In the middle of following Tela's trail, Samael received a hologram call. It was from Jason, the boss of the building company under LD.

Samael accepted, and he could see the man in a holographic form. He looked dead inside.

'' Jason? Man, what happened to you?''

Jason sighed, '' HAHAHA. The planet you asked us to build on was infested with Thresher Maws. LD personnel dealt with them, but we suffered quite a bit.''

Samael was sorry. He had forgotten how weak-minded civilians are. He knew about the infestation, but he didn't care, as he knew his army would deal with it. He just didn't take into consideration the builders.

'' I'm sorry about that. I will give you guys a huge bonus don't worry.''

At the mention of a bonus, Jason brightened up a little. '' Thank you. But that is not why I called you.''

'' Go on.''

'' We finished building the things you asked for.''

This means Javik might now leave the crew too to oversee his people.

'' Thanks for telling me.''

'' No, no. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.''

While the last few weeks have been rough for Jason, he was more than willing to go through the whole process again, because the pay was that good. If his sanity remained, that was another thing.

They talked some more until Jason finished the call, leaving a pensive Samael.

' Javik will leave soon, and the crew will lose a lot of firepower. But we can manage.'

Samael then went around the ship, searching for the Prothean to tell him the news.

Now that Wrex was gone, the place where Javik spent most of his time was the gym, as even though he was friends with everyone in the crew, he felt out of place when talking to them.

Only Wrex and Samael didn't pass that feeling, and he felt at ease with both.

Anyway, Samael found Javik there alongside Liara. The Asari was doing her best to spend most of her time with the specimen. Who could blame her, as this was literally her dream ever since she started her job.

And, the Asari liked to ask difficult questions, that she had no answer to, such as how they bathed, what food did they like, etc.

Javik didn't mind answering them, so it was a win-win.

'' Hello.'' Samael greeted them both as he entered the gym.

Javik nodded at him, and Liara smiled, '' Hello, Samael. What brings you here?''

Samael looked at Javik and said, '' It's ready.''

The Prothean tilted his head a little, and it took some time until it clicked, '' The facilities were ready?''

'' Yes. If you want, we can start waking them up now. I will pass the coordinates of the planet to them and to you. You can leave now if you want.''

Hesitation colored Javik's face. While he knew he was helping Samael, as the human was doing his best to stop the Reaeprs, he also knew the probability of an attack right now was almost 0. Besides, the crew has very powerful people on it, so even if he left, things would be okay.

Javik really wanted to be there for his people when they woke up. He remembered how he felt when he woke up, surrounded by unknown people. It wasn't nice and he didn't want his people to feel the same.

He would do his best to make them adapt fast to the now.

'' ... I will go there. I will help my people adjust, then join you once more when I feel they are ready to go on without me.''

Samael shook his head and said, '' Take a year or two of vacation, you deserve it. We can reunite as a crew at that time.''

Even though it had been less than 2 months since the Prothean woke up, he really deserved a vacation. I mean, he woke up from a 50.000 nap, and even though he put a thought front, he had difficulties adapting to the new normal.

A small vacation would help a lot.

'' Thank you.''

''Don't mention it.''

Liara then interjected, '' Can I go too?''

Javik noticed the look Samael gave in a split second and smirked a little, '' Unfortunately, no. I will, however, give you my contact information along with any other information you want. This crew needs you, after all.''

'' Rally?'' Liara was a little taken aback, as she felt she wasn't that important to the crew.

'' Really. Besides, we still have a lot of time before the Reapers arrive. In the future, when my people adjust to the now, I'll even let you interview everyone.''

''It's a promise!'' Liara then left the gym after saying goodbye to Samael.

'' Thanks for that, by the way.''

''Don't worry... But, really? Do you want to mate with her?'' Javik could not see the appeal Liara had.

Samael sighed, '' Not only her...''

Javik stopped. He was now curious about who the others were, ''Miranda?''

'' Nope, and I already 'mated' with her and Jack.''

Javik was getting more and more surprised. Still, the females on this ship were limited, there's Clare, but Samael didn't show interest until now. Veronica's situation was a mystery, even the dense Javik noticed that.

It only left, '' Tali?''

Samael nodded, '' She is quite the beauty, don't you think?''

Javik really could not understand Samael's tastes.

--

After SSV Phoenix made a pit stop on a nearby planet to buy Javik his ship, the crew said goodbye to the Prothean. He said it didn't need a farewell party, as the one Wrex had was enough for both.

Everyone hugged the Prothean, something he didn't like that much but tolerated, as they said their goodbyes. Liara looked at him with regret in her eyes, but she had his contact now and a promise to meet with the other Protheans in the future.

Besides, the Asari had already learned a lot from his people in the past 2 weeks or so.

Now, Javik and Samael were face-to-face.

'' You know, when I saved you in Eden Prime, I really didn't picture this situation.''

Samael really didn't. This was the first time for him, as he never found another Prothean besides Javik in any other cycle. New things excited him, and he was looking forward to how those 100+ Protheans would change things.

'' I fear what might have happened to the galaxy if you hadn't. But everything worked out for us both.''

'' It really did.''

Javik then said with a serious tone, '' I'm still part of the crew, this is just a vacation. If you ever need me, just give me a call and I'll help you, anywhere, anytime.''

'' I hold you on that.''

Human and Prothean then said their goodbyes, one going toward a planet to oversee the survivors of his species while the other went to confront a hidden, powerful figure.

Both had one final goal, though: Stop the Reapers.

Soon, SSV Phoenix continued following Tela's trail while a small ship went towards the coordinates of a planet in the Terminus System.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

--

As Veronica continued to follow the path RR gave her, Samael was at the workshop, working on EDI with RR helping. He had all the ingredients to make her a body and is now tinkering a bit with the AI.

He was looking to see if she was okay and if she needed an upgrade.

' Hmmm, this is quite amazing, alright. Cerberus made something really good with almost nothing. Of course, this EDI is not the same as those I met in other cycles, but it was close enough.'

After making some adjustments in EDI, she was now closer in 'power' to RR. If before she was seen as a newbie, they were now equals.

'' And done. Now, how do you want your body?'' Samael asked the same to RR and now would do the same to EDI. And while he referred to the AI as she, she might not want to be a girl.

'' Do you want to have a female body or a male one?''

'' Female, please.''

''OK, and what kind of face do you want? Do you have anything in mind?''

RR had a face similar to Android 18 from DBZ, the only difference was that her skin was silver. He offered the same to EDI, she could 'choose' who to be.

'' I already discussed this with RR. I want this face, please.'' EDI then showed Samael what she wanted to look like.

Samael was surprised, as it was quite close to how she looked in the past cycles, ' It's funny how some things are meant to be.'

'' I can do that.''

After asking some more questions, Samael started to build the body.

It was a relatively straight process, and with the expertise he had acquired in past cycles, he made the body in a short time.

One hour later

'' Done.'' In front of Samael was EDI's body, all silver and nude, '' You can start the transfer now.''

All AI had cores, a location where they had to be anchored. But, as they were quite literally a program, they could divide themselves and do multiple tasks. That's how RR was with Samael all the time, even if her android was somewhere else, as the core was with Samael.

And now EDI was the same. Her core was with Samael, but she transferred a part of her to the just-made-android-body.

A few moments later, EDI got up from the table. She looked around in wonder, then at her hands, and started to move it around.

'' How are you feeling?'' Samael asked as he watched the AI 'feeling' for the first time.

''It's... weird. But also pleasant. I like it.'' EDI then looked at Samael, '' Thank you for this.''

''Don't need to thank me, we are family.''

EDI then looked at RR, and the air changed in an instant, '' Say, how about we do this?''

Samael noticed the change and slowly started to get away from the workshop.

'' Oh? You just had your body and are already challenging me? Brave.''

EDI shugreed, '' What can I say? I learned everything from you.''

As both AI entered in position, Samael said as he got out, '' Just don't destroy the ship, please.''

The AIs nodded at that, and he closed the door.

' ... I can't even be mad at them, as I influenced RR, and she in turn influenced EDI.'

With that in mind, Samael left, as the SSV Phoenix continued to follow Tela's trail.

--

UNKNOWN LOCATION

The galaxy is not a safe place. Countless crime lords, small and big, were scattered through it. Slavers, killers, pirates, etc. You name it, the galaxy has a ton, walking around.

And while Omega was the hub, the Terminus System is where things got really ugly. Basically, almost all planets were being controlled by some kind of evil force, and there's almost not a single place untouched by them. Those who were untouched belonged to either powerful people or organizations.

LD owned three planets here, and they were untouched, as Samael made sure of it. If others knew the potential those planets had, things would get ugly fast.

But, even those evil forces were afraid of something or someone. The Shadow Broker. Not much is known about the figure or its location, but everyone who tried to mess with it died without fail.

The figure, while not straight-up evil, wasn't nice either. It had slaves, tortured people for information, and killed them too. The Shadow Broker was dangerous.

One of the things that helped the figure survive for so long was the location of its main base of operations. It wasn't a planet; no, it was a ship. A fucking big ship.

The said ship 'lived' in the Terminus System, more specifically in the Hourglass Nebula, a cluster deep into the Terminus system, and no one, not even the Old Cerberus, fucked with it, as it meant death. Hell, they didn't even manage to know its location until now, and it was certain that even if they did, the figure would be okay.

All that was because of its reputation.

One of the reasons the location of the base/ship wasn't discovered is because it used the volatile atmosphere of a planet called Hagalaz, a planet within the Sowilo system, as a way to be hidden. It worked like a charm, and no one knew the location.

Of course, it was dangerous, with many hazards hitting the base, but it was so massive and sturdy that almost nothing made a dent in it.

As time passed, the Shadow Broker used his 'control' over others to get very special people under him. One of them was a Spectre. It was a win-win situation, as the Shadow Broker gave her information about things for her mission, and she gave it information about other things.

Today was the day Tela and the Shadow Broker decided to meet, as they had a lot to discuss. The appearance of the Reapers wasn't an exact surprise to the Shadow Broker, as the galaxy isn't exactly a safe place, but still, even the figure didn't like it.

Looking to the side, to one of his favorite slaves, the Shadow Broker, or rather, an Asari, smiled at it, '' You are here for such little time, but I only received bad news since. It seems you bring bad luck, huh?''

The slave was a Yahg, a species that wasn't exactly nice or intelligent. The Council made contact with them a few decades ago, but after the delegation they sent was killed, they sort of banned any interaction with the Yahg because of their behavior.

The Yahg was big, towering at 5 meter, can use biotics and was packing a punch. How the Shadow Broker managed to capture it was a mystery. It didn't say anything to the Asari, only stared at her with eyes filled with killing intent.

''Don't look at me like that.'' The Asari sighed at the sight, '' I was nice to you, giving you the honor of serving me. But it seems you're not ready yet. Maybe it's time for another 'lesson'?''

Even the tall Yahg flinched when it heard lesson. It must have suffered quite a bit at the hands of the Shadow Broker.

'' Report!''

One of the subordinates the Asari had on the ship interrupted the 'nice' conversation they were having.

The Shadow Broker looked at the Yahg one last time, '' It seems our meeting will be cut short. But don't worry, I still have a lot to learn from you, so I'll come back.''

With that, the Shadow Broker left with the subordinate, who came to inform her that Tela had arrived, leaving the Yahg behind.

The eyes of the creature burned with revenge, as it swore that if it had an opportunity, it would kill the person who tortured it.