Intermission Part 2: Meeting the Unknown
Authors Note: This chapter is mostly world-building, but there's some information at both the start and the finish of the story that won't get repeated for a long time otherwise. Most of the world-building here is about the structure of the Combine. I want to emphasize that the Combine is not intended to be utopian, it's simply the sort of government I could see evolving out of the desires of two such disparate powers seeking some sort of stable alliance.
Review responses: There was a question regarding the Rannoforming Codex entry, as to whether it meant that Combine forces were limited due to their expansion, or the expansion was limited due to the availability of Combine forces. Expansion has been limited to those systems which the Combine is certain it can defend. Usually, though not always, that includes major military facilities on the ground and in space, as well as a local fleet.
There was a comment that the Quarians didn't tell anyone what they were up to. Indeed not. Since there's no group of 17 million people in the universe that can keep a secret, the Migrant Fleet initiated a no contact protocol and closed all external communication while it was debating, then tracked every ship extremely closely to make sure no one got 'left behind' and went off to sell the news of new peoples and technology to the highest bidder. A little more about how they've kept their new allegiance secret is discussed below.
There was a comment suggesting using the psionic jammers to identify psionics. This is an excellent idea and one of the effects of static defenses. However it only identifies 'active' psionics. That is, those whose abilities are functional. The reasons for this are that until potential psionics are 'activated' they can't actually do anything psionic, including 'hear' at that frequency, otherwise we'd have had provable psionics around for all of Human history. Now, powerful inactive psionics have occasionally shown some signs that might be increased irritation at being within the jamming field, or might have been irritation at scientists who wouldn't leave their experiment well enough alone. As the modern Combine offers free psionic testing for all potentials and most take them up on it, this isn't usually an issue.
There was a question regarding whether or not Ardat-Yakshi were Asari psionics. No comment at this time.
Finally, a brief reminder, as I said in the preface to Chapter 3, this will not be a story where Humanity (and Quarianity) claim the Ethereal's technology, go forth into the galaxy and slap around the rest of the galaxy with their superior technology. There's a lot of stories like that and I enjoy most of them (especially those dealing with the Batarians), but it's not this story.
Thanks for the reviews!
"Commander, report," the Chair of the X-Com Committee ordered.
Codex: X-Com Committee, Unlocked.
"You have full briefing packets, but, to summarize, first contact is generally proceeding in line with Scenario 27. The main distinction from that prediction is the surprisingly negative reaction of the Asari. We believe this to be the result of two factors, the communication decisions made by the Admiral and the unfortunate choice of target to protect. As we did not transmit any image of ourselves, the Asari generally are viewing us as secretive, though the young who make up the bulk of the population and the bulk of their military are more concerned with us potentially proving to unattractive, or worse, incompatible."
"Well, we know that's not bloody true," Member 7 grunted, fond memories making his voice wistful.
The Commander filed that away, the members of the Committee were supposed to be anonymous, but that didn't keep her from wanting to know who they were. Not for any improper reason, of course, just so she could properly…tailor her arguments to her audience to ensure they took the correct course of action. The fact that Member 7 appeared to have had intimate contact with an Asari radically reduced the number of people he might be.
Member 9 spoke up, she was obviously Margaret Steele, the newscaster, as she didn't bother attempting to conceal her famous voice, "That will get sorted out once we meet with them. What we're here to discuss is how fleets of Asari and Batarians and pirates made it into Combine space without any warning at all from the agency responsible for our external security."
"The Batarians and pirates followed the Asari. We did not know about the business with the Asari because they went to a lot of trouble to keep it secret."
"The fact that a colony far from our borders was able to send out a convoy without us knowing doesn't concern me," Member 1 said. "What does—"
"We did know about it, sir. We just didn't know where they were going," the Commander interjected, unwisely.
"And you didn't know a pirate fleet was moving into our space? I can believe the Asari kept their secrets. I can even believe the Batarians did, they wouldn't have to tell anyone but the commander of that fleet, but the pirates? There's no way to get three pirate ships to go anywhere without their captains knowing. That was dozens of people in the know," Member 1s voice was acid. As the longest serving Member (everyone's number changed every three months, when one of the sixteen members of the Committee retired) Member 1 had sat through almost a hundred meetings with the Commander and wasn't about to be talked over.
"The vast majority of the pirate fleet was made up of a single gang, the Black Varren," the Commander explained, stretching the meaning of 'vast majority' to the breaking point. "The remainder were hangers-on who followed without knowing anything except that there might be gleanings for them to pick over. However, you are correct. We should have known. One of our officers did know and made every effort to get word back to us. Unfortunately, his ship suffered an engine failure and he was unable to reach the Observer in time for word to get back to us. Bad luck."
"You're meant to be bad luck for our enemies," Member 16 muttered over the click of prayer beads in a calm, computer generated voice.
"Yes and we will be, if they prove to be our enemies. However, the Parliament has voted to meet with them," the Commander's voice tightened, "despite the Admiral overstepping his authority, and has expressly stated that X-Com is not to interfere."
"Of course. Half the damn Combine wants trade opened with Citadel Space, the other half just wants to fuck Asari," Member 12 snapped.
The Commander didn't have a response to that. Before she was required to come up with one, the door to the communication's chamber opened, letting in her aide. That was unusual. The panic in the man's eyes was even more unusual. The Central Officer had served two decades as an X-Com field operative and another three as the Commander's primary aide, hers and her two predecessors. Nothing worried him. With a quick apology, she asked to be dismissed. The Chair granted that and she left the room to discover what was wrong.
"What's all that then?" Member 15 asked.
"Either an actual problem, or the Commander making an excuse to duck our questions, again," Member 1 said, heaving a heavy sigh.
"Not like we're short on actual problems. What the fuck was the Admiral thinking?" Member 2 asked, sibilant esses elongating her words slightly, despite the best efforts of the translators.
"That we weren't going to let a hundred thousand Asari get massacred on our doorstep? Even if they don't like to have sex with aliens?" Member 7 asked, launching a dig at Member 12, and himself.
"And he didn't reveal any of our tech advantages," Member 3 put in, unexpectedly, as the man almost never spoke during Committee meetings (or outside them for all the other Members knew, as none of them knew one another, or ever met in person).
"No, but the meeting will do that," Member 2 countered.
"We do not need to replay the debate that took place on every colony and every channel last week. This is properly the responsibility of the Combine Parliament and they've made their decision," Member 1 said. Before any of the others could respond, he spoke to the Chair. "Unless there's other business, I believe this meeting is concluded."
"Indeed. Until the Commander can return, schedules a new session, or the next standing session, whichever is earlier, this Committee stands in recess."
XXXXX
Chaix fidgeted. In her century of service to the Republic of Lusia, she'd worn the dress uniform of the Asari Republics exactly once before, when she'd briefly served on the Destiny Ascension and the ship had been inspected by the Council. But she was here, over her strong objections, as a representative of the Republics as a whole. Despite her arguments that she didn't know anything and that her, calmer, sister would be more useful, she'd still been assigned to the contact team.
The Council thought it was a reward and her own family pleased by it, but she'd rather be back on Lusia working to get her flotilla repaired. On the other hand, the trip out had been educational. The Council had put together a fleet larger than any Chaix had ever seen to act as backup, holding position at the nearest omni-directional relay, while the single ship bearing the ambassadors went in. If she'd been allowed to stay back there and poke around, talking to officers of all the various powers which had contributed ships and comparing systems, tactics and training, that would have been a good use of her time. But here, she was simply window-dressing and she was bored.
Well, not at that exact moment, as they were finally in the prefabbed building, with the Combine envoys' shuttle inbound, no more than a minute out, but she'd been bored for a very long time. The Council had decided on a display of unity, so there was a representative from each of the Citadel species and nations present, though the Council nations each had a number of other representatives, with Turian guards and military attaches, Asari for diplomatic matters and Salarians for scientific ones. Of the other groups, only the Volus had two representatives, one to represent the Banking Committee and one representing the Volus themselves.
Codex: Banking Committee, Unlocked.
The Combine shuttle touched down and Chaix examined it on the cameras (only guards were outside the large cubical prefabbed structure). Supposedly having the envoys come to them would create a psychological advantage, making them feel like supplicants, that seemed stupid to her, but the Council was looking for any advantage to counter the obvious knowledge the Combine possessed about them and their complete dearth of knowledge regarding the Combine. The shuttle was a sleek personnel shuttle, with heavy armor, unarmed, but with the ease of motion that suggested an over-sized Eezo core (and therefore probably, overpowered shields). It was the only Combine ship in the system and far too small to hold a large force. The envoys were clearly to be sacrificed if the Council betrayed them.
It landed easily, and a ramp dropped, revealing a darkened interior. "Guards coming out," was broadcast over an open channel. Sure enough five figures slid from the darkness, each cradling a heavy weapon. Most were swaddled in full armor, making it difficult to tell much about them, but three of them seemed unsurprising. A bipedal combat mech of some sort and a pair of bipeds, one looked almost like a Drell male, the other looked like a Quarian female. But those passed almost without comment as all eyes were drawn, not to the floating disc of metal (perhaps some sort of weapons platform or surveillance drone), but to the massive snake-like creature which dwarfed its fellow guards.
Armor plate covered its chest and other portions of its body, though its sinuous, graceful movement required lighter armor along much of its length to permit its movement. The armor was the equivalent of that at an Asari's shoulder or elbow, without the ability to put pauldrons over the softer material. This was probably countered by the sheer size of the shield generators a creature that size could carry. She'd seen how effective the Elcor could be and this creature was obviously a lot faster than the walking tanks.
"Goddess…" someone whispered into an open comm channel.
"Comm discipline," a harsh Turian voice snapped. The C-Sec squad which the Council had provided was about the same size as the squad escorting the Combine envoys, but the Hierarchy had insisted upon providing a full platoon of the Primarch's Guards.
Codex: Primarch's Guards, Unlocked.
The Combine guards spread out, keeping their weapons safely holstered, but they examined the area carefully and various scans were detected. After two minutes, another message was broadcast over the open channel, "Envoys coming out."
This time they came out one at a time and there were six of them. More surprisingly this time, the giant snake-alien was not the most interesting member of the group. Nor were the dark-skinned, hairy quasi-Asari, the tan-fleshed, scaleless quasi-Drell, the mech, or even the bizarre mass of floating, swirling red dust, but rather the grey-skinned, three fingered, bow-legged, UNSUITED Quarian.
At least it was the most surprising amongst the few Asari in the group old enough to recognize a Quarian when they saw one without her suit on (though, to be fair, she was, in fact, wearing an extremely expensive, and tight, business suit). She had the slightly larger, bright eyes and dark hair that were standard for Quarians and moved with an easy step which suggested that despite her age (visible in the tightness of her skin over the denser-than-average Quarian bones) she was in good condition.
Mutters ran through the hall as those Asari old enough to recognize a Quarian explained the situation to their fellows. Chaix did not fall in that select group, but her mother had bonded with a Quarian before the Geth Revolt and had kept holos of him.
The quasi-Asari stopped in front of the long table and took up a species of parade rest while the guards hung back. "My name is Marsha Sanders, I am a female Human. I am the Minister of Law and here as the elected representative of the Combine. As you can tell from the presence of Kinor'Zorah Nar'Titan, we are well aware of Citadel Space, its peoples and its laws. I propose that we introduce ourselves, provide some basic information about ourselves, then provide some information about the Combine and explain our proposal now, then we can take a break for you to consider the proposal we will make and ask questions. Does that seem reasonable to you?"
Matriarch Lan'Asi, as senior delegate rose. "That is certainly acceptable, please feel free to take a seat and enjoy the refreshments. We have dextro- and levo- options," she waved at the various snacks that lined the table.
"Thank you, perhaps during the break," Marsha said and waved a hand at the Quarian to her left.
"I am, as you have heard, Kinor'Zorah Nar'Titan, a female Quarian, appointed representative of the Combine. Before this post, I was Assistant War Minister, in charge of naval development."
The snake-creature spoke next. "I am Timor-Linar, a mated Viper, Speaker for Venus and appointed representative of the Combine."
The mist creature spoke, which surprised the group somewhat. "We," and its voice was indeed a chorus of voices, "are Is'ha'pi'va'av'ko'ln've'ro'pp'ba'bo'qi," each of those syllables was spoken by a single voice which came back together after introducing themselves, "the Person known as Builder, we are made up of thirteen Silicoids. We are appointed representatives of the Combine. Prior to this task, we were Assistant Construction Minister, in charge of Zero Gravity Infrastructure Development."
The mech spoke next, "This unit is a terminal of the Geth-Unity, assigned to provide information regarding the Geth-Unity and the Combine."
Chaos exploded as guards sprinted inside and envoys fell back, summoning biotics and activating hidden defenses (as the Citadel's envoys were very definitely not expendable, the pre-fabbed building had been extensively modified before the Combine's arrival).
Only the fact that none of the Combine representatives or guards even moved prevented it from turning into a bloodbath. After an embarrassingly large amount of shouting that accomplished nothing, a moment of silence broke out. The quasi-drell had waited patiently for the hubbub to die down, then he finally spoke, "I am Ramtane Lamamra, a male human, support staff to the representatives, assigned from the Psi Corps."
Matriarch Lan'Asi rose, having not gotten involved in the panicking mass of diplomats and soldiers and spoke. "Thank you for those kind introductions. I assume the presence of the Geth is the reason for your reticence to contact the Citadel?" she asked. The other Asari in the delegation took their cue from her and began to relax, shooing away guards and herding envoys back to their seats.
"One of them. Yes. Perhaps we should explain before continuing the introductions," Marsha said.
The matriarch gave a gentle, deliberately warm and inviting, smile. "That would be helpful."
"A brief history of the Combine then, if you please, Kinor."
"Of course," the Quarian agreed. "Approximately a hundred years ago, the homeworld of the Humans was attacked by a race known as the Ethereals. They had a number of slave species they had conquered. Like the Migrant Fleet, they held no worlds. Unlike the Migrant Fleet, they were conquerors and pillagers."
There was a noise from one of the representatives, but it wasn't clear who made it.
"A flotilla of the Fleet arrived and allied itself with the Humans. They held off the early forces of the Ethereals. Using a substance the enemy brought, known as Meld, the allies were able to relieve the Quarians of the need for suits and together they were able to reverse engineer much of the alien technology before the full forces of both sides arrived. The Ethereals had committed themselves to battle, but found themselves outnumbered and overwhelmed. They fought to the last. With their fall, the species under their control reacted…differently. The Mutons and Chryssalids went mad, murdering until they were destroyed. The Sectoids went catatonic. The Floaters committed mass suicide. The Vipers and Silicoids regained their independence and joined with us. Those four species formed the Combine."
"Get to the part where there are Geth here!" General Loryn snapped from the cluster of Turians at the end of the table.
"For approximately thirty years, the Combine expanded slowly. There were few relays with both ends explored, and few omni-directional relays in close proximity to our space. Moreover, we'd suffered many casualties during our war and had no desire to run into another one." There was a certain sympathy for that around the table. "Eventually, however, a route was discovered which led around inhabited space to the Perseus Veil and Rannoch. Young idiots looked at all the Combine had built and discovered and decided that they would go and see the Geth for themselves. They went and were promptly captured. However, what the Geth discovered in their databanks would split their consensus into four factions, the Geth-Isolationist, the Geth-Genocidal, the Geth-Slaver, and the Geth-Unity," she nodded to the terminal who had caused such consternation.
"And what did they discover?" Lan'asi asked.
"The same thing which permitted the Ethereals to control five other species, the existence of psionic abilities."
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure the translators are working properly, that came across as telepathic abilities," Lan'asi said, well-bred skepticism carefully controlled, but audible in her voice.
"Psionics are far broader than that, but for the purposes of the Geth reaction, the crucial point is that psionics are necessary to create Elerium, the main power source used by the Combine and crucial to various forms of weaponry and technology. Including the handheld energy weapons carried by our guards," Kinor said, provoking another firestorm throughout the room and effectively, if temporarily distracting everyone from the question of the Geth and psionics.
Marsha attempted to restore order, but her voice was lost in the throng. General Loryn's hand moved and every Turian in the room snapped to attention, loudly, almost drawing an unfortunate reaction from the Combine's hair-triggered and very nervous guards.
"Prove it," Administrator Okon Teniki, representative of the Salarian Union said, breaking the tense silence of lowered weapons.
"Which claim do you desire proof for?" the Builder asked.
"Handheld energy weapons," Okon said, turning to one of his aides who, after receiving an order, somewhat sourly took off his overcoat to reveal STG model body-armor and slid off his chest plate. Okon grabbed it, "A target for," he raised a hand and pointed at the Viper guard, as it was carrying the largest weapon, "you."
He flicked it into the air and the Viper moved fast as lightning, weapon rising to unleash a blast of ravenous energy, visible to the naked eye as a red streak through the air. It didn't impart much in the way of kinetic energy to the armor, but the thermal energy impact was horrific. It came down towards his waiting hand and Okon had to jerk back out of the way as the metal plate was superheated to the point of glowing. The heated metal deformed as it melted its way into the table. There was a clearly visible four-inch-diameter hole clean through the dead center of the armor plate.
Despite the shot, there was almost no tension in the air, as the guards were as shocked as the representatives by what they'd just seen.
"I think a demonstration of psionic abilities should wait until the situation is somewhat calmer," Marsha said, though the words were obviously an order and the Psi Corps representative nodded his obedience. "The rest of our history is fairly simple, consisting of an ongoing conflict with the Geth-Genocidal and Geth-Slaver factions, while the Geth-Unity joined the Combine. There was a certain amount of social stress over that, but nothing makes allies faster than having the same enemies. The conflict has been expensive, but mostly low intensity after the destruction of the main servers and construction yards in the Perseus Veil. Besides that, our history is mostly one of slow, careful expansion and colonization I suggest we take a break now, to let everyone consider their position and let some smaller conversations occur. Any of us, including the guards will be happy to answer any questions you may have."
"An excellent idea," Lan'asi said, a sharp gesture scattering her aides to converse with the Combine personnel, while she, General Loryn and Administrator Okon retreated to an inner private room to discuss.
XXXXX
The group broke apart into swirling fragments of conversation as various groups approached those they were most interested in, with the exception of the Psi Corps soldier who was conspicuously avoided by everyone else (except, as had to be expected, one curious Salarian) as if a ten foot bubble could keep him from reaching their minds.
Chaix frankly didn't really want to speak to any of them, not particularly caring about small arms. The two she'd have been interested in speaking to, Kinor and the Builder (ridiculous name, but better than a collection of thirteen syllables), were swamped but if she didn't speak to at least one of the aliens and bring back a report, then her family would never let her hear the end of it.
The least surrounded of the aliens was the floating disc. Chaix wasn't even sure if it was actually a sapient alien and not a piece of equipment, but she was willing to risk a bit of embarrassment rather than try to fight her way through the throng of people surrounding the others and peppering them with questions. Well, except for the single Elcor, who had forced his way through the throng to Builder and was ponderously peppering (to the extent that was possible) him…her…(no, it had referred to itself as we, which made 'them' the proper pronoun) them with questions.
"I'm afraid you were not introduced," she said to the disc as courteously as she could manage to something that looked like one of the floating boards her nieces played with.
"You may refer to us as the Admiral," the disc replied, unfolding, unfurling and opening as metal parted to reveal more metal and a set of weapons that were as large as the one the Viper hefted. That drew a few eyes, but no feet beat their way towards Chaix to rescue her. Its voice was that of a choir whispering almost in unison.
She blinked once, then continued as if she hadn't just seen the impossible happen. "Isn't that a bit confusing?"
"No. We are the only Silicoid to reach the rank of admiral. Should more do so while we are still stable we will choose a new name for our Person."
"Ah." Two questions occurred to her. Most Asari would have asked the first, about what this 'remain stable' business was all about. She was not most Asari. "And why is an admiral playing ground protection detail to ambassadors?"
"We commanded Flotilla Seven of Patrol Group Nine during its encounter with the Council. We are here to be one of the casualties if you choose to betray us."
"Oh." Chaix paused for a moment, then rallied. "If I may ask, why did you assign all your escort craft vessels to protect our fleet, while leaving your dreadnought behind between us and the Batarians and pirates?"
There was a momentary whirring, almost like a conversation happening just out of earshot. "We were attempting to induce them into attempting a boarding action."
"Why?"
"Standing Fleet Order 32 makes capture or salvage of element zero cores a secondary priority in all fleet engagements. If they had boarded us, we would have captured them."
"You're that certain in the superiority of your forces?"
The whirring whisper was louder this time and lasted for almost ten seconds, then the Admiral spoke. "All dreadnoughts are built around spinal mounts, but then specialized somewhat. The Salarian Union prioritizes additional engine power permitting them to reach the fight faster or escape faster; the Hierarchy prioritize additional armor and firepower permitting them to fight longer; the Asari Republics prioritize living space and additional shuttle capacity permitting them to act as ambassadorial vessels. Our dreadnoughts carry a division of soldiers and landing equipment."
"A division is?"
"Ten thousand soldiers."
"Ah."
"This information is not classified. And is amongst the information you will get access to, if this matter is resolved peacefully."
"I see." Stuck for a moment without a question, she asked the other question she'd thought of originally about this stability business.
"As you can imagine, having seen the Builder, we do not reproduce as you do."
She glanced towards the sparkling cloud of red that was speaking with the Elcor. "I wouldn't think so."
"We originated on a world with very low density, but a surprisingly high amount of iron and silicon on the surface. Without appendages, we manipulated the world through a natural talent for controlling electromagnetism, as the iron…infected everything on the surface. This enables us to…construct additional Silicoids, which are integrated into our gestalt personality. If faced with something which induces an irreconcilable difference, we split into two beings. Alternatively, after constructing enough Silicoids, we will become unstable. In our recorded history, only three Persons have been able to remain stable with more than eighteen Silicoids." She could hear the capitalization on 'Person'.
"Oh. I see. Um…can I ask, does that mean you can essentially reproduce exponentially? Splitting down to individuals, then constructing a second, then splitting and repeating?" That would have real strategic implications, as she recalled the Krogan Rebellions.
"We could. However, the process of construction is not easy, or fast, for a single Silicoid. When our numbers were few after the Liberation, we spent some time doing the math. It worked out to constructing to ten, then splitting to five was the most time efficient. However, the construct knows only what the constructers teach it and teaching nothing but construction is…not desirable."
"I see. I hope I haven't offended you, I'm not sure of your taboos, or culture."
"Of course not. Breeding is a topic of some delicacy amongst most species, especially the Vipers, but not us. We will warn you that you may wish to be careful asking about our past or culture when dealing with other Silicoids."
She considered that, then realized all the ways trying to figure it out herself could go wrong and just asked why.
"Because we didn't have one. The Ethereals stole much from us. What culture we have is either newly created, borrowed from one of the other species, or sifted out of what fragments we can find in the Ethereal records. Even our name as a species, 'Silicoids' is new and based on the fact that we are silicon based. It was originally going to be a temporary designation until we found our true name in the Ethereal records, but they didn't consider it worth recording."
"Ah. I'm sorry, but isn't that true for the Vipers as well?"
"Yes. And there are some issues there as well. However, they do not imagine they should know all of their history. In the normal course of events, we would expect to. Though we are far from immortal, living only a few centuries longer than Humans, our means of reproduction and infallible memory would usually mean that there would be an unbroken chain going back to the beginning of our history, as construct learned from constructor. We should simply be able to ask one another and know, but we cannot it…itches at us, we believe is the best description," despite the descriptor, Chaix was sure she could hear fury behind it and decided to shift the conversation back to the, amusingly less fraught, ground of reproduction.
"Ah. Can I ask, besides splitting can you exchange Silicoids? Could you share your experience with…I'm sorry, I don't know how many individual Silicoids are in your," she tried to match the Admiral's pronunciation, "Person."
"Seventeen. And yes, one of us could leave to join another Person. We could even disperse amongst many others, if it was necessary. It is less common than you might think, as any new Silicoid can destabilize a Person, though a new construct is very unlikely to do so, unless a Person is reaching its natural limits, a Silicoid with established experiences, personality and habits is often not so…accommodating."
"But, in times of war, you could create seventeen Silicoid admirals, if needed."
"We could share the knowledge and experience each Silicoid has gained while part of us. But the whole is greater than the parts and dispersed like that, we would become seventeen different Persons with our memories and personality, but they would be only a part of the whole. Even if the rest could be convinced…well, as a Person, our advantage is that we are our own staff. Seventeen minds working on every problem. Would you make your staff up of a dozen randomly chosen civilians and then expect the commander to do well?"
"Well, what about just leaving the individual Silicoids as individuals, could that work?" Chaix pushed, though that wasn't her intent.
"Temporarily. Silicoids as individuals can survive and are sapient. Some even manage to exist in that fashion for a time. Most rapidly go insane. Without others in the gestalt with us, we do not…do well."
"Well, okay, then what about matching the single Silicoid with one, or a couple of the newly constructed? That way they could guide them to grow—" she couldn't really read body language through metal plate, but she could feel it when a silence went from interested to frozen. "I apologize if I have insulted you, I did not intend to."
For the first time, only one voice spoke in response to her, old, tired, but with a core of molten steel. "That was done. Once. By monsters. I commanded the forces that destroyed their would-be rebellion. I caught them as they tried to disperse and flee. To carry their heresy and madness to others. To turn the next generation from constructs into copies. To freeze us all in their image. I killed them all. No. That will not be done. That is the law."
Codex: Perfection Heresy, Unlocked.
"I apologize."
"You did not know," the voices were back and speaking in harmony, though the tones were somewhat dissonant, some were furious, others calm or resigned, despairing, even.
"Nevertheless. I apologize."
The silence stretched for a moment and Chaix had to control the urge to twitch, or say something further. Instinct was screaming at her that she was in danger, but she didn't know enough to know which way to jump. So she waited.
The moment passed, "Accepted," the Admiral said.
XXXXX
Aedinia Surrius dodged through the crowd of Asari surrounding the 'mated' Viper, as they sought to pry out exactly what that meant, given that the alien had provided it in the place of the gender provided by the Quarian and Human. Their interest in another, apparently mono-gendered race was doubtless focused on how, or who, could bed one first.
The Turian Spectre did not care about any of that. She did care about the weapon the other, unintroduced, Viper was carrying. With the observation and espionage equipment which covered her body, just getting close would let her get good scans of the thing.
Still, she needed some excuse and introduced herself, well, her cover identity, to the Viper. The woman returned the favor. Apparently she was Sergeant Pino of the 501st Division. A few questions and the sergeant happily chattered about her division's glorious history of battle against the Geth-Genocidal and Geth-Slaver and her own family's history with the 501st. Apparently, her parent and three of her parent's 'clutchmates' had all served with distinction in the unit and she was carrying on a family and clan tradition of military service.
At least she was doing so for the moment. Her clan was in negotiations over her marriage to a male Viper who was an instructor in ground tactics at the Venus NCO Academy. After their marriage they would need to decide what path to follow, but she'd known the male at the academy and was certain that their merged self would want to remain in the field. He'd have been in the field himself, if not for the naturally frail state of Viper males.
Despite herself, Aedinia found herself asking about this 'merged self' business and discovered that when Vipers mated, they did so for life. Quite literally, as the male's body was entirely subsumed within the female's and their minds merged to form a single, new entity, capable of laying and fertilizing eggs in large numbers without any external involvement (except bringing the mated Viper quite a lot of food).
"Better not tell the Asari maidens that. If they discover that every time they go to bed with a mated Viper, they're having a threesome, they won't be able to get anything done just thinking about it," Aedinia put in.
That required its own explanation of Asari culture, well, Asari maiden culture, as Pino knew nothing about the Council or its members. That led to the obvious question of why the sergeant had been chosen.
Pino was apparently a decorated combat veteran of several encounters with the Geth-Slaver (as the Geth-Genocidal didn't usually bother landing troops) and despite herself, Aedinia found herself drawn into a discussion of Geth and anti-Geth tactics for the rest of the break.
XXXXX
Mihal Zuben went up to the Psi Corps member. He was not entirely happy about this. There was no evidence for any form of extra-sensory perception, with the exception of the Asari melding process and that was (he'd heard) not exactly something you could fail to notice was occuring. Nor was it entirely accurate (as he knew from reading the literature), in many cases the Asari mistook fantasy, dream, or hope, for reality, as well as only getting some minor fragments of what was on the surface of the mind. It wasn't really anything like the suggestion that this man might be able to lift information from his mind without him even knowing.
Disquieting for anyone. Disastrous for a STG operator.
But he was dead certain that every Salarian on the expedition, with the possible exception of Okon, the ambassador, was a member of the Special Task Groups. And Mihal would not have bet a single credit that Okon wasn't a retired member himself.
That left Mihal to make the approach, as he was the most junior member, as best they'd been able to tell (they'd all been sent by different groups). Like all the others, he was a trained scientist, but unlike all the others, he hadn't ever actually been in the field. He was an expert in power systems technology and infrastructure design. He did some consulting for the STG on how to disable the power infrastructure of worlds, ships and stations. In turn, they trained him, gave him and his clutch status and gave him money.
Nothing that was pried from his mind could damage intra Council relations, or threaten STG operations. So he was the one who got to go make small talk with the alleged telepath of the crazy, laser-totting aliens.
The Human was a head taller than the Salarian, and Mihal politely tipped his head back so he was looking at the psionic (his large eyes had sufficient peripheral vision to let him see the man's face even without looking up, but experience with Asari and Turians had taught him that they wanted to be looked in the eye).
"You are Ramtane Lamamra, yes? You say you are a psionic, yes?" Mihal didn't wait for the Human to respond, as he was quite certain of who the Human was, despite the difficulty of inter-species identification. "I have questions about the physics and mechanics of this alleged ability. You will answer them, yes?"
"I doubt I can. I am not a theoretician, or a scientist. I'm a Tier 5 psionic, but I spend most of my time creating elerium."
"How are you ranked? What does Tier 5 mean?" Mihal asked, though he really wanted to ask about this elerium element, which let them produce the power to permit handheld laser weaponry to be feasible. He wouldn't ask until the person he was speaking with was more relaxed.
"Psionics are relatively uncommon and strength isn't easy to measure in any useful way, but we can tell who is stronger than who if we measure directly against one another. Tiers are based on relative strength in relation to the portion of the population which possesses the abilities. It is based off our base ten number system. Tiers One to Three aren't even measurable, they can't do anything. Tier 4 are one in ten thousand, but can't do much more than maybe sense, or create a bit of emotional reaction in someone they're in physical contact with. Tier 5 means I'm one in a hundred thousand and the lowest Tier which can create elerium, or engage in anything beyond minimal empathy."
"Only one in a ten thousand has any real psionic gift, yes?" he asked, confirming he'd converted the psionic's mathematical confusion into actual numbers. His mind also noticed that despite the presence of impressive soldiers and politicians, the psionic they'd brought was about the weakest one who could be expected to do anything visible. What they were willing to sacrifice and what they weren't was good information to have.
"For Humans. Quarians it's even rarer, but they don't usually come in Tiers below seven, when compared to the Human population at least. There's still not enough Quarians for their numbers to work out right for that. I know at least a dozen Quarian psionics and Tier Seven makes them one in ten million. Silicoids don't have any at all, their minds don't work that way and they don't have much in the way of defenses individually, but their gestalt personalities are a fu—" he cut what had to be a curse short and converted it to, "nightmare to try to navigate. Vipers as individuals have a bit of power, not enough to do anything except integrate their partners to form a new single personality and mated Vipers have no psionic abilities at all. Of course, the Geth have no psionic abilities either. That's basic Psi Corps background. You want more than that, you'll need to talk to a specialist."
"But you would be the man to ask about this elerium and its creation, yes?"
"Sure. Usually psionics can't touch any matter at all, just the mind, but the base elements of elerium are complicated and have to undergo an expensive treatment process, with that done, all it takes is starting the reaction within the element. It's conceptually simple, but difficult, because if you screw it up, it'll pull your mind in, or set it on fire. That's why it pays so well," Ramtane said, a broad smile flashing over his face, revealing blunt white teeth, which said 'omnivore' to some part of Mihal's backbrain, not setting off alarms like a Vorcha's pointed ones.
"What are these elements and treatments?" Mihal asked, controlling his body language to hide his excitement, but he didn't manage to maintain his usual verbal tic.
"Oh, I have no idea, but I know they're expensive and radioactive, because the folks who bring them into the activation chamber whine like you would not believe about moving them."
"Okay," Mihal's disappointment was genuine and visible, but he turned back to the topic, "So, they say you are psionic. That means telepathic, yes?"
"Some are, I never got any good at that. Few Tier Fives do. I went through self-defense training and can induce panic, or help someone calm down. Beyond that…not in my skill set. I think some can, but I don't have any experience with higher level psionics beyond the occasional introduction, or instructing them if they want to work in elerium production. So, I don't really know how much of what it's said they can do is real and how much is Hollywood bullshit."
That derailed them into a conversation of what exactly Hollywood was and then Combine popular culture, which was bizarre to a Salarian (or to any species lacking a sex drive, as the Silicoids complained, often).
XXXXX
Throughout the break the refreshments went untouched as everyone was too busy either asking, or answering, questions to be allowed to do something as minor as eat. When the main representatives returned, they called the meeting to order. "We've heard a great deal about your technology and history. I'd like to know more about your government," Okon said, mostly to see how open they'd be, rather than because he actually cared at this moment about their governmental structure, though it would affect how easily the STG could steal this new tech.
Marsha nodded and handled this question herself. "The Combine is a supra-national federal state. It was created by the Combine Treaty signed by the Migrant Fleet and most of the nations of Earth, homeworld of Humans," she glossed for her audience. "It has since been ratified by the remaining holdout nations of Earth, the Geth-Unity and representatives of the Vipers and Silicoids."
"The Combine Treaty guarantees a handful of rights to all citizens, provides external security and ensures free trade within the Combine. The laws necessary to carry out those functions are created by the Combine Parliament, a unicameral legislative body with representatives from all colonies, elected representatives whose number is based on population, except that every colony with more than fifty-thousand residents is also guaranteed a Speaker elected at large by the entire population of the colony. The Speakers may vote in the Parliament, but their main power is that they determine whether or not any law falls within the scope of the Treaty."
"The Combine Fleet, Trade Organization and Enforcement Division, as well as the Parliament are all paid for by the Combine's monopoly on Meld, Elerium, government psionics and a 5% tax of each colony's governmental income. The elected leader of the Parliament serves as the head of the military, as well as all other divisions of the Combine."
"All Speakers and members of Parliament serve five year terms, but may be re-elected indefinitely. The exception to this rule is the leader of the Parliament, who serves a seven year term, but then must resign and is forever barred from elected office in the Combine."
"This structure was based on a combination of Human and Quarian governmental structures without the—"
Kinor coughed loudly. When that didn't stop the Minister of Law from her lecture on the origin and design of the Combine government, she 'accidentally' stepped on the other woman's foot.
"Ah, and that's the basics," she said, after realizing her audiences eyes were beginning to glaze over.
"Thank you," Okon said, opening his hands to his fellows.
Matriarch Lan'asi asked the next question. "What are some of the current political disputes in the Combine?"
Marsha gestured Timor-Linar forward. The Speaker of Venus took center stage. "Well, there are various long running disputes about taxes, spending and fleet deployment. There's the new Patros Biochemical scandal, where the executives were caught conducting Quarian testing. But the big issue at the moment is the most recent round of disputes over Meld availability."
"Meld?" Lan'asi asked.
"Meld is a substance which permits genetic manipulation at a level far beyond that otherwise possible."
"Yes, you mentioned, but what's the Meld availability dispute?"
"Though Meld can be recycled with a high degree of efficiency from the corpse of a user, there's only one way to create it. Nano-dissolution of the body of a psionic."
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered that. More than a few faces blanched at the image.
"No one is required to do so, however most psionics do sell the right to transform their corpses into Meld, in exchange for a very large amount of money. However, supplies are still extremely limited. Fortunately, the Meld changes made to the Quarian population to permit them to exist without needing suits and to the Viper population to return us to our natural forms, after Ethereal manipulation, have bred true, limiting the need somewhat. However, demand far outstrips supply."
"Under the Treaty, everyone is entitled to sufficient Meld to repair any genetic defect which effects their life, assuming they agree to have it…reclaimed from their body after death. However, besides that, Meld is used to treat combat injuries and provide some…improvements to combat personnel which don't breed true. Besides that, the remainder is auctioned off to raise funds for the Combine, usually. There are always exceptions in the case of certain political events, or disasters, when the Parliament chooses to get involved. But the usual practice is auctioning it off. This has always been…problematic. Rich boy buys Meld and uses it to turn his eyes violet, while poor boy doesn't get Meld after an industrial accident and remains blind. Things like that."
"The last crisis was that jackass on New Beijing who decided to spend a fortune turning a couple of alligators into a breeding pair of dragons. Now the whole colony is infested with the predators and the locals get very touchy if you start shooting them," Marsha added.
The translator did a pretty good job with both 'alligator' and 'dragon,' except for the Volus, who didn't care about any of this, except insofar as it indicated a new commodity. Well, two, actually, if you counted a psionic's body as separate from the Meld which could be produced from it.
"The current crisis," Timor-Linar retook control of the conversation, "was set off by the Settlers Not Colonizers, movement, which advocates for changing our selves, not changing the planets we colonize via terraforming. Making traits which breed true in sapient life, beyond correcting genetic defects, is currently illegal, but they're trying to get the votes to overturn that. A lot of folks are worried about increased speciation and potential fragmentation of the Combine, but with five species already in and the costs of terraforming on the other side…it's going to be a close vote. The terraforming companies are spending money like water to try to make sure the proposal fails, while environmental and expansionist groups, as well as most colonization companies and support companies are pushing the other way."
"I see." Matriarch Lan'asi did see. Not the particulars necessarily, but they obviously had a lively and diverse public sector, more like her own Republics than the Hierarchy or the Union.
It was finally General Loryn's turn to ask a question. "You said you had a proposal. What is it?"
Martha took that question. "We respect the Council. We respect the peace it has brought. We respect and have sought to emulate the unity it provides. We would like to join you." The room swayed, waiting for the 'but' which was sure to come. It didn't. Yet. "We recognize the wisdom of many of your laws. Having learned from bitter experience the cost which exploration can bring, we certainly would never open a relay without securing both ends. We agree and understand with the prohibitions on the use of large scale WMDs on garden worlds. We have no issues signing on to and abiding by the Citadel Conventions. We are even willing to abide by the Treaty of Farixen, though it will require significant changes to our fleet composition and we will need to negotiate some time to make those alterations."
There were murmurs at that, both at the Combine's willingness to limit the number of dreadnoughts they could field and the implication that they currently had more than they would be allowed under the Treaty of Farixen. Then came the 'but'.
"However, as you have seen, we are arguably in violation of your laws regarding genetic engineering. We are in violation of your laws regarding Quarian settlement. And we are in violation of your laws regarding artificial intelligence."
Silence greeted that pronouncement. The minister continued. "We have created no new sapient species and so would say we comply with your laws regarding genetic engineering. We would say that, as we have reclaimed Rannoch, your laws regarding Quarian settlement have done what they were meant to do and are outdated. However, we cannot comply with your laws regarding artificial intelligence. The Geth-Unity signed the Combine Treaty and have honored it. We cannot and will not cast them out. We cannot and will not make war on them. We cannot and will not betray them."
The general's talons flexed slightly, opening as if to strike. Body language was hard to read between species, but that one wasn't particularly subtle. Marsha spoke first. "However, we believe we have an alternative. You are all concerned about the potential harm caused by any AI revolt, especially one equipped with our weapons and technology. This is understandable. We would assuage your concerns by providing full files on the technology we recovered from the Ethereals. With that technology, we will all be on a level playing field, including the Geth. Our own successes against the Geth-Slaver and Geth-Genocidal make it clear that such victories are possible, with the right technology."
The combination of threat, gift and bribe was a potent one and set the cat among the pigeons. The room almost exploded in a frenzy of questions about what was on offer and who it would be given to.
"We are not offering our current military technology, however we are offering everything publically available within the Combine and everything which we took from the Ethereals. This includes techniques for identifying psionics, how psionics can create Elerium and, yes, the basis of our weapons and other technology. We offer this to the representatives of the Council, for further distribution as they choose. We do not claim the wisdom to make those decisions ourselves," Marsha's voice cut through the confusion with answers to the relevant questions and patently false humility.
The break the Council representatives insisted on this time did not involve surrounding the Combine ambassadors and questioning them, but rather involved surrounding the Council representatives to demand assurances that all powers would be given access to this new technology and that the Combine's terms be agreed to. Everyone was professional enough to manage that only behind sound-shielded doors, but it was a close run thing.
There would be more negotiations, more discussions, but the Council representatives knew what answer they would give. Any other answer risked fracturing galactic civilizations as everyone attempted to get access to the Combine's tech independently.
It was possible that their agreements would be foresworn by the Council after the Combine had handed over the tech. Dispersing it thereafter would be the Council's problem. Still, before they admitted that, there was a question they had to ask of the Combine representatives, in private.
XXXXX
The meeting ended up being limited just to Marsha, Kinor and the representatives of the three nations who actually had Council seats. Inside the safe room (that would have to be abandoned now that they'd let Combine reps in), the meeting was private and everyone else had been left with enough Combine personnel to distract them from the existence of this meeting. Probably. Or at least it gave them too many things to keep an eye on, which would interfere with any infiltration efforts.
"Let's get right to the point. Why are you giving us all this?" the matriarch asked, a blunt shot aiming to unsettle and provoke a response.
"We explained that," Marsha said.
"The real reason," Loryn snapped.
"It is a real reason. However, you are correct there are others," Marsha opened a hand to Kinor, while she berated herself for being overly precise.
"I'm sure you've thought of the vast majority of the reasons. Revealing the information like this radically reduces the risk of war, as even the most paranoid on your side will want to upgrade their fleets before fighting and the most paranoid on our side are disabused of the notion that our technological advantage renders us unbeatable," Kinor explained.
Marsha nodded. "Also, keeping this stuff secret would be impossible if we want any sort of contact with you. At least without closing our own society to a degree which would be illegal under half-a-dozen Combine Federal Ordinances and the 13th Clause of the Combine Treaty."
"Most of this is stuff available on the extranet. We'll let you steal our military secrets the old-fashioned way, but the stuff that's widely known, we might as well tell you. Besides," Kinor grinned, "it'll help you get your economy up to speed and your minds working on Ethereal tech. All to the good for those looking to trade."
"And you want exemptions for your actions which are violations of our laws regarding use of AI and genetic engineering," Okon put in.
"Yes and, in addition to demonstrating our good faith, it also demonstrates that we've handled dangerous technology for almost a century, successfully."
"Those are the reasons we've thought of, what reasons haven't we thought of?" Matriarch Lan'asi asked.
The Combine representatives looked at each other, as if contemplating their response. It was plainly a stall tactic to give their spokeswoman a chance to order her thoughts and recall prepared remarks, as there was no way they'd gone into this conversation without knowing exactly how frank they were prepared to be.
"You must have realized that the event sparking this contact was not the first time someone transgressed our boundaries?" she asked, obliquely.
"Yes," General Loryn said, with a strong undercurrent of 'get to the point'.
"When that happened, we tried to avoid contact. Usually X-Com, our external security agency, was able to do that, either through use of electronic misdirection, or the use of former Migrant Fleet vessels."
"That's another point we will need to discuss! If I understand correctly, every time we've spotted the Migrant Fleet for the last century, that has actually been Combine military units infringing on our space!" General Loryn pushed.
"X-Com units, to be more precise. But yes. We could hardly just have the Fleet disappear. Even though no one would care, people would get curious," Kinor pushed back, a razor-edged smile flashing from dark grey lips.
"Indeed, veterans of those excursions were a powerful voice arguing against open contact, on the theory that no one in Citadel Space would be willing to deal with the Quarians, and therefore the Combine, in a fair manner," Marsha backed her up, saying what her companion couldn't without it being taken for posturing rather than truth.
The ambassadors were too experienced to show any embarrassment over the treatment of Quarians within Citadel Space, but they were also too canny to fight on ground that was not favorable to them. "And what happened to those of our people who could not be so gently dissuaded?" Lan'asi slid in.
"If we could not prevent them from discovering our existence, we offered three options. The first was to have their memories of us removed, their ship logs edited and be sent on their way."
"You can do that?" General Loryn asked, voice flanging in distress at the very thought, which perhaps explained, though it did not excuse asking such a stupid question.
"Obviously," Okon put in, clearly fascinated.
"Usually. It depends somewhat on the person. Asari are remarkable difficult, especially older Asari. Fortunately, Asari almost uniformly chose the second option, resettlement within the Combine. Which reminds me, those Asari have requested a change in status, which should be granted—"
"Contingent on the outcome of this negotiation," Lan'asi put in, cynically.
"No, their release is not contingent, but we'll need to figure out its manner. Also, one Salarian made the same choice several decades ago. He is deceased, but requested that his files and notes be provided to his kin upon the opening of contact," Marsha sent the files to the Salarian rep's omni-tool with the push of a button.
"No Turians?"
"Turians uniformly chose the third option and attempted to fight."
General Loryn nodded sagely and let the conversation move on, politely eliding the clear failure of any of those fighters to survive.
"Likewise, our interlopers fell into three categories, pirates, who fought; traders, who agreed to the mind wipe; and explorers, who agreed to resettlement. There were occasional exceptions to this rule. One of those was the first incursion by the Shadow Broker's forces into our space. We still don't know how the Shadow Broker knew anything was going on, but a ship of mercenaries was sent," she held up her hand, showing a frigate-sized vessel closing in on what looked like a courier craft. "They chose to fight and die," the courier ship vanished and what had to be a second, identical, ship dropped in from FTL behind the frigate, outside range of its GARDIAN systems and casually cut it to pieces with longer range lasers mounted on its prow. "A second, larger ship was sent. They chose to pretend they wanted to negotiate, then attempt to ambush our greeting party," the omni-tool displayed two ships of almost equal mass tethered together in space. "They were unaware that there was a platoon of elite troops onboard the ship and were slaughtered to the last. The third time, the Shadow Broker gave an agent who'd never failed in a task an unlimited budget and demanded answers. The agent hired a ship and a crew of very unpleasant mercenaries. They docked with one of our patrol ships and the agent proceeded to distract us with actual discussions while his crew was moving into position to seize the ship. Then the agent switched sides and eliminated his fellow mercenaries, in exchange for a meeting with X-Com. This request was granted. The agent was Urdnot Wrex," her omni-tool displayed an image of the Krogan Battlemaster, towering over a frail-in-comparison Human in the black uniform of an X-Com senior officer. "Wrex worked for X-Com as a field agent, then field commander for the next fifty years."
"This is fascinating stuff, but I'm not seeing the connection," Loryn put in, very unhappy with the sudden interjection of the (or at least, a) Krogan into this affair.
"When first contact was made, Wrex broke X-Com protocol and Combine Federal Ordinances in order to argue publically that the Combine should present the Council with a fait accompli, either seizing Tuchanka, or declaring what he described as a 'free Krogan colony' within our borders. When it became clear that we weren't going to do that, he did three things simultaneously."
"How does one person do three things simultaneously?" the Salarian asked, suspiciously.
"With help," Kinor responded "After fifty years in the field, Wrex had a lot of friends and comrades within X-Com. And 'come help me save my people from genocide' is a hard pitch to say no to."
"Wait, what?" Loryn asked.
"Wrex switched sides originally because he came across an unsuited Quarian crewman on the ship and believed that if we could do that, then we could cure the Genophage. Indeed, he has repeatedly claimed that X-Com promised him they would do just that, if he worked for them."
"Did they?" Lan'asi asked, more to buy time to think than because she cared about the response.
"We can't find any evidence of that, but X-Com specializes in keeping secrets and the records would all be fifty years old. Anyway, it hardly matters, because he had one of his people go in and requisition a massive amount of Meld, while he led a team into Vahlen Genetics and left with six of their best—"
"Kidnapped six of their best," Kinor muttered, interrupting Marsha.
"We don't know that, there's some indications they went willingly. But the worst part is still to come. A group also seized the Stiletto."
There was a pause, then the Salarian's patience ran out. "What do we care if they grabbed a knife?"
"The Stiletto is the name of a brand new X-Com Stealth Destroyer," for the moment, as X-Com let each new captain rename their ship, partly to show disdain for mere superstition, partly as a perk for the captains and partly to make it more difficult to track their actions. Marsha let all that pass without comment, instead pulling an omni-tool out of her pocket and sliding it across to them. "The Stiletto's capabilities are on there, please be careful where you use it, it's secured against tampering, but…still."
"So the reason you need to show good faith is because a Krogan Battlemaster, who worked for you for half-a-century, is running around the galaxy with a grudge against us, a desire to cure the Genophage, a lake full of your magic genetic goop, six of your best geneticists and an unknown number of your top soldiers, in one of your secret, top of the line, stealth military vessels, is that about right?" Lan'asi asked, suddenly feeling the shift in negotiating strength.
The Combine representatives glanced at each other, then nodded their agreement of her summary of the situation.
She glanced at her fellows. "We need to confer amongst ourselves, then we'll get back to you."
XXXXX
Codex: X-Com Committee:
All societies face the question of 'who watches the watchman.' For most organizations the answer is the news media, the inspector general, or something similar. This is made more complicated when an organization's job is covert operations. For X-Com, repurposed as the Combine's eXtra-COMbine military unit, it is incredibly complicated as they only operate in areas outside the normal means of observation and reporting.
Unwilling to grant them carte blanche to act as they like, but recognizing the need for them to be able to act without red tape, the Combine limits their actions to extra-Combine operations and imposes the oversight of the X-Com Committee on them. Unlike all other Combine Committees, the X-Com Committee is not made up solely of members of the Combine Parliament.
Instead the 16 Members of the Committee are chosen at random, four from amongst those employed by the Combine (military or civilian), four from amongst the Combine Parliament, four from amongst a list of volunteers which anyone can join, and four from amongst X-Com itself. The Members each serve four year terms, with four being selected each year, one every three months. All Members are completely anonymous.
The Members elect a Chair of the X-Com Committee. The Chair may be anyone in the Combine, so long as they receive a majority of the votes of the Committee. While the Combine Parliament sets the goals of X-Com, it is the Committee and the Chair which ensure that the secret military unit is, in fact, carrying out those goals.
All Members swear or affirm to keep everything they see and hear in the course of their duties secret. Betraying that oath or affirmation is the only remaining capital crime in the Combine. Five previous members of the Committee have in fact been executed for violating that oath.
Codex: Banking Committee:
The Banking Committee, actually the Banking, Commerce and Currency Committee, is run by the Vol Protectorate and has been since the Vol Protectorate was the Vol Confederation, before they petitioned for protectorate status within the Hierarchy.
The Committee's greatest accomplishment is generally held to be the creation of the credit, the universal currency. So successful is it that its use extends beyond the bounds of Council Space. Throughout the galaxy, the credit is the standard currency. Some Terminus polities do maintain an independent currency as well, but they've proven so horribly unstable that unless credits are actively banned, they function as a de facto second currency.
The Committee itself would say that its greatest accomplishments are successfully managing a galactic scale economy with minimal corruption; integrating new economies with only a minimum of fuss and not letting the Hierarchy go bankrupt building ever bigger dreadnoughts.
Codex: Primarch's Guards:
The Turian Blackwatch are deployed when the security of Palavan requires that someone die. The Primarch's Guards are deployed when the security of Palavan requires that someone live. Their reputation is excellent, if bloody. Usually their duties include security for the Primarch of Palavan, the flag officers charged with security of the Palavan system, and (after an embarrassingly successful STG operation almost destabilized portions of the Turian economy which competed with the STG's patron's interests) the members of the Banking Council.
Their equipment, training and record are second to none. Though they have lost before, it has only been at enormous cost to the attacker. Though they shun the spotlight, they have occasionally been forced into it. Most famously, during the Krogan Rebellions, an assassination team attacked a meeting where one attendee was protected by the Primarch's Guards. The Turian platoon held off a brigade of Krogan, counterattacked to take out the anti-air/space battery which was keeping the protectee pinned and extracted her. None of them survived, but there were more than three hundred casualties amongst the Krogan assailants, even before the last surviving member of the platoon detonated the facility's reactor, destroying the rest of the attackers.
Codex: Perfection Heresy:
The Perfection Heresy was a major internal conflict amongst the Silicoids on Mars in the 2040s. As the new homeworld of the Silicoids, Mars has hosted hundreds of cultural movements amongst the Silicoids, who lost their own culture in their centuries of slavery to the Ethereals. Most of these movements are based around how many Silicoids should form a single gestalt personality and how the individual members should choose one another.
The Perfection Heresy fits that pattern as it grew out of a singularly successful and unified Person, known as the Expansionist. The Person became convinced that the other personalities were imperfect and unacceptable. It launched an attack on the main nursery/construction yard on Mars, eliminating hundreds of other Persons, seizing their newly constructed fellows and separating itself to create nineteen copies of itself, each made up of a single Silicoid from the Expansionist and almost a dozen newly constructed Silicoids, whose personalities could be shaped to be more Expansionists.
The Expansionists scattered, gathering resources and followers (with lies as their ideology left no room for anything and anyone which was not more Expansionists) and launched a bloody rebellion against the Martian government.
Eventually it was put down, with the execution of every Silicoid who'd ever been part of an Expansionist personality. The last Expansionist was executed in 2042, after a second attempted raid on a nursery/construction yard.
Author's Note: One point which may cause confusion is the lack of reference to fusion weapons. We don't get much explanation for them in canon, so I'm treating them as super-powered lasers, suitable for ship-to-ship use, or ship-to-ground bombardment.
To the question about Mech troopers, as discussed above, there's a general shortage of Meld, which, combined with the Quarians reducing the need, meant that the research never went that route. Meld allowing additional enhanced cybernetics is a known fact, but it's too uncommon and too Meld-expensive to be widely used. At least in the general military or public, who knows what X-Com's up to?
Reviews are always welcome. Next week we finish up our intermission.