Embrace Eternity

Harry Potter didn’t truly know where he was. He had a general idea, that is to say, that he was, at that moment, a guest on board a colony ship of some kind, and that he was being monitored by all manner of medical devices. He had, at least once, gotten in trouble with Uncle Vernon for imagining being abducted by aliens, but, nowhere in that mental image, did he imagine what had busted down the door on his eleventh birthday.

Harry Potter lay in the dirt on the cabin floor, where Uncle Vernon had taken the entire family, and the freak, to escape the constant delivery of letters to the freak. He was doing almost everything in his power to make no sound, at least until he drew a very simple birthday cake in the dirt, “Happy birthday, Harry,” he whispered to himself, pretending to blow out the candles he had drawn.

The sudden noise of something mashing a massive, meaty body against the flimsy wooden door rattled the entire cabin, barely held together with centuries of wood rot and termites as it was, and not even feet from where Harry was laying in the dirt, at that. It was a surprise that the old, rusted metal hinges held through the pounding. Well, through the first collision, at least, and then the door splintered into the room, bouncing off the empty air just above Harry’s recumbent body, flinging the splinters and shards further across the room.

Immediately, Uncle Vernon was shouting as he thumped down the stairs, followed very closely by Aunt Petunia, and Harry could only think to lift up to look back at his adopted family.

“Harry!” The voice from the doorway was a deep, meaty growl, with a very definite edge to it. The orphan turned slowly to look toward the door, almost directly into a pair of bright lights shining into the main room of the cabin, silhouetting a massive figure that was like a massive raindrop on legs, especially at the bottom, that all came up to a point well above the height of the splintered door frame.

“He- hello?” Harry’s voice quivered at the sight of the thing standing there, very clearly talking to him.

It didn’t stay there long, ducking the bulk of its massive frame down to slip into the cabin, ending up standing at a bit of a tilt, as the second floor of the cabin was only barely high enough for what Harry realized was its shell.

“Good to finally meet you, Harry. I would’ve come sooner, but the Council only just unsealed your family’s will. As per Spectre Potter’s instructions, I am here to collect you to return to the fold.”

“He will not be going!” Uncle Vernon was almost as red as the thing’s skin, and was pointing a rusty old double barrel at the front door intruder.

The intruding bulk looked ever so slightly down at the barrel of the shotgun, grinned a massive grin, and drew a… thing that Harry didn’t really recognize, it was about twice the size of the being’s meaty hands, made of shiny plastic, and it emitted a mysterious hum the moment it was trained on Uncle Vernon. “Oh, and I suppose you’re going to stop me, Vernon Dursley? You think you can handle a battle hardened Krogan warrior?” Spittle flecked from the krogan’s mouth as it started to yell.

Harry unconsciously realized Aunt Petunia had a tight grip on Uncle Vernon’s shoulders, trying to pull him away from the intruder.

Vernon stared death in the face, getting angrier and angrier, but also listening to that voice in the back of his head that kept saying ‘This thing could smash your skull like a beer can on its forehead’ and eventually withdrew the shotgun, pointing it at the stair next to his feet.

The krogan nodded briefly, “Weak,” and then focused on Aunt Petunia, “Ma’am,” and turned back to face Harry, who was raising from the dirt floor. “C’mon, Harry, we’ve got a galactic Council for you to meet.” as he held out one of the hands that had been holding the plastic humming thing just moments ago, leading the eleven year old outside into the light drizzle.

Harry only realized it was a light drizzle because, as he looked up, he saw what he presumed to be the krogan’s space ship, blocking most of the downpour. It was massive, and hovering a few feet above the small island the cabin was sequestered on.

“Heh, yeah, I know… it’s seen better days.” the alien chuckled at Harry’s look of confusion, “Can’t help it. The darn thing keeps getting sold back to me.”

Harry turned to look at the krogan, “I’m sorry… how do you know me?”

“Oh, my apologies, I? Am Urdnot Wrex. You might have heard of me?” There was a very distinct pride in the creature’s voice.

Harry shook his head slowly, “I’m sorry, I haven’t.”

“You haven’t heard of the Urdnot clan?”

More head shaking from Harry.

“The Normandy? Virmire? The attack on the Citadel?”

All received head shakes from Harry.

“Well, we have time for our trip, I can regale you with the best parts, and I’m sure you’ll hear more from the Council.”

“The ‘Council’, sir?”

Wrex laughed deeply at the appellation, “ ‘Sir’ he says! Listen, I ain’t no ‘sir’. Of course, that level of cute will earn you more than a bit of attention from the crew, especially Liara, I’d imagine. Up you get,” Wrex bent forward to hook Harry under his armpits, lifting the thin child bodily up onto a lowered walkway.

Harry was followed up into the ship’s entryway by the lumbering turtle, who slammed a panel on one side of the door, retracting the walkway, “Hang tight, Potter, just gotta get the course laid, and we can get a move on.”

“Where are we going?” Harry followed after Wrex, taking in as much of the ship’s interior as he could.

“Shanxi-Theta, there’s a relay there that we should be able to ride to get back to the Citadel.”

“Shanxi-Theta?”

Wrex turned to look at the eleven year old in confusion, “Man, your uncle really didn’t tell you anything, did he?”

“He said my parents died in a car crash.”

Wrex barked at that, “A car crash? A car crash? Kill a Spectre and an Asari Maiden? I really should’ve left your uncle with a broken arm, at the very least.”

“No! No! No hurting my family!”

“Potter? Your uncle and aunt have been hiding the entirety of the galaxy from you, not to mention your legacy.”

“My what?”

“Harry? Your name’s been on the roll for Spectre training since the very minute your mother gave you a name. Here, grab a seat, and belt in. The first mass jump is terrible if you’re not expecting it, but you’ll survive. Especially if you take after your parents.”

Harry hopped into the seat Wrex had gestured to, looking for a belt to physically click into place.

“Damnit, I knew I forget something. Hang on, I brought you a suit,” Wrex stood up, shambling out of the cockpit and stepping past the doorway at the back.

Only for a ball of light with scan lines to rise up out of the seat Wrex had been sitting at, turning what appeared to be a mouth toward Harry, “Eezo levels at 50 percent.”

“Eezo?” Harry asked of no one.

“Yeah, Element Zero. Don’t ask me why it’s called that, I leave that sort of thing to the egghead salarians.” Wrex replied from somewhere deep in the ship.

“Alright, what’s a Slurrian?”

“Salarian, and they’re similar to your lizards, only, you know, uplifted, bipedal, and ridiculously smart.”

Harry turned to face the back of the ship, “How do you know about animals on Earth?”

“Heard stories from your mother. She went through a lot of the same disorientation you will be for the next few weeks.”

Harry blinked, “What’s ‘Spectre’?”

“In short? The right hand of the Council. They’re a branch of military that are technically above the law.”

“And… my name’s down for this military thing? I’m nobody special. I’m just Harry.”

“Mass jump in 3… 2… 1”

Harry was suddenly pushed back into the seat, compressing his body as the ship was rocketed up to speed for a mass jump. For a moment, it was incredibly difficult for Harry to breathe, and then, something went ‘Snap’ in his head, and a pocket of normal space wrapped itself around him. It was then that he realized Wrex was standing in the door to the cockpit, very clearly watching him, a smile on that craggy face. “At the very least? You’re biotic, Harry. A bit unfocused, but you’ve been… gene spliced so you could be left with your Aunt.”

“What do you mean?”

Wrex took in a deep breath, “I’m not the best krogan to tell you anything, but, in short? Your mom and dad met as Spectre operatives. Your father was asari, and they breed true. Now I don’t know all the details, but, there’s no way you should look like what you look like. Hang on,” Wrex turned to point his hand at Harry, tapping on the orange device on his wrist, before turning something toward Harry, showing him as he was at that moment, with his eyes voids of black, with two tiny circles of green where his irises had been.

Harry jumped back, “What’d you do?”

“Nothing, it’s what you did, Harry, you tapped into… let’s see, Liara called it ‘Eternity’? It’s common for asari to do that with their eyes when they’re tapping their biotics.”

Harry could tell the krogan was running out of explanation, struggling to explain more. “Biotics?”

“Your mom called it ‘magic’.”

“There’s no such thing as magic.” Harry could feel the words reverberating through him from many a repeated thrashing from Uncle Vernon.

“Hate to say it, but your uncle’s right, sort of. Biotics aren’t exactly magic, they’re more like mind powers?”

Harry closed his eyes, trying to wrap his head around everything, “So, wait, how do you know my parents?”

“To be fair? I don’t really know your father. And, from what I heard from your mom, this is going to take a bit of getting used to. So, as I said, your father? Was an asari Spectre. Asari, to most of the universe? Look and record as female, but they, and, by extension, you, are a monogendered race,” Wrex scratched his craggy chin, regarding Harry with some confusion, “Again, I didn’t get the whole story that was written into your parents’ will, I do know that, for some reason, you were genetically altered to look more like your mom, because the Illusive Man would never think to look for you with her sister.”

Harry’s throat went dry, trying to catch up with all the information, “What’s an ‘Illusive Man’?”

Wrex sighed, “Right, you weren’t given any information. Okay, so, there’s this network of ‘human supremacists’, in short, who believe that humanity deserves more presence in the galactic government, and this guy, the Illusive Man? Is the head of the entire syndicate. I really should just get you fitted for an omni-tool and let you read up on it yourself.”

Harry waved a hand, “Let’s roll back a bit first, how do you know my parents?”

“Hell, your mom helped me retrieve the armor I’m wearing right now, along with my clan’s honor. Your father died protecting civilians trying to escape the attack on the Citadel.”

Harry’s heart leapt into his throat, “So, my mom’s alive?”

“Hard to tell. The Normandy got blasted to pieces by an unknown assailant, she’s recorded as going down with the ship, but no body has been officially retrieved. It was her death that triggered the Council to unseal the will, just in case you needed protection. And it wasn’t like I had anything to do until there’s official word as far as the Commander’s remains. In better news, though…” Wrex turned to point at the view screen, revealing the giant metallic flower floating in the middle of space in front of them, “Welcome to the Citadel. The galactic hub for trade, travel, and various and sundry pleasures. But, before that…” He held out the gray piece of fabric he had been in the middle of retrieving before the jump began, “Put that on, and toss what you’re currently wearing in the bin behind the door.”

Harry held the suit between his hands, “This looks way too big for me.”

“I expected you to be quite a bit bigger, but the suit should adapt,” Wrex jerked a thumb behind him, “There’s a room off the left side of the hall, you go change, I’ll bring us in to dock.”

Harry followed the thumb to a door that slid open as he reached out to it, and stepped into the room behind, just barely big enough to hold a desk and chair. Harry stripped out of Dudley’s hand me downs before stepping into the silky suit that felt so strange on his skin. If he hadn’t felt the zipper going up to clasp at his neck, he almost felt like he was naked. Warmer than in Dudley’s clothes, but still, almost naked, and then the suit began to hum, slowly whittling down the extra size until it was skin tight on the young boy. “I… uh…?”

“Do you require assistance?” The voice that had announced the mass jump suddenly cut in, breaking the near silence.

Harry spun around, stumbling over the integrated shoes as he looked around the room, “Who said that?”

“I am a Citadel VI, my designation is Vitruvius, I can answer simple queries if you need assistance.”

“Who is this Wrex guy?”

“The hero of Tuchanka, head of the clan Urdnot, fought alongside the Shepard at Virmire, on Noveria, at Feros, at Therum, assisted in taking down Spectre Saren Arterius, last known station: SSV Normandy.”

“Is he trustworthy?”

“Define: trustworthy.”

Harry shook his head, “Never mind. What, exactly, is a V. I.?” he deliberately pronounced the initials.

“VI, or virtual intelligence, are similar to AI, but they do not have the programming to do delicate thought, and often can only reply with programmed responses. VI are considered safer as there is a much lower tendency to go rogue.”

“Safer than AI?”

“Affirmative. AI are programs that have been engineered to be able to think without direct input from their creator.”

“Can you tell me about my mom?”

“Results: inconclusive, please modify your query.”

“Oh, uh… Spectre Shepard?”

“Results redacted, Spectre records are ‘Classified’.”

“Please, I just want to know if she’s alive!”

“Results redacted, the Council has been notified. The Presidium is a balmy 75 degrees and the sun is shining, perhaps it would be a good day to take a walk?”

Vitruvius turned itself off with an audible snap, leaving Harry even more confused as he stepped back into the hallway to the cockpit.

Wrex was leaning back against the bulkhead, arms crossed in front of him, “I owe your mother more favors than I can count. While I’m technically doing this one for the Council? You’re still my charge. I’ll keep you safe until you can do it yourself. Or if your mom comes up out of hiding.”

Harry blinked slightly up at Wrex, not sure what he was getting at.

“I was told when you asked for my history.”

Harry went bright red through the cheeks.

“Hey, a bit of suspicion isn’t a bad thing, being aware of who you’re putting your trust in? Even better,” Wrex spit at his foot, “I trusted that Saren enough to work for him for a bit. Now, come on, customs has an escort ready for us.”

Harry really didn’t know what to say to that, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was no longer on Earth. He lapsed down into his usual silent self, following Wrex off the ship to meet a blue woman with skin colored hair that Harry couldn’t help himself but stare at.

It was only briefly awkward for the small group, mostly because Harry was staring at everything as they were lead up to the human consulate offices. It wouldn’t have been a problem, until the boy was noticed staring at an alien with four heavy set eyes over a ridged nose.

“What are you starin’ at?” the Batarian growled at Harry.

“I… don’t know?” Harry eventually admitted.

If Wrex hadn’t stepped in between the two of them, Harry would’ve probably kept staring, and the Batarian wasn’t about to fight with a krogan, not on the Presidium, not in so public a place. Wrex waited for the Batarian to wander off before turning to check on Harry.

It was at that moment that everything hit Harry all at once, and he went ghostly white, expelling the contents of his stomach onto the clean floor beneath him. Most of the contents were bile, and the little bit of rain water Harry had managed to drink by leaning his head back on the run into the cabin. It was also flecked with red.

Everything went black around Harry, and he unfortunately pitched forward into the puddle of his stomach contents. He dimly heard Wrex barking orders, “You go tell Anderson to meet us in medical”

The darkness that surrounded Harry was strangely comforting for the first time he could remember. While he didn’t feel directly connected to anything, his body did feel like it was comfortably warm, and that there was someone standing guard nearby. He couldn’t quite put a finger on exactly why he thought these things, but they swirled around the miasma of his unconsciousness until he finally had the strength to crack open a bleary eye, almost directly into a window that was blaring green light into the room, right into Harry’s just barely awake face.

He had just barely enough strength to look around instead of at the light, and very quickly found Wrex standing at the side of his bed. “Where…?”

Which brought the massive head to focus on Harry in the bed, “You, uh… passed out after we docked. Doctor Chakwas is keeping tabs on your condition. Hang on, I’ll go get her.”

“Oh, hospital?” It was a simple enough leap for Harry to assume, having been in hospital a couple of times when Uncle Vernon got too brutal with his punishments.

Wrex stepped out of the room, stopping just outside the door as he very visibly shifted to look left and right before raising an arm and heading off toward the left. “Doc!”

When Harry’s guardian returned, he was leading an older human woman, wearing a one piece of some sort that Harry assumed was a doctor’s uniform, with her gray hair pouring down over one side of her face, stopping just below her chin.

“Hello, dear.” The woman had a very pleasant voice, calming, and a genial smile as she finally got to look at Harry, her eyes darting around him to check various monitors he was hooked up to. “I am Doctor Chakwas, Wrex brought you in after you had a bit of a fainting spell?”

Harry shrugged in response.

“Do you know where you are?”

“… Hospital?”

“Do you know more generally where you are?”

Harry frowned, thinking, “Wrex mentioned a… Council… no, a Citadel?”

“Interesting, do you know your name?”

“Harry. Potter,” he added as an afterthought.

“Sorry to ask do many questions, but, do you know what the date is?”

“September… first? 1991?”

That raised the doctor’s eyebrows and she turned to lean into Wrex, “Where did you find him?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, Shanxi?”

And immediately all her attention was on Harry again. “I will say this, whoever did this to you has it all written into your genetic resplicing. Captain Anderson was very clear that I am only to get you to a point that you can survive another mass jump. He implied that everything would be fixed at your next destination.”

“Next destination, Doc?” Wrex asked what Harry was thinking.

Doctor Chakwas huffed lightly, “Omega.”

“Why would you send a sick child to that hell hole?”

“David told me it was written into Shepard’s will. Apparently, she expected the Council to try to find her child if she were ever to go missing. Apparently, you and Harry will find the man who wrote the genetic resplice and he has been paid to undo it so Harry can actively rejoin the galaxy. David also informed me that Harry has a personal skiff waiting, docked at Omega, it doesn’t have weapons, but it is very much expandable to…” the Doctor stopped, turning to nod at Harry briefly, “Excuse us just a moment? I need to have a private word with your guardian.”

Harry blinked at that, nodding in return as he settled back into the comfortable bed, looking up at devices hanging above him from every conceivable hook that could be found.

Karen Chakwas lead the Krogan by the ear ridge out into the hospital hallway, shutting Harry’s door, well aware that the hospital was soundproofed as she dropped the barely holding on facade, “That? Is not Shepard’s child! I did the delivery myself! Shepard had an Asari daughter!”

Wrex dug in his armor briefly, pulling out a hard light device that he handed over to Chakwas, “This says otherwise.”

Karen took the device, “Gene tracker. Tuned to the boy in my hospital bed?”

“I was there when Shepard’s… when the news of the Normandy went down. The Council handed me that and said it was delivered with the will. Told me to find whoever was on the other end of it.”

“What a good little lap Krogan you were for the Council then.” Doctor Chakwas sneered as she spoke to the brute.

“You know damn good and well I ain’t paid to think.”

“No, but I know you do it anyway. So, tell me what you’re thinking right now, Wrex?”

“Two options that I can see at the moment. Either that is Shepard’s daughter, gene respliced to hide her from… whatever? Or he is a very convincing fake meant to throw the galaxy off her daughter’s trail.”

“Damnit, I was hoping you might know something I didn’t. Anderson explicitly told me to not use any devices connected to the network, so, I’m leaning toward Shepard didn’t want her daughter to be immediately used for anything.”

“That explains all the old plastic and the needles,” Wrex shivered lightly at the thought, “And why his next stop is Omega. None of that would be on the network either.”

“He’s a very quiet child, isn’t he?” the doctor mused, regarding Harry’s room through the door’s window, “The sequencer has evidence of abuse riddled throughout his body. I’m not sure, in his state, that he would even survive another jump. His genetic code might just up and dissolve.”

“He did an unassisted biotic bubble.”

Even at her age, Karen Chakwas could move with speed when she was surprised, rounding to face the krogan head on, “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“I didn’t know until… what? Yesterday? That he didn’t have an implant.”

“You picked the boy up on Shanxi?”

“Yes…?”

“There are parts of that colony that were born there, and don’t believe humanity ever made it to space. No one living there would have an implant.”

“So, what? Cerberus plants?”

“No, no relation to Cerberus that I know of,” Chakwas sighed, “Fine, whatever the hell Anderson’s playing at? I’ll play along, but you had better keep the child safe.”

“So, the only thing that’s changed on my end is I got to take the kid to Omega, I was already planning to protect him, if he is indeed Shepard’s kid.”

“Growing soft shelled after the attack on the Citadel?”

“Eh… not sure, maybe the kid just needs someone to bring him up to speed? Who knows? He might make a decent warrior. I really shoulda broke his uncle’s head, though.”

The doctor smiled softly at the lingering fondness the krogan was admitting to, before she stepped back into the patient’s room.

Harry looked over at the door opening, “It’s okay if you need to yell about me in front of me, I’m used to it.”

That threw both doctor and brute as they made their way back in. “We weren’t… yelling about you.”

“No, just the wild goose chase we’re apparently being lead by the beak through,” Wrex confirmed, “Someone’s got us by the quad, and they’re not letting go.”

“The quad?” Harry echoed.

“Krogans have… two pair of testicles,” the doctor replied matter of factly, “A quirk of their uplifting that tends to lead to them being overly brash and stubborn about anything they think they’ve been wronged over.”

Harry blinked, flicking his attention to the krogan, not entirely certain what he was looking for in the moment.

“It’s true. And… absolutely wasted. Not a lot of female krogan survive past birth.”

“Side-stepping the medical trauma, Harry?”

The boy turned his attention back at his name.

“When was the last time you actually had food?”

“I cooked this morning.”

“Did you get to eat any of it?”

“No.” the offworld boy shrank into himself at the admission. Followed by the resounding thud of Wrex pounding one hand into the other resolutely.

“Well, then, what, pray tell, would you like to have?”

Harry blinked, not entirely sure what she was offering.

“There’s a vibrant enough restaurant scene on another wing of the Citadel, they can and frequently do deliver to us here. What sounds good? Courtesy of the hospital?”

“Anything?”

“Any thing.”

Harry spent the better part of the next two weeks resting, with frequent visits from Doctor Chakwas to check his vitals and get his food order. Wrex was his steadfast guardian, only stepping away for brief periods to take calls, as the krogan frequently told him what he was keeping tabs on.

And then, one night, a face Harry couldn’t remember seeing before arrived alongside Doctor Chakwas with the order of burgers.

“Harry? This is Captain Anderson. Your mother worked under his command before she took over captaincy of the Normandy.”

Harry turned his attention to the man in his high collar uniform, watching as he tried to be subtle by greeting Wrex first, before finally focusing on the boy, who had definitely managed to put on a little weight what with the application of fast food. He was starting to look much more like a human, rather than a skeleton toy.

“Hello, Harry. I’m going to assume you don’t remember me?”

Harry blinked, looking over to Wrex first, who did what he could to shrug in response.

“No, I didn’t think so. So, who do you trust in this room?”

Once again, Harry was lost, “Uh…? Is this a test? Am I being graded?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Anderson came to a stop near, but not directly next to Harry’s hospital bed, his arms clasped behind his back, “Life is a test, Harry. Constant, and repeating. You being here? Rather than on Shanxi? Is a test of my allegiances. On the one hand, the Council. On the other? The first human Spectre recognized by the Council.”

Harry held up both hands, a habit he had gotten into as new information was drip fed to him, while he tried to make sense of everything. “What’s Shanxi?”

“The planet Wrex picked you up on?”

“You mean ‘Earth’?”

Anderson cracked a slight smile at that. “Assuming Wrex’s flight logs were accurate before they got wiped, Earth is at the far end of the other side of the galaxy from where you were picked up.”

“The ‘first human Spectre’?”

“Yes, your mother really was the best of the best, in more ways than even the Council could have imagined. While I can’t get into the details with you, there were… extenuating circumstances that lead to her being the only living being who could forestall a Reaper dropping on the Citadel to try to wipe out all of existence.”

Harry leaned back in his bed, “Cool! What’s a reaper?”

“A… hmm… an AI built into the hull of a ship that dwarfed the entirety of the Citadel.”

“I heard AI were dangerous…?”

The captain nodded slightly at that, “They very frequently are. The quarians created an entire race of AI beings that, eventually, ravaged their home planet.”

“The Geth,” Wrex chimed in, growling, entirely for Harry’s sake.

“Yes, the Geth, who, records show were last working with the man who summoned the Reaper to the Citadel.”

Up went Harry’s hands again, “Okay, why am I here? On the ‘Citadel’?”

The military man hesitated before responding, “The… ship your mother was in command of?”

“The Normandy?” Harry supplied.

“Yes, the Normandy, was shot down while out on tests. All the bodies from that test have been accounted for, except…”

“Except Mom?”

“Yes. The Council has decided to declare her missing in action, which put into action stipulations in her will, which include a lot of black box dealings that only N7 is supposed to know about.”

“N7?”

“The command structure that is the Spectre program.”

“I thought Spectre were above the Council?” Harry was trying desperately to follow along.

“Yes, most of the time. And that wouldn’t be a problem if she hadn’t come to me eleven years ago and gotten me involved as an Ambassador to humanity.”

“What do you mean?”

“You? Technically? Don’t exist. Shepard didn’t want to have you brought into the system the way she was forced to. Officially? All records of your birth were black lined. Shepard was pointed at a Salarian geneticist in the equivalent to a back alley shop, and you got what was supposed to be a routine gene resplicing.”

“I keep hearing ‘gene resplicing’… what does that mean?”

“The technology for it is insanely pricey, it’s usually an option only to the incredibly rich, and they use it to stay young. Shepard had it done to you to hide you from the Council. And then, left you with your Aunt Petunia. The only two survivors of a Batarian slave colony.”

Harry jumped at that, “Mom was a slave?”

“Briefly, she saw to it that the Batarians who did it wouldn’t be able to take further slaves.”

Harry looked over to Wrex, “Batarian… that’s the one you had to step in for out on the…?”

“The Presidium. Yes, that was a Batarian. Dangerous folk, but, if you know how to deal with them…?”

“Before I continue on, Harry, do you trust Doctor Chakwas and Urdnot Wrex?”

“I don’t see a reason not to…?”

Anderson nodded ever so slightly at that. “For what it’s worth? If I didn’t think they were trustworthy? You wouldn’t be sitting here, recuperating in an unwired room. Your mother had suspicions when you were barely a year old that you were going to be an incredibly powerful biotic. Most biotic users don’t show any ability until they receive their implant. You? Were floating your toys around the creche, unaided. Which, looking back on it? Isn’t entirely a surprise, both of your parents were incredibly powerful biotics users.”

“Wrex mentioned my father was an asari Spectre?”

“Officially? Yes. But, there were a lot of those running about when Shepard was accepted. Interpersonal relationships aren’t uncommon among new recruits.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘officially’?” Wrex rumbled.

The captain turned to look at doctor Chakwas first, who nodded, before he continued, “Shepard requested the relationship be stricken from the ship’s records as much as possible. She didn’t want anything or anyone to harm those she cared about. Surely, you must have seen how they acted around each other, Wrex?”

The krogan frowned in thought, staring at Captain Anderson for a long moment before his face opened up, “No!”

Anderson nodded.

Immediately, Wrex was standing at Harry’s bedside, “Looks like I owe you so many more favors.”

“I am so lost, can I get a clue?” Harry offered up at the alien.

“Okay, I think I told you about the order of events from the wreckage of the Normandy?”

Harry shook his head at that.

“Damnit, hang on… okay, so, an unidentif- no, screw that, your mother saved an Asari researcher on the planet Therum. Her name’s Liara… or, it was,” Wrex turned to face Anderson again, “Haven’t heard anything from her recently. Wasn’t she on the Normandy when the testing thing happened?”

Anderson nodded, “She was. Her arrival was documented by the retrieval ship, but, before the ship could return to Alliance space? She wasn’t on board any longer.”

“Huh. So, what happened to her?”

“Officially? An error on the retrieval ship.”

Harry was starting to hate the word ‘officially’.

“That said, both she and Shepard set all of this up for,” as Anderson gestured to Harry, “If he’s here? And she’s alive? She’ll make herself known.”

In the blink of an eye, Wrex had Anderson off the ground, held up by his lapels, and slammed against the wall, “What do you know?”

“Not much more than you,” Anderson wheezed, he wasn’t unaccustomed to being slammed into things, it was just much less frequent an occurrence since he took over the ambassadorship, “I know a bit about what her eventual plans were, but she didn’t have it all sorted out yet.”

Over on the bed, Harry was trying to wrangle a migraine the likes of which he had never experienced before. He wasn’t entirely sure he trusted this Captain Anderson, but he was still feeding Harry information. “Put him down!” Harry’s voice was forceful, whispered, enticing in ways Harry had never experienced before.

Wrex was blindsided by the energy crackling on the edge of Harry’s voice, not even putting up a resistance as he set the captain back on the ground.

Harry pointed at Anderson the moment he was down, “You? Spill it.”

There was a strange fear burning off of the Ambassador, this? Was new to him. “She told me she was going along on the test run to gather information. That was it. I theorized she was looking for the Shadow Broker. But I haven’t heard anything from her since you were delivered to Shanxi.”

“What’s wrong with my head?”

“Looks like you’re having a biotic breakdown,” Doctor Chakwas offered, strolling over to peer into Harry’s eyes, “They happen infrequently, when a biotic overloads their implant. With you not having an implant? I can apply a sedative and let you sleep for a few hours.”

Anderson looked up at the krogan hand suddenly resting on his shoulder, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, nothing I’m not used to, anyway. God, I don’t envy you going to Omega.”

“What? Why?”

“Harry’s little biotic outburst there? Was a foreseen possibility, by the Salarian who did the gene resplicing. I have a package in my quarters that I need to retrieve and then, the two of you? Need to go. Immediately.”

“Why?”

“He said an outburst like that meant the genetic code was breaking down.”

“How long?”

“I’d say he has about an hour. The sedative should keep him bound for the jump,” Doctor Chakwas offered, hovering over Harry, “Go, quickly.”

Temporary Ambassador Anderson twisted immediately, rushing out of the hospital to catch a taxi back to his quarters, leaving both Krogan and human watching Harry sleep fitfully.

The entire round trip took Anderson five minutes after he overrode the safety controls on the taxi, the Ambassador was running full pelt like the world was going to explode, and he didn’t stop until he was certain the metal box was safely in Wrex’s free hand, what with Harry’s slowly drooping form tossed carefully over his good shoulder. “Go! Ask anyone on Omega for the Professor.”

And then it was the krogan’s turn to move, shifting his bulk to pound his way through the Presidium, shoving loiterers out of his path, beelining all the way to the hangar the pair had arrived in. Into the ship, no time for all the safety checks, pull out and just gun it to the relay.

Harry woke up very briefly as Wrex stumbled into the clinic in Omega’s back alleys.

“Huh. Expected the turian. This way. Sandra? Move all my appointments back for the next hour. Oh right, I don’t have a secretary.”

The next thing Harry knew, he was being set rather heavily on a metal table, on his back, with more lights shining in his face.

“Early, expected you three years from now. Must remember, owe Aria a drink. Must have forgotten to carry the one.”

Harry only got a brief look at the man speaking in clipped sentences. He was cream and reddish, with two horns and strangely spaced, wide eyes. There was no compassion behind them, Harry appeared to be a research subject to him.

“Well? Do something, doc. He’s dying!”

“Yes. And no. The resplice was a mask to wear. Just needed to hold out until she was off planet. Had to take her to Shanxi myself, no relays. Eezo would have… Oh! That’s why you’re early.”

“She?” Wrex was trying to follow the doc’s explanation and manner of speech too.

“Informal, hard to accurately describe Asari gender form. Outer layer male, inner layer asari.”

“Do something!”

“Nothing to do. Can’t insert the dampener until outer layer fades.”

“Dampener?”

“In the package. Had to have it specially made. Should also have custom omni tool. She will have her own AI.”

Harry struggled to do anything more than breathe as everything seemed to slow down in his body.

“Goodbye.”