Whatever the moral and morale implications of Doctor Bryson’s stunt, there was no denying that she’d given them a target. Sneaking into the Psi Tophet hadn’t been particularly difficult, the Reapers not seeming to have any more use for the system than anyone else did. It had taken some poking around with scanners and launching of probes, but they’d ultimately pinned their search location to a section of deep ocean on 2181 Despoina. Given that it was entirely a water world deep had some serious implications, which might end up being a problem.

Implications that were uncomfortably added to by the fact that there seemed to be multiple wrecks of widely varying ages scattered around that section of ocean. With no sign of what, exactly, had taken them all out. Not exactly encouraging. Particularly as the most recent wreck, still fairly intact despite time and tide, looked to be a large freighter of human manufacture. They hadn’t been able to pin down an identification, aside from being a Ballard-class, from orbit. But it would serve as a landing site, at least. Assuming nothing shot them down. The team they decided on was, ultimately, a familiar one for this particular set of missions. Oriana, Shepard and Liara would go, and would be rejoined by Edi and Tali. The latter would be helping Edi try to figure out what had taken out the ships, while the rest of them poked things until something useful turned up.

Everyone was tense as they dropped through the atmosphere. They’d taken one of the Phoenix’s heavily shielded landing craft, instead of a shuttle…and were glad they did halfway down. The Asari pilot cursed as the whole ship shuddered and bucked, losing altitude for a few seconds before leveling out.

“Some sort of pulse hit us! I don’t know what the fuck it was, but if not for the shielding, we’d be dead in the air! As it is, shields are fucked. If it can managed another pulse like that we’ll be in trouble! Taking us down quick!”

The pilot was already putting action to words as she shouted them over the comms, putting the landing craft in a much steeper descent, closer to the assault drop speeds that the craft was meant for. Everyone braced, crossing their fingers that they’d make it down before another pulse hit…and breathed a sigh of relief as counter thrust brutally slammed into them, despite all the craft’s mass effect fields could do to compensate. The pilot, like everyone assigned to or recruited for the Phoenix, was very good, bringing them out of the drop just meters above the derelict ship. Moments later, they were touching down on the deck and carefully popping the hatches…

They immediately started seeing the bodies.

Grim faced, Oriana and Liara both closed with one each. Oriana started scanning for details, even as Liara put an archaeologist’s trained eye to the problem. Liara was the one to get some answers first.

“Human. No noticeable marks from scavengers. Exposed to the elements like this…likely at least a year to reach this state. More likely two or three.”

Oriana added her own findings a moment after the Asari.

“Just over two. I pulled the files on all missing Ballard-class freighters before we launched and just got a match from one of the crew lists. Looks like this was Dr. Chai Lin. Which makes this the MSV Monarch, an eezo prospecting ship that went missing just over two years ago. Captain Abel Pratt was the independent owner.”

Shepard nodded at both data points, looked around, then made her call.

“Alright. Fan out, but stay in sight of at least one other person. Look out for datapads or other clues that might tell us what happened to these people. Edi and Tali, keep an eye out for anything that might clue us in what that pulse was. Ori, do what you do best.”

They all did as instructed. Despite her own curiosity, Oriana stayed with the landing craft, letting Liara and Shepard pair off while Edi and Tali did the same. Shepard’s casual line was a familiar one at this point, as the Spectre knew full well that Oriana was usually better capable of directing her own efforts that Shepard would be. In this case, the choice was easy. She needed to figure out what that pulse had been, and how to block it better, in case they needed to get back in the air without finding a way to disable it. She joined the pilot in looking over the systems, quickly deducing it had been some sort of charged ion pulse. Far more sophisticated than a simple EMP, it would have blasted right past traditional shielding methods. Only the fact that New Dawn had developed shields that worked specifically against energy weapons, and all the Pheonix’s craft were equipped with them, had saved them from being disabled.

Still, as eloquent as the weapon was…the shields had worked. A little tweaking to focus them on the specific band of energy involved would let them shrug off at least two or three such pulses without much trouble. Worst case, the Phoenix itself could easily shrug off dozens of such pulses, so long as they modulated for them. It was the sort of weapon that worked fantastically against an undefended target, yet poorly against someone who had a countermeasure. Given the Reapers lack of energy shields, though, Oriana noted it down as likely to be highly effective against them. At least until they adapted. She also noted that it explained the nearly undamaged Reaper the Batarians had pulled off of Dis.

As she worked, she listened in on the rest of the team’s comms as they sorted out the painful story of what had happened here. The same sort of Ion Pulse that had been bounced by their shields had downed the less protected MSV Monarch, and something had interfered with all their attempts at repairs or getting their distress beacon working. Lacking much in the way of rations, with no native wildlife that was edible to humans, the crew had slowly starved. A fact only made worse by the crew discovering more of the Leviathan relics that slowly indoctrinated them, until they simply laid down and let the hunger take them. She honestly wasn’t sure if that counted as a merciful or cruel death. She certainly had no intention of finding out herself, either way.

It was just as she finished up the modifications to the shield that the others determined the best path forward. Apparently, this close, there was enough resonance from the artifacts that they were able to pinpoint Leviathan’s location farther. Straight down. Several kilometers straight down into the ocean. They’d found several Triton ADS mechs, already modified for deep sea exploration, and Tali and Edi were going over them to farther enhance the modifications for the pressure. Grimacing at the idea of how vulnerable they would be, Ori nevertheless went to join them…

-----

Shepard had, predictably, wanted to go alone. Equally predictably, Oriana had verbally smacked some sense into her. As a result, the three Tritons in the best shape had all been prepped and field upgraded to increase the odds that they could handle the pressure at the depts involved. Now Oriana, Shepard, and Liara were falling slowly into the murky blackness, chasing a probe they’d had the Phoenix drop as close to the signal as it could. A double burst of that pulse had tried to knock the Phoenix out of the air when it did so, only to be negligently brushed aside by the ship’s modified shields. Hopefully, that fact would make Leviathan think twice about attempting to simply kill them.

There was entirely too much time to think as they seemed to drop forever. They’d lost comms with the surface only a few minutes into the drop, and Liara had begun whispering quiet prayers to the Asari goddess as the exterior pressure had mounted. Oriana fared better, at least a little, simply because she’d looked over the mechs herself. A few minor modifications had increased their already impressive depth rating, though even she got more than a little twitchy as they were forced deeper and deeper, making a series of jumps down to find their probe. At least the probe was giving enough wild readings to indicate this wasn’t just a snipe hunt.

The moment they finally found what they were looking for, Oriana had to steel her courage to keep from wishing they didn’t. A squid-like being the size of a Reaper destroyer and looking entirely too much like one rose from the depths in front of them…and spoke into their minds.

“You have come too far.”

The pressure on Oriana’s mind froze her and she heard Liara groan. Somehow, Shepard managed to answer the being.

“Well, you didn’t exactly leave your comm number. We had to make a house call.”

The dry delivery was enough to make Oriana twitch in disbelief...but that same disbelief helped focus her mind, helped push back against the pressure. Slowly, she wrestled her mind back into a semblance of order. She felt Liara doing a same and felt a flood of pure curiosity from the being which had to be Leviathan in response.

“The Darkness should not have been breached. Yet you bring the Chronal Anomaly with you. Why have you come?”

Somehow, the question was layered, directed at both her an Shepard at the same time. Though Shepard managed to respond first, Oriana still not quite focused enough to manage it herself.

“You’ve killed Reapers, yet bare a resemblance to them and their methods. We want to know why.”

That was…not particularly diplomatic, yet the feel from Leviathan was not angry. Instead, it seemed almost…rueful?

“They are the enemy, they seek our extermination. Yet they are only our echoes. We existed long before.”

There was a flash, Oriana’s attempt to gather herself half scattered by visions of another place, other places. Worlds, systems, the empty void. Her own memories, Liara’s memories, Shepard’s memories. And memories that belonged to what must be Levithan. An instinctive gestalt formed, something like an Asari meld but purely mental, the three of them shoring each other up in the face of the overwhelming power as Levithan dug through their every memory. The pressure lessened to something more bearable, spread across three minds.

“You believe there is a war, yet there is only the Harvest. Still, your cycle is different. The Reapers perceive you as a threat. For the first time in many Harvests, they do not understand your divergence. It is the Time Anomaly’s fault.”

Oriana knew it was talking about her, how could it not be? With her mental strength bolstered by the others, she gasped out a question.

“What are you. What are you to the Reapers?”

There was a pause, as if Leviathan was unsure it would answer. Yet, when the answer came it was loaded with shards of memory, flashes of insight.

“We are their creators. Before the cycles, our kind was the Apex of life in the galaxy. The lesser species serving our needs.”

Visions of worship, visions of those like Leviathan enthralling dozens of species. Yet, also, caring for those species. There was no question who were the masters. But the relationship was not one sided. Scenes of disasters adverted and species uplifted were mixed in with the scenes of worship and service. Of tribute given back to the Empire of his kind.

“But we could not protect them from themselves. Over time, they built machines, which turned on them. Tribute does not flow from a dead race.”

The scenes changed, showing a myriad of machine intelligences, all modeled from different species and created by different races. Many wiped out their creators, despite attempts by their master’s to intervene.

“To solve this problem, we created our own intelligence. One with a mandate to preserve life at any cost. As it evolved, it studied how organic civilizations developed. Its understanding grew, until it believed it had found a solution to its mandate. In that instant, it betrayed us. It chose our kind as the first Harvest. From us, the first Reaper was created, you call that Reaper Harbinger.”

Liara’s incredulity was so strong, she overcame the pressure for the first time, allowing her to gasp out a question.

“You saw the failure of all the other species, what made you believe the intelligence you made would be different?!”

“Hubris. You would struggle to conceive of a galaxy that bends entirely to your will. Every creature, every nation, every planet discovered became our tools. We were above the concerns of the lesser species. Their failures did not concern us.”

Shepard’s tone was much more biting, even as their minds blended together. They were blurring at the edges. They were no Liara, Oriana and Shepard, they were the fusion of all three they became when they melded. By the time the words finished, all of them were speaking the accusation.

“And now we all pay for your mistake.”

“There was no mistake. The tool still serves its purpose. At the end of each cycle, new Reapers are formed. Each containing the preserved genetic material of every race they Harvest. Perfected into Harbinger’s image. Our image. An index of all life so it does not pass out of existence.”

“Is that how it fulfills its mandate?”

“No. It is how it collects data. Its purpose has not yet been fulfilled. It seeks ever more data, attempting to arrive at a true solution. It directed the creation of the Mass Relays to speed the cycles, to shorten the time between Harvests. The galaxy itself became an experiment, evolution its tool.”

“Will it ever end?”

“Unknown. Until the intelligence finds what it is looking for, the Harvests will continue.”

The part of them that was Liara surfaced, her overwhelming curiosity dominating their gestalt long enough to ask a burning question.

“How are you even still here?”

“The Reapers did not have the experience they have now. In their first cycle, they missed too many. Enough of our people escaped, hiding in the dark corners of the galaxy, to continue to exist. Between cycles, they manipulated the thrall races to remove all traces of their presence. They watched, they hid. I am their progeny.”

“You use the artifacts as…as a window into the galaxy. So you can see how each harvest progresses!”

“Yes. We watch, we study, we remain in the shadows.”

Shepard and Oriana’s practical wills shifted the next question.

“Will you help us end the cycles?”

There was a pause, a long one, in which they could feel more than just Leviathan’s mind. There were others of his kind here, somewhere, a thought that sent both unease and hope through them.

“Perhaps. There have been other anomalies like the one you call Shepard. Other losses of a few Reapers. But the change to Time itself, it is beyond even what we ever achieved. Tell me, how would you have us help you? What is it you desire.”

It was Oriana that wrestled control of the gestalt, even Shepard’s iron will momentarily shoved aside. This was Oriana’s purpose. It was all she had given herself for. All she had turned herself into. Perhaps the Shepard from her original timeline could have brushed her aside. But here, in this one, it was Oriana who had burned everything she was or ever could be to buy the galaxy a chance. Oriana whose will surpassed all others in this, this one thing.

“Information. You didn’t just create the Reapers, you have watched them, shadowed their every step. You know them. You have seen every weakness, every attempt by every species to thwart them. Killing Reapers isn’t hard, hurting them is the problem. You know how to do that.”

“Interesting. Had you asked us to fight, you would have never left this world. We have not survived the long eons by believing in optimism. Yet, you are the Greatest Anomaly so far. Your cycle the first to have truly cost the Reapers in dozens of Harvests.”

…

…

…

More long moments past, the trio feeling the edge of an exchange between Leviathan and the rest of its kind.

“Very well. Information you shall have.”

Between one moment and the next, it felt like a sledgehammer hit their brains. The gestalt popped like a bubble, they screamed silently as information poured into them. Then they found their hands moving, hitting their emergency ascent thrusters without their consent, directed by Leviathan’s will. They saw the shadows of dozens more of his kind as the rose through the water, barely clinging to sanity and consciousness. Then, even as she began to black out…a single piece of information blazed its way into Oriana’s brain. In disbelief, awe, and triumph, she whispered three short words before the blackness took her.

“We have them.”

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A/N: As of my cross-posting this to Scribblehub, this is the end of the public content for the moment. This fic is actually finished, but the remaining five chapters are still in early access for My Patreon Page until later this month. You can always join my Patreon if you want to read the last bits early, along with early content for my other fics. But you can also just wait a few weeks and it will be available for free anyway :-).