101 - Noveria (1)

Today was a strange day for the director of the Noveria Development Enterprise. Yesterday, LD had come full force, trying to buy all the labs on the planet—something he didn't want to do since they had just discovered something monumental that could change a lot in the galaxy.

They had found an unhatched egg of a Rachni Queen. With the research potential of such a discovery, only a fool would miss the opportunity. However, it seemed his superiors were fools, as not only had they sold all their labs on the planet, but they also sold the whole company as if they wanted to be free from it.

He knew it wasn't cheap, but the other side was LD, so it made sense that they had the money to buy them.

Still, the strangest thing was that his bosses didn't ask him to 'clean' the lab of its data or anything along those lines, meaning LD knew exactly what they were doing here. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

But he stayed quiet and would do his job today, which was to act as a guide. After all, those who know too much often tend to die early.

So, early in the morning, he got dressed and went to meet the people LD had sent. Since the planet was very cold, he wore special clothing to endure the chill, and even then, it was barely tolerable.

He waited for a few minutes, and soon the air control informed him that a ship had arrived and docked, only waiting for his approval to disembark.

"Is it from LD?"

"Yes," the air control confirmed. "They have the logo on their ship."

Only a lunatic would try to mimic LD, so they were sure it was real.

"Let them disembark then."

"Roger."

Soon after that order was relayed, he started to hear some conversations coming from the hangar nearby.

" This is too cold."

"Make a barrier or something."

'' You know I can't... Samara, can you make a barrier for me?"

"1,000 credits per 10 minutes."

"WHAT?! This is robbery!"

"Do you want it or not?"

"... Please, for the duration of our stay."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

The hangar door opened, and out came one Asari, three humans, and one Krogan. The director didn't recognize them, but he greeted them nonetheless. For LD to send them quickly, it must mean they had connections with the higher-ups from the company. "Nice to meet you, my name is Naomi, the old facility director. Now, I'm responsible for relaying the information about the labs and all their data."

"My name is Samael, nice to meet you." Samael then introduced the rest of them to Naomi, who, by now, recognized Samael's name and was in shock.

'WHY THE FUCK IS LD's OWNER HERE?'

He was so shocked that he didn't catch the introductions of the others, but he was experienced in social interaction, so he nodded at them, "Nice to meet you all."

"Yeah, yeah. Now, show us the egg!" Wrex had heard from Samael that they found a Rachni egg and wanted to check if it was true. He had faced them before and knew how dangerous the creatures were, so he was a little bit apprehensive.

Naomi nodded. "From what I could gather, you are here only for this?"

Samael nodded. "Yes. We have no interest in the other areas. Also, relay to those conducting experiments here that as long as they don't cross the line, we will let them stay and continue their research. BUT, if we find they did cross it, we will deal with it accordingly."

That was always Samael's motto. He didn't care about what you do, as long as you don't mess with his family or cross a moral line HE decided. If someone did, well, they would go to hell.

Naomi gulped. "No problem. Now, follow me."

He then started to guide them toward the place where the egg was. He explained the situation, "Not long ago, an affiliate found many eggs in a stranded ship that was floating in space and decided to retrieve it. When they checked, they were shocked to realize it was from a Rachni, a species considered extinct. So they decided to sell it to us, as Noveria is known to accept any deal."

Naomi regretted saying that last part but continued, "So, we bought it from them and started researching it. Sure enough, this one is a Rachni Queen, still alive but unhatched. We tried everything to hatch, but maybe because of the little time we had it under our possession, nothing happened so far."

"Good. You don't know what they are capable of." Wrex was glad it hadn't hatched yet. Still, he knew Samael wanted to recruit them for LD, so either way, the egg would hatch eventually, but he wanted at least to be present in case things went wrong.

He tried to talk to Samael about it when they were in the Phoenix, right after he told them about the egg, but the human said, "Trust me on this. We need their help in the upcoming war. After that, we will see how things go."

"I fear you are letting a lot of things for later."

Samael shrugged at that remark. "There's not much I can do about it."

"...I'll trust you and be at your side when things go wrong with the Rachni."

Samael laughed, "Good to hear."

---

Back to the present, Naomi ended the conversation with this, ''Well, that's as far as we have researched it. Again, we didn't have much time to do it, so sorry about that."

"Sometimes, it's for the better." Samael knew how it would go, so it was a blessing for them not to have hatched it. If they had, the whole installation, hell, even the planet, would have been compromised.

That was how dangerous the Rachni were. It took the Krogan, along with the Asari, Turians, Salarians, and the rest of the galaxy, to win the war against them.

Naomi's tour ended as he arrived at an elevator. He entered alongside the others and pressed the floor where the egg was.

As they weren't there as enemies but as owners, things went very smoothly for them. Soon, they arrived at the floor, and Naomi opened the door. "Behold, the last Queen Rachni!''

Inside the room and inside a tank full of water, lays a big egg, easily 1 meter tall. Samael recognizes it as the future Queen of the Rachni, 'Hello, old friend.'

There was no infestation, nothing wrong, just an 'normal' egg. The game timeline was set for a few years into the future, so this was something to be expected.

'' Can you pass me the data you have?'' Samael asked Naomi.

'' Sure things.'' Naomi did just that and Samael got to reading.

'' Hmmm...'' Samael hummed as he read the data.

"What? What did you find?" Wrex was on edge. At any sign of danger, he wouldn't hesitate to kill the egg.

"Our friend here managed to hide it very well from them, but not from me." From what he could gather, the Rachni was already 'aware'; it just hadn't chosen to hatch for some reason. "It could hatch at any given time, but it has chosen not to."

Naomi looked shocked, then sighed. He was aware of the discussions scientists had about the egg around it and what they would do if it hatched. If the creature could think, it made sense that it would choose self-preservation.

"Well, now that we are here, I'll go talk to it." Samael handed the data to John, who was still using the barrier Samara had provided. "Hold this for me."

He then started to walk toward the egg. Wrex and Naomi were shocked. "What are you doing!?"

They had never come into direct contact with the creature since the 'incident'. Someone from the ship who found the egg had touched it without protection and gone crazy. So, what Samael was doing now was considered suicidal.

Wrex, on the other hand, was aware of the mental capabilities of the Rachni, having faced them before, and he knew that what Samael was doing was madness.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Under the shocked gaze of those present, Samael used his Omni-tool, which had control over the entire facility, to open the water tank where the egg was.

Before doing anything else, he put on an oxygen mask, knowing he would 'pass out' the moment he touched the egg.

He then placed his hand under the water and touched the egg. Instantly, he was pulled into a kind of mental world, almost like the Asari when melding.

That was thanks to the special method the Rachni talks, as they don't have vocal cords and could only communicate like this, using a medium ( person) or directly like Samael was doing.

INSIDE THE MENTAL WORLD

Samael 'woke up' in this place that resembled his mind, mixed with something else. He was already aware of how the Rachni communicated, so this wasn't exactly surprising to him.

"Hmmm, no changes. Well, it's not my mind, but a copy of what the Queen thinks it looks like based on a first impression."

He felt a little disappointed, as he wanted to use this rare opportunity to examine his own mind. He had never forgotten what happened at Thessia, and was constantly making plans to deal with the situation, but it seemed fate wasn't kind to him.

"Who are you?"

An infant's voice came from behind him. When Samael turned to face it, he saw a Rachni—specifically, a Queen, capable of restoring their species if given time and opportunity.

It looked like a crustacean mixed with a spider. It was black in color, and perhaps because it was a mental construct, it was already two meters long before it even hatched. It wasn't surprising, as upon reaching adulthood, these creatures could easily grow up to ten meters in height.

Still, Samael could sense that it was afraid.

"Don't be afraid. I come in peace." Samael genuinely wanted to help, even though he knew how dangerous the creature was. He also understood that he was its only option if it wanted to survive.

Honestly, all the situations around him were similar. Wrex, Javik, and others really didn't have any choice but to believe him. If there was ever a situation where the other party wasn't backed into a corner or lacking something, the outcome would mirror his encounters with the Illusive Man.

Only one of them would emerge from the confrontation alive, and so far, Samael remained undefeated in that regard.

"We saw you arrive at the planet. We know what your intentions are. But the question remains: why help us?"

Samael didn't hide his motives. "There's a war coming to the galaxy. I know that you have only recently gained consciousness, but I also know that the knowledge of your mother, the previous Queen, has been passed down to you."

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Rachni and the galaxy as a whole. Many more intriguing species could be scattered across it, waiting to be discovered, with many more distinctive features such as this one.

In the case of the Rachni, the Queens had a kind of psychic bond through which she passed her memories down to her daughters. And yes, the Rachni operate with a hive mind.

"Machines capable of killing anything in the galaxy are coming... the same one that soured the songs of your mother in the past. We need your help."

The Queen voice trembled upon hearing that last part. The memories her mother passed down to her didn't let the terror die, '' Are you sure?''

Samael nodded. "Yes, they were called the Reapers. The ones who manipulated your mother, corrupted her mind, and guided your kind to extinction are coming once more. This time, however, they will not stop until they have killed all of us."

Yes, the Rachni war happened thanks to Indocrination. The Queens of that time didn't want war, but their 'songs' were interrupted/orchestrated by others, causing all that bloodshed, almost driving their species to extinction.

Samael wasn't sure if it came from the Reapers themselves or it was the Leviathans, in their effort to try and regain some sort of control over the machines, but it was one of the two that caused it, and he was sure the new Queen also didn't know, so he would use that to his advantage.

So while they were undoubtedly the villains in that war, the Rachini were also manipulated into that role.

Now, he would use his talk-no-jutsu to try and bring the Rachni Queen to his side.