63 - Opportunity

Minutes later, Samael, along with Tali, Liara, RR, and EDI, arrived at LD headquarters. They went directly to the CEO's office, greeting all the employees along the way.

The members of the SSV Phoneix were well known by everyone in the building, as they were the ones Samael led, meaning a lot of attention was on them because of Liara and Tali's presence.

Soon, they were on the last floor, and from the elevator, they could hear some conversation inside the office. They said hi to the guards and knocked on the door.

Jack opened it, and inside was the whole crew, waiting for Samael. She greeted him and the others, '' It's good to see all of you. Enter, we were waiting for you... Wait, how are you so tall?''

That made everyone in the room look over, and a few were shocked by Samael's transformation. He was already tall to begin with, so any change in his height would be noticed immediately.

Samael smiled mysteriously at them, '' I'll tell you guys in the meeting. For now, let us enter.''

So, Samael together with the people he came with, entered the office and started to chat right away, with him greeting everyone and going towards Miranda's seat. Today was an important day, after all, so he would take over the seat momentarily.

Miranda wasn't seated there, as she was talking with others.

Samael sat down and looked around the office, his eyes filled with pride for his crew. He knew their potential and them from past cycles, so seeing them so strong and close was a nice feeling.

' A shame Shepard isn't here, but she has her own crew.'

Shepard did try to contact Samael in the last couple of days to chat about things, as she seemed recovered from the shock about the Reapers. But as he was still in the secret building with Mordin, to see the side effects of the Serum, he just responded with a ' I'll talk to you later, busy rn'.

So, they marked a meeting for today at night, to talk about something. Samael was just happy he had a connection, albeit a small one, with Shepard.

Samael broke that thought and noticed 10 minutes had passed since he arrived, so he decided to start today's meeting. 

' Cough.'

That fake cough gathered everyone's attention. They realized it was time for the meeting to start, so they stopped talking and started to pay attention.

Samael nodded at that and noticed Miranda had put a lot of chairs in the office, so everyone sat down. He praised Mirnda internally.

'' So, a lot of you must be curious about my transformation, and I said I would reveal it at today's meeting. But, it will be at the end. First, take a look at those files I'll pass to you.'' Samael used his Omni tool and passed the files he had on Project Andromeda.

He gave his crew a few minutes to process the information, and sure enough, Miranda was the first one to finish reading it. She had a shocked look on her face, '' This...''

'' Is a fail-safe, in case we lose. Because if we lose, it is really the end. The Reapers would wipe out everyone we knew, so this is an assurance that our loved ones will be safe. Of course, we can't possibly house everyone in your family, but your father and mother, your siblings, your child, and your significant other are included.''

'' So, this meeting was to inform you of this. Those who have families and want them to join Project Andromeda, just need to say so. The project is in the earlier stages of preparation, so this will be something for the future. But start to think about it now.''

Some members of the crew, like some of the test subjects he rescued when he saved Jack, didn't really have any family members left alive. But that doesn't mean they would not have made a family until the project was finished, so they could potentially enter too.

Noticing the heavy mood, Samael asked, '' So, any question?''

Miranda shot right away, '' How much is the cost of this project? By the files, this isn't something normal.'' She was smart and could see the magnitude of Project Andromeda with a glance.

'' It is 1.5 trillion credits per arc. We still have not decided how many we will build, but we are prepared to invest at least 10 billion. Again, the project is at an earlier stage, so almost everything is at the beginning. We still haven't decided on the number of people it will carry.''

'' That is ... cheap.'' Miranda added. Her sense of money was always a little convoluted, thanks to her father and her being a CEO.

That money was enough to buy dozens of planets, make Project Lazurus, and do many other things.

'' It is.'' But Samael also had a strange view of money. He really didn't care much about it, because it was a means to an end. He didn't mind 'wasting' so much money, because Project Andromeda was that good. He then made a cunning face, '' But, with our influence and some contacts, we could arrange cheaper things with even better quality.''

'' How many others know about this?'' Jack asked as she noticed her girlfriend was lost in thought.

'' Only me, the person I put in charge, you guys, and Councilor Tevos. We made a deal regarding that. Also, it benefits us greatly, as if the Asari were involved, repopulation on another galaxy would be easy.''

John then asked, '' How many slots do we have?''

'' Again, enough to accommodate you and your immediate family. Cousins, uncles, and aunts are another history.'' Samael sighed, '' We can't save everyone. Besides, this project is highly classified, so don't go around telling people about it. It's an assurance that we will have others carrying our legacy and surviving.''

Samael stopped talking, and everyone in the room started some conversation, with the main topic being Project Andromeda. There was no reason for him to tell them about this so soon, but he decided to show them he trusted them enough to tell.

He looked around the office and noticed Liara was talking with Clare about something. Deciding to put something in place, he got up and approached her.

Clare noticed that and excused herself. Samael then took the opportunity and started the conversation, '' I know it might sound crazy, but it's just precaution. We will win.''

Liara was stressed with all that, as reality started to sink in on how dangerous things would become in the future, '' I know, it's just that now, with everything that happened, my job feels meaningless. Everything I studied doesn't matter.''

Samael didn't want to see his future wife sad, so he proposed something to her, '' How about you put what you know into practice?''

'' Pardon?'' Liara wasn't following.

Samael loved that distracted look on her face as he said, '' Use what you know. How do you feel about receiving news regarding a Prothean relic or something along those lines, but the content was nothing new?''

'' Quite down.'' Liara was honest. Most of her time, when she was going around the galaxy studying the Protheans, almost every 'quest' ended in failure, with no new findings. The feeling was bad.

'' So, how would you feel if you were an Asari that went to Project Andromeda and, 1000 years into the future, you didn't knew about the story of your people?''

'' ... devastated.''

'' So, do your part. Start to catalog everything you want to pass on to other generations, be it about Prothean, humans, Asari, or Turians. It doesn't matter about what, just pass it on to others.'' Samael put a hand on her shoulder and said, '' Be the guide of the future generation that will live in the Arc, if the need arises.''

Liara was inspired by what Samael said. It also made sense, it seemed as if that was kind of her job. She had already begun to think about how to compile everything to pass on to others. She looked at Samael with gratitude and said, '' Thank you for this. You showed me a path I didn't even think about.''

Samael put the hand away and said, '' Don't mention it. You are very special to me, so seeing you down made me act. Besides, I'm sure you would have thought about this down the line.''

It was true. She would've, he just sped up the process by a few years.

Liara smiled at him, the implication of what he said didn't miss her. While she was naive in romantic regards, she wasn't THAT dense.

The conversation naturally came to an end, and both parts parted, with Liara returning to Clare, and Samael going around, offering some encouraging words to the rest of the crew.

Finally, Jack could not resist anyone and asked, '' OK, now please tell me about what happened to you? You can't just grow that much in less than one week.''

'' Yeah, tell us.''

'' Is it a girl?''

Samael ignored that last one, and smiled, '' This, my friends, is also something LD was making in secret. It will change a lot of things around the galaxy, but the opportunity is for few.''

He then passed the files he had about the Serum, not the formula, as that was too dangerous for others to see, even if they were his crew. Not because they would tell others, but because others would come after them to extract the information.

Jack read the title, '' Chimera Serum...?'' She started to read, and by the end of it, she was shocked. ''Is that even possible?''

Samael smirked and demoted his new strength by grabbing an already accustomed Tali, and a slightly shocked Liara, who was in the dark too.

'' It is. Humanity, alongside other slightly weaker species, has now leveled the field against the other species. Of course, as you saw in the files, not everyone can take it, the process to assimilate the DNA is... not nice.'' Samael put the ladies down.

'' How bad are we talking?'' Miranda asked, hesitantly. She wanted to know, but at the same time, she didn't. 

Samael passed everyone in the room the video Mordin filmed. It was bad.

Some members of the crew were so shocked that they had to sit down once more. The video showed Samael, their boss, having all his bones broken, cracking, and being destroyed. And then he was reborn at the end.

Still, the process was ugly.

Some wondered how the fuck he only screamed a few times after everything, their respect for their captain only growing.

Samael said, looking at Veronica, '' Remember as kids when I told you you needed to train your body more?''

Veronica recalled those times with a smile. '' I do. You forced me a lot.''

'' That was why. I had the idea of the Serum in my head for a long time, but only now can I put it into motion. That was also why every LD personnel should be fit, so that if they had the opportunity to take the serum, they would survive.''

Samael added, '' I will not lie, the process is not ... pleasant, and could kill you, even if you were prepared. We are working on a lesser version, but if you want, you can take the Chimera Serum in the next week. This opportunity is only for the crew, and we are still thinking of ways to introduce it to others.''

'' Also, it's a super secret, so you can't tell anyone about this. Any more questions?'' Samael finished saying it, and the questions started immediately.

'' How strong are you now?''

'' Did your dick also grow?''

'' Is there any side effect?''

Ignoring the weird question, Samael did his best to satiate the curiosity of the others.

The meeting went good, the rest of it was normal, and Samael gave them a deadline for when they would leave Earth once more.

'' One month.''

The crew then disbanded, and Samael went on with his day.