35 – The Lost Planet, The Underworld Dog and The Handler (3)

IN ILLOS

The crew rushed ahead as soon as Vigil, the VI overseeing the base, said that. Javik, of course, was leading the charge, as he had just heard that there were other of his species alive, so for the first time since he woke up, he was ecstatic. He also made sure to inform the crew on their ship about the situation.

Vigil had told them the problem: power. After 50,000 years, the base was running out of power. So, the crew was coming with enough power sources while also bringing Clare, the ship's doctor, so that she could help the Protheans in the cryopod if possible and necessary.

Of course, the ones who originally came with Javik were also running at full speed, ignoring the structure of the base. The only one who was paying attention to her surroundings was one particular Asari.

Liara was looking around the base in awe. The asari was taking pictures and making notes of everything she was seeing.

She was making sure to keep up with the others, as while this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she needed to be safe, and being on an unknown planet wasn't exactly that. Of course, she could hold her ground if needed, as she was trained by her mother, Matriarch Benezia, but it was better safe than sorry.

The group passed structure upon structure, but no one said anything, as Vigil seemed desperate, if a VI could even do that. 

But somehow, it made sense for it to be desperate. It has been 50,000 years since the Protheans vanished, the power must have almost ended by now, and there's still Protheans alive. That showed how dedicated the VI was in trying to keep them alive.

So, when they finally arrived at where the cryopods were, Javik immediately asked, '' How many are alive?''

'' 157...156.'' Vigil answered in a hurried tone while trying his best to maintain the powers to the maximum pods he could.

'' WE NEED TO HURRY!'' Javik screamed just as the rest of the crew arrived with their M.A.K.O., with enough energy supply to power up the base for another hundred years if necessary.

They knew the location thanks to those on foot relaying their location to them. The personnel inside the M.A.K.O. got out ready to do their job, with power supplies at hand.

'' Plug them right now!''

No one said anything as they started to work flawlessly together. Vigil guided the personnel with the power supply to the place they needed to plug in to save the base.

Javik also did his best, but it was a race against time, and time doesn't wait.

By the time they managed to stabilize the power source for the cryopods, another five Protheans were lost. Javik didn't blame anyone but the Reapers for their predicament.

Seeing the five pods that should have given him another five people from his species made the fire of revenge burn once more in Javik's heart.

'' We can't house all of those pods on the ship. If we want to get them out of here, we will need to contact others on Earth so they can bring a bigger ship.'' Clare was speaking with Miranda after checking up on the Protheans on the pod. They were just like Javik was in Eden Prime.

'' No worries, I already called them. They will arrive here in one day.'' Remember that Miranda was the CEO of LD. She just responded to Samael, and he had already given her full authority to handle LD business. Calling one of their bigger ships was okay.

Of course, she would have to tell Veronica to guide them to the Mu Relay, but that was easy. Speaking of Mu Relay, that was an amazing discovery, and Miranda also knew of a few ways to gain money, among other things, with that information.

But Samael had asked her to wait a little bit before revealing it, and now she had an idea why. 

' This is a still-barely-functioning Prothean base. The things we find here might help against the Reapers. So, telling others about the Mu Relay now isn't smart.'

With that in mind, Miranda went to help others with the pods. 

Suddenly, RR paused. Everyone who knew her knew it was a weird thing for her to do that.

'' What happened?'' Jack dropped what she was doing and approached RR with concern. The last few weeks have been good for Jack, as she is now more sociable and calm.

Everyone in the crew knew RR was an AI. Miranda told the people who didn't know when she talked about the Reapers to them. No one had a problem with it, some, like Jack, got close to the AI.

By the way, Liara had just found out RR was an AI, thanks to Vigil mentioning it before. She was a little surprised but decided to keep her mouth shut, as LD gave her an opportunity so big she could never repay it. Keeping quiet was just normal.

'' Samael has disconnected me from his omni tool.'' RR's tone took a sharp turn. '' It's the first time in years he has done that.''

'' Is he safe?'' Miranda asked, fearing something might have happened to him.

'' He is okay. But he won't be when we meet again, in person.'' RR's eyes glowed in a dangerous light. While she was there at the base, giving a pep talk to EDI, she was just a small drone, so there was little she could do to Samael. And she did promise to guard the door until the conversation was over, and she would honor her word.

But, when they met again, she was already thinking about how to punish him.

Everyone gulped and prayed for Samael's safety. Then, after confirming everything was okay, they returned to their duties.

Only Liara was pestering Vigil nonstop, asking about Prothean culture, what he knew, etc. She was having the best day of her life.

WITH SAMAEL AND THE ILLUSIVE MAN

Jack Harper got up from his chair and screamed at Samael, ''You can't know that!!''

Samael smiled sadly. ''Not only do I know I lived that''

That made Jack pause, as he could not begin to comprehend the situation.'' What do you mean?''

The facade of normal that Samel put on his face for a long time fell, and he showed his true feelings on his face. Helplessness, anxiety, and hope. 

He witnessed the downfall of humanity at the hands of others one too many times. While sometimes he knew it was justified and he would return in time anyway, it wasn't nice to see that.

Children dying, planets exploding, betrayal from those you trusted the most. Even the strongest-willed person couldn't maintain their mindset for long.

Sometimes he even tried to block out the memories of the carnage he had participated in and witnessed, but most of the time he failed. The memories of the cycles he had tasted defeat at the hands of another, either Reapers or not, plagued his mind even in his sleep, but he did his best to control his emotions and not let them dictate the way he lived his life.

While his mind healed as best it could, he was still affected by the things he saw in past cycles.

Everything he did from the beginning of this last cycle of his was to ensure nothing like that happened ever again. But even he sometimes had doubts about the success of what he was doing.

After all, he was but one man. While he could fight against fate, changing things here and there, it was still a fight he could lose if he wasn't careful enough.

Samuel then looked directly into the Illusive Man's eye and said, ''You will die without knowing.''

'' The way you did things wasn't the right way, and now it's time to pay the price.''

Jack accepted his fate, as no one had come to him until now.

Samael got up and punched Jack Harper.

THUMP

Soon after, Jack Harper was knocked unconscious.

--

Samael now has a dilemma. Kill Jack here and now, or let him live to see humanity thrive without him. 

The second option sounds too nice, and the first is too boring. Just killing him wasn't fun. He had to suffer.

' I could use the 'unoindoctrination' method on him...'

That thought immediately made Samael pause in his tracks, his body trembling a little. It was the first time in this cycle he thought about the method, and that sent shivers down his spine.

Remember that Samael had found a way to undo the indoctrination in one of his past cycles. It was essentially, a hard reboot of the person's very soul/psyche.

How did he figure that out, you ask? Well, something had bothered him since the first time he played the trilogy.

The attack on the temple of the 'defective Asari', the Ardat-Yakshi. Those Asari were slaughtered without any reason in Mass Effect 3, and when Samael investigated, he found that their defect was actually a blessing in disguise.

They were considered defective because they could not control their urges to kill, to have sex, or to meld with anyone. They took pleasure in that, and their favorite method was death via melding.

It was a different process than the normal Asari, they were more destructive.

So, Samael figured out that the Reapers targeted them because they knew they were the key to undoing the indoctrination. And he was right.

He tested in other cycles, and they could undo the indoctrination. Of course, the side effects were extremely severe. The person ceases to exist and basically returns to a baby, with no memory, personality, etc. They become a brand new book.

Samael's plan was to do that to Jack Harper and mold him into an advocate of peace between all species. The only downside was that the real evil man would die in the process.

And now that he thought about this process, he also remembered how he had been acting weird for some time now. Losing control of himself when losing a figth, talking without thinking... Dots connected at a high speed in Samael's mind at that point.

The conclusion he reached, based on what he knew, did not please him one bit.

But now was not the time to think about that. It was time to think about the Illusive Man and what to do with him.

'' ... I don't know. Let's let Jack and the others he tortured, decide on his fate.''

Looking at the unconscious man, Samael laughed a bit, '' Before that, let's take control of Cerberus!''

'' RR, you can enter now.'' After he turned his Omni tool back on, he called RR back to the room.

When the drone entered the room, Saamael immediately noticed its bad mood. He also knew why, ' I turned her off from my omni tool. It was necessary, but I felt bad...'

Anyway, RR said nothing about that and passed the Illusive Man omni tool to Samael, '' I did what you asked. EDI is now on our side, she just needed a little convincing.''

'' It is a pleasure working with you.'' EDI's voice came out of the Illusive Man omni toll.

'' Likewise.''

'' Also, Samael.'' RR's voice was cold and dripping with malice.

Samael sweated a little, '' Yes?''

'' Never disconnect me from your omni tool again.'' RR was very serious when saying that.

'' ... Sure.'' Samael sighed in relief when he saw RR return to normal. He had to do that, as she could not listen to the conversation. 

' She could have discovered something because of the conversation, and I have no plans on revealing about the cycles to anyone, ever.'

Putting that aside, Samael's mind was complicated at the moment. Based on his actions on this cycle, EDI was born a few years earlier, missing a few parts of herself. He felt a little guilty but vowed to upgrade her to RR level. After all, RR is EDI 'daughter', as their mother-code was almost the same, only RR was more advanced.

'' EDI, it's good to have you onboard. Can you do me a favor?''

'' Anything.'' EDI sounded a little too eager.

Samael ignored that and said, '' Call the names I will give you to this base. I want them to think it was the Illusive Man who called them. Give them a day or so.''

The list Samael gave EDI had names of people he knew were involved in shady business in Cerberus. Remember, Cerberus still had good reputation in the galaxy, as they didn't know about their experiments and true face.

Only a few select people, the ones who authorized and participated in those experiments were evil. The rest, like Miranda was in the games, didn't know about Cerberus's true face.

What Samael would do was: eliminate all the bad roots, take control of Cerberus, put them under LD, and then use them for the greater good of the galaxy, not only humanity.

' That will piss off the Illusive Man so much... But I don't even know if he will be alive to see that.'

'' Done. They all said ok, and that they would arrive tomorrow.''

'' Good. Now we wait.'' Samael sat on the Illusive Man chair and started watching the dying star, with a drone floating right beside him and EDI, who was transferred to his omni-tool. He still needed to find her source, but she said it was in this base, so he wasn't in a hurry.

'Peaceful.' 

That is what was on Samael's mind; He just eliminated one of the biggest threats the galaxy had, and things would be peaceful for at least a month or so.

And that made him afraid. For years and years, all he did was fight. Of course, in some cycles, he messed around and did nothing but party around, but ... even then, he fought back when needed.

What he worried about now was what he was going to do after the Reapers were dealt with. There would be no more Time loops, so he would have to live his remaining life span.

' But... doing what? All I know is war and war.'

While Samael was smarter than most, as he lived and learned for more years than normal, all he used this knowledge for was how to use it against the Reapers or to kill someone.

He wanted to do better, but ... nothing would matter if the Reapers still won. So, he was forced to focus on that.

Of course, he also wanted to do other things. Alas, fate didn't let him.

Even with those doubts in mind, Samael maintained his calm, as he knew it wasn't time to be dealing with that.

He then just enjoyed his view with his AI's companions.