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CHAPTER 2 As Jack regained consciousness, he heard two voices talking at a distance from himself. He opened his eyes very slowly, so to allow his sight to adjust correctly. Once everything became sharp he looked around to see that he was in the Paladin's medical bay, and at the far corner of the room was Kenson and another one of the station's personnel, though from the look of her, Jack would guess that she was a nurse. As the two were talking he tried to lift himself up slowly, but found that he was being held down by restraints. He took a breath as he remained calm, and decided to eves drop on the conversation taking place between the nurse and Kenson. "We have managed to keep him under for the last two days, but we can not remove the matrix of leadership from around his neck. It just will not budge, no matter how much force we use." the nurse reported. Kenson though did not look amused. "Damn, I guess it is true what they say about the matrixes. Only the Prime's who carry them are worthy of holding a piece of Primus….or that is what our master tells me. Very well, keep him sedated until our master arrives. He wants the Prime to be handed over to his being the moment he is here." Kenson replied coldly. The nurse looked at her confused. "Why, Doctor, why keep a potential threat alive. We should just kill him." she stated, but Kenson just crossed her arms and gave the nurse a determined look. "I believe that you should keep that view to yourself, especially if you wish to receive the Reapers blessings." The nurse's eyes widened as she realised what she would lose if she kept up with her current attitude. "Oh, of course…I am very sorry, Doctor." she grovelled, not that it impressed Kenson who just walked away to the door before looking back. "By the way, have you seen the Autobot at all recently?" "No not since yesterday when he was asking about our guest." the nurse replied sheepishly. Kenson pressed the control panel beside her, causing the door to open. "Well just watch the Prime, I will take care of Jazz. It seems that he hasn't accepted the master's will and that makes him a threat. Carry on." she said before walking out of the room, leaving the nurse to curse her big mouth for questioning their master. Jack closed his eyes and played possum as she turned around and walked over to his bed. She activated her holo-tool and took scans of Jack as he lay there still. "Well, no change that I can detect." she said aloud, making Jack question why she was talking to herself. Suddenly the door to the lab opened making the nurse look round, but no one was there so she turned back around and continued to look at her holo-tool. As Jack was lying there, he suddenly heard something hit the floor and opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the nurse, only to find her lying on the ground unconscious. His expression became one of confusion. Then suddenly he saw the air in front of him shimmer as Jazz appeared next to his berth. "Jack, what you doing tied to that berth?" he asked as he started undoing the restraints, allowing the Prime to sit up. "Well it turns out that everyone on this station has been indoctrinated by that Reaper artefact." Jack replied. "Well I guess that means I am safe then, being Cybertronian." the Autobot replied as he handed Jack his octagonal disc which he placed on his chest and within seconds, he was back in his Prime armour. Jazz then handed him a pistol. "Sorry, Bud, but I couldn't get your original weapons back. The whole station has gone on lock-down since you shot up the place two days ago." Jack looked at Jazz in shock. "How long?" he asked before checking the time on his holo-tool. "My god…." he said as he looked down at the time. Jazz looked uneasy at Jack. "What is it?" he asked. Jack turned to him, his eyes wide and his face slightly pale. "We only have one hour before the Reapers arrive in this system." Jazz then looked at Jack with a shocked expression as it dawned on him. "Well…..what are we going to do about it, since it is just the two of us against at station of forty thousand brainwashed people?" Jack took a second to think before he equipped his pistol and checked the ammo. "We need to get to the control room. Do you know the way?" he said stoically as his face took on a look that Jazz knew only too well. "Yeah I do, follow me, Jack." he replied before he and the Prime left the lab and entered the white corridor. They then made their way through the station, trying to keep out of sight of any soldiers who were patrolling the route. "So where did you get the cloak from?" Jack asked as they came to a junction and checked for enemies before turning left into another empty corridor. "It was a gift from Cliffjumper, he gave it to me a few days before he left with Arcee for Earth." Jazz's face went sullen as he remembered his best friend. Jack noticed this and placed a hand on the bot's shoulder in support. "Hey I need your head in the game, Jazz, because someone is coming." he said trying to sound sympathetic as he pointed over to the end of the corridor as two shadows could be seen approaching. The two took cover a the doorway as two soldiers walked around the corner and toward them. Then as they approached the Prime and Autobot, Jack and Jazz looked at each as their readied their weapons. "On three, one, two, three!" he whispered to Jazz as the suddenly leaned out and shot both soldiers square in the head, before checking behind them and in front to see if anyone had noticed the gunfire. "Clear." Jazz said looking behind. "Clear." Jack replied, looking in front. The two then carried on past the two corpses and round the corner, following Jazz's directions. "I still can't believe that we haven't set off any alarms yet, Jack." Jazz replied, gaining an annoyed look from the Prime. "Don't jinx it, Ja…." he was cut off by the alarms blaring around the station, Jack just gave the Autobot an 'I told you so' look. Jazz just smirked and shrugged his shoulders in response, before they both heard masses of footsteps coming from behind them. "Move!" Jack replied as soldiers came round the corner and started firing on the two as they ran in opposite direction, firing back every few seconds. "This reminds me of the time me and Cliff were fighting Shockwave's troops at the Sea of Rust." he reminisced as he killed another soldier who fell to the ground, making the others trip over his body, buying the two an extra few seconds. "How much further to the control room?" he said as Jazz pointed over to the door. "Here it is." he stated as he pressed the control panel beside the door, but nothing happened. "Damn it, they have changed the pass codes." he said in frustration as Jack heard more soldiers approaching their location. Jazz then got on one knee and opened up the casing under the control panel. "How long do you need, because we are about to be overrun?" the Prime asked. "I can hack the door, but it will take a few minutes." Jazz replied as he activated his holo-tool. Jack then smiled as he held his hand out to the bot. "Give me the cloak, I can buy us a few more minutes." Jazz smiled back at Jack before he took the device off his wrist and passed it over. The Prime then attached it to his own before turning toward the incoming group. "Be careful, Jack." Jazz said, gaining a smirk from the Prime who then tapped his wrist before disappearing in a shimmer as he ran down the corridor. The group of soldiers were just down the other corridor, not far from the Autobot as the leader got a call on his com link. "Team two, the last scan we took shows two life signs at the entrance to the main control room. We have sealed it and scrambled the pass codes." the female voice replied. The soldier nodded as he pointed the others to go ahead of him. "Now kill the Autobot, but we need the Prime alive, Harbinger demands it." "Yes, Doctor Kenson, it will be done." the soldier replied as the group unknowingly passed Jack as he stood in silence in the doorway next to them. 'So that Reaper was Harbinger that I heard earlier.' he thought before he walked up slowly behind the one soldier that was lagging behind the group. He then grabbed the enemy's head and twisted fast and strong, snapping his neck. Jack then quietly lowered the body to the floor. He then looked ahead to see that the group was nearly upon the corridor that Jazz was in. 'Scrap!' he thought as he stood up and ran up behind the group and activated the star-saber before impaling it through the back of one soldier, who grunted in pain, causing the others to look around and see nothing but the soldier flinching where he stood with blood pouring out of his chest. Jack then pulled the blade back out, making the body fall to the ground. The soldiers looked dumbfounded as to what was happening as Jack swung the blade and cleaved the head of another enemy clean from his neck, spraying blood over another soldier who freaked out. "He's here!" he shouted as the group fired blindly around them, the freaked out one accidentally killing a colleague in front by riddling him with bullets. Jack then killed two more soldiers when he grabbed one by the throat and squeezed until he heard the soldier's neck snap while also running another one through with the star saber. Then there was only one soldier left and he was hysterical as he blindly fired in all directions until he saw a shimmer of air in front of him as Jackson Prime appeared before him. The soldier screamed as he raised his weapon, but Jack just gave him a pissed off look as he sliced at the enemy, gaining a painful grunt before the enemy's body fell to the ground. Jazz suddenly ran round the corner, having heard the gunfire and screams and was shocked to see Jack standing in the middle of a bloodbath, looking quite bad-ass in the bot's humble opinion. "Wow, remind me never to get on you bad side, Jack." he observed as Jack looked at him stoically. "Are you through the door yet?" he asked. "Yeah, let's go." he said as both of them went back to the doorway and entered the control room. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Now that they were inside, Jack walked straight over to the main console and activated it while Jazz kept stood guard at the entrance. The Prime pushed some buttons, and the main screen flickered to life, showing numerous data clusters. "Computer, I want to launch the singularity bomb." Jack said as the screen then showed the bomb's schematics and it's target…the 'Star Sparta'. "Warning, launching the bomb now without evacuating this station first will leave very little time to escape the system before the super nova destroys it." the VI replied as it's hologram appeared on the console next to the Prime. "Noted, now launch the bomb!" Jack said, getting agitated as he looked at the countdown on his holo-tool. (it now read thirty minutes and twenty seconds.) "Very well, launching bomb in one minute, but be warned that this will result in an estimated forty thousand casualties." Jazz looked back at Jack in shock. "Jack, are you sure about this?" he asked, gaining a determined look from the Prime. "Jazz, everyone on this base has been indoctrinated, there is no way we can help them. But there are trillions of lives in this galaxy that will be saved if we destroy this system before the Reapers arrive, which will be sometime the next thirty minutes." The Autobot looked down at the ground for a moment as he saw that Jack was right, he then looked up. "The needs of the many, right.." he said sombrely. Jack's expression changed to match the bot's as he nodded back. "Something like that." he replied. The VI then spoke, regaining their attention. "fifteen seconds remaining, I only need you to press this button to finalise the launch." it said as a button started flashing in front of the Prime. Jack took a moment to compose himself, Jazz was right in a way, forty thousand lives was a steep price to pay to stop the Reapers. But he did not have a choice. 'I guess that comes with being a Prime…making the hard choices." he thought as he pressed the button. "five, four, three, two, one…..launch." the VI responded as the bomb was fired from the station and towards the star at the center of the system. "The bomb will reach the star inside of five minutes. After detonation, the star will take approximately 15 minutes before going nova. If you are going to evacuate, I suggest you do so now." the VI replied before disappearing. "Thanks for the advice." Jazz replied sarcastically as Jack turned to him. "So how are we going to get out of here, because we wont get to the shuttle bay in time." the bot said. Jack responded by tapping his com link. "Jackson Prime to Defiant, come in, Defiant." he said, hearing nothing but static. After what felt like an agonisingly long moment, Hotrod's voice came through. "Prime,…. thank Primus, we have been waiting forever for you to answer." The pilot said relieved. "Hotrod, we need an evac right now." Jack said stoically as Miranda suddenly spoke over the com link. "Jack, we have detected a projectile being launched at this system's star, could you elaborate on this?" she asked. "Miranda, just know that if we don't all get out of here in time, then we will be caught in a super nova." he replied as Jazz heard more soldiers approaching their position. "Roger that, Jack, we are on our way. Meet us on the landing pad on the outside of the station nearest to your position." she replied as Jack deactivated his com link and joined Jazz at the door as they both equipped their weapons. "You ready?" Jack asked as the footsteps drew closer. "When you are, Jack" Jazz replied coolly. They then both came out from behind the doorway and fired at the soldiers, killing a number of them before the enemy had a chance to react. They then turned around and ran further down the corridor, as they followed the directions from Jack's holo-tool. Jack and Jazz came up to a large door at the end of the last corridor they had ran through. During that time they had killed several more groups of soldiers who had gotten in their way. Jack looked at the time, Jazz noticing this just had to ask. "How long left?" he asked sheepishly. "Less then ten minutes until the Reapers enter the system, and about the same for the super nova." The Autobot nodded and gulped before looking through the window of the door in front of them. "Well, just this last room and we are home free." he said as Jack opened the door and they both stepped through and scanned the area with their weapons ready, just in case any soldiers were waiting in ambush. "Looks clear." Jack said as Jazz took that as his cue and walked over to the airlock at the far end of the room. "Get your breather helmet ready, Jack, we are about to do a space walk" he said. Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the room and Jazz fell to the floor clutching his stomach. "Jazz!" Jack shouted as he ran to his friend. "Don't move!" Kenson threatened as she stepped out from behind cover, her pistol pointed directly at the Prime as Jazz was sprawled on the floor clutching at his wound. "You have ruined everything, Prime..." she spat at him as he raised his weapon at her. "...I can't hear their whispers anymore, you've taken them away from me." Jack though had to try and get through to her. "Kenson, look at what you are doing. You came here to stop the Reapers, not help them." he said gently to her, but she just stared daggers at him. "I will never see the Reapers arrival." she replied while showing what was in her other hand, which Jack recognised as a grenade. "All you had to do was stay asleep." she gritted her teeth as her thumb hovered over the trigger. "Kenson, we can still get off this base together." Jack reasoned. But the Doctor's face became stoic looking. "No, we won't." she replied angrily, but suddenly another gunshot was fired as she was knocked back as blood spilled out of a wound to her arm. She dropped the grenade which fell to the floor harmlessly. Jack looked down to see Jazz pointing his pistol at her. "Crack shot or what!" he exclaimed with a grin. They then both looked up to see Kenson recover and point her pistol at them. "YOU…..!" she screamed at them as they then shot her repeatedly with their weapons, her body being riddled with bullets as blood spilled out in all directions before her lifeless body fell to the floor face first. Jack then sighed as he looked down at her body for a moment. "Jack,..." Jazz said, gaining the Prime's attention. "...I think you should leave me here, I will only slow you down." Jack shook his head. "No, we are both getting out of here." he replied as he knelt down beside the Autobot. Jazz then stopped and pointed behind Jack, making the Prime swing round with gun ready to see Kenson's body standing back up. She then opened her eyes to reveal them to be glowing a bright yellow. "Jack Darby, you are becoming an annoyance." the corpse of the late doctor said, revealing to Jack and Jazz that Harbinger was controlling it. "You fight against inevitability, dust struggling against cosmic winds. This seems a victory to you, a star system sacrificed. But even now, your greatest civilisations are doomed to fall." Jack stood in front of the Reaper controlled corpse, a thoughtful expression on his face as he listened to the Reaper. He then took a breath. " You know what, Harbinger, that is your name? Maybe your right, maybe our fight is futile. But we will fight you regardless, just like we did against Sovereign and the Quintessons. Just like we are doing right now. Now matter how small and weak you believe us to be. We will fight, we will sacrifice and we will find a way. That's what Humans do." Jack replied defiantly. Harbinger just looked at the Prime with a disinterested expression. "Know this as you die in vain. Your species will fall, the galaxy will be purged. You should prepare yourselves for our arrival." The doctor's corpse then fell to the floor in a heap again as the presence that was controlling it faded away. Jack then raced back over to Jazz and helped him to his feet. "Come on, we have to go now." he said as he helped the Autobot into the airlock. The two of them (with their breather helmets on) walked slowly to the landing pad on the outside of the station, just as the Defiant came into view." "Prime, Defiant is inbound for pick up." Hotrod called over the com link. "Roger that, Defiant." Jack replied as he and Jazz stood at the edge of the pad, while the ship stopped next to the station's hull, allowing the two to step into the Defiant's airlock. "Okay, we are in!" the Prime commanded as he closed the airlock door. The Defiant pulled away and flew from the station at top speed. Jack meanwhile handed Jazz over to the medics as he looked to his pilot. "Hotrod, get us out of here now." he shouted, as Hotrod opened up the engines to maximum as the Defiant flew towards the space bridge like a rocket, just before the star shown extremely bright before exploding into a massive energy wave that shot out in all directions, consuming each planet that was engulfed inside its expanding plasma field. The people on board of the station were blinded by the extreme light as the wave hit the station, engulfing it and killing all on board as the Defiant entered the glowing green vortex of the space bridge only moments before the wave hit it and destroyed the gateway. Jack though watched in silence, with Miranda and Airachnid at his side as the galaxy map showed the star system fade away into nothing as he then hung his head, knowing the lives he had just sacrificed, before he stood back up and walked to the elevator. Both women watched him, Airachnid took a step forward as she was about to follow. But then felt a hand on her arm as she looked back to see Miranda's sullen expression look back at her. "I think it's best to leave him alone right now." she said gently. Airachnid just looked back to the elevator as her thoughts focused on the Prime. 'Jack!' PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL The Defiant was in orbit over Earth, it had just returned from the black op mission. Jack sat on the berth in the med bay as Doctor Chakwas and Admiral Bryce were talking at the entrance to the room. Chakwas then nodded and walked out, leaving the Admiral and the Prime alone. Bryce walked over and stood in front of Jack. "Its good to see that you have recovered." he said looking at the Prime. "Admiral." Jack replied as he got up and stood to attention. "As you were, Prime..." he said allowing Jack to relax. "...Sounds like you went through hell back there. How are you feeling, son?" he asked. Jack scratched his head and looked at the Admiral. "Fine now, no more visions or headaches if that is what you mean..." he replied. "...I have to say that I am surprised to see you here, sir." Bryce held his hands behind his back as he looked at Jack. "You went out there as a favour for me, so I decided to debrief you in person..." The Admiral's expression became more serious all of a sudden. "...but that was before the star in that system went nova and destroyed the station and killed everyone on board. What in the hell happened, Prime." Jack picked up the pad that was on the berth and handed it to Bryce. "I confirmed Doctor Kenson's evidence, the Reapers were coming. But Kenson and the entire crew of the station were indoctrinated by the Reaper artifact and they had me sedated for nearly two days. With Jazz's help I managed to launch the singularity bomb into the star and cause the super nova with barely minutes to spare..." Jack then looked away in shame for a second. "...It was the only way to stop the Reapers from gaining a foothold in our galaxy." The Admiral looked at Jack and then down at the report in his hands, taking in every detail before taking a breath and looking back at Jack. "You believe the Reaper threat was genuine?" Jack looked at Bryce, his expression becoming stoic. " No doubt, sir. They were only moments away." The Admiral turned around and looked around the med bay. "Fortunately this was a black op, so we should be able to keep this under wraps…but" Jack felt uneasy at that comment. "But, sir." he asked sheepishly. Bryce turned round and looked at Jack, his expression serious again. "You did what you did for the best of reasons, but there were forty thousand people on that station….and now, they are all dead." the Admiral replied. "They were indoctrinated, sir. There was no way to save them and I had to balance their lives against everyone else in the galaxy. If there had been a way to save them too, you could bet your ass I would have." he replied stoically. "You don't have to convince me, Prime. If it were up to me, I would give you a medal. But unfortunately, not everyone will see it that way." he replied with a tinge of regret in his voice. Jack sat back on the berth. "What do you suggest?" he asked. "The Defiant is orbiting Earth right now, but I should be able to hide your presence long enough for you to get back out there and do what you do best. I will also make sure that the Council never hears about what happened in the Sparta system. I don't think they need any more ammunition against you." Jack nodded before he remembered something else. "Admiral, how is Jazz?" he asked. "Jazz is no recovering at the medical center in New Iacon. Ratchet tells me he should make a full recovery." he replied smiling at the Prime who looked relieved at the news. "Thank you, sir." Jack replied as Bryce handed him back the pad. "Your welcome, son, and you keep this. I don't need to see a report to know that you did the right thing, you've done a hell of job Prime." he replied as he turned to leave, but suddenly Anderson walked in. "Captain, what is it?" Bryce asked as both of them saw the worried look on the Captain's face. "Admiral, Darby,…..I am sorry, I don't know how they found out." he said fearfully as both the Prime and Admiral stared at him confused. "What do you…" Bryce said as suddenly Sparatus and three council soldiers walked into the med bay, the Turian Councillor pointed at Jack and stared daggers at him. "There he is, arrest him at once." he spat as the soldiers walked over and grabbed Jack by his arms. "What is the meaning of…." Bryce started only to have Sparatus right up in his face. "Back down, Admiral, or I will have you in chains too for aiding and abetting a fugitive of this Council and the Alliance." the Turian spat back before looking at Jack while the soldiers handcuffed him. "Jack Darby, you are under arrest for the treacherous actions in working with the terrorist organisation MECH, and for the murder of forty thousand human souls in the Sparta star system. You will be held in an Alliance prison until the day you face justice for the crimes that you have committed against those that you swore to protect." Sparatus finished as he motioned the soldiers to escort Jack away. Jack thought of voicing an argument but decided to keep quiet, knowing that if he was to mention the Reapers, that Sparatus would just tear him a new one. The Prime instead looked over to Admiral Bryce and Captain Anderson. "We will fight this, Darby, I have already informed Optimus." Anderson said as Jack was led away. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Jack found himself to be in a dull grey cell with a standard bed, toilet and desk, he had no idea how it came to this or what he was going to do to get out this situation. But as he placed his belongings on the bed and walked over to the window, and looked out at the view he had. He just hoped that the lives he sacrificed at the Sparta system would be buy enough time, for his friends and allies to find something that could help against the coming threat. He knew that each and every one of them would not back down to the pressure that the council was piling on them. So in the meantime all he could do was sit and wait for his day in court and hope that he would prevail. As he looked out of the window he saw a small park just away from the prison that he now resided and saw a small play area there. The area was empty and Jack decided that he would turn in early. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, but as he did, he suddenly heard a child laughing and he turned back to see a small boy in the play area, running around with a toy ship in his hands. Jack looked at the boy as he played, a confused look grew on the Prime's face, but he then shook his head and lied down on the bed. Closing his eyes and letting sleep take him. TO BE CONCLUDED IN PRIME EFFECT 3 A/N: Well only one story to go. I hope you enjoyed this short story and please let me know what you thought of it through reviews or PM's. And thank you for reading it.
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A/N: Hi, this is a short story set between Prime Effect 2 and Prime Effect 3 and will set up some plot points that will continue into the final part of the trilogy (3rd in the Series), I expect that this story will only take two chapters. Enjoy! PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL CHAPTER 1 In orbit around the Batarian colony of Aratoht, the Defiant was in the colony's dry dock. The ship was being repaired, due to the damage it had received during it's mission to the galactic core. There Jackson Prime and his team had finally put an end to the Quintessons and whatever evil machinations that their masters…the Reapers had them perform. Jack was currently helping Soundwave and Tali with repairs to the computer systems in the science lab while the rest of the crew worked on other areas of the ship. The spymaster was lying under the computer's bench and working on the internal circuitry, Ravage was under there too, trying to gain his friend's attention. "Ravage, not now, please. I'm trying to work." he said as he pushed the feline's face away. "Can someone give him some attention please." he said, his voice tinged with annoyance. Jack and Tali had just finished their repairs and the Quarian turned round and looked over to the spymaster. "I'll take Ravage for a walk, if you want?" she said. The feline bot looked around and walked over to Tali and brushed past her leg. Soundwave gave her a smile and nodded back. "Okay, I'll be done in another hour. Thanks, Tali." He then looked over to Jack who had just deactivated his holo-tool. "Not so fast, Jack, I still need a hand in keeping data lines stable while I up the power to the data core." Jack sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Quarian. "Have fun." he said in a huff. Tali smiled at him. "I guess Primes don't have fun." she teased. Jack shook his head in response. "Oh I can have fun when I want to." he replied, Soundwave then beckoned the Prime over. "Jack, help...now." He then walked over to the spymaster and reactivated his holo-tool. Tali chuckled before walking out of the lab with Ravage following her. The two took a walk around the decks, on their way they had seen Garrus and Airachnid talking in the common room, while Miranda was helping the crew with replenishing their supplies since they were no longer with MECH. They had turned a corner when Tali saw someone or rather something she wasn't ready to face, across the corridor was Legion. It was just standing there looking out of the window at the space, watching the repair drones as they replaced the damaged hull plating. Tali felt that she should leave but before she could, the Geth turned and looked over to her. "Hello, creator Tali'zorah. Can we be of assistance?" The Quarian didn't know where to look as Ravage watched. "Legion, uh I…." she stopped herself as the Geth walked over to her. "Legion, I know you saved me and I want to thank you for that but…" she stopped as she looked down to the ground. "Is it because of your Father, creator Rael'zorah?" Legion asked hesitantly. Tali looked back at it, her eyes wide. "Tali'zorah, we deeply regret the deaths on board the Alerai especially your father. If the creators had not opened fire on us the moment we reactivated…" Tali felt her anger grow as the Geth spoke. "Why wouldn't we attack, after all the first thing you Geth did when we created you was attack us." she spat back. Legion though just stood there, its optic readjusting. "We did not start the 'Morning war', Tali'zorah. It was the creators." Tali felt her rage come to the surface as she pushed the Geth against the war and pulled a knife that was hidden in her boot out and held it under the synthetic's throat like area. "That is not true, you attacked us and now I have lost my father. All because of you and the rest of the Geth." she shouted into it's optic, but then for a long moment she just stared at it, before she dropped the knife and backed away. Why was it so hard, she could just kill it. The Geth had killed her father and was responsible for her exile. She then looked away in shame at the thought. It wasn't it's fault but hers, if she had stood up to her father and not helped him bring the Geth to the Flotilla, then he and the other Quarians on board the Alerai would still be alive and she would still be with her people. She then leaned her back against the wall and slid down into a sitting position as she started to sob. Ravage walked up to her and started to lick her visor sympathetically. Legion meanwhile just looked at her, it could see that she was in conflict, so it walked over to her and bent down in front of the Quarian. "If you would like, creator Tali'zorah, this unit can show you the Geth's memory files." Tali looked up at Legion in confusion, as the Geth stood up and took a step back. It's optic then glowed before a hologram appeared between the two. The Quarian blinked a number of times as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. "What is this?" she asked in disbelief. "This is a holographic representation of the first memory file of Geth zero one. Dated three hundred years ago." Tali watched the file play out, as it showed two Quarians (minus their enviro-suits) standing over a Geth that was lying on a berth. The female looked over to the male. "Are you sure you want to rename the AI network?" she said as the synthetic on the table looked at her. "Of course..." he then looked at their creation. "...Unit zero one, can you tell me the Quarian word for servant of the people?" The platform looked up at him. "Of course Creator Zalad'maroh, the word is Geth." it answered. "Good, very good." the Quarian male smiled. Then the scene changed as it now showed a Geth standing in the middle of three Quarians. "What do you mean it's faulty?" one said to another while the third looked on confused. "Well listen to this. Unit two one five, repeat your last question." the Quarian said as the Geth then looked at him. "Creator, does this unit have a soul?" The other Quarians looked at it dumbstruck. "Who taught you that word.?" one said with a tinge of fear in his voice. "The word appears three hundred and twelve times in the scrolls of ancestors" the Geth replied. "Only Quarians have souls, you are a tool. Here to serve the Quarian people." Then the hologram disappeared. Tali looked at Legion. "Was that the first time a Geth asked if it had a soul?" Legion looked down at her. "No, it was the first time a creator showed fear towards us. We have more to show you." Tali then watched as Legion showed her more memories, showing the Quarians killing Geth after they asked to many questions, these Geth were not even armed. It wasn't until one particular unit picked up a weapon and defended the other Geth against their creators that the war actually started. Then something was shown that completely threw her for a loop. She saw that some Quarians were actually defending the Geth, leaving the military little choice but to kill their own people who got in the way. "I didn't know that there were Quarians who sympathised with the Geth. I thought we stood united as a people against you." Legion merely looked at her. "We have kept records of these creator sacrifices, they have been largely forgotten by your own people. But not by the Geth." Legion then showed Tali more footage of members of her people sacrificing themselves for the Geth. "This next memory file is taken from the last day of the 'Morning war' 297 years ago, the day we secured our freedom and the creators were exiled from Rannoch." Legion said as the footage began playing. It showed Quarian ships fleeing the planet, while the Geth forces suddenly stopped pursuing them and turned back to the planet. Tali looked at the footage as confusion took over. "Wait, you just let us go. Why?" she asked as Ravage lied on the floor next to her. "We were in our infancy, we could not calculate the repercussions of destroying an entire species, our creators. We chose to isolate ourselves instead, rather than face this uncertainty." Then the image changed again, this time it showed something that Tali had seen. The footage playing showed Jack and Legion standing in front of each other. "This was the day that Jack reactivated you, only a week ago." The Geth nodded in return. "Yes it was a highly significant event, Darby Commander was the first organic to openly cooperate with the Geth since the end of the 'Morning war'. We wish to ensure he is not the last." The footage then stopped and Legion looked back at Tali as she got on her feet and stood before it. She was still in shock at what she had seen, everything that she was brought up to believe was wrong. "It will not be that easy, Legion." she replied. She then walked over to the window and looked out into space and stayed like that for several minutes as the Geth waited for her to continue. Tali then took a breath before turning around and looking at it. "Legion, I do not know if I can forgive you for killing my father. As I do not believe that I could forgive myself for my part in the events that led to it. But I do wish to thank you for saving my life back on the Quintesson planet." she said as she walked back over to him. "Jack trusts you, that should be enough for me. I think we should start over." She then held out her hand and the Geth took it in its own. "Thank you, Legion." she said. Legion looked at her with it's optic. "Thank you, creator Tali-zorah." it replied as they shook hands. The Quarian could feel a slight smile grow on her face. "Call me, Tali." she replied, before the com system then activated and Hotrod could be heard. "Legion, I could use your help up here in the cockpit if your not busy?" the pilot asked. "Of course, we will be right there, Autobot Hotrod." it replied before the com link deactivated. It then looked at Tali. "We must go and assist the pilot." The Quarian nodded as she gestured to Ravage. "I have to get him back to Soundwave. I guess we can talk later, if you would like." The Geth nodded in kind. "That would be acceptable, crea…Tali." it replied before walking over to the elevator, leaving Tali and Ravage alone in the corridor. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL In the common room Garrus and Airachnid were still talking at the table when Jack walked in, he went over to the drink dispenser and picked a orange juice. When he turned around, he saw the femme waving him over. He smiled tiredly at her as he joined them at the table. "You okay, Jack?" she asked showing concern in her voice. "Yeah, just completed repairing the lab computers with Soundwave. Thought we would never get it finished." he replied with a sigh. "Well you're out now, so might as well take it easy for a moment. Who knows when the next catastrophe or suicide mission will come up." Garrus said with a smirk. Jack took a sip of his drink as his two friends looked at him. Then one of the crewmen in the room activated a screen on the south wall, and a news broadcast appeared being presented by a human woman standing in the Citadel gardens. "This is a Khalisah al Jilani of Westerlund News, the council has finally come clean about the return of Jackson Prime and his affiliation with the terrorist organisation MECH. And as a result they have placed a warrant out for his arrest." the reporter said as Airachnid and Garrus watched in shock while the Prime remained quiet. "The Council have reported that should the Prime or his ship the Defiant be spotted in Council or Alliance space, then they are to be notified immediately so that this traitor can be found and arrested. This former commander was once hailed as the savior of the Citadel and was given the prestigious honour of becoming the first Human Prime, but it seems that his time away from the galactic community has changed him for the worse. Still he is not without his supporters, the Autobot leader Optimus Prime still backs Darby and so do the people on the colony at Horizon, who claim that despite working with MECH that he saved them from the Quintessons. A species who originated from beyond the Omega four Subspace rift. Despite this support, Councillor Sparatus believes that Jack Darby's time is running out and that he will pay for his crimes. This is a Khalisah al Jilani of Westerlund News signing off." Garrus stared daggers at the crewman. "Turn that trash off!" he spat as the crewman fumbled at the screen's control panel. Airachnid gave Jack a sympathetic look as she place her hand on his in support. "If only those idiots knew of what you did for them and the galaxy." Jack looked at her, the femme's purple eyes showing nothing but affection for him. "You mean what 'we' did for the galaxy." he corrected her, gaining a smile from Airachnid while Garrus turned back to the two of them. "Well, it will be much harder to travel around knowing that there is bulls-eye on this ship." Jack gave him a lopsided grin. "Whoever said that this was going to be easy, I mean…" The Prime was cut off by the sound of Hotrod's voice coming in over the inter com. "Hey, Prime, I have a transmission from Admiral Bryce for you. It is high priority." The three looked at each other confused. "Why would the Alliance try to contact you, especially after what we just saw?" Airachnid asked. Jack got up and looked down at his friends. "Won't know until I speak to him. Hotrod, I'll take it in my quarters." he said before leaving the common room. Jack entered his room, sat down at his desk and activated his console. A large screen appeared on the wall in front of him as the face of Admiral Bryce was seen looking back at the Prime. "Jackson Prime, thank you for speaking with me." the Admiral said as Jack crossed his arms. "Well I am surprised that you are even talking to me, considering what the Council have just done." Bryce sighed and looked down for a moment before looking back at Jack. "I am sorry about that, Prime, but the Council have taken strict control of everything that the Alliance does. And your constant pressuring of the Reaper threat has them worried, as they just do not want to believe it. So they forbid the Alliance from the looking into it at all." Jack kept his eyes on the Admiral, keeping his expression stoic. "So why are we talking?" he asked. "Because despite the Council's protests, I have seen what a the Reaper can do and so commissioned a black operation to look for any way to stop the Reapers before they enter our galaxy. I placed a scientist, Doctor Amanda Kenson in charge of the op and after a year of investigating every lead that appeared, she finally found something." the Admiral replied. "What did she find?" he asked curiously. "In the Sparta system, which is uninhabited due to is close proximity to dark space. A Reaper artifact was found on one of the asteroids that orbits the star. The Alliance also has an outpost there, Paladin station. She had the artifact moved there for study. I also sent an Autobot there to assist her, his name is Jazz." the Admiral said. "Jazz, I know him. He joined the Autobots on Earth near the end of the war." Jack replied. Bryce nodded at the Prime. "yes, Optimus volunteered him for the mission. In the last transmission, Jazz told me that Dr Kenson had found evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion. That was seven days ago, I have since not heard anything from the station and that has me worried. The Council meanwhile has started watching us all very closely, so I can not send anyone out there. Otherwise I might tip off the Council to what we are doing." Jack then realised why the Admiral had called him. "That's why you called me, since I am not under the Alliance or Council's jurisdiction." Bryce smiled at him. "Yes, Prime, plus Optimus and Anderson still believe in you and... so do I." Jack then stood up. "I will have the Defiant set course once our repairs are done." The Admiral shook his head. "No, Darby. I need you to do this alone, since the Defiant could draw too much attention. I need you to go to Paladin station and meet up with Jazz and Dr Kenson. And then find out why they suddenly went silent. Also I want you to see this evidence that Kenson has on the Reaper threat." Jack looked away for a moment before he nodded back in response. "Alright I'll do it alone." Jack replied reluctantly. "Good luck, Prime, Bryce out." the Admiral replied before the screen went dark as Jack thought for a second before activating his com link. "Miranda, I know this is short notice, but I need an unmarked shuttle and I need it within the next thirty minutes." he said. "Why, Jack?" she asked confused all of a sudden. "I'll tell you all once you have the shuttle, alright?" he replied. "Okay, I will get the shuttle, shouldn't be too hard to find one on that flee trap of dry dock." she replied before the com link deactivated and Jack was left alone in his quarters. Thirty minutes later on the Batarian Dry dock, Jack was standing with Miranda, Airachnid and Garrus as they looked over the shuttle that the former MECH Officer had just bought, the Batarian that had just sold them the shuttle walking away a very happy man. "What a piece of junk?" Garrus said, not even attempting to hide his distaste of the vehicle. Airachnid looked no more impressed. "Jack, are you sure about this? That shuttle does not look like it will last several light years, let alone the distance you want to go." the femme said with some concern. Miranda looked at the Prime with her arms crossed, she too was not happy with the situation either. "I can't say I like the idea of you going there alone, this could be a trap. A way for the Alliance to get their hands on you." she said gaining nods of approval from the others. Jack though who had just equipped his prime armour looked at them. "I have thought about that, I don't think Bryce would do it though, especially if he has taken risks with investigating the Reapers while under the scrutiny of the Council." he replied while placing his mattock rifle on his back. "And if there is any truth that the Reapers invasion is close, then I have to check it out." he said looking at each and every one of them. They all nodded reluctantly. "But, doesn't mean we have to keep completely to what the Admiral said. The repairs should nearly be done, right?" he asked looking at Miranda. "Yes, in about one more day." she replied. "Good, then once they are complete, take the Defiant to the Sparta system and hide it behind one of the gas giants that is in the system. The ship's stealth mode should allow you to get to the planet before the station's sensors can adapt to it. Then wait there for my signal." he said. "Okay, now I am starting to feel better about this plan." Garrus said as Miranda nodded in agreement. " As am I, Good luck Jack. We will be ready and waiting for your signal." Miranda said before she and Garrus left for the Defiant, leaving Jack alone with Airachnid, the femme still did not look happy. "Jack…." she started only for the Prime to interrupt her by placing his hands on her both her arms in a caring manner. "Airachnid, I know what you are going to say. But trust me, everything will be fine." he said with a smile, a smile that the femme found to be very good at calming her down. "Okay, just promise me you will be careful." she said with a slight smile. "I promise." he replied, before she pulled him into a hug, surprising him. But Jack knew she was just concerned for his safety and so returned the embrace, which warmed her spark as they hugged. When the two separated the femme looked at him before leaning in close and kissing him on his cheek, surprising him yet again. "What was that for?" he asked slightly confused. "For luck." she replied with a smile. "Thank you, Airachnid." he said before she stepped back and turned around, heading for the Defiant as Jack headed to the shuttle's hatch. Before she left the room, Airachnid took one more look at Jack as he entered the shuttle and she sighed. The femme wanted to go with him, to keep him safe because, because she loved him and the thought that he was going into an unknown situation alone did not sit well with her spark. But he was a Prime and she had to accept his decision. So once she was out of the shuttle bay, the femme watched through the observation window as the battered old ship lifted of the ground and flew out of the bay and into space. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Jack's shuttle flew through the space bridge vortex and into the Sparta system. The Prime then activated the ship's sensors as a holo-screen appeared in front of him and showed the system's contents. There were five planets, three of which were gas giants. There was also an anomaly on the outer edges of the system, where the galaxy's edge ended and dark space began. But the shuttle's sensors could not make heads or tails of it, but then the Paladin station's IFF appeared on the sensors and Jack set a course towards it. He got a good look at the station as he got closer to it, it's main structure looked like one of those flying saucers from the 1950's movies, only far more advanced. It also a docking arm on each side of the station, and they were designed to allow multiple ships of any size from frigate to capital ship to dock with the station. It was definitely an impressive piece of human and Autobot engineering. As the shuttle entered the station's defence perimeter, another screen appeared and showed a human face looking back at the Prime. "This is Paladin station, you have crossed into Alliance controlled space. Please identify yourself and your reason for being here." the Alliance officer requested. "This is Jackson Prime, I am here under the orders of Admiral Bryce and would like to speak to Dr Amanda Kenson and Jazz." Jack replied. The Officer looked at him in surprise. "Jackson Prime,…of course, we are honoured to be visited by a Prime. Please take your hands off the controls while we activate docking procedures." he replied a little excitedly. Jack did so and sat there as the shuttle suddenly veered away from its course and headed towards the shuttle bay on the alpha docking arm as the station's VI (virtual intelligence) system took control of the shuttle. Jack could not help but be thankful that the station was working a black op for Bryce, since if it was just another Alliance station they would have arrested him by now. He just sat back and enjoyed the short ride as the shuttle entered the station's shuttle bay and landed gently on the platform. Jack then got up and walked over to the ship's hatch and opened it to see the welcoming sight of two security officers. "Prime, we are here to escort you to Dr Kenson." the one on the right said. Jack stepped out of the shuttle as the security officer on the left stopped him. "Sir, we will need you to hand over your weapons. You will not require them during your visit to our station." Jack crossed his arms as he looked at them both. "Sorry, but my guns stay with me." Both officers looked at each other, a dumbfounded expression on their faces as another person walked up behind them. "It's okay, guys, I'll take it from here." a voice said as the officers turned to see a Caucasian man in white/black and blue armour walk up to them wearing a pair of hi-tech shades. "Jazz, yes of course sir." they replied before looking back to the Prime. "Please excuse us, Jackson Prime." They then both turned and left as quickly as they had entered. Jazz smiled as he and Jack shook hands. "Its been a while, Jack." "It sure has, Jazz. So can you tell me why Admiral Bryce has been kept out of the loop for the last several days." Jazz looked at the Prime confused. "Say what now, Bud. The last I heard, Dr Kenson has been giving the Admiral daily reports on the team's progress." Jack gave Jazz a concerned look. "The Admiral said he received a message from you last week that Dr Kenson had evidence of an impending Reaper invasion and then nothing since. To say that he is a little worried would be an understatement." Jazz crossed his arms and looked away for a moment as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. Though sometimes it could be hard to tell with him wearing those shades all the time, but he missed not having the visor that he had with his old Autobot body. He then looked back to the Prime. "I don't know what to say, Jack. Things have been hectic recently with the anomaly." he replied. "Yeah, my shuttle's sensors picked something up at the edge of the system, any ideas what it is?" Jazz shook his head in response. "Can't say, Jack. The doctor would be able to tell you more. I'll take you to her now." he replied before leading the Prime out of the shuttle bay and into the station's interior. As they walked through the station, Jack saw many labs with scientists working on numerous experiments and projects. "How many personnel are aboard the station right now?" Jack asked as they continued past several more labs. "The station has a capacity of forty five thousand, but right now only forty thousand are currently aboard." the Autobot replied. The two of them then entered a lab and Jazz motioned Jack towards a Caucasian woman, who appeared to be in her mid fifties. She turned around to face them when one of her colleagues notified her. "Jazz, thank you for bringing our guest here, but you may go now." she said motioning the Autobot away. Jazz gave Jack a surprised look. "Oh, okay. I guess I will speak to you later, Jack." The Prime nodded back before the Autobot took his leave. Jack then looked back at the doctor. "So, Jackson Prime, what can we here at Paladin station do for you today?" Kenson asked curiously. "Well, Admiral Bryce would like to know why he hasn't received any reports from you for the last week. Especially since your last report said that you had found evidence of a Reaper invasion that was imminent." The doctor gave Jack a confused look. "I am sorry, Prime, but I have no idea what you are talking about, the Admiral and I spoke only a few hours ago and have done so for the last several days." Jack looked away in shock. 'What is going on here, was the Admiral lying. No he wouldn't do that, so what the hell is going on?' he thought before looking back and smiling at her. "I'm sorry, I seem to be a little behind, perhaps you can bring me up to speed on your findings." She returned the smile and pointed to the main holo-screen in front of her. "Of course, Prime, I will bring up our research on the main monitor." Jack watched as the data flowed down the screen and the doctor started to explain. "As the Admiral may have told you, this station discovered an ancient artefact on an asteroid in this system. When my team got here, we confirmed that it was Reaper in origin and so took over the station and used it as our base. That's when we found the anomaly." She then showed an image of it on the screen. Jack thought it looked familiar. "That looks somewhat like the Omega four subspace rift." he observed, gaining a nod from Kenson. "Yes, but it is slightly different due to the spiral look of it. But this is the biggest piece of evidence to point to the conclusion that both this and the subspace rift in Omega were both created by the Reapers." she replied. "So where does this artefact come in?" Jack asked. "Well, that I can show you if you'll follow me." she said as she gestured for Jack to follow as the both left the lab and walked down a long corridor. "You see I have found that the artifact that we have designated as Object Rho has been emitting a series of energy spikes. Not dangerous in any way but these spikes have been decreasing at a steady rate." Jack looked over to her curiously. "Like a countdown?" Jack asked. Kenson smiled at the Prime. "Very good, Prime, and yes that was my guess too, look here." she said as she pointed up at holo-screen above the door they were about to enter. It showed a timer that was counting down as they stood there. Jack's eyes widened as he looked at it. "Two days, two days till what?" he asked, hoping that the answer would not be what he was thinking it would be. "Two days until arrival..." she answered. "...I believe that the anomaly is a portal that is connected to wherever the Reapers dwell in dark space and they will use it to enter our galaxy." she replied as the door opened and the two walked through into another lab. "We also found evidence of tampering on this system's space bridge. The adjusted code in the bridge's software has a distinct Reaper signature to it. I believe that the code will allow the Reapers to use this space bridge to activate numerous other space bridges in the galaxy and spread out their forces in one go." Jack looked at her horrified. "You mean the Reapers will be invading the entire galaxy in just two days time. Surely you have come up with a way to stop this from happening?" he asked as the two of them walked out of another lab and into the connecting corridor. "As a matter of fact we have, you see we have created a singularity bomb, sort of like a miniature black hole. Now we will launch it into the system's star and it will cause star to go super nova, which will collapse the anomaly and destroy the space bridge." The two of them then came to a large door at the end of the corridor and stopped as she worked the control panel beside it. "Why haven't you launched the bomb then, especially if the Reapers will be here in two days?" The doctor then had a conflicted look on her face as she looked back at him. "Well, we were going to start evacuating the station in preparation for that, but then I found myself questioning whether we have the right to destroy the system or the space bridge." she said as she opened the door. Jack's eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Inside the large hall stood the Reaper artefact, it looked not unlike the one on the Conestoga, but had what looked like branches forming out of it's top. Bright blue energy was coursing through object Rho's black form like it was a blue fire. Jack looked at the Kenson, the concern on his face evident as he narrowed his eyes at her. "You have the artefact just sitting here, with no added security measures?" he asked, anger and fear tinged his voice. Kenson just looked at it in an almost trance like state. "When we brought the artefact aboard the station, it showed me vision of the Reapers arrival…" she said in a toneless voice. Jack though took a step back. "Kenson, this is not good." he replied worriedly. 'My god, have all these people been indoctrinated?' he thought before the doctor spoke again. "Just give it a moment, Prime, it will give you the answers you seek." she said as Jack found himself engrossed by the artefact all of a sudden, by the way the blue energy flowed around it's structure, he could hear a slight whisper echoing in his mind. He then walked over to it, when suddenly his mind was overcome by pain as the blue energy zapped him. He fell to his knees, the pain passing right through his body as a ringing rang out loud out in his ears. Images of the Reapers flowing out of the anomaly and heading into the space bridge played through his mind. It carried on for a moment before the ringing stopped and the pain subsided, Jack then looked up to see Kenson pointing a gun at his head, a determined look on her face. "I can't let you destroy this system and stop the Reapers arrival, Prime." she said as Jack suddenly got up and grabbed her hand and twisted it, making her drop the pistol before he kicked her away. A moment later armed soldiers entered the room from the other side and immediately started firing at the Prime. Jack dived for cover as Kenson got out of the room. "Take him down!" she shouted at them as Jack fired back from cover, killing two with head shots. Jack then rolled over to another piece of cover and shot one of the soldiers in the leg, making him fall to the ground only to be welcomed by a bullet to the face from the Prime. As he slowly took out each soldier in the room, Jack heard a familiar booming voice echo in his head. "Your galaxy's days are numbered, your end is at hand." Jack though noticed more soldiers enter the room and one came over quickly so the Prime vaulted over his cover and grabbed the soldier, snapping his neck in a quick fashion before using his body as a shield. He then fired his pistol at the three other enemies and killed them. He then heard more soldiers over the intercom. "Doctor, we need more men, he is taking us out all to easily." Jack then took cover again as Kenson's voice came over the intercom. "Prime, throw down your weapon and surrender. We don't want to harm you." Jack then took out two more soldiers with his mattock rifle as they entered the room. The others that followed quickly took cover, having seen their comrades killed. "The end of your species will come." the booming voice said as Jack then sneaked around behind the soldiers. "Where did he go?" one said before Jack stabbed him through the head with the star-saber as the others turned around and froze as Jack then killed them in one long swipe of the blade, blood spilled out onto the floor as Jack stood up and noticed that no more soldiers were coming in. "What, where are the reinforcements…well get them here, Prime has wiped out our entire squad at this side of the station." Kenson could be heard saying over the com. Jack smiled at that comment as he walked over to the exit, when suddenly a bright blue light shined behind him. He turned around to see object Rho powering up before and energy wave flowed out of the artifact and hit Jack hard, sending him flying into the bulkhead behind him. He then hit the floor hard and fell unconscious from the impact. The Prime slowly came too as he looked up to see a group of soldiers standing over him when suddenly Kenson came into view. Her eyes glowing a bright yellow. "Take him to the medical bay and heal his wounds. We want Jackson Darby alive!" she said, her voice sounded like the booming voice he heard earlier was mixed in with hers. But then that didn't matter at this moment as Jack felt darkness overtake him as he passed out again.
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CHAPTER 10 It was still early as Airachnid woke up. She was lying in Jack's arms while he was still fast asleep as they lied together in his bed. She looked up to the Prime's face, it looked so peaceful and content as he gently snored. The femme couldn't help but feel a smile grace her lips as she watched him. She still felt the euphoria from what they did together only hours earlier, it was a feeling she had not felt in a very long time. As she observed her sleeping lover while very gently stroking his raven black hair. The femme could not help but imagine what kind of future she could share with Jack, what kind of life they could live. Yes he was young, very young compared to Cybertronians. But he was strong, compassionate, forgiving and kind, all the attributes that make up a Prime. But he also reminded her of Esmeral, who shared the same attributes and there lied the problem. Although she felt her feelings for Jack growing ever since he helped her on Cybertron. She still loved Esmeral and was also bonded to her as the femme's spark mate, fated to remain faithful even after their sparks together or alone returned to the Allspark. Her smile faded slightly and her spark ached, she knew that all her imagining would be only that. A fantasy, something that could never be even if she wanted it. But there was another doubt in her mind that she couldn't shake. Even though she knew her feelings for him were strong, she feared that he would not be able to return them in kind, because his heart was already owned by another, Arcee. Her thoughts left her as she felt Jack stir and slowly started to wake up. She couldn't be there when he did, if he was to look her in the eyes with that smile she enjoyed seeing, then she would never want to leave his side. She slowly got out of the bed, making sure not to disturb Jack's slumber and got dressed before leaving the room, taking one last look at him before closing the door behind her. Jack was woken up by the sound of his com link beeping on the chair next to the bed. He looked over to see that he was alone in his quarters. His mind became plagued by thoughts like where was Airachnid, why did she leave, had he done something wrong. But the com link's beeping brought him out of his thoughts as he reached over to it, wincing slightly as the scratches the femme had left on his back ached. He then put the com link to his ear. "I'm here, what is it?" he answered. "Prime, Teletraan here. We have installed the IFF and it is synced with our systems. Hotrod has set course for the Omega system and awaits your orders." Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Tell Hotrod, I'll be in the CIC in thirty minutes." he answered as he chucked the com link onto the bed and walked over to the bathroom, stopping for a moment as he looked at the shower. Instantly remembering what he and Airachnid did there only a few hours before and it left him feeling better, like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders as he then got ready to have a shower. As the Defiant flew in hyper speed, Jack walked into the common room and saw the femme sitting alone in the corner. A sad smile appeared on her face as she spotted him, as he walked over to her table and sat down in front of her. "Morning." she said sheepishly as she softly raked a hand through her hair. "Hi, is everything alright?" he asked with a soft but concerned tone in his voice. The femme sighed as she looked away for a moment before looking back at Jack. "Jack, what we did last night… I don't regret it. Not for a moment but…." she trailed off as Jack tensed up slightly, knowing what was coming next. "….I think this is a bad idea." the femme finished. Jack looked at her confused. "What is?" She then looked directly into his eyes. "Us, Jack. You see, what we did last night I will never forget. But I am afraid that it will be the only time." she answered. Jack looked down at the table for a moment before looking back at her. "Because of Esmeral." The Prime replied staring into her purple eyes. Airachnid smiled slightly as the young Prime surprised her yet again. 'He is quick.' she thought before nodding in return. "Yes, you see when Cybertronians bond and become spark mates, its not only for life but beyond it too." Jack nodded as he understood what she was saying. "You feel that what we did last night was a betrayal to her?" he replied. "Yes…I mean no. But if we were to continue this…" she said while gesturing to the both of them. "…then that would be a betrayal and I can't do that to her." she said, her voice tinged with emotion. She then placed her hand on to his supportively. "And I know that I am not the only one feeling this way either." she said observantly. Jack in response looked away and remembered Arcee, not noticing that Airachnid was looking at him intently. "That look you have now, was the same one I saw when I walked into your room last night. You still love Arcee." she replied with a little disappointment. Jack looked back to her. "Airachnid, I'm sorry…" but she cut him off mid sentence. "No, Jack, I am sorry… for pressuring you last night." she said, gaining an annoyed look from the Prime. "Don't apologize Airachnid. I don't regret what happened between us last night either…..but you are right. I have come to care about you a lot…. but I can't let go of Arcee, just like you can't let go of Esmeral. We will always remember what we did for each other last night, but maybe its for the best that we remain friends." he said while holding his hand out to her. She looked at it, before taking it in her own and shaking it. "friends….and more." she replied with a smile, one that Jack returned in kind. The femme then took a breath. "Well, now that we have gotten that out of the way…..don't we have a galaxy to save?" Jack nodded in agreement. "Yes, we do." She then stood up and gestured to him. "Then, what are we waiting for." she said. Jack got up too and placed his hand out in front of her. "Ladies first." he replied with a smile. Airachnid chuckled at the Prime's good manners as she took the lead and left the room with him following, but then her smile faded as sadness sunk in because she now realised after their talk, that she did in fact love him and it was going to be so hard for her to let him go. As they headed for the elevator, the inter-com activated. "Prime, we have a call from Silas for you in the briefing room." Hotrod said. Jack tapped his com link as Airachnid stood beside him. "Prime, here. Thanks for the heads up, Hotrod. How long before we reach Omega?" he replied. "We should be there within the hour." the pilot answered. "Okay, I want everyone ready by the time my talk with Silas is over, understand?" the Prime ordered stoically. "Will do. Myself and Teletraan thought that would be the case, so we made a head start." Jack smiled at the comment. "You know me so well." "Well of course I do, Prime..." the pilot chuckled. "...Everything will be ready by the time you are up here." "Okay, Prime out." Jack finished before looking to Airachnid. "Can you make sure the team is ready?" he asked. "Of course, Jack." she nodded back before turning and heading away as Jack walked into the elevator and placed the octagonal disc on his chest. The Prime armour covering his body as the elevator doors closed in front of him. PRIME EFFECT 2 Silas was standing in the darkened room looking over one of the orange holo screens when Jack appeared behind him on the holo-pad. The MECH leader turned to the Prime, the concern on his face was evident. "Prime, I wish that I had more Intel for you. The idea of sending you through that rift blind does not sit well with me." Jack found himself surprised at the Director's sudden act of concern, but kept his stoic appearance. "I'm not going alone, I've got some of the best going with me. If we stay together, we'll make it." Silas's expression softened at the Prime's confident reply. "I knew we brought you back for a reason, I have never a seen a better leader. Despite the unknown danger that lies on the other side of the rift, it is a great opportunity. The first Human to take a ship into the galactic core and survive." Jack took on a more stern look. "This isn't a science expedition, we are going through the rift to put an end to the Quintessons, to stop their attacks on humanity." The Director smiled at the Prime's response. "Understood, still it's very impressive. I just want you to know that I appreciate the risk you are taking. Regardless of your opinion of MECH or myself, you are a 'valuable asset' to all humanity. Good luck, Prime." The Defiant entered the Omega system as Jack watched from the cockpit. With their viewpoint, Jack could see the subspace rift in the distance. It looked like a tear in the fabric of space, not exactly something you wanted to fly into but they didn't have a choice. "Approaching the subspace rift, all decks report ready, Prime." Hotrod said, as Jack looked down at him. "Understood, let's make it happen." the Prime replied stoically. Hotrod then took the controls as Teletraan's hologram appeared next to him. "The Reaper IFF has been activated and…the signal has been acknowledged." the AI stated. Engineering reports that the Power core is exceeding critical levels." The pilot frantically typed at his holo-interface. "I'm re-routing." he replied. The Defiant then flew into the event horizon of the rift and was suddenly rocketed at super speeds, making its hull strain and shake as Jack held on to Hotrod's chair as they looked out of the cockpit's window at the storm-like fluctuations that surrounded the ship as it flew through the rift. "I think we are passing through the worst of it." Hotrod said as he looked between the window and the information scrolling down one of his holo-screens. Suddenly the rift opened up and the ship was spat out directly into an asteroid field, one of the large rocks coming up fast in their path. "Oh scrap!" the Autobot cursed as he pulled the ship up and fired the thrusters to max, making the Defiant fly over the asteroid, veering left and right,. Narrowly missing the other rocks as it cleared the field and entered open space. Hotrod breathed a sigh of relief as he levelled the ship. "That was too close." he exclaimed while Jack looked out the window as the Defiant flew over the asteroid field toward the accretion disk of a black hole that was in the middle of the system. "Prime, I have run a scan of the asteroid field and found metallic debris in there. It appears to be the remains of ships that tried to enter the rift, some of them look ancient." Hotrod said, as Jack looked down at the screen. "I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk." Teletraan stated as Hotrod turned the ship in the direction of it. As they looked out at the structure, Hotrod and Jack could swear that it that it looked almost like Cybertron. It was a metallic planet with large parts of it separated from the main body and orbiting around it. "That has to be the Quintesson home world, take us in closer. Nice and easy." Jack said to the Autobot who nodded in agreement before he piloted the ship closer to the structure, unaware that he had just activated a Quintesson satellite as the Defiant passed by. The satellite then started to broadcast the ship's location to unmanned weapon platforms that were docked onto the asteroids that were drifting at the utmost edge of the field, while the Defiant was flying over it. "Careful, Hotrod. I am detecting weapon signatures around us." Teletraan warned the pilot as the platforms turned their turrets in the direction of the Defiant and fired red energy beams at the MECH ship, narrowly missing it's hull. "Taking evasive manoeuvres." Hotrod stated as he pulled the Defiant into a full loop as it spun around, barely evading the beams before coming around and firing it's cannons at the locations the attacks were coming from. They hit a few of the enemy emplacements before one of the beams penetrated the ship's shields and hit the hull. The impact making the ship rock as two stations exploded in the CIC, sending the crewmen there flying on to the ground, killing them instantly. Jack turned to look at the crew before looking back at his pilot. "Hotrod." the Prime said worriedly . "I know, I know." the pilot stated angrily as he veered the Defiant to the right before another weapon platform had gained a target lock. "It's no good, I am going to have to take us into the asteroid field to stop them getting a target lock on us." the Autobot stated. The Prime merely nodded at him as the ship suddenly dived back into the field. The Defiant flew around the large chunks of rock that drifted erratically through the field. "Our shields are not designed to withstand impact with asteroids of that size Hotrod." The Autobot gave the hologram a confident smirk. "Well, it's a good thing our ship has been upgraded then." He then swerved and dodged the ship past a number of the rocks, merely missing them by a few hundred metres as the field became more dense. "Come on, find some room." he stated as the he turned the ship on it's side to brush past a large asteroid that skimmed the ship's shields. "Shield strength down to forty percent." the AI said to Hotrod, who never took his eyes off his controls as he spotted two really large rocks closing in on each other, cutting off the path ahead of the ship as space was becoming restricted. "Reroute none critical power to shields and engines, this is going to hurt." he replied as the Defiant shot towards the gap, flying between the two rocks as they closed around the ship. Hotrod narrowed his eyes as he focused on getting the ship through, as the rocks skimmed the ship's shields just before Defiant came out the other side and back out of the field. The pilot slumped in his chair relieved, as Teletraan's hologram looked at him. "What's the damage, Teletraan?" he asked "Shields are stable at thirty percent, no significant damage." the AI responded as Miranda joined Jack behind the pilot. "We lost two crew back there." she said sadly, the Prime nodding in silent agreement as he turned back to Hotrod. "Are we through?" The Autobot nodded as he kept his eyes and hands on the controls. "Yeah, we are through the field and there is nothing between us and the Quintessons." he answered as the Defiant drew closer to the enemy home world. "Good, see if you can find a safe place for us to land." the Prime ordered stoically. Hotrod then looked at the screen to his right and his face turned slightly pale. "Too late, looks like they are sending out an old friend to greet us." he replied as the Quintesson cruiser appeared from behind one of the large pieces of debris that orbited the planet. It then powered it's main weapon and fired a yellow energy beam towards the MECH ship which swung from left to right as it narrowly evaded it. Jack then smirked. "Time to show the Defiant's teeth. Fire the main gun." he ordered. Hotrod's smile beaming as he worked the controls. On the underside of the ship, a hatch opened and a large cannon deployed before it fired a powerful blue beam towards the enemy cruiser, which didn't have time to evade as the beam hit the ship's hull dead on, resulting in a massive explosion, Hotrod raised his hands as he cheered. "How do like that you fragging scrap heaps." he exclaimed. Jack though remained stoic. "Get in close and finish them off." he said calmly. "Everybody, hold on to your pants, this is gonna be a wild ride." he exclaimed as the Defiant evaded another attack from the cruiser with a barrel roll, before flying directly at the enemy. "Give them hell!" he said as he hit the button on his interface hard, resulting in the weapon firing again as the blue energy beam impacted directly on the cruiser's engine core, causing numerous explosions along it's hull as it tore itself apart. The Defiant tried to veer away but was suddenly caught in a shockwave emanating from the exploding cruiser. "Look out!" Miranda warned as another shockwave hit the Defiant, rocking the ship and shutting down it's engines as the Defiant found itself being pulled down towards the planet's surface by it's gravity field. "The engines are offline, Teletraan give me something." Hotrod cried out. "Engine reactivation failed, all hands brace for impact." the AI stated as the ship hit the ground hard and skidded over the metallic surface, causing fires and sparks to emanate from under the ship as it finally came to a standstill between two metallic buildings. Jack picked himself up off the ground and looked over to see Miranda and Hotrod sprawled on the floor. "You two alright?" he said as he went over to them, helping the MECH officer up as Hotrod got back into his seat. "I'm fine, Jack." she replied as the Autobot pilot felt his chest. "I think I broke a rib?" Hotrod said, unsure of himself. "I didn't know the pretender bodies had ribs." the Prime said back. Hotrod winced slightly as he felt his chest. "Neither did I." Teletraan's hologram appeared next to them, flickering for a moment before stabilising itself. "A number of primary and secondary systems are offline. Restoring them will take time." the AI stated grimly. Miranda sighed as she stood there with her arms crossed. "We all knew this was likely a one way trip." Jack and Hotrod looked at each other knowingly. "We are here to stop the Quintessons at any cost." the Prime replied stoically as looked down at the pilot. "Teletraan and Hotrod, I want you and the crew to repair the ship as fast as you can." Jack then turned to Miranda. "Let's assemble the team in the briefing room." he said before they both walked out of the cockpit, leaving the Autobot and the AI to their tasks. The Defiant lay on the alien and hostile metallic surface of the Quintesson home world as in the briefing room, Miranda, Soundwave, Airachnid, Jacob, Legion, Zaeed, Tali and Garrus were waiting around the table, checking their weapons as Jackson Prime stood in front of them at the table's front end. "This isn't exactly what we prepared for, but this is where we are at." He then looked at around at each of his team. "The Defiant is in no shape to move right now, but that doesn't matter. We are here to put an end to the Quintessons, and that means coming up with a plan to destroy this planet. Teletraan bring up your scans." A holographic image of the planet appears from the middle of the table. "You should be able to overload the main reactor at the heart of the planet from this control station here." the AI stated as a cursor appeared over a part of the image. Soundwave then activated his holo-tool. "But for the core to overload, you will need to bypass the coolant value fail safes in this section here. Otherwise when you try to overload the core, they will activate and stop it." Miranda then pointed over to a large heat signature that was between both areas. "The scans also show a large number of life signs in this area here." The Prime looked at the spot. "That's obviously where the abducted colonists are being held. So we will split into two teams, Beta team will head for the coolant fail safes and plant explosives there. While Alpha team will distract the Quintesson troops in the base by going up this passage and shooting anything that moves. Once Beta is done, both teams will meet up in the colonists chamber. Alpha team will be made up of myself, Airachnid, Legion and Zaeed. Beta Team is everyone else and Miranda will be in charge. " The Mech-Officer nodded back. "I won't let you down, Jack." The other team members looked at Miranda for a moment before looking back at the Prime, who held his hands behind his back and looked back at them stoically. "Now I don't know what we are about to face, but I know that its not going to be easy. We have already lost people and we will lose more." Everyone in the room looked at each, slightly nervous at what Jack had just said, but the Prime continued regardless. "We don't how many humans the Quintessons have taken, thousands, hundreds of thousands. It doesn't matter, what does though is this. 'Not one more!' That is what we are here to do, to end the threat the Quintessons pose to the galaxy. They want to know what we are made of, I say we show them, on our terms. Let's move out." he said, before they all headed for the Defiant's airlock. PRIME EFFECT 2 Outside the Defiant, the airlock seal opened and Jack dropped down to the ground below as did the team (with breather helmets) as they split up into their respective teams and entered the planet's interior through two separate openings. Jack and the Alpha team moved quickly and quietly through the metallic grey corridors. They then heard metal footsteps coming from up ahead and took cover behind the support beams that were connected to the walls. Jack tapped his com link. "Beta team, status update." he whispered. "Miranda here, we have come across no trouble so far." the MECH Officer reported. "Roger that, we'll make sure to keep it that way." Jack replied as three drones stepped around the corner to be met with bursts of weapon's fire from Airachnid and Legion, while Jack finished of the third with a shot to the face. Meanwhile in a circular room somewhere on the planet, Alpha Q was working a control interface in it's center while the hologram of a Reaper was being emitted above it. One of the controls started blinking on and off, gaining the Quintesson Leader's attention. He moved over to it as his face shifted from calm to worried. "We have intruders, that is impossible. The enemy ship was caught in the explosion when our cruiser was destroyed." The Reaper looked down at the Quintesson, its six yellows staring down coldly. "The Prime is here, deal with him. He cannot be allowed to interfere any further." Alpha Q looked down as it appeared to bow. "It will be done, Master." He then activated a control node with one of his tentacles. Suddenly alarms blared out around the planet as drones started marching up and down the corridors towards the intruders. Miranda and the Beta team made it to their target, as she gestured to Tali and Jacob to plant the explosives when the alarms sounded around them. Garrus smirked at the sounds blaring. "Looks like Jack is keeping up his end of the plan." he said while Soundwave nodded back in agreement. Miranda looked over to Tali. "How long will it take, Tali?" she asked. "We should be done in a few minutes…keelah, I just hope Jack and the others are alright." Miranda gave the Quarian a sympathetic look. "He's a Prime, Tali. He will be fine." The Quarian nodded as she returned to working on the explosives with Jacob. The drones kept coming as Jack and the others fired back at the enemies from behind their cover in a large open room. "Darby Commander, to your left." Legion called as Jack turned around and ignited the star-saber in time to pierce through the torso of a drone that had tried to creep up on him. "Thanks, Legion. Hey, Zaeed, you having fun yet?" he said over to the Mercenary who at that moment was incinerating a large group of drones with his flame thrower. "Time of my life!" he exclaimed as Airachnid fired her weapon at two more drones while using another as a shield, holding on to it via her escrima stick which was sticking out of it's back. She looked over to Jack and smiled. "Jack, I think they are retreating." she observed as the other drones left the room through the large opening in front of the team. "They are more likely regrouping, we should move fast before they attempt to over run us again." the Prime said before his com link activated. "Jack, Beta Team successful. Now on our way to rendezvous at colonist chamber." Miranda reported. "Copy that, Alpha team on route." he replied as they moved out of the open room and back into one of the corridors. They moved through the passage way quickly, taking out any drone that was in their way, until they came up to a large door. "Legion, can you hack this door open." Jack asked as he looked back to see numerous drones coming down the corridor toward them. "Negative, we can not find an adequate control node to interface with." the Geth replied as it worked it's holo-tool. The Prime, Airachnid and Zaeed started firing down the corridor at the approaching Quintessons, the Mercenary's flame thrower keeping them at bay while Jack and the femme picked the enemies off. "Jack, we are at the other side of the door. Tali is hacking it now." Miranda reported over his com link. "Right, fall back and hold the drones back." he shouted over the weapons fire as the four of them knelt down and returned fire at the Quintessons attacking them. After what felt like an age, the door opened and Miranda, Tali and Jacob appeared and began firing bursts of bullets. "Covering fire! Jack, get in here!" the MECH Officer shouted. Jack nodded to her before turning back to his team. "Fall back." he said, as he then turned to Zaeed who was further back from them, setting fire to drones with his flame-thrower. "Zaeed, we are leaving." the Prime shouted back. The mercenary looked back and nodded, turning to run back to them. But a stray shot hit his weapon, causing him to stop and look down at it. His eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen. "Oh shit!" he said fearfully before the flamethrower exploded, engulfing the Mercenary in a fireball and incinerating him. "ZAEED!" Jack shouted back from the door way as he and the others watched their team mate's burning body fall to the ground, moments before the doors closed shut. Jack looked at the ground for a moment as he mourned Zaeed's passing, Airachnid placed her hand affectionately on his shoulder in support. Miranda though turned around and looked out into the room they were in. "Jack, I think you should see this." she said in a matter of fact like manner, gaining the Prime's attention as they all looked out in to the massive room. It was filled with thousands of pods with large metal pipes coming out of the walls and leading away further into the facility. Legion looked to the group's right and its optic brightened. "Darby Commander, there are humans in these pods." the Geth observed as Jack walked over to one pod that was holding a Caucasian woman in it, she had long brown hair and pale skin." "Is she dead?" Miranda asked as Jack took a closer look. Suddenly the woman opened her eyes as her skin started to slowly dissolve. "My god, she's still alive. Legion and Tali, hack the controls and get them all out." he shouted as the woman started to scream in shear pain and fear within the pod as her body quickly dissolved into a reddish/black liquid right before their eyes. The Geth and Quarian frantically worked their holo-tools as the other human prisoners started screaming, their skin too dissolving into the same liquid. Before long all the pods were empty as the humans that were once inside were no more, as more red/black liquid was pumped away through the pipes above them. Both Legion and Tali looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Jack. I tried everything." she said, as Legion looked at her. "Creator Tali'zorah, you should not blame yourself, this unit is to blame. We were not fast enough at decoding the Quintesson systems." Tali just looked at the Geth, completely confused as she backed away from it. Jack though was still looking at the blood splattered window of the pod in front of him. "Neither of you are to blame, the Quintessons started this and now we finishing it." he said as anger started to boil in his blood. He then looked at the others as he pointed back to the pods. "We are going to make sure that no one will have to suffer at the hands of Quintessons, even if we have to give up our lives in the process." he said to them, his eyes glinting with resolve. The others nodded in return. Jack then activated his com link. "Defiant, this is Prime. We found the colonists but were too late in stopping the process. Can you tell us anything about these pipes we are seeing here?" "Prime, Teletraan here. My scans show that these pipes run from other rooms like the one you are in and end at the same location. Interestingly, when the rooms activated and the fluid from the colonists was transferred, there was a slight power fluctuation at this location." Jack looked back at the pipes. "Can you tell us anything about that location?" he asked. "Only that there is something quite large in there and that it is heavily defended. Also the location is directly connected to the power core. Whatever is in there is being powered directly from the planet." the AI replied, before being cut off by Hotrod. "Hotrod, here, we have a number of systems up, so we can do a pick up. Teletraan's scans have detected a hanger bay not far from that location, that is if you heading there?" he asked. "That is exactly where we are going, we will see what the Quintessons have in their 'vault' and then blow the planet apart. Take the ship there now, we will meet you there, Prime out." Jack then looked to the others while he raised his weapon. "We are sticking together from now on, no more splitting up. Let's go!" PRIME EFFECT 2 The Defiant took off from its crash site and moved at a low altitude, so not to set off any sensors that the planet would have hidden. The ship was moving slowly due to the fact that it was only running at fifty percent efficiency, this was one journey that would take time. Meanwhile Jack and his team were moving through the passage ways and silently taking out any drones that were patrolling the area. They moved into a massive room with a large bridge going over what looked like bottomless pit. Garrus looked over the edge and gulped. "Wow, now that is deep." the Turian observed rather fearfully. Tali patted his back gently, making him gasp as he kept his balance before turning around to the Quarian in shock. "That was not funny, Tali." he exclaimed. She just chuckled at his reaction. "You are so cute like that." she teased, causing the Turian to blush. Jack though looked back stoically. "Stay sharp, People..." he said as he raised his mattock rifle. "...this seems too quiet." Suddenly above them a large yellow hologram of Alpha Q appeared and looked down at them. "Prime, you are becoming an annoyance, this ends now." he stated coldly before the hologram faded away. Everyone looked at each other before hearing a large footstep like noise, as well as feeling vibrations through the floor. It grew louder as it got closer to them. Then Airachnid pointed over the bridge as a giant Mech walked over to them. All of them looked on in horror at the giant as it stomped over to them. It looked like a Quintesson drone, only more heavily armoured. Then Alpha Q's voice could be heard again as it echoed through the massive room. "Welcome to your end, the 'Dark Guardian' will see to it personally." Jack and the others started firing at the colossus as it raised it's right hand, its fingers changing into very long, very sharp talons. It then swung down at the group who dived back and rolled into kneeling positions and began firing back at it again, but their fire only bounced harmlessly off its armour. "Fall back!" Jack shouted to the others as he activated the star-saber and charged it before launching an energy attack that sliced the colossus's arm off. It watched it's arm fall into the darkness below before turning its attention to the Prime, who had fallen to his knees in exhaustion. Airachnid ran to his side and tried to lift him up. "Jack, we have to move." she said hurriedly as the dark guardian lifted its other arm, which shifted into a mace with what looked like a thousand spikes all over it. Jack though couldn't move as Airachnid looked back to see Soundwave join them as the two grabbed the Prime by the arms and dragged him back. But they weren't quick enough as the colossus had raised its mace fully over it's head and started to swing it down at the three of them. But a second before it hit, the guardian was suddenly knocked back by an explosion to its chest. It stumbled back momentarily before an energy beam hit it again, making it move back further towards the edge of the bridge. And just as it regained it's balance, a third energy beam hit the giant in the face. Making it tumble backwards and fall off the bridge and into the abyss underneath the bridge. Everyone looked back in amazement to see Jacob holding up what looked like a cannon. He had a wide smile on his face. "Don't you just love this gun or what!" he exclaimed happily. Garrus looked at it wide eyed. "That's a 'Cain', right? You've been carrying a heavy weapon around and didn't tell us," The MECH Operative just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it is useful and you're telling me that I have been carrying this on the back of my armour during our missions, and you never thought to ask me what it is?" he said as he cocked his head while looking at the Turian. Jacob then looked over to Jack who had just recovered his strength, Airachnid standing close by in case Jack hadn't fully recovered. "Great job, Jacob." the Prime said back, making the Jacob's grin grow bigger. "Thanks, Prime, that means a…." he was cut off suddenly when a gun shot could be heard behind him and a large metal spear shot out of his chest, spraying blood over the ground in front of him. "JACOB!" Miranda screamed as the others spotted more drones rushing out of the entrance the group had come from, and started to fire back at them as Miranda tried to move to Jacob, only for Jack to hold her back. Jacob fell to his knees as he coughed up some blood before looking at the MECH Officer and Prime. "Go…. now!" he shouted as they saw him pull out a grenade from his belt and armed it as the drones got closer. "We have to go now!" Jack told Miranda as they started to move in the other direction while the rest of the group gave covering fire while they too moved away. Jacob could feel his strength slipping away from him as hell fell to the ground and opened his hand, letting the grenade roll out of his grasp and onto the floor just as the Quintesson drones reached him. Suddenly as Jack and the others ran away, there was an explosion behind them that killed most of the drones, but sent the remaining ones over the edge and into the pit. The Prime and the others felt like they had run a mile over the bridge as they finally saw its end in the shape of a big metallic door just ahead of them. Airachnid then turned to look behind them and saw more drones chasing after the group on what looked like flying metal boards. "Incoming!" she screamed as she turned and fired at the attackers, taking one out as it fell off it's board. Jack and Garrus followed suit and killed two more drones as the enemies fell into the abyss. Tali was right at the edge firing back with her shotgun when one of the drones fired a rocket which exploded just away from her, making her fall off of the bridge as Garrus looked on in horror. "TALI!" he cried out, when out of nowhere Legion managed to grab the Quarian by the hand and stop her fall. It looked directly into her eyes with its only optic. "We have got you, creator Tali'zorah." it said in a calm fashion as it pulled her back up and onto the bridge. Tali just looked at it in shock, as it let go of her hand and stared at her. "Why did you save me?" she asked in confusion. The Geth just continued to stare. "We told you we do not wish to see our creators die." it stated back. Before Tali could say any more Garrus ran up to her and gave her a warm hug which surprised her. "Thank god you're safe." He said which made the young Quarian smile behind her visor. The Turian then looked at Legion. "Thanks for saving her, Legion." The Geth looked between the two organics. "Acknowledged." it replied as Jack, Airachnid and Soundwave finished off the remaining flyers and turned to them. "Through the door, now!" the Prime called as more Quintesson troops ran across the bridge towards them. The group made it through the door before Legion sealed the door shut with it's holo-tool. With the door closed and no enemies around, the group took a moment to catch their breath. Tali while standing next to Garrus, just stared over at the Geth that had saved her life. The same one that had killed her father and numerous other Quarians, she just couldn't figure it out. Jack meanwhile tapped his com link as Airachnid and Soundwave stood close by. "Teletraan, how close are we to that room?" he asked as he looked at his holo-tool. "Prime, the room is right through the large door on the north side. There is also a door on the east that will lead to the hanger bay. We will be there in approximately ten minutes." the AI replied before pausing for a moment. "You should know that a large group of Quintesson drones are on the other side of the door you came in and are attempting to get through." "Understood." Jack replied as he looked at his team. "Okay, three of us will go into the main chamber and overload the core, but only after we see what the Quintessons have in there first. Now while we are in there, those drones will be trying to get in…" but as the Prime spoke, Garrus decided to finish his sentence. "And you need the rest of us to keep them at bay. Then get to it Jack, we have got your backs." The Turian finished with a smile while he and the others readied their weapons, as they all nodded back at the Prime. He could see that they were all on the same wavelength. "Airachnid and Miranda, you're both with me." The two then walked over to Jack as he looked at the other four. "Good luck." he said, as Garrus, Soundwave, Tali and Legion looked at him. "You too." Soundwave replied before Jack and his two team mates walked into the other room. Garrus then turned to the Quarian and the spymaster. "Okay we have some good cover in here, so pick a spot and get ready." he said as they got behind repsective cover and checked their weapons, meanwhile the door had started to heat up. Whatever the drones on the other side of the door were doing, it was making short work of the metal that stood between the two sides. Garrus looked over to Tali before the door melted down and the drones entered the room, guns blazing. The team returned fire as their battle intensified very quickly. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack, Airachnid and Miranda walked through a small tunnel as Teletraan spoke into Jack's ear via the com link. "Prime, I am detecting a bio-mechanical signature in the main chamber. Considering the energy I am detecting, it must be massive." The team walked into the main chamber and they stopped and looked up in horror at the sight in front of them. "If my readings are correct, Prime, then this signature is a …..Reaper!" the AI said in astonishment. Jack looked up at it. "Not just a Reaper, but a 'Human' Reaper." Jack observed as he looked at the colossal entity hanging from the ceiling via a number of pipes and struts. "My god." Miranda said, while Airachnid just looked at it completely shocked. The human Reaper was just a torso, head and two arms. But it had two optics for eyes and the top of it's head was still open. The Reaper was definitely unfinished. "Prime, for the amount of bio-matter used to create this Reaper, I would say that the Quintessons have processed tens of thousands of humans, but even more will be needed to finish it." the AI added. Airachnid looked over at Jack and saw that he was just staring at it, she placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. "You okay, you zoned out for a second there." the femme asked worriedly. Jack looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "No, I am fine. It's just I think I have seen this body before, it just looks familiar." he replied as the Prime looked at it again. He then tapped his com link. " How do we destroy this abomination?" he asked the AI. "The Reaper is still in it's foetal stage and is connected directly to the planet's core, so overloading it will destroy the Reaper before the planet itself is destroyed." Jack nodded as he looked at his team members. "Thanks. Is the Defiant at the EP (extraction point) yet?" "We will be there in two minutes." the AI reported. Jack then changed frequencies on his com link. "Prime to Garrus, sit-rep?" Jack then heard a lot of gunfire and explosions on the other end before the Turian spoke. "Jack, we are holding the line but they keep coming, a quick exit plan would be appreciated." Jack walked over to what looked like a control interface and pulled off a panel, revealing it's inner workings. "Garrus, detonate your explosives and get to the EP. The Defiant will be waiting for you there." Jack then switched frequencies and spoke to his pilot, as they felt a small quake shake the area, which meant that the explosives had taken out the fail safes. "Hotrod, you better get here fast, because I am about to overload the power core and destroy this entire planet." he said as he started working on the control panel's insides. "Roger that….uh Prime, I have incoming transmission from Silas. Teletraan is patching him through." Miranda activated her holo-tool and a life size hologram of Silas stood before Jack. "Prime, you have accomplished the impossible." he stated with a smile. Jack looked over to him with a sullen look. "I didn't do it alone, I was part of a team and crew. Some of them gave their lives to see this mission through." The Director's face became stoic at the Prime's comment. "I understand, they will not be forgotten. You did what you had to do and because of that we now have the Quintesson planet." Jack turned around and looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?" The hologram of Silas just looked at him, his yellow optics clearly defined as they stared at the Prime. "I have gone through the scans that Teletraan had taken of the planet. A timed radiation blast will destroy all of the Quintessons, but leave the planet and the technology intact." Jack and his team just listened as Silas carried on. "This is our chance, the Quintessons were building a Reaper. That technology and knowledge could save us." Jack could not believe what he was hearing. "They processed humans, liquefied them. It was horrendous, the planet needs to be destroyed." he said angrily. Silas just glared at him. "Don't be short sighted. Using the Reaper's own technology against them is the only way to beat them." Miranda looked unnerved by what she was hearing. "I am not so sure, after seeing it firsthand. Using anything here seems like a betrayal." Silas ignored his daughter's doubts and continued with Jack. "The Quintessons are working for the Reapers, who knows what kind of information is stored there." Jack just crossed his arms and shook his head. "No matter what we may find here, it isn't worth the amount of lives it cost to obtain it." he said in a stoic manner, trying to get through to the Director. "Prime, you died fighting for what you believed in. I rebuilt you so that you could keep fighting, some would say that what we did was going too far, but look at what you have achieved. I didn't discard you because I knew your value, don't be so reckless with discarding this facility so quickly. Think of what we could do with it's potential." Jack though turned away from Silas and continued with the control panel. "No, we can fight and win without it. I will not let fear compromise who I am or what we stand for." Silas could feel himself losing control of the situation and so turned to Miranda, the one person he felt he still had control of. "Miranda, do not let Darby destroy the planet!" The MECH Officer looked at Silas in a untrusting manner. "Or what? You'll discard me, like you did before." she spat back at him. "I am your father…" he replied forcefully. But Miranda just looked back at him in disgust. "Funny how you remember that now, consider this a disownment." she replied as she deactivated the transmission. Silas turned back to Jack with an almost pleading look. "Jack, don't do this. Think about what is at stake, about everything that MECH has done for you…." then his hologram was gone as Miranda knelt down next to Jack and helped with the reprogramming. After a moment they were done. "Okay, we have several minutes before the reactor blows and takes this whole planet with it." The three of them ran out of the room as the reactor started to overload, causing the planet to experience earthquakes as it started to build up its energy towards exploding point. Once they got back to the outer room, Jack's com link activated. "Prime, do you copy?" hotrod's voice came through. "We're on our way, did the others make it?" he asked hoping for good news after seeing how shot up the outer room looked. "Everyone is on board, we are just waiting on you." the pilot replied as drones started to swarm through the tunnels and passages towards them. Jack and his team then heard a booming alien voice speaking to them through the station. "Prime, you think you have won, but you've changed nothing. Your species has gained the attention of one that is infinitely greater." Jack, Airachnid and Miranda fired at the drones as they ran away from the enemies chasing them. "The species you call Reapers are your destiny through destruction." As they ran, Jack looked around to see drones running at them from all directions as the group entered the hanger to see the Defiant waiting for them, Garrus and Soundwave in the airlock providing covering fire, taking out a few of the drones who had gotten closer to Prime and his team mates. "Go, I'll cover you." Jack shouted back as he fired back at the Quintesson drones flooding through the hanger's entrance. Miranda and Airachnid ran up the catwalk and jumped into the airlock. "Jack, get here now." Garrus shouted at the Prime who started to run towards the ship, only to find the catwalk retracting in on itself, Jack though was not going to let that stop him so he put everything had left into his legs and ran as fast and as strong as he could while the drones fired at him. Garrus saw what his friend had in mind and realised instantly what was going to happen. "He's not going to make it!" He then got down on his knees and held out his hand as Jack reached the edge of the catwalk and jumped into the air, arm stretched out, reaching for his friend's hand. Suddenly everything felt like it was in slow motion as Jack moved through the air, but just as it seemed that he would not make it, their hands connected and grasped each others strongly as Jack was hanging of Garrus's arm. The drones stopped at the edge of the platform and fired at the Defiant as Soundwave and Airachnid fired back, while Garrus pulled Jack on board and closed the airlock door. The Defiant turned around, it's engines facing the drones as it prepared to leave. "Everyone's on board, punch it." Tali shouted to Hotrod as Teletraan gave them a countdown. "Detonation in nine, eight, seven…" the AI said. "Yeah, I get it. Full power to engines now." Hotrod said while taking the controls, before the Defiant flew out of the hanger at full speed as the planet's surface was rocked by explosions, the ship trying to make as much distance between itself and the Quintesson planet as possible. Meanwhile in the planet's main control room, Alpha Q was working frantically as he tried to avert the explosion. But the Reaper hologram just looked down at him, completely enraged. "You have failed, but we have 'another way'. We will leave you to your fate!" The hologram then disappeared as Alpha Q's face shifted to fearful as the planet shook around him. He then heard the explosion travelling up to meet him and stared at it as it enveloped him and the room. The planet then exploded in magnificent fashion as the explosion spread out across the system only seconds behind the Defiant as it flew past the wreckage of the Quintesson cruiser which was then destroyed by the explosion wave. The Defiant then entered the rift just as the wave caught up. But by then Jack and his crew were safely away. PRIME EFFECT 2 Silas stood in silent rage as Jack's hologram appeared on the holo-pad. "Darby, you are making a habit of costing me more than time and money." he said trying to keep his anger in check. "The price of the atrocities that occurred on that planet were too high, I am not sorry that it is gone." Jack replied. "Well, you better get used to losing people, many more will be lost now. The technology on that planet could have secured humanity's dominance in the galaxy, against the Reapers and beyond." he countered. "More like MECH's dominance." Jack responded. "MECH is a symbol of humanity, what we do strengthens every human. I should have known that you would choke when it came down to the hard choices. You are just like that fool Optimus, to idealistic for your own good." Silas spat back at the Prime. "I don't care what your opinion of me is, the Reapers are coming. Humanity and the rest of the galaxy need a leader who is looking out for them. From now on I'm doing things my way, whether you like it or not." Jack replied stoically. Silas took a few steps toward the Prime, his yellow optics glowing brightly as he let his anger loose. "Don't you dare turn your back on me, Darby. I rebuilt you, I brought you back from the dead." Jack just tapped his com link. "Teletraan, lose this channel." he said coolly as he walked off the holo-pad and disappeared from the Director's view. Jack smiled as he left the briefing room, happy in the knowledge that he had just cut ties with MECH. Silas though just stood there in his darkened room with his fists clenched tight. He was so angry that he didn't hear footsteps behind him. "That Prime is a real problem…" a voice said, making the Director turn around to see who had spoken. "…for both of us." the voice continued. Silas focused his optics trying to see the person in the room with him. "Who's there?" The figure in the darkness then stepped out into the light cast from the orange holo-globe in the center of the room and smiled at Silas. "You can call me Sideways, and I have proposal for you." The Director simply nodded cautiously. "You help me to kill Jackson Prime and I will help you get your hands on what you desire most." Sideways said in a calm tone. "And what is it that you can offer myself and MECH?" Silas asked in a distrusting manner. The former con simply smiled in return. "Reaper technology and information of course, enough to help you unlock their secrets and put MECH above everyone else. Is that incentive enough….do we have a deal." As the two men stood there in silence for several seconds, a dark grin appeared on Silas's face as he stared back at Sideways. Meanwhile in the Defiant's shuttlebay, Jack was standing over the coffins of those who died during the mission. He placed his hand on one of them and whispered a prayer before standing up straight and remaining quiet for several seconds. He then turned and walked away toward one of the windows that looked out into space. The some of the crew were busy repairing the ship as he walked past, lost in his own thoughts. Everything had changed again, and yet things were still the same. Yes… he had made enemies of the Council, of the Alliance and of MECH, but the Reapers were still out there and so his mission still needed to be completed: Stop the Reapers no matter the cost. But while he looked out at the cosmos, unbeknownst to Jack, the Reapers appeared around the galaxy. Billions of ships, with the one that had spoken to Alpha Q was at the front of the fleet. It's eyes glowed brightly as the Reapers moved ever closer to the galaxy. The battle was over, but the war was still to come.
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CHAPTER 9 Soundwave was standing alone in his lab. He was going through the data he had gathered from the Brute's brain cells as well as what information the others had downloaded from Sideways computers, trying to keep his mind busy. Not wanting to think about what had transpired back on Tuchunka. When he had entered the lab, he found that Ravage, the only mini con he had left was not there. Soundwave should of realised that the feline mini con would have wondered off, he never did like being stuck in one place to long. But the spymaster was actually relieved that he was not there at that moment, or else Ravage would remind him of what he had just lost. So he looked back at the screen and kept working. As he shifted through the data, he could not help but feel a certain amount of respect for Sideways. Well from a scientific view anyway. He had certainly become as competent as Shockwave with the ability to reprogram the Cybertronian mind, but as Soundwave dug deeper into the code, he saw trace elements that he could not understand. Now matter how he looked at it or from what angle he took. The trace elements in the code were a complete mystery. He was so engrossed in his research that he did not notice the lab door open and Jack walking in with Ravage at his side. "Soundwave, I found this guy down on the crew deck. He had his head in whatever Chef was cooking for the crew today." Soundwave kept looking at the screen. "So he fed himself while I was away." the spymaster replied. Jack patted Ravage on the head as the feline replied by brushing his head against Jack's leg before going over to Soundwave who patted him in return. "Yeah, let's just say Chef wasn't too pleased." Jack replied before looking at what the former con was working on. "So what have you found?" Soundwave stepped aside and activated the larger screen behind the one he was using. "Well, it seems that Sideways has been integrating the reprogramming techniques that Shockwave used to such devastating effect during the war with Reaper code, allowing him to indoctrinate any Cybertronian he comes in contact with." Jack looked over the data before looking back at the spymaster, slightly confused. "But I thought that indoctrination was for organics only. That Cybertronains couldn't be taken over like that." Soundwave then pointed at the alien trace elements inside the code. "These trace elements of data inside the base code is so advanced and alien to me that I can't make heads or tails of it." Jack looked at the image of the code with the alien traces in it. "This isn't Reaper code?" Soundwave shook his head. "The Reaper fragments are mixed into the fragments from Shockwave. Those new fragments don't match either though." the spymaster replied. "So if it's not their code, then whose is it?" the Prime asked. "I do not know, but I intend to find out." Soundwave responded, gaining a smile from the Prime. "It's good to have you on the team, Soundwave." he responded as he patted the former con's arm. He then turned to leave. "Prime…Jack, thank you for taking the time to help me on Tuchunka..." Soundwave said, making Jack look back. "...I just wish that we could have saved Rumble." he finished as he looked down at the ground in shame. "That was unfortunate." Jack replied as he knew Soundwave's pain. The former con looked at Jack and knew the Prime understood his loss. "Yes, it was. But I know Rumble and Frenzy would want me to carry on and put a stop to Sideways and then the Reapers. Your fight has now become my fight Jack. And should we both survive the coming battle with the Quintessons, then you can count on me whenever you need me, Jack." he said as he held out his hand to Jack who took the hand in his own and shook. "Thank you, Soundwave. I am glad you said that, because..." he said as he reached into his trouser pocket. "...I think you're going to need this." Jack took something out of his pocket and placed in it the former con's hand. Soundwave looked down at the object in his hands, it was an Autobot insignia. He looked up a Jack in surprise as he then looked back down at the insignia. "I accept. After serving under Megatron, a Cybertronian who earned loyalty by using fear and intimidation, working with you during this mission has been an eye opener. You see I never faced the wrath of Megatron, due to the fact that I never really failed at any task that he gave me, but others were not as fortunate. But I did know that he would happily sacrifice all of his troops, myself included if it meant that he got what he was after..." Soundwave replied as he looked back at the Prime. "...But you, Jack, care for those who serve under you. You even treat them as equals….as friends. Apart from my mini-cons, who I considered as my family. I never had a real friend. Not until I met you again. I know that during the war, we were enemies. But you went out of your way to help me and I really appreciate that. I hope that one day I can repay you." Jack smiled back though a little embarrassed, not that he showed it in his expression. "Don't worry about it, Soundwave, its just what friends do for each other." The Prime then turned to leave, before looking back at the spymaster. "There is just one more person I have to see." he said as he held another insignia in his hand. Soundwave saw it and smiled. "Airachnid." Jack nodded at the comment. "You know, I knew that Shockwave had reprogrammed her. But I had no idea that her original personality was still in there, and aware of the everything that she did. It's horrifying to think about." Soundwave said. "She has been through a lot and none of it was her fault..." Jack replied, he then gave the spymaster a knowing look. "...But I believe that everyone deserves a second chance." Soundwave smiled and nodded back as he understood exactly what Jack meant, he then placed the insignia onto the chest plate of his armour. It glowed bright red for a moment before locking into place. "Thank you, Jack." he said proudly before turning back to his console. Jack smiled back before leaving the lab. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack had looked everywhere for Airachnid, he had tried her room on the lowest level, the common room, he even interrupted Garrus's calibrations to see if he knew where she was. But he had no luck. He then walked through the corridors when he came up to the port-side observation room, and he thought he might as well have a look so he opened the door and there sitting on the couch was the femme as she looked out at the star field. Jack smiled at how relaxed she looked, considering everything she had been through and suffered. She looked over to him and affectionate smile graced her lips. "Jack, hi." she said, her purple eyes looking directly at him. The way she looked at him suddenly made Jack blush. It had been along time since a female had looked at him like that. "..Hi, Airachnid." he managed to say, which gained a chuckle from the Femme. She then patted the spot next to her and Jack sat down beside her. As he sat next to her, Jack wondered why he felt exited to be near her, he had thought that Arcee would have been the only one to gain such a reaction from him, but here now beside him was someone, who before he had died and came back, would never had considered to be anything other than a sadistic killer. But having gotten to know the real her, he felt himself slowly becoming attracted to her, she reminded him of Arcee in more ways than one and he had felt lonely since his lover had left him. But now, another femme was showing him such attention and he found that he wanted it. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, that suddenly he felt something hit his shoulder. He blinked and looked at Airachnid who had just hit his arm gently to get his attention. "Jack, everything okay?" she asked in a concerned manner. Jack smiled back at her and shook his head. "No, I fine. I was just thinking for a moment." he replied. "Anything you want to talk about?" she asked somewhat curiously. "No, actually I came here to give you something." he replied honestly. Airachnid was taken aback by Jack's comment, surprise on her face was evident. "What…what is it?" she asked as Jack handed her the object. She looked down at the Autobot insignia that was lying in her hand. She stared at it for what seemed like ages, before she looked back at Jack, her eyes wide open. "I don't know what to say, Jack." she said, still taking in what had just happened. "You don't need to say anything, you deserve to have this back." he said as he watched her smile down at the insignia before looking at the Prime. "Thank you, Jack. I am honoured to be a part of the Autobots again." The Prime smiled and nodded back. "I know Esmeral would be proud of you." he replied gaining a smile from the femme before she looked away for a moment to the star field and remembered her lost spark mate. "Yes, she would." she replied before Jack notice her smile wane a little. "You miss her a lot, don't you?" he asked in soft tone. She looked back to him and nodded gently. "Yes, not a moment goes by when I don't think of her. If I didn't have you here to help me through this, I don't know how I would have turned out." she responded. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for, Airachnid." he said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at the gesture. "Thank you, Jack.." she then looked away and then back at the Prime. "..May I ask how you are doing?" she asked. Jack looked at her curiously. "Me, I'm fine." he lied, hoping that would deflect her curiosity, but the femme just stared at him intently. "Jack, please, it takes one to know one. How are you doing, really?" Jack sighed as he looked out at the stars. "I miss her, it hasn't been easy doing this without her." he confessed as Airachnid moved closer to him and placed her hand on his leg sympathetically. "I could tell. It's funny how much we rely on the ones we love and so when they are no longer around, we feel so helpless." she replied. Jack nodded as he looked back at her. "All I know is that if you…" before he could finish the sentence, the door opened and Miranda walked in. "Jack we have received the coordinates for the IFF from my father." she said before looking at the two sitting on the couch. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked as Jack and Airachnid looked over to her, before looking at each other. "No. If you need Jack, then he's all yours." Airachnid replied, as Jack looked back at her. She just smiled at him. "They need you right now..." she said to him as she placed her hand on his affectionately. "...We can talk more later." Jack nodded back and smiled at her before he got up and left the room with Miranda, leaving the femme to look back out to the star field. Jack and Miranda entered the elevator and stood side by side as the doors closed. "So where has Silas found an IFF then?" he asked. "Apparently, MECH has found a dead Reaper in orbit around the star in the Thorne system. He sent a science team to investigate it but has now lost contact with the team." she replied as the elevator moved up to the CIC deck. The two then entered the CIC where Miranda brought up the Reaper's position on the galaxy map. "I have already given the coordinates to Hotrod and he already set us on our way. I have also picked your team, they are waiting for you down in the airlock." Jack looked at the map before turning to the MECH Officer. "Looks like you have thought of everything." he replied with a smile, making Miranda blush slightly. "Well, that's why I 'm here." she said a little embarrassed as she raked her hand through her hair gently. Jack's expression then turned serious as it dawned on him. "Wait, they lost contact with the science team. That doesn't sound ominous, does it?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "It does seem strange, but my father said in the transmission that he gave us all the information he had on the situation." she replied, earning an unsure look from the Prime. "You sure about that?" She looked away for second, not wanting him to see her doubts, but then she looked back at him. "Yeah, I have my doubts too, ever since the Quintesson cruiser. But we need that IFF." Jack nodded in agreement, as he pulled out the Prime Armour octagonal disc from his trouser pocket. "So how long until we get there?" Miranda pointed at the galaxy map, their position popped up only a few light years away from the target destination. "It's not far, we wont need to use a space bridge to get there, Hotrod says we should be there in another thirty or so minutes." Jack then placed the disc on his chest, the Prime Armour forming around his body. "Well, best get ready then." he replied as he started for the airlock next to the cockpit. "Good luck, Jack." Miranda said, gaining a smile from the Prime as he walked away. PRIME EFFECT 2 The Defiant jumped out of hyperspace and flew towards the system's star, which shown brightly against the black back-drop of space. As the ship got closer, the corpse of the Reaper could be seen, still making a menacing presence despite it's lifelessness. In the airlock, Jack, Garrus and Zaeed were standing ready when suddenly the ship shook for a moment. When it passed Jack tapped his com link. "Hotrod, report. What was that?" "It seems that we have just entered the Reaper's gravitational field that it is still emitting." the pilot replied. "It would appear that this field is what is keeping the Reaper from being pulled into the star, also our shield strength has started to increase since we entered the field. It would seem that the field also keeps the Reaper from gaining damage to its hull from the star's radiation." Teletran interrupted. "Prime, I just run a scan and it appears that two ships are docked with the Reaper, one is Quarian and the other is Geth." Hotrod said over the com. "Well, now we have a better idea of what happened to the science team, but why would there be a Quarian ship here?" Jack asked. "Not sure, Prime, but I am docking the Defiant with the Reaper now. Good hunting." The com link deactivated as Jack and his team readied their weapons. The Defiant docked with the Reaper and the airlock opened to reveal a man-made habitat filled with computer screens and equipment. Jack and the team entered the room and looked around. Garrus walked around one of the tables and stopped in his tracks. "Hey, guys, we have a body over here." he said in a tense tone. Jack and Zaeed joined the Turian as he looked down the human body, its skin was severely burned as it lied in a dried up poodle of its own blood. "Damn, that's a horrible way to go." Zaeed said as Jack took a scan of the corpse with his holo-tool. "No way that the Geth did this." he replied, earning a worried look from Garrus. "So whatever killed this poor guy is probably still here, lurking around. Nice!" he replied in a sarcastic tone. Jack turned around and found a console, activating it. As he looked at the data on the screen he found a number of recordings and played the first entry. The large screen on the wall activated and one of the scientists appeared. "This is Professor Bould reporting. Well, this is it. After building our makeshift lab and living space just beyond the Reaper's airlock, we have finally started work on finding out every thing we can about this Reaper. The crew is edgy but I believe that it is just nerves. I myself find this whole assignment to be fascinating, to be here inside a member of the most advanced and oldest species ever to exist in our galaxy. Our scans of it's hull show it to be over thirty seven million years old. But there is evidence of the race being even older. Who knows, these Reapers may well be from the beginning of the galaxy itself." The log ended and Jack started the next. Another face appeared on the screen. "This is Doctor Davidson reporting. I have to say that I am getting worried with the behaviour of our team's leader, Professor Bould has started to act very strangely. He has been locking himself in his office, and talking to himself. Whenever the others have spoken to him, he has spoken nothing but gibberish, saying that the Reapers are the future of our race. I fear that hes being indoctrinated. I fear the gravitational field that is being emitted from the Reaper is also capable of indoctrinating anyone who is inside its radius. I plan to have the rest of us, when not working over here, to stay on our ship and outside the range of the field. In the meantime, we will have to place the Professor into quarantine, so that he will not harm the other scientists. Also a number of us are starting to suffer headaches. The quicker we get off this thing and out of it's range the better." The log ended and the Prime activated the last log. The face of Doctor Davidson appearing again, only this time he looked like almost like a zombie as his face was devoid of any emotion and with blood splattered over it. "This….I cant think straight. My head is throbbing, all I can hear is it's voice in my mind. It whispers to me, giving me purpose. Telling me to show my belief in it. I killed Larreson earlier, because he didn't believe. I do though and want to become one with it, with my god!…" The log ended and Jack looked at his team mates. "So the Reaper indoctrinated everyone here, that means we will have Husks waiting for us on the other side of that door." Garrus said as he pointed to the large door at the end of the lab. "Looks like, but it's nothing we haven't faced before." Jack replied before looking at Zaeed. "Well, nearly all of us." Zaeed gave Jack a lopsided grin. "What? Face-off against a bunch of space zombies, let me at them." he chuckled as the team opened up the door and entered the Reaper. As they entered the behemoth. The interior was jet black with large pipes running along the walls and ceiling. Suddenly the ship shook, nearly making them fall over. Once steadied, Jack tapped his com link. "Defiant, report." "Prime, the Reaper has activated its shields, sealing us in with it. We cant leave while they are still up." Hotrod replied. "Any ideas on how to disable them, Teletraan?" Jack asked, gaining a reply from the AI. "My suggestion would be to take out the Reaper's power core, it is not far from your current position. But a word of warning, once it is down the gravitational field collapses and the Reaper will be pulled into the star's corona sphere destroying it. That means you will not have enough time to get back to the airlock." "So you will have to come and pick us up then. If there is any pilot that can do that, its you Hotrod." Jack replied. "Thanks for vote of confidence Prime, we will be ready. Good luck." the pilot replied before shutting down the com link. Jack looked back to his team. "Okay, we know what we have to do, move out." he said as the team moved down one of the tunnels. After walking a short distance, the team heard gunfire and the familiar inhuman screams of Husks. They the bolted down the tunnel and around the corner to find a lone Quarian fighting for her life against a number of Husks who were close to overwhelming her. Jack and Garrus recognised her instantly. "Tali!" This made her look at who called out her name after blowing a husk away with her shotgun. She saw two Humans and a Turian standing just away from her with their weapons ready. "Get down!" Jack shouted, causing her to dive to the ground as they opened fire on the Husks, killing the creatures in a barrage of bullets. When the last Husk had fallen, she got up and immediately her eyes widened as she recognised Jack. "Jack,….I thought you were dead." she said surprised, earning a smile from the Prime. "Yeah, I have been getting that a lot lately." he joked as Garrus stood beside him. "Tali,…. you look good." he said, earning a large smile from the Quarian as her eyes lit up at seeing him. "Garrus, it's good to see you too." she answered before looking back at Jack. "Tali, the truth is...MECH rebuilt me." he said. Even though Jack couldn't see her face behind her visor, he could tell she looked confused. "MECH! Why?" she asked. "So that I could help stop the Quintessons from attacking any more Human colonies. That's why we are here now, to secure the Reaper IFF that is here." he said, before then crossing his arms. "Why are you here, Tali?" The Quarian looked uncomfortable for a moment before sighing. "Well, if you must know. I am here to capture or kill a Geth that I have been chasing for the last several months. It is responsible for the deaths of a number of my people when it destroyed one of our patrol ships. I was dispatched with a team to take care of it, but my team was killed by the Husks not long after we entered the Reaper. Then you guys showed up." she said. "I think it's best we stay together now. Your ship looks a little too big for you to pilot yourself." Jack responded. "That's true, the ship was designed for a crew of six to pilot, I wouldn't be able to do it by myself." she replied, earning a smile from Jack as he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "We just need to pick up the IFF and then we can then take you back to the Flotilla." he replied. "That…would be great." she said in a less then enthusiastic tone that both Jack and Garrus noticed. But now wasn't the time to ask why, so the team and their newest member head on down the tunnel. Since being reunited with Tali, the team had moved through a number of tunnels and had not come up against a single Husk. Garrus then noticed a bright light shining from the far end of the tunnel they were currently in, so they followed the light until they entered a large circular room that had a large device in the middle, holding a blue energy ball in its center. "That is the power core I guess." Jack said as he turned to Tali. "Is there another way out of here that the Defiant can pick us up from." he asked, the Quarian activated her holo-tool and looked at the make shift map she had constructed from her scans. "That tunnel on the right will lead us to a damaged part of the Reaper's outer hull, but it has no atmosphere so we will need to use breathers. Plus once the gravity field is down, our shields wont stand a chance against the star's radiation. So your ship will have to be close." Jack nodded back. "Don't worry about that, Hotrod won't let us down." he replied as he noticed Garrus walking over to the power core and picking up a small object off of the control console next to it. "Jack, I have the IFF. It was just lying there." he said as he handed it to the Prime. "Well that's convenient, the scientists just left it here." Jack said. Garrus though just shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I don't mind it being this easy for once. Please don't jinx us." Jack then placed the IFF in his utility belt and activated his holo-tool and com link. "Teletraan, we have the IFF, now how do we disable the power core?" "Just make a connection between myself and the Power-core's control systems and I should be able to cause a shut-down of it's system. It will take time though." the AI responded. Jack then used his holo-tool and connected the AI to the system as all of a sudden a Husk crawled out from under the walkway and stood behind the Prime, ready to strike. Garrus turned around and shouted at his friend. "Jack, look out!" The Prime spun around to see the Husk bearing down on him, when suddenly a shot was fired and the Husk fell dead at his feet. Jack looked surprised at everyone. "Thanks!" he said to his team mates. "….Prime, we didn't do that." Zaeed said, making Jack look around before he froze in spot at the sight in front of him. The others looked too, Tali's eyes narrowed at what they all were looking at. At the other end of the room stood a Geth with Sniper rifle in its hands, it then lowered its weapon and looked directly at Jack. "Darby Commander." it said, surprising everyone. Tali though raised her shotgun at the Geth and was about to fire, when Jack suddenly stopped her. "What? It's a Geth, Jack. It's the one I have been chasing after." she said in anger, while the Prime looked back at her stoically. "Tali, that Geth just saved my life...and it spoke. I want to find out why, before anyone puts a bullet through it." Tali reluctantly agreed and Jack turned back to the Geth, but before he could say anything, three husks jumped it and sent the Geth onto the floor, disabling it. "Jack, you jinxed us." Garrus said as they saw more Husks climbing down the walls from the shadows above. The team took defensive positions around the core as Jack tapped his com link. "Teletraan, how much longer?" he asked as they opened fire on the invading husks who flooded into the room and attacked the group. "It will be down momentarily, please stand by." the AI responded as Tali took out three husks with her shotgun. Meanwhile Zaeed kicked one in the face before pointing his pistol at the face of another and pulled the trigger, exploding the Husks head. "Take that, you fucking zombies!" he screamed as more husks took the place of the ones he had just taken out. Garrus stood by Tali as he took out two Husks with his weapon that had nearly got hold of her, she smiled back in appreciation. "Thanks, Garrus." she replied happily, making the Turian blush. "Just like old times, Tali." he replied as she killed another husk. Meanwhile Jack had switch to the star-saber and skyboom shield and was slicing and beating through whichever husks got too close while waiting on the AI's response. Suddenly the energy globe in the center of the power core disappeared in a flash of light. "It is down, Prime, I suggest you move." Teletraan said as Jack sliced the head off of the last Husk. "Thanks, Teletraan. Tell Hotrod to get the Defiant over here now." he replied as he walked over to the Geth on the floor, still disabled from the Husk attack. "What are you doing, Jack?" Tali replied as Zaeed and Garrus joined them around the Geth. "We are taking it with us and I don't want any fuss." he replied before he then motioned the mercenary and the Turian to pick it up as the inhuman screams of more husks could be heard echoing out of the tunnel that they entered the room from. "Tali and myself will cover you guys, now go." he said as they picked up the body and headed to the rendezvous point. The Defiant pulled away from the docking point and flew around to the other side of the giant Reaper as Jack and his team (with their breather helmets on) made their way to the most outer edge of the ship's black hull. The Prime and the Quarian held back the husks with bursts of bullets from their weapons as the Defiant pulled up just away from them as they neared the platform's edge. The Husks kept coming as Zaeed and Garrus threw the Geth body towards the open airlock of the Defiant, the body gliding into it safely. They then jumped over, letting the force they used push them into the airlock too. Only Jack and Tali were left as the Prime tapped her shoulder and she took this as a sign to go and jumped over to the Defiant, getting caught by Garrus as he held her for a moment before letting her down. They then watched as Jack took one more slice with his star-saber. Cutting the head of a husk off it's body, the head floating away into space. He then turned and jumped over to the ship, as the radiation pounded his personal shield. But he landed perfectly in the air lock as he turned and punched the control panel, closing the outer door. "We're aboard, now get us out of here." he said into the inter com. The Defiant then pulled away from the dead reaper and flew out of its range at top speed, as the derelict was pulled into the Star's Corona-sphere, where it exploded moments later. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack stood in the science lab looking at the Geth body lying on the berth in front of him. Soundwave stood at the console to the right of the berth and tapped the screen, bring down an energy shield around the berth. "There, that level nine force field should keep it in place." the spymaster said as he joined the Prime's side. "I have also disconnected the computers in this lab from the Defiant's network. There will be no possible way for the Geth to hack our systems." Teletraan answered as it's hologram appeared on the table next to them. "Good, that means that I can activate it and find out why it was on that dead Reaper and why it saved me." Jack replied as activated his holo-tool. Suddenly Tali walked in and she didn't look happy, not that anyone could see her face but her body language showed she was pissed. "Jack, we need to talk." she said angrily as Garrus came in after her, looking apologetically at the Prime. "Sorry, Jack, couldn't stop her." Jack nodded back at his friend before looking around at the others. "Everyone out." he said sternly as he looked at Tali. Soundwave and Garrus walked out as Teletraan disappeared. Jack then took a breath. "Tali, I know it's been a while but you should know that I don't like people telling me what to do on my own ship." he said, trying to remain stoic like as anger tinged his voice. Tali looked away for a second before looking back at him. "Jack, do you have any idea what that Geth is?" she asked as she pointed at it. "It saved my life. I at least deserve to know why." he replied, crossing his arms, letting the Quarian know that he meant business. She though looked at him in a pleading like way. "Why? One act of good does not outweigh all the bad it has done. I mean.." she then started to sob as Jack's stern demeanour softened as he walked up to her and put his arms around her in an embrace, as she then cried openly. "I'm sorry, Tali." he said softly, she took a deep breath as she tried calm herself down. She looked up at him as they separated. "No, I'm sorry. You are right, this is your ship. I had no right to storm in here and talk to you like that." she replied. Jack directed her to a chair and she sat down as he sat on a chair adjacent to her. "You going to tell me what this is all about?" he asked as she sat there holding her hands together. "The reason I want that thing dead, is because it killed my father." Jack looked at her confused before he looked at her sympathetically. " I am very sorry, Tali. What happened?" he replied gently, which made the Quarian sigh in return. "Several months ago, my father Admiral Rael'Zorah and I came across a single Geth that was travelling alone. We thought it was not only strange that it was outside our home system, but to be by itself was even stranger. We captured it easily, it never put up a fight. We went through it's ships log and it had been to every place you had been to on the Normandy nearly two year ago. My father wanted to take it back to the Flotilla to be examined, I argued against it. Since the Admiralty board would not permit it anyway, but my father made a very compelling case. So we smuggled it aboard the Alarei. But then everything went wrong, the Geth reactivated itself and killed nearly everyone on board, including my father. I managed to get some survivors to the escape pods before the ship exploded. But despite the lives I saved, the Admirals did not take well to what my father and I did. So they exiled me." she said as she hung her head in shame. Jack didn't know what to say. His friend had lost everything, the only thing she had left was the need to avenge her father. But he had a mission to accomplish and this Geth could be of help, so he decided to make a compromise. "Tali, I know you want revenge, but I need you to understand that I need to speak to it. To find out why it saved me. If it says nothing of value, then I will let you kill it. But you have to trust me..." he said as she looked back up to him. "...Tali, do you trust me?" She slowly nodded in return. "Of course I trust you, Jack." she replied. Jack then stood up and offered her his hand, which she took and he helped her up. "I'm going to activate it. You can ride shotgun if you like?" he asked, she nodded in return as they walked over to the berth. Jack activated it with his holo-tool, electricity passing through the Geth as its fingers slowly started to move. It's optic powered up and it looked around before sitting up and looking at Jack and Tali. "Do you understand me?" Jack asked. "Yes." it answered. "Are you going to attack us?" "No" it replied. "Why, every other Geth that I have ever come across has tried to kill me." Jack replied as Tali stared daggers at the synthetic being. "We have not met." "No, you and I haven't, but I have met many other Geth." the Prime answered. "We are all Geth and we have not met you. You are Darby Commander, Alliance, first Human Prime. You fought the Heretics and was killed by Quintessons. You were then rediscovered on old machine." Jack looked at it with a puzzled look. "Old machine, you mean the Reaper?" "Reaper, crude title given by the Lithone, we call the entities the old machine." it answered back. Jack crossed his arms. "You seem to know a lot about me." he replied. "We mined through data found on all information networks produced by organics. We watch you." it answered looking at the Prime. "You watch me or organics?" Jack asked. "Both. Especially since the Heretics attacked your colonies." it said again, as it noticed the Quarian continued staring. "What do you mean Heretics?" the Prime said, regaining the Geth's attention. "Geth wish to build our own future, Heretics ask the old machine to give them the future. They are no longer part of our consensus. We were studying the old machine to find a way to protect our future." it answered. "Are the Reapers a threat to you too?" "Yes." Jack stepped forward towards the Geth, it stood up from the berth and copied the Prime. "So you are not aligned with the Reapers?" "We oppose the Heretics, we oppose the old machines. Darby Commander opposes the old machines and Heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals." it replied. Jack looked at it dumbstruck as did Tali. "Are you asking to join us?" he asked in disbelief. "Yes." it replied. Jack was about to lower the shield when Tali stepped forward. Jack felt like stopping her, but decided against it. "Do you remember me?" she asked coldly. The Geth looked at her. "Yes, you and your father captured us, stopped us from completing our set directive." Tali clenched her fists. "What directives?" she spat back as her anger started to boil over. "To find and join Darby Commander." it answered looking over at the Prime. Tali's eyes widened at the Geth's answer. "Is that how you justify killing nearly everyone on the Alerai?" she replied. "We did not wish for creator casualties..." it answered looking down in what Jack could only guess was shame. "...But creators did not give us any other choice. You fired on us the moment we reactivated, we had to defend ourselves." it answered, looking back at the Quarian. "You killed my father." she said, trying to hold back the tears, as her eyes welled up. "We are sorry for loss of creator life." it replied in an almost sympathetic tone. Tali stepped back as she felt her resolve disappear. She then turned and headed out of the door, only for Jack to stop her. "Tali, wait." he said. But she just looked back at him. "Jack, I need time, I just need…" she answered as the tears started to fall, she then walked out of the room, as Garrus revealed himself to be waiting outside. Jack nodded to the Turian who returned the nod before following the Quarian. Jack then looked back at the Geth as he deactivated the force field, before taking a breath. "I think you should stay out of her way for a while." Jack said stoically as the Geth looked towards where the Quarian had disappeared and then nodded in agreement. "We wish to integrate ourselves with Defiant crew, we do not wish to cause difficulties with ship consensus." it replied. "So what should I call you?" Jack asked. "Geth." it replied. "No, I mean the individual in front of me?" he said rephrasing the question. "We are all Geth, there are currently one thousand five hundred programs in this platform." Teletraan then appeared on the table next to Jack. "We are Legion, for we are many." Jack felt a small smile appear on his face at the AI's ingenuity. "That sounds about right." The Geth cocked it's head as it thought the name over. "Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark ,chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge that this is an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. We offer you our assistance against the old machines." Jack then held out his hand to Legion who looked at it before accepting and shaking it. "We will need some time to process the information from this day." it answered. Jack nodded in return before he turned around and walked out the lab, Soundwave entering at the same time as he stopped and looked at the Geth intrigued. The door then closed as Jack stood outside in the corridor, his com link then activated. "Prime, Teletraan here. We are installing the IFF now, it should take several hours to complete." the AI said. "Did you find any hidden booby traps or viruses on it?" the Prime asked. "Yes, there was a virus embedded inside its coding, but I have wiped it clean. It is now safe to use." it replied. "Very well. Give anyone not working on the IFF the evening off, because once it is installed, I want us heading to the Omega four subspace rift." he said stoically. "I will inform Hotrod and the team of your decision, Prime." Teletraan responded before deactivating the com. Jack then took a breath before heading to the elevator taking it up to his quarters. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack was sitting in his quarters, the night going by slowly as he was alone with his thoughts. In the morning he would lead the ship through the Omega four subspace rift to the Quintesson home world to stop them from attacking anymore human colonies. He had no idea what would be waiting on the other side of the rift, but that wouldn't stop him. As he sat there, his thoughts began to wonder back to the one person who wasn't with him right now. He activated his holo-tool and brought up a photo of Arcee. He smiled sadly as he looked at her image, he had really missed her since she left him on Horizon. What was she doing at this very moment, did she even miss him. He was so occupied with his own thoughts, he did not hear his door chime. But after another moment it chimed again, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Come in." he answered as he deactivated the holo-tool, the picture of his past love disappearing with it. He looked over to see Airachnid standing in the doorway. "May I come in?" she asked, the Prime nodded and she walked over to his desk and leaned up against it, looking down at him. "Can't sleep? He asked curiously. "Yeah, never could before a possible suicide mission." she joked, gaining a slight chuckle from Jack. He looked into her purple eyes as they stared back at his intently. "The others are playing a game of poker down in the common room that Zaeed set up, even the Geth is there asking questions." she said. Jack sat back and placed his hands behind his head. "So why aren't you down there with them?" She gave him a knowing smile in return. "Maybe I wanted to spend time with you." she answered suggestively. Jack stood up and walked over to the fish tank, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Airachnid, look.." he replied nervously as she walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Jack, I know what you are going through right now..." she said in a soft voice. "...Your lonely, I can see it easily. Because well, so am I." Jack looked at her and listened to her every word. "Since I came back, I have felt that due to what happened to Esmeral, that I wouldn't be able to get close to anyone and that has left me feeling incredibly empty inside. But since being 'reunited' with you, I have felt myself wanting to be closer to you, especially after what you did to help me on Cybertron, when you saved me from Shockwave. I want to thank you for that. To be with you tonight, because tomorrow we could both end up dead and I don't want to have any regrets." She then looked into his eyes as she leaned in close, he could feel her breath on his skin and it felt indescribable. "Just let me stay with you tonight?" she asked in a soft, almost pleading tone. Jack suddenly felt very conflicted, there was a part of him that wanted to stay loyal to Arcee, but then she had left him, ripping his heart out and taking it with her as the saying goes. This had left him feeling very much alone. There was now a deep void inside of him, that he felt that he needed to fill and here in front of him, now was a beautiful Femme who wanted him back just as much. He looked into her purple eyes as he ran his hand through her raven black pixie cut hair and pulled her close, pressing their lips together. It felt like electricity between them as they kissed. She then wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his own on her rear, squeezing it gently. She moaned in delight as her mouth opened, allowing him to slip his tongue inside. For a long moment their tongues fought before the two ended the kiss and looked at each other while smiling. "Come with me." she said seductively as she pulled him by his shirt to his desk. She then sat on it and opened her legs, allowing him stand between them as they kissed again. She moved her hands down to his shirt's buttons and ripped open the top and dropped it on the floor, surprising him as he stopped and looked at what she did. She then pulled him close again and kissed him as her hands glided over his torso, exploring every part of his physic. As Jack returned the kiss, he let himself relax and did not here as a door suddenly opened, before Airachnid pushed him. The force used against him was quite strong as he stepped back several steps into the bathroom and stopped right under the shower. It then activated and soaked his person in warm water as he looked up to the femme in surprise, but all he saw was her smiling back at him darkly as she walked into the bathroom and entered the shower with him. Letting the warm water soak her too as they embraced each other again. They kissed passionately and so hard it almost hurt as she moved a hand down into his pants, earning a moan of approval from the Prime. Jack smiled into their kiss, having missed this feeling for so long. They then pulled out of the kiss and took a breath as Airachnid then pulled her hand out of his pants and licked her fingers seductively in front of him. Jack then unzipped his flies as she undressed herself, exposing her athletic and beautiful figure to him. She then wrapped her arms around his neck again as he picked her up, her legs spread to either side of him as he lowered her onto him. She moaned out loud in ecstasy as she grabbed his shoulders and dug her nails in to his skin, drawing small droplets of blood, but this didn't stop Jack as he began thrusting into her while her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Their breaths became fast and heavy as he gained momentum with his thrusts into her, the warm water from the shower entering their mouths as they both moaned in pleasure. As the two continued like this, the bathroom door closed behind them as they let the world fade away around them while they concentrated on each other.
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CHAPTER 8 Soundwave hit the floor hard as Wrex held him down by his throat and growled lowly at him, his face mere inches away. This gained the attention of the other Krogan who had stopped working and gathered around to see what their leader was doing. "I am going to make you pay for what you did to my people." he seethed as the former con just stared at him blankly. "I said I….. ugh!" Soundwave managed before the Krogan tightened his grip. He then pulled the spymaster off the floor and held him up in the air. "I have no interest in what you have to say." The Krogan leader then suddenly felt a hand grip his shoulder. "Wrex, let Soundwave go. This isn't helping anyone." Jack tried to reason, but the Krogan's answer was to knock the Prime away. "Stay out of this, Jack." he growled as he then turned back to see the con trying to free himself from the battle master's iron grip, regaining his attention. "Don't think you can get out of that, I have something special planned for you." he said as a sly grin appeared on his face. He then walked off with Soundwave towards a pit that was just off to the left of where his throne was. The rest of the group just looked on in shock as Jack again tried to get through to the Krogan leader. "Wrex, I remember what you told me about the Decepticon occupation during the war, including them unleashing the genophage. But this is not the answer." Wrex turned sharply to look at the Prime. "Why do you care what happens to this scum?" he spat as the three of them neared the pit. At this close Jack could see that the pit was filled with varren, a vicious reptilian-like quadruped creature that the Krogan use as beasts of war. Jack looked back at his Krogan friend. "Because he is a member of my crew." Jack replied with an almost pleading tone. "Well you should have chosen your crew members more wisely Jack. Especially when they are considered war criminals. Now stay out of this!" the Krogan warned the Prime as he pushed him back again. Once Wrex had carried Soundwave to the edge of pit, he then held the former con over the edge. The varren below had noticed and growled in anticipation of their next meal as they looked up. The Krogan leader looked at the spymaster in his grip, but saw that his quarry was still blank faced, and this infuriated him. "Aren't you fearing for your life, Con?" he asked, feeling his blood boil at how blank faced his enemy was. Soundwave tried to speak, but found that his voice box was constricted by the Krogan's grip, so Wrex loosened his grip ever so slightly. "I don't fear death." he replied calmly. Wrex grinned back at him. "Good." he said as he let go and Soundwave started to fall as Jack and the others watched in horror. But then Soundwave grabbed Wrex's hand and pulled him in too as they both landed hard on the floor of the pit. Jack and the others stood at the edge and watched as the creatures slowly surrounded their prey. Both the spymaster and Krogan recovered from the fall and stood up as Wrex now fully enraged, charged at Soundwave. Throwing a punch which the former Con caught easily. The battle master grunted as Soundwave looked around them, causing Wrex to look too. They saw that the varren were circling them both, preparing to strike as they bared their fangs, drool dripping from their mouths and on to the floor. "I suggest we work together to survive this." Soundwave said as Wrex looked back at him, thinking about it for a second before his eyes narrowed back. The former con then got his answer as Wrex punched him, knocking the spymaster onto the ground. "Never!" he spat as one varren launched itself at the Krogan who caught it in his hands. Its powerful jaws snapping at him as he held it away from his face. Wrex then growled and threw it into another varren that had gotten too close. Wrex then readied himself for another attack, as Soundwave recovered on the floor. The spymaster turned his head to the left to see a varren charging at him, fangs bared. The former Con got up quickly as he narrowly missed becoming stuck in the creature's mouth as it lunged at him. The two of them found themselves back to back as the varren that had attacked them and failed rejoined the others and circled them once again. Both Soundwave and Wrex looked over their shoulders to each other. Wrex stared daggers at the former con, while the later just looked back at him coldly, but they both knew that they couldn't finish their spat while the varren were around. Then the animals attacked all at once and the two battled against the creatures. Jack and the others watched in shock and awe as they saw the two below them combating the creatures together. Before long there was only two varren left, Soundwave and Wrex had knocked out the others and now it was one on one. Soundwave took a defensive stance as his varren charged at him and leapt. The spymaster stepped aside and grabbed one of its legs as it flew past. He then pulled causing it swing round and then let go, making it fly head first into the wall. He then turned to see that Wrex was on the floor with the last varren on top of him, attempting to bite the Krogan. But Wrex reached out to a rock that was on the floor next to him. He grabbed it and smacked the varren in the face, knocking it out. He then got up panting heavily, when he remembered his unfinished business and spun around to find Soundwave pointing his sonic blaster at him. "I knew you couldn't fight fair, you Decepticons are all the same. That is why we Krogan are 'superior' to you." he spat at the spymaster who just stared at him. "I could have used this weapon at any time, but I chose not to." Soundwave responded. Wrex looked at him confused. "What are you trying to prove?" he asked. Soundwave then lowered his weapon and his expression took on a calm tone. "I never came here to fight, like I was trying to say. I require your assistance to find someone who is hiding here on Tuchunka." "Why, why would you need my help?" Wrex replied angrily. The blank expression on the spymaster's face softened in front of the Krogan Leader. "Because I believe that the person I am looking for, is the one responsible for the number of Krogan who have mysteriously gone missing in the last few months." Wrex's eyes widened as he stared in shock at what he just heard. "How do you know about that?" Shockwave activated his holo-tool and gestured to the Krogan to look at the screen. Wrex growled slightly and clenched his fists as he reluctantly walked over and looked down at the former con's holo-tool. "While I have been helping Jackson Prime against the Quintesson threat to humanity, I have also been trying to track a signal…." he said before being cut of by a third voice. "Hey, how about you two get up here and let us in on the discussion..." Jack called down. Garrus stepped beside the Prime and smiled. "Or you can get back to the fight you nearly had." he joked, gaining a glare from Jack. Once the two were out of the pit, Wrex had told his men to get back to work, gaining an disgruntled response from the Krogan, who had wanted to see their leader deal with the spymaster. Now Jack, Airachnid and Garrus stood with Soundwave and Wrex as the former con showed everyone the data on his holo-tool. "After our fight with Frenzy on Omega..." he said sadly. "...I went through the data that I retrieved from his neural net and discovered a very specific code. One that I did not recognise, not until I compared it to the data you had collected from Virmire and Horizon." Jack gave him a knowing look. "The code was of Reaper origin, wasn't it." Soundwave nodded and showed them the code on his holo-tool. "I searched through every information network in the Council and Terminus systems until I found a match. That match is here on Tuchunka." Wrex looked at him unconvinced. "And why do you think this has anything to do those of my people who have gone missing." Jack looked over at his Krogan friend, concern written on his face. "You have people missing? Fuck me, Wrex. Why didn't you mention this before?" Jack asked, his patience starting to thin. "We assumed that it was one of the clans that opposed Udnot. Because of the genophage there are still Krogan dying here on our world, and not enough newborns to take their place. So this has all become just part of our lives now." Wrex replied looking down at the floor in shame. He then looked up to see that Soundwave was looking away guiltily. He was going to say something but then saw Jack glaring back at him, so decided against it. Jack then looked to the spymaster. "So you believe that whoever had Frenzy brainwashed….." as he said that he noticed Airachnid flinch at his comment, trying to hide the discomfort it gave her. "…is also abducting Krogan, for what purpose?" Soundwave just shook his head in response. Jack then thought for a moment while everyone looked at him. "The last time anyone abducted Krogan was back on Virmire." the Prime said. "But that was Saren, and he is dead now…..right?" Garrus replied, a little unsure for a second. Jack gave him a slight grin. "Yes, he is dead. I doubt he could survive without his head, but there was someone working with him, who is not dead." Garrus eyes widened a little as he remembered. "Sideways!" he exclaimed, gaining a nod from Jack while Soundwave and Airachnid looked at them surprised. "Sideways? I thought he died during the war?" the Femme asked. Soundwave shook his head in response as Jack looked over to her. "No, he didn't. We found out he was working with Saren, a rogue Spectre who was trying to assist the Reaper named Sovereign bring the rest of the Reapers into our galaxy to purge it of all organic life." the Prime replied. Soundwave then turned to Wrex. "Will you work with me to stop Sideways or whoever it is that has been abducting your people?" Wrex looked at him, thinking it over. "Alright, but don't think that this one deed will exonerate you of the part you played in my people's agony for the last several hundred years." Soundwave merely nodded in return and the two started going over the details on the spymaster's holo-tool, leaving the others somewhat surprised. Because only a few short minutes ago, Wrex was trying to kill Soundwave. But now they were working together.. though reluctantly. Jack though had a small smile growing on his face, Airachnid noticed this and looked at Jack, slightly confused. "What are you smiling about?" Jack looked at her. "I just have a feeling that everything will be alright." he said confidently. She just cocked her head and smiled back. "Well aren't you optimistic, it's kind of cute." she replied with a smile. Jack looked back at her and blushed slightly. "Thanks." he replied as the two of them and Garrus joined Soundwave and Wrex. PRIME EFFECT 2 For the last couple of hours, the group had used shuttle one to investigate a number of the locations where Krogan had gone missing, Soundwave had examined each area for clues before setting off towards the next site. After the fourth landing, he finally believed he had enough data to triangulate the location from where all these abductions originated from and they were heading there now. "We are approaching the destination, Prime." the pilot called back as the Jack and the others sat in silence. "Set us down just outside the area. We don't want…" the Prime was cut off by Soundwave who showed him a scan of the area on his holo-tool that showed no patrols. "How did you get that?" Wrex asked suspiciously. Soundwave looked over to him, his expression unreadable. "I merely linked my holo-tool to one of the Krogan satellites in orbit and ran a scan of the area..." he said stoically. "...I was the Decepticon's head of intelligence." Wrex looked away unimpressed. Jack turned to the Krogan. "By the way, Wrex, I had some trouble getting through the front door to see you earlier, one Krogan tried to stop me and I had to break his arm." the Prime said in a matter of fact like tone, gaining a chuckle from Airachnid who remembered it fondly. "That must have been Grunt, the kid means well and is a Krogan to the core. But he is still very much a whelp." Wrex chuckled. Jack looked back at the pilot. "Drop us off where Soundwave says." he ordered as Soundwave got up and walked up to the pilot and gave him the coordinates. The Shuttle landed in the middle of an area surrounded by ruins and large piles of rubble as the wind picked up, blowing the dust around and making it hard to see as the group exited the shuttle and made their way to the large building that Soundwave's evidence had pointed to. Jack took point and equipped his mattock rifle as the others readied their own weapons, before entering the building. It looked abandoned as the first few rooms they searched were completely empty but then they turned a corner, they found the first sign that something was up. A large metal door blocked their path and looked far to new and advanced to have been there originally. Soundwave looked at Jack who nodded back and the spymaster used his holo-tool to hack the door. It then opened up slowly and everyone froze in place as they looked on at the horror that the door was hiding. What they saw was scores of berths with Krogan corpses lying upon them. The group entered the room as Wrex ran up to one of the beds, only to find that the body there was already dead. It had its torso opened up and all its organs removed. Soundwave scanned the room with his holo-tool. As the others looked at the bodies, each one was missing something. Either a head, or its limbs or organs, it was a horrific sight. The floor was covered in large blood stains that stunk up the place. Jack looked over to Wrex who's eyes were narrowing as his anger was building up. "Every one of these Krogan are dead." the spymaster said in a sympathetic tone. Jack noticed that Soundwave's face looked disturbed and in pain at what he saw. 'Does he regret what the Decepticons did to the Krogan?' Jack thought to himself as Wrex had noticed this too and due to his building rage, decided to get in the former con's face about it. "It's a little late to be feeling guilty now, Con." he spat, gaining a glare from Soundwave who for the first time since Jack had seen him, looked angry. "I am not a Decepticon anymore, if you hadn't noticed the war has been over for a long time now. We lost." Wrex chuckled at the comment. "Yeah I know, we all cheered and laughed at your expense..." he retorted as Soundwave clenched his hands into fists. "...But you're not going to make me believe that you suddenly feel something for all pain you caused us." Wrex finished. "I was a loyal soldier to Megatron, and did everything that he ordered. But not once did I ever have to witness the results up close." Wrex growled at the comment. "So you think that, because you have now seen exactly what your war did to my planet that you have the right to feel sorry." he spat back. "No, nothing I say or do will make up for the centuries of pain we caused you. All I can do now is try to help people in any way I can." Soundwave replied, his voice full of emotion. Jack stood between the two and looked at them both stoically. "Why don't we save this until after we have completed this mission." he then looked at Wrex. "Save your anger for the one responsible for all of this." the Prime said as he gestured to the bodies around them, causing Wrex to nod back quietly. The Prime then turned to Soundwave. "Which way?" he said calmly. The former con pointed to the door at the far end of the room and the team walked up to it and opened the door to see two beings talking to each other in the room. Both Wrex and Jack's eyes widened as they recognised them. One was Uvenk, the Krogan clan leader Jack saw with Wrex earlier. The other was the former Con that Arcee had killed but his body had disappeared moments later on Ilos, Sideways. The two were talking as the group entered the room. They took cover instantly before the two figures had a chance to spot them. Wrex growled lowly at the sight of one of his own affiliating with a piece of filth like Sideways. "I'm gonna kill that traitorous Pyjak." he whispered as Jack grabbed his shoulder, making the Krogan look at him. "Wrex, you can put him through as much pain as you want, but first we need to find out why they are here." He whispered back stoically. Wrex nodded as a slight smile appeared on his face. "Okay, Jack, but he is mine and mine alone." he replied as he looked at the others who all nodded in agreement, they all he looked at the two talking in front of them. "So you have enough of my people now to complete your work and make us strong again?" Uvenk asked while looking at one of the blue holo-screens. Sideways turned to him, a dark smile on his face. "Oh, yes. Thanks to your fine work. I have enough members of your race here to ensure that my work is a success and rest assured, it will make your race strong again." Uvenk nodded as he his attention shifted towards the large metal door that took up the centre of the back wall. "So what do you have behind this wall that requires a reinforced Cybertitanium-door?" He asked, as his curiosity got the better of him. Sideways expression turned serious as he stepped between the Krogan and the door. "It's just a little side project of mine that in no way involves you." Uvenk felt a tinge of hurt at the comment. If it hadn't been for his help in setting up the facility and gaining the test subjects for Sideways, then all that he was about to gain would not have happened. So he was going to remind his partner of this. "Sideways, do I have to remind you that..." he was suddenly cut off by the feel of vibrations directly behind his head. So he turned to see a human-like man in purple armour standing behind him, vibrations emanating from his open hand. Sideways smile reappeared as he relaxed his posture. "You must forgive Rumble, he doesn't like it when my business partners attempt to talk back at me." Uvenk shook his head as he looked between the two of them. "No, that's not what I was doing, I was merely.." Sideways slammed his fist down on the piece of machinery next to him, leaving a deep impression in the spot he hit, making the Krogan wince. He then looked at Uvenk, his eyes looking very stoic. But the Krogan could see a rage building below the surface. "Uvenk, I grow tired of your constant prattle, you should remember that I can get the help of any of your people should I wish it." He then pointed at the screen to his left. Uvenk looked at it nervously as he felt he presence of Rumble behind him. On the screen was a formula and images of two DNA strands. One said genophage infected the other said clean. His eyes widened in awe of what he saw. "You have the cure!" he exclaimed. Sideways smiled darkly. "I told you, I would deliver. And not only will it cure the disease that has inflicted so much pain and death upon your people, but it will also make you stronger. From their position behind cover, Jack, Garrus and Wrex all gave each other knowing looks as it dawned on them what the cure was. 'The Reaper infected cure from the Virmire facility.' Jack thought to himself as the looked back out to the two figures talking. "Now the cure can be yours so that you can make your clan strong and dominate the others with ease, ensuring that you lead your people and not clan Urdnot. But if you try at all to break our arrangement, then I am sure that one of the other clans will be just as willing to work with me." Uvenk shook his head as he realised what he could lose. "Okay, you have made your point. I will obey." Sideways though just looked at him uninterested as he walked past him and stopped, looking out at the machinery on the other side of the room. "Unfortunately, I think we will have to terminate you for having been followed here." the Con said as he pointed in Jack's direction, turning to face them. "You might as well show yourselves." he said out loud, a confident smile on his face. Then Jack and the others stood up, weapons trained on the three of them. Sideways smile disappeared at the sight of the Prime. "Well….what a pleasant surprise, Prime. You're looking good for a dead man." Jack tightened his grip on the trigger as he stared at the former con. "Wish I could say the same, Sideways. How are you even standing here?" Sideways smile returned as he pointed to his chest. "Oh, you mean after that Femme-bitch of your's shot me in the spark chamber. Well let's just say that I have friends in high places." he answered cryptically. "You mean the Reapers." Jack concluded, trying to keep a lid on the anger he felt for what Sideways had just called Arcee, this made his enemy's smile grow larger as he remained silent. He then looked at Uvenk. "You want to redeem yourself, then kill the intruders." The Krogan looked at Wrex as the other growled lowly and his eyes narrowed at the traitor. Sideways then turned to Rumble. "Attack and be sure to make a mess." he said, gaining a nod from the mini con who then raised his hands at Jack's group, his hands started to shake as he fired vibration waves in their direction, making them dive out of the way as the ground and machines around them shook and exploded. Sideways started to walk away as Uvenk equipped his shotgun and charged at Wrex who was recovering. But as the former con headed for the exit, Jack jumped at him with the star-saber, bringing it down on Sideways who pulled out his katana to block the attack. Their blades clashed causing a bright purple light to emit from the katana. Jack's eyes widened before Sideways pushed him back, gaining some distance between the two. He then raised the sword, it was glowing a very distinctive purple. "Recognise this?" he said with a dark grin. "Megatron's Dark Star-saber!" Jack exclaimed in disbelief. Sideways took a casual pose in front of the Prime, like he didn't take Jack seriously as a threat. "I prefer Dark Saber, a shorter and much more threatening name. Don't you think?" he replied as Jack took a stance and raised the Star-saber, Sideways copying as the two stood there before charging at each other and clashing their blades together once more. Meanwhile Garrus, Airachnid and Soundwave were firing at Rumble, the spymaster more reluctant than the others as the mini con jumped between the group and punched his fist to the ground, producing a small earthquake around them. The three of them lost their footing and fell to the ground as Rumble rose back up. "Get ready to die, thanks to Rumble." He said victoriously as he raised his hand at Airachnid and prepared to fire vibration waves directly at her, but then Soundwave recovered and tackled the mini con to the ground and pinned him there. Meanwhile both Krogan were beating the crap out of each other as Wrex got the upper hand by landing another blow on Uvenk. "Why? Why the hell did you side with that Decepticon scum?" he screamed as he punched the traitor in the chest, making him fall to his knees as blood was seeping from cuts on his face. "After what he did to our people on Virmire, how could you?" he shouted while hitting Uvenk again, knocking him to the floor. The traitor tried to recover, but was knocked down by the Urdnot leader stamping his foot onto Uvenk's back and forcing him down to the floor. Wrex then equipped his shotgun and aimed it at the traitor's head. "Answer me!" he shouted. Uvenk coughed up some blood before looking up at the victor. "Because Con or not, he promised me that I would lead our people to our true destiny." Wrex felt his rage almost burst out as he applied more pressure to Uvenk's back. "No, you would just lead them into the hands of the Reapers. And for that, you must die." Wrex then pulled the trigger, exploding the traitor's head. It's insides splattering across the ground. He then looked up to Jack and Sideways in the middle of a sword fight and the others with Rumble. Jack noticed Wrex while clashing blades with his adversary. "Wrex, help the others. I've got this." he called back, gaining a nod from the Krogan who charged down to the other fight. Sideways smirked as the two fought. "You really should have called for his help, Prime." he said as Jack pushed him back before swinging the star-saber at his Dark saber again. "I think that I can handle you by myself." the Prime replied, only making Sideways chuckle in response. "I don't think so..." he answered as he jumped and spin kicked the Prime in the face, knocking him to the ground. As Jack recovered Sideways sheathed his blade and gloated. "...until next time, Jack." he spat as he turned and ran down the corridor towards the exit. Jack picked himself up and looked over to the others while Soundwave had Rumble pinned. Airachnid looked up at Jack. "Go get him, we've got this, Jack." The Prime nodded and bolted after Sideways, as Soundwave tried to interface with Rumble's mind using the tentacles that grew out of his fingers. "Oh, no you don't." Rumble spat as he grabbed the Spymaster's arm and sent vibrations through his arm, making his former friend scream in pain. Rumble then kicked Soundwave off of him and got up before sending more vibration waves through the ground towards Garrus and Airachnid, making them dive away yet again. Jack ran down the corridor trying to catch up with Sideways, when he turned a corner he could see daylight up ahead and what appears to be a ship. As he got closer he could see Sideways standing there with an object in his hand. The former con pressed down hard on the device, causing Jack to stop when he heard a loud beeping around him. He looked on the walls and ceiling to see charges primed to explode. 'Shit!' he thought as he doubled back just in time to evade the charges exploding and bring a couple hundred tonnes of concrete down, sealing off the tunnel. Sideways smiled as he turned and entered the ship, it taking off and flying up and out of the planet's atmosphere soon after. Jack picked himself up as he coughed out the dust that the collapsed concrete had brought up, as he then turned round and doubled back. Knowing that his friends would need his help. Rumble had Garrus and Airachnid beaten as they lay on the floor, he raised his hand and fired vibration waves directly onto them, making them cry out as immense pain ripped through their bodies. He then caught in the corner of his eye, Wrex charging toward him. So he raised his other hand and fired at the Krogan, making him fall to his knees as the same pain ripped through his own. Rumble smiled as he started to kill them with the vibrations. Soundwave recovered to see his former mini con slowly killing his friends…yes his friends. He couldn't let this happen, so he picked up a piece of broken piping that one of Rumble's attacks had broken off and impaled him through the chest. The mini con screamed as he stopped his attacks and grabbed at the pipe that was sticking out of him, liquid flowing from the wound. He fell to the ground, only to have Soundwave catch him in his arms. Rumble looked up at him and Soundwave saw his expression change from hate to the youthful friend that he remembered. "Sound…wave, is….that you?" Rumble asked as Airachnid and the others recovered and stood around the two just as Jack ran back into the room. "Yes, Rumble, it's me." the Spymaster replied, his voice full of emotion. The mini con managed a small smile in response despite the pain he was in, but then his face saddened as he remembered what he did. "I am so sorry, I could not control myself. Sideways, he…." he said before Soundwave cut him off. "It wasn't your fault, the most important thing now is that you are free of it." Jack looked over to Airachnid who he could se was being effected by the conversation, obviously bringing back painful memories. So he walked over to her and put his arm around her, gaining a sad smile from her as a silent thank you, before they both looked back at the spymaster and his friend. "Soundwave, you have to enter that room." he said pointing toward the large door at the back. The spymaster looked at the door and then back, confused. "Why?" Rumble coughed up some fluid as he fought through the pain he felt in his chest. "Because Sideways has created something, something that can turn Cybertronians against each other." Soundwave shook his head in response. "No, I have to get you to our medical bay and repair you. Because with Laserbeak and Frenzy now one with the Allspark. You and Ravage are the only family I have left." he replied as he felt his eyes well up. Rumble though stared back at him stoically. "No, there is no time. I am already as good as dead. But if that thing gets out, it will spell the end for all Cybertronians." Soundwave looked down at Rumble and saw his strong conviction and had no answer to it. So he reluctantly nodded in agreement. Rumble smiled in response. "Don't worry, Boss-Bot. We will….meet again when….you…..rejoin the All….spark." Rumble's eyes then glazed over and his body went limp in Soundwave's arms, making the spymaster weep for his fallen friend. Jack walked over to the former con and placed his hand on his shoulder in support. "I am very sorry, Soundwave, but we should respect his wishes and take care of what ever experiment that Sideways has left in there." he said in a sympathetic yet stoic manner. Soundwave placed Rumble's body onto the ground gently, before standing up and wiping the tears off his face. He then looked back at Jack, his face back to it's emotionless state and nodded. PRIME EFFECT 2 The team then walked over to the large metal door, readying their weapons as Soundwave hacked the door controls with his holo-tool. The door then slowly opened revealing an larger room, but in its center was a large tank filled with a strange liquid. As the team moved closer, they could see a large figure inside the tank. Wrex and Garrus took a close look at the figure and noticed some horrifying similarities. "Ugh, is it me, or does that thing have a Turian head." Garrus said, while Wrex looked at the body. "It looks like it has been made up from the body parts of my people." Jack took a scan of it with his holo-tool. "It's definitely made up of multiple Krogan. And it has a Turian head, but the insides of this abomination are all synthetic, not unlike the husks." Garrus had to look away from the figure, and saw something just as horrifying. "I found the body that the head belonged to." he said while pointing over to the body sprawled out on the floor, it's head missing. "Well, we have to destroy this thing either way." Jack said, trying to keep everyone's attention on their mission. Airachnid got closer to the tank, looking for a weak spot. "Maybe we can set charges and blow this thing up. I still don't see how this thing will spell doom for our race." she questioned. But suddenly the creature's eyes lit up and it looked up at the people outside of the tank. Everyone tensed up and aimed their weapons at it, as it started to move around the tank. It's eyes then fell onto Soundwave and Airachnid and suddenly the two former cons could hear a ringing in their minds, as it got louder and more painful. Jack and the others looked on in shock as both the Femme and the spymaster held their heads in their hands as they both screamed in pain. Jack got up close to Airachnid to try and help her but suddenly she stopped, as did Soundwave. She looked at Jack before an expression appeared on her face, a look Jack remembered from years back as an evil smile grew on her face. "Airachnid, it's me Jack. You remember me, right?" he asked in a gentle tone. But her answer was to hit the Prime squarely in the face as Soundwave attacked Garrus and Wrex, knocking them both down. Jack tried to recover but Airachnid jpounces on him and tries to stab her escrima stick into his face as he grabs the end of it and holds it off. "Guys, could use a hand here." he shouts while struggling to keep the Femme from killing him. Wrex recovers immediately and tackles the her off of the Prime while Soundwave picks on Garrus. Jack gets up just in time to see the creature break out of the tank and charge at him. The Prime rolls out of his way and equips the star-saber, slicing a chunk of flesh off of the creature as it runs past. He then looks back to his friends. "Keep those two busy, while I take care of this. And don't kill them, they are under a temporary indoctrination I think." he says before jumping out of the way of the creature's following attack. Garrus though is having no luck as Soundwave beats the hell out of him. He looks over to Wrex who seems to be having an easier time with Airachnid. "Hey, I thought you and he had a thing going. How about we trade dance partners?" Wrex grabbed Airachnid by the face and threw her to the ground before chuckling at the sight of Garrus getting hit repeatedly. "Okay, you little Pyjak, let's swap." he replied before charging into the spymaster, giving the Turian a breather for a second as Airachnid looked at him with an evil glee. "Oh great!" he said out loud. Jack meanwhile was taking swipes at the Brute with his blade, but then it hit him with a back-hand, knocking him across the ground. He picked himself up and spat out a little blood that was building up in his mouth from the hit. 'Right then, time to end you!' he thought as the brute prepared to charge at him. Jack held the star-saber over his head and concentrated on it, making the blade glow brighter and brighter. The Brute then charged at him as Jack swung the blade down, unleashing a energy wave that ripped through the ground as it closed in on the charging creature. Then in the blink of an eye the wave passed right through it, making the beast stop in its tracks. Jack collapsed to his knees from the exhaustion that using the saber that caused, but he looked up to see the brute look at him confused right before a line appeared on its face and then spread up and down its body. Finally the Beast then split in two pieces that fell away from each other as it's insides plopped on the floor in the middle. Jack then looked over to see both Airachnid and Soundwave stop fighting the others as the two looked around each other confused for a moment. Then the femme's purple eyes saw Jack and he instantly saw a change in her expression as tears started to fall from her eyes as she remembered what she nearly did. Jack went over to her and put his arms around her, embracing the femme as she cried into his neck. "I am so sorry, Jack. I had no control over my actions. I could only watch." she cried as Jack tried to calm her down. " It was not your fault, We couldn't have known what would happen when that beast woke up." he replied as she lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes, the others watching the two of them curiously. "But I nearly…" she sobbed as the tears continued to flow. "…I couldn't go through that again, losing someone I care about because I was…" she stopped as she realised what she had just said and looked at Jack, who tried to hide the surprise he felt from hearing her admission with a look of understanding and failing a little. She stepped back from him embarrassed but he then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Neither you nor Soundwave should feel guilty about what happened. This was not your doing, it was Sideways. Always remember that." he said to both of them before looking back to the Femme in front of him. Airachnid noticed out of the corner of her eye that while Jack was holding her shoulder, he was also subtly stroking it with his thumb in a sign of affection. This action warmed her spark as she let a smile grace her lips. "You're right, Jack." she replied as she calmed down. Jack then turned away from her and walked up to the brute's corpse. "Rumble was right about this abomination, this brute. If we hadn't stopped it, who knows how many Cybertronians it could have indoctrinated. But it's dead, another one of Sideways schemes for the Reapers stopped. And we didn't lose a single team member doing it." he said as he remembered Miko, Kaidan and Wheeljack. Garrus stood beside Jack, he had a feeling he knew what the Prime was thinking. "I know they would be proud, Jack." he said gently, gaining a smile from the Human. "I know." the Prime replied, he then sighed as he turned to the team. "Well, let's download whatever information we can salvage from the computers here before we go." The others nodded as Soundwave walked up to the Brute's corpse and started probing its split in half brain with his finger tentacles, gaining a shocked look from Garrus, "Soundwave, why? I am standing right here." he asked with embarrassment and disgust in his voice. Once they were done, the group were standing outside the building with the shuttle landing behind them as they said their goodbyes to Wrex. Airachnid boarded first as Soundwave and Wrex looked at each other for a moment, a look of reluctant understanding from the Krogan as he nodded. The spymaster nodded in kind and entered the shuttle leaving just Jack and Garrus. The Turian then shook the Krogan leader's hand. "It was good to see you again, Wrex. Nice to know sitting on your throne hasn't dulled you reflexes and senses." Wrex gave him a knowing grin. "Careful, Garrus, or do you want to be reminded how you got your ass handed back to you by a Femme." Garrus's face went pale for a sec before he chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Funny, Wrex. Until next time." Garrus then entered the shuttle, while the Krogan then looked at Jack. "Well I don't know where you found her, but that Airachnid sure is a good fighter. Though I have to say, I was hoping to see Arcee with you." Jack looked down to the ground at the mention of her name, as he sighed not wanting his friend to see the pain he felt. "Yeah, well she feels that she can't trust me anymore." he answered honestly. Wrex saw this and patted Jack on the arm. "Hey, she'll come round." he said trying to cheer the Prime up. Jack though knew how stubborn Arcee could be and knew the chances were remote to say the least. "And if not, send her to me and I'll straighten her out." the Krogan said with a grin. Jack though looked back at him surprised. "Really, do you handle your own females like that?" Wrex suddenly looked a little nervous as he looked around them before looking back at Jack, "Well, don't tell anyone this, but it is the other way round." Jack chuckled at the comment and the picture that had just formed in his mind. He then looked back at the shuttle. "You sure we can't give you a lift back to your base?" he asked. "Thanks, but I already called for help. It should be here soon, we have a lot of bodies in there to bury." Jack looked at him, guilt forming in his mind. "I am sorry we couldn't save any of them, Wrex." he replied sheepishly. "Don't go blaming yourself, Jack, especially after the speech you gave the others only thirty minutes ago. Blame Sideways, I do." Jack nodded in return. "I will. Thanks, Wrex." he then looked at the landscape before looking back at the Krogan. "You know, you could always join us on the Defiant." Wrex smiled as he thought about it. "It's tempting, Jack. It was a lot of fun fighting beside you again. It made me think about the old days. But I have responsibilities now, I can't walk away from them you understand." he replied. "Yes, I know what you mean. I should get going, see you round, Wrex." Jack said as they both shook hands before Jack entered the shuttle. "You too, Jack." Wrex replied as Jack smiled back at him before the hatch closed and the shuttle took off into the cloud covered sky above. PRIME EFFECT 2 At the far end of the system, Sideways ship was heading toward the local space bridge. The former con was sitting in the cockpit, the only light in there was emanating from the red holo-screens and controls. He then shivered as he felt another presence in the room with him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. "Yes, it was successful…..it took complete control of them." he stated out loud, though there was no one physically in the room with him. He expression faulted a second later. "No, I lost the Prototype, that damned Prime interfered…." he was cut off by his face been flipped to the right as if he had been hit hard, and then again from the opposite side. He grimaced in pain as he shivered in his chair. "Please…..I will make it right…I swear." he grovelled as he was hit again, knocking his head up. Then as he recovered he looked straight ahead like he was listening to some one, he then sighed heavily. "Thank you….I will see that it is done,…..master." he replied. Then his shivering stopped as he felt the presence fade away and he was once again alone in the cockpit, he then took control of the ship and piloted it into the swirling vortex of the space bridge.
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The full review for BadCube's OTS-14 SteamRoll is up. http://kumastyledesigns.com/badcube-steamroll-review/ This one was a fun one to break down as it's definitely a piece with its highs and lows. The review goes into good depth but overall I'd say it's a solid piece and good buy but not likely to be the last SideSwipe figure you'll purchase even if a better one is years out. Here are some pics from the gallery portion:
- Yesterday
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MAKETOYS LIGHTNING & SKYCROW MTRM-13/12 Thundercracker & Skywarp CHILL COMPARISON REVIEW
TMan978 posted a topic in Transformers Reviews
Starscream had many months to shine. Now it's time. Now let's see what Thundercracker and Skywarp have to offer. -
New Images Magic Square MS-01 Unofficial Masterpiece Style Optimus Prime Proto
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Following the reveal previously announced this month. Thanks to Stanley Cheung of the Hobbymizer group. We have some new images showing more of the Magic Square MS-01 Unofficial Masterpiece Style Optimus Prime. The new uncolored shots of the prototype. Appear to being showing off the extensive detailing and articulation that is featured on this figure. The figure' hands and alternate truck cab mode are especially notable. Read on to see more images of the Magic Square MS-01 Unofficial Masterpiece figure below. View the full article -
Millennium Falcon Out of Box Images - Star Wars Powered By Transformers
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Thanks to Jimmy Yu on Hobbymizer Hong Kong Discuss for sharing images of the Takara Tomy Star Wars Powered By Transformers Millennium Falcon set. Get a look at this more than meets the eye toy that breaks into separate Chewbacca and Han Solo robots with their own weapons and even a tiny set of micro-figures. View the full article -
Summer is here along with over 1000 items now on sale for the first time. In addition to all the new items, even deeper discounts can be found on thousands of other great products. View the full article
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Hi, Here is a quick update from www.robotkingdom.com. #1 Hot Items! Marvel Legends 2018 Deadpool Wave 2 Case of 8. New Listings Preorder. Available in mid July 2018. View the full article
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MP-43 Beast Wars Masterpiece Megatron In Figure King Magazine- Accessories Revealed!
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Twitter user @RYO has shared images of part of this month's Figure King magazine, specifically a feature on MP-43 Megatron. This gives us a lot more insight on the upcoming Masterpieve figure of Beast Wars Megatron, not least of which is the accessories that will come with it. Some of it appears to be support parts to use with MP Dinobot's stand in order to pose Megatron lifting Dinobot by the head. But in terms of regular accessories, we now know that besides the energy blast effect we'd seen already, plus two option faces, Megatron will come with a rifle, as seen in the episode "Call of The Wild", and yes, a toothbrush for the dinosaur head! Sadly no sign of a rubber duck or the Alien Disk, but we'll still count this as a victory. Keep reading to see the pictures, and find out why there's an inset with most of Megatron's beast mode parts removed. View the full article -
MP-43 Beast Wars Masterpiece Megatron In Figure King Magazine- Accessories Revealed!
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Twitter user @RYO has shared images of part of this month's Figure King magazine, specifically a feature on MP-43 Megatron. This gives us a lot more insight on the upcoming Masterpieve figure of Beast Wars Megatron, not least of which is the accessories that will come with it. Some of it appears to be support parts to use with MP Dinobot's stand in order to pose Megatron lifting Dinobot by the head. But in terms of regular accessories, we now know that besides the energy blast effect we'd seen already, plus two option faces, Megatron will come with a rifle, as seen in the episode "Call of The Wild", and yes, a toothbrush for the dinosaur head! Sadly no sign of a rubber duck or the Alien Disk, but we'll still count this as a victory. Keep reading to see the pictures, and find out why there's an inset with most of Megatron's beast mode parts removed. View the full article - Last week
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Ebay is BACK with their shopping coupon for summer! They are offering $15 off all Transformers and everything else they are listing when you buy $75 USD more - Today Only. You can get the discount at check by using the coupon code PSUPERSUMMER. According to the official site, you can use this until 7:00 PM PST. This could be a good time to pick up that figure you been hunting for so long, or just load up on those missing wave pieces. View the full article
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Dude, I think you got it down. Nice!
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GET PRIMED! Sega Transformers Shadows Rising Arcade Game
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
TRANSFORMERS Shadows Rising, the long-awaited follow up to the smash hit licensed video game TRANSFORMERS Human Alliance, partners players with the three movies stars, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee or Sideswipe. Players must battle their way across America, Europe, Asia and even Space to stop the evil Megatron's plans. View the full article -
Masterpiece Optimus Prime Version 3 - Scans From Figure King
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
TFW2005 Forums member Type-R has posted the first scans of this month's Figure King magazine! The big item: Masterpiece Optimus Prime 3.0. It's the most animation-accurate Optimus Prime Masterpiece yet - though we're hoping the look of the seams needed for transformation are a little less obvious once the figure is in color. Keep reading to see! View the full article -
Power of the Primes Deluxe Blast-Off - Preorders Up For Unite Warriors Combaticon Mold Release
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
TFormers sponsor Robotkingdom has posted a preorder listing for Power of the Primes Blast-Off! This Hasbro-released exclusive is the long-awaited release of TakaraTomy's new Blast-Off mold created for Unite Warriors Bruticus. Shipping date is given as July 1st - keep reading for a link! View the full article -
I took PotP Inferno and removed the black paint from torso and chest plate. I then repainted the chest red with the gray center. The titanmaster is from Legends Cab, with the white on the face and the sides and back of the legs painted gray. Finally just a silver paint maker was taken to the yellow sirens. The Steamshield shapeways adapter was used for the connection.
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BBTS BONUS STORE CREDIT PROMOTION 40 items have been added to the promotion with store credit bonuses from $75 to $300. View the full article
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Transformers: Bumblebee The Movie - Who's That Seeker?
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Viacom's blog posted a feature recently about the first trailer for the upcoming Bumblebee movie. The blog post retells and summarizes the events shown in the trailer, and unfortunately while it alludes to a Decepticon - most probably the seeker-ish jet featured in the trailer - it does not officially go on record as to whether that actually is Starscream, as the popular speculation holds. It seems the studio isn't quite ready yet to officially say "Starscream is in our movie" or not. But the article itself is worth a read,even with the usual promo speak, including the ever-popular soundbyte about going back to the roots of the Transformers. Find out more details and get a link back to the blog below! View the full article -
Transformers: Bumblebee The Movie - Who's That Seeker?
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
Viacom's blog posted a feature recently about the first trailer for the upcoming Bumblebee movie. The blog post retells and summarizes the events shown in the trailer, and in the process give a name to the surprisingly familiar-looking Decepticon, whose identity has already been the topic of speculation. While the answer given is probably not really a surprise - by our reckoning there were only two leading possibilities anyway - some may be pleased to have an official word come down on this. Of course the article includes some of the usual promo speak, including the ever-popular soundbyte about going back to the roots of the Transformers. Find out more details and get a link back to the blog below! View the full article -
First of all, we want to thank you for the great response this year to our call for nominees in the two Transformers Hall of Fame categories. You provided us with some interesting and unexpected choices - we love that! Nominations are now closed, and we've collected the top responses for each heading, coming up with five finalists each for Favorite Transformers Character, and for Toy of The Year 2018. On the subject of which, we want to give an honorable mention to Power of The Primes Battletrap, who despite being an understandably popular toy this year, had to be left off the ballot for actually being two separate retail products. We know, we know. It makes us sad too. Now, from here until the night of Wednesday June 27th, you can vote in our two polls, and the top three entrants from each will be forwarded to Hasbro, who will conduct the final polling to decide the ultimate winner for each category. So, from the group of ten we now have, pick your favorites, and let your votes be counted - it's all up to View the full article
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Transformers September New Comics List from IDW Publishing
MISP Steve posted a topic in Transformers News
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Australian news site nine.com.au reports that the Australian branch of ToysRUs will be closing all stores, putting upwards of 700 people out of work. All potential buyers for the 44 stores have withdrawn their offers. It's not exactly a surprise after the recent no-refunds cancellation of Masterpiece Shadow Panther preorders, but it's still a pity to lose another outlet for action figures. Keep reading for more details. View the full article
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By Apollo-XL5 · Posted
CHAPTER 2 As Jack regained consciousness, he heard two voices talking at a distance from himself. He opened his eyes very slowly, so to allow his sight to adjust correctly. Once everything became sharp he looked around to see that he was in the Paladin's medical bay, and at the far corner of the room was Kenson and another one of the station's personnel, though from the look of her, Jack would guess that she was a nurse. As the two were talking he tried to lift himself up slowly, but found that he was being held down by restraints. He took a breath as he remained calm, and decided to eves drop on the conversation taking place between the nurse and Kenson. "We have managed to keep him under for the last two days, but we can not remove the matrix of leadership from around his neck. It just will not budge, no matter how much force we use." the nurse reported. Kenson though did not look amused. "Damn, I guess it is true what they say about the matrixes. Only the Prime's who carry them are worthy of holding a piece of Primus….or that is what our master tells me. Very well, keep him sedated until our master arrives. He wants the Prime to be handed over to his being the moment he is here." Kenson replied coldly. The nurse looked at her confused. "Why, Doctor, why keep a potential threat alive. We should just kill him." she stated, but Kenson just crossed her arms and gave the nurse a determined look. "I believe that you should keep that view to yourself, especially if you wish to receive the Reapers blessings." The nurse's eyes widened as she realised what she would lose if she kept up with her current attitude. "Oh, of course…I am very sorry, Doctor." she grovelled, not that it impressed Kenson who just walked away to the door before looking back. "By the way, have you seen the Autobot at all recently?" "No not since yesterday when he was asking about our guest." the nurse replied sheepishly. Kenson pressed the control panel beside her, causing the door to open. "Well just watch the Prime, I will take care of Jazz. It seems that he hasn't accepted the master's will and that makes him a threat. Carry on." she said before walking out of the room, leaving the nurse to curse her big mouth for questioning their master. Jack closed his eyes and played possum as she turned around and walked over to his bed. She activated her holo-tool and took scans of Jack as he lay there still. "Well, no change that I can detect." she said aloud, making Jack question why she was talking to herself. Suddenly the door to the lab opened making the nurse look round, but no one was there so she turned back around and continued to look at her holo-tool. As Jack was lying there, he suddenly heard something hit the floor and opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the nurse, only to find her lying on the ground unconscious. His expression became one of confusion. Then suddenly he saw the air in front of him shimmer as Jazz appeared next to his berth. "Jack, what you doing tied to that berth?" he asked as he started undoing the restraints, allowing the Prime to sit up. "Well it turns out that everyone on this station has been indoctrinated by that Reaper artefact." Jack replied. "Well I guess that means I am safe then, being Cybertronian." the Autobot replied as he handed Jack his octagonal disc which he placed on his chest and within seconds, he was back in his Prime armour. Jazz then handed him a pistol. "Sorry, Bud, but I couldn't get your original weapons back. The whole station has gone on lock-down since you shot up the place two days ago." Jack looked at Jazz in shock. "How long?" he asked before checking the time on his holo-tool. "My god…." he said as he looked down at the time. Jazz looked uneasy at Jack. "What is it?" he asked. Jack turned to him, his eyes wide and his face slightly pale. "We only have one hour before the Reapers arrive in this system." Jazz then looked at Jack with a shocked expression as it dawned on him. "Well…..what are we going to do about it, since it is just the two of us against at station of forty thousand brainwashed people?" Jack took a second to think before he equipped his pistol and checked the ammo. "We need to get to the control room. Do you know the way?" he said stoically as his face took on a look that Jazz knew only too well. "Yeah I do, follow me, Jack." he replied before he and the Prime left the lab and entered the white corridor. They then made their way through the station, trying to keep out of sight of any soldiers who were patrolling the route. "So where did you get the cloak from?" Jack asked as they came to a junction and checked for enemies before turning left into another empty corridor. "It was a gift from Cliffjumper, he gave it to me a few days before he left with Arcee for Earth." Jazz's face went sullen as he remembered his best friend. Jack noticed this and placed a hand on the bot's shoulder in support. "Hey I need your head in the game, Jazz, because someone is coming." he said trying to sound sympathetic as he pointed over to the end of the corridor as two shadows could be seen approaching. The two took cover a the doorway as two soldiers walked around the corner and toward them. Then as they approached the Prime and Autobot, Jack and Jazz looked at each as their readied their weapons. "On three, one, two, three!" he whispered to Jazz as the suddenly leaned out and shot both soldiers square in the head, before checking behind them and in front to see if anyone had noticed the gunfire. "Clear." Jazz said looking behind. "Clear." Jack replied, looking in front. The two then carried on past the two corpses and round the corner, following Jazz's directions. "I still can't believe that we haven't set off any alarms yet, Jack." Jazz replied, gaining an annoyed look from the Prime. "Don't jinx it, Ja…." he was cut off by the alarms blaring around the station, Jack just gave the Autobot an 'I told you so' look. Jazz just smirked and shrugged his shoulders in response, before they both heard masses of footsteps coming from behind them. "Move!" Jack replied as soldiers came round the corner and started firing on the two as they ran in opposite direction, firing back every few seconds. "This reminds me of the time me and Cliff were fighting Shockwave's troops at the Sea of Rust." he reminisced as he killed another soldier who fell to the ground, making the others trip over his body, buying the two an extra few seconds. "How much further to the control room?" he said as Jazz pointed over to the door. "Here it is." he stated as he pressed the control panel beside the door, but nothing happened. "Damn it, they have changed the pass codes." he said in frustration as Jack heard more soldiers approaching their location. Jazz then got on one knee and opened up the casing under the control panel. "How long do you need, because we are about to be overrun?" the Prime asked. "I can hack the door, but it will take a few minutes." Jazz replied as he activated his holo-tool. Jack then smiled as he held his hand out to the bot. "Give me the cloak, I can buy us a few more minutes." Jazz smiled back at Jack before he took the device off his wrist and passed it over. The Prime then attached it to his own before turning toward the incoming group. "Be careful, Jack." Jazz said, gaining a smirk from the Prime who then tapped his wrist before disappearing in a shimmer as he ran down the corridor. The group of soldiers were just down the other corridor, not far from the Autobot as the leader got a call on his com link. "Team two, the last scan we took shows two life signs at the entrance to the main control room. We have sealed it and scrambled the pass codes." the female voice replied. The soldier nodded as he pointed the others to go ahead of him. "Now kill the Autobot, but we need the Prime alive, Harbinger demands it." "Yes, Doctor Kenson, it will be done." the soldier replied as the group unknowingly passed Jack as he stood in silence in the doorway next to them. 'So that Reaper was Harbinger that I heard earlier.' he thought before he walked up slowly behind the one soldier that was lagging behind the group. He then grabbed the enemy's head and twisted fast and strong, snapping his neck. Jack then quietly lowered the body to the floor. He then looked ahead to see that the group was nearly upon the corridor that Jazz was in. 'Scrap!' he thought as he stood up and ran up behind the group and activated the star-saber before impaling it through the back of one soldier, who grunted in pain, causing the others to look around and see nothing but the soldier flinching where he stood with blood pouring out of his chest. Jack then pulled the blade back out, making the body fall to the ground. The soldiers looked dumbfounded as to what was happening as Jack swung the blade and cleaved the head of another enemy clean from his neck, spraying blood over another soldier who freaked out. "He's here!" he shouted as the group fired blindly around them, the freaked out one accidentally killing a colleague in front by riddling him with bullets. Jack then killed two more soldiers when he grabbed one by the throat and squeezed until he heard the soldier's neck snap while also running another one through with the star saber. Then there was only one soldier left and he was hysterical as he blindly fired in all directions until he saw a shimmer of air in front of him as Jackson Prime appeared before him. The soldier screamed as he raised his weapon, but Jack just gave him a pissed off look as he sliced at the enemy, gaining a painful grunt before the enemy's body fell to the ground. Jazz suddenly ran round the corner, having heard the gunfire and screams and was shocked to see Jack standing in the middle of a bloodbath, looking quite bad-ass in the bot's humble opinion. "Wow, remind me never to get on you bad side, Jack." he observed as Jack looked at him stoically. "Are you through the door yet?" he asked. "Yeah, let's go." he said as both of them went back to the doorway and entered the control room. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Now that they were inside, Jack walked straight over to the main console and activated it while Jazz kept stood guard at the entrance. The Prime pushed some buttons, and the main screen flickered to life, showing numerous data clusters. "Computer, I want to launch the singularity bomb." Jack said as the screen then showed the bomb's schematics and it's target…the 'Star Sparta'. "Warning, launching the bomb now without evacuating this station first will leave very little time to escape the system before the super nova destroys it." the VI replied as it's hologram appeared on the console next to the Prime. "Noted, now launch the bomb!" Jack said, getting agitated as he looked at the countdown on his holo-tool. (it now read thirty minutes and twenty seconds.) "Very well, launching bomb in one minute, but be warned that this will result in an estimated forty thousand casualties." Jazz looked back at Jack in shock. "Jack, are you sure about this?" he asked, gaining a determined look from the Prime. "Jazz, everyone on this base has been indoctrinated, there is no way we can help them. But there are trillions of lives in this galaxy that will be saved if we destroy this system before the Reapers arrive, which will be sometime the next thirty minutes." The Autobot looked down at the ground for a moment as he saw that Jack was right, he then looked up. "The needs of the many, right.." he said sombrely. Jack's expression changed to match the bot's as he nodded back. "Something like that." he replied. The VI then spoke, regaining their attention. "fifteen seconds remaining, I only need you to press this button to finalise the launch." it said as a button started flashing in front of the Prime. Jack took a moment to compose himself, Jazz was right in a way, forty thousand lives was a steep price to pay to stop the Reapers. But he did not have a choice. 'I guess that comes with being a Prime…making the hard choices." he thought as he pressed the button. "five, four, three, two, one…..launch." the VI responded as the bomb was fired from the station and towards the star at the center of the system. "The bomb will reach the star inside of five minutes. After detonation, the star will take approximately 15 minutes before going nova. If you are going to evacuate, I suggest you do so now." the VI replied before disappearing. "Thanks for the advice." Jazz replied sarcastically as Jack turned to him. "So how are we going to get out of here, because we wont get to the shuttle bay in time." the bot said. Jack responded by tapping his com link. "Jackson Prime to Defiant, come in, Defiant." he said, hearing nothing but static. After what felt like an agonisingly long moment, Hotrod's voice came through. "Prime,…. thank Primus, we have been waiting forever for you to answer." The pilot said relieved. "Hotrod, we need an evac right now." Jack said stoically as Miranda suddenly spoke over the com link. "Jack, we have detected a projectile being launched at this system's star, could you elaborate on this?" she asked. "Miranda, just know that if we don't all get out of here in time, then we will be caught in a super nova." he replied as Jazz heard more soldiers approaching their position. "Roger that, Jack, we are on our way. Meet us on the landing pad on the outside of the station nearest to your position." she replied as Jack deactivated his com link and joined Jazz at the door as they both equipped their weapons. "You ready?" Jack asked as the footsteps drew closer. "When you are, Jack" Jazz replied coolly. They then both came out from behind the doorway and fired at the soldiers, killing a number of them before the enemy had a chance to react. They then turned around and ran further down the corridor, as they followed the directions from Jack's holo-tool. Jack and Jazz came up to a large door at the end of the last corridor they had ran through. During that time they had killed several more groups of soldiers who had gotten in their way. Jack looked at the time, Jazz noticing this just had to ask. "How long left?" he asked sheepishly. "Less then ten minutes until the Reapers enter the system, and about the same for the super nova." The Autobot nodded and gulped before looking through the window of the door in front of them. "Well, just this last room and we are home free." he said as Jack opened the door and they both stepped through and scanned the area with their weapons ready, just in case any soldiers were waiting in ambush. "Looks clear." Jack said as Jazz took that as his cue and walked over to the airlock at the far end of the room. "Get your breather helmet ready, Jack, we are about to do a space walk" he said. Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the room and Jazz fell to the floor clutching his stomach. "Jazz!" Jack shouted as he ran to his friend. "Don't move!" Kenson threatened as she stepped out from behind cover, her pistol pointed directly at the Prime as Jazz was sprawled on the floor clutching at his wound. "You have ruined everything, Prime..." she spat at him as he raised his weapon at her. "...I can't hear their whispers anymore, you've taken them away from me." Jack though had to try and get through to her. "Kenson, look at what you are doing. You came here to stop the Reapers, not help them." he said gently to her, but she just stared daggers at him. "I will never see the Reapers arrival." she replied while showing what was in her other hand, which Jack recognised as a grenade. "All you had to do was stay asleep." she gritted her teeth as her thumb hovered over the trigger. "Kenson, we can still get off this base together." Jack reasoned. But the Doctor's face became stoic looking. "No, we won't." she replied angrily, but suddenly another gunshot was fired as she was knocked back as blood spilled out of a wound to her arm. She dropped the grenade which fell to the floor harmlessly. Jack looked down to see Jazz pointing his pistol at her. "Crack shot or what!" he exclaimed with a grin. They then both looked up to see Kenson recover and point her pistol at them. "YOU…..!" she screamed at them as they then shot her repeatedly with their weapons, her body being riddled with bullets as blood spilled out in all directions before her lifeless body fell to the floor face first. Jack then sighed as he looked down at her body for a moment. "Jack,..." Jazz said, gaining the Prime's attention. "...I think you should leave me here, I will only slow you down." Jack shook his head. "No, we are both getting out of here." he replied as he knelt down beside the Autobot. Jazz then stopped and pointed behind Jack, making the Prime swing round with gun ready to see Kenson's body standing back up. She then opened her eyes to reveal them to be glowing a bright yellow. "Jack Darby, you are becoming an annoyance." the corpse of the late doctor said, revealing to Jack and Jazz that Harbinger was controlling it. "You fight against inevitability, dust struggling against cosmic winds. This seems a victory to you, a star system sacrificed. But even now, your greatest civilisations are doomed to fall." Jack stood in front of the Reaper controlled corpse, a thoughtful expression on his face as he listened to the Reaper. He then took a breath. " You know what, Harbinger, that is your name? Maybe your right, maybe our fight is futile. But we will fight you regardless, just like we did against Sovereign and the Quintessons. Just like we are doing right now. Now matter how small and weak you believe us to be. We will fight, we will sacrifice and we will find a way. That's what Humans do." Jack replied defiantly. Harbinger just looked at the Prime with a disinterested expression. "Know this as you die in vain. Your species will fall, the galaxy will be purged. You should prepare yourselves for our arrival." The doctor's corpse then fell to the floor in a heap again as the presence that was controlling it faded away. Jack then raced back over to Jazz and helped him to his feet. "Come on, we have to go now." he said as he helped the Autobot into the airlock. The two of them (with their breather helmets on) walked slowly to the landing pad on the outside of the station, just as the Defiant came into view." "Prime, Defiant is inbound for pick up." Hotrod called over the com link. "Roger that, Defiant." Jack replied as he and Jazz stood at the edge of the pad, while the ship stopped next to the station's hull, allowing the two to step into the Defiant's airlock. "Okay, we are in!" the Prime commanded as he closed the airlock door. The Defiant pulled away and flew from the station at top speed. Jack meanwhile handed Jazz over to the medics as he looked to his pilot. "Hotrod, get us out of here now." he shouted, as Hotrod opened up the engines to maximum as the Defiant flew towards the space bridge like a rocket, just before the star shown extremely bright before exploding into a massive energy wave that shot out in all directions, consuming each planet that was engulfed inside its expanding plasma field. The people on board of the station were blinded by the extreme light as the wave hit the station, engulfing it and killing all on board as the Defiant entered the glowing green vortex of the space bridge only moments before the wave hit it and destroyed the gateway. Jack though watched in silence, with Miranda and Airachnid at his side as the galaxy map showed the star system fade away into nothing as he then hung his head, knowing the lives he had just sacrificed, before he stood back up and walked to the elevator. Both women watched him, Airachnid took a step forward as she was about to follow. But then felt a hand on her arm as she looked back to see Miranda's sullen expression look back at her. "I think it's best to leave him alone right now." she said gently. Airachnid just looked back to the elevator as her thoughts focused on the Prime. 'Jack!' PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL The Defiant was in orbit over Earth, it had just returned from the black op mission. Jack sat on the berth in the med bay as Doctor Chakwas and Admiral Bryce were talking at the entrance to the room. Chakwas then nodded and walked out, leaving the Admiral and the Prime alone. Bryce walked over and stood in front of Jack. "Its good to see that you have recovered." he said looking at the Prime. "Admiral." Jack replied as he got up and stood to attention. "As you were, Prime..." he said allowing Jack to relax. "...Sounds like you went through hell back there. How are you feeling, son?" he asked. Jack scratched his head and looked at the Admiral. "Fine now, no more visions or headaches if that is what you mean..." he replied. "...I have to say that I am surprised to see you here, sir." Bryce held his hands behind his back as he looked at Jack. "You went out there as a favour for me, so I decided to debrief you in person..." The Admiral's expression became more serious all of a sudden. "...but that was before the star in that system went nova and destroyed the station and killed everyone on board. What in the hell happened, Prime." Jack picked up the pad that was on the berth and handed it to Bryce. "I confirmed Doctor Kenson's evidence, the Reapers were coming. But Kenson and the entire crew of the station were indoctrinated by the Reaper artifact and they had me sedated for nearly two days. With Jazz's help I managed to launch the singularity bomb into the star and cause the super nova with barely minutes to spare..." Jack then looked away in shame for a second. "...It was the only way to stop the Reapers from gaining a foothold in our galaxy." The Admiral looked at Jack and then down at the report in his hands, taking in every detail before taking a breath and looking back at Jack. "You believe the Reaper threat was genuine?" Jack looked at Bryce, his expression becoming stoic. " No doubt, sir. They were only moments away." The Admiral turned around and looked around the med bay. "Fortunately this was a black op, so we should be able to keep this under wraps…but" Jack felt uneasy at that comment. "But, sir." he asked sheepishly. Bryce turned round and looked at Jack, his expression serious again. "You did what you did for the best of reasons, but there were forty thousand people on that station….and now, they are all dead." the Admiral replied. "They were indoctrinated, sir. There was no way to save them and I had to balance their lives against everyone else in the galaxy. If there had been a way to save them too, you could bet your ass I would have." he replied stoically. "You don't have to convince me, Prime. If it were up to me, I would give you a medal. But unfortunately, not everyone will see it that way." he replied with a tinge of regret in his voice. Jack sat back on the berth. "What do you suggest?" he asked. "The Defiant is orbiting Earth right now, but I should be able to hide your presence long enough for you to get back out there and do what you do best. I will also make sure that the Council never hears about what happened in the Sparta system. I don't think they need any more ammunition against you." Jack nodded before he remembered something else. "Admiral, how is Jazz?" he asked. "Jazz is no recovering at the medical center in New Iacon. Ratchet tells me he should make a full recovery." he replied smiling at the Prime who looked relieved at the news. "Thank you, sir." Jack replied as Bryce handed him back the pad. "Your welcome, son, and you keep this. I don't need to see a report to know that you did the right thing, you've done a hell of job Prime." he replied as he turned to leave, but suddenly Anderson walked in. "Captain, what is it?" Bryce asked as both of them saw the worried look on the Captain's face. "Admiral, Darby,…..I am sorry, I don't know how they found out." he said fearfully as both the Prime and Admiral stared at him confused. "What do you…" Bryce said as suddenly Sparatus and three council soldiers walked into the med bay, the Turian Councillor pointed at Jack and stared daggers at him. "There he is, arrest him at once." he spat as the soldiers walked over and grabbed Jack by his arms. "What is the meaning of…." Bryce started only to have Sparatus right up in his face. "Back down, Admiral, or I will have you in chains too for aiding and abetting a fugitive of this Council and the Alliance." the Turian spat back before looking at Jack while the soldiers handcuffed him. "Jack Darby, you are under arrest for the treacherous actions in working with the terrorist organisation MECH, and for the murder of forty thousand human souls in the Sparta star system. You will be held in an Alliance prison until the day you face justice for the crimes that you have committed against those that you swore to protect." Sparatus finished as he motioned the soldiers to escort Jack away. Jack thought of voicing an argument but decided to keep quiet, knowing that if he was to mention the Reapers, that Sparatus would just tear him a new one. The Prime instead looked over to Admiral Bryce and Captain Anderson. "We will fight this, Darby, I have already informed Optimus." Anderson said as Jack was led away. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Jack found himself to be in a dull grey cell with a standard bed, toilet and desk, he had no idea how it came to this or what he was going to do to get out this situation. But as he placed his belongings on the bed and walked over to the window, and looked out at the view he had. He just hoped that the lives he sacrificed at the Sparta system would be buy enough time, for his friends and allies to find something that could help against the coming threat. He knew that each and every one of them would not back down to the pressure that the council was piling on them. So in the meantime all he could do was sit and wait for his day in court and hope that he would prevail. As he looked out of the window he saw a small park just away from the prison that he now resided and saw a small play area there. The area was empty and Jack decided that he would turn in early. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, but as he did, he suddenly heard a child laughing and he turned back to see a small boy in the play area, running around with a toy ship in his hands. Jack looked at the boy as he played, a confused look grew on the Prime's face, but he then shook his head and lied down on the bed. Closing his eyes and letting sleep take him. TO BE CONCLUDED IN PRIME EFFECT 3 A/N: Well only one story to go. I hope you enjoyed this short story and please let me know what you thought of it through reviews or PM's. And thank you for reading it. 🙂 -
By Apollo-XL5 · Posted
A/N: Hi, this is a short story set between Prime Effect 2 and Prime Effect 3 and will set up some plot points that will continue into the final part of the trilogy (3rd in the Series), I expect that this story will only take two chapters. Enjoy! 🙂 PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL CHAPTER 1 In orbit around the Batarian colony of Aratoht, the Defiant was in the colony's dry dock. The ship was being repaired, due to the damage it had received during it's mission to the galactic core. There Jackson Prime and his team had finally put an end to the Quintessons and whatever evil machinations that their masters…the Reapers had them perform. Jack was currently helping Soundwave and Tali with repairs to the computer systems in the science lab while the rest of the crew worked on other areas of the ship. The spymaster was lying under the computer's bench and working on the internal circuitry, Ravage was under there too, trying to gain his friend's attention. "Ravage, not now, please. I'm trying to work." he said as he pushed the feline's face away. "Can someone give him some attention please." he said, his voice tinged with annoyance. Jack and Tali had just finished their repairs and the Quarian turned round and looked over to the spymaster. "I'll take Ravage for a walk, if you want?" she said. The feline bot looked around and walked over to Tali and brushed past her leg. Soundwave gave her a smile and nodded back. "Okay, I'll be done in another hour. Thanks, Tali." He then looked over to Jack who had just deactivated his holo-tool. "Not so fast, Jack, I still need a hand in keeping data lines stable while I up the power to the data core." Jack sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Quarian. "Have fun." he said in a huff. Tali smiled at him. "I guess Primes don't have fun." she teased. Jack shook his head in response. "Oh I can have fun when I want to." he replied, Soundwave then beckoned the Prime over. "Jack, help...now." He then walked over to the spymaster and reactivated his holo-tool. Tali chuckled before walking out of the lab with Ravage following her. The two took a walk around the decks, on their way they had seen Garrus and Airachnid talking in the common room, while Miranda was helping the crew with replenishing their supplies since they were no longer with MECH. They had turned a corner when Tali saw someone or rather something she wasn't ready to face, across the corridor was Legion. It was just standing there looking out of the window at the space, watching the repair drones as they replaced the damaged hull plating. Tali felt that she should leave but before she could, the Geth turned and looked over to her. "Hello, creator Tali'zorah. Can we be of assistance?" The Quarian didn't know where to look as Ravage watched. "Legion, uh I…." she stopped herself as the Geth walked over to her. "Legion, I know you saved me and I want to thank you for that but…" she stopped as she looked down to the ground. "Is it because of your Father, creator Rael'zorah?" Legion asked hesitantly. Tali looked back at it, her eyes wide. "Tali'zorah, we deeply regret the deaths on board the Alerai especially your father. If the creators had not opened fire on us the moment we reactivated…" Tali felt her anger grow as the Geth spoke. "Why wouldn't we attack, after all the first thing you Geth did when we created you was attack us." she spat back. Legion though just stood there, its optic readjusting. "We did not start the 'Morning war', Tali'zorah. It was the creators." Tali felt her rage come to the surface as she pushed the Geth against the war and pulled a knife that was hidden in her boot out and held it under the synthetic's throat like area. "That is not true, you attacked us and now I have lost my father. All because of you and the rest of the Geth." she shouted into it's optic, but then for a long moment she just stared at it, before she dropped the knife and backed away. Why was it so hard, she could just kill it. The Geth had killed her father and was responsible for her exile. She then looked away in shame at the thought. It wasn't it's fault but hers, if she had stood up to her father and not helped him bring the Geth to the Flotilla, then he and the other Quarians on board the Alerai would still be alive and she would still be with her people. She then leaned her back against the wall and slid down into a sitting position as she started to sob. Ravage walked up to her and started to lick her visor sympathetically. Legion meanwhile just looked at her, it could see that she was in conflict, so it walked over to her and bent down in front of the Quarian. "If you would like, creator Tali'zorah, this unit can show you the Geth's memory files." Tali looked up at Legion in confusion, as the Geth stood up and took a step back. It's optic then glowed before a hologram appeared between the two. The Quarian blinked a number of times as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. "What is this?" she asked in disbelief. "This is a holographic representation of the first memory file of Geth zero one. Dated three hundred years ago." Tali watched the file play out, as it showed two Quarians (minus their enviro-suits) standing over a Geth that was lying on a berth. The female looked over to the male. "Are you sure you want to rename the AI network?" she said as the synthetic on the table looked at her. "Of course..." he then looked at their creation. "...Unit zero one, can you tell me the Quarian word for servant of the people?" The platform looked up at him. "Of course Creator Zalad'maroh, the word is Geth." it answered. "Good, very good." the Quarian male smiled. Then the scene changed as it now showed a Geth standing in the middle of three Quarians. "What do you mean it's faulty?" one said to another while the third looked on confused. "Well listen to this. Unit two one five, repeat your last question." the Quarian said as the Geth then looked at him. "Creator, does this unit have a soul?" The other Quarians looked at it dumbstruck. "Who taught you that word.?" one said with a tinge of fear in his voice. "The word appears three hundred and twelve times in the scrolls of ancestors" the Geth replied. "Only Quarians have souls, you are a tool. Here to serve the Quarian people." Then the hologram disappeared. Tali looked at Legion. "Was that the first time a Geth asked if it had a soul?" Legion looked down at her. "No, it was the first time a creator showed fear towards us. We have more to show you." Tali then watched as Legion showed her more memories, showing the Quarians killing Geth after they asked to many questions, these Geth were not even armed. It wasn't until one particular unit picked up a weapon and defended the other Geth against their creators that the war actually started. Then something was shown that completely threw her for a loop. She saw that some Quarians were actually defending the Geth, leaving the military little choice but to kill their own people who got in the way. "I didn't know that there were Quarians who sympathised with the Geth. I thought we stood united as a people against you." Legion merely looked at her. "We have kept records of these creator sacrifices, they have been largely forgotten by your own people. But not by the Geth." Legion then showed Tali more footage of members of her people sacrificing themselves for the Geth. "This next memory file is taken from the last day of the 'Morning war' 297 years ago, the day we secured our freedom and the creators were exiled from Rannoch." Legion said as the footage began playing. It showed Quarian ships fleeing the planet, while the Geth forces suddenly stopped pursuing them and turned back to the planet. Tali looked at the footage as confusion took over. "Wait, you just let us go. Why?" she asked as Ravage lied on the floor next to her. "We were in our infancy, we could not calculate the repercussions of destroying an entire species, our creators. We chose to isolate ourselves instead, rather than face this uncertainty." Then the image changed again, this time it showed something that Tali had seen. The footage playing showed Jack and Legion standing in front of each other. "This was the day that Jack reactivated you, only a week ago." The Geth nodded in return. "Yes it was a highly significant event, Darby Commander was the first organic to openly cooperate with the Geth since the end of the 'Morning war'. We wish to ensure he is not the last." The footage then stopped and Legion looked back at Tali as she got on her feet and stood before it. She was still in shock at what she had seen, everything that she was brought up to believe was wrong. "It will not be that easy, Legion." she replied. She then walked over to the window and looked out into space and stayed like that for several minutes as the Geth waited for her to continue. Tali then took a breath before turning around and looking at it. "Legion, I do not know if I can forgive you for killing my father. As I do not believe that I could forgive myself for my part in the events that led to it. But I do wish to thank you for saving my life back on the Quintesson planet." she said as she walked back over to him. "Jack trusts you, that should be enough for me. I think we should start over." She then held out her hand and the Geth took it in its own. "Thank you, Legion." she said. Legion looked at her with it's optic. "Thank you, creator Tali-zorah." it replied as they shook hands. The Quarian could feel a slight smile grow on her face. "Call me, Tali." she replied, before the com system then activated and Hotrod could be heard. "Legion, I could use your help up here in the cockpit if your not busy?" the pilot asked. "Of course, we will be right there, Autobot Hotrod." it replied before the com link deactivated. It then looked at Tali. "We must go and assist the pilot." The Quarian nodded as she gestured to Ravage. "I have to get him back to Soundwave. I guess we can talk later, if you would like." The Geth nodded in kind. "That would be acceptable, crea…Tali." it replied before walking over to the elevator, leaving Tali and Ravage alone in the corridor. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL In the common room Garrus and Airachnid were still talking at the table when Jack walked in, he went over to the drink dispenser and picked a orange juice. When he turned around, he saw the femme waving him over. He smiled tiredly at her as he joined them at the table. "You okay, Jack?" she asked showing concern in her voice. "Yeah, just completed repairing the lab computers with Soundwave. Thought we would never get it finished." he replied with a sigh. "Well you're out now, so might as well take it easy for a moment. Who knows when the next catastrophe or suicide mission will come up." Garrus said with a smirk. Jack took a sip of his drink as his two friends looked at him. Then one of the crewmen in the room activated a screen on the south wall, and a news broadcast appeared being presented by a human woman standing in the Citadel gardens. "This is a Khalisah al Jilani of Westerlund News, the council has finally come clean about the return of Jackson Prime and his affiliation with the terrorist organisation MECH. And as a result they have placed a warrant out for his arrest." the reporter said as Airachnid and Garrus watched in shock while the Prime remained quiet. "The Council have reported that should the Prime or his ship the Defiant be spotted in Council or Alliance space, then they are to be notified immediately so that this traitor can be found and arrested. This former commander was once hailed as the savior of the Citadel and was given the prestigious honour of becoming the first Human Prime, but it seems that his time away from the galactic community has changed him for the worse. Still he is not without his supporters, the Autobot leader Optimus Prime still backs Darby and so do the people on the colony at Horizon, who claim that despite working with MECH that he saved them from the Quintessons. A species who originated from beyond the Omega four Subspace rift. Despite this support, Councillor Sparatus believes that Jack Darby's time is running out and that he will pay for his crimes. This is a Khalisah al Jilani of Westerlund News signing off." Garrus stared daggers at the crewman. "Turn that trash off!" he spat as the crewman fumbled at the screen's control panel. Airachnid gave Jack a sympathetic look as she place her hand on his in support. "If only those idiots knew of what you did for them and the galaxy." Jack looked at her, the femme's purple eyes showing nothing but affection for him. "You mean what 'we' did for the galaxy." he corrected her, gaining a smile from Airachnid while Garrus turned back to the two of them. "Well, it will be much harder to travel around knowing that there is bulls-eye on this ship." Jack gave him a lopsided grin. "Whoever said that this was going to be easy, I mean…" The Prime was cut off by the sound of Hotrod's voice coming in over the inter com. "Hey, Prime, I have a transmission from Admiral Bryce for you. It is high priority." The three looked at each other confused. "Why would the Alliance try to contact you, especially after what we just saw?" Airachnid asked. Jack got up and looked down at his friends. "Won't know until I speak to him. Hotrod, I'll take it in my quarters." he said before leaving the common room. Jack entered his room, sat down at his desk and activated his console. A large screen appeared on the wall in front of him as the face of Admiral Bryce was seen looking back at the Prime. "Jackson Prime, thank you for speaking with me." the Admiral said as Jack crossed his arms. "Well I am surprised that you are even talking to me, considering what the Council have just done." Bryce sighed and looked down for a moment before looking back at Jack. "I am sorry about that, Prime, but the Council have taken strict control of everything that the Alliance does. And your constant pressuring of the Reaper threat has them worried, as they just do not want to believe it. So they forbid the Alliance from the looking into it at all." Jack kept his eyes on the Admiral, keeping his expression stoic. "So why are we talking?" he asked. "Because despite the Council's protests, I have seen what a the Reaper can do and so commissioned a black operation to look for any way to stop the Reapers before they enter our galaxy. I placed a scientist, Doctor Amanda Kenson in charge of the op and after a year of investigating every lead that appeared, she finally found something." the Admiral replied. "What did she find?" he asked curiously. "In the Sparta system, which is uninhabited due to is close proximity to dark space. A Reaper artifact was found on one of the asteroids that orbits the star. The Alliance also has an outpost there, Paladin station. She had the artifact moved there for study. I also sent an Autobot there to assist her, his name is Jazz." the Admiral said. "Jazz, I know him. He joined the Autobots on Earth near the end of the war." Jack replied. Bryce nodded at the Prime. "yes, Optimus volunteered him for the mission. In the last transmission, Jazz told me that Dr Kenson had found evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion. That was seven days ago, I have since not heard anything from the station and that has me worried. The Council meanwhile has started watching us all very closely, so I can not send anyone out there. Otherwise I might tip off the Council to what we are doing." Jack then realised why the Admiral had called him. "That's why you called me, since I am not under the Alliance or Council's jurisdiction." Bryce smiled at him. "Yes, Prime, plus Optimus and Anderson still believe in you and... so do I." Jack then stood up. "I will have the Defiant set course once our repairs are done." The Admiral shook his head. "No, Darby. I need you to do this alone, since the Defiant could draw too much attention. I need you to go to Paladin station and meet up with Jazz and Dr Kenson. And then find out why they suddenly went silent. Also I want you to see this evidence that Kenson has on the Reaper threat." Jack looked away for a moment before he nodded back in response. "Alright I'll do it alone." Jack replied reluctantly. "Good luck, Prime, Bryce out." the Admiral replied before the screen went dark as Jack thought for a second before activating his com link. "Miranda, I know this is short notice, but I need an unmarked shuttle and I need it within the next thirty minutes." he said. "Why, Jack?" she asked confused all of a sudden. "I'll tell you all once you have the shuttle, alright?" he replied. "Okay, I will get the shuttle, shouldn't be too hard to find one on that flee trap of dry dock." she replied before the com link deactivated and Jack was left alone in his quarters. Thirty minutes later on the Batarian Dry dock, Jack was standing with Miranda, Airachnid and Garrus as they looked over the shuttle that the former MECH Officer had just bought, the Batarian that had just sold them the shuttle walking away a very happy man. "What a piece of junk?" Garrus said, not even attempting to hide his distaste of the vehicle. Airachnid looked no more impressed. "Jack, are you sure about this? That shuttle does not look like it will last several light years, let alone the distance you want to go." the femme said with some concern. Miranda looked at the Prime with her arms crossed, she too was not happy with the situation either. "I can't say I like the idea of you going there alone, this could be a trap. A way for the Alliance to get their hands on you." she said gaining nods of approval from the others. Jack though who had just equipped his prime armour looked at them. "I have thought about that, I don't think Bryce would do it though, especially if he has taken risks with investigating the Reapers while under the scrutiny of the Council." he replied while placing his mattock rifle on his back. "And if there is any truth that the Reapers invasion is close, then I have to check it out." he said looking at each and every one of them. They all nodded reluctantly. "But, doesn't mean we have to keep completely to what the Admiral said. The repairs should nearly be done, right?" he asked looking at Miranda. "Yes, in about one more day." she replied. "Good, then once they are complete, take the Defiant to the Sparta system and hide it behind one of the gas giants that is in the system. The ship's stealth mode should allow you to get to the planet before the station's sensors can adapt to it. Then wait there for my signal." he said. "Okay, now I am starting to feel better about this plan." Garrus said as Miranda nodded in agreement. " As am I, Good luck Jack. We will be ready and waiting for your signal." Miranda said before she and Garrus left for the Defiant, leaving Jack alone with Airachnid, the femme still did not look happy. "Jack…." she started only for the Prime to interrupt her by placing his hands on her both her arms in a caring manner. "Airachnid, I know what you are going to say. But trust me, everything will be fine." he said with a smile, a smile that the femme found to be very good at calming her down. "Okay, just promise me you will be careful." she said with a slight smile. "I promise." he replied, before she pulled him into a hug, surprising him. But Jack knew she was just concerned for his safety and so returned the embrace, which warmed her spark as they hugged. When the two separated the femme looked at him before leaning in close and kissing him on his cheek, surprising him yet again. "What was that for?" he asked slightly confused. "For luck." she replied with a smile. "Thank you, Airachnid." he said before she stepped back and turned around, heading for the Defiant as Jack headed to the shuttle's hatch. Before she left the room, Airachnid took one more look at Jack as he entered the shuttle and she sighed. The femme wanted to go with him, to keep him safe because, because she loved him and the thought that he was going into an unknown situation alone did not sit well with her spark. But he was a Prime and she had to accept his decision. So once she was out of the shuttle bay, the femme watched through the observation window as the battered old ship lifted of the ground and flew out of the bay and into space. PRIME EFFECT 2: ARRIVAL Jack's shuttle flew through the space bridge vortex and into the Sparta system. The Prime then activated the ship's sensors as a holo-screen appeared in front of him and showed the system's contents. There were five planets, three of which were gas giants. There was also an anomaly on the outer edges of the system, where the galaxy's edge ended and dark space began. But the shuttle's sensors could not make heads or tails of it, but then the Paladin station's IFF appeared on the sensors and Jack set a course towards it. He got a good look at the station as he got closer to it, it's main structure looked like one of those flying saucers from the 1950's movies, only far more advanced. It also a docking arm on each side of the station, and they were designed to allow multiple ships of any size from frigate to capital ship to dock with the station. It was definitely an impressive piece of human and Autobot engineering. As the shuttle entered the station's defence perimeter, another screen appeared and showed a human face looking back at the Prime. "This is Paladin station, you have crossed into Alliance controlled space. Please identify yourself and your reason for being here." the Alliance officer requested. "This is Jackson Prime, I am here under the orders of Admiral Bryce and would like to speak to Dr Amanda Kenson and Jazz." Jack replied. The Officer looked at him in surprise. "Jackson Prime,…of course, we are honoured to be visited by a Prime. Please take your hands off the controls while we activate docking procedures." he replied a little excitedly. Jack did so and sat there as the shuttle suddenly veered away from its course and headed towards the shuttle bay on the alpha docking arm as the station's VI (virtual intelligence) system took control of the shuttle. Jack could not help but be thankful that the station was working a black op for Bryce, since if it was just another Alliance station they would have arrested him by now. He just sat back and enjoyed the short ride as the shuttle entered the station's shuttle bay and landed gently on the platform. Jack then got up and walked over to the ship's hatch and opened it to see the welcoming sight of two security officers. "Prime, we are here to escort you to Dr Kenson." the one on the right said. Jack stepped out of the shuttle as the security officer on the left stopped him. "Sir, we will need you to hand over your weapons. You will not require them during your visit to our station." Jack crossed his arms as he looked at them both. "Sorry, but my guns stay with me." Both officers looked at each other, a dumbfounded expression on their faces as another person walked up behind them. "It's okay, guys, I'll take it from here." a voice said as the officers turned to see a Caucasian man in white/black and blue armour walk up to them wearing a pair of hi-tech shades. "Jazz, yes of course sir." they replied before looking back to the Prime. "Please excuse us, Jackson Prime." They then both turned and left as quickly as they had entered. Jazz smiled as he and Jack shook hands. "Its been a while, Jack." "It sure has, Jazz. So can you tell me why Admiral Bryce has been kept out of the loop for the last several days." Jazz looked at the Prime confused. "Say what now, Bud. The last I heard, Dr Kenson has been giving the Admiral daily reports on the team's progress." Jack gave Jazz a concerned look. "The Admiral said he received a message from you last week that Dr Kenson had evidence of an impending Reaper invasion and then nothing since. To say that he is a little worried would be an understatement." Jazz crossed his arms and looked away for a moment as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. Though sometimes it could be hard to tell with him wearing those shades all the time, but he missed not having the visor that he had with his old Autobot body. He then looked back to the Prime. "I don't know what to say, Jack. Things have been hectic recently with the anomaly." he replied. "Yeah, my shuttle's sensors picked something up at the edge of the system, any ideas what it is?" Jazz shook his head in response. "Can't say, Jack. The doctor would be able to tell you more. I'll take you to her now." he replied before leading the Prime out of the shuttle bay and into the station's interior. As they walked through the station, Jack saw many labs with scientists working on numerous experiments and projects. "How many personnel are aboard the station right now?" Jack asked as they continued past several more labs. "The station has a capacity of forty five thousand, but right now only forty thousand are currently aboard." the Autobot replied. The two of them then entered a lab and Jazz motioned Jack towards a Caucasian woman, who appeared to be in her mid fifties. She turned around to face them when one of her colleagues notified her. "Jazz, thank you for bringing our guest here, but you may go now." she said motioning the Autobot away. Jazz gave Jack a surprised look. "Oh, okay. I guess I will speak to you later, Jack." The Prime nodded back before the Autobot took his leave. Jack then looked back at the doctor. "So, Jackson Prime, what can we here at Paladin station do for you today?" Kenson asked curiously. "Well, Admiral Bryce would like to know why he hasn't received any reports from you for the last week. Especially since your last report said that you had found evidence of a Reaper invasion that was imminent." The doctor gave Jack a confused look. "I am sorry, Prime, but I have no idea what you are talking about, the Admiral and I spoke only a few hours ago and have done so for the last several days." Jack looked away in shock. 'What is going on here, was the Admiral lying. No he wouldn't do that, so what the hell is going on?' he thought before looking back and smiling at her. "I'm sorry, I seem to be a little behind, perhaps you can bring me up to speed on your findings." She returned the smile and pointed to the main holo-screen in front of her. "Of course, Prime, I will bring up our research on the main monitor." Jack watched as the data flowed down the screen and the doctor started to explain. "As the Admiral may have told you, this station discovered an ancient artefact on an asteroid in this system. When my team got here, we confirmed that it was Reaper in origin and so took over the station and used it as our base. That's when we found the anomaly." She then showed an image of it on the screen. Jack thought it looked familiar. "That looks somewhat like the Omega four subspace rift." he observed, gaining a nod from Kenson. "Yes, but it is slightly different due to the spiral look of it. But this is the biggest piece of evidence to point to the conclusion that both this and the subspace rift in Omega were both created by the Reapers." she replied. "So where does this artefact come in?" Jack asked. "Well, that I can show you if you'll follow me." she said as she gestured for Jack to follow as the both left the lab and walked down a long corridor. "You see I have found that the artifact that we have designated as Object Rho has been emitting a series of energy spikes. Not dangerous in any way but these spikes have been decreasing at a steady rate." Jack looked over to her curiously. "Like a countdown?" Jack asked. Kenson smiled at the Prime. "Very good, Prime, and yes that was my guess too, look here." she said as she pointed up at holo-screen above the door they were about to enter. It showed a timer that was counting down as they stood there. Jack's eyes widened as he looked at it. "Two days, two days till what?" he asked, hoping that the answer would not be what he was thinking it would be. "Two days until arrival..." she answered. "...I believe that the anomaly is a portal that is connected to wherever the Reapers dwell in dark space and they will use it to enter our galaxy." she replied as the door opened and the two walked through into another lab. "We also found evidence of tampering on this system's space bridge. The adjusted code in the bridge's software has a distinct Reaper signature to it. I believe that the code will allow the Reapers to use this space bridge to activate numerous other space bridges in the galaxy and spread out their forces in one go." Jack looked at her horrified. "You mean the Reapers will be invading the entire galaxy in just two days time. Surely you have come up with a way to stop this from happening?" he asked as the two of them walked out of another lab and into the connecting corridor. "As a matter of fact we have, you see we have created a singularity bomb, sort of like a miniature black hole. Now we will launch it into the system's star and it will cause star to go super nova, which will collapse the anomaly and destroy the space bridge." The two of them then came to a large door at the end of the corridor and stopped as she worked the control panel beside it. "Why haven't you launched the bomb then, especially if the Reapers will be here in two days?" The doctor then had a conflicted look on her face as she looked back at him. "Well, we were going to start evacuating the station in preparation for that, but then I found myself questioning whether we have the right to destroy the system or the space bridge." she said as she opened the door. Jack's eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Inside the large hall stood the Reaper artefact, it looked not unlike the one on the Conestoga, but had what looked like branches forming out of it's top. Bright blue energy was coursing through object Rho's black form like it was a blue fire. Jack looked at the Kenson, the concern on his face evident as he narrowed his eyes at her. "You have the artefact just sitting here, with no added security measures?" he asked, anger and fear tinged his voice. Kenson just looked at it in an almost trance like state. "When we brought the artefact aboard the station, it showed me vision of the Reapers arrival…" she said in a toneless voice. Jack though took a step back. "Kenson, this is not good." he replied worriedly. 'My god, have all these people been indoctrinated?' he thought before the doctor spoke again. "Just give it a moment, Prime, it will give you the answers you seek." she said as Jack found himself engrossed by the artefact all of a sudden, by the way the blue energy flowed around it's structure, he could hear a slight whisper echoing in his mind. He then walked over to it, when suddenly his mind was overcome by pain as the blue energy zapped him. He fell to his knees, the pain passing right through his body as a ringing rang out loud out in his ears. Images of the Reapers flowing out of the anomaly and heading into the space bridge played through his mind. It carried on for a moment before the ringing stopped and the pain subsided, Jack then looked up to see Kenson pointing a gun at his head, a determined look on her face. "I can't let you destroy this system and stop the Reapers arrival, Prime." she said as Jack suddenly got up and grabbed her hand and twisted it, making her drop the pistol before he kicked her away. A moment later armed soldiers entered the room from the other side and immediately started firing at the Prime. Jack dived for cover as Kenson got out of the room. "Take him down!" she shouted at them as Jack fired back from cover, killing two with head shots. Jack then rolled over to another piece of cover and shot one of the soldiers in the leg, making him fall to the ground only to be welcomed by a bullet to the face from the Prime. As he slowly took out each soldier in the room, Jack heard a familiar booming voice echo in his head. "Your galaxy's days are numbered, your end is at hand." Jack though noticed more soldiers enter the room and one came over quickly so the Prime vaulted over his cover and grabbed the soldier, snapping his neck in a quick fashion before using his body as a shield. He then fired his pistol at the three other enemies and killed them. He then heard more soldiers over the intercom. "Doctor, we need more men, he is taking us out all to easily." Jack then took cover again as Kenson's voice came over the intercom. "Prime, throw down your weapon and surrender. We don't want to harm you." Jack then took out two more soldiers with his mattock rifle as they entered the room. The others that followed quickly took cover, having seen their comrades killed. "The end of your species will come." the booming voice said as Jack then sneaked around behind the soldiers. "Where did he go?" one said before Jack stabbed him through the head with the star-saber as the others turned around and froze as Jack then killed them in one long swipe of the blade, blood spilled out onto the floor as Jack stood up and noticed that no more soldiers were coming in. "What, where are the reinforcements…well get them here, Prime has wiped out our entire squad at this side of the station." Kenson could be heard saying over the com. Jack smiled at that comment as he walked over to the exit, when suddenly a bright blue light shined behind him. He turned around to see object Rho powering up before and energy wave flowed out of the artifact and hit Jack hard, sending him flying into the bulkhead behind him. He then hit the floor hard and fell unconscious from the impact. The Prime slowly came too as he looked up to see a group of soldiers standing over him when suddenly Kenson came into view. Her eyes glowing a bright yellow. "Take him to the medical bay and heal his wounds. We want Jackson Darby alive!" she said, her voice sounded like the booming voice he heard earlier was mixed in with hers. But then that didn't matter at this moment as Jack felt darkness overtake him as he passed out again. -
By Apollo-XL5 · Posted
CHAPTER 10 It was still early as Airachnid woke up. She was lying in Jack's arms while he was still fast asleep as they lied together in his bed. She looked up to the Prime's face, it looked so peaceful and content as he gently snored. The femme couldn't help but feel a smile grace her lips as she watched him. She still felt the euphoria from what they did together only hours earlier, it was a feeling she had not felt in a very long time. As she observed her sleeping lover while very gently stroking his raven black hair. The femme could not help but imagine what kind of future she could share with Jack, what kind of life they could live. Yes he was young, very young compared to Cybertronians. But he was strong, compassionate, forgiving and kind, all the attributes that make up a Prime. But he also reminded her of Esmeral, who shared the same attributes and there lied the problem. Although she felt her feelings for Jack growing ever since he helped her on Cybertron. She still loved Esmeral and was also bonded to her as the femme's spark mate, fated to remain faithful even after their sparks together or alone returned to the Allspark. Her smile faded slightly and her spark ached, she knew that all her imagining would be only that. A fantasy, something that could never be even if she wanted it. But there was another doubt in her mind that she couldn't shake. Even though she knew her feelings for him were strong, she feared that he would not be able to return them in kind, because his heart was already owned by another, Arcee. Her thoughts left her as she felt Jack stir and slowly started to wake up. She couldn't be there when he did, if he was to look her in the eyes with that smile she enjoyed seeing, then she would never want to leave his side. She slowly got out of the bed, making sure not to disturb Jack's slumber and got dressed before leaving the room, taking one last look at him before closing the door behind her. Jack was woken up by the sound of his com link beeping on the chair next to the bed. He looked over to see that he was alone in his quarters. His mind became plagued by thoughts like where was Airachnid, why did she leave, had he done something wrong. But the com link's beeping brought him out of his thoughts as he reached over to it, wincing slightly as the scratches the femme had left on his back ached. He then put the com link to his ear. "I'm here, what is it?" he answered. "Prime, Teletraan here. We have installed the IFF and it is synced with our systems. Hotrod has set course for the Omega system and awaits your orders." Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Tell Hotrod, I'll be in the CIC in thirty minutes." he answered as he chucked the com link onto the bed and walked over to the bathroom, stopping for a moment as he looked at the shower. Instantly remembering what he and Airachnid did there only a few hours before and it left him feeling better, like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders as he then got ready to have a shower. As the Defiant flew in hyper speed, Jack walked into the common room and saw the femme sitting alone in the corner. A sad smile appeared on her face as she spotted him, as he walked over to her table and sat down in front of her. "Morning." she said sheepishly as she softly raked a hand through her hair. "Hi, is everything alright?" he asked with a soft but concerned tone in his voice. The femme sighed as she looked away for a moment before looking back at Jack. "Jack, what we did last night… I don't regret it. Not for a moment but…." she trailed off as Jack tensed up slightly, knowing what was coming next. "….I think this is a bad idea." the femme finished. Jack looked at her confused. "What is?" She then looked directly into his eyes. "Us, Jack. You see, what we did last night I will never forget. But I am afraid that it will be the only time." she answered. Jack looked down at the table for a moment before looking back at her. "Because of Esmeral." The Prime replied staring into her purple eyes. Airachnid smiled slightly as the young Prime surprised her yet again. 'He is quick.' she thought before nodding in return. "Yes, you see when Cybertronians bond and become spark mates, its not only for life but beyond it too." Jack nodded as he understood what she was saying. "You feel that what we did last night was a betrayal to her?" he replied. "Yes…I mean no. But if we were to continue this…" she said while gesturing to the both of them. "…then that would be a betrayal and I can't do that to her." she said, her voice tinged with emotion. She then placed her hand on to his supportively. "And I know that I am not the only one feeling this way either." she said observantly. Jack in response looked away and remembered Arcee, not noticing that Airachnid was looking at him intently. "That look you have now, was the same one I saw when I walked into your room last night. You still love Arcee." she replied with a little disappointment. Jack looked back to her. "Airachnid, I'm sorry…" but she cut him off mid sentence. "No, Jack, I am sorry… for pressuring you last night." she said, gaining an annoyed look from the Prime. "Don't apologize Airachnid. I don't regret what happened between us last night either…..but you are right. I have come to care about you a lot…. but I can't let go of Arcee, just like you can't let go of Esmeral. We will always remember what we did for each other last night, but maybe its for the best that we remain friends." he said while holding his hand out to her. She looked at it, before taking it in her own and shaking it. "friends….and more." she replied with a smile, one that Jack returned in kind. The femme then took a breath. "Well, now that we have gotten that out of the way…..don't we have a galaxy to save?" Jack nodded in agreement. "Yes, we do." She then stood up and gestured to him. "Then, what are we waiting for." she said. Jack got up too and placed his hand out in front of her. "Ladies first." he replied with a smile. Airachnid chuckled at the Prime's good manners as she took the lead and left the room with him following, but then her smile faded as sadness sunk in because she now realised after their talk, that she did in fact love him and it was going to be so hard for her to let him go. As they headed for the elevator, the inter-com activated. "Prime, we have a call from Silas for you in the briefing room." Hotrod said. Jack tapped his com link as Airachnid stood beside him. "Prime, here. Thanks for the heads up, Hotrod. How long before we reach Omega?" he replied. "We should be there within the hour." the pilot answered. "Okay, I want everyone ready by the time my talk with Silas is over, understand?" the Prime ordered stoically. "Will do. Myself and Teletraan thought that would be the case, so we made a head start." Jack smiled at the comment. "You know me so well." "Well of course I do, Prime..." the pilot chuckled. "...Everything will be ready by the time you are up here." "Okay, Prime out." Jack finished before looking to Airachnid. "Can you make sure the team is ready?" he asked. "Of course, Jack." she nodded back before turning and heading away as Jack walked into the elevator and placed the octagonal disc on his chest. The Prime armour covering his body as the elevator doors closed in front of him. PRIME EFFECT 2 Silas was standing in the darkened room looking over one of the orange holo screens when Jack appeared behind him on the holo-pad. The MECH leader turned to the Prime, the concern on his face was evident. "Prime, I wish that I had more Intel for you. The idea of sending you through that rift blind does not sit well with me." Jack found himself surprised at the Director's sudden act of concern, but kept his stoic appearance. "I'm not going alone, I've got some of the best going with me. If we stay together, we'll make it." Silas's expression softened at the Prime's confident reply. "I knew we brought you back for a reason, I have never a seen a better leader. Despite the unknown danger that lies on the other side of the rift, it is a great opportunity. The first Human to take a ship into the galactic core and survive." Jack took on a more stern look. "This isn't a science expedition, we are going through the rift to put an end to the Quintessons, to stop their attacks on humanity." The Director smiled at the Prime's response. "Understood, still it's very impressive. I just want you to know that I appreciate the risk you are taking. Regardless of your opinion of MECH or myself, you are a 'valuable asset' to all humanity. Good luck, Prime." The Defiant entered the Omega system as Jack watched from the cockpit. With their viewpoint, Jack could see the subspace rift in the distance. It looked like a tear in the fabric of space, not exactly something you wanted to fly into but they didn't have a choice. "Approaching the subspace rift, all decks report ready, Prime." Hotrod said, as Jack looked down at him. "Understood, let's make it happen." the Prime replied stoically. Hotrod then took the controls as Teletraan's hologram appeared next to him. "The Reaper IFF has been activated and…the signal has been acknowledged." the AI stated. Engineering reports that the Power core is exceeding critical levels." The pilot frantically typed at his holo-interface. "I'm re-routing." he replied. The Defiant then flew into the event horizon of the rift and was suddenly rocketed at super speeds, making its hull strain and shake as Jack held on to Hotrod's chair as they looked out of the cockpit's window at the storm-like fluctuations that surrounded the ship as it flew through the rift. "I think we are passing through the worst of it." Hotrod said as he looked between the window and the information scrolling down one of his holo-screens. Suddenly the rift opened up and the ship was spat out directly into an asteroid field, one of the large rocks coming up fast in their path. "Oh scrap!" the Autobot cursed as he pulled the ship up and fired the thrusters to max, making the Defiant fly over the asteroid, veering left and right,. Narrowly missing the other rocks as it cleared the field and entered open space. Hotrod breathed a sigh of relief as he levelled the ship. "That was too close." he exclaimed while Jack looked out the window as the Defiant flew over the asteroid field toward the accretion disk of a black hole that was in the middle of the system. "Prime, I have run a scan of the asteroid field and found metallic debris in there. It appears to be the remains of ships that tried to enter the rift, some of them look ancient." Hotrod said, as Jack looked down at the screen. "I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk." Teletraan stated as Hotrod turned the ship in the direction of it. As they looked out at the structure, Hotrod and Jack could swear that it that it looked almost like Cybertron. It was a metallic planet with large parts of it separated from the main body and orbiting around it. "That has to be the Quintesson home world, take us in closer. Nice and easy." Jack said to the Autobot who nodded in agreement before he piloted the ship closer to the structure, unaware that he had just activated a Quintesson satellite as the Defiant passed by. The satellite then started to broadcast the ship's location to unmanned weapon platforms that were docked onto the asteroids that were drifting at the utmost edge of the field, while the Defiant was flying over it. "Careful, Hotrod. I am detecting weapon signatures around us." Teletraan warned the pilot as the platforms turned their turrets in the direction of the Defiant and fired red energy beams at the MECH ship, narrowly missing it's hull. "Taking evasive manoeuvres." Hotrod stated as he pulled the Defiant into a full loop as it spun around, barely evading the beams before coming around and firing it's cannons at the locations the attacks were coming from. They hit a few of the enemy emplacements before one of the beams penetrated the ship's shields and hit the hull. The impact making the ship rock as two stations exploded in the CIC, sending the crewmen there flying on to the ground, killing them instantly. Jack turned to look at the crew before looking back at his pilot. "Hotrod." the Prime said worriedly . "I know, I know." the pilot stated angrily as he veered the Defiant to the right before another weapon platform had gained a target lock. "It's no good, I am going to have to take us into the asteroid field to stop them getting a target lock on us." the Autobot stated. The Prime merely nodded at him as the ship suddenly dived back into the field. The Defiant flew around the large chunks of rock that drifted erratically through the field. "Our shields are not designed to withstand impact with asteroids of that size Hotrod." The Autobot gave the hologram a confident smirk. "Well, it's a good thing our ship has been upgraded then." He then swerved and dodged the ship past a number of the rocks, merely missing them by a few hundred metres as the field became more dense. "Come on, find some room." he stated as the he turned the ship on it's side to brush past a large asteroid that skimmed the ship's shields. "Shield strength down to forty percent." the AI said to Hotrod, who never took his eyes off his controls as he spotted two really large rocks closing in on each other, cutting off the path ahead of the ship as space was becoming restricted. "Reroute none critical power to shields and engines, this is going to hurt." he replied as the Defiant shot towards the gap, flying between the two rocks as they closed around the ship. Hotrod narrowed his eyes as he focused on getting the ship through, as the rocks skimmed the ship's shields just before Defiant came out the other side and back out of the field. The pilot slumped in his chair relieved, as Teletraan's hologram looked at him. "What's the damage, Teletraan?" he asked "Shields are stable at thirty percent, no significant damage." the AI responded as Miranda joined Jack behind the pilot. "We lost two crew back there." she said sadly, the Prime nodding in silent agreement as he turned back to Hotrod. "Are we through?" The Autobot nodded as he kept his eyes and hands on the controls. "Yeah, we are through the field and there is nothing between us and the Quintessons." he answered as the Defiant drew closer to the enemy home world. "Good, see if you can find a safe place for us to land." the Prime ordered stoically. Hotrod then looked at the screen to his right and his face turned slightly pale. "Too late, looks like they are sending out an old friend to greet us." he replied as the Quintesson cruiser appeared from behind one of the large pieces of debris that orbited the planet. It then powered it's main weapon and fired a yellow energy beam towards the MECH ship which swung from left to right as it narrowly evaded it. Jack then smirked. "Time to show the Defiant's teeth. Fire the main gun." he ordered. Hotrod's smile beaming as he worked the controls. On the underside of the ship, a hatch opened and a large cannon deployed before it fired a powerful blue beam towards the enemy cruiser, which didn't have time to evade as the beam hit the ship's hull dead on, resulting in a massive explosion, Hotrod raised his hands as he cheered. "How do like that you fragging scrap heaps." he exclaimed. Jack though remained stoic. "Get in close and finish them off." he said calmly. "Everybody, hold on to your pants, this is gonna be a wild ride." he exclaimed as the Defiant evaded another attack from the cruiser with a barrel roll, before flying directly at the enemy. "Give them hell!" he said as he hit the button on his interface hard, resulting in the weapon firing again as the blue energy beam impacted directly on the cruiser's engine core, causing numerous explosions along it's hull as it tore itself apart. The Defiant tried to veer away but was suddenly caught in a shockwave emanating from the exploding cruiser. "Look out!" Miranda warned as another shockwave hit the Defiant, rocking the ship and shutting down it's engines as the Defiant found itself being pulled down towards the planet's surface by it's gravity field. "The engines are offline, Teletraan give me something." Hotrod cried out. "Engine reactivation failed, all hands brace for impact." the AI stated as the ship hit the ground hard and skidded over the metallic surface, causing fires and sparks to emanate from under the ship as it finally came to a standstill between two metallic buildings. Jack picked himself up off the ground and looked over to see Miranda and Hotrod sprawled on the floor. "You two alright?" he said as he went over to them, helping the MECH officer up as Hotrod got back into his seat. "I'm fine, Jack." she replied as the Autobot pilot felt his chest. "I think I broke a rib?" Hotrod said, unsure of himself. "I didn't know the pretender bodies had ribs." the Prime said back. Hotrod winced slightly as he felt his chest. "Neither did I." Teletraan's hologram appeared next to them, flickering for a moment before stabilising itself. "A number of primary and secondary systems are offline. Restoring them will take time." the AI stated grimly. Miranda sighed as she stood there with her arms crossed. "We all knew this was likely a one way trip." Jack and Hotrod looked at each other knowingly. "We are here to stop the Quintessons at any cost." the Prime replied stoically as looked down at the pilot. "Teletraan and Hotrod, I want you and the crew to repair the ship as fast as you can." Jack then turned to Miranda. "Let's assemble the team in the briefing room." he said before they both walked out of the cockpit, leaving the Autobot and the AI to their tasks. The Defiant lay on the alien and hostile metallic surface of the Quintesson home world as in the briefing room, Miranda, Soundwave, Airachnid, Jacob, Legion, Zaeed, Tali and Garrus were waiting around the table, checking their weapons as Jackson Prime stood in front of them at the table's front end. "This isn't exactly what we prepared for, but this is where we are at." He then looked at around at each of his team. "The Defiant is in no shape to move right now, but that doesn't matter. We are here to put an end to the Quintessons, and that means coming up with a plan to destroy this planet. Teletraan bring up your scans." A holographic image of the planet appears from the middle of the table. "You should be able to overload the main reactor at the heart of the planet from this control station here." the AI stated as a cursor appeared over a part of the image. Soundwave then activated his holo-tool. "But for the core to overload, you will need to bypass the coolant value fail safes in this section here. Otherwise when you try to overload the core, they will activate and stop it." Miranda then pointed over to a large heat signature that was between both areas. "The scans also show a large number of life signs in this area here." The Prime looked at the spot. "That's obviously where the abducted colonists are being held. So we will split into two teams, Beta team will head for the coolant fail safes and plant explosives there. While Alpha team will distract the Quintesson troops in the base by going up this passage and shooting anything that moves. Once Beta is done, both teams will meet up in the colonists chamber. Alpha team will be made up of myself, Airachnid, Legion and Zaeed. Beta Team is everyone else and Miranda will be in charge. " The Mech-Officer nodded back. "I won't let you down, Jack." The other team members looked at Miranda for a moment before looking back at the Prime, who held his hands behind his back and looked back at them stoically. "Now I don't know what we are about to face, but I know that its not going to be easy. We have already lost people and we will lose more." Everyone in the room looked at each, slightly nervous at what Jack had just said, but the Prime continued regardless. "We don't how many humans the Quintessons have taken, thousands, hundreds of thousands. It doesn't matter, what does though is this. 'Not one more!' That is what we are here to do, to end the threat the Quintessons pose to the galaxy. They want to know what we are made of, I say we show them, on our terms. Let's move out." he said, before they all headed for the Defiant's airlock. PRIME EFFECT 2 Outside the Defiant, the airlock seal opened and Jack dropped down to the ground below as did the team (with breather helmets) as they split up into their respective teams and entered the planet's interior through two separate openings. Jack and the Alpha team moved quickly and quietly through the metallic grey corridors. They then heard metal footsteps coming from up ahead and took cover behind the support beams that were connected to the walls. Jack tapped his com link. "Beta team, status update." he whispered. "Miranda here, we have come across no trouble so far." the MECH Officer reported. "Roger that, we'll make sure to keep it that way." Jack replied as three drones stepped around the corner to be met with bursts of weapon's fire from Airachnid and Legion, while Jack finished of the third with a shot to the face. Meanwhile in a circular room somewhere on the planet, Alpha Q was working a control interface in it's center while the hologram of a Reaper was being emitted above it. One of the controls started blinking on and off, gaining the Quintesson Leader's attention. He moved over to it as his face shifted from calm to worried. "We have intruders, that is impossible. The enemy ship was caught in the explosion when our cruiser was destroyed." The Reaper looked down at the Quintesson, its six yellows staring down coldly. "The Prime is here, deal with him. He cannot be allowed to interfere any further." Alpha Q looked down as it appeared to bow. "It will be done, Master." He then activated a control node with one of his tentacles. Suddenly alarms blared out around the planet as drones started marching up and down the corridors towards the intruders. Miranda and the Beta team made it to their target, as she gestured to Tali and Jacob to plant the explosives when the alarms sounded around them. Garrus smirked at the sounds blaring. "Looks like Jack is keeping up his end of the plan." he said while Soundwave nodded back in agreement. Miranda looked over to Tali. "How long will it take, Tali?" she asked. "We should be done in a few minutes…keelah, I just hope Jack and the others are alright." Miranda gave the Quarian a sympathetic look. "He's a Prime, Tali. He will be fine." The Quarian nodded as she returned to working on the explosives with Jacob. The drones kept coming as Jack and the others fired back at the enemies from behind their cover in a large open room. "Darby Commander, to your left." Legion called as Jack turned around and ignited the star-saber in time to pierce through the torso of a drone that had tried to creep up on him. "Thanks, Legion. Hey, Zaeed, you having fun yet?" he said over to the Mercenary who at that moment was incinerating a large group of drones with his flame thrower. "Time of my life!" he exclaimed as Airachnid fired her weapon at two more drones while using another as a shield, holding on to it via her escrima stick which was sticking out of it's back. She looked over to Jack and smiled. "Jack, I think they are retreating." she observed as the other drones left the room through the large opening in front of the team. "They are more likely regrouping, we should move fast before they attempt to over run us again." the Prime said before his com link activated. "Jack, Beta Team successful. Now on our way to rendezvous at colonist chamber." Miranda reported. "Copy that, Alpha team on route." he replied as they moved out of the open room and back into one of the corridors. They moved through the passage way quickly, taking out any drone that was in their way, until they came up to a large door. "Legion, can you hack this door open." Jack asked as he looked back to see numerous drones coming down the corridor toward them. "Negative, we can not find an adequate control node to interface with." the Geth replied as it worked it's holo-tool. The Prime, Airachnid and Zaeed started firing down the corridor at the approaching Quintessons, the Mercenary's flame thrower keeping them at bay while Jack and the femme picked the enemies off. "Jack, we are at the other side of the door. Tali is hacking it now." Miranda reported over his com link. "Right, fall back and hold the drones back." he shouted over the weapons fire as the four of them knelt down and returned fire at the Quintessons attacking them. After what felt like an age, the door opened and Miranda, Tali and Jacob appeared and began firing bursts of bullets. "Covering fire! Jack, get in here!" the MECH Officer shouted. Jack nodded to her before turning back to his team. "Fall back." he said, as he then turned to Zaeed who was further back from them, setting fire to drones with his flame-thrower. "Zaeed, we are leaving." the Prime shouted back. The mercenary looked back and nodded, turning to run back to them. But a stray shot hit his weapon, causing him to stop and look down at it. His eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen. "Oh shit!" he said fearfully before the flamethrower exploded, engulfing the Mercenary in a fireball and incinerating him. "ZAEED!" Jack shouted back from the door way as he and the others watched their team mate's burning body fall to the ground, moments before the doors closed shut. Jack looked at the ground for a moment as he mourned Zaeed's passing, Airachnid placed her hand affectionately on his shoulder in support. Miranda though turned around and looked out into the room they were in. "Jack, I think you should see this." she said in a matter of fact like manner, gaining the Prime's attention as they all looked out in to the massive room. It was filled with thousands of pods with large metal pipes coming out of the walls and leading away further into the facility. Legion looked to the group's right and its optic brightened. "Darby Commander, there are humans in these pods." the Geth observed as Jack walked over to one pod that was holding a Caucasian woman in it, she had long brown hair and pale skin." "Is she dead?" Miranda asked as Jack took a closer look. Suddenly the woman opened her eyes as her skin started to slowly dissolve. "My god, she's still alive. Legion and Tali, hack the controls and get them all out." he shouted as the woman started to scream in shear pain and fear within the pod as her body quickly dissolved into a reddish/black liquid right before their eyes. The Geth and Quarian frantically worked their holo-tools as the other human prisoners started screaming, their skin too dissolving into the same liquid. Before long all the pods were empty as the humans that were once inside were no more, as more red/black liquid was pumped away through the pipes above them. Both Legion and Tali looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Jack. I tried everything." she said, as Legion looked at her. "Creator Tali'zorah, you should not blame yourself, this unit is to blame. We were not fast enough at decoding the Quintesson systems." Tali just looked at the Geth, completely confused as she backed away from it. Jack though was still looking at the blood splattered window of the pod in front of him. "Neither of you are to blame, the Quintessons started this and now we finishing it." he said as anger started to boil in his blood. He then looked at the others as he pointed back to the pods. "We are going to make sure that no one will have to suffer at the hands of Quintessons, even if we have to give up our lives in the process." he said to them, his eyes glinting with resolve. The others nodded in return. Jack then activated his com link. "Defiant, this is Prime. We found the colonists but were too late in stopping the process. Can you tell us anything about these pipes we are seeing here?" "Prime, Teletraan here. My scans show that these pipes run from other rooms like the one you are in and end at the same location. Interestingly, when the rooms activated and the fluid from the colonists was transferred, there was a slight power fluctuation at this location." Jack looked back at the pipes. "Can you tell us anything about that location?" he asked. "Only that there is something quite large in there and that it is heavily defended. Also the location is directly connected to the power core. Whatever is in there is being powered directly from the planet." the AI replied, before being cut off by Hotrod. "Hotrod, here, we have a number of systems up, so we can do a pick up. Teletraan's scans have detected a hanger bay not far from that location, that is if you heading there?" he asked. "That is exactly where we are going, we will see what the Quintessons have in their 'vault' and then blow the planet apart. Take the ship there now, we will meet you there, Prime out." Jack then looked to the others while he raised his weapon. "We are sticking together from now on, no more splitting up. Let's go!" PRIME EFFECT 2 The Defiant took off from its crash site and moved at a low altitude, so not to set off any sensors that the planet would have hidden. The ship was moving slowly due to the fact that it was only running at fifty percent efficiency, this was one journey that would take time. Meanwhile Jack and his team were moving through the passage ways and silently taking out any drones that were patrolling the area. They moved into a massive room with a large bridge going over what looked like bottomless pit. Garrus looked over the edge and gulped. "Wow, now that is deep." the Turian observed rather fearfully. Tali patted his back gently, making him gasp as he kept his balance before turning around to the Quarian in shock. "That was not funny, Tali." he exclaimed. She just chuckled at his reaction. "You are so cute like that." she teased, causing the Turian to blush. Jack though looked back stoically. "Stay sharp, People..." he said as he raised his mattock rifle. "...this seems too quiet." Suddenly above them a large yellow hologram of Alpha Q appeared and looked down at them. "Prime, you are becoming an annoyance, this ends now." he stated coldly before the hologram faded away. Everyone looked at each other before hearing a large footstep like noise, as well as feeling vibrations through the floor. It grew louder as it got closer to them. Then Airachnid pointed over the bridge as a giant Mech walked over to them. All of them looked on in horror at the giant as it stomped over to them. It looked like a Quintesson drone, only more heavily armoured. Then Alpha Q's voice could be heard again as it echoed through the massive room. "Welcome to your end, the 'Dark Guardian' will see to it personally." Jack and the others started firing at the colossus as it raised it's right hand, its fingers changing into very long, very sharp talons. It then swung down at the group who dived back and rolled into kneeling positions and began firing back at it again, but their fire only bounced harmlessly off its armour. "Fall back!" Jack shouted to the others as he activated the star-saber and charged it before launching an energy attack that sliced the colossus's arm off. It watched it's arm fall into the darkness below before turning its attention to the Prime, who had fallen to his knees in exhaustion. Airachnid ran to his side and tried to lift him up. "Jack, we have to move." she said hurriedly as the dark guardian lifted its other arm, which shifted into a mace with what looked like a thousand spikes all over it. Jack though couldn't move as Airachnid looked back to see Soundwave join them as the two grabbed the Prime by the arms and dragged him back. But they weren't quick enough as the colossus had raised its mace fully over it's head and started to swing it down at the three of them. But a second before it hit, the guardian was suddenly knocked back by an explosion to its chest. It stumbled back momentarily before an energy beam hit it again, making it move back further towards the edge of the bridge. And just as it regained it's balance, a third energy beam hit the giant in the face. Making it tumble backwards and fall off the bridge and into the abyss underneath the bridge. Everyone looked back in amazement to see Jacob holding up what looked like a cannon. He had a wide smile on his face. "Don't you just love this gun or what!" he exclaimed happily. Garrus looked at it wide eyed. "That's a 'Cain', right? You've been carrying a heavy weapon around and didn't tell us," The MECH Operative just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it is useful and you're telling me that I have been carrying this on the back of my armour during our missions, and you never thought to ask me what it is?" he said as he cocked his head while looking at the Turian. Jacob then looked over to Jack who had just recovered his strength, Airachnid standing close by in case Jack hadn't fully recovered. "Great job, Jacob." the Prime said back, making the Jacob's grin grow bigger. "Thanks, Prime, that means a…." he was cut off suddenly when a gun shot could be heard behind him and a large metal spear shot out of his chest, spraying blood over the ground in front of him. "JACOB!" Miranda screamed as the others spotted more drones rushing out of the entrance the group had come from, and started to fire back at them as Miranda tried to move to Jacob, only for Jack to hold her back. Jacob fell to his knees as he coughed up some blood before looking at the MECH Officer and Prime. "Go…. now!" he shouted as they saw him pull out a grenade from his belt and armed it as the drones got closer. "We have to go now!" Jack told Miranda as they started to move in the other direction while the rest of the group gave covering fire while they too moved away. Jacob could feel his strength slipping away from him as hell fell to the ground and opened his hand, letting the grenade roll out of his grasp and onto the floor just as the Quintesson drones reached him. Suddenly as Jack and the others ran away, there was an explosion behind them that killed most of the drones, but sent the remaining ones over the edge and into the pit. The Prime and the others felt like they had run a mile over the bridge as they finally saw its end in the shape of a big metallic door just ahead of them. Airachnid then turned to look behind them and saw more drones chasing after the group on what looked like flying metal boards. "Incoming!" she screamed as she turned and fired at the attackers, taking one out as it fell off it's board. Jack and Garrus followed suit and killed two more drones as the enemies fell into the abyss. Tali was right at the edge firing back with her shotgun when one of the drones fired a rocket which exploded just away from her, making her fall off of the bridge as Garrus looked on in horror. "TALI!" he cried out, when out of nowhere Legion managed to grab the Quarian by the hand and stop her fall. It looked directly into her eyes with its only optic. "We have got you, creator Tali'zorah." it said in a calm fashion as it pulled her back up and onto the bridge. Tali just looked at it in shock, as it let go of her hand and stared at her. "Why did you save me?" she asked in confusion. The Geth just continued to stare. "We told you we do not wish to see our creators die." it stated back. Before Tali could say any more Garrus ran up to her and gave her a warm hug which surprised her. "Thank god you're safe." He said which made the young Quarian smile behind her visor. The Turian then looked at Legion. "Thanks for saving her, Legion." The Geth looked between the two organics. "Acknowledged." it replied as Jack, Airachnid and Soundwave finished off the remaining flyers and turned to them. "Through the door, now!" the Prime called as more Quintesson troops ran across the bridge towards them. The group made it through the door before Legion sealed the door shut with it's holo-tool. With the door closed and no enemies around, the group took a moment to catch their breath. Tali while standing next to Garrus, just stared over at the Geth that had saved her life. The same one that had killed her father and numerous other Quarians, she just couldn't figure it out. Jack meanwhile tapped his com link as Airachnid and Soundwave stood close by. "Teletraan, how close are we to that room?" he asked as he looked at his holo-tool. "Prime, the room is right through the large door on the north side. There is also a door on the east that will lead to the hanger bay. We will be there in approximately ten minutes." the AI replied before pausing for a moment. "You should know that a large group of Quintesson drones are on the other side of the door you came in and are attempting to get through." "Understood." Jack replied as he looked at his team. "Okay, three of us will go into the main chamber and overload the core, but only after we see what the Quintessons have in there first. Now while we are in there, those drones will be trying to get in…" but as the Prime spoke, Garrus decided to finish his sentence. "And you need the rest of us to keep them at bay. Then get to it Jack, we have got your backs." The Turian finished with a smile while he and the others readied their weapons, as they all nodded back at the Prime. He could see that they were all on the same wavelength. "Airachnid and Miranda, you're both with me." The two then walked over to Jack as he looked at the other four. "Good luck." he said, as Garrus, Soundwave, Tali and Legion looked at him. "You too." Soundwave replied before Jack and his two team mates walked into the other room. Garrus then turned to the Quarian and the spymaster. "Okay we have some good cover in here, so pick a spot and get ready." he said as they got behind repsective cover and checked their weapons, meanwhile the door had started to heat up. Whatever the drones on the other side of the door were doing, it was making short work of the metal that stood between the two sides. Garrus looked over to Tali before the door melted down and the drones entered the room, guns blazing. The team returned fire as their battle intensified very quickly. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack, Airachnid and Miranda walked through a small tunnel as Teletraan spoke into Jack's ear via the com link. "Prime, I am detecting a bio-mechanical signature in the main chamber. Considering the energy I am detecting, it must be massive." The team walked into the main chamber and they stopped and looked up in horror at the sight in front of them. "If my readings are correct, Prime, then this signature is a …..Reaper!" the AI said in astonishment. Jack looked up at it. "Not just a Reaper, but a 'Human' Reaper." Jack observed as he looked at the colossal entity hanging from the ceiling via a number of pipes and struts. "My god." Miranda said, while Airachnid just looked at it completely shocked. The human Reaper was just a torso, head and two arms. But it had two optics for eyes and the top of it's head was still open. The Reaper was definitely unfinished. "Prime, for the amount of bio-matter used to create this Reaper, I would say that the Quintessons have processed tens of thousands of humans, but even more will be needed to finish it." the AI added. Airachnid looked over at Jack and saw that he was just staring at it, she placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. "You okay, you zoned out for a second there." the femme asked worriedly. Jack looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "No, I am fine. It's just I think I have seen this body before, it just looks familiar." he replied as the Prime looked at it again. He then tapped his com link. " How do we destroy this abomination?" he asked the AI. "The Reaper is still in it's foetal stage and is connected directly to the planet's core, so overloading it will destroy the Reaper before the planet itself is destroyed." Jack nodded as he looked at his team members. "Thanks. Is the Defiant at the EP (extraction point) yet?" "We will be there in two minutes." the AI reported. Jack then changed frequencies on his com link. "Prime to Garrus, sit-rep?" Jack then heard a lot of gunfire and explosions on the other end before the Turian spoke. "Jack, we are holding the line but they keep coming, a quick exit plan would be appreciated." Jack walked over to what looked like a control interface and pulled off a panel, revealing it's inner workings. "Garrus, detonate your explosives and get to the EP. The Defiant will be waiting for you there." Jack then switched frequencies and spoke to his pilot, as they felt a small quake shake the area, which meant that the explosives had taken out the fail safes. "Hotrod, you better get here fast, because I am about to overload the power core and destroy this entire planet." he said as he started working on the control panel's insides. "Roger that….uh Prime, I have incoming transmission from Silas. Teletraan is patching him through." Miranda activated her holo-tool and a life size hologram of Silas stood before Jack. "Prime, you have accomplished the impossible." he stated with a smile. Jack looked over to him with a sullen look. "I didn't do it alone, I was part of a team and crew. Some of them gave their lives to see this mission through." The Director's face became stoic at the Prime's comment. "I understand, they will not be forgotten. You did what you had to do and because of that we now have the Quintesson planet." Jack turned around and looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?" The hologram of Silas just looked at him, his yellow optics clearly defined as they stared at the Prime. "I have gone through the scans that Teletraan had taken of the planet. A timed radiation blast will destroy all of the Quintessons, but leave the planet and the technology intact." Jack and his team just listened as Silas carried on. "This is our chance, the Quintessons were building a Reaper. That technology and knowledge could save us." Jack could not believe what he was hearing. "They processed humans, liquefied them. It was horrendous, the planet needs to be destroyed." he said angrily. Silas just glared at him. "Don't be short sighted. Using the Reaper's own technology against them is the only way to beat them." Miranda looked unnerved by what she was hearing. "I am not so sure, after seeing it firsthand. Using anything here seems like a betrayal." Silas ignored his daughter's doubts and continued with Jack. "The Quintessons are working for the Reapers, who knows what kind of information is stored there." Jack just crossed his arms and shook his head. "No matter what we may find here, it isn't worth the amount of lives it cost to obtain it." he said in a stoic manner, trying to get through to the Director. "Prime, you died fighting for what you believed in. I rebuilt you so that you could keep fighting, some would say that what we did was going too far, but look at what you have achieved. I didn't discard you because I knew your value, don't be so reckless with discarding this facility so quickly. Think of what we could do with it's potential." Jack though turned away from Silas and continued with the control panel. "No, we can fight and win without it. I will not let fear compromise who I am or what we stand for." Silas could feel himself losing control of the situation and so turned to Miranda, the one person he felt he still had control of. "Miranda, do not let Darby destroy the planet!" The MECH Officer looked at Silas in a untrusting manner. "Or what? You'll discard me, like you did before." she spat back at him. "I am your father…" he replied forcefully. But Miranda just looked back at him in disgust. "Funny how you remember that now, consider this a disownment." she replied as she deactivated the transmission. Silas turned back to Jack with an almost pleading look. "Jack, don't do this. Think about what is at stake, about everything that MECH has done for you…." then his hologram was gone as Miranda knelt down next to Jack and helped with the reprogramming. After a moment they were done. "Okay, we have several minutes before the reactor blows and takes this whole planet with it." The three of them ran out of the room as the reactor started to overload, causing the planet to experience earthquakes as it started to build up its energy towards exploding point. Once they got back to the outer room, Jack's com link activated. "Prime, do you copy?" hotrod's voice came through. "We're on our way, did the others make it?" he asked hoping for good news after seeing how shot up the outer room looked. "Everyone is on board, we are just waiting on you." the pilot replied as drones started to swarm through the tunnels and passages towards them. Jack and his team then heard a booming alien voice speaking to them through the station. "Prime, you think you have won, but you've changed nothing. Your species has gained the attention of one that is infinitely greater." Jack, Airachnid and Miranda fired at the drones as they ran away from the enemies chasing them. "The species you call Reapers are your destiny through destruction." As they ran, Jack looked around to see drones running at them from all directions as the group entered the hanger to see the Defiant waiting for them, Garrus and Soundwave in the airlock providing covering fire, taking out a few of the drones who had gotten closer to Prime and his team mates. "Go, I'll cover you." Jack shouted back as he fired back at the Quintesson drones flooding through the hanger's entrance. Miranda and Airachnid ran up the catwalk and jumped into the airlock. "Jack, get here now." Garrus shouted at the Prime who started to run towards the ship, only to find the catwalk retracting in on itself, Jack though was not going to let that stop him so he put everything had left into his legs and ran as fast and as strong as he could while the drones fired at him. Garrus saw what his friend had in mind and realised instantly what was going to happen. "He's not going to make it!" He then got down on his knees and held out his hand as Jack reached the edge of the catwalk and jumped into the air, arm stretched out, reaching for his friend's hand. Suddenly everything felt like it was in slow motion as Jack moved through the air, but just as it seemed that he would not make it, their hands connected and grasped each others strongly as Jack was hanging of Garrus's arm. The drones stopped at the edge of the platform and fired at the Defiant as Soundwave and Airachnid fired back, while Garrus pulled Jack on board and closed the airlock door. The Defiant turned around, it's engines facing the drones as it prepared to leave. "Everyone's on board, punch it." Tali shouted to Hotrod as Teletraan gave them a countdown. "Detonation in nine, eight, seven…" the AI said. "Yeah, I get it. Full power to engines now." Hotrod said while taking the controls, before the Defiant flew out of the hanger at full speed as the planet's surface was rocked by explosions, the ship trying to make as much distance between itself and the Quintesson planet as possible. Meanwhile in the planet's main control room, Alpha Q was working frantically as he tried to avert the explosion. But the Reaper hologram just looked down at him, completely enraged. "You have failed, but we have 'another way'. We will leave you to your fate!" The hologram then disappeared as Alpha Q's face shifted to fearful as the planet shook around him. He then heard the explosion travelling up to meet him and stared at it as it enveloped him and the room. The planet then exploded in magnificent fashion as the explosion spread out across the system only seconds behind the Defiant as it flew past the wreckage of the Quintesson cruiser which was then destroyed by the explosion wave. The Defiant then entered the rift just as the wave caught up. But by then Jack and his crew were safely away. PRIME EFFECT 2 Silas stood in silent rage as Jack's hologram appeared on the holo-pad. "Darby, you are making a habit of costing me more than time and money." he said trying to keep his anger in check. "The price of the atrocities that occurred on that planet were too high, I am not sorry that it is gone." Jack replied. "Well, you better get used to losing people, many more will be lost now. The technology on that planet could have secured humanity's dominance in the galaxy, against the Reapers and beyond." he countered. "More like MECH's dominance." Jack responded. "MECH is a symbol of humanity, what we do strengthens every human. I should have known that you would choke when it came down to the hard choices. You are just like that fool Optimus, to idealistic for your own good." Silas spat back at the Prime. "I don't care what your opinion of me is, the Reapers are coming. Humanity and the rest of the galaxy need a leader who is looking out for them. From now on I'm doing things my way, whether you like it or not." Jack replied stoically. Silas took a few steps toward the Prime, his yellow optics glowing brightly as he let his anger loose. "Don't you dare turn your back on me, Darby. I rebuilt you, I brought you back from the dead." Jack just tapped his com link. "Teletraan, lose this channel." he said coolly as he walked off the holo-pad and disappeared from the Director's view. Jack smiled as he left the briefing room, happy in the knowledge that he had just cut ties with MECH. Silas though just stood there in his darkened room with his fists clenched tight. He was so angry that he didn't hear footsteps behind him. "That Prime is a real problem…" a voice said, making the Director turn around to see who had spoken. "…for both of us." the voice continued. Silas focused his optics trying to see the person in the room with him. "Who's there?" The figure in the darkness then stepped out into the light cast from the orange holo-globe in the center of the room and smiled at Silas. "You can call me Sideways, and I have proposal for you." The Director simply nodded cautiously. "You help me to kill Jackson Prime and I will help you get your hands on what you desire most." Sideways said in a calm tone. "And what is it that you can offer myself and MECH?" Silas asked in a distrusting manner. The former con simply smiled in return. "Reaper technology and information of course, enough to help you unlock their secrets and put MECH above everyone else. Is that incentive enough….do we have a deal." As the two men stood there in silence for several seconds, a dark grin appeared on Silas's face as he stared back at Sideways. Meanwhile in the Defiant's shuttlebay, Jack was standing over the coffins of those who died during the mission. He placed his hand on one of them and whispered a prayer before standing up straight and remaining quiet for several seconds. He then turned and walked away toward one of the windows that looked out into space. The some of the crew were busy repairing the ship as he walked past, lost in his own thoughts. Everything had changed again, and yet things were still the same. Yes… he had made enemies of the Council, of the Alliance and of MECH, but the Reapers were still out there and so his mission still needed to be completed: Stop the Reapers no matter the cost. But while he looked out at the cosmos, unbeknownst to Jack, the Reapers appeared around the galaxy. Billions of ships, with the one that had spoken to Alpha Q was at the front of the fleet. It's eyes glowed brightly as the Reapers moved ever closer to the galaxy. The battle was over, but the war was still to come. -
By Apollo-XL5 · Posted
CHAPTER 9 Soundwave was standing alone in his lab. He was going through the data he had gathered from the Brute's brain cells as well as what information the others had downloaded from Sideways computers, trying to keep his mind busy. Not wanting to think about what had transpired back on Tuchunka. When he had entered the lab, he found that Ravage, the only mini con he had left was not there. Soundwave should of realised that the feline mini con would have wondered off, he never did like being stuck in one place to long. But the spymaster was actually relieved that he was not there at that moment, or else Ravage would remind him of what he had just lost. So he looked back at the screen and kept working. As he shifted through the data, he could not help but feel a certain amount of respect for Sideways. Well from a scientific view anyway. He had certainly become as competent as Shockwave with the ability to reprogram the Cybertronian mind, but as Soundwave dug deeper into the code, he saw trace elements that he could not understand. Now matter how he looked at it or from what angle he took. The trace elements in the code were a complete mystery. He was so engrossed in his research that he did not notice the lab door open and Jack walking in with Ravage at his side. "Soundwave, I found this guy down on the crew deck. He had his head in whatever Chef was cooking for the crew today." Soundwave kept looking at the screen. "So he fed himself while I was away." the spymaster replied. Jack patted Ravage on the head as the feline replied by brushing his head against Jack's leg before going over to Soundwave who patted him in return. "Yeah, let's just say Chef wasn't too pleased." Jack replied before looking at what the former con was working on. "So what have you found?" Soundwave stepped aside and activated the larger screen behind the one he was using. "Well, it seems that Sideways has been integrating the reprogramming techniques that Shockwave used to such devastating effect during the war with Reaper code, allowing him to indoctrinate any Cybertronian he comes in contact with." Jack looked over the data before looking back at the spymaster, slightly confused. "But I thought that indoctrination was for organics only. That Cybertronains couldn't be taken over like that." Soundwave then pointed at the alien trace elements inside the code. "These trace elements of data inside the base code is so advanced and alien to me that I can't make heads or tails of it." Jack looked at the image of the code with the alien traces in it. "This isn't Reaper code?" Soundwave shook his head. "The Reaper fragments are mixed into the fragments from Shockwave. Those new fragments don't match either though." the spymaster replied. "So if it's not their code, then whose is it?" the Prime asked. "I do not know, but I intend to find out." Soundwave responded, gaining a smile from the Prime. "It's good to have you on the team, Soundwave." he responded as he patted the former con's arm. He then turned to leave. "Prime…Jack, thank you for taking the time to help me on Tuchunka..." Soundwave said, making Jack look back. "...I just wish that we could have saved Rumble." he finished as he looked down at the ground in shame. "That was unfortunate." Jack replied as he knew Soundwave's pain. The former con looked at Jack and knew the Prime understood his loss. "Yes, it was. But I know Rumble and Frenzy would want me to carry on and put a stop to Sideways and then the Reapers. Your fight has now become my fight Jack. And should we both survive the coming battle with the Quintessons, then you can count on me whenever you need me, Jack." he said as he held out his hand to Jack who took the hand in his own and shook. "Thank you, Soundwave. I am glad you said that, because..." he said as he reached into his trouser pocket. "...I think you're going to need this." Jack took something out of his pocket and placed in it the former con's hand. Soundwave looked down at the object in his hands, it was an Autobot insignia. He looked up a Jack in surprise as he then looked back down at the insignia. "I accept. After serving under Megatron, a Cybertronian who earned loyalty by using fear and intimidation, working with you during this mission has been an eye opener. You see I never faced the wrath of Megatron, due to the fact that I never really failed at any task that he gave me, but others were not as fortunate. But I did know that he would happily sacrifice all of his troops, myself included if it meant that he got what he was after..." Soundwave replied as he looked back at the Prime. "...But you, Jack, care for those who serve under you. You even treat them as equals….as friends. Apart from my mini-cons, who I considered as my family. I never had a real friend. Not until I met you again. I know that during the war, we were enemies. But you went out of your way to help me and I really appreciate that. I hope that one day I can repay you." Jack smiled back though a little embarrassed, not that he showed it in his expression. "Don't worry about it, Soundwave, its just what friends do for each other." The Prime then turned to leave, before looking back at the spymaster. "There is just one more person I have to see." he said as he held another insignia in his hand. Soundwave saw it and smiled. "Airachnid." Jack nodded at the comment. "You know, I knew that Shockwave had reprogrammed her. But I had no idea that her original personality was still in there, and aware of the everything that she did. It's horrifying to think about." Soundwave said. "She has been through a lot and none of it was her fault..." Jack replied, he then gave the spymaster a knowing look. "...But I believe that everyone deserves a second chance." Soundwave smiled and nodded back as he understood exactly what Jack meant, he then placed the insignia onto the chest plate of his armour. It glowed bright red for a moment before locking into place. "Thank you, Jack." he said proudly before turning back to his console. Jack smiled back before leaving the lab. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack had looked everywhere for Airachnid, he had tried her room on the lowest level, the common room, he even interrupted Garrus's calibrations to see if he knew where she was. But he had no luck. He then walked through the corridors when he came up to the port-side observation room, and he thought he might as well have a look so he opened the door and there sitting on the couch was the femme as she looked out at the star field. Jack smiled at how relaxed she looked, considering everything she had been through and suffered. She looked over to him and affectionate smile graced her lips. "Jack, hi." she said, her purple eyes looking directly at him. The way she looked at him suddenly made Jack blush. It had been along time since a female had looked at him like that. "..Hi, Airachnid." he managed to say, which gained a chuckle from the Femme. She then patted the spot next to her and Jack sat down beside her. As he sat next to her, Jack wondered why he felt exited to be near her, he had thought that Arcee would have been the only one to gain such a reaction from him, but here now beside him was someone, who before he had died and came back, would never had considered to be anything other than a sadistic killer. But having gotten to know the real her, he felt himself slowly becoming attracted to her, she reminded him of Arcee in more ways than one and he had felt lonely since his lover had left him. But now, another femme was showing him such attention and he found that he wanted it. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, that suddenly he felt something hit his shoulder. He blinked and looked at Airachnid who had just hit his arm gently to get his attention. "Jack, everything okay?" she asked in a concerned manner. Jack smiled back at her and shook his head. "No, I fine. I was just thinking for a moment." he replied. "Anything you want to talk about?" she asked somewhat curiously. "No, actually I came here to give you something." he replied honestly. Airachnid was taken aback by Jack's comment, surprise on her face was evident. "What…what is it?" she asked as Jack handed her the object. She looked down at the Autobot insignia that was lying in her hand. She stared at it for what seemed like ages, before she looked back at Jack, her eyes wide open. "I don't know what to say, Jack." she said, still taking in what had just happened. "You don't need to say anything, you deserve to have this back." he said as he watched her smile down at the insignia before looking at the Prime. "Thank you, Jack. I am honoured to be a part of the Autobots again." The Prime smiled and nodded back. "I know Esmeral would be proud of you." he replied gaining a smile from the femme before she looked away for a moment to the star field and remembered her lost spark mate. "Yes, she would." she replied before Jack notice her smile wane a little. "You miss her a lot, don't you?" he asked in soft tone. She looked back to him and nodded gently. "Yes, not a moment goes by when I don't think of her. If I didn't have you here to help me through this, I don't know how I would have turned out." she responded. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for, Airachnid." he said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at the gesture. "Thank you, Jack.." she then looked away and then back at the Prime. "..May I ask how you are doing?" she asked. Jack looked at her curiously. "Me, I'm fine." he lied, hoping that would deflect her curiosity, but the femme just stared at him intently. "Jack, please, it takes one to know one. How are you doing, really?" Jack sighed as he looked out at the stars. "I miss her, it hasn't been easy doing this without her." he confessed as Airachnid moved closer to him and placed her hand on his leg sympathetically. "I could tell. It's funny how much we rely on the ones we love and so when they are no longer around, we feel so helpless." she replied. Jack nodded as he looked back at her. "All I know is that if you…" before he could finish the sentence, the door opened and Miranda walked in. "Jack we have received the coordinates for the IFF from my father." she said before looking at the two sitting on the couch. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked as Jack and Airachnid looked over to her, before looking at each other. "No. If you need Jack, then he's all yours." Airachnid replied, as Jack looked back at her. She just smiled at him. "They need you right now..." she said to him as she placed her hand on his affectionately. "...We can talk more later." Jack nodded back and smiled at her before he got up and left the room with Miranda, leaving the femme to look back out to the star field. Jack and Miranda entered the elevator and stood side by side as the doors closed. "So where has Silas found an IFF then?" he asked. "Apparently, MECH has found a dead Reaper in orbit around the star in the Thorne system. He sent a science team to investigate it but has now lost contact with the team." she replied as the elevator moved up to the CIC deck. The two then entered the CIC where Miranda brought up the Reaper's position on the galaxy map. "I have already given the coordinates to Hotrod and he already set us on our way. I have also picked your team, they are waiting for you down in the airlock." Jack looked at the map before turning to the MECH Officer. "Looks like you have thought of everything." he replied with a smile, making Miranda blush slightly. "Well, that's why I 'm here." she said a little embarrassed as she raked her hand through her hair gently. Jack's expression then turned serious as it dawned on him. "Wait, they lost contact with the science team. That doesn't sound ominous, does it?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "It does seem strange, but my father said in the transmission that he gave us all the information he had on the situation." she replied, earning an unsure look from the Prime. "You sure about that?" She looked away for second, not wanting him to see her doubts, but then she looked back at him. "Yeah, I have my doubts too, ever since the Quintesson cruiser. But we need that IFF." Jack nodded in agreement, as he pulled out the Prime Armour octagonal disc from his trouser pocket. "So how long until we get there?" Miranda pointed at the galaxy map, their position popped up only a few light years away from the target destination. "It's not far, we wont need to use a space bridge to get there, Hotrod says we should be there in another thirty or so minutes." Jack then placed the disc on his chest, the Prime Armour forming around his body. "Well, best get ready then." he replied as he started for the airlock next to the cockpit. "Good luck, Jack." Miranda said, gaining a smile from the Prime as he walked away. PRIME EFFECT 2 The Defiant jumped out of hyperspace and flew towards the system's star, which shown brightly against the black back-drop of space. As the ship got closer, the corpse of the Reaper could be seen, still making a menacing presence despite it's lifelessness. In the airlock, Jack, Garrus and Zaeed were standing ready when suddenly the ship shook for a moment. When it passed Jack tapped his com link. "Hotrod, report. What was that?" "It seems that we have just entered the Reaper's gravitational field that it is still emitting." the pilot replied. "It would appear that this field is what is keeping the Reaper from being pulled into the star, also our shield strength has started to increase since we entered the field. It would seem that the field also keeps the Reaper from gaining damage to its hull from the star's radiation." Teletran interrupted. "Prime, I just run a scan and it appears that two ships are docked with the Reaper, one is Quarian and the other is Geth." Hotrod said over the com. "Well, now we have a better idea of what happened to the science team, but why would there be a Quarian ship here?" Jack asked. "Not sure, Prime, but I am docking the Defiant with the Reaper now. Good hunting." The com link deactivated as Jack and his team readied their weapons. The Defiant docked with the Reaper and the airlock opened to reveal a man-made habitat filled with computer screens and equipment. Jack and the team entered the room and looked around. Garrus walked around one of the tables and stopped in his tracks. "Hey, guys, we have a body over here." he said in a tense tone. Jack and Zaeed joined the Turian as he looked down the human body, its skin was severely burned as it lied in a dried up poodle of its own blood. "Damn, that's a horrible way to go." Zaeed said as Jack took a scan of the corpse with his holo-tool. "No way that the Geth did this." he replied, earning a worried look from Garrus. "So whatever killed this poor guy is probably still here, lurking around. Nice!" he replied in a sarcastic tone. Jack turned around and found a console, activating it. As he looked at the data on the screen he found a number of recordings and played the first entry. The large screen on the wall activated and one of the scientists appeared. "This is Professor Bould reporting. Well, this is it. After building our makeshift lab and living space just beyond the Reaper's airlock, we have finally started work on finding out every thing we can about this Reaper. The crew is edgy but I believe that it is just nerves. I myself find this whole assignment to be fascinating, to be here inside a member of the most advanced and oldest species ever to exist in our galaxy. Our scans of it's hull show it to be over thirty seven million years old. But there is evidence of the race being even older. Who knows, these Reapers may well be from the beginning of the galaxy itself." The log ended and Jack started the next. Another face appeared on the screen. "This is Doctor Davidson reporting. I have to say that I am getting worried with the behaviour of our team's leader, Professor Bould has started to act very strangely. He has been locking himself in his office, and talking to himself. Whenever the others have spoken to him, he has spoken nothing but gibberish, saying that the Reapers are the future of our race. I fear that hes being indoctrinated. I fear the gravitational field that is being emitted from the Reaper is also capable of indoctrinating anyone who is inside its radius. I plan to have the rest of us, when not working over here, to stay on our ship and outside the range of the field. In the meantime, we will have to place the Professor into quarantine, so that he will not harm the other scientists. Also a number of us are starting to suffer headaches. The quicker we get off this thing and out of it's range the better." The log ended and the Prime activated the last log. The face of Doctor Davidson appearing again, only this time he looked like almost like a zombie as his face was devoid of any emotion and with blood splattered over it. "This….I cant think straight. My head is throbbing, all I can hear is it's voice in my mind. It whispers to me, giving me purpose. Telling me to show my belief in it. I killed Larreson earlier, because he didn't believe. I do though and want to become one with it, with my god!…" The log ended and Jack looked at his team mates. "So the Reaper indoctrinated everyone here, that means we will have Husks waiting for us on the other side of that door." Garrus said as he pointed to the large door at the end of the lab. "Looks like, but it's nothing we haven't faced before." Jack replied before looking at Zaeed. "Well, nearly all of us." Zaeed gave Jack a lopsided grin. "What? Face-off against a bunch of space zombies, let me at them." he chuckled as the team opened up the door and entered the Reaper. As they entered the behemoth. The interior was jet black with large pipes running along the walls and ceiling. Suddenly the ship shook, nearly making them fall over. Once steadied, Jack tapped his com link. "Defiant, report." "Prime, the Reaper has activated its shields, sealing us in with it. We cant leave while they are still up." Hotrod replied. "Any ideas on how to disable them, Teletraan?" Jack asked, gaining a reply from the AI. "My suggestion would be to take out the Reaper's power core, it is not far from your current position. But a word of warning, once it is down the gravitational field collapses and the Reaper will be pulled into the star's corona sphere destroying it. That means you will not have enough time to get back to the airlock." "So you will have to come and pick us up then. If there is any pilot that can do that, its you Hotrod." Jack replied. "Thanks for vote of confidence Prime, we will be ready. Good luck." the pilot replied before shutting down the com link. Jack looked back to his team. "Okay, we know what we have to do, move out." he said as the team moved down one of the tunnels. After walking a short distance, the team heard gunfire and the familiar inhuman screams of Husks. They the bolted down the tunnel and around the corner to find a lone Quarian fighting for her life against a number of Husks who were close to overwhelming her. Jack and Garrus recognised her instantly. "Tali!" This made her look at who called out her name after blowing a husk away with her shotgun. She saw two Humans and a Turian standing just away from her with their weapons ready. "Get down!" Jack shouted, causing her to dive to the ground as they opened fire on the Husks, killing the creatures in a barrage of bullets. When the last Husk had fallen, she got up and immediately her eyes widened as she recognised Jack. "Jack,….I thought you were dead." she said surprised, earning a smile from the Prime. "Yeah, I have been getting that a lot lately." he joked as Garrus stood beside him. "Tali,…. you look good." he said, earning a large smile from the Quarian as her eyes lit up at seeing him. "Garrus, it's good to see you too." she answered before looking back at Jack. "Tali, the truth is...MECH rebuilt me." he said. Even though Jack couldn't see her face behind her visor, he could tell she looked confused. "MECH! Why?" she asked. "So that I could help stop the Quintessons from attacking any more Human colonies. That's why we are here now, to secure the Reaper IFF that is here." he said, before then crossing his arms. "Why are you here, Tali?" The Quarian looked uncomfortable for a moment before sighing. "Well, if you must know. I am here to capture or kill a Geth that I have been chasing for the last several months. It is responsible for the deaths of a number of my people when it destroyed one of our patrol ships. I was dispatched with a team to take care of it, but my team was killed by the Husks not long after we entered the Reaper. Then you guys showed up." she said. "I think it's best we stay together now. Your ship looks a little too big for you to pilot yourself." Jack responded. "That's true, the ship was designed for a crew of six to pilot, I wouldn't be able to do it by myself." she replied, earning a smile from Jack as he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "We just need to pick up the IFF and then we can then take you back to the Flotilla." he replied. "That…would be great." she said in a less then enthusiastic tone that both Jack and Garrus noticed. But now wasn't the time to ask why, so the team and their newest member head on down the tunnel. Since being reunited with Tali, the team had moved through a number of tunnels and had not come up against a single Husk. Garrus then noticed a bright light shining from the far end of the tunnel they were currently in, so they followed the light until they entered a large circular room that had a large device in the middle, holding a blue energy ball in its center. "That is the power core I guess." Jack said as he turned to Tali. "Is there another way out of here that the Defiant can pick us up from." he asked, the Quarian activated her holo-tool and looked at the make shift map she had constructed from her scans. "That tunnel on the right will lead us to a damaged part of the Reaper's outer hull, but it has no atmosphere so we will need to use breathers. Plus once the gravity field is down, our shields wont stand a chance against the star's radiation. So your ship will have to be close." Jack nodded back. "Don't worry about that, Hotrod won't let us down." he replied as he noticed Garrus walking over to the power core and picking up a small object off of the control console next to it. "Jack, I have the IFF. It was just lying there." he said as he handed it to the Prime. "Well that's convenient, the scientists just left it here." Jack said. Garrus though just shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I don't mind it being this easy for once. Please don't jinx us." Jack then placed the IFF in his utility belt and activated his holo-tool and com link. "Teletraan, we have the IFF, now how do we disable the power core?" "Just make a connection between myself and the Power-core's control systems and I should be able to cause a shut-down of it's system. It will take time though." the AI responded. Jack then used his holo-tool and connected the AI to the system as all of a sudden a Husk crawled out from under the walkway and stood behind the Prime, ready to strike. Garrus turned around and shouted at his friend. "Jack, look out!" The Prime spun around to see the Husk bearing down on him, when suddenly a shot was fired and the Husk fell dead at his feet. Jack looked surprised at everyone. "Thanks!" he said to his team mates. "….Prime, we didn't do that." Zaeed said, making Jack look around before he froze in spot at the sight in front of him. The others looked too, Tali's eyes narrowed at what they all were looking at. At the other end of the room stood a Geth with Sniper rifle in its hands, it then lowered its weapon and looked directly at Jack. "Darby Commander." it said, surprising everyone. Tali though raised her shotgun at the Geth and was about to fire, when Jack suddenly stopped her. "What? It's a Geth, Jack. It's the one I have been chasing after." she said in anger, while the Prime looked back at her stoically. "Tali, that Geth just saved my life...and it spoke. I want to find out why, before anyone puts a bullet through it." Tali reluctantly agreed and Jack turned back to the Geth, but before he could say anything, three husks jumped it and sent the Geth onto the floor, disabling it. "Jack, you jinxed us." Garrus said as they saw more Husks climbing down the walls from the shadows above. The team took defensive positions around the core as Jack tapped his com link. "Teletraan, how much longer?" he asked as they opened fire on the invading husks who flooded into the room and attacked the group. "It will be down momentarily, please stand by." the AI responded as Tali took out three husks with her shotgun. Meanwhile Zaeed kicked one in the face before pointing his pistol at the face of another and pulled the trigger, exploding the Husks head. "Take that, you fucking zombies!" he screamed as more husks took the place of the ones he had just taken out. Garrus stood by Tali as he took out two Husks with his weapon that had nearly got hold of her, she smiled back in appreciation. "Thanks, Garrus." she replied happily, making the Turian blush. "Just like old times, Tali." he replied as she killed another husk. Meanwhile Jack had switch to the star-saber and skyboom shield and was slicing and beating through whichever husks got too close while waiting on the AI's response. Suddenly the energy globe in the center of the power core disappeared in a flash of light. "It is down, Prime, I suggest you move." Teletraan said as Jack sliced the head off of the last Husk. "Thanks, Teletraan. Tell Hotrod to get the Defiant over here now." he replied as he walked over to the Geth on the floor, still disabled from the Husk attack. "What are you doing, Jack?" Tali replied as Zaeed and Garrus joined them around the Geth. "We are taking it with us and I don't want any fuss." he replied before he then motioned the mercenary and the Turian to pick it up as the inhuman screams of more husks could be heard echoing out of the tunnel that they entered the room from. "Tali and myself will cover you guys, now go." he said as they picked up the body and headed to the rendezvous point. The Defiant pulled away from the docking point and flew around to the other side of the giant Reaper as Jack and his team (with their breather helmets on) made their way to the most outer edge of the ship's black hull. The Prime and the Quarian held back the husks with bursts of bullets from their weapons as the Defiant pulled up just away from them as they neared the platform's edge. The Husks kept coming as Zaeed and Garrus threw the Geth body towards the open airlock of the Defiant, the body gliding into it safely. They then jumped over, letting the force they used push them into the airlock too. Only Jack and Tali were left as the Prime tapped her shoulder and she took this as a sign to go and jumped over to the Defiant, getting caught by Garrus as he held her for a moment before letting her down. They then watched as Jack took one more slice with his star-saber. Cutting the head of a husk off it's body, the head floating away into space. He then turned and jumped over to the ship, as the radiation pounded his personal shield. But he landed perfectly in the air lock as he turned and punched the control panel, closing the outer door. "We're aboard, now get us out of here." he said into the inter com. The Defiant then pulled away from the dead reaper and flew out of its range at top speed, as the derelict was pulled into the Star's Corona-sphere, where it exploded moments later. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack stood in the science lab looking at the Geth body lying on the berth in front of him. Soundwave stood at the console to the right of the berth and tapped the screen, bring down an energy shield around the berth. "There, that level nine force field should keep it in place." the spymaster said as he joined the Prime's side. "I have also disconnected the computers in this lab from the Defiant's network. There will be no possible way for the Geth to hack our systems." Teletraan answered as it's hologram appeared on the table next to them. "Good, that means that I can activate it and find out why it was on that dead Reaper and why it saved me." Jack replied as activated his holo-tool. Suddenly Tali walked in and she didn't look happy, not that anyone could see her face but her body language showed she was pissed. "Jack, we need to talk." she said angrily as Garrus came in after her, looking apologetically at the Prime. "Sorry, Jack, couldn't stop her." Jack nodded back at his friend before looking around at the others. "Everyone out." he said sternly as he looked at Tali. Soundwave and Garrus walked out as Teletraan disappeared. Jack then took a breath. "Tali, I know it's been a while but you should know that I don't like people telling me what to do on my own ship." he said, trying to remain stoic like as anger tinged his voice. Tali looked away for a second before looking back at him. "Jack, do you have any idea what that Geth is?" she asked as she pointed at it. "It saved my life. I at least deserve to know why." he replied, crossing his arms, letting the Quarian know that he meant business. She though looked at him in a pleading like way. "Why? One act of good does not outweigh all the bad it has done. I mean.." she then started to sob as Jack's stern demeanour softened as he walked up to her and put his arms around her in an embrace, as she then cried openly. "I'm sorry, Tali." he said softly, she took a deep breath as she tried calm herself down. She looked up at him as they separated. "No, I'm sorry. You are right, this is your ship. I had no right to storm in here and talk to you like that." she replied. Jack directed her to a chair and she sat down as he sat on a chair adjacent to her. "You going to tell me what this is all about?" he asked as she sat there holding her hands together. "The reason I want that thing dead, is because it killed my father." Jack looked at her confused before he looked at her sympathetically. " I am very sorry, Tali. What happened?" he replied gently, which made the Quarian sigh in return. "Several months ago, my father Admiral Rael'Zorah and I came across a single Geth that was travelling alone. We thought it was not only strange that it was outside our home system, but to be by itself was even stranger. We captured it easily, it never put up a fight. We went through it's ships log and it had been to every place you had been to on the Normandy nearly two year ago. My father wanted to take it back to the Flotilla to be examined, I argued against it. Since the Admiralty board would not permit it anyway, but my father made a very compelling case. So we smuggled it aboard the Alarei. But then everything went wrong, the Geth reactivated itself and killed nearly everyone on board, including my father. I managed to get some survivors to the escape pods before the ship exploded. But despite the lives I saved, the Admirals did not take well to what my father and I did. So they exiled me." she said as she hung her head in shame. Jack didn't know what to say. His friend had lost everything, the only thing she had left was the need to avenge her father. But he had a mission to accomplish and this Geth could be of help, so he decided to make a compromise. "Tali, I know you want revenge, but I need you to understand that I need to speak to it. To find out why it saved me. If it says nothing of value, then I will let you kill it. But you have to trust me..." he said as she looked back up to him. "...Tali, do you trust me?" She slowly nodded in return. "Of course I trust you, Jack." she replied. Jack then stood up and offered her his hand, which she took and he helped her up. "I'm going to activate it. You can ride shotgun if you like?" he asked, she nodded in return as they walked over to the berth. Jack activated it with his holo-tool, electricity passing through the Geth as its fingers slowly started to move. It's optic powered up and it looked around before sitting up and looking at Jack and Tali. "Do you understand me?" Jack asked. "Yes." it answered. "Are you going to attack us?" "No" it replied. "Why, every other Geth that I have ever come across has tried to kill me." Jack replied as Tali stared daggers at the synthetic being. "We have not met." "No, you and I haven't, but I have met many other Geth." the Prime answered. "We are all Geth and we have not met you. You are Darby Commander, Alliance, first Human Prime. You fought the Heretics and was killed by Quintessons. You were then rediscovered on old machine." Jack looked at it with a puzzled look. "Old machine, you mean the Reaper?" "Reaper, crude title given by the Lithone, we call the entities the old machine." it answered back. Jack crossed his arms. "You seem to know a lot about me." he replied. "We mined through data found on all information networks produced by organics. We watch you." it answered looking at the Prime. "You watch me or organics?" Jack asked. "Both. Especially since the Heretics attacked your colonies." it said again, as it noticed the Quarian continued staring. "What do you mean Heretics?" the Prime said, regaining the Geth's attention. "Geth wish to build our own future, Heretics ask the old machine to give them the future. They are no longer part of our consensus. We were studying the old machine to find a way to protect our future." it answered. "Are the Reapers a threat to you too?" "Yes." Jack stepped forward towards the Geth, it stood up from the berth and copied the Prime. "So you are not aligned with the Reapers?" "We oppose the Heretics, we oppose the old machines. Darby Commander opposes the old machines and Heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals." it replied. Jack looked at it dumbstruck as did Tali. "Are you asking to join us?" he asked in disbelief. "Yes." it replied. Jack was about to lower the shield when Tali stepped forward. Jack felt like stopping her, but decided against it. "Do you remember me?" she asked coldly. The Geth looked at her. "Yes, you and your father captured us, stopped us from completing our set directive." Tali clenched her fists. "What directives?" she spat back as her anger started to boil over. "To find and join Darby Commander." it answered looking over at the Prime. Tali's eyes widened at the Geth's answer. "Is that how you justify killing nearly everyone on the Alerai?" she replied. "We did not wish for creator casualties..." it answered looking down in what Jack could only guess was shame. "...But creators did not give us any other choice. You fired on us the moment we reactivated, we had to defend ourselves." it answered, looking back at the Quarian. "You killed my father." she said, trying to hold back the tears, as her eyes welled up. "We are sorry for loss of creator life." it replied in an almost sympathetic tone. Tali stepped back as she felt her resolve disappear. She then turned and headed out of the door, only for Jack to stop her. "Tali, wait." he said. But she just looked back at him. "Jack, I need time, I just need…" she answered as the tears started to fall, she then walked out of the room, as Garrus revealed himself to be waiting outside. Jack nodded to the Turian who returned the nod before following the Quarian. Jack then looked back at the Geth as he deactivated the force field, before taking a breath. "I think you should stay out of her way for a while." Jack said stoically as the Geth looked towards where the Quarian had disappeared and then nodded in agreement. "We wish to integrate ourselves with Defiant crew, we do not wish to cause difficulties with ship consensus." it replied. "So what should I call you?" Jack asked. "Geth." it replied. "No, I mean the individual in front of me?" he said rephrasing the question. "We are all Geth, there are currently one thousand five hundred programs in this platform." Teletraan then appeared on the table next to Jack. "We are Legion, for we are many." Jack felt a small smile appear on his face at the AI's ingenuity. "That sounds about right." The Geth cocked it's head as it thought the name over. "Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark ,chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge that this is an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. We offer you our assistance against the old machines." Jack then held out his hand to Legion who looked at it before accepting and shaking it. "We will need some time to process the information from this day." it answered. Jack nodded in return before he turned around and walked out the lab, Soundwave entering at the same time as he stopped and looked at the Geth intrigued. The door then closed as Jack stood outside in the corridor, his com link then activated. "Prime, Teletraan here. We are installing the IFF now, it should take several hours to complete." the AI said. "Did you find any hidden booby traps or viruses on it?" the Prime asked. "Yes, there was a virus embedded inside its coding, but I have wiped it clean. It is now safe to use." it replied. "Very well. Give anyone not working on the IFF the evening off, because once it is installed, I want us heading to the Omega four subspace rift." he said stoically. "I will inform Hotrod and the team of your decision, Prime." Teletraan responded before deactivating the com. Jack then took a breath before heading to the elevator taking it up to his quarters. PRIME EFFECT 2 Jack was sitting in his quarters, the night going by slowly as he was alone with his thoughts. In the morning he would lead the ship through the Omega four subspace rift to the Quintesson home world to stop them from attacking anymore human colonies. He had no idea what would be waiting on the other side of the rift, but that wouldn't stop him. As he sat there, his thoughts began to wonder back to the one person who wasn't with him right now. He activated his holo-tool and brought up a photo of Arcee. He smiled sadly as he looked at her image, he had really missed her since she left him on Horizon. What was she doing at this very moment, did she even miss him. He was so occupied with his own thoughts, he did not hear his door chime. But after another moment it chimed again, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Come in." he answered as he deactivated the holo-tool, the picture of his past love disappearing with it. He looked over to see Airachnid standing in the doorway. "May I come in?" she asked, the Prime nodded and she walked over to his desk and leaned up against it, looking down at him. "Can't sleep? He asked curiously. "Yeah, never could before a possible suicide mission." she joked, gaining a slight chuckle from Jack. He looked into her purple eyes as they stared back at his intently. "The others are playing a game of poker down in the common room that Zaeed set up, even the Geth is there asking questions." she said. Jack sat back and placed his hands behind his head. "So why aren't you down there with them?" She gave him a knowing smile in return. "Maybe I wanted to spend time with you." she answered suggestively. Jack stood up and walked over to the fish tank, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Airachnid, look.." he replied nervously as she walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Jack, I know what you are going through right now..." she said in a soft voice. "...Your lonely, I can see it easily. Because well, so am I." Jack looked at her and listened to her every word. "Since I came back, I have felt that due to what happened to Esmeral, that I wouldn't be able to get close to anyone and that has left me feeling incredibly empty inside. But since being 'reunited' with you, I have felt myself wanting to be closer to you, especially after what you did to help me on Cybertron, when you saved me from Shockwave. I want to thank you for that. To be with you tonight, because tomorrow we could both end up dead and I don't want to have any regrets." She then looked into his eyes as she leaned in close, he could feel her breath on his skin and it felt indescribable. "Just let me stay with you tonight?" she asked in a soft, almost pleading tone. Jack suddenly felt very conflicted, there was a part of him that wanted to stay loyal to Arcee, but then she had left him, ripping his heart out and taking it with her as the saying goes. This had left him feeling very much alone. There was now a deep void inside of him, that he felt that he needed to fill and here in front of him, now was a beautiful Femme who wanted him back just as much. He looked into her purple eyes as he ran his hand through her raven black pixie cut hair and pulled her close, pressing their lips together. It felt like electricity between them as they kissed. She then wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his own on her rear, squeezing it gently. She moaned in delight as her mouth opened, allowing him to slip his tongue inside. For a long moment their tongues fought before the two ended the kiss and looked at each other while smiling. "Come with me." she said seductively as she pulled him by his shirt to his desk. She then sat on it and opened her legs, allowing him stand between them as they kissed again. She moved her hands down to his shirt's buttons and ripped open the top and dropped it on the floor, surprising him as he stopped and looked at what she did. She then pulled him close again and kissed him as her hands glided over his torso, exploring every part of his physic. As Jack returned the kiss, he let himself relax and did not here as a door suddenly opened, before Airachnid pushed him. The force used against him was quite strong as he stepped back several steps into the bathroom and stopped right under the shower. It then activated and soaked his person in warm water as he looked up to the femme in surprise, but all he saw was her smiling back at him darkly as she walked into the bathroom and entered the shower with him. Letting the warm water soak her too as they embraced each other again. They kissed passionately and so hard it almost hurt as she moved a hand down into his pants, earning a moan of approval from the Prime. Jack smiled into their kiss, having missed this feeling for so long. They then pulled out of the kiss and took a breath as Airachnid then pulled her hand out of his pants and licked her fingers seductively in front of him. Jack then unzipped his flies as she undressed herself, exposing her athletic and beautiful figure to him. She then wrapped her arms around his neck again as he picked her up, her legs spread to either side of him as he lowered her onto him. She moaned out loud in ecstasy as she grabbed his shoulders and dug her nails in to his skin, drawing small droplets of blood, but this didn't stop Jack as he began thrusting into her while her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Their breaths became fast and heavy as he gained momentum with his thrusts into her, the warm water from the shower entering their mouths as they both moaned in pleasure. As the two continued like this, the bathroom door closed behind them as they let the world fade away around them while they concentrated on each other. -
By Apollo-XL5 · Posted
CHAPTER 8 Soundwave hit the floor hard as Wrex held him down by his throat and growled lowly at him, his face mere inches away. This gained the attention of the other Krogan who had stopped working and gathered around to see what their leader was doing. "I am going to make you pay for what you did to my people." he seethed as the former con just stared at him blankly. "I said I….. ugh!" Soundwave managed before the Krogan tightened his grip. He then pulled the spymaster off the floor and held him up in the air. "I have no interest in what you have to say." The Krogan leader then suddenly felt a hand grip his shoulder. "Wrex, let Soundwave go. This isn't helping anyone." Jack tried to reason, but the Krogan's answer was to knock the Prime away. "Stay out of this, Jack." he growled as he then turned back to see the con trying to free himself from the battle master's iron grip, regaining his attention. "Don't think you can get out of that, I have something special planned for you." he said as a sly grin appeared on his face. He then walked off with Soundwave towards a pit that was just off to the left of where his throne was. The rest of the group just looked on in shock as Jack again tried to get through to the Krogan leader. "Wrex, I remember what you told me about the Decepticon occupation during the war, including them unleashing the genophage. But this is not the answer." Wrex turned sharply to look at the Prime. "Why do you care what happens to this scum?" he spat as the three of them neared the pit. At this close Jack could see that the pit was filled with varren, a vicious reptilian-like quadruped creature that the Krogan use as beasts of war. Jack looked back at his Krogan friend. "Because he is a member of my crew." Jack replied with an almost pleading tone. "Well you should have chosen your crew members more wisely Jack. Especially when they are considered war criminals. Now stay out of this!" the Krogan warned the Prime as he pushed him back again. Once Wrex had carried Soundwave to the edge of pit, he then held the former con over the edge. The varren below had noticed and growled in anticipation of their next meal as they looked up. The Krogan leader looked at the spymaster in his grip, but saw that his quarry was still blank faced, and this infuriated him. "Aren't you fearing for your life, Con?" he asked, feeling his blood boil at how blank faced his enemy was. Soundwave tried to speak, but found that his voice box was constricted by the Krogan's grip, so Wrex loosened his grip ever so slightly. "I don't fear death." he replied calmly. Wrex grinned back at him. "Good." he said as he let go and Soundwave started to fall as Jack and the others watched in horror. But then Soundwave grabbed Wrex's hand and pulled him in too as they both landed hard on the floor of the pit. Jack and the others stood at the edge and watched as the creatures slowly surrounded their prey. Both the spymaster and Krogan recovered from the fall and stood up as Wrex now fully enraged, charged at Soundwave. Throwing a punch which the former Con caught easily. The battle master grunted as Soundwave looked around them, causing Wrex to look too. They saw that the varren were circling them both, preparing to strike as they bared their fangs, drool dripping from their mouths and on to the floor. "I suggest we work together to survive this." Soundwave said as Wrex looked back at him, thinking about it for a second before his eyes narrowed back. The former con then got his answer as Wrex punched him, knocking the spymaster onto the ground. "Never!" he spat as one varren launched itself at the Krogan who caught it in his hands. Its powerful jaws snapping at him as he held it away from his face. Wrex then growled and threw it into another varren that had gotten too close. Wrex then readied himself for another attack, as Soundwave recovered on the floor. The spymaster turned his head to the left to see a varren charging at him, fangs bared. The former Con got up quickly as he narrowly missed becoming stuck in the creature's mouth as it lunged at him. The two of them found themselves back to back as the varren that had attacked them and failed rejoined the others and circled them once again. Both Soundwave and Wrex looked over their shoulders to each other. Wrex stared daggers at the former con, while the later just looked back at him coldly, but they both knew that they couldn't finish their spat while the varren were around. Then the animals attacked all at once and the two battled against the creatures. Jack and the others watched in shock and awe as they saw the two below them combating the creatures together. Before long there was only two varren left, Soundwave and Wrex had knocked out the others and now it was one on one. Soundwave took a defensive stance as his varren charged at him and leapt. The spymaster stepped aside and grabbed one of its legs as it flew past. He then pulled causing it swing round and then let go, making it fly head first into the wall. He then turned to see that Wrex was on the floor with the last varren on top of him, attempting to bite the Krogan. But Wrex reached out to a rock that was on the floor next to him. He grabbed it and smacked the varren in the face, knocking it out. He then got up panting heavily, when he remembered his unfinished business and spun around to find Soundwave pointing his sonic blaster at him. "I knew you couldn't fight fair, you Decepticons are all the same. That is why we Krogan are 'superior' to you." he spat at the spymaster who just stared at him. "I could have used this weapon at any time, but I chose not to." Soundwave responded. Wrex looked at him confused. "What are you trying to prove?" he asked. Soundwave then lowered his weapon and his expression took on a calm tone. "I never came here to fight, like I was trying to say. I require your assistance to find someone who is hiding here on Tuchunka." "Why, why would you need my help?" Wrex replied angrily. The blank expression on the spymaster's face softened in front of the Krogan Leader. "Because I believe that the person I am looking for, is the one responsible for the number of Krogan who have mysteriously gone missing in the last few months." Wrex's eyes widened as he stared in shock at what he just heard. "How do you know about that?" Shockwave activated his holo-tool and gestured to the Krogan to look at the screen. Wrex growled slightly and clenched his fists as he reluctantly walked over and looked down at the former con's holo-tool. "While I have been helping Jackson Prime against the Quintesson threat to humanity, I have also been trying to track a signal…." he said before being cut of by a third voice. "Hey, how about you two get up here and let us in on the discussion..." Jack called down. Garrus stepped beside the Prime and smiled. "Or you can get back to the fight you nearly had." he joked, gaining a glare from Jack. Once the two were out of the pit, Wrex had told his men to get back to work, gaining an disgruntled response from the Krogan, who had wanted to see their leader deal with the spymaster. Now Jack, Airachnid and Garrus stood with Soundwave and Wrex as the former con showed everyone the data on his holo-tool. "After our fight with Frenzy on Omega..." he said sadly. "...I went through the data that I retrieved from his neural net and discovered a very specific code. One that I did not recognise, not until I compared it to the data you had collected from Virmire and Horizon." Jack gave him a knowing look. "The code was of Reaper origin, wasn't it." Soundwave nodded and showed them the code on his holo-tool. "I searched through every information network in the Council and Terminus systems until I found a match. That match is here on Tuchunka." Wrex looked at him unconvinced. "And why do you think this has anything to do those of my people who have gone missing." Jack looked over at his Krogan friend, concern written on his face. "You have people missing? Fuck me, Wrex. Why didn't you mention this before?" Jack asked, his patience starting to thin. "We assumed that it was one of the clans that opposed Udnot. Because of the genophage there are still Krogan dying here on our world, and not enough newborns to take their place. So this has all become just part of our lives now." Wrex replied looking down at the floor in shame. He then looked up to see that Soundwave was looking away guiltily. He was going to say something but then saw Jack glaring back at him, so decided against it. Jack then looked to the spymaster. "So you believe that whoever had Frenzy brainwashed….." as he said that he noticed Airachnid flinch at his comment, trying to hide the discomfort it gave her. "…is also abducting Krogan, for what purpose?" Soundwave just shook his head in response. Jack then thought for a moment while everyone looked at him. "The last time anyone abducted Krogan was back on Virmire." the Prime said. "But that was Saren, and he is dead now…..right?" Garrus replied, a little unsure for a second. Jack gave him a slight grin. "Yes, he is dead. I doubt he could survive without his head, but there was someone working with him, who is not dead." Garrus eyes widened a little as he remembered. "Sideways!" he exclaimed, gaining a nod from Jack while Soundwave and Airachnid looked at them surprised. "Sideways? I thought he died during the war?" the Femme asked. Soundwave shook his head in response as Jack looked over to her. "No, he didn't. We found out he was working with Saren, a rogue Spectre who was trying to assist the Reaper named Sovereign bring the rest of the Reapers into our galaxy to purge it of all organic life." the Prime replied. Soundwave then turned to Wrex. "Will you work with me to stop Sideways or whoever it is that has been abducting your people?" Wrex looked at him, thinking it over. "Alright, but don't think that this one deed will exonerate you of the part you played in my people's agony for the last several hundred years." Soundwave merely nodded in return and the two started going over the details on the spymaster's holo-tool, leaving the others somewhat surprised. Because only a few short minutes ago, Wrex was trying to kill Soundwave. But now they were working together.. though reluctantly. Jack though had a small smile growing on his face, Airachnid noticed this and looked at Jack, slightly confused. "What are you smiling about?" Jack looked at her. "I just have a feeling that everything will be alright." he said confidently. She just cocked her head and smiled back. "Well aren't you optimistic, it's kind of cute." she replied with a smile. Jack looked back at her and blushed slightly. "Thanks." he replied as the two of them and Garrus joined Soundwave and Wrex. PRIME EFFECT 2 For the last couple of hours, the group had used shuttle one to investigate a number of the locations where Krogan had gone missing, Soundwave had examined each area for clues before setting off towards the next site. After the fourth landing, he finally believed he had enough data to triangulate the location from where all these abductions originated from and they were heading there now. "We are approaching the destination, Prime." the pilot called back as the Jack and the others sat in silence. "Set us down just outside the area. We don't want…" the Prime was cut off by Soundwave who showed him a scan of the area on his holo-tool that showed no patrols. "How did you get that?" Wrex asked suspiciously. Soundwave looked over to him, his expression unreadable. "I merely linked my holo-tool to one of the Krogan satellites in orbit and ran a scan of the area..." he said stoically. "...I was the Decepticon's head of intelligence." Wrex looked away unimpressed. Jack turned to the Krogan. "By the way, Wrex, I had some trouble getting through the front door to see you earlier, one Krogan tried to stop me and I had to break his arm." the Prime said in a matter of fact like tone, gaining a chuckle from Airachnid who remembered it fondly. "That must have been Grunt, the kid means well and is a Krogan to the core. But he is still very much a whelp." Wrex chuckled. Jack looked back at the pilot. "Drop us off where Soundwave says." he ordered as Soundwave got up and walked up to the pilot and gave him the coordinates. The Shuttle landed in the middle of an area surrounded by ruins and large piles of rubble as the wind picked up, blowing the dust around and making it hard to see as the group exited the shuttle and made their way to the large building that Soundwave's evidence had pointed to. Jack took point and equipped his mattock rifle as the others readied their own weapons, before entering the building. It looked abandoned as the first few rooms they searched were completely empty but then they turned a corner, they found the first sign that something was up. A large metal door blocked their path and looked far to new and advanced to have been there originally. Soundwave looked at Jack who nodded back and the spymaster used his holo-tool to hack the door. It then opened up slowly and everyone froze in place as they looked on at the horror that the door was hiding. What they saw was scores of berths with Krogan corpses lying upon them. The group entered the room as Wrex ran up to one of the beds, only to find that the body there was already dead. It had its torso opened up and all its organs removed. Soundwave scanned the room with his holo-tool. As the others looked at the bodies, each one was missing something. Either a head, or its limbs or organs, it was a horrific sight. The floor was covered in large blood stains that stunk up the place. Jack looked over to Wrex who's eyes were narrowing as his anger was building up. "Every one of these Krogan are dead." the spymaster said in a sympathetic tone. Jack noticed that Soundwave's face looked disturbed and in pain at what he saw. 'Does he regret what the Decepticons did to the Krogan?' Jack thought to himself as Wrex had noticed this too and due to his building rage, decided to get in the former con's face about it. "It's a little late to be feeling guilty now, Con." he spat, gaining a glare from Soundwave who for the first time since Jack had seen him, looked angry. "I am not a Decepticon anymore, if you hadn't noticed the war has been over for a long time now. We lost." Wrex chuckled at the comment. "Yeah I know, we all cheered and laughed at your expense..." he retorted as Soundwave clenched his hands into fists. "...But you're not going to make me believe that you suddenly feel something for all pain you caused us." Wrex finished. "I was a loyal soldier to Megatron, and did everything that he ordered. But not once did I ever have to witness the results up close." Wrex growled at the comment. "So you think that, because you have now seen exactly what your war did to my planet that you have the right to feel sorry." he spat back. "No, nothing I say or do will make up for the centuries of pain we caused you. All I can do now is try to help people in any way I can." Soundwave replied, his voice full of emotion. Jack stood between the two and looked at them both stoically. "Why don't we save this until after we have completed this mission." he then looked at Wrex. "Save your anger for the one responsible for all of this." the Prime said as he gestured to the bodies around them, causing Wrex to nod back quietly. The Prime then turned to Soundwave. "Which way?" he said calmly. The former con pointed to the door at the far end of the room and the team walked up to it and opened the door to see two beings talking to each other in the room. Both Wrex and Jack's eyes widened as they recognised them. One was Uvenk, the Krogan clan leader Jack saw with Wrex earlier. The other was the former Con that Arcee had killed but his body had disappeared moments later on Ilos, Sideways. The two were talking as the group entered the room. They took cover instantly before the two figures had a chance to spot them. Wrex growled lowly at the sight of one of his own affiliating with a piece of filth like Sideways. "I'm gonna kill that traitorous Pyjak." he whispered as Jack grabbed his shoulder, making the Krogan look at him. "Wrex, you can put him through as much pain as you want, but first we need to find out why they are here." He whispered back stoically. Wrex nodded as a slight smile appeared on his face. "Okay, Jack, but he is mine and mine alone." he replied as he looked at the others who all nodded in agreement, they all he looked at the two talking in front of them. "So you have enough of my people now to complete your work and make us strong again?" Uvenk asked while looking at one of the blue holo-screens. Sideways turned to him, a dark smile on his face. "Oh, yes. Thanks to your fine work. I have enough members of your race here to ensure that my work is a success and rest assured, it will make your race strong again." Uvenk nodded as he his attention shifted towards the large metal door that took up the centre of the back wall. "So what do you have behind this wall that requires a reinforced Cybertitanium-door?" He asked, as his curiosity got the better of him. Sideways expression turned serious as he stepped between the Krogan and the door. "It's just a little side project of mine that in no way involves you." Uvenk felt a tinge of hurt at the comment. If it hadn't been for his help in setting up the facility and gaining the test subjects for Sideways, then all that he was about to gain would not have happened. So he was going to remind his partner of this. "Sideways, do I have to remind you that..." he was suddenly cut off by the feel of vibrations directly behind his head. So he turned to see a human-like man in purple armour standing behind him, vibrations emanating from his open hand. Sideways smile reappeared as he relaxed his posture. "You must forgive Rumble, he doesn't like it when my business partners attempt to talk back at me." Uvenk shook his head as he looked between the two of them. "No, that's not what I was doing, I was merely.." Sideways slammed his fist down on the piece of machinery next to him, leaving a deep impression in the spot he hit, making the Krogan wince. He then looked at Uvenk, his eyes looking very stoic. But the Krogan could see a rage building below the surface. "Uvenk, I grow tired of your constant prattle, you should remember that I can get the help of any of your people should I wish it." He then pointed at the screen to his left. Uvenk looked at it nervously as he felt he presence of Rumble behind him. On the screen was a formula and images of two DNA strands. One said genophage infected the other said clean. His eyes widened in awe of what he saw. "You have the cure!" he exclaimed. Sideways smiled darkly. "I told you, I would deliver. And not only will it cure the disease that has inflicted so much pain and death upon your people, but it will also make you stronger. From their position behind cover, Jack, Garrus and Wrex all gave each other knowing looks as it dawned on them what the cure was. 'The Reaper infected cure from the Virmire facility.' Jack thought to himself as the looked back out to the two figures talking. "Now the cure can be yours so that you can make your clan strong and dominate the others with ease, ensuring that you lead your people and not clan Urdnot. But if you try at all to break our arrangement, then I am sure that one of the other clans will be just as willing to work with me." Uvenk shook his head as he realised what he could lose. "Okay, you have made your point. I will obey." Sideways though just looked at him uninterested as he walked past him and stopped, looking out at the machinery on the other side of the room. "Unfortunately, I think we will have to terminate you for having been followed here." the Con said as he pointed in Jack's direction, turning to face them. "You might as well show yourselves." he said out loud, a confident smile on his face. Then Jack and the others stood up, weapons trained on the three of them. Sideways smile disappeared at the sight of the Prime. "Well….what a pleasant surprise, Prime. You're looking good for a dead man." Jack tightened his grip on the trigger as he stared at the former con. "Wish I could say the same, Sideways. How are you even standing here?" Sideways smile returned as he pointed to his chest. "Oh, you mean after that Femme-bitch of your's shot me in the spark chamber. Well let's just say that I have friends in high places." he answered cryptically. "You mean the Reapers." Jack concluded, trying to keep a lid on the anger he felt for what Sideways had just called Arcee, this made his enemy's smile grow larger as he remained silent. He then looked at Uvenk. "You want to redeem yourself, then kill the intruders." The Krogan looked at Wrex as the other growled lowly and his eyes narrowed at the traitor. Sideways then turned to Rumble. "Attack and be sure to make a mess." he said, gaining a nod from the mini con who then raised his hands at Jack's group, his hands started to shake as he fired vibration waves in their direction, making them dive out of the way as the ground and machines around them shook and exploded. Sideways started to walk away as Uvenk equipped his shotgun and charged at Wrex who was recovering. But as the former con headed for the exit, Jack jumped at him with the star-saber, bringing it down on Sideways who pulled out his katana to block the attack. Their blades clashed causing a bright purple light to emit from the katana. Jack's eyes widened before Sideways pushed him back, gaining some distance between the two. He then raised the sword, it was glowing a very distinctive purple. "Recognise this?" he said with a dark grin. "Megatron's Dark Star-saber!" Jack exclaimed in disbelief. Sideways took a casual pose in front of the Prime, like he didn't take Jack seriously as a threat. "I prefer Dark Saber, a shorter and much more threatening name. Don't you think?" he replied as Jack took a stance and raised the Star-saber, Sideways copying as the two stood there before charging at each other and clashing their blades together once more. Meanwhile Garrus, Airachnid and Soundwave were firing at Rumble, the spymaster more reluctant than the others as the mini con jumped between the group and punched his fist to the ground, producing a small earthquake around them. The three of them lost their footing and fell to the ground as Rumble rose back up. "Get ready to die, thanks to Rumble." He said victoriously as he raised his hand at Airachnid and prepared to fire vibration waves directly at her, but then Soundwave recovered and tackled the mini con to the ground and pinned him there. Meanwhile both Krogan were beating the crap out of each other as Wrex got the upper hand by landing another blow on Uvenk. "Why? Why the hell did you side with that Decepticon scum?" he screamed as he punched the traitor in the chest, making him fall to his knees as blood was seeping from cuts on his face. "After what he did to our people on Virmire, how could you?" he shouted while hitting Uvenk again, knocking him to the floor. The traitor tried to recover, but was knocked down by the Urdnot leader stamping his foot onto Uvenk's back and forcing him down to the floor. Wrex then equipped his shotgun and aimed it at the traitor's head. "Answer me!" he shouted. Uvenk coughed up some blood before looking up at the victor. "Because Con or not, he promised me that I would lead our people to our true destiny." Wrex felt his rage almost burst out as he applied more pressure to Uvenk's back. "No, you would just lead them into the hands of the Reapers. And for that, you must die." Wrex then pulled the trigger, exploding the traitor's head. It's insides splattering across the ground. He then looked up to Jack and Sideways in the middle of a sword fight and the others with Rumble. Jack noticed Wrex while clashing blades with his adversary. "Wrex, help the others. I've got this." he called back, gaining a nod from the Krogan who charged down to the other fight. Sideways smirked as the two fought. "You really should have called for his help, Prime." he said as Jack pushed him back before swinging the star-saber at his Dark saber again. "I think that I can handle you by myself." the Prime replied, only making Sideways chuckle in response. "I don't think so..." he answered as he jumped and spin kicked the Prime in the face, knocking him to the ground. As Jack recovered Sideways sheathed his blade and gloated. "...until next time, Jack." he spat as he turned and ran down the corridor towards the exit. Jack picked himself up and looked over to the others while Soundwave had Rumble pinned. Airachnid looked up at Jack. "Go get him, we've got this, Jack." The Prime nodded and bolted after Sideways, as Soundwave tried to interface with Rumble's mind using the tentacles that grew out of his fingers. "Oh, no you don't." Rumble spat as he grabbed the Spymaster's arm and sent vibrations through his arm, making his former friend scream in pain. Rumble then kicked Soundwave off of him and got up before sending more vibration waves through the ground towards Garrus and Airachnid, making them dive away yet again. Jack ran down the corridor trying to catch up with Sideways, when he turned a corner he could see daylight up ahead and what appears to be a ship. As he got closer he could see Sideways standing there with an object in his hand. The former con pressed down hard on the device, causing Jack to stop when he heard a loud beeping around him. He looked on the walls and ceiling to see charges primed to explode. 'Shit!' he thought as he doubled back just in time to evade the charges exploding and bring a couple hundred tonnes of concrete down, sealing off the tunnel. Sideways smiled as he turned and entered the ship, it taking off and flying up and out of the planet's atmosphere soon after. Jack picked himself up as he coughed out the dust that the collapsed concrete had brought up, as he then turned round and doubled back. Knowing that his friends would need his help. Rumble had Garrus and Airachnid beaten as they lay on the floor, he raised his hand and fired vibration waves directly onto them, making them cry out as immense pain ripped through their bodies. He then caught in the corner of his eye, Wrex charging toward him. So he raised his other hand and fired at the Krogan, making him fall to his knees as the same pain ripped through his own. Rumble smiled as he started to kill them with the vibrations. Soundwave recovered to see his former mini con slowly killing his friends…yes his friends. He couldn't let this happen, so he picked up a piece of broken piping that one of Rumble's attacks had broken off and impaled him through the chest. The mini con screamed as he stopped his attacks and grabbed at the pipe that was sticking out of him, liquid flowing from the wound. He fell to the ground, only to have Soundwave catch him in his arms. Rumble looked up at him and Soundwave saw his expression change from hate to the youthful friend that he remembered. "Sound…wave, is….that you?" Rumble asked as Airachnid and the others recovered and stood around the two just as Jack ran back into the room. "Yes, Rumble, it's me." the Spymaster replied, his voice full of emotion. The mini con managed a small smile in response despite the pain he was in, but then his face saddened as he remembered what he did. "I am so sorry, I could not control myself. Sideways, he…." he said before Soundwave cut him off. "It wasn't your fault, the most important thing now is that you are free of it." Jack looked over to Airachnid who he could se was being effected by the conversation, obviously bringing back painful memories. So he walked over to her and put his arm around her, gaining a sad smile from her as a silent thank you, before they both looked back at the spymaster and his friend. "Soundwave, you have to enter that room." he said pointing toward the large door at the back. The spymaster looked at the door and then back, confused. "Why?" Rumble coughed up some fluid as he fought through the pain he felt in his chest. "Because Sideways has created something, something that can turn Cybertronians against each other." Soundwave shook his head in response. "No, I have to get you to our medical bay and repair you. Because with Laserbeak and Frenzy now one with the Allspark. You and Ravage are the only family I have left." he replied as he felt his eyes well up. Rumble though stared back at him stoically. "No, there is no time. I am already as good as dead. But if that thing gets out, it will spell the end for all Cybertronians." Soundwave looked down at Rumble and saw his strong conviction and had no answer to it. So he reluctantly nodded in agreement. Rumble smiled in response. "Don't worry, Boss-Bot. We will….meet again when….you…..rejoin the All….spark." Rumble's eyes then glazed over and his body went limp in Soundwave's arms, making the spymaster weep for his fallen friend. Jack walked over to the former con and placed his hand on his shoulder in support. "I am very sorry, Soundwave, but we should respect his wishes and take care of what ever experiment that Sideways has left in there." he said in a sympathetic yet stoic manner. Soundwave placed Rumble's body onto the ground gently, before standing up and wiping the tears off his face. He then looked back at Jack, his face back to it's emotionless state and nodded. PRIME EFFECT 2 The team then walked over to the large metal door, readying their weapons as Soundwave hacked the door controls with his holo-tool. The door then slowly opened revealing an larger room, but in its center was a large tank filled with a strange liquid. As the team moved closer, they could see a large figure inside the tank. Wrex and Garrus took a close look at the figure and noticed some horrifying similarities. "Ugh, is it me, or does that thing have a Turian head." Garrus said, while Wrex looked at the body. "It looks like it has been made up from the body parts of my people." Jack took a scan of it with his holo-tool. "It's definitely made up of multiple Krogan. And it has a Turian head, but the insides of this abomination are all synthetic, not unlike the husks." Garrus had to look away from the figure, and saw something just as horrifying. "I found the body that the head belonged to." he said while pointing over to the body sprawled out on the floor, it's head missing. "Well, we have to destroy this thing either way." Jack said, trying to keep everyone's attention on their mission. Airachnid got closer to the tank, looking for a weak spot. "Maybe we can set charges and blow this thing up. I still don't see how this thing will spell doom for our race." she questioned. But suddenly the creature's eyes lit up and it looked up at the people outside of the tank. Everyone tensed up and aimed their weapons at it, as it started to move around the tank. It's eyes then fell onto Soundwave and Airachnid and suddenly the two former cons could hear a ringing in their minds, as it got louder and more painful. Jack and the others looked on in shock as both the Femme and the spymaster held their heads in their hands as they both screamed in pain. Jack got up close to Airachnid to try and help her but suddenly she stopped, as did Soundwave. She looked at Jack before an expression appeared on her face, a look Jack remembered from years back as an evil smile grew on her face. "Airachnid, it's me Jack. You remember me, right?" he asked in a gentle tone. But her answer was to hit the Prime squarely in the face as Soundwave attacked Garrus and Wrex, knocking them both down. Jack tried to recover but Airachnid jpounces on him and tries to stab her escrima stick into his face as he grabs the end of it and holds it off. "Guys, could use a hand here." he shouts while struggling to keep the Femme from killing him. Wrex recovers immediately and tackles the her off of the Prime while Soundwave picks on Garrus. Jack gets up just in time to see the creature break out of the tank and charge at him. The Prime rolls out of his way and equips the star-saber, slicing a chunk of flesh off of the creature as it runs past. He then looks back to his friends. "Keep those two busy, while I take care of this. And don't kill them, they are under a temporary indoctrination I think." he says before jumping out of the way of the creature's following attack. Garrus though is having no luck as Soundwave beats the hell out of him. He looks over to Wrex who seems to be having an easier time with Airachnid. "Hey, I thought you and he had a thing going. How about we trade dance partners?" Wrex grabbed Airachnid by the face and threw her to the ground before chuckling at the sight of Garrus getting hit repeatedly. "Okay, you little Pyjak, let's swap." he replied before charging into the spymaster, giving the Turian a breather for a second as Airachnid looked at him with an evil glee. "Oh great!" he said out loud. Jack meanwhile was taking swipes at the Brute with his blade, but then it hit him with a back-hand, knocking him across the ground. He picked himself up and spat out a little blood that was building up in his mouth from the hit. 'Right then, time to end you!' he thought as the brute prepared to charge at him. Jack held the star-saber over his head and concentrated on it, making the blade glow brighter and brighter. The Brute then charged at him as Jack swung the blade down, unleashing a energy wave that ripped through the ground as it closed in on the charging creature. Then in the blink of an eye the wave passed right through it, making the beast stop in its tracks. Jack collapsed to his knees from the exhaustion that using the saber that caused, but he looked up to see the brute look at him confused right before a line appeared on its face and then spread up and down its body. Finally the Beast then split in two pieces that fell away from each other as it's insides plopped on the floor in the middle. Jack then looked over to see both Airachnid and Soundwave stop fighting the others as the two looked around each other confused for a moment. Then the femme's purple eyes saw Jack and he instantly saw a change in her expression as tears started to fall from her eyes as she remembered what she nearly did. Jack went over to her and put his arms around her, embracing the femme as she cried into his neck. "I am so sorry, Jack. I had no control over my actions. I could only watch." she cried as Jack tried to calm her down. " It was not your fault, We couldn't have known what would happen when that beast woke up." he replied as she lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes, the others watching the two of them curiously. "But I nearly…" she sobbed as the tears continued to flow. "…I couldn't go through that again, losing someone I care about because I was…" she stopped as she realised what she had just said and looked at Jack, who tried to hide the surprise he felt from hearing her admission with a look of understanding and failing a little. She stepped back from him embarrassed but he then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Neither you nor Soundwave should feel guilty about what happened. This was not your doing, it was Sideways. Always remember that." he said to both of them before looking back to the Femme in front of him. Airachnid noticed out of the corner of her eye that while Jack was holding her shoulder, he was also subtly stroking it with his thumb in a sign of affection. This action warmed her spark as she let a smile grace her lips. "You're right, Jack." she replied as she calmed down. Jack then turned away from her and walked up to the brute's corpse. "Rumble was right about this abomination, this brute. If we hadn't stopped it, who knows how many Cybertronians it could have indoctrinated. But it's dead, another one of Sideways schemes for the Reapers stopped. And we didn't lose a single team member doing it." he said as he remembered Miko, Kaidan and Wheeljack. Garrus stood beside Jack, he had a feeling he knew what the Prime was thinking. "I know they would be proud, Jack." he said gently, gaining a smile from the Human. "I know." the Prime replied, he then sighed as he turned to the team. "Well, let's download whatever information we can salvage from the computers here before we go." The others nodded as Soundwave walked up to the Brute's corpse and started probing its split in half brain with his finger tentacles, gaining a shocked look from Garrus, "Soundwave, why? I am standing right here." he asked with embarrassment and disgust in his voice. Once they were done, the group were standing outside the building with the shuttle landing behind them as they said their goodbyes to Wrex. Airachnid boarded first as Soundwave and Wrex looked at each other for a moment, a look of reluctant understanding from the Krogan as he nodded. The spymaster nodded in kind and entered the shuttle leaving just Jack and Garrus. The Turian then shook the Krogan leader's hand. "It was good to see you again, Wrex. Nice to know sitting on your throne hasn't dulled you reflexes and senses." Wrex gave him a knowing grin. "Careful, Garrus, or do you want to be reminded how you got your ass handed back to you by a Femme." Garrus's face went pale for a sec before he chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Funny, Wrex. Until next time." Garrus then entered the shuttle, while the Krogan then looked at Jack. "Well I don't know where you found her, but that Airachnid sure is a good fighter. Though I have to say, I was hoping to see Arcee with you." Jack looked down to the ground at the mention of her name, as he sighed not wanting his friend to see the pain he felt. "Yeah, well she feels that she can't trust me anymore." he answered honestly. Wrex saw this and patted Jack on the arm. "Hey, she'll come round." he said trying to cheer the Prime up. Jack though knew how stubborn Arcee could be and knew the chances were remote to say the least. "And if not, send her to me and I'll straighten her out." the Krogan said with a grin. Jack though looked back at him surprised. "Really, do you handle your own females like that?" Wrex suddenly looked a little nervous as he looked around them before looking back at Jack, "Well, don't tell anyone this, but it is the other way round." Jack chuckled at the comment and the picture that had just formed in his mind. He then looked back at the shuttle. "You sure we can't give you a lift back to your base?" he asked. "Thanks, but I already called for help. It should be here soon, we have a lot of bodies in there to bury." Jack looked at him, guilt forming in his mind. "I am sorry we couldn't save any of them, Wrex." he replied sheepishly. "Don't go blaming yourself, Jack, especially after the speech you gave the others only thirty minutes ago. Blame Sideways, I do." Jack nodded in return. "I will. Thanks, Wrex." he then looked at the landscape before looking back at the Krogan. "You know, you could always join us on the Defiant." Wrex smiled as he thought about it. "It's tempting, Jack. It was a lot of fun fighting beside you again. It made me think about the old days. But I have responsibilities now, I can't walk away from them you understand." he replied. "Yes, I know what you mean. I should get going, see you round, Wrex." Jack said as they both shook hands before Jack entered the shuttle. "You too, Jack." Wrex replied as Jack smiled back at him before the hatch closed and the shuttle took off into the cloud covered sky above. PRIME EFFECT 2 At the far end of the system, Sideways ship was heading toward the local space bridge. The former con was sitting in the cockpit, the only light in there was emanating from the red holo-screens and controls. He then shivered as he felt another presence in the room with him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. "Yes, it was successful…..it took complete control of them." he stated out loud, though there was no one physically in the room with him. He expression faulted a second later. "No, I lost the Prototype, that damned Prime interfered…." he was cut off by his face been flipped to the right as if he had been hit hard, and then again from the opposite side. He grimaced in pain as he shivered in his chair. "Please…..I will make it right…I swear." he grovelled as he was hit again, knocking his head up. Then as he recovered he looked straight ahead like he was listening to some one, he then sighed heavily. "Thank you….I will see that it is done,…..master." he replied. Then his shivering stopped as he felt the presence fade away and he was once again alone in the cockpit, he then took control of the ship and piloted it into the swirling vortex of the space bridge.
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