Author's Note: This is an abandoned story idea, which I am posting here so I get something for the time spent mulling over it. Any reviews would be great, but a 600 word speech regarding the Geth-Quarian war is not something I expect much from.
Standing atop a ramshackle stage aboard one of the Fleet's liveships, Mar'Carthas vas Arethes begins a speech. His suit is old, but covered in various forms of ablative armor. On his right shoulder a patch is sewed on, its symbol a two head black bird. Beneath it, in crimson, is a single phrase in the quarian language, Khelish: 'Ka'hora Della Car'vescali'. It's English translation being: 'A Crusade is at Hand'. With a quick vertical salute to the men similarly attired within the assembled crowd, he begins to speak.
"To the men and women who have joined me here today, I ask a question. I ask this question to the Captains, to the Conclave, to the Admiralty Board. I, and thousands like me, stand ready to act, whenever they are ready to answer. How much is enough?
For three hundred years, we have wandered the galaxy, exiled from the lands and planets our ancestors died and bled for. We have watched and waited, as the Council looked down upon us from their ivory tower, doing nothing. We waited and abided as our Embassy was lost, as we were barred from one system after another. We abided, and we endured as our once proud heritage was thrown upon the ground, to be replaced with words such as Scavenger, and Thief. But how much is enough?
The War with the Geth, those most insidious of abominations, was the driving force behind our exile. When I, and others like me, ask when the Quarian people will return, to regain the lands we lost, no answers are given. The Admiralty Board tries to hid behind others, claiming that we must work on reestablishing an embassy, or that we must acquire more ships. This is false! The struggle for the domination of Rannoch will be fought entirely between us, between Quarians and Geth. All else is facade and illusion. Between our rightful Embassy and ourselves stands the Geth! Between galactic respect and ourselves stand the Geth! Between living without these damn suits and ourselves? Stand the Geth! How much is enough?
Some call for reconciliation, for an alliance between our people and the Geth. There is a word for cowards such as these: Traitors! Compassion is the enemy! It was mercy that defeated us 300 years ago! These backstabbers must be dealt with, in a manner that brooks no confusion. They will burn, they will hang, they will die! Death to the traitors! Death to the cowards! How much is enough?
And once we are ready, once the will of the Quarian people is finally heeded? How much is enough? We must cross the Perseus Veil! We must return to the systems of our ancestors! We must take back Rannoch! The Geth are not something to fear, something to hid from. They are strong, they are numerous, but they are not Quarian! We are the quarian people; their inventors, and ultimately their executioners! Our once great nations, our still great ships, the Quarian people themselves, have given us the task of taking Rannoch back! Forward, against the unrelenting machines! We must not stop! We cannot count years, we cannot count planets, we must count only the number of platforms that we have killed, only the number of Geth that we have destroyed! We must not relent, we must not stop, until we have removed the scourge of the Geth threat!
Down with the Conclave! Down with the Admiralty Board! Death to the Geth!"
Author's Note: Some of you with sharp eyes may catch the Hitler quote I butchered until it sound quarian enough, and the rather blatent Call of Duty reference at the end. I at least hope it got the blood pumping. Nothing like a little warmongering!