…
"It's not that we're afraid, far from it, it's just that we've got this thing about death... It's not us!"
(Barf)
…
UCV Saint Luke, May 5th, 9:58 AM, 2185
…
Pacing back and forth in my ship's large briefing room, I looked at all the gathered faces, thankful that all of them had come. My whole team was here, along with the Admirals, Amisen and Iolin, Pistis, and a very tired looking Greg, who obviously had a lot on his plate at the moment. I had called this meeting to discuss possible solutions to the two, large problems on our hands at the moment, the Admiralty and the Reapers. At the moment, we were rather safe compared to the rest of the galaxy given our isolation and distance from the source of the Reaper invasion, but that wouldn't amount to anything if we wasted our valuable resources on a pointless war with the Admiralty.
If we could limit or outright avoid war with them, we'd be in a much better position to fight the Reapers when they arrived here. I had no idea how quickly they'd be able to reach us, but it gave us a distinct advantage compared to everyone else. If what Shepard had said months ago about the Relays and their origins was indeed true, then they could possibly do all manner of things with them. Rannoch would obviously be the planet most at-risk once the Reapers arrived, but Turviss and Reach would be relatively hard to invade given the distance and defenses we possessed.
All of this was conjecture, though. Until we had a better understanding of their numbers, strategies, and offensive capabilities, we'd have no real way of mounting a true defense, let alone an offense.
"Sorry Sean, but I have no way of knowing if Hackett or Shepard received your message." Greg apologized, bags having formed under his eyes after getting nearly no sleep since the news broke about the invasion. "If they're not still in immediate danger, they might be appealing to the Citadel Council for support."
"Right, like they'll stick their necks out for the Alliance." I sighed, knowing the Council wasn't going to do anything for them, even as Council members themselves. "We might be able to work something out with them, but not while we're at war with the Admiralty."
"I suppose." He nodded, looking quite tired as he walked over to his seat and sat down.
"Alright, so I'm assuming all of you have heard about what's going on already?" I remarked, getting various nods and other forms of acknowledgement as I met their faces. "Right, so I don't have to explain why this is a volatile situation."
"Why have you called us here, Sean?" Mal asked, sounding more annoyed than anything else. "I understand the threat the Reapers pose, but we need to be ready for the Admiralty's forces if we are to retain any of our strength for their coming invasion."
"That's what I wanted to talk about." I refocused, taking a seat at the head of the table. "Listen… I think if we're to, as you said, retain our strength, we need to look for a more diplomatic solution to this schism."
"What are you suggesting, Sean?" Koris piped up, obviously interested in an idea that didn't involve bloodshed.
"I want to try something. It may be risky and it may be stupid, but I believe it may be worth a shot." I started, folding both hands on the table as I spoke. "I want to take the Saint Luke to Reach and open contact with Gerrel, Raan, and Zadie one last time. I want to try and convince them to end this pointless bickering and join us in a united effort against the Reapers."
"T-that's fucking crazy." Dan immediately shot down, looking at me the same way someone looks at a nasty car crash. "You w-want to take an advanced vessel to Reach, so th...they can just blast you out of the sky with the ODPs?"
"I'm hoping it won't come to that." I remarked in a calm tone, meeting his eyes. "I'm holding out hope that the video and images we recovered from the buoy network will be enough to push them over the edge and bring them to the bargaining table."
"That's a hefty risk to take, I must admit." Amisen pointed out, getting my head to turn. "After the destruction of several of their ships and the possible death of one of their Admirals, do you really believe they'll be willing to listen to you?"
"And what of this "barganing table" you speak of?" Iolin pointed out, sounding perplexed. "What are we willing to offer for such a peace? We are not going to be forced into a position where we must give up our technology or resources so these people can later use them against us."
"Iolin, please calm down. I'm sure Sean would take the considerations of all Confederation members into account when negotiating with the Admiralty." Lydia urged, giving me a side glance as she held up her hands to Iolin.
"Thank you." I said quickly, looking to address the whole table. "He has a good point though, we may have to give up something to ensure peace. What do we have to offer up that isn't immediately vital to the war effort?"
"We are willing to offer the entirety of Rannoch back to the quarian people, as we have for those who had come with Creators Ysin'Mal and Zaal'Koris." Pistis immediately remarked, getting my eyes and those of others to jump up around the room. "We have limited our development to orbital installations, with very few underground structures we wish to hold onto. These sites would be open to only those who wish to work peacefully with our numerous other programs."
"That may work, though militant personalities such as Gerrel seek full retribution for slaughter of ancestors." Dimitri pointed out, leaning against the table on one arm. "I, for one, see such actions as fruitless endeavors."
"We refuse to self-terminate, if that is what Creator Han'Gerrel wishes." Pistis replied less than a second later, jogging my memory.
"What if we aim less for him, and more for Raan and Zadie?" I suggested, feeling I may have been onto something. "If we can convince the majority of the Admiralty that he is emotionally compromised or endangering the lives of his people, we might get them to side with us and denounce Gerrel. maybe even remove him from the position entirely!"
"That is possible, though it would take much convincing to do." Koris nodded, rubbing the underside of his mask. "It isn't unheard of for an Admiral to be accused of abusing their position to push an agenda, though no criminal trial has ever been held for such accusations."
"There's a first for everything." Mara said in a sly tone, crossing her arms and smiling as she looked at me. I smiled back, giving her a wink as I looked over at Mal, knowing he'd want to add something to that.
"We know Raan and Zadie are more moderate than Gerrel, though they usually tend to go with his plans." He remarked, tenting his fingers. "The problem lies in the fact that they've filled our former positions with people who must be supporters of Gerrel."
"That, and Sean may have killed one of them." Tony remarked with a barely-contained smirk, his expression quickly shifting to one of embarrassment as he realized how much his comment was uncalled for. "Uh, sorry."
"No, the red-haired one has a point." Amisen spoke in the vacuum left by Tony, leaning forward in his seat. "What's preventing these Admirals from simply destroying this ship on the spot? If the one who engaged us is dead, will they not seek retribution?"
"Like I've stated previously, it's a risk I'm willing to take." I said once more, knowing it very well could be the only way to end this.
Someone needed to make a move, and I wasn't comfortable letting Gerrel and his lot be the ones to do it.
As Koris moved to speak, an intercom tone rang out, getting all of us to look up at the speaker in the ceiling.
"Attention Admiral Michaels, please contact CIC." One of my crewmen requested, sounding a little worried.
The tone along was telling me something important must have happened. I quickly stood up, walking over to the phone on the wall and picking up.
"Michaels." I stated, waiting for the response.
"A Phantom-class frigate just jumped into the system, claiming to be under the command of Commander Shepard." He spoke, getting my eyes to widen in surprise. "He wishes to speak to you, Admiral. The IFF checks out, and we detect no anomalous signals."
"Patch him through." I ordered, hearing a small burst of static as the connection was made. "Shepard, you there?"
"I am. Still in one piece for now." He joked, though with some strain obvious in his voice. "I got Greg's message and came as soon as I could. Things are a mess right now. Earth is under full invasion, and Arcturus Station, along with all of Parliament, is gone. The Alliance Navy is in disarray, with Hackett and the other Admirals barely managing to hold things together. He sent me to appeal to the Council, but they're more worried about securing their own borders than helping us."
"That doesn't surprise me." I nodded, tugging on the phone wire as everyone listened as closely as they could. "We'd be happy to invite you over to talk in further detail, or we can meet on the Normandy instead if you'd prefer that instead."
"I believe the Normandy would be the better choice, Alliance R&D was doing some work on the ship before the Reapers attacked, and several systems have been acting up since." He explained, causing my eyebrow to reflexively twitch. The fact that someone else has been rooting around in one of our ships irked me slightly. "Tali believes its because several of the upgrades aren't fully integrated yet."
"I'll bring a small team over to look at the vessel's systems if you want." I quickly offered, only now realizing how relieved I felt knowing both Hackett and Shepard were alive. "I'll even supply the Normandy with power from the Saint Luke, that way we can fix any possible faults with the power grid."
"That would be appreciated." He agreed, getting me to smile as I looked back at everyone, breathing deeply.
"I'll have the docking procedure transmitted to the Normandy. See you soon, Commander." I finished as the line switched back over to the CIC, automatically connecting me to my crew. "Transmit the docking package to the Normandy, instruct them to dock at Cradle 3. Give them a connection to our reactor once they're docked, too."
"Understood, sir." They finished, the line going dead as I hung the phone back up.
"It looks like we're gonna have to cut this meeting a bit short, Shepard just arrived and wants to speak aboard the Normandy." I explained in full detail, hopefully clearing up any questions they may have had. "Dan, Dimitri, Sira, and Lydia, you're coming with me. Apparently some slack-jaws from Alliance R&D were rooting around the Normandy, and now things aren't working right anymore."
"Aw shit… that's a b-big shocker." Dan exclaimed as he shook his head, standing up with everyone else as the meeting was effectively adjourned.
"The red-haired one?" Tony repeated once Amisen was further away, pointing at himself as he looked back at Dixon and Morgan. "Is that who I am?"
"Shut up, you're making us all look bad." Morgan immediately replied as they stood up to leave, shooting him a glare as Dixon rolled his eyes.
"Sean, wait." Koris stopped, quickly walking over with an obvious sense of purpose. "I just thought of something… something that might improve your odds of reasoning with the Admiralty."
"I'm up for just about anything at this point." I agreed to listen, crossing my arms.
"I know how this must sound coming from me, but… Tali was loved not only by her father, but Raan and Gerrel as well." He said as what he was about to suggest dawned on me. "If you return to Reach on the Normandy instead of this ship, with Tali as your supporter, you may face better chances at negotiating with them."
"That's a tall order, Koris." I sighed, knowing it was more complicated than that. "I'd have to convince Shepard that it could be pulled off before even speaking to Tali about this. You know how protective he is when it comes to his crew."
"I would think a man such as Shepard would see the benefit of a friendly, possibly even reunited, Migrant Fleet, especially in the face of this Reaper threat." He remarked in a far more stern tone, taking a step forward. "In addition, doing so wouldn't risk a top-of-the-line vessel like the Saint Luke, and would put far less of a strain on our relationship with the Raloi."
"You have a point… fine, I'll see what I can do." I agreed, offering a handshake to Koris which he immediately accepted. "I'll let you know what's going on as soon as possible."
"Best wishes and luck to you, Admiral. Keelah se'lai." He finished, walking out of the room leaving just Mara, who had remained in her seat.
"You think I can pull off another daring round of negotiations?" I spoke with some sarcasm, once more feeling the weight on my shoulders.
"I think you're the best possible person for the job." She reinforced, getting me to run my hand through my hair as she stood up and walked in front of me. "Just be careful, OK?"
I hugged her as I heard a gentle rumble vibrate through the hull, the Normandy docking to the cradle. An uneasy feeling had replaced the thankful one I previously had, giving me an odd sensation in my gut. I knew why I felt such a sudden sense of apprehension, but that didn't help me feel any better about it. The actions that I took in the next few hours could very well determine the fate of millions of people, and that kind of pressure didn't bode well with me.
Despite my reservations, I knew I had a job to do, and that if I was to have any realistic chance of pulling it off, I'd need the help of Shepard, Tali, and the rest of the Normandy's crew.
…
SSV Normandy, May 5th, 10:35 AM, 2185
…
Standing in the airlock with my friends, I waited patiently for the decon cycle to finish, seemingly longer than it used to be. While my team and I had agreed to allow Alliance engineers to look at the ship, nobody mentioned that any "upgrades" would be implemented. Dan and I were particularly annoyed. Dimitri had more respect for Alliance engineers than we did, considering he had spent a lot of time with them in the past, but I couldn't reconcile the fact that they looked at our ship and decided it needed "upgrades."
Maybe that was just vanity talking, but I took a lot of pride in my work.
"Sean, you look like you're ready to keel over." Sira pointed out, a concerned look on her face. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, just peachy." I quickly replied, rolling my shoulders before looking back at her and Lydia.
"Better than Dan." Lydia quickly pointed out, sounding more amused than anything else. "Dan looks like he wants to strangle someone."
"Shut it." He groaned under his breath, a bag of tools hoisted over his shoulder. "Y-you know why I'm annoyed."
"Both of you are a mess, you know that?" She chastised, holding her Snooper up as I turned back around and gently shook my head.
As the decon cycle finally came to an end, I did my best to put on a friendly face, the doors opening to reveal Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and James, all standing as a group.
"Hey jefe!" James immediately greeted with a contagious grin, forcing a genuine smile to form on my face.
"Hey." I greeted, walking into the hallway as I turned to Shepard. "So… what should we tackle first?"
"Tali is heading the ship repairs at the moment, with Garrus supervising weapons optimization." He explained, facing both of them as Tali nodded.
"The power grid has been a little off since we upgraded the main cannon and the shields." She explained, rubbing her hands together, covered in grease from the vessel's inner workings. "Also, the cloaking system is currently inoperable, and we have no idea why."
"Dimitri, main cannon. Sira, shields. Dan, reactor. Lydia, cloaking system." I quickly ordered, taking another step to the side to let them by easier. "I'll join you later once I'm done talking to the Commander."
"Understood." Dimitri looked back and nodded, the four of them following Garrus and Tali to the elevator, leaving just Shepard, James and I.
"What's going on?" Shepard asked, crossing his arms as one of my eyebrows shot up.
"What do you mean?" I replied, unsure as to what he was talking about.
"I can see it written all over your face. Something bad happened while we were gone." He correctly pointed out, getting me to sigh in defeat.
"The Admiralty tried to ambush my ship two days ago with a small flotilla, using a device that created a planetary signature strong enough to trigger the safety mechanisms built into the Gravity Drive." I explained, walking down the hallway with both of them. "After we refused to give ourselves up, they opened fire, forcing us to retaliate."
"I can see why that would have you a bit worked up." He nodded, holding the underside of his chin. "How do you even approach them after something like that?"
"Looking back on it, both sides got off lucky. We took no major damage, only suffering a little reactor instability, and they lost two out of twelve ships." I shrugged, trying to think of it with as little emotion as possible.
Shepard shook his head, looking off into space as I cocked my eyebrow, immediately noticing his face wasn't its usual, chiseled self.
"What happened back in Sol?" I questioned, getting him to look at me with a pained expression.
"I was attending a hearing regarding the Reaper threat with members of the Alliance Internal Defense Committee. Thanks to that prototype "Snooper" you gave us, Hackett covertly had sweeps done of his staff and several other Admirals." He explained, speaking with a much more "hushed" tone. "He found several people in key positions had been indoctrinated, including Dr. Dyson, who had access to the internal workings of the Alliance defense mainframe."
"Jesus." I exclaimed, shaking my head at the implications behind his involvement.
While I was aware of who Dyson was, I had never personally interacted with the man. He left Aldrin Station two months before Dan and I had shown up, moving to a facility on Elysium. I was aware that he and his team had developed what could be called "economical" orbital defense cannons. Economical, of course, in the sense that they were very small, at least compared to our ODP design, and could be built in far greater numbers at about 20% of the price our ODPs would likely be measured at. This came at a cost, though. They didn't have nearly as much killing power as stations such as Cairo, and weren't crewed, relying entirely on a complex, custom-coded defense mainframe to identify and attack threats.
Part of the reason why he left was because of Richard's Organic-class A.I. research. According to what Richard had told me at the time, he didn't want his "passion project" to be controlled by "some bumbling automaton" and petitioned that he and his team be relocated before continuing their work. I felt a chill run up my back, somewhat thankful that the events of the last few years had landed us where we are now. If the Reapers were able to indoctrinate someone like him, that meant we would've been at risk too.
"Unfortunately, shortly after the arrests began and I was called in to advise the committee, the Reapers stormed Sol and the surrounding systems, destroying Arcturus and forcing those of us with ships to flee while we still could." He continued, he face only growing darker as I took a deep breath. "We had to leave some good people behind."
"We were lucky just to get out one piece. We saw one of our cruisers go down right in Coal Harbor as we flew away from the headquarters in Vancouver." James added, managing to keep a slightly more relaxed face than Shepard.
"Unbelievable." I shook my head, still unable to fully grasp how quickly things must have fallen apart.
"So… uh, that ship must be something to survive odds like those." James remarked in an attempt to re-steer the conversation, looking suitably impressed. "You guys slugging it out openly?"
"Not yet. I actually wanted to talk to you about that, Shepard." I began as we walked into the briefing room, away from the rest of the crew. "My original plan was to approach the planet with my ship and request a meeting with the Admiralty to try and convince them one last time of the Reaper threat, but Koris believes that if we went with the Normandy instead, with you and Tali backing me up, we'd have a much better chance of creating peace."
"Hm… that's an interesting idea." He agreed, though with obvious reluctance. "Only problem is that I have no way of knowing if they'll even let us get close to the planet, let alone an audience in the Fleet. Plus, there's Tali."
"What's wrong with Tali?" I quickly questioned, not sure what the problem would be.
"When she and the rest of the crew received word of what had happened to the Fleet, there were many members of the crew that insisted on returning to join the Confederation, some even suggesting that we use the ship's unique properties to fight against the Admiralty." He explained, sounding quite displeased. "It took all of Tali's effort to calm them down, making her somewhat of a leader to the Quarian members of our crew."
"I'm surprised… I suppose her family name still holds a lot of weight." I pointed out, taking a seat at the table as both of them did the same.
"That's not all there is to it, however." He said, getting me to narrow my eyes. "She still hasn't quite… recovered from the news about her father. She never got to say goodbye to him, and her interactions with Pistis have caused her to question everything he taught her growing up. It's made her more distant with the rest of the crew."
"Hell, she doesn't even talk to me or my guys anymore." James added, leaning his muscular arms against the table. "I'd have better luck talking to that biotic woman than her."
I leaned my elbow up against the table, trying to think of a good way to handle this. I knew Tali was a smart and logical woman, though if what these two were saying was true, she had retreated into herself as she went over the thoughts in her own head. While I couldn't blame her for feeling the way she did, especially considering I was the one who told her about what her father had done, it was clearly having a negative impact on Shepard and the rest of his crew. If he of all people was having trouble reaching her, then what chance did I have?
"I can talk to her." I decided, knowing it was better taking my chances than doing nothing at all. "If I can get her to open up, will you help me do this?"
"I'll consider it." He nodded, crossing his arms. "After all, if we can get everyone to work together, we'll stand a much better chance of tackling the Reapers."
"Agreed." I finished, reaching over and shaking Shepard's hand.
…
SSV Normandy, May 5th, 10:58 AM, 2185
…
I walked into the lower portion of the Normandy's reactor hall, smiling at the sight of it once more as I crossed my arms. I didn't want to toot my own horn, but I admired the particular MN reactor we had designed for the Phantom-class frigates. They were special designs, sure, though still technically Mk.2s at heart. The fact that we had managed to fit it into the ship so well was a miracle onto itself, and I couldn't help but be proud of my own work.
"Goddamn it!" I heard a familiar voice shout, breaking my moment of silence as the clank of a thrown tool could be heard impacting a bulkhead below. "Why?!"
"What are you bitching about down there?" I asked with a raised voice, leaning against the railing as I looked down to see Dan, greased up and dirty.
"These d-dumb motherfuckers overcircuted nine panels down here, and left one of them com...completely uncovered!" He ranted, pressing his palms into his eye sockets as he pulled his legs forward. "If I hadn't spotted it, it could have started a f-fire, or worse, electrocuted someone."
"Can you fix it?" I asked with a deadpan, not interested in hearing him yell like an orangutan.
"Well y-yeah, but it'll take an hour or two." He said in a calmer tone, likely noticing my facial expression.
"Do it, call me if you need any help." I ordered, getting a thumbs-up and a goofy smirk from him. "Yeah yeah, get to work, you jackass."
As I climbed up the ladder towards the next deck, I spotted Tali off to the side, working on one of the main junction boxes. I could tell just from a glance that the insides had been greatly changed, a whole lot more connections made very obvious by the cyan-colored wiring.
"Hey Tali." I greeted, walking over to her as she turned to face me. "So, what are we dealing with here?"
"The Alliance engineers tried bypassing the main power lines when upgrading the Thanix cannon." She explained, tugging at the edge of her hood as she spoke, still focused on the work in front of her. "They never finished optimizing the system before the attack, so I have to test the connections on each of these lines one by one to try and gauge which ones are in use."
"Here, let me take a look." I urged, kneeling next to her and pulling out my multimeter. I quickly tested each of the connections, making a mental note of each of their readings as I moved along in order.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her omni-tool still open, various readings scrolling across it as I made my connections.
"The Thanix cannon uses about twenty-two volts of electricity per-hour while idle, correct?" I asked, wanting to confirm the thoughts inside my own head as she gave me a slow nod. "If the other connections are using less than twenty-two, you should be able to rule them out and narrow your results."
"Keelah, why didn't I think of that?" She shook her head with mild distress, slumping her shoulders.
"What's wrong with you, Tali?" I asked in a sincere tone, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at her. "This is what you're best at, what's running through your head that you couldn't come up with this yourself?"
"I don't know… just, everything." She stammered, quickly making the connections herself as she spoke, before giving up entirely and facing me. "Sean, I thought I had a good grasp on everything when I left the Fleet years ago. I thought I knew who my enemies were, what my responsibilities were, what I had to strive towards as my father's daughter. It seemed so clear before. All that changed when I met that machine. My people have wandered the galaxy for decades, telling their children of the day when we would reclaim our home world from the machines that wanted to destroy us."
"You learned that it wasn't true." I stated, seeing her hand shake as I became genuinely worried.
"Not only was it not true, but it was a lie! My father got himself and others killed, and for what?!" She shouted, making fists with her hands. "To destroy the Geth, their creations? They never wanted to hurt us, they asked a question, and the actions of my ancestors nearly resulted in the extinction of our people! They're the same ancestors we honor every day, and they're the ones responsible for where we all are now... all because of a question."
I sighed deeply, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"Does this unit have a soul…?" I repeated from memory, hearing Tali breathe deeply through her mask filter. "It's kind of poetic in a sad, somber way."
"What do you mean?" She immediately asked, confused.
"The question was the answer." I nodded with a weak smile, thinking back to when Richard had first started explaining his research to me. "The moment they were capable of asking such a question, the answer was right there, in front of them."
Tali stayed quiet, staring into space as I struggled to think of something to say. Failing that, I decided to take a risk, and accessed the files on my omni-tool, one in particular I had kept ever since the incident in Rael's lab.
"If you are seeing this message, it means I am dead." Rael's distorted voice played once more, causing Tali to turn and face me as the video message played. "I… didn't mean for any of this to happen, none of it. All I wanted was to lead our people back to the home world, regain what is rightfully ours. But we went too far, took too many risks. Tali… I only wanted the best for you, and I hope you'll understand why we did what we did. Please, stay safe. Keelah se'lai."
"That bosh'tet…" She sobbed as I put my arm around her. "Even with his dying breath, he couldn't be bothered to say he loved me."
"He loved you, Tali." I reassured, feeling her tremble as she got quiet once more. "The entire time I knew him, he never had anything but good things to say about his daughter. You were everything to him, and he was willing to do anything to make sure you wouldn't have to suffer the same hardships as him. That being said, you have to realize that you are surrounded by people that love you just as much as he did. Don't let your bad experiences ruin your relationship with the Commander, Garrus, and the rest of them."
"You have a point...but look what we're up dealing with now." She said, her voice sounding far more hollow. "I was there when the Reapers invaded Earth. How are we supposed to fight back against something like that? Sovereign was just one Reaper, and it took dozens of ships to destroy it. How would he have reacted to such a threat?"
"There's an old saying among my own people, Tali. United we stand, divided we fall." I remarked as I let go of her, focusing instead on her glowing eyes. "If we're going to stand a chance, we need to start uniting people. Our pasts, our grievances, our century-old squabbles, none of them mean anything in the face of what could very well be our extinction, an extinction that can only be avoided by working together."
"The only way we can fight and win is to act as one." She finished, a hopeful tone making its way in. "Sean, I know the Reapers and the threat they pose, but Raan, Gerrel, and Zadie have no way of knowing what's coming while they're focused on the Geth."
"Then let's go back to Reach and make them see the truth." I urged, feeling a surge of energy course through me. "They won't listen to me, there's too much bad blood between us, but you and Shepard may have a chance to settle things and end the conflict before it begins."
Taking a deep breath, Tali stood back up as I quickly followed, giving her a stern look.
"I'll do it." She agreed much to my silent relief, sounding far more confident. "But first, I need to go talk to Shepard, and… apologize to a few people. Do you mind finishing this for me?"
"Not a problem." I agreed with a nod and smile, thankful that I managed to reach her.
As she walked back towards the elevator, I couldn't help but wonder what might happen in the coming hours. Things had changed dramatically back on Reach according to the few reports we managed to get from allied Captains in the Fleet, and I knew at this point just about any possibility was on the table.
I only hoped it didn't end in bloodshed. Enough had already been spilled in this pointless schism.
…
A/N: Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone out there, it's been a tough last few weeks for me, and writing has really helped take my mind off things. For the next month, I'm going to be working Sundays, leaving me with less time to relax and write. I just thought I'd tell you all now, just in case the next chapter takes a little longer to come out. Just bear with me, this time of the year sucks. I thank all of you for your support, and for keeping up with my oddball schedule.
As always, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Please leave a review telling me what you think of the story so far, and stay tuned!