"What is there to discuss?" Shepard asked.

Sitting around the table were Hackett, Shala'Raan, Han'Gerrel, Urdnot Wrex, Primarch Victus, along with an Asari and a Salarian he didn't recognize. All of them were staring at him.

"Well, first things first, Shepard," Hackett said, "allow me to introduce you to Matriarch Salusia, the Admiral of the Asari Sixth Fleet, " Salusia nodded, "and Admiral Jhinon Dau, the commanding officer of the Salarian First Fleet."

"It's an honor to meet you both," he said.

Salusia leaned back into her chair and steepled her hands. Her face seemed locked in a permanent sneer. "Likewise."

Jhinon nodded. Scars riddled almost every inch of his face. "STG has told me much about you. Very impressive."

"Anways," Hackett continued, "we've called you here today because we need you to tell us what happened on the Crucible."

"Yes," Han said, "why did the Geth just suddenly go offline? After how adamant you were to broker a 'peace' with them, I never imagined this would happen."

"Neither did I," Shala said, crossing her arms, "What happened?"

"Indeed," Salusia said. "Explain."

He sighed, looking down at the ground, and his limbs felt heavy. He should have known this would happen, that eventually, people would want an explanation for why the Geth went offline after the Crucible blast. There was no avoiding this.

So better he got this over with.

"After going up the beam," he said, "I found myself in a dark, red-lit chamber full of mangled corpses, of people the Reapers haven't yet harvested." Briefly, he looked away and gulped. "The smell…Oh god, the smell was unbearable, and I remember puking–"

Salusia held up her hand. "Please. Leave out the graphic details. They are completely unnecessary."

"What happened after you found yourself in that chamber?" Hackett asked, leaning forward.

"Anderson had also made it up," he said, "but we ended up in different locations. Soon, he contacted me on my comm-link, and we tried to regroup. But later, there was interference in the connection, and then something cut us off. Nonetheless, I pushed on, and eventually, I found him…just standing there in front of the console inside the Citadel's master control room."

"The master control room?" Victus asked.

Shepard nodded. "I approached him, but then I couldn't move. My head ached with this dull, throbbing pain. Every muscle in my body just froze up…and that's when the Illusive Man made his entrance."

"You're referring to the leader of the human terrorist organization, Cerberus, correct?" Jhinon asked. "Yes, STG has told me much about him. High-priority target for assassination."

"The one and only," Shepard said. "After making his entrance, he went on this long, insane monologue trying to justify his actions, to convince me and Anderson that somehow controlling the Reapers was what's best for Humanity. But he was clearly indoctrinated. He was so far gone that he had mutilated over half his body with Reaper implants and cybernetics."

"And what happened next?" Hackett asked.

He took a deep breath. "Me and Anderson, we tried to convince him that he was playing with forces he did not understand, that he was grasping at power nobody deserved, and that Reapers should be destroyed, not controlled." He clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth. "But the bastard wouldn't listen. With his new abilities, he made me…"

"What did that whelp make you do?" Wrex asked.

He looked at the ground and pursed his lips. A cold emptiness bloomed in his chest, as he remembered that moment.

"Look at the power they wield! Look at what they can do!"

He's gritting his teeth and breathing heavily through his nose. With all his willpower, he resists the urge to pull the trigger, to murder Anderson in cold blood. But he's not strong enough.

BANG!

He wants to cry out in rage and tear the Illusive Man limb from limb, but his body won't obey him. He's completely powerless.

"He made me shoot Anderson. He made me put a bullet right through his gut."

Silence filled the room.

"After I shot Anderson," he continued, "I made the Illusive Man see what he really was, a puppet. At first, he resisted. Like Saren, he tried to convince me that he was still in control, that the Reapers hadn't taken away his free will. But then I asked him whether he was willing to stake Humanity's existence on his ability to handle so much power. And finally, I started to get through to him." He gulped and pursed his lips. "The bastard got so angry and defensive and started ranting about the sacrifices he's made for humanity. But then I told him that he'd sacrificed too much, that his actions had only doomed humanity, and finally…he mustered enough willpower to commit suicide. Just before his death, he told me that all this time… he tried to resist."

"Good riddance," Victus said. "With him gone, Cerberus is finished."

"Yes," Hackett said, "with the intelligence disclosed by their highest-ranking defectors, I'll make sure of that." He cleared his throat. "But anyways, continue Shepard. What happened after he committed suicide."

"Finally, me and Anderson we're free of his control," Shepard said. ", and I opened the Citadel arms so you could dock the Crucible. But by then, my injuries were severe. I sat by Anderson and we shared some last words before I blacked out."

"That can't be the end," Wrex said.

"It isn't," Shepard said. "Just minutes later, the Catalyst woke me up."

"The Catalyst?"

Shepard nodded. "All this time, an AI in the Citadel was the mastermind behind the Reaper harvests." He huffed through his nose and clenched his fists. "The damn thing took the form of a spectral child to manipulate me, to make the motivation for its 'solution' easier to swallow."

Everyone was leaning forward, staring at him, enthralled in what he had to say. He took a deep breath. "Over two billion years ago, the Leviathans used to be the dominant race of the galaxy with countless thrall races feeding them tribute. Time and time again, those thrall races grew dependent on machines that eventually destroyed them and cut off their tribute. So the Leviathans created the Catalyst to stop this from happening, and keep the tribute flowing."

He let out a joyless laugh. "But their plan backfired. Eventually, the Catalyst concluded that 'the created will always rebel against their creators' and that synthetics could not coexist with organics. And so its 'solution' was the Reaper Cycles. When the Leviathans rejected this, they only became the first race to be harvested and 'immortalized' as the first Reaper."

"Harbinger," Hackett said, and once again silence filled the room. Shepard studied Han and Shala's body language and they seemed to be processing what he said.

"All this time," Han said, "we've been repeating a pattern that has gone on for eons. Keelah, why am I not surprised."

"Well, this Catalyst was clearly wrong," Shala said. She met his gaze. "You proved it was wrong, the moment you brokered peace between the Geth and the quarian people."

Han scoffed. "It never would have lasted. You know that. Most of Clan Gerrel and Clan Vael were outraged when I gave the order to stop firing. This 'peace', you speak of, was only an opportunity to use the Geth as fodder for the war."

Shala slapped her hands on the table. "By the ancestors, I swear if you say–"

"Enough," Shepard snapped. "Now is not the time to argue."

He sighed. He couldn't deny the truth of Han's words. Indeed, it was because of quarians like him that Geth-Quarians tensions might have exploded into a second Morning War, without very careful diplomacy.

\ Shala exhaled. "Very well."

"Continue, Shepard," Han said.

He cleared his throat. "Anyways. The Catalyst explained that its cycles, its genocides, were somehow meant to stop synthetic life from wiping out all organic life, that they immortalize races as Reapers to preserve all their knowledge and history."

"How contradictory," Salusia said.

"Indeed," Victus said, "how does one stop synthetics from wiping out organics, by wiping out organics with synthetics?"

"It's complete madness," Han said. "The stupid machines can not tell the difference between living and existing."

Hackett cleared his throat. "Anyways, what happened after the Catalyst explained its…reasons for the Cycles?"

He pursed his lips. Briefly, he looked at the ground. "It gave me three choices, all of them terrible."

His heart raced, and he gulped. He took a deep breath. Now came the part he dreaded recounting. "It said that just by making it this far, its solution wouldn't work anymore. After that, it gave me the first of its three choices, an offer to control the Reapers."

Everyone recoiled, their eyes wide, their mouth agape.

"It said that every atom of my body would get converted into energy," he said, "and that my mind would become the new guiding intelligence behind the Reapers."

"Goddess," Salusia said, "that would have only justified the Illusive Man's actions."

"Nobody deserves that much power," Victus said.

"I agree," Wrex said, glaring at him, "If you had taken that things offer, Shepard, all Krogan would have cursed your name as a traitor, as some pathetic pyjak who schemed and manipulated his way into becoming the god-king of the galaxy."

"I have no doubt that would have happened, Wrex," Shepard said. He leaned forward and put his hands on the table. "As Victus said, nothing deserves to have that much power. Nothing. In all likelihood, that choice was probably a trap anyway. It was too good to be true."

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

"Indeed," Hackett said. "I think we can all agree that nobody wants a God-Emperor of the galaxy. Throughout history, authoritarian rule has brought only suffering, no matter how well-intentioned." He cleared his throat. "But anyways, what were the other options?"

"The next option was something it called synthesis," Shepard said. "It's sick, twisted mind somehow believed this choice was the ideal one."

"What would it have entailed," Jhinon asked.

"Forcibly altering the DNA of every sentient being to become half-organic, half-synthetic," he said. "It would have taken away everyone's individuality and made them a part of this…galaxy-spanning hivemind."

"That," Raan said, "would have been completely unacceptable."

"Indeed," Han said, "Death would have been preferable. If you had chosen that abominable path, Shepard, your popularity amongst the fleet would have turned into bitter hatred. As the Krogan said, all quarians would have reviled you as a monster infinitely worse than the Geth."

Shala nodded. "None of us want to become little more than advanced versions of…what did you humans call them? Oh, husks."

"I agree with the quarians," Wrex said. "If you had chosen synthesis, if you had chosen to be a coward and 'negotiate' with the Reapers like Saren, then all Krogan would have lost their respect for you. All Krogan would remember you only as a fraud – as some whelp who unleashed a blight even worse than the genophage!"

"Then let us be glad that Shepard rejected this choice," Salusia said. "Indeed, I think a world without privacy or differences is a world without joy or beauty."

Hackett nodded. "Personally, it sounds like the Catalyst was trying to sell you a utopia. If you know your history, Shepard, then you should know why utopia means 'no place' and what happens when madmen try to enforce one upon the world."

Everyone paused, as that statement sunk in.

"Anyways," Jhinon said, "what was the final choice?"

His pulse climbed. His stomach lurched, and briefly, he looked at the ground. This was it. Now, he had to confess to his crime. "The last option was to completely exterminate all synthetic life."

"Everything?" Han asked.

"Yes," Shepard said, "everything. The Reapers. The Geth. And every AI in the galaxy, at the cost of some damage to the mass relays." He looked down at the ground. "Yes, I…I willingly betrayed the Geth. It was either them or us, and I did what I had to do."

Again, silence filled the room, as everyone seemed to mull over what he just said. Every second felt like minutes.

"Goddess…" Salusia said, "now I understand what happened to the Raloi, the Kwi'Voth, and the Virtual Aliens."

His pulse spiked. For a moment, he couldn't breathe. Were they more of his victims? "What…" He gulped. "What happened to them?"

Salusia slid her hand down her face. "It would take too long for me to explain, but…" She took a deep breath, then began to input a few commands on her omni-tool. "I will send you the details."

On his omni-tool, he received some files. Sooner or later, he'd have to read them and face the full horror of his actions.

"Well…" Shala said, meeting his gaze, "it's a tragedy you had to make such a decision. Yes, without the Geth, it will take decades for the quarian people to achieve their previous heights. But ultimately…"

"You did what needed to be done," Han said. "You used the Geth as fodder for the war, then betrayed them once they no longer had any use. Yes, an impressive strategy. I suppose I should be thanking you."

"Don't presume my motives, Admiral," he said, almost shouting. He clenched his fists and huffed through his nose. So stuck in your damn ways. "The Geth are heroes of this war, and sacrificing them was anything but an easy decision. Their demise is not something to be fucking celebrated."

Han crossed his arms and glared at him.

"Shame they had to go," Wrex said, "but yes…it's best this way. After everything they did with Saren, I don't believe anyone would have accepted them."

"Indeed," Jhinon said, "tensions would have exploded eventually. You took the wisest course of action."

Hackett took a deep breath. "The Geth were…invaluable allies. Without them and the Rachni, the battle for Earth would have been a crushing defeat from the outset." The Admiral exhaled through his nose, then looked at him. "It pains me to have to say this but…yes, what you did was necessary, Shepard. In war, morality is often a luxury officers can not afford."

He couldn't deny the truth of Hackett's words. Like Garrus always said, in any conflict, it was impossible to be righteous all the time, or to avoid the ruthless calculus of war. Closing his eyes, he exhaled through his nose. "So what now?"

Victus whispered something in Hackett's ear, and Hackett nodded.

"Shepard," Victus said. "Given everything you've told us, you've only confirmed our belief, that in the coming galactic order, we need to impose a complete ban on artificial intelligence."

"Yes," Jhinon said, "giving them power is too dangerous."

He clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth. Cowards. No. He would not let them dishonour EDI and the Geth's memory.

"No," he said firmly, and everyone around the table stared at him, as if they couldn't believe what he just said.

"No?" Han asked.

"That's right," he continued, "No. What's actually dangerous is letting our fears and biases blind us to what caused the Reaper Cycles in the first place. If we ban all AI, then we'd only be proving that the Catalyst was right, that synthetics and organics can't coexist, and that we've learned nothing from this war."

Silence filled the room as everyone seemed to process that statement.

"Then what do you propose?" Victus asked eventually.

"As Admiral Raan pointed out," he said. "The quarians and the geth proved that the Catalyst was wrong, that synthetics and organics can not only coexist, but thrive when they cooperate and make up for each other's weaknesses." He leaned forward and put his hands on the table. "If we never want another Reaper War to happen ever again, then I propose we do the opposite, that we recognize future AIs as sentient beings and give them rights."

"WHAT?" Han shouted. He slammed his palms on the table, then explosively stood up from his chair and pointed at him. "This is madness! You can not possibly believe that the public would simply accept such an insane proposal!"

"HAN!" Shala snapped. "Sit down!"

"Genocidal machines have just nearly destroyed galactic civilization! They've shown everyone what happens when–"

Wrex roared, loud enough to make him wince, and everyone went silent. "Enough! No more bickering like whelps!"

Hackett cleared his throat. "Yes. I think now isn't the best time to debate this topic. Whatever the future of synthetics, however, one thing is clear. In the next galactic order, we'll need to unify and cooperate like never before."

"Especially given what you're about to see," Salusia said.

"See what?" Shepard asked.

"What you're about to see can not leave this room," Jhinon said. "If the masses find out about this, especially now, then the mass panic…"

"Would be very ugly, indeed," Salusia said, steepling her hands and leaning back into her chair.

Shepard sighed. What were they about to show him? Was it a threat to the galaxy even more dangerous and powerful than the Reapers? A terrible truth about every race's place in the universe? "Alright, I won't mention this to anyone. What is it?"

Salusia input a few commands into her omni-tool, and the holo-projector at the center of the table sprang to life, displaying a star map. "If this war has taught us anything, it's that the universe is a dangerous place, filled with cosmic threats capable of eradicating entire civilizations."

"Thirty-two years ago," she continued, "the astronomer Naelara V'Kara made a startling discovery. Around two-hundred thousand lightyears away…" On the star map, she zoomed in on a collection of star systems. "...in a dwarf galaxy you humans call the Small Magellanic Cloud, she discovered eleven star systems like this one."

Finally, Salusia stopped zooming in and settled on the system she wanted. Apparently, this system's star was encircled by some kind of ring, hundreds of millions of kilometers in diameter.

"Is that…Is that a ringworld?" he asked.

He'd always figured that such a megastructure was purely theoretical.

Salusia nodded. "Yes. Naelara proved that other civilizations exist outside the galaxy and that some of them might have technology far beyond our own, or even that of the Leviathans at the height of their power."

He held up his hand. "Wait. If that system is more than two-hundred-thousand lightyears away, then how do we know if whoever built those megastructures is still around? Light only travels so fast, so she must have been looking at how these systems were over two-hundred-thousand years ago."

"Many have asked the same question," Salusia said, "and many have concluded that, yes, in all likelihood, whatever empire built these Dyson spheres and ringworlds has long since collapsed. But you'd be wrong."

She pressed more keys on her omni-tool, and a window popped up on the holo-projector, displaying ten-by-ten arrays of strange, alien letters, and then a holo-vid of a strange alien from a race never seen before.

The alien stood about four meters tall on three legs attached to a robust, V-shaped torso, and had two double-jointed arms ending with seven, spindly fingers. Like protheans, the alien had a wedge-shaped head with four green eyes, but no visible nose, and a three-sided jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Like turians, metallic plates also covered nearly every square inch of its body, and they glistened with a pearlescent sheen.

"Just two days after we restored the most vital QECs and comm-buoys," Salusia said, "officials on Thessia, Palaven, and Rannoch received this broadcast from one of these very systems."

"What do you think they want?" he asked.

"We don't know," Victus said. "Their intentions are a mystery."

"Thus far," Salusia said, "their language has proven…difficult to translate, and nobody has been able to make sense of the character matrices they sent us. But we believe the Crucible blast might have drawn their attention to our galaxy."

Salusia closed the hologram.

"This incident got us thinking," Jhinon said, "that if they can spy on us from hundreds of thousands of lightyears away, then what else are they capable of? Are they so old and powerful that even the Reapers never dared attack them? And what about other civilizations inaccessible through the relay network? Analysts say the network encompasses only three to five percent of the galaxy. So there could be hundreds of uncontacted races, hundreds of civilizations with technology beyond anything we can imagine."

"Yes," Victus said, "and should we ever encounter a hostile one even just a few hundred years ahead of us, then our only chance at survival is to band together."

"Which is why we've been in talks since communications have been reestablished with Palaven, Thessia, Rannoch, and Tuchanka," Hackett said. "To put it simply, Shepard, we're forming a new federation."

"The Compact," Wrex said.

For a moment, he remained quiet. The Compact. A new federation? Truthfully, nothing sounded better. Nothing pleased him more than every race uniting after a conflict as destructive and horrible as the Reaper War.

And now that the comm-buoys and QEC systems were back online, perhaps now they'd be more able to search for the Normandy. He couldn't help but smile. "I love the sound of that. Yeah, if uncontacted, hyper-advanced civilizations have noticed the Crucible blast, and have less than friendly intentions toward us, then now is the time to unite. Now is the time to cast aside the old galactic order in favor of something better."

"I couldn't put it any better myself," Hackett said. "Though this federation might take years to formalize, we're taking our first steps. All of us have signed non-aggression pacts, along with treaties promising mutual defense, free trade, and complete access to each other's technology. Just a few days ago, we've also begun work on writing the Compact's constitution."

"And we'd like your input on it," Victus said.

Shepard's eye's widened, and his jaw dropped. "Input on the Compact's constitution?"

"We want you associated with it," Hackett said, "for you to always be that symbol of hope that brought us together."

Salusia nodded. "So what do you say?"

"I'd be honored," he said. It would give him something extra to do and help pass the time until they found the Normandy. "When do we start?"

Hackett stood up. "I'll keep you in contact with certain people by omni-tool. But for now, this meeting is over."

Everyone else stood up and began to leave. He grabbed his crutches and did the same, but then Hackett put his hand on his shoulder. "Shepard, might have a word with you in private?"

He nodded, then sat back down. "Of course."

Once everyone else left, Hackett exhaled. "It's concerning the other Alliance top brass. They want me to promote you to Admiral. They think the move would be great for morale and help foster unity and cohesion amongst the other species."

"Promise me you'll retire, saera."

His pulse climbed, and he pursed his lips. After saving the galaxy three times, was the Alliance going to drag him back into the fold?

"But given that we're friends, and that nobody outranks me, I've already done you the courtesy of making your new rank strictly ceremonial. Officially, you're retired."

He exhaled, and his limbs felt lighter. "Sir, I can't tell you how much, I…"

"No thanks are necessary," Hackett said. "Even after you've recovered from your injuries, I doubt you'll be fit for duty anyway. You've done enough for the galaxy, and now you deserve the chance to rest on your laurels." Hackett's omni-tool beeped, and he read the newest notification. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there are other matters that require my attention. If you need anything, do not hesitate to contact me."

Hackett began to leave the conference room. Perhaps now was the time to ask whether he could do anything to help find the Normandy?

"Sir?" he asked.

Hackett turned and faced him. "We're colleagues now, Shepard. So please, feel free to call me Hackett."

He nodded. "Well, since the comm-buoys and QECs are back online, is there anything you can do to help find the Normandy?"

Hackett gripped his chin. "Hhhm. It will be weeks before the Charon relay is operational again. But I'll see what I can do. I'll have some of the long-range scouting patrols keep an eye out for them."

"If that's the case," he said, "I'd like to request one more thing."

"What?" Hackett asked.

"I'd like to record a message and have those patrols broadcast it as far and wide as possible," he said. Anything to let her know I'm alive. "My crew, they…they need to know that I'm alive and well."

Hackett put his hand on his shoulder. "Consider it done. Once you have the message recorded, send it to me on your omni-tool, and I'll have those patrols broadcast it as far and wide as possible. After everything you've done for humanity and the galaxy, it's the least I can do."

"Thank you," he said, keeping his voice and demeanor as professional as possible. Within, he felt giddy. Should he dare get his hopes up? "It means a lot."

"I have no doubt that we'll find them," Hackett said. "But anyway, I'd better get going." He began to leave the conference room. "We'll stay in touch."

"Indeed, we will."

When Hackett left the conference room, Shepard let out a deep sigh. For the first time since waking up after his one-month coma, his limbs felt light and rejuvenated. Just hang on, saera. This nightmare won't last much longer.