The question sent everyone into work mode as they exited the ship and headed straight to the LD building. It had seen better days, but it was still standing even after being attacked by the Reapers.
Samael greeted every person who his family passed by. Safe to say, everyone was shocked to see him, as they thought he had died in the war, since he had been missing for a long time. After some walking and talking, they finally entered one of the many elevators in the building.
In the crowded elevator on the way to Miranda's office, the CEO was updating Samael on various small matters that had happened, leaving the more significant issues for later. Almost everyone who greeted Samael on his ship was there, listening with rapid attention to the things they already knew. The only person who had left already was Valery, who knew Samael would come to her later to talk more later.
"So that's why I haven't seen Garrus.'' Samael said, after Miranda informed him about the Turian's situation. Garrus had been injured quite badly in the war and was in an induced coma. He was out of danger but would remain in that state for a few more weeks as a precaution. Solana was with him as well.
"I will visit him soon." Samael promised.
"He took the hit meant for me." Kasumi added after a moment. She didn't go into much detail about what exactly had happened because honestly, it didn't matter how or why, just that it did.
Keiji was beside her, his expression revealing sorrow over the situation. He and Garrus had become good friends, and he was supposed to be the one to take that hit, but the Turian acted faster.
"I owe him a lot," Keiji said quietly.
Wrex gave a small chuckle. "Come on now, we are family. I'm sure if the roles were reversed, you would have done the same for him or anyone else here."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the somber atmosphere that had crept in dissipated immediately.
Samael then looked at Thane, who was still alive. From what he could remember, in this last cycle, research on Thane's disease was still ongoing but far from yielding results. Now, however, after recovering his memories from past cycles, Samael knew how to create a cure that would save the Drell and many others of his species.
Still, all Samael asked the Drell was. "Is Kolyat okay?"
In this last cycle, all Samael wanted to make sure his family and their families were safe and sound. This was his principal goal from the begginign to the end. All the steps he took was towards this.
Thane nodded. "While Earth was a fierce battlefield, it was also one of the safest places in the galaxy. He was here and safe."
Samael sighed with relief. "That's good to hear."
He then looked at Samara, who was missing a hand. She hadn't come forward on the ship, choosing to give space to the others, which was why he had missed it.
The Asari noticed his gaze and shook her head. "It's not your fault."
"But—"
"No buts." Samara remained calm. Losing an arm didn't mean much to her. "We won, and that's what matters the most. Besides, the replacement is quite good."
Samael knew how stubborn the Asari could be, so he simply said, "It's good to see you alive."
Samara smiled back at him. "Likewise."
Finally, the elevator arrived at Miranda's office, and everyone stepped out. Almost as if it were calculated, each person took a seat in a way that made them comfortable. The office was specially designed to accommodate a large group, and the crew regularly visited the space, so there were seats for everyone.
Everyone got comfortable, and Miranda even offered her seat to Samael, who refused, saying, "You are the CEO and will be in the future. I won't take LD back from you."
Everyone in the room understood the meaning, and Samael hadn't lied when he said he was going to retire after the war. The only error in his calculation was that he didn't participate in it.
Miranda wanted to say something, but after seeing Samael's face, she held back. She then went to her seat while Samael sat in front of her, with Tali, Liara, Veronica, and RR close to him.
"Now, hit me with it."
Samael had heard a few things while traveling to Earth, but he hadn't delved deeper or asked the Shadow Broker for information. Now, he would understand the full scale of what happened while he was away.
Miranda started from the beginning, "After you left, things stayed normal for a couple of months, and our plans progressed smoothly."
"The Krogan and the Turians helped train the weaker species while those weaker species contributed financially."
"RR, Legion, and EDI managed to get the Geth on our side, and they helped in the construction of the Arcs, the Crucible, and many other things, speeding up the process quite a lot. By the way, that's why Legion is absent, he is leading what's left of the machines."
Samael nodded, and up until now, things seemed normal.
Miranda continued, "The Rachni also helped, and we built the arcs first before starting to construct the Crucible. By this point, six months had passed since you went away."
"Then, out of nowhere, the Reapers attacked Palaven hard. The Turian forces were scattered across the galaxy, training, and the unexpected nature of the attack meant that all our preparations were in vain."
"The galaxy sent reinforcements right away, but by the time they arrived, the planet was in ruins." Miranda paused before saying, "The loss of life was in the billions."
The most painful aspect was that the military was absent, meaning the majority of those who died were civilians. Sure, the Turian society was militaristic, but even then, those who died on the planet were considered civilians.
Samael said nothing as Miranda continued, "Before we had time to breathe, they attacked again—this time Tuchanka."
Samael looked at Wrex and Grunt, who shrugged.
"They did the same thing to the Krogan as they did to the Turians. However, it didn't change much in the status quo since the Krogan reproduced very quickly. Still, a lot died, and the planet was beyond help."
Wrex said in a normal tone, "That finally made the others give us more planets, so I see it as a win-win situation."
Samael felt relaxed as he heard what his friend said. The Krogan are a race that doesn't mind death, and it showed.
"By the time we rescued the survivors and sent them to the Citadel, we heard that Thessia was attacked. This time, however, they were prepared and didn't fall in one day."
"The war on the planet continued for days when news of an attack on Sur'kesh, the Salarian home planet, reached the frontline."
" We didn't have the numbers to help both planets and the Reapers took advantage of the fact we fought internally on to which one to defend.We lost morale and ground, and in the middle of our inner struggle, Sur'kesh fell, followed by Thessia.''
Samael could only caress Liara's hand. The Asari had a sad expression as she sat beside him. "I'm okay," she said.
Samael could only hold her hand as Miranda continued, " By now, eight months since you left, the number of deaths across the galaxy has reached almost half a trillion. The majority of these casualties were civilians who lost their lives in the surprise attack by the Reapers. They focused on heavily populated planets and knew all of our escape routes.''
''That's also something that doesn't make sense, as not a single one of our devices that was supposed to detect the Reapers worked, leaving us vulnerable to their attacks.''
''While those planets fell, the Reapers also suffered some losses here and there. Their casualties were in the millions, and the war reached a stalemate. We used the Citadel as a stronghold and the Reapers didn't attack it and, at the end of the day, we still had the Crucible, which was ready."
"Only that…" Miranda sighed as she said, "It was destroyed before being used."
While subtly glancing at RR without anyone noticing, Samael said, "Give me more details on that."
"I'm afraid I can't. It was simply an incredible inside job, as almost no one knew its location or what it did. The moment it was completed, it exploded right away. We tried to find the culprit, but nothing so far."
"I see..."
"After the destruction of the Crucible, things fell apart. The Citadel and Earth became one of the last stands, while civilians of the other species hid on different planets, all while the Andromeda Arcs were successfully launched."
"Did Alec and his child make it?" Samael knew that a galaxy far, far away would need their help in the future.
Miranda nodded. "All Arcs made it. Now, their fate is their own, as we can't reach them anymore."
There was no sadness in her voice, as she and the others knew the Arcs were their backup plan in case they didn't win.
"The war on Earth went on for months and through many magnitudes. Humanity and the rest of the galaxy fought hard and killed a lot of Reapers, but at the end of the day, the machines were superior."
To be honest, Samael was already surprised to hear that. While the Reapers weren't immortal or invincible, they were difficult to kill. To learn that they fought for months on Earth and on Thessia while managing to kill millions was a feat few could boast.
"When everything seemed lost, an electromagnetic blast swept across the galaxy, somehow killing all the Reapers and sparing the rest of the machines. Mordin said that based on the blueprint of the Crucible, it was it.''
''Somehow, someone beside us made it."
Samael knew it was the Leviathans but decided to stay quiet. He also immediately realized why Mordin wasn't there. He knew the Salarian was alive, so he asked, "Let me guess, Mordin went to check on where it came from and what it was?"
Miranda had an exasperated look on her face as she nodded. "He and Okker left right after the war ended, saying it was important to know what happened so we weren't caught off guard in the future."
"You can call them back."
From Samael's tone, Miranda knew right away that he knew what happened. "Care to share?"
"Maybe in the future. You only need to know that we are safe, at least for now. A few preparations were needed, but that's it."
"I see..." Miranda tapped her omnitool a few times, sending a message to Mordin saying Samael was back and that he should return.
"And that's it. We won. The galaxy is in the middle of reconstruction, and now we just need to clean things up."