11 – A Path to Andromeda (1)

THREE YEAR LATER

A lot has changed in the last three years. Samael's mercenary group, which he also called Last Defense, was on the rise, with many people requesting their services, which ranged from defense to assassination.

Of course, as if wasn't obvious by the name, he used his people to announce to everyone in the galaxy this was a mercenary group under LD company.

Before they did that, however, there were a few people dumb enough to hire them, LD ( the mercenary group) to investigate LD ( the company/conglomerate)... Yeah.

Safe to say, those people were put on a blacklist.

Also, after the clean-up of the slums of San Francisco, the Alliance sent a few people to investigate the matter. It was normal, after all, a lot of people died, but not a single one of them was innocent.

So, after investigating and finding out LD, who was also a Mercenary group under LD, the company, the Alliance had nothing to say. After all, it was normal for mercenary groups to simply do their jobs and most of the time, their job was killing people.

Also, because Tarzan was going legit for a few years now, there was nothing much the Alliance could do, because he was clean. He wasn't dumb, as when Samael let him use LD, he immediately went and cleaned up his name the best he could.

Because of that, the Alliance found out about Tarzan's connection with LD, so they didn't act in a hurry and decided to just observe the matter from afar. It helped the fact the people who died were criminals.

All in all, the Alliance tolerated what had happened, because Tarzan was more 'chill' than the other slum lords. But it did irk them a bit, let Tarzan have so much power over San Francisco, but they tolerate him because of LD.

They also started to pay attention to LD, the mercenary group, but that was the only job they had taken on Earth for a long time.

Every month more and more people joined the mercenary group, since Tarzan had taken control of all the slums in the city, the number of children and teenagers applying to enter the mercenary group grew exponentially.

After the relationship between LD and LD was revealed, a lot more people tried to enter the mercenary group. The majority were struggling people, with a few spies who were taken care of, in the middle.

Even the number of biotics began to grow (remembering that it was difficult to have a biotic human due to the problem of how to create one).

Samael even authorized Jaret, who now spent more time off Earth than on it taking care of the mercenary group, to hire other races for the group. As the man followed his orders, the group now had many aliens there, who usually taught the humans a lot.

Valery was okay, no other attacks occurred after that attempt. It seems the showcase he had with the slums, showcasing LD's might, made the other groups not attack. At least for now, that is.

Veronica was at the peak of her powers, and by now, she could be considered the best pilot they had, surpassing even Samael, who had the theory but not much practice.

Tarzan took over the city without any problems since his group was already the richest and had the most people even before the massacre. He walked into the other slums and took power without any kind of problems.

So Samael's life in the last three years was all about preparing for the future. He grew a lot, and was now 1.90 meters tall, with no fat on his body. He hadn't forgotten to train in recent years and the results showed.

Even if he tried to hide that he was strong, it was no longer working, but he still tried his best.

LD was officially the number one company on Earth, controlling the market in its entirety.

Food? LD has under her the people who made the most delicious food on Earth.

Guns? LD has the best.

You name it, LD has its hand on it.

It got so big the government tried to intervene, but Samael was prepared for that and just a few calls later, saying he would reveal the dirty secrets of every higher-up in every part of the government, no one bothered them any more.

Thanks to the future, he knew a lot of things that if went public, would change the status quo in the politics on Earth. He even has the dirty on almost every member of the Council, but that wasn't something that would help him as of now.

Thanks to that, LD wasn't going anywhere.

Right now, Samael was in his office at the mercenary base and looked at the network of wires in front of him, each line connecting to another person.

Sure, he could use the omni tool to organize it better, but he preferred it that way. After taking a long hard look at the mess in front of him, showing where every member of his family/crew was, Samael smiled,'' I'm ready. RR, take a picture of this.''

A flash later and the picture was safely stored within his omni tool.

'' Good.'' Samael then proceeded to tear down all of it, and set it on fire, 'I'm not risking anyone seeing this, as it could doom us all.'

After making sure nothing was left behind, Samael left his office to talk with the replacement Jaret left to teach the newbies, Nale.

Nale was a veteran too, but he wasn't discharged or anything like that, he quit because he wanted more money. So, when Jaret told about his existence to Samael, who didn't know the man from other cycles, he hired him with a huge sum.

After walking for a bit, Samael saw Nale talking with a few kids, giving some pointers. When the veteran noticed Samael, he dismissed everyone, '' Go do your thing. I'll be right back and we will continue where we stopped.''

Nale then approached Samael, '' What can I do for you, boss?''

Samuel tried to get rid of that name, but he gave up a few years ago. '' It's time. I'll be leaving Earth in a week or so and this base will be fully in your hands.''

Nale didn't seem so surprised, as it was common knowledge Samael was leaving as soon as he hit 18. '' Leave it to me, I'll teach those kids how to survive and manage this place well.''

Even with the influx of people trying to enter the mercenary group, the majority were people from the slums, as Samael wanted to help them a little, while also gaining an army in the process.

''I'm sure you do it just fine.''

After passing some instructions to Nale, Samael said his goodbyes, '' I'll get going now, as I have a few more things to tie up before leaving.''

'' Can I ask where are you going now?''

Samael smiled, '' To see a Pathfinder.''

----

While Mass Effect 3 was the last game of the trilogy, it wasn't the end of the franchise. It had another Game called Mass Effect Andromeda, and while it wasn't that well received or that good, it was an okay game, one that Samael enjoyed playing in his past life.

He knew the plot of the game and the one who would become the Main Character, so he knew that the original Pathfinder, or Alec Ryder, would build a ship to leave Earth after the Reapers attack. And while Samael was going to do his best to make sure that wasn't a last-ditch effort, he still wanted to set things in motion earlier.

This time, however, he would be the main financier of the project.

So, Samael was in front of Alex Ryder's home, courtesy of Jaret network and RR hacking. It was outside of San Francisco, but with the fast way of travel on this Earth, he would be able to go back home fast.

Alec was an N7/Alliance employee, but he would eventually be discharged from his job because he was fixated on AI, as it was the only solution he thought of to save his dying wife, who was exposed to too much element zero and caught an uncurable disease.

So he would eventually break a few intergalactic rules and would be caught. The only difference between him and Samael was that.

Samael was here to talk with the man, to accelerate the process of creating the ship that would guide them to Andromeda. He was going to give him money and maybe ask to build more ships than what it had in the game.

While it was true nothing was set in stone, Samael wanted to make sure they went to Andromeda, as he had doubts if the moment he easily defeated Sovereign ( the name of the first Reaper to attack the Galaxy) the project would not go forward, dooming the other galaxy.

After taking a deep breath, Samael went ahead and knocked on Alec's door. This was a first for him, as he never talked with the man in any of his previous cycles.

'' Hello? Who is it?'' A voice came from inside the house.

'' Hi, my name is Samael and I'm looking for Alec Ryder. Is he home?''

The door was open and a teenage girl looked at Samael, '' He is not home. Is it something urgent?''

Samuel recognized her as one of the twins Ryder, the girl. Depending on your choice, if you choose to be male or female, she was a main character or a plot point. He only was distracted for a moment, '' I'm here for a job opportunity. One your father would not let it pass.''

Sara didn't buy that one bit and found the situation a little weird, '' Can you tell me about it before I decide what I do for you?''

Depending on the answer, she would ask for him to leave or let him enter. He didn't look that threatening, only a little buff, ' Me and my brother can handle him.'

Samael smiled misteriously, '' It's AI related.''

Sara tilted her head, '' He is not interested in something like that.'' She was also more confused, as AI is a banned subject in most places in the galaxy.

'' You sure? Give him a call and say someone that doesn't mind breaking rules is going to give him an opportunity of a lifetime, to create an AI.''

'' ... You know you just admitted to me, a daughter of an Alliance Personel, you're going to break intergalactic rules, right?''

Samael nodded and continued saying, '' If your father doesn't accept the job, you're free to report me to the authorities. I just ask you to wait for his response.'''

Sara hesitated for a moment before calling her dad, ''' Dad, hello. There is a man here who says he wants to hire you for something... I know, I said that but he said you should listen to this: It is something involving AI, or making them... Ok, I'll wait.''

It seemed Ryder would come home immediately, but Sara didn't understand that one bit, '' Isn't making an AI supposed to be forbidden?''

Samael nodded, '' Yes, that's why we are going to do it in secret.''

'' But why my father? I mean, there's probably a few people out there more appropriate to work with.'' That was the most puzzling part, as her father, at least from what she knew, wasn't interested in AI's.

'' That is something only he could tell you.''

After that, Sara let Samel in, '' Dad said he was leaving work and is going to arrive in a few minutes... Do you want anything to drink?''

'' Water is fine.''

Sara left for the kitchen, while Samael stayed in the living room, thinking. All of this situation was uncharted territory for him, so he was a little bit happy about it.

' I don't need much to convince him, just that I want to explore the galaxy more and I looked for people who might benefit from it and are experienced in space travel.'

Sara gave the water to him and both waited for Alec to arrive. Just as the silence was getting awkward, a voice came from upstairs in the house, '' Sara, is there a visit?''

Samael calmly drank his water, ' It must be Scott Ryder, Sara's sibling, and another possible MC from Mass Effect Andromeda.'

Sara replied to her brother, '' We have a visitor. He said he had a job for our father.''

That seemed to interest Scott, as he got down the stairs and into the living room. He greeted Saamael, '' Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Scott Ryder.''

'' Samael.''

Sara noticed she didn't introduce herself, '' My name is Sara Ryder, by the way.''

'' Nice to meet you both,''

Scott asked as soon Samael stopped speaking, '' Can I ask what kind of job you want to give my father?''

'' It's AI-related.'' Samael then remembered something, ' As I'm leaving Earth soon, it's time to make RR a body. I just need to buy the materials for it, just like EDI. It shouldn't take too long to arrive.'

He tapped a few things in his omni tool, and RR immediately bought the necessary materials.

RR then replied, ' The materials will arrive in a few days at the base.' It was a written message on his omni tool, that only Samael saw.

With that out of the way, he returned his attention to the siblings, who didn't understand why their dad wanted to work with an AI, and the only response he gave them was, '' Wait for him to arrive and let him explain. It's not my position to do it.''

After that, the siblings continued asking questions and Saamael didn't mind answering them, as long as it wasn't related to the job he was going to propose to Alec.

Samael liked both quite a bit, as he enjoyed playing Mass Effect Andromeda, and seeing both MCs in front of him was a nice feeling.