STAR WARS DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MASS EFFECT DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS BELONG TO ME, AND THOSE WHO TRY TO STEAL THEM WILL BE HIT MY THE SAME MASS ACCELERATOR THAT CREATED THE 'GREAT RIFT' OF KLENDAGON.
Something that I would like you all to do: I don't want to make any conflict between ME and SW to be a total beat-down on the SW part. I know that Star Wars has a major technological advantage, but I don't want it to be too bad. Unless everyone agrees that SW would own ME.
Outcast Effect
Chapter 3
Meeting the Natives, Part 2
The Citadel
For a brief moment, Ryan lamented that nearly everywhere he and his friends went, they always got into a fight. It was a depressing fact that he could count on one hand the number of places he had gone to where he hadn't employed violence. As the Asari and Turian C-Sec officers surrounded them, Ryan figured that today would be no different.
Still, that didn't mean that they had to kill anyone.
"Disabling shots only," he hissed, "Force Team, disarm them and we'll take 'em down; keep the Admiral safe."
As one officer, a Turian, reached for his arm, Ryan moved. In a single, fluid motion, he gripped the Turian's wrist, moved to the side and drove his palm into the elbow. The sound of breaking bone could be clearly heard, before Ryan punched the Turian in the face, then threw him across the room.
Then all hell broke loose. With a snap-hiss, Kota activated his emerald lightsaber, Starkiller activated his blue blade and Ahsoka activated her green saber and her shorter, blue shoto saber. Faster than most beings could react, the three Jedi moved past the officers; when they passed, the rifles and pistols that the C-Sec personnel had been drawing fell to the floor in several pieces.
With their adversaries disarmed, the Outcast Blades moved in to engage in close-combat. Wek ducked under a blow from his own Turian opponent, then kicked the officer in the side of the knee with a beskar boot. The Turian stumbled, allowing Wek to grab him by the same leg and heave, knocking him onto his head and rendering him unconscious. Sera detached her cannon from its cable and hurled it at an Asari, who caught it out of reflex; the Asari hadn't counted on the cannon being so heavy, however, and nearly broke her arms trying. By the time she had registered all of this, Sera had closed in and kicked upwards, her boot connecting with the Asari's chin, sending her flying. Tanith had slipped under a Turian's guard and used a cutting-torch to slice open his armor, before punching with her entire weight behind the blow, sending him falling down a flight of stairs and colliding head-first with the wall. Bitters didn't even try to be subtle; with a primal roar, he slammed into a Turian, taking him to the ground and kept punching until the officer stopped moving, a trickle of blue blood coming from his mouth.
Ryan moved on to another opponent; in this case, it was an Asari who was backing away, trembling. As Ryan got closer, the Asari held out her hand which, to Ryan's surprise, some kind of purple energy surrounded it! Before he could react, a fist-sized sphere of energy shot forth from the Asari's hand and struck him in the chest, knocking him onto his back, but he recovered by rolling to his feet in a crouch; a second's glance at his armor showed no damage, save for scratching up the black paint. He then drew his blaster pistol with his left hand and fired twice, a blaster bolt for each of the Asari's legs; with a scream of pain, she fell to the ground, clutching her wounds.
With a look around, Ryan saw that the fight was basically over; the non-Human C-Sec officers were on the ground, and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. The ones that hadn't been taken down by the Blades had been beaten by the swift punches and kicks of Kota, Starkiller and Ahsoka; even M'zan stood victoriously over an Asari, her blaster pointed at the officer's head.
"Do we need to take this further?" M'zan asked the dumbstruck Council, "We are who we claim to be; claiming that we're spies or actors is only going to get on our nerves."
Out of the corner of his eye, Starkiller noticed that one of the Human C-Sec officers—they had stood back during the fight, unsure what to do—was now heading for him. On reflex, he reached out with the Force and lifted the Human into the air. If the Council hadn't been amazed before, they were now; to them, such a thing could only be achieved with biotics, but there was no Mass Effect field around the floating Human.
Just who were those people?
"P-please," the floating Human said, "I was just trying to help Aera!"
"Who?" Starkiller asked, not putting the man down yet.
"T-the Asari in front of you!"
Starkiller looked down at the tear-streaked face of the Asari at his feet; he had broken her leg with a Force-enhanced kick, as well as fractured her jaw, if the swelling was anything to go by. Gently, he lowered the officer back to the ground, where he dashed over to the Asari and activated his Omni-tool. Since Starkiller wasn't getting a warning from the Force, he didn't react at the orange hologram that suddenly covered the man's hand and forearm like a gauntlet.
"Don't worry, Aera," the man said in a reassuring tone, "I'm administering some medi-gel; you'll be just fine."
A strange goo was sprayed onto the wounds from the Omni-tool; a few seconds later, the Asari stood up, wincing slightly.
"Thank you, Harold," the Asari said with a smile.
Ryan shifted his gaze from the exchange to Bitters, who was watching with undisguised interest.
He's probably wondering what that stuff is, and how it healed her so quickly, he thought, then again, I'm curious, too.
Tevos was the fastest to recover from her shock, and the first thing she did was glare at her Turian counterpart.
"Councilor Sparatus, what you did was beyond absurd," she said, her normally calm voice filled with venom, "Sending C-Sec to attack these people just because their story is strange is beyond ridiculous! If it was the truth you wanted, I could have answered it with a simple meld!"
Sparatus froze, his eyes darting first from Tevos to the newcomers. "… Oh."
Ryan looked from Sparatus to Tevos. "What's this 'meld' thing? What does it do?"
Tevos turned to him. "I would link my mind to yours and we would be able to view each other's memories."
"You'd be reading our minds?" M'zan asked dubiously, even as she stepped in front of Ryan, "No offense, but I don't feel comfortable having someone rifling through my head, or anyone under my command, for that matter."
Sparatus huffed. "At this point, that would be the only thing that might convince me. If it makes you feel any better, you can choose who the Councilor melds with."
"Though I'd prefer to meld with a Human," Tevos cut in, "Asari have melded with them before without any problems. As we have never melded with your species, Admiral, I do not wish to accidentally cause a medical issue."
Ryan tapped M'zan on the shoulder, turning her around. "Admiral, you have sensitive information in your mind, I don't. I'm the best candidate to do this, especially if it's our best chance to avoid a fight… well, another fight, anyway."
M'zan looked uncomfortable, even though she knew he was right. Though Ryan was considered a leader within Maverick, he was not privy to any classified information, unless it was part of one of the Blades' missions. He was the best person to do this.
However, as Ryan walked over to Tevos, he was joined by Ahsoka, who gave a warning look at the Asari.
"Just so you're aware," she said in a low voice, "I'll know if you do anything to hurt him… and it will be the last thing you ever do."
Tevos, for all her centuries of keeping a straight face in difficult situations, gulped when she glanced that the still-activated lightsabers in the Togrutan's hands.
"I promise, the meld is harmless," she said, then placed her hands gently on the sides of Ryan's face, trying not to be disturbed by his glowing cybernetic.
"I should give you a fair warning," Ryan said, "I don't have the most pleasant of memories for the last few years."
Tevos nodded, and then her eyes turned black. "Embrace Eternity!"
For a few seconds, the two just stood there, not moving. Around them, the recovering C-Sec officers barely even breathed. They knew that if they could have been easily slaughtered by these people, so they weren't even going to breathe heavily, if it meant upping their chances of survival.
Finally, the two separated; Tevos took a deep breath to steady herself, while Ryan swayed slightly for a moment before recovering.
"It seems you were right, Commander Nimbus," Tevos said, "Your memories, especially for certain events, were intense, to say the least."
"Told you," Ryan said with a smirk, then placed his helmet back on his head.
"Well, Councilor?" Udina asked impatiently, "Are they telling the truth? Are they really from another galaxy?"
Tevos hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "They are. We should be somewhat grateful; nearly any of the people here would probably have killed most of us before being taken down, and some would never have been stopped at all."
Everyone from the same galaxy as Ryan stood a little straighter at his opinion of them.
Sparatus sighed. He knew when he was facing a losing battle; Tevos had been swayed by what she had seen in the meld, Valern had probably been convinced when he saw their technology, and Udina seemed to be accepting as well.
"Very well," Sparatus sighed, "I formally apologize for ordering C-Sec to attack you."
Kota stepped in front of them and deactivated his lightsaber. "Perhaps we can start over. You are looking out for the security of your peoples. We can understand that, and besides, no one is seriously hurt. I am sure that we have much to learn from each other."
All of the Councilors, Sparatus included, could recognize an olive branch when they saw it.
"Of course," Tevos said, speaking for all of them, "Perhaps a cultural or historical exchange? We don't know the first thing about your government, and I didn't get too much from Commander Nimbus, and your first encounter with our own certainly wasn't the most pleasant."
As the other Jedi deactivated their lightsabers, and the Blades weren't reaching for their weapons any more—save for Sera, who was reattaching her cannon to its cable—the Council came out from behind their table to approach.
Valern cleared his throat. "Much has happened. I suggest we retire after exchanging information and reconvene in… six hours?"
He glanced at the other Councilors when he said that last part, getting nods of agreement.
"That sounds all right," M'zan said, then turned to Wek, "Blade Three, can you get a historical summary of the last thirty years or so on a datapad? And can you get it in Talviran?"
Wek nodded, then pulled out a datapad. After connecting to the Vengeance's computers and a few minutes of typing, he handed the datapad over to Valern.
"I'll want that datapad back later," he told the Salarian, who nodded; after seeing what these people were capable of, he wasn't going to do anything to make them angry.
Valern activated his Omni-tool and scanned the contents of the datapad, then transferred it to the other Councilors' Omni-tools. Then he handed the datapad back to Wek, who took it with a small amount of surprise.
"Or you could give it back now," he said, then glanced at the Omni-tool, "Say, what is that thing?"
"Omni-tool," Valern said, raising his arm to give the Nautolan a better look, "Most people in the… in our galaxy have one."
Wek nodded appreciatively. "Holographic interface; very nice. I saw similar interfaces on several doors on the way here; is that standard technology here?"
Valern nodded and smiled. "Indeed. You don't use something similar?"
Wek shrugged. "We just prefer thick doors."
"Councilor Valern, a moment please," Tevos said, gesturing to a side-room, "Can you join us, so that we can make sure that we aren't sharing sensitive information?"
Valern nodded at Wek once again, then turned to join the other Councilors, leaving the Jedi, Admiral M'zan and the Blades alone with the disarmed C-Sec officers.
Ryan turned to Commander Bailey. "What's with split between species?"
Bailey gave him a strange look. "What, you don't have racial tensions in your galaxy?"
Ryan looked at his friends and comrades. "Maybe a little, but not to the point of excluding other species from law-enforcement."
Bailey snorted. "Yeah, well, there are still a lot of tensions between us and the aliens." He then noticed the dark looks being sent his way. "Something I said?"
"A word of warning, Commander," Ryan said darkly, "Where we're from, calling someone an alien is very, very insulting. People have been shot for that."
Bailey looked at the non-Human people—the ones from another galaxy—who were still shooting him dirty looks; Ahsoka and Starkiller were gripping the hilts of their lightsabers very tightly.
"Sorry about that," Bailey said. It had to be visitors from another galaxy. I'd take a drug-bust or a shootout over this kind of crap any day.
…
"Is there a particular reason you had us meet here?" Udina asked as he and the rest of the Council sat down, "There really isn't much to do, is there? The Codex was created for situations like this, to give newly-discovered races an easy way to familiarize themselves with the galaxy at large."
"I called this meeting because of what I saw in Commander Nimbus' mind," Tevos said, "We can't treat this as a normal first contact. In their galaxy, Humans have been the standard species that all others are compared to for thousands of years. In particular, these people have been fighting a war against a government that did several things that we, the Council, have done in the past. If we are not careful about how we distribute information, they may view us in the same light!"
"Just because they disabled a Dreadnaught in one shot doesn't mean that we can't beat them!" Sparatus exclaimed, "The Citadel Fleet has hundreds of ships!"
"And those people have gone up against weapons that can destroy planets!" Tevos said in a raised voice, "They won't be intimidated by a group that they consider primitive, no matter how outnumbered they are, and if necessary, they will fight to the last."
Sparatus nodded. "It makes sense. We don't want to antagonize them."
Valern felt torn. "I am not sure. What if they find out about the deception? The backlash could be even worse."
"I agree," Udina said, "If we are open with them from the start, that could show that we are willing to work with them."
"I appreciate your concern, Councilor," Tevos said, "But as the newest member of the Council, Humanity has no say in our policies yet."
Despite his misgivings, Valern saw that two of the three Councilors—the ones that they considered to matter, at least—were already agreed, and decided to side with the people he knew.
Udina, on the other hand, was fuming. The Alliance had given so much to the galaxy, its greatest hero had saved the lives of the Council, and indeed, the entire galaxy, but still they were pushed aside when the big decisions were being made, even when they were a part of the group that made the decisions! On top of that, Udina knew that airing the Council's dirty laundry would at least show the New Republic that they acknowledged their darker points in history. Keeping it secret would only make it worse. At the very least, Udina had to get the Alliance out of the way of any blowback.
And then it hit him. He knew of a way to get the Alliance into the New Republic's good books, and even potentially gain them as an ally.
"Very well," he sighed, playing the part of the defeated politician, "If that is the Council's decision, I will abide by it."
The other three Councilors looked at him in surprise.
"I thought you would fight this decision, Udina," Sparatus said.
Udina shrugged. "I am not Admiral Anderson, Councilors; I know when to withdraw from a losing battle."
Tevos nodded. "Very gracious of you, Councilor. Now, let us turn our attention to what we should, and should not let our… guests see."
While the non-Human Councilors talked, Udina readied his secret weapon. He had been told by his… friend, that he could use the virus that had been placed in his Omni-tool to view any piece of legislature that the rest of the Council tried to sneak past him. Today, however, he would take it one step further; he set the virus to deliver a message at the very end of the edited history, and would not appear until the entire message had been read. It was a bit of a risk, but he had been assured that not even the Salarian Special Tasks Group could crack that virus.
With the other three Councilors were busy, Udina tapped a few keys on his Omni-tool, ostensibly to organize his calendar, but in reality, he was sending the virus. After a few moments, he was done, and he sat back to wait for the rest of the Council's plan to blow up in their faces, while the Alliance reaped the benefits.
…
"It's taking them a while to get a simple history lesson," Tanith grumbled as she and the others waited.
"Oh, this is nothing," Bailey said, having overheard her, "The Council once debated for three whole hours on what kind of color carpeting a room should have."
"What did they decide on?" M'zan asked.
Bailey laughed bitterly. "They didn't decide on a color, because they then chose to let it remain a tile floor. Three hours wasted on absolutely nothin'."
"And this is why I'm glad I'm a mercenary," Wek said, causing Bailey to look at him.
"You're a merc?"
The Outcast Blades each raised a hand.
"All five of us are," Ryan said, "Though personally, I prefer the term 'paid volunteer'."
"Huh," Bailey looked at all of them, "I thought, with that armor, you were all part of some commando unit, especially with how you took down my officers as quickly as you did. Most mercs couldn't do that, at least, not in hand-to-hand."
The Blades tried not to laugh.
"No offense," Bitters said, "but your mercs must be really terrible."
"Then again," Bailey said, "Most people don't train for extensive close-combat. The only people that I know that do that as a mandatory thing are the Krogan, but they usually just punch, stomp or headbutt people."
Before any further comments could be made, the Council reemerged, and handed M'zan a datapad of their own.
"Commander Bailey, please wait outside to escort our guests back to their transport," Tevos said. Once C-Sec's presence was gone, she continued. "Admiral, that datapad has our own abbreviated history. We just had to make sure that certain sensitive material was not added in."
M'zan nodded. "Oh, don't worry, we did the same thing, removed certain names, numbers, things like that. All the major events are in there, though."
Tevos smiled, but it was a smile that M'zan, the Blades and Force Team knew well; it was the smile of a triumphant politician, and from their experiences with Mon Mothma, it was a smile to be wary of.
Just as they were about to leave, however, Councilor Udina spoke up. "Excuse me, I was wondering: do you still want a DNA sample?"
M'zan shrugged. "If you don't mind; it would be interesting to see just how closely-related the Humans from our galaxy are to you and yours."
"If you want," Ryan said, "You can take DNA from one of us, so you can draw your own conclusions." It was then that Ryan noticed that everyone from his galaxy was looking at him.
"What?"
"Thanks for volunteering," Bitters said, before driving an extractor into Ryan's neck.
"OW! What the hell!?" Ryan cried, as the medic handed over a small vial of blood to Udina, before performing the same process, albeit much more gently, on the Councilor.
After M'zan, Force Team and the Blades were escorted out, the Councilors—at least, Tevos, Valern and Sparatus—shared a victorious smile. It was only after he retired to his quarters that Udina allowed his own smile to appear.
…
The Ren's Vengeance, Several Hours Later
It had been an interesting first hour as the officers of Battlegroup Maverick reviewed what the Council had given them. Very rarely were all them gathered in one room; most of the time, they kept to their own ships, unless M'zan felt that all of them should have dinner after a particularly successful mission or something.
Sitting at M'zan's right was Maverick's second-in-command, Captain Reval Fibb. A Mon Calamari who had served under Admiral Ackbar for years, Fibb was the Captain of the Tides of Change, and was often the voice of reason that counterpointed M'zan's extremely aggressive tactics.
Next to him was the Captain of the Ocean's Majesty, the younger Mon Calamari Saff Tand. The newest addition to Maverick, Tand had always pushed himself, his ship and his crew to their limit, in order to prove themselves. Over the years, they had done so with flying colors.
Leaning back in her chair was Captain Mia Foon. A pale-skinned, dark-haired Human from Corellia, she was the Captain of the Corellian Corvette Lucky Hand. Befitting the name of her ship, Mia—she hated to be called by her last name—was a notorious gambler, but only because she won so often. The only person she ever lost to was Han Solo, a sore point that she had grumbled about for years.
Rarely seen outside of his own ship, Captain Oln of the Corellian Corvette Bright Light glared at Mia; unlike his fellow Captain, he was very professional, sitting ramrod-straight and waiting for Admiral M'zan to speak. A green-skinned male Twi'lek, Oln had deep respect for Maverick's commanding officer, even if she was far more informal that he'd like.
The last two captains were the 'twins', Captains Li'qo and Bin, of the Brave and Bold, respectively. The former was a gray-furred Bothan, and Bin was a dark-skinned Corellian; both had grown up together, and knew everything about the other. During combat, they were able to use their knowledge of the other to know when and where they would move their ships; together, they were a formidable tag-team.
The last members of the war-council were General Kota and Ryan, who were the only ground-based commanders; it was rare for any of the Marines in Maverick to set foot on a planet for a mission.
"So," M'zan began, "how did your crews react to the news?"
As soon as M'zan and her escort had returned to the Vengeance, she had told the other officers what had happened, and where they were. She had left the Captains the duty of informing their crews that they were in another galaxy, with no idea how to get back.
Fibb was the first to speak. "They were shocked, of course, but they seemed relieved that we've ended up somewhere with civilization, and I'm inclined to agree. We could have ended up in Dark Space; I'd rather get lost in any galaxy over being lost in the void between them."
The other Captains voiced similar opinions. M'zan nodded, satisfied; when she had told her own crew about what happened, all they said was that they were glad to be alive.
"Admiral," Li'qo said, raising a hand, "how are we going to proceed with this Citadel Council? We have no idea what they want."
"Actually, we do," Kota said, "It wasn't too hard to discern their intentions. Councilor Sparatus clearly just wants us gone; he saw the weapons we possess to be a threat to their superiority."
"Considering that the Vengeance took down one of their best ships with a single shot, I'm not surprised," Ryan commented.
Kota nodded before continuing. "Valern seems willing to work with us, but only so that his people can examine our technology."
"Never going to happen," M'zan said firmly, "If things go sour, I'm not going to give up any advantage. They won't get a single weapon or shield design from us."
"Agreed," Kota said, "The people of this galaxy are extremely divided by species barriers, and the balance of power hangs by a thread. Any change in that balance could set off a galactic war, and I think that we've all had enough of those.
"But moving on, I believe that Tevos is the one to watch out for; she sees us not as a threat to galactic security, but a threat to her own people's superiority. From the way the other Councilors were treating her, I'd say that she and her people have the most clout.
"Sparatus, his actions earlier notwithstanding, was doing his duty as the strong arm of the Council. His own stubbornness and pride got in the way of common sense. I believe that if he got over his own failings, he could be a potential ally, but only if he made the first move; any actions on our part to get on the Turians' good side would look like a sign of weakness."
"What about the Human Councilor?" Mia asked, "Udina, wasn't it?"
"Before you say anything, General, I have something to say about that," Ryan took a breath before speaking. "I had Bitters run an analysis of the DNA sample that Udina provided, and it turns out that the Humans of both galaxies aren't exactly identical. There's a point-zero-zero-three difference in our genetic structure, so, since our Humans have been around longer, at least by the history provided, these guys would be considered a sub-species. Bitters' words, not mine, but I wouldn't repeat them in front of our hosts."
"Speaking of history provided," M'zan said, taking over, "I'm sure you all read the material the Council provided?" after getting a series of nods, she continued, "Well, when I saw that message at the end, I had Blade Three do some searching. Apparently, the 'history' the Council gave us shows all of the good things that have happened over the last few centuries, but not the bad. Thankfully, we were able to access this 'Extranet' that exists in this galaxy—it's actually not too different in function from our own Holonet.
"I'm sending you the real version of this galaxy's history here to you now." M'zan tapped at her datapad, then sent the information to her Captains.
Tand raised a webbed hand. "Admiral, as good as it is to have the truth, what did this have to do with Councilor Udina?"
M'zan smirked. "Apparently, it was Udina who told us about the rest of the Council withholding information."
"The rest of the Council must have wanted him to keep quiet," Fibb said gravely.
"Well, I'm glad that he didn't," Ryan said, waving his own datapad for emphasis, "Thanks to the Extranet, we know more about these people than they probably ever wanted us to find. This 'Codex' of theirs is exactly what we needed."
"Despite this betrayal from most of the Council," Kota said, "We cannot just sit in this galaxy without allies."
"Well, I'm not sure that I want to be close to Sparatus," M'zan said darkly.
Kota nodded. "He could be a problem, but it's Tevos who is the untrustworthy one. Valern is cautious; I believe that he will side with the rest of the Council until he gets more information on us. Udina, on the other hand, may be our best bet; he's a coward at the core, but at the moment, he's trying to do what's best for his people."
"From what the Codex says about the Systems Alliance, and what I've read about the other major players," Ryan said, "I'd have to agree with General Kota; Udina may be our only friend right now."
M'zan sighed. "All right, we'll ask for a safe haven in Alliance space; in return for that and anything that might get us home, I'll consider sharing certain technologies. Like I said before, however, weapons and defenses are off the table.
"Captain Oln," she said, "How are we looking in terms of supplies?"
Having a head for numbers, Oln was unofficially Maverick's quartermaster. While each ship had its own official member for that task, Oln was an expert at dividing supplies appropriately.
He looked at another datapad. "We set out fully stocked; we've got plenty of power-packs, ammunition such as torpedoes and missiles, and we have enough food to last almost a year. Between our fabricators and spare parts, we could last about a year by ourselves, and that's including heavy combat. We could probably barter certain things from the Alliance to supplement what we have."
M'zan nodded. "All right, people, return to your ships; Kota, Ryan, gather your teams and head back to the Desperate. It's time to make our position clear."
…
The Citadel
"Councilors, Admiral M'zan is on her way here, along with her escort."
Tevos nodded, dismissing the C-Sec officer—Asari, much to her pleasure—who had delivered the news.
"Well, what do you think of our guests?" she asked the other Councilors.
"I find this 'Galactic Empire' to be a bit ridiculous," Sparatus admitted, "This so-called Emperor started a galactic war just so that he could eliminate these 'Jedi'."
"I noticed that General Kota was introduced as a Jedi Master," Valern said, "Judging from the attire and energy-sword, I would say that the other two are Jedi as well."
"But one of them wasn't even Human!" Sparatus said.
Valern shrugged. "The data said that the Jedi Order was an organization, not a species—an organization of peacekeepers, I might add."
"There was also the matter of this Empire being pro-Human," Sparatus said, shooting Udina a look.
For his part, Udina only smirked. "And if you had read the file past the 'all-Human' part, you would know that the founders of the Rebellion that fought against the Empire were all Human as well. And before you say anything, Admiral M'zan seems to the leader of this group, and she isn't Human."
Sparatus opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it again. Every argument he made was shot down by pure logic; the only reason he kept it up at this point was due to his own Turian stubbornness. If anything, he found himself warming up to the New Republic; the courage it must have taken to stand up to a regime that controlled most of their galaxy with nothing but decades-old technology and raw determination resonated with his military upbringing. The Rebellion's bravery would put many Turians to shame.
Valern had no animosity towards the New Republic, just curiosity about their sciences. In particular, the Jedi fascinated him; they seemed similar to biotics, but more graceful and yet utterly more powerful. He just hoped that he would get a chance to learn more… provided the Council's deception didn't backfire.
Tevos, on the other hand, was fuming. She found herself hating the New Republic; the Asari had been creating beautiful cities when Humans were still discovering fire, but these other Humans had been creating ships capable of faster-than-light travel before the Asari had ever considered spaceflight. It was infuriating to see any species more advanced than her own.
Udina found himself liking the New Republic, at least, the ones he'd met; they seemed to have a balance between the patience that politicians enjoyed, but were more than willing to jump into action, whereas the rest of the Council seemed content to drag its feet. Despite his differences with the man, Udina found himself sympathizing with the previous Human Councilor, Admiral David Anderson; the poor man had had to endure this for over two years!
As Admiral M'zan stepped into the Council chambers, the Councilors noticed something disturbing. There was a smile on M'zan's face, but it wasn't a friendly smile; it was the smile of a predator that was about to catch its prey.
"Councilors," she said, nodding respectfully, though the Councilors noted that she kept her eyes on Udina, as if she was only speaking to him.
"Admiral," Tevos said, speaking for all of them, then nodded at the woman's escort, "General Kota, Commander Nimbus."
It was then that the Council saw that the escort's number had grown; a Human woman with blond hair, black clothing and a pistol at her hip, a white-and-blue armored being whose species was concealed by the helmet he wore, armed with a pair of pistols and a scoped rifle on his back, and a purple synthetic of all things, which had a pair of the same silver tubes as the Jedi at its waist.
"Shall we get down to business?" M'zan asked, the same smile on her face.
"Yes, let's," Sparatus said, then took a deep breath. "I would like to start by formally apologizing to both you, Admiral, and the Systems Alliance, for the rash actions that I and the Turian Hierarchy made. While I find parts of your story to be… difficult to believe, what I did was uncalled for."
Neither the New Republic personnel nor the rest of the Council had expected that, if the looks of surprise were anything to go by.
"Well, since no one on our side was hurt, I think we can forgive you for that," M'zan said graciously, "And I suppose that we should offer our own apology for injuring your security."
Tevos gave a genuine smile; though Sparatus' words were unexpected, they were definitely starting this meeting on a good note.
"Now that that's over," M'zan said, her smile growing downright feral, "Do you mind explaining why you tried lying to us?"
The Council froze.
"What are you talking about?" Valern asked, though he had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew the answer.
"Well, maybe 'lied' is too strong," M'zan conceded, "But you did try to conceal a good chunk of your history.
"Unleashing a sterility-plague on the Krogan? Not allowing the Quarians to colonize a new world, even though anyone who had anything to do with the creation of the Geth died out centuries ago? Not investigating the abduction of hundreds of thousands of Humans, claiming that they 'knew the risks'? If you had come clean about this, we would have disapproved of what you did, but we would have moved on. Do you keep every new person you meet in the dark, or is it just us?"
Tevos glanced at the other Councilors. Sparatus, being a Turian, couldn't sweat, but he was definitely nervous. Valern simply sighed, having expected this reaction. Udina had a look on his face that said 'I told you so'. For her part, Tevos was just frustrated; her people had been manipulating the lesser races for centuries, millennia in some cases, and having those same manipulations so casually smashed aside bothered her more than she cared to admit.
"Despite how annoyed I am," M'zan continued, "I'm not so prideful as to say that my people can survive on our own in a completely foreign galaxy. We need a place to stay; more importantly, if it's possible, we need help to get back home."
Tevos felt a surge of hope; maybe they could salvage something from this mess after all.
M'zan dashed those hopes when she turned to the Human Councilor. "Councilor Udina, would it be possible for my people to be granted asylum in Alliance space?"
Udina looked like he had just been told he was inheriting a fortune, while the other Councilors felt varying levels of disappointment, anger, and in the case of Tevos, dread. Humanity had done in decades what most other species had taken centuries to do, and now they were getting allies in the form the New Republic?
"I will have to confirm it with my government," Udina said, "but I don't believe that they will turn you away. If you would be so kind, I would gladly meet you at your transport once I am done, to discuss some of the details."
M'zan glanced at the three Jedi, who nodded, and then she smiled at Udina. "I have no problems with that. Just please don't take too long; I don't like to stay away from my ship."
Without another word, the New Republic envoy left. As soon as they were gone, Tevos glared at Udina.
"Councilor, what did you do!?"
"I didn't do anything," Udina said, leaning back in his chair, "Those people are smart, Tevos, smart enough to check the facts; I couldn't help but notice that when you edited the historical information, you just left several centuries worth of text empty, rather than replace it with outright lies. Were you honestly expecting them to just assume that nothing happened during those centuries?"
Now Sparatus and Valern were glaring, but not at Udina. It had been Tevos who had been in charge of the editing in the end; this entire debacle was all her fault!
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Udina said, getting up, "I have to tell my government that they should expect guests soon."
It took all of Tevos' willpower not to grind her teeth. Well, at least there was one thing she could do to gain an advantage…
…
An hour later, Udina arrived at the hangar; after a moment of staring at the Desperate Measures, he approached the New Republic envoy.
"Councilor, glad to see you made it," M'zan said with a hint of impatience, "What did your government say?"
Udina smiled. "First of all, the Alliance has decided to offer you safe haven at the Luna Base, which is located on Earth's moon. Earth is the Human homeworld, in case you were wondering."
"That's good," M'zan said, relief in her voice.
"In addition, the Alliance will be sending several of our best physicists, astrogation-experts and engineers to see if anything that can be done to get you home. Of course, there are some conditions to this."
"Figures," M'zan muttered.
"The first thing we would like to do," Udina said, "Is keep the matter of your true origins a secret from the general public."
"Why's that?" Rex asked.
"There are some… well, the best term would be 'fanatics'," Udina admitted, "Who see it as Humanity's divine right to spread across the stars. If they found out that Humans existed in another galaxy… well, we're having a hard-enough time keeping them from doing something stupid."
"Understandable," Ryan said, "but what about the people who've already seen us? I mean, how many got a good look at our ships?"
Udina shrugged. "You'd be surprised what the Council has swept under the rug. Anyway, there are a few other matters; obviously, the Alliance isn't doing this for free…"
"I'm going to stop you right there," M'zan said, holding up a hand, "I know what you're going to ask, and I'll say now that any weapons or defensive technologies are off-limits."
"I thought you'd say that," Udina said, disappointed, "I had to ask. However, anything you can share would be appreciated."
"We'll have to discuss it later," M'zan told him, "For now, why don't we just head to this Luna Base; my people are tired and nervous, and so am I."
"Of course," Udina said, "I've already briefed Captain Ramirez, and her ships will escort you to the Mass Relay and head for the Sol system."
M'zan glanced at Ryan, who shrugged. They had seen the massive device known as a Mass Relay, but only after reading through the Codex did they know what it did. It was like an artificial hyperspace lane, allowing FTL-travel to any other active Mass Relay in the network; according to the Codex, there were several in each major section of the galaxy.
"No offense, but all we need is the system's coordinates," M'zan said, "Our hyperdrives can get us there in… how far away is the system from here?"
"About fifteen-hundred light-years," Udina answered.
M'zan mentally went over the math. "That's only a few hours, give or take."
If Udina thought he had seen everything, he was wrong; these people had a method of FTL that completely outclassed anything in the galaxy. With every second, he was more and more certain that getting the New Republic on the Alliance's side was the best move he had ever made.
"If that's the case," Udina said, awed, "I'll give you the coordinates and have an Alliance fleet meet you."
M'zan nodded in thanks, and then Udina tapped a set of coordinates onto a datapad.
"Thank you for what you've done, Councilor; that can't have been easy, what with the rest of the Council as it is," Kota said as he and the others began boarding the Desperate Measures, "May the Force be with you… you'll need it."
As the ship began to take off, Udina had to wonder, what the hell is the Force?
…
Normally, once they were headed back to Maverick, the Blades would start removing their armor and weapons. A look from Ahsoka, however, made them stop.
"Is something wrong?" Sera asked.
"Wait for it…" Ahsoka said, then nodded at Starkiller. The two Jedi made their way to the cargo hold, where they seemed to be waiting for something.
As if triggered by an unknown signal, both Jedi moved as one; Starkiller sent a Force-Push near the floor, while Ahsoka sent another at head-height. There was a thud and a muffled cry of pain; a moment later, a Salarian in dull-gray armor slid to the floor.
Ryan's eyes went wide behind his helmet; the people of this galaxy possessed personal stealth-generators, just like the Blades! His surprise, however, was quickly replaced by anger; he marched up to the fallen Salarian, grabbed him by the front of his armor and slammed him against the wall.
"Who are you?" he growled, "What the hell are you doing on my ship!?"
The Salarian coughed. "Jondum Bau. Council Spectre, and that's all you'll get from me."
Using the Codex, Ryan had read up on anything that might be a threat in this galaxy; out of everything, the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch, or Spectres, were the Council's best, brightest, and sometimes, the most ruthless people in the galaxy. They were given unlimited authority, the best equipment and next to no supervision.
And one of them had been trying to stow away on his ship.
Without taking his eyes off of the Spectre, Ryan shouted, "Hey, Juno…"
…
"As much as I despise the man, Udina was right about this one," Sparatus said as he and Valern walked to the Council's lounge, "Then again, it could have been worse. Spirits, I need a drink."
"It's a shame that Salarian metabolism is so fast," Valern commiserated, "If it wasn't, I'd be joining you."
"You and I both know that the Alliance will get something useful from the New Republic," Sparatus continued, "Either the STG is going to have to be even sneakier than usual, or we're going to have to do some serious boot-licking to stay in the game."
"I doubt it will be too bad for us," Valern said, "If anything, they seemed more annoyed with Tevos than us, and can we honestly say that the Asari don't need any more advantages?"
Sparatus had to admit that Valern had a point. The Asari had a near-limitless amount of eezo, and if they ever got their act together militarily, they would be a force to be reckoned with, since every single one of their people was a biotic. If the other member species of the Council got any sort of advantage from the New Republic, it would only even the playing field.
Suddenly, both Councilors' Omni-tools beeped, signaling that someone wanted to speak to them.
"Yes?" Valern asked, "Who is it?"
"Councilor, it's Commander Bailey, C-Sec," came the answer, "I thought you should know that the ship that the New Republic folks left in is coming back."
"Coming back?" Sparatus repeated, "Why would they come back?"
"I don't know," Bailey admitted, having overheard the other Councilor, "But it's coming in fast."
Valern shut off the call, then turned to his colleague. "There's a Human phrase about never saying that things could be worse."
Sparatus briefly hung his head. "Let's just find out what this is all about."
The two Councilors moved as quickly as dignity would allow, making their way to a C-Sec car and getting a ride to the hangar. When they arrived, they found the Desperate Measures hovering just above the ground; the ramp lowered, and two figures came down it, one dragging the other.
"Keep your people off my damn ship!" Ryan, sans helmet, roared, then hurled Jondum Bau bodily to the ground.
To Sparatus and Valern, the greater shock was not seeing one of their best and brightest land in a bruised and bloody heap on the ground. The greater shock was seeing Ryan's face; gone was the confident, almost amused face that they had seen just a little while ago. In its place was a face full of fury and the promise of bloody vengeance; Sparatus had seen an inkling of that kind of wrath in all of the New Republic's envoy, but now he was seeing it full-force.
And it had been a Council Spectre that had set it off.
Sparatus turned to Valern. "You didn't authorize a Spectre to infiltrate them, did you?"
Valern shook his head. "I didn't want to risk it. And Udina wouldn't send a non-Human to do anything…"
Both Councilors looked at each other and sighed.
"Maybe it's time for a certain Asari to retire," Sparatus mused, "Before she starts a war."
Okay, I know that Sparatus was the problem last chapter, but after reading more into the characters, I realized that Tevos was the real issue. I never thought about it much in the games, mostly because I hated all of the Council and just wanted to get out of the conversations with them ASAP. As idiotic as the Council seemed, I didn't want to make them so stupid as to make you wonder how they got the job in the first place. Don't worry, they're starting to smarten up.
I'm sorry that there wasn't a whole lot of action this chapter, and sadly, there won't be much next chapter, either. Chapter 5, however, will be the beginning of the really good stuff. Consider the first four chapters as introductory ones. Also, next chapter we see a few more familiar faces!
One more thing: I realized that I had never named or introduced the Captains of the other 4 ships in Maverick. Whoops. Also, every time I introduce an OC, like those two C-Sec officers, you should know that I never do something like that without a reason. They will return later!
Hold on, Shepard, I'm busy calibrating this Muffin.
