Mass Effect: Knight of the Old Republic

“We can’t take them with us.”

Shepard sighed. “I know that.”

“We can’t leave them here either.”

“I know.”

“I doubt we’ll find a secure area anywhere close either.”

“I know!”

“Some need medical attention as well…”

“Yes, Miranda, I get it. But I need helpful ideas!” Shepard did her best to not snap at her XO.

She wasn’t entirely successful, but Miranda wasn’t exactly making it easy!

Shepard took a breath and tried to calm herself down again. She was a little more successful this time, but she could still see the image of that colonist starting to melt in front of her. That was going to be a new one for the nightmare list. And just when she had been making progress on the others thanks to Revan’s meditation classes.

Right, focus.

What to do with the crew and the injured colonist?

Like Miranda said, they couldn’t bring them with them and they couldn’t stay here. The first would get most of them shot because no one had kinetic shields and eventually the Collectors would get through the doors again so the second didn’t work at all.

There was really only one place they could put them. Hopefully Joker had some good news for her.

“Joker, can you read me?” Shepard asked through her comm.

“Roger that, Commander, what do you need?”

“We found the crew,” and Shepard could almost imagine the way Joker perked up at the news. “But we’ve got several injured. You good for a pickup?”

“...yeah, yeah we can. We’ve got enough systems back online to make a pickup run, but we’d need to land further back from your position.”

“We can’t afford to go back, Shepard. Not now.” Miranda whispered bluntly. And she wasn’t exactly wrong. The only thing keeping them from being surrounded and overwhelmed by every Collector on the station was that they had hit them hard and moved fast. Going backwards was just going to give the Collectors the time they needed to regroup and pin them down.

But at the same time…

“They won’t make it by themselves.” Not unarmed, unarmored, and injured from captivity.

“The mission is bigger than all of us. And we’re not getting a second shot.”

“So send someone to escort them.” Revan said as she walked over. “Either way, break’s over. We need to plan our next step.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Shepard nodded. They could probably spare one person. She just had to balance out skill sets so the crew would be safe without compromising the assault team’s effectiveness.

So while everyone gathered up, Shepard was busy ticking off who could go and the impact they would have on the rest of the group.

“Talk to me, Joker.” She ordered once everyone was paying attention.

“Okay, those tubes the doc was talking about all lead into the main control room right above you,” Joker briefed them, while Shepard fought down a wave of revulsion. Listening to Chakwas describe how people were melted and sucked up into those tubes for god knows why still set her nerves on end. She was not looking forward to discovering whatever the Collectors were using that stuff for. “The route is blocked by a security door, but there’s another chamber that runs parallel to the one you’re in.”

“I cannot recommend that.” EDI jumped in. “Thermal emissions suggest the chamber is overrun with Seeker swarms. Mordin’s countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once.”

“I guess they have to keep their buggy friends somewhere.” Kasumi snarked. “Too bad it’s right where we need to go.”

“Any chance EDI’s wrong?” Shepard directed at Mordin, ignoring the uppity thief.

“Chance always possible. Was unable to exhaustively test against injection by overwhelming numbers.” Mordin replied before taking a deep breath and a second to seriously think about it. “EDI unlikely to be wrong however.”

“It also doesn’t stop the Seekers from just attacking us directly.” Jacob pointed out. “Do we know if they can do that? Those injectors can get through an undersuit pretty easily, do it enough times and they might open up something important like an artery.”

“That’s if they do not carry you off alive.” Thane added. “Several insect species capture live prey and bring it home to their nests for consumption.”

Shepard shuddered at the thought of being dragged off as food for a giant seeker swarm. This place was just trying to give her new nightmares. “Thanks for the images, all of you.” She said, massaging her temples. “What about other options? Heavy weapons, biotics, Revan’s Force powers?”

“Heavy weapons are out, Commander.” Jacob quickly said. “We’d get a few big groups, but there’s no chance of getting everything. I doubt we’d get far.”

“I could escort a group through, but we are going to need a distraction.” Revan said. “I’d be better leading that effort unless there is no other option.”

“Alright, so…can we get through with just biotics?”

“Yes…I think it may be possible.” Samara said slowly. “A small team covered by an extended Barrier. I wouldn’t be able to protect a large team, but three should be doable if they stayed close.”

“I could do it, too.” Miranda asserted. “In theory, any Biotic could.”

Shepard immediately threw that idea out. Yes, in theory any Biotic could put up the Barrier they needed, but not all of them could maintain it long enough to stop the swarm from battering through.

She knew for a fact she wasn’t able to do so, and she was on the upper end for a human Biotic. That meant Jacob and likely Miranda were out as well.

“Alright…Samara and I will take a team through the swarms and open the security doors.” She decided. “Garrus and Mordin, you’re with us. Everyone else will head for the doors and keep the Collectors busy.”

“What about me and the rest of the crew, Shepard?” Dr Chakwas asked, waving a hand to the others that had been rescued. “We’re in no shape to fight.”

The Spectre nodded at her. “I know, that’s why I’m going to have Thane escort you further back where the Normandy can pick you all up.”

Chakwas’s shoulders loosened just a little. “Thank you, Jane.”

Shepard smiled. “You know me, Karin. I take care of my people.”

Which is why she was sending Thane.

The Drell Assassin was a perfect blend of crafty enough to scout ahead and make sure there were no Collector ambushes on the way to the pickup point, skilled enough to deal with any there by himself, and as a bonus his eidetic memory would help him backtrack along the route her group took without any issue of getting lost.

The fact that it would also prevent him from seeing anything else like melting people while contributing to the mission was a big plus as well. Shepard intended for all of them to live through this if possible, and if she could keep from mentally scarring her team along the way then all the better.

“”We’ve all got our assignments.” She declared. “Let’s move out!”

-o-

“We’re in position, Shepard.”

“Okay. Samara is putting up the barrier and we’re hea- -to -amb-” Shepard’s voice crackled before cutting out.

“Tali’Zorah?”

“Signal cut out on their side. Maybe the swarms are causing interference?” The Quarian reported, poking at her Omnitool for a bit before giving up. Interference was probably too strong to overcome then.

Revan nodded. “It sounds like they were getting started. So should we.”

The rescued crew members had already left by now, so the remaining members of the ground team just nodded, checked their weapons, and stood behind the Sith Empress.

As the doors opened it became clear very quickly that the Collectors were not going to leisurely sit back and wait for the Normandy team to come to them.

The second the doors were open enough to allow them, dozens of Drones stuck their arms through the opening as they tried to force their bodies through the growing gap. It reminded Revan of some of the plagues Sith Alchemists had created; the ones that stripped all reason and restraint from the infected as they did their best to kill and consume everything that didn’t share their infliction.

Revan was actually relieved at the tactic though.

You didn’t have soldiers throw themselves into a meat grinder right away if they could pick up a blaster, after all. And if the Collectors were still trying to drown them under bodies, they still couldn’t arm all their drones at once.

And they had ways to deal with that.

“Jack, give us some breathing room.”

“It'd be my goddamn pleasure.”

The heavily tattooed woman glowed with biotic energy, and just as the doors opened far enough for the Collector horde to rush in they were hit in the face by a near physical wall of energy that pulped the first row before bowling over everything behind them.

“Grenades.” Revan commented, casually deflecting the few incoming shots from the Drones actually armed and far enough back to not be knocked over. “Everyone else, focus fire on the ones in the back.”

“On it.” Jacob replied as he pulled out an M-100 grenade launcher and started firing out into the crowd. As expected of someone of his skill level, Jacob scattered the rounds to cause the most amount of damage possible with Revan only needing to make slight adjustments through the force to ensure the carpet of struggling Drones was reduced to bits in a series of HE explosions.

In the meantime, red bolts shot out and burned through the rest of the Drones with varying levels of accuracy.

But there was no time to stand around appreciating the sights.

“Keep alert, follow your team leader’s callouts, and above all else, keep up.” The Sith ordered and ran forward.

What followed was another chaotic whirlwind of small conflicts, swinging lightsabers, and blaster fire from all directions. Again, for the most part Revan trusted Miranda and Jacob to act as the leaders for the rest of the team while she focused on drawing the enemy’s attention and destroying tougher targets and occasionally calling out orders as needed.

Somewhat concerningly, the Presence failed to make a reappearance during the whole thing. Meaning either Revan’s demonstration with Sith Lightning had scared it off, or their distraction wasn’t as effective as they were hoping.

Not to say that they hadn’t drawn attention.

The Collectors were still doing a favorable impression of an overturned anthill and they were starting to get better armed as more Drones managed to retrieve them from whatever counted as an armory on this station or salvaged some working ones from the dead.

“Revan, we’ve got Praetorians!”

“Ignore them, keep heading for the security doors!”

“If we do that we’ll be sitting ducks! There’s no cover over there!”

“Leave that to me!”

Revan leapt forward into the densest mass of Drones she could, instantly decapitating a handful of Drones, and yanked on the Force. The insectile aliens went from aggressively grabbing at her to helplessly flailing as if they were in zero-gravity in a nano-second only to be violently smashed into the floor in a large-scale replication of Miranda’s favorite biotic trick. And were then sent flying everywhere as Revan pushed everything away from her, giving her a nice clean arena to deal with the two arriving Praetorians as both of them landed nearby and screamed at her.

Revan’s helmet took care of the sound as sonic dampeners kicked in to protect her ears, but the physical force from the scream was enough to stagger her just a little. But she recovered before the first one could try stabbing her with one of its forelegs. Sparks flew as her blue saber scraped across the barrier covering the metal limb before failing and cutting through it. Revan doubted there was anything resembling nerves in the biomechanical horror, but it reeled back and screamed again at the loss anyway before overcharging its biotic barrier.

The Force cried out in warning. So Revan threw herself to the side as the second Praetorian’s particle beams lanced past where she had been standing and washed harmlessly over the first’s defenses.

The Sith grimaced at the sight. Even one praetorian was annoying to deal with, but them being able to coordinate like this made them dangerous. Especially since Revan needed to conserve as much of her strength as possible for whatever was up ahead. There was something giving off a feeling like some of the old Sith tombs on Korriban. And Revan had no idea what it could be.

“Better finish this fast then.” She decided as green sparks crackled around her fingertips.

Of the three alignments of Force Lightning techniques Revan knew, Electric Judgment was easily the one she practiced the least. Not out of some misguided belief that the Light technique was somehow weaker than the other two but simply for the fact that the major advantage it had, the fact it was very hard to unintentionally cause major damage, wasn’t very useful in her normal encounters. But like everything else in the universe, there were exceptions to that. And while Electric Judgment wasn’t very good at physically damaging something, it was incredibly effective at causing all kinds of hell with electronic systems – organic and synthetic.

So as the emerald bands of electricity washed over the undamaged Praetorian – it shut down. Neither the cybernetic components of the fused husks under the flying tank’s armor or the remnants of their organic nervous system were enough to save it from Revan’s onslaught.

Of course shut down did not mean the same as destroyed.

If given enough time, the Praetorian would eventually reactivate only a little worse for wear. That’s why Revan made sure to stab it through the eyes with both her lightsabers. Armor, flesh, bone, and cybernetics burned away under the two beams of contained plasma and soon after there was little chance of the Praetorian moving under its own power ever again.

That didn’t mean Revan got out unscathed though. The time she spent ensuring the Praetorian was dead gave the first one enough time to charge over and tackle her off the corpse of its partner.

Revan’s personal shields and armor were enough to stop her from being splattered by the impact and she was able to deflect the undamaged limb with one of her sabers, but even then the Sith Empress felt a sharp pain in her side and her ribs protested a lot as she struggled to push the monstrosity off her.

It wasn’t easy, especially with over twenty misshapen humanoid heads snapping at her armored visor, but Revan had nearly been eaten by much more terrifying or disturbing things before so she wasn’t as disturbed as she could be when she placed one hand on the roof of its mouth and a foot in the middle of the squirming heads.

It also helped that the Praetorian wasn’t actually trying to eat her, even if the heads closest to her foot were vainly trying to bite through her boot, but either stab her with one of several sharp protrusions or crush her against its armor. At least it was trying to until Revan secured her footing and began to push.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then the Praetorian began the thrash wildly as the upper part of its head was pushed up by the Sith Empress’s Force enhanced strength. Metal began to groan as the armored head pushed past what the hinges could handle. Loud snapping echoed out into the chamber as parts began to buckle and crack. And with one final burst of strength, Revan tore the head of the Praetorian clean off and allowed the whole thing to collapse to the ground, just as dead as its partner.

“Holy shit, Ice Queen, that was badass.” Jack’s voice crackled over Revan’s comms. “Also really fucking brutal.”

“Keelah, it was.” Tali’Zorah agreed. “But wouldn’t it have been easier to just cut it with your lightsabers?”

Revan stood and hissed as her ribs protested the movement. “No actually.” She replied to the Quarian. “The Praetorian still had its barrier up, and I think it was planning to try something when I did. But those barriers only react to outside impacts. By slowly forcing it open instead of attacking it directly…”

“The barrier wouldn’t stop you from breaking the underlying chassis.” Miranda accurately concluded.

“Correct.”

“Clever. We’re set up just outside the security doors. Your stunt managed to buy us some time but the Collectors are starting to emerge faster than we can put them down and we can’t raise Shepard. We might need a backup–” Miranda cut off as the security doors suddenly opened. “...nevermind. You better hurry, Revan. We can’t leave the doors open forever.”

“On my way.”

-o-

“One last push.” Shepard muttered as her team joined her on the platform.

“And then we bring the whole station down on their heads.” Revan agreed.

Almost miraculously, none of the assault group had taken more than minor injury despite the near constant combat. And the good news didn’t stop there.

Shortly after both teams rejoined each other and secured the area they were able to contact the Normandy and confirm that Thane had successfully escorted everyone to the pickup zone with no casualties. All that was left to do was hit the control room and put a stop to whatever the Collectors had been using their captives for.

Of course that did nothing about the massive horde of Collector’s that were still funneling their way towards them. Which was why only a small team would be going forward while the rest would buy them time to do whatever they needed to.

Shepard would be taking Garrus and Tali’Zorah as her backup.

Revan had decided that she would go alone to deal with the Force presence she was detecting nearby.

There was a token defense from the Collectors as they staged a few assaults on the platforms the team used, but for once there simply weren’t enough of them to really threaten or slow down the group. And Harbinger, as Shepard had taken to calling the Presence enhanced drones, failed to make another appearance.

“This is it.” Shepard said as they made their way to the last platform and pressed something on a holo-panel. “All tubes lead to this spot. I’m guessing your Force thing is still this way, Revan?”

“It is. Directly ahead.” the Sith nodded.

“Fantastic. Any idea what we’re heading into EDI?”

“Scans show the tubes are leading to some kind of super-structure. It is emitting both organic and non-organic energy structures. Given these readings…it must be massive.”

Revan had never heard the Normandy droid pause or sound uneasy. Now she sounded both.

“Shepard. If my calculations a correct, the super-structure…is a Reaper.” EDI finished just as the platform entered the main chamber.

Revan didn’t exactly know if the AI was right about it being a Reaper, but there was definitely something being built here. A massive human looking torso hung lifelessly from four anchor points in the center of the chamber. Yet despite the lack of activity, the Sith could feel a Force Presence radiating from the clearly unfinished machine and the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

“...they’re using the kidnapped colonists to build a Reaper.” She said, horrified at the realization. “That’s why their technology is Force active. They are literally made out of the essence of sentients!”

“What?!” Shepard was just as shocked. “EDI, is that true?!”

“It appears so. The Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans. Significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper.”

“Fuck. How many more humans do you think they’d try to take?”

“Millions. Perhaps more. Impossible to know for certain.” EDI said. “This Reaper appears to be in a very early stage of development. An embryo in human terms.”

“So it’s not activated yet? We can destroy it before it’s alive?”

“The process can be stopped, but it is unclear exactly how much it’s developed. I cannot, for example, tell you if it has awareness.”

“It’s a monster made from the corpses of thousands of innocents. Aware or not we’re pulling the plug.” Shepard declared. “How do we destroy it?”

“Those tubes look like the only thing holding it up.” Garrus pointed out. “We take out those, the whole thing should come falling down.”

“If the Collectors are building it here, there must be a way out into space somewhere below. An airlock or hanger.” Tali’Zorah added. “If we need to we can eject the whole thing and push it into the nearby star.”

“And we’ve got a rocket launcher.” Revan pointed out, waving a hand at the collapsed heavy weapon attached to Garrus’s back.

“Yeah, as good a place to use it as any I suppose.”

With very little fanfare the tubes were targeted and destroyed using everything the ML-77 had.

The unborn Reaper slouched forward as the anchor points fell away before the weight of it dragged it down to the abyss that was the Collector station. Almost expecting something to go wrong, the team carefully walked to the edge of their platform and watched as the Reaper fell further and further with no sign of activation.

Eventually deciding that they had spent enough time waiting, they turned back and went looking for the central control terminal while Shepard made a call.

“Shepard to Ground Team. Status report.”

“Jack here. We’re tagging them as they come, but feel free to call for an exit anytime!”

Both Revan and Shepard looked at Tali who had started cracking into a holo-panel. The Quarian engineer simply nodded that she was inside the systems and ready to take down the station.

“Head back to the Normandy. Joker – prep the engines. We’re about to overload this place and blow it sky high.”

“Uh, sure thing Commander, but we’ve got an incoming signal from the Illusive Man. EDI’s patching it through.”

“What? Joker, I don’t care. We don’t have time–”

The Commander was cut off as her Omnitool sprang to life and a holographic image of the Illusive Man was projected for the four of them to see.

“Shepard. You’ve done the impossible.” T.I.M. greeted them.

Shepard sighed, frustration visibly being restrained by a hair. “I didn’t do it alone. I had a damn good team behind me the whole way.”

“Yes, I know. You all did what you needed to do, and now you’ve acquired the Collector base.”

“For a little bit, anyway. Soon it’s just going to be one big firework.” Garrus snarked.

T.I.M. ignored the comment. “I’m looking at the schematic EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors but leave the machinery and technology intact. This is our chance, Shepard!” He exclaimed. “They were building a Reaper. That knowledge – that framework – could save us.”

“No chance.” Shepard immediately denied. “They liquified people to build this place. Turned them into something horrible. We’re going to do exactly what we set out to do in the first place and destroy it.”

“Don’t be short sighted.” T.I.M. growled. “Our best chance against the Reapers is to turn their own resources against them.”

“No, Shepard’s right.” Revan cut in. “We’ve finally figured out the secret to how Reapertech is Force active. Allowing it to remain would be a betrayal to every sentient that died here. Not just humans.”

“If we ignore this opportunity, that would be a betrayal.” T.I.M. snarled. “They were working directly with the Collectors, think of the information that must be buried here! Weapons, research data, weaknesses! This is our chance to level the playing field. Imagine the lives that could be saved if we turned those against them!”

Shepard shook her head. “It’s not worth it. Besides, if we need weapons I know someone who can get us some things that are out of this universe.” She gave Revan a smirk. To which the Sith could only shake her head at the bad joke.

“You mean the woman that denied giving Cerberus any meaningful blueprints when we could be manufacturing them in preparation for the Reapers as we speak? The same woman that used the first opportunity she could to grab power for herself?! Think, Shepard! If Humanity is going to stand a chance, we need every advantage we can get. Not just rely on some handouts from a petty warlord that she will deny giving out to secure her own power!”

“My mind’s made up. We’ll fight and win without it.” Shepard said stubbornly. “I won’t let fear compromise what I am.”

“You’re making a mista–” T.I.M. started and was cut off as Shepard forcefully ended the connection.

“Boring conversation anyway.” The Spectre said lightly. “Tali, you good to go?”

“All set, Shepard. We’ll have ten minutes before the main reactor goes critical. That should give us–”

A massive collision knocked the entire team off their feet. As they scrambled to stand and find out exactly what hit them, Revan felt a warning scream in the Force. Not questioning it, the Sith threw herself at Shepard and tackled her out of the way just as a massive metal hand crashed directly where the Commander had been seconds before.

Nobody needed to ask what just happened. The massive metal limb and the skeletal figure attempting to climb up onto the platform was unmistakable. The unfinished Reaper was back. And this time it was awake and feeling murderous.

“Shepard, what’s the plan?!” Garrus shouted as he targeted anything that looked like a weak point. But unfinished or not, the Reaper was still tougher than most things ever made and the blaster bolts might as well have been pinpricks for all the comparative damage they did.

“Hold on and don’t die! I’m thinking!”

“Better think faster, it’s going to tear the platform apart in a minute!” Tali called out as the Reaper slipped. But instead of falling back down the chamber, it thrashed its hand out to steady itself and destroyed one of the hexagonal sections they were all standing on.

“Revan, you have any ideas?!”

Emerald lightning washed over the Reaper, and while it clearly hurt it, the Reaper still functioned. The Sith Empress was forced to halt her attack and dive into cover to avoid the energy beam that fired from the Reaper’s mouth.

“That depends, do you still have the Cain?”

“Yeah, but even a small nuke isn’t getting through that armor!”

There was shudder as another platform was torn away. Garrus and Tali started firing at the metal behemoth’s eyes in hopes that they would be more fragile. And they must have been because one arm raised up to protect the angrily glowing orbs.

“It doesn’t have to if we set it off inside the Reaper!” Revan called back. “We just need an opening! I’m only going to be able to hold it for a short time, so you better not miss!”

“What are you doing?!”

Instead of answering, Revan threw herself into the Force and drew on it as deeply as she dared. Light and Shadow seemed to warp and bend around her as she threw her hands out and focused everything on the Reaper.

The skeletal arm protecting its face jerked and spasmed as it was slowly pried out of the way by an invisible force and when the monstrosity tried to sweep another platform with its remaining hand, that one was captured too.

The Reaper should have fallen at that point.

Nothing was holding it up besides Revan’s telekinetic grasp and the Sith apparently wasn’t letting go anytime soon. Instead, the Reaper’s skull-like face was smashed downwards into the platform where it remained motionless, despite the thrashing from the rest of its torso.

“Its eye! Blow it out!” Revan screamed, voice distorted by the power she was channeling and the strain it was putting on her.

Garrus, Tali, and Shepard didn’t need to be told again.

Blaster bolts, grenades, biotics, whatever they could use to damage the connections holding the mechanical eye was poured into the eye socket with nothing held back. And they were rewarded by a small explosion from something further in that left the thing loose and half hanging out of the thing’s head.

But it was still in the way.

Splitting her focus even more, and feeling blood beginning to pour out her nose from the amount of power she was channeling, Revan seized the eye as well without releasing the rest of the Reaper and pulled.

In a horrific shriek of metal, the eye snapped out of its casing and went flying over the other end of the platform.

And Shepard saw her chance.

“Everyone back away! Far as you can!” She ordered as she ripped the last heavy weapon they had on them. The M-920 Cain had a short arming time and that was all Shepard could spare for her team to move. The second it was ready to fire and she was on-target, Shepard pulled the trigger and sent the 25 gram special high-explosive round into the Reaper’s skull.

She had just enough time to hope that there was something vital in that metal skull and it wasn’t for show before the round detonated and knocked her off her feet. The Spectre scrambled to look up at their enemy, but the heavy weapon had done its job.

All the lights on the Reaper had gone out and it slid lifelessly over the edge of the platform once more as Revan released it from her grasp.

They did it, they won.

So naturally that was when the levitation mechanism for the platform gave out and sent them crashing towards a wall…

-o-

Jane Shepard was more than a little surprised that she opened her eyes again after the crash. They had fallen a few hundred feet after all and she had somehow been out for less than ten minutes.

Ten minutes…the station was still rigged to blow!

Groaning as she forced herself back to her feet, the Spectre shook her head and looked around. “Team, sound off!” She shouted, looking at the three other prone figures around her. Some half buried under some rubble from the crash.

“Urg…I’m alive…I think.” Garrus called back, also struggling to his feet. “Don’t know how though. I saw one of those beams about to crush my head.”

“It was Revan.” Tali said softly, though both of them heard her anyway. “She made sure none of the debris would harm us.”

Shepard staggered over to where the quarian was now kneeling next to her Empress.

“Is she…?”

“Shtill a’ive.” Revan rasped, though her voice sounded awful. “Yer no’ ge’ing ‘id obv me yet.”

Shepard let out a breath of relief before pushing her emotions to a corner of her mind and reaching down to pull the elven woman up. “Right, well time to get up, your Highness. We don’t have time to lie around. Garrus, get her other arm. We’re running for the Normandy.”

“Yeah…you got it Shepard.”

-o-

Deep in a secure room on the Collector station, four glowing eyes watched impassively as the last few invaders sprinted through the hallways. Despite the pitiful efforts of its few remaining tools it seemed the invaders were going to successfully escape the station without a single casualty on their side.

No matter. That simply meant its current tools were more flawed than previously believed.

All the more frustrating since the Anomaly was clearly at its weakest and ready to be removed. But the Human had rallied its companions in time and the station was beginning to shake itself apart as critical components overloaded.

The intelligence the beings of this cycle labeled ‘Harbinger’ judged that the creation of another remote avatar had too high a probability of being destroyed and causing unacceptable feedback and damage to its main self. There were no more moves to take. This game had ended.

Very well.

“Human, you have changed nothing.” Harbinger declared as it watched the invaders stumble towards their spacecraft. “Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater.”

“That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction.”

“Neither you nor the Anomaly has changed what is to come. This cycle will END.”

Explosions began to chain throughout the station. Thousands of converted tools engulfed by flames or torn apart while Harbinger watched emotionlessly.

The deck where the Collector General controlled the responses to all its lesser drones heaved and threw the specially modified tool into its terminal. Harbinger made it look up to where it could see a holographic representation of its true body

“This setback means nothing. We will find another way.”

“Releasing control.”