Chapter 2 - Three Unexpected Deaths
"How did this happen?!"
"Three brain aneurysms at once?!"
"Someone murdered them, I know it!"
The emergency meeting of the Council of Matriarchs was unusually panicked, given how calm Matriarchs typically were. But given what had just happened, the panic seemed appropriate.
The Council was dead. All of them. In a middle of a meeting detailing a possible trade agreement with the Batarian Hegemony, all of them had collapsed and died of brain aneurysms simultaneously.
"How did this happen?" One of the matriarchs asked. "This CANNOT be a coincidence. This was a deliberate assassination."
"But how?" Another returned. "How do you cause three different sapient beings to die of brain aneurysms at once!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" The former screamed in frustration. "But we have to figure this out!"
"Well, let us get to the main question," a third said. "WHO did this?"
"There are a lot of people who want the Council dead," the first one said thoughtfully. "But who could have had the resources to do this?"
They slowly went down the list and, to their frustration, ruled out every possible culprit.
The Krogan? No, of course not. All they cared about was fighting and credits.
The Batarians? There was motivation, but they did not have the resources or technology to do this.
The Quarians? They had the technology, but not the resources. And it wasn't like killing the Council was suddenly going to get them un-exiled.
Pirates or mercenaries? If so, what was the motivation? There had been no manifesto or lists of demands. All three had simply died without warning.
The Humans? Of course not. They were trying everything they could to ingratiate themselves to the Council. This would result in their exile from known space.
The Volus? Why? This had caused chaos in the galactic markets.
And obviously, all three Council races could be ruled out.
So WHO did this?
The debate raged for days, but nobody could find any reasonable explanation. Nor would they find one before the aneurysms became far more frequent.
-votsr-
It was so tempting.
After all, he could specify the cause of death in any way he wished. He could have one of the victims write a Khelish word in blood, for example.
But he couldn't risk it. This COULD NOT be traced back to the Migrant Fleet or their species would go extinct in the resulting war. As tempting as it was to let people know it was the "suit rats" doing this, it was simply too dangerous. Like all quarians, Nara'Ven vas Shellen valued the collective above the individual and was not prideful enough to endanger his entire species for the sake of his ego.
He made his decision.
Unless I need something specific, it's going to be brain aneurysms until further notice.