In one of three ground shuttles heading towards the Forum Building, amidst an awkward silence that seemed to last forever, Hannah Shepard could hardly look away from the alien envoys, sitting across from her.

Whilst Rael seemed calm and comfortable, Daro and Zaal were typing into holo-computers around each of their left forearms that they’d practically conjured from thin air. On them, she spotted numerous windows abound with quarian script she couldn’t understand.

Briefly, she looked at the ground. They’re so advanced. Yes, humanity was nowhere close to developing such haptic technology, nor anything like their suits. For a moment, she looked at Rael’s suit, and it had no visible tubes, clasps, or seals. How do you even put that on? Let alone take it off?

And why were they wearing such suits anyway? Was it to avoid a cross-species plague? To protect themselves from the planet’s environment?

Or something else entirely?

She exhaled. Goodness, she had so many questions to ask. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Sitting next to her, Mark cleared his throat. “So…Rael Zorah”

Rael looked at her husband with narrowed eyes. “Yes, Mark’Shepard?”

Mark extended his hand for a handshake, smiling. “Never got a chance to properly greet you back at the shuttle port.”

Rael shook Mark’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you personally.”

“So what do you think of our humble, little colony?” Mark asked.

Rael paused, as though carefully considering his next words. “For as species as young as yours, it is quite impressive that you managed to build a settlement on this world, even though its environment…disagrees with your biology.”

“Disagrees with our biology?” Dr. Carlyle asked, tilting his head, furrowing his brow. “In what way specifically?”

Daro closed her haptic interface. “He means that whilst you may be able to breathe this world’s atmosphere, and bear its temperatures, your amino acids are…foreign, utterly alien.”

“True,” Dr. Carlyle said, looking at the ground, “very true.”

She sighed. Yes, before humans had colonized this world, interstellar probes had failed to detect that all of this world’s plants and animals had at best no nutritional value, and at worst toxic compounds. Thankfully, the vat and aeroponics facilities were providing more than enough to feed everyone.

But for how long, given the colony’s ever-growing population?

“Wow…” Mark said, leaning back into his seat. “Just how much do you know? How long have you been watching us?”

“Yes,” she said, “how long?”

Rael took a deep breath. “All will be made clear once we reach your Forum Building. I assure you.”

She huffed through her nose, then pursed her lips. Just have to wait. “Ok, then.”

She spent the next few minutes in silence. But soon, they finally arrived at the Forum Building, and the ground shuttle stopped. Its side door opened with a metallic whine, and then she and the others stepped outside.

Before her, right in the heart of the colony square, stood the Forum Building. And to each of her sides were cheering crowds of hundreds behind dividers, with colonial militia soldiers maintaining order.

Meanwhile, Zaal started waving to the crowds, and they cheered.

She laughed. Yes, Zaal seemed to be enjoying the attention. Must be quite a popular politician with his people.

Mark put one hand on her shoulder. “The boys should be in there too. Rick and Sadie said they’d take them.”

She let out a weak laugh. “Really, now? Well, isn’t that sweet of them?”

Yes, when this matter was finally settled, she’d definitely repay them somehow, perhaps invite them over to dinner.

Soon, the other two ground shuttles arrived. The rest of the colony council stepped outside. Then together, they headed into the Forum Building.

Within, they entered the main conference hall, passing by two soldiers guarding the entrance. Then she took her seat at the front, along with Mark and the rest of the colony council. Before meeting the aliens, they had all agreed that she, her husband, and Dr. Carlyle would ask all the questions, whilst the rest took notes.

As the alien envoys took the stage, the holo-recorder on the ceiling came to life with a sharp whir , and would broadcast the coming meeting all across the colony.

She took a deep breath. Here we go.

“Before we begin,” Rael said, clasping his hand behind his back, “I wish to apologize on the behalf of the quarian people, if any human of this colony felt that we had violated their privacy. Know that our intentions were not hostile, and that we only wished to understand your race before making first contact.” Rael paused, as if giving the audience time to mull over his words. “But now that first contact has begun, rest assured that from here on we will respect your wishes and cease all monitoring.”

She smiled. Closing her eyes, she sighed, and a warm, soothing sensation stilled her mind and loosened her muscles. Oh, what a relief.

“Even now,” Rael continued, “I know that many of you must still be afraid or suspicious of my kind’s intentions. And I understand. Indeed, for both our species, nothing is more terrifying than the unknown, than what we do not or can not understand.”

“So today…” Zaal said, reaching for something in the folds of his cloths, “we intend to dispel such fears, to address your doubts and concerns once and for all.”

From the folds of his cloths, Zaal pulled out a purplish-blue, metallic sphere with a bright lens. Again, he conjured his holo-computer from seemingly thin air. And after Zaal input a few commands, the sphere wobbled, then left his hand and began levitating above the ground.

Without warning, the sphere flashed, and she closed her eyes. But when she opened them, she spotted a beautiful, life-like hologram of the Milky Way Galaxy spinning counter-clockwise before the alien envoys.

Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. How are they doing this? Goodness, their technology was like magic in all but name.

With his fingers, Rael zoomed in on a star system, somewhere on the other side of the galaxy. “This…” Finally, the holo-map settled on a blue-brown world that looked almost like a copy of Seti’a prime. “...is Old Rannoch, the homeworld of the quarian people.”

Zaal input a few commands into his holo-computer. And then Rael zoomed in onto the surface of Old Rannoch itself, onto an a stretch of arid, rocky steppe nearly identical to much of the scenery on Seti’a Prime.

They’re a long, long way from home. Yes, Earth and Old Rannoch were on opposite sides of the galaxy. So why were the quarians even contacting humanity? It made no sense, unless…

No. Did their civilization span the entire galaxy? Briefly, she looked at the ground and gulped. Better stay on their good side.

“Like you, we began from nothing and built countless great civilizations over thousands of years.” Rael waved his hand, and the hologram played a timelapse animation showcasing the rise and fall of countless quarian civilizations from their bronze age to their nuclear age.

As she watched it, her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped, and she tilted her head. She hardly had the vocabulary to describe most of what she was seeing. Yes, ancient quarian civilizations seemed to be nothing like the ancient civilizations of Earth. They were all underground within sprawling, natural caverns teeming with colossal pillars, as well as subterranean lakes and rivers. And it seemed that ancient quarians were active on the planet’s surface only deep into the night, only long after their sun had already set.

But in the time-lapse animation, she saw what quarians looked like without their suits.

She smiled. A part of her had been expecting quarians to look utterly alien. But instead, they looked disarmingly familiar and exotically alluring.

Indeed, their smooth skin came in colors ranging from light pink to dark purple, and was adorned with symmetrically patterned black stripes that extended all over their bodies. Framed by elfin ears, their faces possessed a captivating blend of human and cat-like features, like how their soft, full lips contrasted with their elongated canines and pointed incisors.

Or how their large, almond-shaped eyes shimmered like gems and came in so many colors, from silver, to gold, to violet, to even sea green.

Indeed, their eyes were nothing short of breathtaking.

But one thing made her scratch her head.

Apparently, quarian women also had long, flowing manes of feathery, black hair. But how in Earth’s name did they keep so much hair under their helmets?

She shook her head. Maybe they just keep it short? Or maybe modern quarians were all bald? Whatever the case, she couldn’t deny that quarians exuded exotic beauty that was impossible to ignore.

“And like you …” Rael continued. The hologram zoomed out, back into space, and then zoomed in on one of Old Rannoch’s moons, showing what had to be two quarian astronauts discovering a prothean archive. “We eventually discovered an archive the First Ones had left behind.”

First Ones. So that’s what you call them. She exhaled. Goodness, so not only had the prothean empire spanned likely the entire galaxy, but it was also long dead even before the quarians became space-faring.

“With the knowledge it contained,” Rael said, “we learned the secrets of superluminal travel and communications…”

Superluminal communication? Ah, so with mass effect technology, it was possible after all. She let out a weak laugh. Earth’s scientists are going to love this.

Again, the hologram transitioned and was now showcasing a view of quarian fleets clustered around Old Rannoch’s orbit. “We expanded our domain out into the stars.”

Once more, the hologram zoomed out showing quarian colony ships FTL jumping towards distant worlds light years away. With one hand, Rael scrolled through several holograms showing quarian colonists setting foot on different alien worlds, of them establishing settlements within all manners of canyons or underground caverns.

“Soon, we met another intelligent race,” Rael said. Rael waved his hand, and the hologram transitioned to a scene in which a suited quarian diplomat was shaking hands with…

Her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped, and she gasped. NO. This shouldn’t be possible. The quarian diplomat was shaking hands with what looked like a human, wearing flashy, gold clothes. However, the human had no earlobes and was totally hairless with gold eyes and blue, fish-like skin.

Oh, something cosmic was definitely at play, and she had to know what. She raised her hand. “Rael?”

“Yes, Khanah ?”

“Can you please explain why that…” Damn it, what were they even called?

“That asari?”

“Yes,” she said. Oh, so that’s what they call themselves. “Can you please explain why that asari looks so human.”

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Dr. Carlyle said. He gripped his goatee. “Unless…”

“This,” Zaal said, “was actually one of the tidings we wish to bring to your leaders in the Sol System. We believe that the First Ones might have created the asari from your species.”

Her eyes widened. Briefly, she looked at the ground. “From us?”

“Yes,” Daro said, “even now the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming, especially given the archive on Mahrs. ”

A long, awkward silence ensued.

Why? Yes, why would the protheans create another species using humanity as a template? And the prothean archive…

Why was it even there?

What were the prothean’s planning?

And how did any of this connect to their empire falling? To them vanishing from the galaxy, leaving behind only the bones of their dead civilization?

She took a deep breath. Goodness, what was going on?

“Is there any we can help confirm your hypothesis?” Dr. Carlyle asked. “Do you need samples of our DNA? A copy of the human genome?”

“We were going to ask you that,” Daro said, “so yes, when this meeting is over please have them prepared.”

Dr. Carlyle nodded. “Of course.”

Mark raised his hand. “Rael?”

“Yes, Mark?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“If your hunch is true,” Mark said, “and the protheans actually did create the asari from humanity, then what does this mean? Is it good thing? Or is it a bad thing?”

Rael paused, then sighed. “It is a bad thing, Mark’Shepard. A very bad thing for both our species. And soon you will learn why.”

She took a deep breath. Goodness, just hours ago, she had been hoping to get answers, but now Rael was leaving her with only more questions. And possibly terrible news for all humanity. “Please…continue, Rael.”

Rael nodded, and then Zaal input more commands into his holo-computer.

“After first contact with the asari,” Rael said, “we joined their galactic community.”

The hologram transitioned to a scene aboard an impossibly vast space station with five petal-shaped arms. The hologram zoomed in on one of the arms, then showed countless asari, quarians, and other aliens she couldn’t identify amidst advanced, magnificent cities that made London, Berlin, or New Washington on Earth look pitifully primitive by comparison.

“We prospered,” Rael said. The hologram transitioned to views of quarians amidst their own mega cities within hollowed-out mountains, or equally-sized artificial mounds. Each one teemed with towering skyscrapers and monolithic, pillar-like buildings that shone with blue lights, whilst also supporting the ceiling. Between them streams of air-cars moved to and fro, and around nearly every building, dazzling holograms lit up the air.

“We fought beside our allies in two galactic wars,” Rael said. And the hologram transitioned to a scene in which quarian and asari soldiers were firing into throngs of insectoid abominations amidst the smoke and ash of a ruined city block, holding the line against wave after wave.

Again, the hologram transitioned, but to a new scene amidst an apocalyptic warzone in which a massive quarian soldier – likely from their special forces – was about to ram an energy blade into a monstrous alien’s gut. Clad in a bulky, imposing battlesuit, the monstrous alien was humanoid but looked vaguely reptilian – like a dinosaur – with black, beady eyes; grey, scaly skin; and a triangular head vaunting a spikey head plate. Roaring with fury, the alien was reaching for its sidearm, some kind of hand canon she’d struggle to wield even with two hands.

She huffed through her nose. Sooner or later, the quarians would need to teach humanity about the other alien civilizations out there. Indeed, she did not want to imagine the horrors that would follow if humanity had made first contact with that dinosaur-like race.

“And eventually,” Rael said. The hologram transitioned. Now, it was showing a view of Old Rannoch from space, of the countless artificial lights on its surface, and of the colossal space stations and vast armadas in its orbit. “We reached our zenith, enjoying the greatest age in all of our history.”

Rael took a deep breath, then looked at the ground. “But then…”

“But what?” she asked.

Rael looked at her. “But then we created the Geth.”

Inwardly, she winced at the sheer venom with which Rael said the word Geth.

The hologram zoomed in onto the surface of Old Rannoch, onto one of the countless mega-cities below. “At our height, we grew complacent,” Rael said. The hologram showed countless quarians dining in a palace on all kinds of delicacies. Every quarian was wearing flashy clothes, head-dresses, or crystal-like jewelry. And faceless, quarian-like androids were serving diners trays of bizarre, alien food, or pouring them their drinks.

“We grew fat on ease and comfort.” The hologram transitioned, and now it was showing similar androids working amidst mines, factories, and farms, endlessly repeating their dull tasks, “too dependant on thinking machines to make our lives even easier. And then…”

“And then the geth turned on you?” Mark asked.

Looking at her husband, Rael nodded, then took a deep breath. Meanwhile, Zaal was inputting commands into his holo-computer much faster than usual.

Looking at the ground, she gulped. Given everything Rael had told her, humanity was making the same mistakes the quarians had made long ago regarding artificial intelligence. Goodness, even on this colony, androids and other robots performed dull and repetitive tasks essential for the colony to function.

So would humanity meet the same fate?

“In our hubris and carelessness,” Rael said, “we unwittingly created an abomination, a super-intelligence we could not control.”

“Countless trillions of geth programs networked into a hive mind the size of a galactic arm,” Daro said.

“And we never stood a chance…” Zaal said, looking at the ground.

“I must warn you,” Rael said, “that what you’re about to see…it will not be easy to watch.”

Again, the hologram transitioned. Now, it was showing a scene amidst what looked like a sprawling city square, with streams of air cars flying through the air, above thousands moving to and fro.

Without warning, explosions rippled across the pillar-like mega-buildings holding up the ceiling. At the same time, air cars fell out sky and crashed into buildings or the crowds below in booming fireballs. Soon, countless buildings were burning, clogging the air with smoke and ash. Every second, chunks of flaming debris crashed to the ground like meteors. And Geth airships or androids were opening fire into throngs of screaming men, women, and children.

Turning the streets red with their blood.

Littering them with their entrails and body parts.

Her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped, and she covered her mouth. Oh god…

Once more, the hologram transitioned. And now it was showing a view of a quarian colony from space, of the sprawling debris fields of frozen corpses and shattered, burned-out space stations or warships in its orbit. Close to them, a geth fleet was bombarding the colony’s surface, vaporizing every ocean, burning every continent into hellish wastelands of molten slag.

She watched on in horror. And again, the hologram transitioned. Now, it was showing geth airships dumping corpses into one of countless mass graves the size of a stadium. Some of them were burning in blazing infernos, choking the air with smoke and ash.

Suddenly, the view zoomed in on a quarian man trying to crawl his way out of one of them, one inch at a time. But on and on, the corpses fell like rain, piling on top of each other like trash in a landfill.

And soon they buried the man alive.

Briefly, she looked away and pursed her lips. She exhaled and her eyes welled with tears. Yes, already, this was a genocide more horrific than anything in human history.

Steeling herself, she watched on. And now, the hologram was showing Geth soldiers shoving and corralling lines of ragged, starving prisoners into ground transports, under a hellish red-black sky. In the distance, several of the quarians’ mound cities looked cracked open, and inside they were burning, spewing plumes of ash and smoke kilometers high into the air.

Amidst the prisoners, a quarian woman collapsed from exhaustion. Without hesitation, a quarian boy rushed to her aid, sobbing, as he nudged her body, begging her to get up. On and on, the boy sobbed and wailed his throat bloody, and the sound was like claws raking against her mind.

But then a geth soldier approached and blew the boy’s brains out.

She winced. A tear streamed down her cheek, and she squinted her eyes shut, gritting her teeth. Opening her eyes, she huffed through her nose, then pursed her lips. Those monsters…Those fucking monsters!

Once more, the hologram transitioned, and now it was showing a birds-eye view of an endless convoy of such transports heading towards a gargantuan facility near the coast. Bristling with domes, sensor towers, and battlements, the facility was endlessly dumping a red, sludge-like substance into the nearby ocean.

Polluting it with…

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, her stomach churning. Oh, Goodness…

“ Stop,” her husband said firmly. “We’ve seen enough.”

She glanced at him, and he was clenching his fists. “Yes. Please, stop .”

“Very well,” Rael said. Looking at Zaal, Rael nodded.

And then the hologram winked out. A long, solemn silence ensued.

She gulped. “Rael?”

“Yes, Khanah? ”

“How many quarians died in that…that genocide ?” she asked.

“And the whole time,” Mark said, “where were your goddamn allies? Did anyone or anything even try to help?”

“First,” Rael said, “to answer your question Khanah, approximately seventy to eighty billion perished in the Great Betrayal.”

Her eyes widened, and for a moment she froze, staring blankly at the ground. Seventy to eighty billion…

More deaths than every war, famine, and plague in human history combined, several times over.

“And second, Mark’Shepard,” Zaal said, “the asari were no longer our allies when the geth began slaughtering us all.”

“What about other races?” she asked. “What about them?”

“It simply wasn’t their concern,” Rael said, clasping his hands behind his back. “And I suspect a few were even happy about it.”

Mark frowned, then huffed through his nose. “So what happened with the asari? Why weren’t you two allies anymore.”

Rael sighed. “Just after the last galactic war, the asari’s republic suffered from crippling economic and political instability. And during the civil war that followed, a monster…” Briefly, Rael clenched his fists, “ a tyrant who calls himself ‘The Ascendant’ took advantage of the chaos and seized power for himself.”

“Establishing the Thessian Empire,” Zaal said, speaking those last two words with bitterness and disgust.

“The Thessian Empire…” she said, looking at the ground. If the asari and humanity were related, then what would the Ascendant do?

“So the asari’s emperor,” Mark said, “I take it he’d want to conquer all of human space?”

“Yes,” Rael said, “and if he succeeds, your species will never be independent. The Ascendant will plunder your Mahrs archive and share the spoils with the other two member species of the Citadel Council.”

Another long, awkward silence ensued.

The Citadel Council…

Were they the hegemons of galactic civilization?

The overlords of all other sentient species?

She took a deep breath. Yes, it seemed the galaxy was not a friendly place. And sooner or later, Rael would have to bring these warnings to the Sol System. But when? What are your damn plans? She cleared her throat. “Anyways, Rael. Tell us what happened next.”

Rael looked at Zaal and nodded. Zaal nodded back, then conjured his holo-computer and input a series of commands. Then once more, the holo-sphere came to life with a sharp crack-schwoom. Now, it showed a view of thousands of quarian ships in orbit over a world she couldn’t identify.

“Shortly after the fall of our civilization,” Rael said, “the last of my people fled from the geth in whatever ships we had left. And even now, four centuries later, we have been wandering the galaxy, endlessly searching for a new home, but never finding one…because of our curse .”

“Your curse?”

Rael nodded. “Cut off from our homeworld and colonies, from the micro-organisms in the air needed to keep us healthy, our immune systems… deteriorated.”

“So your immune systems are weak,” she said, “and your suits…you can never take them off?”

“Outside a completely sterile environment,” Daro said, “no. We can not.”

Her eyes went wide. Briefly, she looked at the ground, then exhaled. Goodness, so the geth had not only obliterated their civilization, but had also cursed the survivors for generations to come.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “Your people, Rael, I…I can’t imagine how much you’ve endured.”

“How many of you are even left?” Mark asked.

“Less than ten million,” Daro said.

Less than ten million…

Only a fraction of a percent of their peak population. If such a genocide happened to humanity, then she…

No, she could not imagine that.

“So how did you end up finding us?” she asked.

Looking at Zaal, Rael nodded. Then the hologram zoomed in on a ship with a colossal, sphere-shaped aft.

How big is that thing? Goodness, did the quarians have any limits to their technological might?

“Approximately five years ago,” Rael said, “a fleet of hired mercenaries ambushed us and destroyed one of our liveships.”

“A liveship?”

“They produce our food,” Daro said. “Even with one destroyed, our days were numbered.”

“So what did you do?” Mark asked.

“We fled into uncharted space,” Rael said, “thousands of lightyears away from any settled world, in one, last attempt to find a new home. And then…” Rael took a deep breath, then looked her right in the eye. “And then my crew and I found this planet, the most habitable world ever discovered for my species.”

A long, tense silence filled the room.

During it, she froze and kept looking at the ground, slack-jawed. So that’s why you’re here. Yes, it all made sense now. She gulped. But what are your plans with us? Yes, would the quarians be so willing to share their new home?

After centuries of enduring nothing but apathetic scorn from other races?

She looked at Rael, her pulse climbing. “So you and your race…you want to colonize this world? You want to make it your new home?”

“Yes.”

“And what exactly are your plans for us?” Mark asked.

Looking at her husband, Rael sighed. “We want to coexist with you.”

“And not as your overlords,” Zaal added. “No. The galaxy is full of enough of those. Instead, we want to coexist with you as equals, as allies, and hopefully…as friends.”

Again, she looked at the ground, slack-jawed. Coexistence with aliens…

Just how would the public react to that?

Just how would that even work?

And with millions of quarians, and just over eight thousand humans living on this world, would the quarians eventually marginalize their human neighbors as second-class citizens?

“I understand that this is new for you,” Rael said. “I understand that your species has never faced this kind of situation. But rest assured that we are nothing like the conquerors of the Ahm’Hairican continents of your history. No. We are not uncivilized savages and will treat you only with kindness and respect.”

“As though you were fellow brothers and sisters of the fleet,” Zaal said.

She sighed. After everything the quarians had endured, how could she possibly tell them no? Yes, they were desperate for a new home. Easily, they could have annihilated this colony from orbit, if they had wanted to take this planet for themselves. And yet here they were, offering friendship to another race centuries – or perhaps eons – behind them technologically.

“Ok, Rael,” she said, standing up. It’s not like we have a choice anyway. She walked onto the stage, then faced him. “To be honest with you, I don’t know what to expect from this…” She extended her hand for a handshake, and Rael accepted it. “But despite our doubts, we look forward to working with you and hope you’ll teach us many, many things.”

“Of that,” Rael said, “you can be sure.”

Zaal cleared his throat. “Naturally, it will take time for our peoples to truly trust each other. But as a gesture of goodwill, we have brought you gifts.”

Her eyes widened. “Gifts?”

Rael nodded. “If I’m not mistaken, Khanah, you and your people have been struggling to keep this colony functioning, that it will collapse in thirty to fifty years. Correct?”

She scratched her neck. Oh, of course, you’d know that. “We’ve been working on it. But why do you ask?”

“Because our first gift,” Rael said. Briefly, Rael looked at Daro and nodded, “is this.”

Daro conjured her holo-computer and input a few commands. Suddenly, a notification popped on her HUD, informing her that she’d just gotten a new message in her inbox. She opened it, and in it was a folder of attached files, named: ‘Documentation of Changes’.

She opened the folder, and within, she found countless text files of technical documentation – in perfect English – she couldn’t understand. “Rael…what…what even is this?”

“I just uploaded a program to your colony’s servers,” Daro said, “which will improve the efficiency of your automated systems by three hundred percent.”

“By three hundred percent?” Dr. Carlyle almost shouted. He laughed. “Oh, you must send me the documentation. So many of my colleagues will absolutely love this.”

“Undoubtedly, they will,” Daro said, “but there is more. The script will also ensure that the virtual intelligences managing them will never become… too independent.”

“Yes,” she said, looking at Daro. Briefly, she remembered the geth and the atrocities they committed during their uprising. “Yes, thank you. After what you just showed us, I’m sure none of us want to see the rise of any super-intelligent machines.”

“Yes,” Rael said, “exactly.” Rael cleared his throat. “Anyways, now, your colony should be stable for generations to come. But still, we have more to give you.”

Her eyes went wide. “More?”

Rael nodded. “The sandworms, you and your people live in constant fear of them. Correct?”

“We do,” Mark said. Her husband got out of his seat, then went up the stage and stood beside her. “So you have a plan to wipe them out?”

“Yes,” Rael said. Rael conjured his holo-computer and input a few commands. On one window, Rael showed her a diagram of some kind of pathogen. “Long ago, another race created, then shared this virus to the galactic community in a campaign to exterminate the creatures you call sandworms once and for all. And after we deploy it, they should be extinct on this world within ten to twenty years.”

“Ten to twenty years?” Mark asked, his eyes wide. “That’s a long time, Rael. Why?”

Rael looked at Daro, then nodded.

Daro nodded back, then looked at her husband. “The virus stops the spores the sandworms spread from developing into what you call sand plankton. Unfortunately, this happens at quite a rapid rate, and It will take time for the virus to propagate across this planet.”

“Ah,” Mark said, “so it stops them from reproducing.” He huffed through his nose. “Words can not express how much we appreciate this, but is there no way we can’t speed up the process?”

Rael gripped his chin. “I have an idea.”

“What?” Mark asked.

Rael conjured his holo-computer, then opened up a window displaying a satellite view of an arid, rocky steppe. On the view were red, glowing dots scattered at seemingly random locations. “These are locations of sandworm nests you discovered earlier. Correct?”

Mark nodded. “Correct?”

“Good,” Rael said, inputting more commands into his holo-computer. “Now, choose one and then watch.”

Mark pointed at one of the dots. Rael zoomed in on it. And for a few seconds, nothing happened. But then a titanic explosion annihilated everything within one kilometer of the dot and kicked up a colossal plume of dust and sand. When the plume cleared, only a smoldering crater remained where a sandworm had made its nest.

Mark burst out laughing. “Now that is what I call a solution!”

Rael laughed. “Yes, soon, the sandworms will be only a distant memory.”

She gave Rael a tight-lipped smile. Were your gifts just convenient ways of hitting two birds with one stone? Of gaining the colony’s trust, whilst also demonstrating the quarian fleet’s power? She might never know. But nonetheless, she would commit everything she had towards making the colony’s partnership with the quarians work.

“So anyways,” she said, “what happens next, Rael? When will the rest of your people arrive, and when will you contact the Sol System?”

“Yes,” Mark said. “What are your plans?”

“For now,” Rael said, “we will remain close and make preparations for when the rest of my kind arrives a few weeks from now.”

“And once we are settled,” Zaal said, “we will meet again and devise a plan for how we will contact the humans of the Sol System.”

“Excellent,” she said. She extended her hand for a handshake and Rael accepted it. She gave him strong eye contact. “Then I guess we’re done here.”

Rael nodded. “Until we meet again, Khanah. ”

She smiled. “Until we meet again.”