The Singers-Rachni Quest (Mass Effect with XCOM elements)

Winning Vote:
[X] Research (Choose 2 to complete)
-[X] Indoctrination Resistance
-[X] Psi Revivify
[X] Benezia
-[X] Attempt to Communicate with her dormant mind (???)


Research Indoctrination Resistance and Psi Possession

There is not much to do on a tiny shuttle traveling between the stars. As such, you spend the majority of your time during the search for a new home experimenting and studying the Song, and how it interacts with your Thrall. You spend hours upon hours examining the quiet, darkened paths of your Thrall's mind, and in doing so, you discover two things that you can do with The Song.

The first is in respect to the remnants of the Yellow Note that you find scattered throughout the Matriarch's brain. Quiet and Inert, they nonetheless provide an invaluable (and more importantly, safe) method of examining the weapon that brought your people to the brink of extinction. By gently pulsing energy into the remnants, you can create an echo of the true Note and study it, days of experimentation with pitch and tone eventually allowing you to create a 'counter note' that should weaken the effect of the Yellow upon you or your children, increasing the amount of time you can be exposed to it before being Corrupted.

You will not be able to advance any further with this 'counter-note' without either a living Corrupted or an active source of the Note, but even this minor protection could prove invaluable in the future, and so you are glad to have spent time on it.

(Researched Petty Indoctrination Resistance. Increases safe exposure time to Reaper Indoctrination Waves by 24 hours)

The second is experimenting with just how fine you can tune your control of your Thrall. As she is, you simply give orders and it will attempt to carry out the orders as best it can with the limited brain-matter being resuscitated by the energy of the Song. However, you find that if you focus, and transfer all of your focus onto the Thrall, the energy reaches a level where you can control her body as if it were your own, a strange experience to be sure, but one that you think will be useful in the future, especially for communication with Bipeds.

However, 'Possessing' your Thrall leaves your actual body in a state like a deep sleep, so it would be unwise to do so when you are in danger.

And another thing, a thought you have as you experimentally prod at the dormant mind of Benezia, is that if you didn't have to basically transfer your mind into the Thrall, and just had to provide energy, it would theoretically be possible for the Thrall to maintain fine motor skills while you are also not-comatose.

Of course, to do that, you'll need a Mind to hook into the system…

(Researched Psi Possession. Allows you to ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of a Reanimated Thrall. Leaves your body vulnerable. Unlocks Psi Revivify. Unlocks Possible Rachni Form: Controller. May allow for the Empowerment of Thralls in the future)

A/N: Sorry for changing the research, but I decided that Revivify should probably be as hard as Telepathy and more than just a single step from Reanimation, so I just added a new power into bridge the gap. Also, trying to work out explanations for how Psionics work is hard…


Attempt to communicate with Benezia

Even having decided to try and reach out to the Matriarch's dormant mind, you find yourself cautious and more than a little worried. This is all still…very new to you, using the Song in this way, and you don't know what the Asari will be able to do to you once you break her out of the feedback loop she seems to be stuck in.

Not to mention, it might break your Thrall. Which would be…bad, since you need it to pilot the ship.

But…you are curious. You want to know what the Needle-Men were doing, what part the Matriarch, the Daughter, and the Good Shepard played in it. Why she was tainted by the Sour Yellow Note.

And you want to know why they took your Children from you.

So, so many children.


It is a Song that draws her from her troubled slumber.

At it's gentle but insistent tones, the dreams and memories, both the good and the bad, slip away, and she finds herself in a dark void filled with wisps of glowing purple smoke, the Song echoing quietly around her. She turns this way and that slowly, confused, wondering where the memories went. Then the smoke starts to collect into a ball, forming into an insectoid form much larger than her, dwarfing her small form.

She shrinks away, fearful, before letting out a small, whispered… "The Queen…?"

The Queen examines her for a moment, or perhaps an eternity before she reacts.

W͝҉͟͢H̶͝Y̴̵̧͢͢ The Queen booms soundlessly, and she knows what she means instantly.

Guilt stabs deep into her chest as she Remembers, shame and anger soon to follow. "Saren and his masters, they wanted Soldiers." She answers, not seeing much point in lying to this Rachni in what was obviously some sort of post-death-hallucination. "They didn't understand or didn't care, about what it would mean to separate them from you. I was there to retrieve data from your race's ancestral memories. Coordinates to a hidden planet. Ilos."

The Queen is quiet for another eternity, or perhaps just a moment before she s̱̪͉͓̭̠̬͒̉͂͌̇́͑p͇̠̪̺̖ͥ̌͆e̘͔͓̥͌͗͋̄ȁ̫̖͔̖kͮͭͣ̈́̆̃s̝͎͙͎ͣ͆̄̓̃̋̚ once more.

Tell̸ me ̨o̴f͘ t́his͠ ̸Saren͢,́ ͜a͏ńd͜ ̨h̀i̴s M҉a̕ste͝r͝s, a̴nd how͠ ͟you ̢cąmè t̡o ̶si͞n҉g̷ t̶he Fou͢l̸ ̀Yel͘l̨ow̛ N̵o͠te that ͠s͡i͢lence̕d̷ ̶m̴y̛ Şi҉ste͟rs s͘o҉ng̸s҉.

And, ridden by guilt and shame and anger and fear, Benezia T'soni Does.

If only to stave off the inevitable darkness of Death for a little longer.

(You now know about the Reapers. You now know about Saren and his Plan. You now know slightly more about Commander Shepard)

(You now know Benezia does not know what has happened to her. She seems regretful about what occurred to her and you)

(Bonus Planetary Option Unlocked)

(A/N: TFW you get past your dialogue-based writer's block by just finding a way to skip most of it)

You have spent the last nine weeks sneaking from system to system, looking for a place where you and your children can rest and rebuild even as you search the Memories of Mothers for further options. You have, as of yet, avoided detection by your inevitable pursuers, but with only a week of food remaining in your stores, the time has come to decide as to where to land.

Where shall be the new Rachni Homeworld?

(Additional Option unlocked due to the conversation with Benezia)

Time Spent Searching: 9 Weeks. 1d6+1 Planets Generated.

Result: 3+1=4.

[] Homecoming, of a sort (Cannon Choice, Default Option)

And so, the Children of Suen return home. In a fashion. You long to return to the Homeworld, and let the skies ring with her children's song once more, but you are not a fool. The Home System will be watched by the Citadel, ever fearful of your people's return. But Utukku, in the neighboring Mulla Xul system, is the next best thing. Slated for colonization by the Queens of Old but never inhabited by your kind due to the War, it is a harsh world, but nothing your children cannot handle. And who would think to look for you in such an audacious location, right beneath the Citadel's very nose! (harsh life-bearing world with few terrestrial organisms)

[] A World of Monsters (Random World)

In the Terminus systems, you found an emerald jewel of a world, listed as 'Lyay's Rest' in the Codex. It is a jungle world, lush and full of life. Unfortunately, the planet's plentiful Megafauna and fast-growing vegetation make colonization a difficult prospect, though not impossible. Even more so for you, as your subterranean nature makes you less susceptible to having settlements overgrown or destroyed by a wandering beast. And those same hazards will hinder anyone who tries to seek you out or invade your new home. It is somewhat lacking in the department of mineral resources, however. (Pseudo-Deathworld, AKA Lustria-Lite: The Planet!)

[] Void Crawlers (Random World)

This world can barely be called such, little more than an asteroid large and dense enough to have formed a magnetic field to protect the surface from solar radiation and catch enough gasses to make a breathable atmosphere. There is no life on this world, but it is probably the most well-hidden of your options, and the planetoid and it's surrounding asteroid field has a Massive wealth of mineral resources for you to take advantage off. Now if only there was anything to eat… (Hidden dwarf-planet in an asteroid field)

[] Under the Sea (Random World)

The Rachni are not an aquatic species, but you can make due in such environments. As such, the water-world you find near the border of Human space bears promise. Beneath the waves, your children would be well-hidden, and it will make ground-invasion by any but the Hanar all but impossible. But, you are not built for moving and living underwater, so while you could manage, in order to truly thrive you would need to specialize. (Standard Ocean world)

[] Coarse and Rough (Random World)

Desert worlds are a mixed bag for the Rachni. On one hand, their environments are fairly agreeable to your biology, but the wide swaths of sand make subterranean construction more…annoying across wide swaths of the planet. Regardless, this world a few jumps from the boarders of Turian space holds promise among its vast dune seas, so long as you can stay hidden from the inhabitants of the tiny mining settlement nestled into a canyon in the northern hemisphere. (Desert world with a small mining base that regularly sends out remote-controlled mining units to deposits across the planet)

[] Venture beyond the Veil (Benezia Option)

If there is any other race feared by the Citadel more than your own, it is the Geth. Nothing has been seen or heard of the Synthetics in over three centuries, hidden as they are beyond the nebula of the Perseus Veil since they nearly destroyed their creators. However, Benezia was there when Saren contacted the Collective and witnessed the split between the Heretics and the True Geth. If she is correct that the majority of the AI wish to live in peace with organic races, perhaps you might be able to seek shelter in their territory. You'd like to see the Bipeds find you there! (Geth diplomacy mini-turn, a chance for a choice of several random worlds if successful. Chance of conflict with the Heretics)

[] To go Further Beyond (Mystery Box)

You cannot trust any of these places. Everywhere the Bipeds linger, and you cannot trust that even those who despise the Citadel will leave you be. Not to mention, the Reapers are coming, one way or another, and they will no doubt hunt the peoples and places of the Citadel first when the Culling begins. Which leaves but one choice. You found an inactive relay in your travels through the Terminus. You shall activate it, and head forth into the Unknown to find a place to call your own. (Random Event, Random Planet. Chance to encounter new Species of random tech level)

If you want something clarified about a choice, please don't hesitate to ask, and I'll answer what I can without giving stuff away.

Also, it's 4:30 on a Saturday. Woots for late-night inspiration finally letting me get this done. At least I got one decent thing out of today. Hope yall enjoy.