Hierarchy: a system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority.

"This vid is more than 2000 years old?" Saren chuckled slightly beside her. His arm wrapped around her shoulders holding her close to his frame at Jane's behest. Apparently it was a stereotypical way that the courting male in human culture would hold the female during vids.

The fact that there was a designated.. cuddling arrangement explained a lot about humans in his mind. Confusing.

"Disbelief? This vid came out shortly after the Unification Wars. Turians have been a space-faring society for more than 23 centuries Jane."

"Well... we humans were still enslaving each other and creating bloodthirsty empires back then. Top that."

She forgot to mention the raping and pillaging.

The vid was starting now with a brief monologue from a narrator detailing some of the major acts of bravery Palavenian war heroes had made to bring about the Hierarchy. Surprisingly, this was one of the few parts of the vid where it seemed to be truly respectful.

"This vid, The Fall of Karanis, is considered one of the most politically dangerous documentary vids ever produced in turian history. Careanix Fellius, the director who made it was commissioned by the newly formed Hierarchy to produce a vid to celebrate the victory of the homeworld over the rebelling peripheral colonies. Fellius was from Acranel Minor, a colony on the fringe of inner turian space, and a sympathizer. He took it as a personal challenge to hide as many subtle insults to the Hierarchy as he could in the vid."

"So this is a form of.. satire? I didn't even know turians did satire."

"I suppose in a way it is satire. Though at the time of its release it was streamed into every home with a vid-screen or the more primitive version of extranet so it proved extremely destabilizing to the fragile peace after the war. Some outer colonies took it as a rallying cry and the inner colonies took it as a sign that perhaps the middle colonies were in need of surveillance too, and failing that open investigation. The Hierarchy brutally crushed any further resistance afterwards."

The acting was gritty. Very real. Even Jane, who couldn't hear the subvocals as the turians keened over lost loved ones seemed to feel the sense of sadness that seemed to go through every Karanis colonist as their resistance was slaughtered. A comforting purring rumble unwittingly escaped his chest as he noticed Jane's unease and she hugged closer to him. The shelling was incredibly realistic; limbs flying everywhere and blood everywhere. Turian dedication to getting the job done being shown in the special effects.

"Is showing the deaths of the colonists in a sympathetic light a part of the satire?"

Good question, but no.

"The Hierarchy in all of their rhetoric had always mentioned that the loss of fellow turians was a loss felt by all in their calls for the colonists to submit."

The Hierarchy's tendencies to total war tactics had really been forged by guerilla warfare employed by the insurrectionists in the Unification Wars. She was watching the premier of contemporary turian military tactics.

He hadn't watched the vid before. It was heavily restricted in turian space and he'd had to buy it from a salarian sociologist months ago. He'd never gotten around to watching it but he'd read a lot of essays on it by various turian political commentators at the time so he knew a lot of what was going to happen.

Travelling between relays could result in boredom, even for him.

"Is there a reason why the focus of the shot was on the occupying officer's talons? And then a quick arcing shot showing his markings before focussing back on the files he was working on?"

He couldn't help rumbling his delight. He'd hoped she'd catch that.

"Nowadays, blunted talons are a sign of utilitarianism. Civility... In those times, blunted talons on a male were seen as a sign of weakness; impotence even. The markings he was wearing are of the colony, Macale. The first colony to peacefully surrender to Palaven orders to submit to the newly established Hierarchy."

"So, Fellius is implying that those who submit to the Hierarchy are spineless?"

"Precisely, but the meaning is a bit deeper than that. I'm aware that humans have a saying, 'you are only as strong as your weakest link'," she nodded and he continued, "turians have a saying quite similar, 'those who fight beside you will channel your strength and honour, and you will channel theirs.' By indicating that those who submit to Palaven are weak, Fellius is also implying that Palaven itself is weak. Dishonourable even."

"What exactly happened to Fellius?"

"He disappeared shortly afterwards. Popular opinion was that he was assassinated by Hierarchy agents about two weeks following the debut of the vid. The rest of the film's crew were executed for treason."

She shuffled against his waist in an expression of discomfort.

".. that seems a little 1984-ish."

"1984?"

"A dystopian human novel written almost 250 years ago. It's about a government worker who realizes that the regime he lived under was oppressively authoritarian. He tries to rebel but ends up brainwashed and his companion lobotomised. The government continually rewrote history. Kept the lower classes in a state of cultural stasis. Removed intimacy from sex. Simplified conversational language. Radicals disappeared as they appeared... and the infamous endless surveillance... 'Big Brother is watching you'. My father gave it to me when I was a teenager and had asked what salarians were like."

"I'm not surprised your father gave it to you. It seems similar in ways to both salarian governance and STG practices. Batarians too."

The main character was on screen now. A young turian teenager called Varius Troxes who was watching the occupying Hierarchy forces parading. She likely wouldn't recognise the insult here.

"Do you see where the commanding officer is standing?"

"The one in the middle of the formation with the golden sigil on his chestplate? A sign of the occupiers cowardice?"

"Exactly. It is indeed a sign of cowardice. In most turian formations, the commanding officer either takes point or takes the rear. Though the placement of the commander is correct for the formation they are using, it's an indication of fear or if the commanding officer is too important to lose. All the colonists still remaining are tired. Defeated. A sign of extreme paranoia and over caution when their victory is completely unopposed. You'll also notice that the commander has the blue geometric markings of Cipritine, the capital of Palaven. It is historically accurate as the turian who'd led the Hierarchy forces on Karanis had been from Cipritine but the formation used is still damning."

"I see... I thought markings were only for colonies?"

"Cipritine is the closest thing that turians have to a megapolis. They're generally considered too tactically unsound for large scale habitation. The culture in Cipritine is different enough from the rest of Palaven to warrant its own markings. Also it's a form of prestige as all the most highly ranked turians come from Cipritine. Like the Vakarian child on Nihlus's assignment."

"Garrus?

"Yes. Marcuriel's son. His father, Legate Vakarian, is maybe 8th in line for Primarch of the Palaven colony cluster. Vakarian is a big name in turian space. Historically distinguished for its civic duty."

"Legate?"

"His father is the governor of Cipritine. Responsible for its day-to-day management."

She seemed shocked. He supposed he could understand, in human society there seemed to be an expectation that the children of rich, important humans were essentially given jobs in their parents fields. If the Vakarian child wanted to follow in his father's footsteps he'd need to ascend at least 12 citizenship tiers before even being considered. 15 for it to be guaranteed.

He himself was at the 20th of the 27 tiers. Largely due to his work with Blackwatch in field testing and his periodic papers on mass effect ballistics. He was ruled out of any form of governmental or military position until he left the Spectres and made an effort to reintegrate himself into turian society.

"What about your family. The Arterius name?"

He paused the vid.

He'd happily speak to her of his background. She'd told him quite a bit about her own. It was only fair.

"The Arterius name... we've always been a small clan. Isolated and distant from our fellow colonists on Aephus due to our biotics. I had a fairly typical upbringing for a turian fledgling... biotic and shooting training with my parents, collecting scrap metal in the forests surrounding the shipyards with my brother..."

She was giggling against his chest. What... did she think he popped out of the womb with a gun and his cybernetics already in?

Though... as a fledging he did have a toy gun and a toy visor. It wasn't entirely untrue, in a way.

She was slightly hysterical.

"You... you collected scrap metal?"

"I was a fledgling like all other turians. Of course I played. Are you telling me young humans do not?"

She slapped his chest in a playful manner and snuggled closer to him.

"Of course I did. If you'd listen to my father that is. As a toddler, the stage where a human child can first start attempting to walk, I was climbing and crawling over everything. Apparently at one point I followed my mother to the mess and climbed onto the table next to her plate and tried to steal her food."

He couldn't help but laugh. The idea of a red haired baby crawling behind an Alliance officer about a ship undetected was ludicrous. Jane was watching him with a form of indulgent disbelief, mouth slightly open. He shocked her out of it with a brief kiss to her lips.

"Stop gaping. It's unattractive."

With a small frown she slapped his chest again. It was tempting to chuckle again.

"I mean... you're meant to say 'really?!'. Not laugh. It's obviously bullshit."

"... I don't know. Humans being unable to detect a baby infiltrator seems typical of human military capabilities."

She rolled her eyes and embraced him after climbing into his lap. Voice mumbled against his naked chest.

"You're such an asshole, Saren. Continue. I liked hearing about adorable, harmless, 'collects scrap metal in forests' Saren. A lot better than the current one."

He snorted but returned her embrace, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"My brother and I were close. He was really the only friend I had as a fledgling. The other turians were incredibly distant to me due to the long-standing stigma attached to turian biotics. My brother went for his military training at 15 and I went to a biotic academy on Menae, Palaven's lunar military base, for further training at 9. My parents took the opportunity to re-enlist and died shortly afterwards on Omega in a mission."

Her embrace tightened slightly but she didn't say anything, he returned the pressure with a slight smile that she couldn't see.

"My brother hardened incredibly as a result and fell out of contact with me as he began his command training. I buried myself in my training ignoring the other biotics. We were all poorly socialized due to our upbringings resulting in little contact with non-family members. It took a long time for any sense of comfort to be established between us. By then though, I'd been recognized as a prodigy and assigned to a cabal at 16."

He sighed. Recalling his brother's descent to madness never pleased him to recall. He began stroking Jane's back in an attempt to keep himself calm.

"Then the Relay 314 Incident happened and my brother... seemed to completely lose it. We'd had very little contact prior. Between my prepation for my bid for Spectre training and his position as a General we hadn't met face to face since I was 11. Where before he'd been a little cold, somewhat prickly. He was megalomaniacal, deluded even. Following the end of the brief conflict he planned on unleashing a bioweapon from the Temple of Palaven to bring all turians under his control and dominate the galaxy. I was the one to call the orbital bombardment on the Temple to destroy the weapon, himself and the thralls he'd converted with it... I shed my markings as a response. The Arterius clan in my eyes was finished and my colony markings just served as a reminder of it. My reputation over the course of the years has done little to engender any admiration for the Arterius name. Awe and fear in abundance, but very little admiration."

She'd shown no reaction to the reveal of his brother's plot though she'd been shocked by the fact he'd had to order his death with a quiet gasp into his chest.

As he finished speaking she looked up at him with something significant in her eyes.

"... the Arterius name is important to me. Didn't you take me into your family by marking me?"

"Yes."

"Maybe I should tell you how my opinion of your name has changed over time. When I first met you. Arterius, to me, meant unease, human-hater, dislike and intimidating. Now though? It means security... human hater." He couldn't help but squeeze her in reprimand and she laughed against him.

"It's true! You need to work at it!... Love, intimidating... though intimidating in a 'shit, he's looking at me like he wants to devour me' kind of way now, comfort.. I could go on really but I'm going to tell you something. Something important."

Her smile was equally teasing and mystifying.

"Go on..."

"In turian bonded relationships I assume the lower tier turian takes the higher tier turian's last name and colony markings, correct?"

He nodded. It was true.

"I suppose that I'll just keep mentally referring to myself as Jane Shepard instead of Jane Arterius. After all the Arterius name is finished... right?"

He backtracked fast. Lifting her up so she was in direct vision of his eyes and could see the pure possessiveness that ran through them at the idea. She shivered.

"The name is more than alive. It lives on in both of us as you belong to me."

"Will you ever tire of reminding me that?"

He tilted his head at her in mock consideration. Of course not.

"... No."