connection to the base on Virmire, but the bomb hasn't gone off, so we aren't sure what happened. Care to explain?[/i]

-Meanwhile-

"Colonel, the Reaper Sovereign is in sight! He's turning to face us!" Ramza shouted from the CIC.

Joseph cursed. "Mother******! All hands, level one battle stations! Get ready to kick some ass!"

[color=Red][b]YOU WILL NOT STAND IN MY WAY, PATHETIC WORMS. YOU WILL FALL, LIKE ALL THE OTHERS WHO HAVE OPPOSED ME![/b][/color]

Kratos shuddered. Martel, that was creepy. "Load Sledgehammer missiles into tubes 1-5! Prepare Valiants for combat! Get the Gottfrieds targetted! And prepare for evasive maneuvers! We're going to give this monster everything we have!"

"RYOUKAI!"

====

"Yeah well the best way to describe it is we are capable of traveling through different worlds, not planets worlds.  Worlds can contain whole galaxies in them with their own rules.  We have the power to travel through these worlds."  Pyro started not actually getting into the whole video game thing.

Jess nodded at Pyro's explanation so far.

====

(I think we should get through this explanation ASAP. After all, a major choice and a boss battle to get through before we can close out.)

Shepard nodded slowly, not seeming to truly believe what he was hearing. "Go on."

Isaac tried his best now. "These worlds have such things as magic, and scientific possibilities you probably never thought of."

Tali cut in. "Wait. Magic? There's no such thing as magic."

Isaac held up his right hand, black lightning dancing across his fingertips before an orb of darkness appeared above his palm. "This is darkness. I throw it at people, and they die. When you get advanced enough, anything can seem like magic to those who are less informed. For instance, I barely get how these holograms work."

Shepard held up a hand to stop him. "Hold on one second. [i]Darkness[/i] magic? Darkness is the absence of light. So you're saying that that," he pointed to the orb, "is something, a lack of something, that you hurt people with. How exactly is this supposed to make any sense?"

In confusion, Isaac dispersed the orb, scratching his head. "I...never really thought of it that way."

Wrex spoke, seeming annoyed. "Well? Is there a point to this?"

He looked back to the others. "I call not saying the main news. One of you spit it out."

(If the next poster could just pull out the game worlds thing flat out, that would be great. I think Isaac's worked himself into a [albeit humorous] bind on his own here. After the next poster, I'll put in the end of this section, and we can move forward a few parts to the next major piece.)

====

"There are far more worlds than any of you ever even anticipated. Worlds the Proteans have never even heard of." Matt explained. "Things you've never even imagined exist everywhere. Where I come from, things like this exist as nothing more than science fiction fantasy."

====

"Interferences are actually capable of traveling to these worlds, getting powers and abilities that would be considered to be impossible to exist in other worlds."  Pyro added.

====

Isaac followed the gaze of the three as they became confused, incredulous, and confused repeatedly. Finally, Shepard sighed.

"Fine. I'll go with what you are saying. We have to move it anyway."

Wrex was the only one who remained incredulous. "You still lied to us," he said as Isaac came up to him, scanning his heart. "We--"

Isaac reared back his head, and headbutted him straight in the face mid-sentence. The Krogan shook his head, as if wondering what exactly just happened.

Tali looked to Shepard. "That...that just happened, right? Or did I get something in my filters?"

Wrex stared at Isaac, who met his gaze. "So, you understand."

"More or less."

"...Fine. Let's move it."

==========

[i]Some time later...[/i]

The bomb had been placed in its assigned area, a small area of water, with the help of the Normandy, Kaiden helping to keep it steady and staying by it. It was then that things became complicated.

Ashley came in over the comms. [i]"Commander, can you hear me?"[/i]

Shepard answered. "The bomb is almost ready. Get to the rendezvous point, Williams."

[i]"Negative, Commander. The geth have us pinned down at the AA tower. We're taking some casualties! Kirrahe is all right. We'll [b]never[/b] make the rendezvous point in time."[/i]

Isaac shouted into his own comm from the ship. "Get them out of there, Joker! Now!"

[i]"Negative, it's too hot! Can't risk it. We'll hold them off as long as--"[/i] It was cut for covering fire, they assumed.

Kaiden spoke. "It's okay, Commander. I need time to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here."

Shepard had heard enough. "Up to the AA tower. Move!"

(Any votes for the ending team? From here on in, there's no more choices. Well...as far as that goes. Remember, no humans. We'll get to the choice itself in my next post.)

====

Matt simply checked his equipment and prepared himself. He knew there'd be a Spectre vs. Spectre smackdown in the future and he was not gonna miss this. He cocked his sniper rifle and checked the scope. "Let us  prepare for the finale."

====

(Not really)

"Let's do this."  Pyro said grimly.  He knew what was coming up next and what would happen if they messed up.  This part would be very important in changing what happens to the world of Mass Effect, if they are able to save both Kaiden and Ashley or not.

Jessica not knowing this herself just nodded as she got ready for the next fight.  "Let's go."

====

(Okay. Team is to be Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Dr. Liara T'Soni will be available to protect the bomb.)

Garrus and Tali came with the team as they fought across the site, destroying a vast multitude of Geth and Krogan warriors as Liara stayed with Kaiden to protect the bomb. Luckily, due to having their cover blown by Sovereign, Isaac and the rest were able to use their powers and weapons, and therefore were able to fight much faster than before, not needing to use their guns.

They came to another elevator (to Isaac's annoyance), and ended up upstairs from there after quite some time, very close to the position of the AA tower, but not close enough to aid in any significant way.

Isaac saw a bug-like, silver ship fly overhead as they came outside, flying toward the bomb site. He could guess what it was.  "Reinforcements. We'd better hurry."

Williams came over the comm again. [i]"Heads up, L.T. We just spotted a troop ship headed to your location."[/i]

A response, frantic. [i]"It's already here! There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site."[/i]

Shepard spoke to Alenko. [i]"Can you hold them off?"[/i]

[i]"There's too many! I don't think we can survive until you get here."[/i] Then came the bombshell. Literally. [i]"I'm activating the bomb."[/i]

Isaac swore under his breath. Here was the choice he assumed.

Shepard was distraught inside, Isaac could tell. "What the hell are you doing, Alenko?!"

A simple response. [i]"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what."[/i] A second more. [i]"It's done. Commander, go get Williams and get the hell out of here."[/i]

Ashley was angry at this now. [i]"Screw that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko."[/i]

Shepard seemed conflicted. Such were the chains of commanding, the worst parts of the chain of command. He had to choose between them. Go back to get Alenko, Liara, and the bomb, or save Williams and Kirrahe's squad.

Isaac stepped back and forth. Think, think, think. He had it. He touched his Valor Shard, speaking with his mouth and mind simultanously. [i]"Fischer, if at all possible, get that damned ship down to the bomb. I'm going back there."[/i] He looked to Shepard, who seemed shocked that he would risk himself like that.

"But you--"

"Go."

"But--"

Tali was unable to come up with a proper response, and neither could Garrus.

"Commander, you need to--"

"You're a--"

"Damn it, Spectre! Do the hero thing! [i]Save the girl, [b]damn it![/b][/i]" That shut him up.  Isaac looked to Matt, Pyro, and Jess. "Look, I'm gonna need two of you to stay with these guys. But Pyro," he looked to Jon Mireu, "I need [i]you[/i] to teleport the both of us back to the bomb. Stat. Got that, Mireu?"

Sure, he wasn't in command. But this wasn't the best of times to argue, in such a critical position.

====

"Roger."  Pyro said with a smirk before placing a hand on Isaac;s shoulder and teleporting both of them right away, pretty much before anyone could argue.

"That stupid brother of mine better not die."  Jess muttered under her breath.

====

Matt smirked, holding the shotgun he took out. "He is right. Be the hero, Shepard and save the girl. We'll cover you." He tapped Jess' shoulder and pointed ahead. The gunner then ran ahead, shotgun in his arms.

====

[i]Path to the AA Tower[/i]

The fight had gone a long time by the time Shepard managed to lead Jessica, Matt, Garrus, and Tali to the last stretch to the AA Tower. Geth were on all sides, from the normal troopers to the white armored rocket troopers, larger white armored Primes, and red armored Destroyers. The force was slimming, but the fire from Ashley's squad was helping out. Just a little longer, and they would be set.

(After the next post, I'll put up the boss battle.)

==========

[i]Bomb Site[/i]

The fireburst landed the two in the middle of a Geth battle. Fan[i]tas[/i]tic. Like the AA Tower group, Pyro and Isaac were being forced into a fight of their own.

Isaac immediately rolled under a shower of gunfire from Geth assault rifles, drawing the Abyss in the same motion. He ducked under Liara's blue pulse of a biotic singularity, which pulled many of the troopers to one spot for him to use his Dark Sphere to blast them back a ways. The asari seemed hurt, if he saw her slight limp right, but was still fighting nonetheless.

Kaiden was hurt as well, leaning back against the bomb and firing his gun. He too was using biotics, lifting some of the minor troopers into the air before firing at them with his pistol.

====

[i]KINDA BUSY, ZIVAKU![/i] Joe shouted back as he gripped the sides of his chair in anticipation. "All weapons targetted?" Joe asked Ramza, who responded with an affirmative. "We're gonna try and push this sucker back! Kratos, I'm heading out in a Skygrasper!" Joe shot out of the bridge. It wasn't ship proper, but...

Kratos sighed. "Do we have a valid solution for the Lohengrin?" He asked. When a yes came his way, he said, "Then let's blast this eyesore out of the galaxy. FIRE!"

As the Archangel unleashed its payload on Sovereign, Joe shot out of the hanger in a Skygrasper. Tapping into the radio frequency the others were using, he called out, "Zivaku, this is Fischer. I'm on route to receive you and Alenko." HE prayed to god they made it out in time.

====

Matt jumped out from his cover and sprinted into another cover. Placing his shotgun away, he took out his sniper rifle, he peeked out and looked through the scope. Settling on the flashlight head of a Geth Destroyer, Matt fired then went back for cover.

====

Ashley watched as the last of the Geth Primes was destroyed by Shepard, but fell back against the burning AA Tower. She was hurt.

A blue blast of energy almost hit the commander, but he rolled aside, keeping out his assault rifle as a familiar rogue turian Spectre hovered into view on a hover platform of some kind, firing another biotic blast that Shepard dodged by running away, taking cover behind a raised section of rock. He stood, aiming, and fired twice with his pistol this time, both shots just hitting the kinetic barriers of his target before he ducked back into cover.

"This has been an impressive diversion, Shepard. My geth were utterly convinced that the salarians were the real threat." Arterius shrugged. "Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

Things had just gotten a little more complicated.

====

Isaac nodded, running to Kaiden as he fired another Dark Sphere. He had one left in his mana reserves. "You alright?"

"What are you--?"

"Answer!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But the bomb--"

"Taken care of." The Silver Tongue looked to Liara. "Keep covering for us with Pyro." He thought into his Valor Shard again as he heard explosions above. [i]Fischer, what the hell is going? Are you attacking that thing?! We're on a damn timetable! I'll get these guys out in about two minutes, tops, but you gotta be here five minutes ago![/i]

(The Saren battle will likely take two post cycles. First comes a conversation, then a quick fight.)

====

"I've got it covered, you moron!" Joe shouted from above. Isaac's Position. The Skygrasper hovered in place for a moment before it landed. He popped open the cockpit, showing that he had barely enough room for three people "Isaac, think for a moment. How was it that you got from planet to planet in the past before your first death?" Even if he had no access to the dark corridor himself... "I can handle transporting the others onto Archangel." But first... [i]Kratos, what's the word on Sovereign? Has it left yet?[/i]

A pause, then, instead of Kratos, Ramza responded. [i]It appears to be leaving us alone, sir, something about it being not our time or some such.[/i]

Joseph looked nonplussed at what such a comment would mean. "Bastards gonna wait for the calvalry, is he? Tch."

====

"What now?"  Jess muttered as she pointed her gun at where the new voice came from.  It was obvious that it was the leader of the geth.

----------------------------------------------

"Got it!"  Pyro shouted as he created a wall of flames between him and the geth.  It would make it impossible for them to see through the flames so if any geth got through Pyro would just blast it with a stream of flame.

====

(A quick note: I said that Saren came out and started firing at them, with Shepard taking cover. So it would probably be wise to take cover as well.)

Shepard kept his weapon out, held up to the side of his head. "Why are you doing this?"

Saren was calm in his response. "You've see the vision in the beacons, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers are capable of. They cannot be stopped." He seemed annoyed. "Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight, and they were [i]utterly destroyed[/i]." He started pacing, though watching the covering rock. "Trillions dead. But what if they [i]had[/i] bowed before the invaders? Would the Protheans still exist?" He stopped, though still keeping his eye steady on Shepard's position. "Is submission not preferable to extinction?"

Shepard's turn to be angry. "Do you really think the Reapers will let us live?"

It was Saren's ball now. "Now you see why I never came forward with this to the Council. We organics are driven by emotion instead of logic. We will fight even when we [i]know[/i] we cannot win. But if we work with the Reapers--if we prove ourselves useful--think how many lives could be spared!" He calmed down again, maybe even showing some fear. "Once I understood this, I joined Sovereign, though I was aware of the...dangers. I had hoped this facility could protect me."

Shepard understood. "You were afraid Sovereign was influencing you. You're afraid he's controlling your thoughts."

"I've...studied the effects of indoctrination. The more control Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes. That is my saving grace." False assurance. "Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit. My mind is still my own... for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle. I will not let it happen to me."

The human Spectre was annoyed now. "Sovereign's manipulating you and you don't even know it! You're already under its power!"

A shout of defiance. "No! Sovereign needs me! If I find the Conduit, I've been promised a reprieve from the inevitable. This is my only hope."

"You were a Spectre. Sworn to protect the galaxy. Then you broke that vow to save yourself!"

Anger again. "I'm not doing this for myself! Sovereign will succeed. It is inevitable. My way is the only way any of us will survive! I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have [i]ever[/i] existed. But you would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die."

Shepard jumped out of his cover as he changed to his assault rifle again, Saren rising up into the air as he opened fire. It was time to fight.

(Easy boss battle. He'll fire down with tech mines, but fly around on his small saucer platform. Let loose as you want. I'll cover the end of it.)

=====

Isaac looked to Joseph. Those two seats were for the wounded, not for him or Pyro. He spoke as he helped Kaiden into the Skygrasper. "I can't use my dark corridors. Got them back from Hades, and he could easily tamper with my ability to screw me over. Pyro might be able to get us out, but I'll cover your exit first. Make it fast." He looked back to the asari as she fired a biotic barrier to protect herself and Pyro, then throwing a Throw blast at an incoming Destroyer that had passed the literal firewall, knocking it back through to kill several more. "Liara!"

She looked his way, blue energy still pulsing around her body. "We need more h--!"

"Get in the ship right here! We'll get you back to the Normandy soon as we can!" He looked to Joseph again. "Or your ship, then the Normandy. Just get her back to his squad as soon as feasible, and we'll think of more later."

The scientist limped over, and he helped her in. "But what about--?"

"I got this! We'll cover you until you can get a clear path out, then be out ourselves!" She seemed hesitant. "Now, T'Soni!"

She climbed in, and he ran over to join Jonathan Mireu, waving Joseph to carry them out. Turning, he fired a Dark Sphere, blasting a Prime back into the flames again. Only a few minutes left...

(Sorin, you can control Isaac if you want to do a Limit, but at the end of your post I would appreciate if you could warp them both out. Go nuts. Just remember his only offensive abilities at this point are his absorption technique and the Dark Sphere, which can be absorbed to give his weapon dark properties.)

====

Matt had kept his eyes on Saren, staring through the sniper scope. He waited until the banter was over, always enjoying this part of Virmire when he played the game. But once Shepard charged at the turian Spectre, Matt fired his sniper rifle then waited until it cooled off, keeping his sights on Saren.

====

(Limit, Greg is letting me use Issac.)

"Issac we need to take all these bastards down at once!"  Pyro shouted as he gathered some more flames around himself.

Isaac smirked as he launched a Dark Sphere at the firewall Pyro created previously.  The Sphere seemed to be absored into the wall, turning the flames into a blue dark fire.  The wall was pushed out catching some of the closer geth in the flames.

Pyro started throwing his knives throw the dark fire wall , having them explode as soon as they got close to a geth.  However this was just to distract the geth as Isaac was focused on creating a large orb of darkness.

"Pyro!"  Isaac shouted as the orb was finished and slowly raising up in the sky.  Pyro grinned as he fired a stream of fire right into it.  At first nothign happened but soon it was obvious it was growing unstable.

"Let's get out of here."  Pyro said as he grabbed Isaac and the others and teleported to the Normandy as the orb detonated wiping out the remaining geth.

====

Joseph nodded. "Don't do anything I wouldn't!" Though that left Isaac's options open, Joe hopped into the Skygrasper, and closed the cockpit, taking off with Kaiden and Liara in tow. [i]Pyro, you better make it out alive, I haven't seen you in ages![/i] With that message sent, Joe was nearly clear of the blast zone, and would soon be free.

====

With the gunfire from all sides, Saren's shielding fell quickly, even though he did fly around the area quite a bit. Ashley and Kirrahe's team was still having trouble getting out of the way, but were not hit. Everything seemed to be going as planned...

...until a rocket was fired from Saren's hover pad, forcing Shepard to dive out of the way, though still somewhat caught in the shockwave. As he was on the ground, Arterius was walking toward him, stepping off of the platform and tossing his pistol aside.

Shepard looked to his comrades. Tali and Garrus were still trying to get up, and he didn't even look to the Interferences.

He couldn't even react as the rogue turian Spectre grabbed him by the neck with both hands, dragging him to the edge of the platform. Finally, he was held over the edge, Saren holding him with only his left hand as the lone human Spectre struggled to escape.

Everything was going to hell. The bomb was minutes from going off. Saren was still set on killing him, even with the blast imminent. The bomb site team had still not checked in with him. With all of that, Shepard had made a decision, looking just beyond Sovereign's second-in-command to the wounded.

He was [i]done[/i] with Saren's [i]treason[/i].

His face showing naught but rage and determination, he pulled back his right hand in a fist as Saren looked to see what he was watching.

As the Turian turned back, the fist collided with his face, forcing him back as he released the commander.

Looking to him through blurry, though clearing vision, Shepard saw him leaving, saw him pick up his gun and take off on his floating platform, away from them. He took aim at the retreating traitor, trying to get a clear shot as he looked down at him from above, but could not, only watching as he escaped.

Only then did the Normandy start to come down, flying around the side of the platform as Joker steadied it for a smooth landing. As soon as it was, the airlock on the side opened up, Isaac was there, waving for them to come in.

"Come on, come on! We're almost out of time!"

Shepard nodded, looking to the now-ready Garrus, Tali, salarians, and female soldier, as well as the Interferences. He swept his arms under the wounded Williams, picking her up bridal style and carrying her into the ship, the demon almost shoving him through in his tension. Kirrahe and the other Salarians followed, the turian and quarian team members just behind.

Isaac looked back to the commander. "Get her back to the doctor. We're gonna have Kaiden and Liara there soon also! Now, soldier!"

He was gone then, looking to Joker on his left in the cockpit. "Joker, now!"

Jeff nodded as the last of the Interferences came on board. "Way ahead of you!"

They were off, away from the bomb in minutes.

The pilot shouted again. "Alright everybody, hang on!"

[b]BOOM![/b]

===

From the depths of space, Shepard looked out of a window, down to the planet below. He saw the massive explosion of the nuke, the one that destroyed the facility that Saren had worked in for so long. He had won. He had managed to save three squad members from horrible decisions or death with the help of these young men and women.

He walked over to the platform overlooking the holographic galaxy map.

Joker's voice came over the intercom to him. [i]"I forwarded the mission update to the Citadel, commander. We've got confirmation on those reinforcements."[/i] He was excited. [i]"Ambassador Udina wants us to report [b]back[/b] to the Citadel. The Council is massing a joint-species fleet to deal with Saren and his geth."[/i]

This was finally turning out right. He gripped the bannister, answering him. "I knew they'd come around." Pushing on the bannister, he stood again. "Back to the Citadel, Joker." He started to walk away. "I want the Normandy at the head of that fleet!"

[i]"Yes, sir!"[/i]

-----

Isaac was in Chakwas' med bay, looking over Ashley's wounds, healed completely with the doctor's expertise as much as the salarians' had been, save one that had died in Saren's assault. He gripped his Valor Shard, thinking into it. He was more or less calm, but one thing still had to be dealt with before the meeting with the Citadel Council.

[i]Talk to me, Fischer, or anyone on that ship. You get out of there okay? Contact Joker if you did. He can connect the airlocks for a transfer.[/i]

(After Joseph brings them over, we'll have one post each for talking with team members [I've got Isaac with Kaiden, and Wrex has a part a little later], then the Council meeting with a few posts. Then we're done.)

====

Joe laughed back to Isaac as he coordinated with the Normandy crew to let his Skygrasper onboard. [i]No worries, Zivaku. We made it out in time, and the Archangel survived. That's a victory if there ever was one, right?[/i] He looked to Liara and Kaiden at both sides of him, before telling Isaac [i]Kaiden and Liara made it out alright. Medics patched him up before we got shipped off over to the Normandy.[/i]

====

"Well that went a lot better than what was supposed to happen."  Pyro said with a grin.  He was relaxing now that they were out of the firefight.

Jess rolled her eyes at Pyro and replied.  "I guess so.  You do know more about this than I do Pyro."

====

Matt sighed, having just finished polishing his sniper rifle. Placing it away, he walked towards Kirrahe and saluted him. "Congratulations. You survived Virrmire."

====

(Everyone pick a squad member, as Shining has done. On the next post from me, we'll be landing and timeskip to the Citadel Council.)

It wasn't long before Isaac was talking to Kaidan Alenko, back at his station at the control panel to the sleeping pods.

"Never got to tell you," the Staff Lieutenant said. "Thanks for the help back there. You two saved my life."

"No problem," Isaac said. "It's what we do."

"Yeah, I doubt the Council's gonna take that easily," the Sentinel mumbled, looking through his things nearby. He pulled up a metal box. "Savant omnitool. One of the best, though a kind of mid-ranking model. Consider it my thanks."

The demon's eyes widened, and he took it. "Thanks, Alenko. It was nothing, really."

"All right. Go to Chakwas. She'll give you the surgery to be able to use it. Make sure you tell her if you're right or left handed."

The Silver Tongue nodded, and walked off. "You're welcome."

(And so, the origins of Isaac's omnitool, revealed.)

====

Joseph approached Kaiden after Isaac walked off, asking him, "I hope the ride wasn't too cramped for you. Skygrasper's aren't known for space, after all..." He seemed to look sheepish about it.

Kaiden seemed to smirk, telling him, "It was pretty bad, but the Mako was much worse."

Joe blanched at that thought. Cramped space AND jumpy terrain? Sounds like a very bad day.

====

(Sorry this is rushed. Trying to just wrap this topic up.)

It wasn't long before the ship was entering the purple, gaseous Serpent Nebula, heading toward the galactic capital known as the Citadel. It was time to confront the Council, to make their plan of attack.

Isaac was back in the lowest level of the ship, the others with him. They had spoken to the whole of the crew, and another "energy flux," a save point, had appeared in the middle. The Interferences had done their job, had changed a major event, prevented a tragedy. But now it seemed the worlds were ready to have them help elsewhere.

Isaac looked over his new omnitool, checking the many functions. He had said his goodbyes. Fischer probably had his own way out. He knew that Pyro had become rather good friends with Tali in the short time theiy had known each other, so there was also that bonus. Maybe if he came back for some other journey, they could help again. Again, hopefully not as hectically.

Wrex looked to the group of them. His eyes locked on Isaac's, tension between them. "Zivaku."

"Wrex."

Then the Krogan battlemaster seemed to almost smirk. "You Interferences, you've all got major quads. Especially you and Pyro."

The Silver Tongue...didn't really know how to take that. He decided it was a compliment. "...Wait, what about Jess?"

The alien rolled his eyes, crossing his arms again and leaning back. "All right, she's got a hell of a quad, too."

The demon looked to the humans in the area. Ashley was [i]very[/i] busy not paying attention, looking at her extranet mail. Garrus didn't even bother to look up from his work on the Mako. The requisitions officer looked at him from far off, shaking his head and waving his arms. The message was clear. 'Just don't ask.'

With a sigh and a shrug, Isaac looked to all of them. "See you all around, probably." Responses of varying commitment were given, and he looked down to the save point. "All righty. You tell the Council. Bye."

And with that, he was gone, up in a beam of pure light that exited this massive game universe.

(And I'm FINALLY out. Thanks, guys. You can finish up.)

====

"Commander Shepard," Joseph called out to the man as he made his way to the hangar. "If I could have a word with you, I'd like to discuss something with you..."

Commander Shepard looked at the young man, and said, "If you can make it quick, we're about to dock at the Citadel, and I'm sure you have better things to do."

Joseph gave him a smile. "Actually, sir, it concerns that. I have had experience with the ilk that make up the Citadel Council. If there's no proof of the existence of the Interferences, they'll dismiss it as nonsense." That smile turned decidedly wicked. "I rather not be disproved so easily. Which is why I wish to come with you to this council meeting."

Commander Shepard seemed to consider this for a while, then said, "Alright. I take it you'll leave afterwards?"

Joe nodded. "If you'll excuse me, Commander..."

(Achievement Unlocked! Interference GEITO DAZZE! And that's it for me.)