AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
Here we are now, some real meat! Shepard wakes up, we get the situation and heads to the Citadel for a chat with politicians. Just not the ones you're expecting. Yet.
Cookies for those who get the hat-tip to another game I enjoy very much.
Shout out to the 16 Irish people who have read this according to the stats, and indeed, everyone else. There seems to be a stunning number of Mass Effect/2142 fans out there, as I've had this out only a couple of days and we're looking at views in the thousands.
This chapter is where the "Humanity Fuck Yeah" vibe really starts to take off. At least I think so.
Shenanigans and the Council to come in the next chapter.
Two codex entries at the bottom as well.
Enjoy.
Chapter Two: Realpolitik
Shepard woke up, her head ringing like a bell. She was lying down on her stomach, on a bed. Cracking her eyes open, she discovered she was in the Normandy's medbay. Relieved that she wasn't dead, she rolled over and sat up, rubbing her head.
"Doctor Chakwas, she's awake," said Ashley, running over and holding her by the shoulder, "Are you alright Shepard?"
"You tell me," Shepard replied, groaning to herself as she looked around to see who else was there , "I feel like I just woke up from night of tequila."
"Well, I'm glad to report that you are still alive, and physically fine," said Chakwas, "You had us worried when they brought you in, but the only thing that was out of order was some unusual brain activity."
"That figures," said Shepard, "The beacon did something to me."
"It's my fault, I must have triggered a security field when I got close to it," Ashley said with a sigh, "You had to push me out of the way."
"I remember that part," said Shepard, "But don't worry Chief, I think the EMP strike had more to do with it than anything you did."
Ashley looked like a weight had been taken off her shoulders, and took an easy breath.
"We don't know what set it off, and now, we'll never get the chance to find out," said Chakwas.
"The beacon exploded after it was done with you, and the blast knocked you out," Ashley explained, "The Lieutenant and I carried you back to the ship."
"Thanks," said Shepard, "Doc, did you say something about brainwaves?"
"Yes, and you were experiencing increasing rapid eye movement," said Chakwas, "Were you dreaming?"
"I saw... something. Terrible things. Death, destruction," said Shepard slowly, "It's all confused."
"Hmm, I better add this to my report..." started Chakwas.
Captain Anderson walked into room in his dress blues, marching with a purpose. Ashley stood to attention and saluted. Shepard followed the chief's example, with more difficulty.
"At ease Shepard, you were hurt," said Anderson kindly, "Sit down, that's an order."
Shepard complied at once, collapsing back onto the bed, as Ashley grinned.
"If she's alright, I would like to speak to the Commander in private," Anderson said to Chakwas and Ashley. The gunnery-chief saluted, and left after a glance at Shepard.
"All readings are normal Captain, she's fit for duty," Chakwas added, before following Ashley out into the mess hall.
"Looked like the beacon hit you pretty hard," said Anderson, "Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine. Was a little surprised to find Chief Williams here though."
"I figured we could use a soldier like her. She's been reassigned to the Normandy."
"Williams is a good soldier, even if she is Army, sir," smiled Shepard, "She kicked ass groundside."
"Lieutenant Alenko thought so too, which is why I agreed to back her transfer to the Hell Brigade."
"You said you needed to speak to me in private?" said Shepard.
"I won't lie to you Shepard, things look bad. Nihlus is dead, the beacon is destroyed and the geth are invading."
"The Council are going to squeeze us for this," said Shepard, "Instead of a tidy op and Prothean secrets, they get a dead Spectre."
"That's not even the biggest of our problems. Eden Prime was a symbol of humanity's reach for the stars. An emergency session of Parliament has been called, and the media is buzzing. Colonies across the Traverse are fearing for their existence, and the people back on Earth are treating it like a new Pearl Harbour."
"With respect sir, isn't that exactly how we should be treating it?" asked Shepard.
"That's not our determination to make," said Anderson, "The situation with the Council is delicate because we lost the beacon, and we can't fight the geth and the Citadel at the same time."
"The Council can kiss my ass, they can't blame me or humanity for losing the beacon," said Shepard loudly, "We didn't do anything wrong."
"The Cabinet of Ministers agrees with you," said Anderson, "They've already decided to back you and your report. You were a hero to many on Earth after Torfan, they're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren, the other turian."
Anderson sighed, and paced about for a moment. Shepard looked on. The Captain had a disgusted look on his face at the very mention of the turian's name.
"Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. Saren's dangerous, and he despises humans."
"Why?" asked Shepard.
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy," said Anderson.
"Aren't we?" smirked Shepard.
"We've come very far in a short time, sure. Point is that we don't have malicious intentions towards anyone," replied Anderson, "But intentions don't matter to Saren, and he has allied to the geth somehow. And the only clue we have is that beacon."
"The beacon picked you up before it blew up, did it give you any information? Anything that might tell us what Saren's after?"
"A vision of some kind, synthetics, maybe geth, slaughtering people. Bodies stacked as high as buildings, planets burning," said Shepard, grimacing at the implanted memory.
"We need to report this to the Alliance, Shepard," said Anderson.
"And say what exactly?" she asked incredulously, "That I had a bad dream?"
"Prothean data-troves could have any type of information in them. For all we know, you just had the plans for Prothean superweapons downloaded into your mind, information Saren could use against us. I know him, he believes humans are a blight on the galaxy, and this attack was an act of war. With Prothean secrets and an army of geth behind him, he may try to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
"I'll take him down or die trying, sir," said Shepard grimly, looking away, "The way he killed Nihlus was barbaric."
"It's not that easy," said Anderson, "He's a Spectre, so he can go anywhere and do almost anything without consequences. He has resources beyond that of entire corporations or colonies. And Parliament will still want his head on a plate."
"Won't the Council be pissed if we just kill one of their top agents?"
"Well, the ministers are currently deciding how to deal with the Council," said Anderson, "The ambassador has also been contacted to arrange a meeting, so we can present our report. What our report says will depend on what our own government decides. I don't expect we'll be apologising any time soon."
"So what next?" asked Shepard.
"We're already on the way to the Citadel," said Anderson, "When we get there, you'll brief the ambassador and the government on what you found down there. After that, we'll meet the Council and see what they have to say."
"And if the Council say that they won't let us hunt down Saren?"
"Then it's war," said Anderson, almost with a growl, "Probably taking the whole galaxy with us."
Shepard left the medbay after fifteen minutes, as Chakwas performed some final checks and prescribed some booster pills to keep up her strength. Anderson left to talk to the ambassador about the visions she had after the beacon picked her up, and Shepard was nervous that they would think she was mad. Getting Category-6'ed out of the navy was not her preferred retirement plan.
The thought left her head, as Ashley waved her over to the mess table.
"I'm glad you're okay, Commander, the crew could use some good news after what happened to Jenkins," said Ashley, "Part of me feels guilty about what happened, it feels like I'm replacing him."
"You're a good soldier in your own right, you're not replacing him," said Shepard, trying to put her worries to rest, "But when a person's number is up, it's up."
"That's grim Commander. I guess it's unsurprising that you'd see it that way though, with Torfan and all. That must have been hell."
"What happened had to happen. We all signed up knowing that we were signing up to give our lives so others could live. Doesn't mean I like sacrificing soldiers, I just understand why we need to."
"I understand as well ma'am, and I won't let the Alliance down," said Ashley, standing straighter.
"I know you won't," replied Shepard, "And for the record, I'll miss Jenkins. He was a good man."
Shepard paused for a moment, looking at the gunnery-chief. She had been through a lot in her own right on Eden Prime.
"What about you, Williams?" she asked, "Things got rough for you as well, are you okay?"
"I've seen friends die before, I've been in combat. It's just, my entire unit... The civilians hanging from those spikes... I'm just glad you showed up when you did."
"Give yourself some credit too," said Shepard, "You survived on your own against plenty of geth before we came."
"Thanks Commander. I was worried about being assigned to the Normandy, it's nice when someone makes you feel welcome."
"You kicked a lot of ass back on Eden Prime," said Shepard, "I'm very glad to have you."
"Thanks."
The Citadel was a marvel in Shepard's eyes, and she spent the approach to dock with it gawking out of the windows with Ashley and Kaidan. The size of the station, its wards, the colour from the nebula behind it, even its defence fleet was beautiful. Of course, Shepard knew what the beauty was hiding. The Citadel Council had dominated the galaxy for thousands of years, cooperating together to solve many problems, but also insuring the dominance of the top species. Humanity, not even on the galactic scene for the space of a single human lifetime never mind that of an asari, did not register as a "major" species.
That was changing. With the defeat of the batarians, an act that Shepard had no small part in bringing about, even the turians had sat up and taken notice. The batarians had reacted to humanity's entry with state-sponsored terrorism and criminality. The Council approved heartily when the Alliance crushed the batarian military but refrained from conquering the Kite's Nest outright. They then asked that humanity climb down from a militarised stance, wanting humans to fall into line, to rely on the turians for defence like the rest. The Alliance refused, pointing to the Terminus Systems and the lack of action by the Council to secure the Traverse. What came about was a stalemate, between humanity's desire to go forth and conquer those that would do it harm, and its desire to avoid the isolation and eventual humiliation that the batarians inflicted on themselves by withdrawing from the Citadel.
These tidbits of history and politics flooded Shepard's mind as she was taken to the human embassy on the Presidium. With the geth attacking, the balance could tip either towards integration or isolation of humanity from the rest of the galaxy. The Commander knew she would have some role to play, and she was not looking forward to it. Political bullshit always had a way of obscuring duty.
"It's an outrage!" shouted Ambassador Udina as Shepard stepped into the embassy's main officer, "The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!"
The ambassador was standing in front of a communications platform, and three holographic figures stood on it.
Two of them were recognisable to pretty much any human in the galaxy: Alexander deBankole and Alice Dennison. The consuls of the Systems Alliance, the leaders of humanity. The former was a retired European army general of African descent, whereas the latter was a former CEO of various corporations and a cousin of the President of the United States.
Together, they possessed immense power, rivaled by no other executive in the galaxy save for the Primarch of Palaven.
Shepard was surprised to see these legendary public figures. She had expected to talk to High Command, maybe Admiral Hackett on Arcturus. She felt her throat tightening as she realised that things must be grave indeed.
The third holographic figure was a woman in an army combat uniform. She didn't seem to be paying attention as she was reading from a datapad and kept flicking her hair out of her face. Shepard saw what she was immediately; a spook.
"Yes Ambassador, but could we have expected any other outcome?" said deBankole, "The Council are very fond of pointing out the dangers of settling near the Terminus Systems."
"I'm not sure the geth are what they had in mind when they gave those warnings," added Dennison, "The threat is hardly only to humanity at this point, yet the Council's back is up because of the loss of both the beacon and a Spectre."
"Not to mention the fact that one of their own might have carried out the whole attack," said Udina, "We need to act."
"The Cabinet has been recalled and Parliament's recess cancelled for an emergency closed session," said Dennison, "We need to act, but we need to do so wisely. War is coming, and we cannot go to war unprepared."
"C-Sec are investigating our evidence against Saren," said Udina, his tone making it perfectly clear how useless he thought that to be.
"Were our positions reversed, I do not doubt that we would try the same delaying tactic," said deBankole, "Not to mention that our evidence is flimsy at best."
Anderson stepped forward, and coughed.
"Ah, Captain Anderson," said Udina, "I see you brought Shepard with you"
"In case the consuls had any questions," said the captain.
"Indeed we do, Anderson," said deBankole, "Commander Shepard, it is truly a pleasure to make your acquaintance. You have served humanity well."
Dennison scoffed.
"If you call alienating our allies with brutal tactics to be service," she said, "Served humanity, deary me Alex, you really can be an ideologue sometimes."
"I did as I was ordered on Torfan, nothing more," replied Shepard.
"Of course, Commander," she said, "I didn't mean to insult you."
"I don't expect tact from an American," grinned deBankole, "So I am not offended."
Shepard was slightly shocked to hear the two leaders of her species bickering almost like children.
"And I don't expect common sense from a European," replied Dennison, "But we can insult each other later. Udina?"
"We have the mission reports you sent ahead," said Udina, putting the meeting back on course, "Can we assume they're accurate?"
"They are," replied Anderson, "Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience."
"They were not happy about it," stated Udina angrily, "Saren is their top agent, they don't like him being accused of treason."
"What they like is irrelevent," said Shepard, "He attacks a human colony, he dies."
"Our thoughts exactly, Commander," said deBankole, "The geth will have to be dealt with as well."
"Terra Firma are already calling publicly for the Strategic Deterrence fleet to be deployed to the Veil," said Dennison, "They want us to drop enough nukes on Rannoch and the other geth strongholds to send the synthetics 'back to the Stone Age' as they put it."
"Is that actually an option?" asked Anderson, raising an eyebrow.
The two consuls turned to their other companion, who finally raised her eyes off of her work.
"No, Captain, it is not an option," she said, "We have zero real intelligence about geth defences in the Veil because that's the only thing the quarians won't share with us under our existing agreements, not to mention getting into a war with the Migrant Fleet because we blew up their homeworld would be foolish in the extreme."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Shepard as politely as she could.
"Karla Haider, Alliance Defence Intelligence Directorate," she said, smiling brightly, "Pleased to meet you, Angel of Death."
Shepard chuckled a bit. Her reputation followed her everywhere, but the tone of Haider's use of her more flattering nickname was not hostile in the slightest. She decided she liked the intel officer.
"Colonel Haider is the chief liason from the DID to our office," explained Dennison, "And she's very good at her job. We won't be going off on any crusades into the Perseus Veil any time soon if she says we can't do it."
"Any word on how all of this will affect Shepard's chances of becoming a Spectre?" asked Anderson, "We could use a political victory right about now."
"To be frank, I don't think we'll be seeing that happen any time soon," droned Udina, "Eden Prime was supposed to be a win-win for both ourselves and the Council. But instead, Nihlus is dead and the beacon is destroyed."
"That's Saren's fault, not Shepard's!" said Anderson loudly.
"Then we better hope C-Sec actually does its job, and turns up more evidence to support our accusations," scoffed Udina, "The chances are not good."
"In the mean time, we need to discuss the other issue here," said Dennison, "We kept the report about your visions out of the set we sent to the Council. For good reason."
"You believe me?" asked Shepard, taking her meaning.
Dennison again turned to Haider, and coughed to get the officer's attention. Haider held up a finger and did something with her datapad, before looking up from it once again.
"When we first informed the Council about our Prothean Archives facility on Mars, the asari inquired about how many people died or went mad in order to get it working. At the time and to this day, no one had or has died at the archives, and the question was strange enough for the DID to investigate. Apparently many Prothean data-troves operate much like the reports on the beacon on Eden Prime indicate. The computer interfaces directly with the mind of the person trying to access the information. On Mars, the archives work via a console containing a VI-like interface. We don't know why what we got was different, but we do know that other species have had to be careful when studying Prothean tech."
"So my visions could be information downloaded from the beacon?" asked Shepard.
"You're lucky to be alive and sane," said Haider, "If the beacon didn't explode, you would likely be dead. The beacons just weren't built for the brain physiology of any species alive today."
"I'm hoping that whatever it did, it gave you something useful, Commander," said deBankole, "Under no circumstances are you to inform the Council that you interfaced with the beacon. They are in no mood to believe us, and if we so much as hint at it when we accuse Saren, they will dismiss the whole affair out of hand."
"Ambassador, you are to decline any offers of military aid and are forbidden to request it from the Council," said Dennison, "It is extremely likely that Parliament will sign off on occupying the Traverse ourselves. That is in our interests, just as beating the batarians out of the Verge was."
"Won't that set off a war with the Terminus Systems?" asked Udina, "Are we at that point?"
"Eden Prime was sacred ground, ambassador, Earth and all the colonies are in uproar," said deBankole, "Humanity shall not shrink from conflict with barbarians or synthetics. An uneasy peace is often worse than war."
"And we're very good at war," added Haider, with a smile, "Less so with peace."
"True enough," replied Dennison, frowning.
After a final exchange of pleasantries, the transmission stopped. The holographic images fizzed out of sight and the audio cut out with a hum. Shepard turned to Udina.
"The Council will meet with us tomorrow," said Udina, "They want time to go over our reports in full, as well as to contact Saren so that he can hear the charges against him. Come on Anderson, we have a lot to organise before then."
"You're on R&R until then Shepard," said Anderson, "You could use some downtime after Eden Prime."
"Yes, sir," said Shepard, "Thank you."
Codex: Alliance Government
Like most human democratic government, the Alliance is governed by an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. Unlike the asari republics, which rule by an all-inclusive e-democracy, humanity embraces representative democracy with referendums for matters of constitutional reform.
The highest office in the Systems Alliance is the Consulate. Two consuls are in office at the same time, one female and one male. One consul acts as head of state, chief foreign affairs minister and head of the military. The other acts as the head of government, running the internal affairs of the Alliance. Both act as finance minister, though junior ministers assist in this role. Both consuls are elected by Parliament, to insure that the executive has the support of the legislature at all times. Consuls that lose the confidence of the Alliance Parliament must step down and call a general election. Together, the consuls select a cabinet of ministers to run the Alliance's government and civil service.
The Alliance Parliament is based on the old German and European federal model. It has two chambers, the Consilium and the Senate. The Senate is a directly elected body of 750 delegates from Earth and her colonies, and is the more powerful of the two chambers of Parliament. The Consilium (renamed from Council after first contact) is the direct representation of the governments of Earth and the colonies, insuring a strong voice for both the old states of the homeworld and for all but the smallest of colonies.
Codex: Alliance Strategic Deterrence
With the end of the First Contact War, humanity was given access to the history of the galaxy, including that of the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions. The tales of worlds destroyed by weapons of mass destruction, deorbited moons and redirected asteroids shook the very core of Alliance military thinking. Once again, humanity turned to its own experience in order to counteract the possible destruction of its worlds.
Within a year of the end of hostility with the turians, the Alliance Strategic Weapons Division had designed, constructed and tested a variety of nuclear, neutron and EMP superweaponry. As of 2183, a triad of options exist for delivery of such weapons; from FTL-capable bombers, stealthy missile frigates, or extreme range VI-directed cruise missiles capable of being launched through relays.
The doctrine for the use of such weapons is simple; if humanity is hit, it can and will hit back harder.
This has allowed the Alliance military to remain at less than 3% of the human population, as both the military and political elite know they have a last resort to fall back on should they require it. Strategic bomber forces and missile frigates are stationed all over human space, particularly on the borders with the Batarian Hegemony and the Terminus Systems.
Missile frigates are named after famous last stands in human history, evoking the fact that if they are ever called to be used in anger then the situation is extremely grave.
