Standard disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor any other content that you recognise. Some characters and systems are original creations. I am receiving no money for my work.
London – Earth
2018.08.24
Apologies for my long absence. My boyfriend of 4 years ended our relationship a few months ago. As he was my main inspiration, motivation and beta for this story; indeed, he was the only reason I started writing again in the first place, finding the motivation to write again has been very difficult.
It took a long time to write this chapter and I'm not convinced it's up to my usual quality, but I can't seem to improve it any further, so it's time to post it and move on. I'm uncertain if my update speed will be anything like before, we will have to find out. But hey, at least I managed to finally get another chapter done. I hope you all enjoy it! Best wishes, James.
Vancouver - Earth
2112.12.02
Rajendra Tharoor sat behind the desk of the Secretary General of the Systems Alliance. With the election to form the Constitutional Assembly still three weeks away he was still the leader of the unholy mess that was the Systems Alliance government at the moment, well the civilian portion of it at least. He was roused from his study of the schematics for the proposed Arcturus Station by the arrival of the two people he was effectively sharing power with, even if at the moment they deferred to him and asked for his permission.
Tharoor never allowed himself to forget that these two people had overthrown the previous government of the Alliance, and without a constitution and assembly to rally the people behind, his own position was just as precarious.
"Fleet Admiral Carmichael, Field Marshal Khatri." The Prime Minister of India rose and warmly greeted his guests despite his internal thoughts, gesturing for them to sit at the two chairs placed in front of his desk. "You asked to see me?"
"Yes Sir." Admiral Carmichael replied respectfully. "And we appreciate you taking the time away from the campaign to meet with us, but we have been studying the data retrieved from the turian wrecks along with that provided by the asari diplomatic team for the armistice, and we have discovered a serious and time sensitive strategic concern."
"And what is that Admiral?" The PM asked frowning. With the signing of the armistice, decisions on practically everything were being delayed till after the election. The Alliance's departments had been running on inertia for weeks, simply carrying out the last set of orders they received until they received new ones.
"We are about to be trapped." Marshal Khatri stated bluntly placing a projection disk down onto the PM's desk. A map sprang into the air above the desk, specifically one that they were all intimately familiar with. The Prothean map of what they had designated the local super sector span lazily in the air, Sol shining brightly near its centre.
"As you know Prime Minister, the relay network is divided into clusters linked by primary mass relay pairs, though they do also have at least one inter-sector secondary relay connection for emergencies. What you may not know is that the Citadel Council has a specific law forbidding the activation of dormant mass relays, and it is a law that they do not grant exceptions for and enforce zealously."
Prime Minister Tharoor looked startled, immediately grasping the gravity of the situation. "How do they expand? All of our relays, primary and secondary alike, were deactivated when we found them. If we hadn't opened them then…."
"We would still be trapped in Sol, or at least within the local cluster." Admiral Carmichael stated bluntly. "The Citadel created the law after an event known as the Rachni War, where scouting carelessly unleashed a hive minded insect horde on the galaxy. Apparently, there are enough active relays to give ample room for the Citadel races to expand, though it does leave massive dead zones in their territory. One which we inhabit. We should be grateful really, were it not for this law then Council warships would likely have arrived in Earth orbit hundreds of years ago, and we would be just another weak client race. Or worse, given our neighbours."
"Give it to me straight. How bad a position are we in?" The Prime minister asked, dreading the response.
The map changed to show the current political borders of the galaxy as the First Space Lord replied.
"To the galactic west, the primary relay from our territory leads into the Krogan Demilitarized Zone and from there, directly to the Citadel. We expected as much given the maps we decrypted from captured turian technology, having all the systems in this direction be already claimed isn't an issue. This is." The map changed to zoom in on the galactic south where a large swathe of space was coloured in brown.
"This is the Batarian Hegemony Prime Minister." The First Sky Marshal took over. "I'll leave the precise briefing to the foreign office, but suffice to say that its extremely unlikely we will get on. As you can see the secondary relay links south from both the Petra Nebula cluster and the Artemis Tau cluster lead directly into their territory. With the galactic core cutting off our expansion to the galactic north, this little development leaves us hemmed in on three sides."
"And east?" Rajendra Tharoor asked plaintively. He could see the danger. If the galactic east was cut off to them as well, then the Systems Alliance's growth would be cut off at the knees. Oh, it wouldn't matter for centuries yet, but eventually they would simply run out of room and their economic and military power would stagnate. All while the Council species continued to expand into the vast and unclaimed Attican Traverse, the effective neutral zone between Council Space and the Terminus Systems.
"Here is where it gets dicey sir." Admiral Carmichael spoke carefully. To the east there is a primary relay link out of batarians territory, but they only claim its destination cluster and one other cluster there because then they run into the elcor home cluster, effectively blocking their expansion." The map changed again to show an area in green labelled 'The Courts of Dekuuna'.
"Elcor territory is centred on the Nubian Expanse cluster and extends eastwards to the galactic core, the primary relay linking them to the Citadel is here in the Shadow Sea cluster. They cut off both us and the batarians from the Attican Traverse. But!" The First Space Lord held up a hand to forestall any comments. "There is a way through. The Shadow Sea cluster, despite being elcor territory, is administered, patrolled and defended by the Citadel Council on behalf of the elcor."
"Why on earth would they agree to that?" The PM asked, puzzled, "The shadow Sea is the only cluster that links the galactic south east to the galactic north east without going through the elcor home system. Even I can see that it is a strategically vital chokepoint."
"Exactly that PM, the cluster suffered so many pirate attacks that the elcor needed very little arm twisting to allow the Citadel to control it. But they did make sure to demand a free passage for all clause."
Rajendra grinned as he immediately saw the opportunity. So, if we can gain access to this Shadow Sea cluster from the south then nothing can stop us expanding north. We won't be trapped and can effectively catch up with the Council races. I take it that having our territory cut in half by only one potentially enemy held system is something that the military feels is a viable strategic position?"
"Oh yes sir." Marshal Khatri grinned fiercely. "We can handle one system if it comes to that."
"Then I'm guessing that this whole situation just comes down to these clusters here." PM Tharoor cut to the chase zooming the map into a section of relays that were marked as inactive. "The primary relays in Attican Beta will link the Shadow Sea to our own territory here in Hades Gamma, and the secondary relays in the three surrounding clusters will give us a lot of territory to absorb in the meantime, as well as giving us a second link into elcor territory. I take it that you're here talking to me because there is no way for us to legally activate those relays under Citadel law?"
"That's right sir." Marshal Khatri replied angrily. "The only way to legally open a relay under citadel law is to send probes to its destination system, determine that there is no spacefaring species present, and then submit a petition of activation to the Citadel Council. Suffice to say it takes well over a century for each one. Even with no organic crew so they don't have to stop and discharge their drive cores, the probes can only go so fast. There's a reason we are dependent on the mass relays in the first place. Now, that may seem like reasonable timescale to an asari, but for the rest of us it's crippling."
"By the way PM, we have probes inbound into our territory from the batarians. Apparently, they were planning to petition the Council to open the Petra Nebula and Artemis Tau relays from their side. When they find out we already have colonies in those clusters, well I think there is going to be a lot of trouble."
The Prime Minister nodded and filed that information away. "I take it you have a plan?" He asked, keeping to the matter at hand.
"We want to send one, and only, one of our black ops frigates to activate the dormant relays. All of them that don't link into Citadel claimed territory."
Rajendra Tharoor sat, deep in thought. "Given the penalty for disobeying that law I would ask if you are insane, but I see where you are coming from. Without access to the Shadow Sea we will forever be trapped or split, always a second-rate power. The details?"
"We send our black ops frigate to activate all of the relays that don't lead to Council Space. But we backdate the activation, as far as anyone outside the three of us and that frigate is concerned, we opened them before we met the asari and knew of the law. We can't be charged with breaking the law if we didn't know of it. Then, later on, we sent out normal troops to garrison the relay systems, enough to count as a legitimate claim under Citadel law."
"Nothing in the law says that we can't claim systems with already active relays, and the Citadel can't object to us claiming territory that we assumed was ours anyway. Until now we just didn't know that we needed to officially claim it. Once we have a peace treaty we can send petition of activations to the Council for the remaining relays to link us properly to Citadel space."
The Prime Minister looked at the slowly spinning map and sighed deeply. "It bypasses all of our safety protocols for exploration, which could lead to disaster in and of itself even if the Citadel doesn't find out and restart the war in retaliation." The two military officers remained silent, they had already laid out their case. "Not even elected yet and I'm already taking massive gambles with the future of humanity. Do it."
*Map available on thefourthcouncilrace dot tumblr dot com
The Citadel – Serpent Nebula
2112.12.16
Anita Goyle sat behind her desk as two asari stormed into her office unannounced.
She had arrived at the Citadel a week ago to great fanfare on the SSV Cotopaxi countering the magnificence of the Citadel's greeting with a display of human military power.
After the ceremonies and rope lines, the interviews and the party invitations, she had settled down to work in the temporary embassy granted to Humanity on the presidium ring.
Scattered around were datapads filled with academic works and historical memoirs detailing the political structure of the Citadel Alliance, each of its member states, the political structure of its member states, the records of their first contact with the Citadel and their ascension process, and the records of every peace treaty the Citadel Council had ever signed and the negotiations leading up to them.
The peace negotiations wouldn't begin until the 6th of January, and ambassador Goyle intended to be as prepared as possible to make up for the weakness of humanity's position.
"Can I help you Matriarchs?" Anita queried ironically raising a delicate eyebrow at the dramatic entrance.
"That depends." Matriarch Irissa Theris growled out slamming her subtly glowing hands down on the desk and towering over Anita Goyle. "What the fuck did you think you were doing opening mass relays without permission? Do you want to be bombed back into the stone age like the Krogan?"
Ambassador Goyle returned the angry gaze of her asari counterpart coolly. While Matriarch Tevos served as the Asari Councillor, all three Council races maintained an ambassador as well as a councillor on the Citadel. Mainly their duties were to deal with the day to day diplomacy that kept the galaxy turning, allowing the councillors to focus on the big picture.
Of course, the role also acted as a stepping stone for those who had ambitions to reach the rank of councillor one day, taking the role either as a protégé of the existing councillor to learn the ropes from them, or as an opponent using the position to build a rival power base among the movers and shakers of the Citadel's diplomatic class as they manoeuvred to replace the incumbent councillor.
The fact that it was Ambassador Irissa confronting her rather than Councillor Tevos, and that Matriarch Benezia was present but hanging back, told the veteran ambassador all that she needed to know. The Citadel wasn't sure of its accusation and was trying to bully her into making a mistake. That may have worked on some people, but Anita Goyle had undertaken many secret negotiations with parties willing to quite literally gut her at any point. A pissed off asari Matriarch was intimidating, but not nearly enough to make her loose her cool.
"We were thinking that we were at war with the Citadel Council, Matriarch." Anita responded icily, ignoring the slight moans from the table as Irissa's biotics strained the metal. She stood up gracefully to look her fellow ambassador in the eye. "And that our evacuation transports would need a place to flee to, away from our existing colonies to ensure the survival of our species if you continued to attack us."
"And you just happened to stop before you activated any leading into Citadel Space?" Irissa spat contemptuously, but behind the manufactured rage Anita saw a flicker of respect cross Irissa's face at the fact she hadn't caved or shown any sign of being intimidated.
"Not at all. We had decoded the turian maps. We opened every relay we could find that didn't lead to your space, so as to give our evacuation transports as much space to hide in as possible." Ambassador Goyle stuck to the cover story religiously. Less than 20 people in the galaxy knew for certain that it was bollocks, and even though when more than 12 people knew it a secret was bound to leak eventually, the low number meant that the Alliance could hopefully keep a lid on that fact for decades, centuries if they were lucky.
Ambassador Irissa growled but Matriarch Benezia finally stepped forward. "Perhaps that is true Ambassador, but that doesn't explain the large troop movements into the newly accessible systems. Your own armistice terms place limits on reinforcing existing positions or creating new ones, it would seem that humans view treaty obligations as optional extras. Perhaps we should do the same?"
Conciliatory and disappointed, Matriarch Benezia acted as the perfect counterpoint to Matriarch Irissa. It was superbly executed, but it was such a simple trick that Ambassador Goyle was almost insulted that they had even thought to try it.
"The armistice forbids the reinforcement of the frontlines or the logistics bases supporting them Matriarch. It does not forbid troop movements on the other side of the power in question, as far away from the front lines as it is possible to get. None of the relays linking those systems to Citadel Space are active either, so we can't even be accused of preparing another front in case talks break down. After all, we have agreed not to open new relays in return for the armistice and peace negotiations."
"Then what possible reason could you have to deploy all of those troops?" Matriarch Benezia asked.
"Why to claim the systems Matriarch." Ambassador Goyle adopted a look of wide eyed surprise and naiveite to counter the asari's belligerence and feigned disappointment. "Normally we would not, but now it seems that other species could simply send their own troops or colonists and claim them under Citadel law. Not that I believe for a moment that you would condone it, but four entire clusters worth of systems would be a huge prize and one that would solve many of the batarian's and others problems. It wouldn't be fair to ask the Citadel to evict them when the systems do not contain enough humans to register as a valid claim under Citadel law, despite the Alliance's existing claims being valid under human law."
Irissa Theris seemed to be fighting a smirk at Anita Goyle's act, all of them knew that no Citadel fleet would have been sent to evict any batarian claimants arriving through elcor space when the connecting relays were opened.
Indeed, the Citadel Council would have breathed a sigh of relief if the batarians had expanded into the region as they would both have expanded, shutting down that constant complaining, compromised their territorial integrity by having the new systems separated from their current empire by the entirety of elcor territory, and ended up locked in a struggle with the Systems Alliance while simultaneously stunting the Alliance's growth to boot. Tying up both powers and making them much easier to deal with.
Ambassador Goyle reflected that just such a scenario was probably the outcome that Councillor Tevos was actively working towards at the moment, hence the asari's visit.
Matriarch Benezia hid her frustration and adopted a disappointed tone. "Perhaps you could inform us before taking these steps next time Ambassador? It would save all of us a great deal of trouble."
"Of course, Matriarch. We would not wish to do anything to do anything to cause trouble for the Citadel." Ambassador Goyle smiled sweetly, moving around her desk to show her guests to the door.
Benezia T'Soni shot her a very sceptical look as she left, but Ambassador Goyle thought she detected an ever so slight nod of respect from Ambassador Irissa. As the door closed behind them, the human ambassador let her head thunk into it in relief. The first crisis had been successfully avoided. Now there were only 10,000 more to go.
London – Earth
2112.12.23
BBC NEWS
Big Ben chimed a quarter to the hour as the camera panned into the studio and the host came into shot, sitting before his group of four guests. He smiled at the camera as the crew let him know he was now live.
"Good evening and welcome to this election night special here on the BBC, I'm Andrew Parker. The polls close in only 15 minutes, remember if you are in line when they close you will still be allowed to vote, so if you've somehow forgotten this historic election was today? Run, you can probably still make it to the polling stations in time."
Andrew flashed his trademark grin at the cameras to the chuckles from his guests before continuing. "We will be providing you with commentary and results, guests and expert analysis throughout the night and into the morning, when I at least will finally be able to get some sleep as Samantha takes over. Due to the new voting system being used and the election being held across the globe the results will come a little slower than our British viewers are used to, but most seats should have declared by this time tomorrow night."
Andrew paused, gesturing as a youtube video from CGP Grey entitled 'Politics in the animal kingdom: Single Transferable Vote' appeared the corner of the screen, waiting to be clicked on if the viewer so wished.
"A reminded to our British viewers that this video explains the Single Transferable Vote system that this election was conducted with. As a compromise was required between those nations that wanted locally based representatives and those that wanted a purely proportional vote, this system was chosen as it combines the benefits of both with the disadvantages of neither."
"Though as this has been playing in polling stations all day, if you haven't seen it then you probably haven't voted. And I don't know why you'd be staying up to watch a political analysis program if that's the case."
Andrew grinned at the camera again, but he was interrupted before he could draw breath.
"Well let's be honest Andrew, it wasn't about fixing any problems with the voting system. It was about rigging the election to deny the British People the chance to tell these Alliance supporters to take a long walk off of beachy head!"
Andrew Parker's smile became rather fixed and he decided to introduce his guests to re-establish control. "Well, to all of you watching at home who aren't familiar with them, at this point in the evening I am joined by Jessica Parker – no relation – who is the spokesman of the Nations and Freedom Cohort, James Patel; prizewinning journalist and current political editor of The Times, Amanda Abbot; CEO of fact check."
"Finally, representing the coalition government we are lucky to have the Foreign Secretary, Owain Lloyd George with us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show."
A Chorus of good evenings came back at him before Andrew turned to Jessica Parker who looked ready to explode. "A reminder to our viewers that it was impossible for parties to be formed in only six weeks, so current political parties have been working across national boundaries with those of similar views in broad factions."
"Jessica, you are the UK spokesperson of the only faction to have campaigned against Alliance membership; the Nations and Freedom Cohort. You have claimed throughout this campaign that this election is illegal and invalid are you sticking to that case tonight?"
"Yes, we are Andrew." Jessica Parker replied with the fire of her convictions. "There is no doubt in my mind that if we were being elected under first passed the post, as all elections to Westminster are, then the NFC would be taking the most seats tonight."
"But you're not, not because of any conspiracy but because your just not anyone's second or third choice. Most people want the Systems Alliance to succeed, and they would rather the views that one of the pro-alliance factions represents succeeds over those that would see the Alliance fail, even if they don't get their first choice." James Patel shot back calmly, his newspaper articles had backed Prime Minister Cable to the hilt over his all-in gamble on the Systems Alliance.
"That's just a fancy way of sidestepping the issue that there are 5 pro-alliance factions and they can't even agree on what form the new Systems Alliance government should take! Do you really expect people to just sign a blank cheque?" Jessica replied using one of the strongest vectors of attack she had.
"Interesting that you should mention cheques when so much of the money pouring into your party's campaign has been from China." Amanda Abbot cut in. "Their plan was obviously to play the first passed the post game and ensure you got enough seats to block any proposal. Now your finding it's a lot harder to buy seats under STV and you're afraid you'll fall short of the mark."
"We at factcheck have also noticed a startling similarity to many of the recent American political speeches during this campaign. There have been accusations that you have been sharing resources and writers with them, expenses that have not been declared on your election returns and could lead to criminal charges."
Seeing the frustration Jessica Parker was experiencing as the others ganged up on their unifying enemy, Andrew decided to give her a chance to regroup. He turned to his final guest. "Owain Lloyd George, you've been rather quiet so far. Do you share Ms Abbot's confidence? I know you won't be drawn on whether you think your political faction has gained the upper hand, but do you think that the anti-alliance electoral faction has gained enough seats to frustrate any plan the Constitutional Assembly might come up with?"
"As always Andrew I will be waiting before the exit poll before making any comments." Owain grinned, not falling for the trap. "But I certainly hope that the pro-alliance factions have carried the day. No matter what difference's I have with my colleagues in other parties we can all agree that membership of the Systems Alliance is the best way forward for the United Kingdom."
"Now, we have a long way to go, a lot of things need to be worked out, and Jessica is right, it's a huge challenge. Also – quite frankly – it's a terrifying challenge as well. But I'd just like to share a quote from my great grandfather David that comes to me every time I think about that. 'Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated, you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.'"
The other guests all looked eager to take the floor once again, but Andrew Parker cut them off as Big Ben began to chime the hour. "Well thank you all, but it's time for the first big surprise of the night. It's the exit poll which should be being released now the polls have closed…..yes and here it is, and what a result!"
Everyone present shifted in their seats to try and get the best view of the large display screen showing the exit poll, so they had a few extra seconds to think of how to spin the results when Andrew came back to them.
"It seems the International Coalition of Conservatives and Reformists are expected to be the largest party, followed closely by the Progressive Alliance of Democratic Socialists, the Nations and Freedom Cohort may be coming in third, but they have still managed to sucker punch the Alliance of Liberals and Social Democrats into a distant fourth place, which is a terrible performance given the expectations the ALSD had. The Association of Free Greens and the Peoples Protective Grouping are bringing up the rear."
The bar charts splashed vibrant colours over the display screens giving the groups predicted vote share and seat numbers.
Vote Share Prediction Seats Prediction
ICCR – 34% ICCR – 31%
PADS – 30% PADS – 29%
NFC – 22% NFC – 23%
ALSD – 11% ALSD – 13%
AFG – 2% AFG – 2%
PPG – 1% PPG – 2%
"Well, I'll return to my guests in just a moment. No doubt Ms Abbot will be thrilled with this result and Mr Patel will be ecstatic given its unexpected nature, I expect we will see another journalism award coming his way given the material here tonight if these predictions are born out."
"Poor Mr Lloyd George looks to be in for a rough night, the Lib Dem's ALSD, the Green's AFG and Plaid Cymru's PPG; all of the factions that the coalition government's parties are members of seem to have been routed – which with the next general election only a year away says that the government is in very serious trouble – but the kicker…." Andrew trailed off for dramatic effect.
"The Nations and Freedom Cohort is third, but it only has 22% of the vote and is predicted to take only 23% of the available seats. Now, this is all predictions at the moment, but if those figures are right then the NFC is 11% away from the 34% of seats they need to be able to unilaterally block any constitution due to the 2/3rds majority required to approve it."
"They'll have one last chance to make their case against the Alliance when any new constitution proceeds to ratification by the member state governments. But, for now, unless they make up that gap in terms of seats – and to be honest given how large that gap that is it's difficult to see how they will do that – it appears what we will definitely have a new Systems Alliance, it just remains to be seen what sort of Alliance it will be."
The Citadel – Serpent Nebula
2113.02.02
The Citadel Councillors tried to forget the last time they had met in their high security private meeting chambers because of the humans. The political, economic and prestige damage had been appalling even if the military damage was minimal. Recriminations had been being thrown at them by their governments for the last three months and they were only now, barely, getting back to anything approaching normal.
"Do you know why Benezia has called us here Tevos?" Corinthus Oraka asked frustratedly. The entire Relay 314 Incident was the biggest black eye to turian honour and prestige in centuries and both he and the Primarch just wanted it done with as fast as possible, so that it would begin to fade from the public's memory.
"Only that the peace negotiations had deadlocked, and she needed to speak to us immediately." Councillor Tevos stated calmly despite her own internal frustration. The humans had successfully avoided her attempts to get them locked in an eternal border war with the Batarian Hegemony, even though success had been unlikely Matriarch Tevos Calis did not like being outmanoeuvred.
Especially when the success of that project would have been so advantageous to the asari that it would have gone along way to restoring her damaged reputation on Thessia.
"Implications unsettling." Jarun Tolan spoke without looking up from his omitool. "Monetary reparations agreed, recognition of territory agreed, including new systems and renouncing of Citadel claims to cluster humans designate Zodaic Group." The orange text of the agreement so far scrolled passed as high speed as the salarian councillor searched for anything that might have caused such a sudden problem.
"Permission to open diplomatic relations with Citadel member species agreed, permission to open relays leading to Citadel space agreed, permission to apply for Citadel Alliance membership agreed, signing of Treaty of Farixen agreed. Nothing reasonable left to cause issue, conclusion unpleasant."
As Councillor Tolan breathed deeply the door opened and Matriarch Benezia swept in.
"Councillors." The veteran Matriarch greeted them all sharply, obviously having made one last attempt at reason with Ambassador Goyle.
"Matriarch." Councillor Oraka was the one to answer her while Councillor Tevos pressed a firm mug of tea from her personal supply into her fellow Matriarchs twitching hand. "We thought everything had been agreed, the humans have been remarkably restrained in their demands showing an awareness of how weak their position is. Or at least we thought that it showed an awareness of that, what's gone wrong?"
"The trial of the Third Patrol Fleet's banner officers." Matriarch Benezia responded tersely.
"Unsure of cause of complication? Trial of banner officers a certainty from the very beginning. Surely humans not demanding summary executions? Or verdicts agreed before trial takes place? Human legal system does not allow for such." Councillor Tolan muttered to himself and the others as Matriarch Benezia sipped her tea and gathered her wits.
"No, they want a free and fair trial." She answered stealing herself for the inevitable explosion. "But they want them tried by human judges and under human law."
There was dead silence in the soundproofed meeting room for several moments before Corinthus Oraka erupted. "NO! NO! A THOUSAND TIMES NO!"
Councillor Tevos reached behind her and massaged the tails of her crest firmly, portraying frustration as a human would by massaging their brow. "Oraka we knew they would have to be tried…"
"BY TURIANS!" Councillor Oraka roared before struggling to calm himself down. "Tried by turians, or at least by Citadel judges. Letting this backwards race from the middle of nowhere that have only been on the galactic stage for 5 minutes impose their law on a turian admiral? No, its too much."
The outrage pouring off their turian counterpart left the occupants of the private meeting room in no doubt that he wasn't going to budge.
"I did try to explain this to the humans." Matriarch Benezia stated exhaustedly. "But they are not budging, they refuse to allow 'the guilty to try themselves' was how Ambassador Goyle put it."
"We cannot agree to it." Councillor Tevos agreed, knowing that to do so would be to push Councillor Oraka and the Turian Hierarchy too far. "What options do we have? I don't believe any of us think that we can restart the war over this, asari and salarian public opinion will never stand for it."
Councillor Tolan was looking between Tevos and Oraka swiftly, clearly contemplating something. After a moment he ignored Oraka completely and spoke to his asari counterpart. "Compromise still possible. Agree to let humans judge banner officers, but must agree to do so under turian law."
Councillor Oraka looked at his salarian counterpart, stunned, before swiftly turning towards the two asari. "Tevos, please, you can't possibly be considering this."
Councillor Tevos stared at Oraka, running scenarios through her head. Tolan's proposal was just enough to cut the legs out from under any turian response, if the banner officers were judged under turian law then they would scream and bluster, but the insult wouldn't be grave enough for the turians to actually do anything.
On the other hand, if they denied the human demand in its entirety, they were much more likely to walk away from the entire peace negotiations. Oh, they wouldn't restart the war, but they could conceivably sit behind their relays, relying on public opinion and galaxy wide commitments to protect them from any military action on the Citadel's part as they built up their industry, population and military, all while seething for revenge.
"Offer the comprise to the humans."
The three other occupants stood silently as Councillor Oraka stormed out of the room, outrage and betrayal marring his features.
"I will do so now Matriarch." Matriarch Benezia replied softly as she too left the room.
The asari and salarian councillors stared at each other for some time, saying nothing, waiting for the other to break.
"Oraka will not forget this, will cause trouble for us in future." Councillor Tolan broke first and voiced his concerns.
"Then in the future I will worry, now we just need this dam peace treaty signed. Then we can finally begin to move on from this whole debacle. The humans can be mellowed via the ascension process, but we have to have peace with them first." Councillor Tevos stated simply.
"Careful of extrapolations from minimal data Tevos. Sure asari predecessor said the same about mellowing batarians via ascension process." Councillor Tolan got the satisfaction of a flicker of anger on Tevos's face as he too left, leaving the asari councillor alone and suddenly less confident than she had been only moments before.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.02.26
Macen Arterius was awoken by one of his guards' batons slamming into the door of his cell. "Arterius, back against the wall. You have a visitor."
The turian admiral stepped back against the bare concrete wall. His cell was comfortable enough, certainly better than a turian one that would have been holding someone facing the charges he was. The door opened admitting a volus, then slammed shut.
Admiral Arterius looked dumfounded at his visitor for so long he almost forgot proper protocol. "SIR!" Fortunately he had snapped to attention and saluted before Doran Olar, ambassador of the Vol Protectorate to the Citadel Council, had to suffer the indignity of announcing himself.
Several turians would have never extended such a courtesy to their client race, but Macen was of the opinion that that relationship went both ways. Without the volus running the turian economy and their huge financial contribution to the Hierarchy the Hierarchy would have collapsed long ago. Or at least it would not be able to field anything like the fleets it did today, that meant that the volus ambassador was entitled to as much respect as a turian ambassador was in his opinion.
"At ease." Ambassador Olar replied, gesturing for Admiral Arterius to sit on the bed once again as he approached. The ambassador set up a small device that no doubt served to jam the human monitoring equipment before he began to speak. "You are aware of the *Hiss* state of your trial Admiral?"
Macen Arterius looked down in shame that the Ambassador still referred to him by the title he had disgraced with his actions. "I am Ambassador, I will be judged by a panel of human judges, but under turian law. Our own ambassador explained it to me so, with the greatest respect sir, what are you doing here?"
The volus ambassador stared at him for a long time, Macen clearly understood he was being judged. "You seem penitent *hiss* Admiral. Not what I expected, given your *hiss* actions."
Admiral Arterius looked up at the ceiling, raising his head in shame and exposing his throat. "If I were looking at my actions as you were Ambassador, I would think the same. I can offer no defence except that each small step seemed justified at the time. I am simply glad that the Citadel has managed to salvage my mistakes."
"They have not. *hiss* They have misjudged the humans."
The Admiral felt horror spreading through is body once again. "Ambassador?"
"What will happen to you *hiss* under turian law?"
"I will be found guilty; the rest of my officers will be acquitted as they were only following orders. As I did not directly disobey my orders I will be found guilty of wilfully misinterpreting orders and unauthorised use of Hierarchy fleet assets. General Sparatus will be posthumously found guilty of the same. I will be dishonourably discharged from the navy and banned from all future government posts, military or civilian, left to live in shame as a trader or cleaner or some other spirts forsaken role."
The Admiral swallowed uncomfortably, aware that he had just insulted a race of traders but ploughed on. "My clan will suffer the shame for generations, even if they reach high office the stain of my actions will follow them, tainting all they have achieved."
The Admiral trailed off as he once again was confronted with the consequences of his actions. For several minuets the cell was filled only with the sound of Doran Olar's breathing.
"It will not be enough." The statement from the volus ambassador was short and to the point.
"I don't understand Ambassador?" Admiral Arterius stammered. "My eternal shame, the effect on my clan, how could the humans demand anything more?"
The volus ambassador handed over a file on an entertainment system. "Contrary to our esteemed Council race *hiss* friends. When the volus wish to learn about a new *hiss* race and their potential markets. We *hiss* watch their entertainment, it reveals so *hiss* much more about a people than dry analysis does. I suggest *hiss* that you watch this, I will return *hiss* soon."
As the volus reclaimed his jammer and left the cell Admiral Arterius looked at the single entertainment file loaded on to the device. It had turian subtitles and its title stared out at him, waiting to be unpaused and reveal whatever the volus ambassador thought was so important about the humans.
Reaching out the Admiral hit play, and the title screen appeared – Murder on the Orient Express.
The film had been over for an hour when Ambassador Olar re-entered the cell. Admiral Arterius looked over to the volus. "So much energy, resources, emotions and time. Invested by so many people, all to avenge the death of one person, so long ago."
"You see now how strongly, *hiss* and how closely, humans hold their *hiss* families. Thousands died in your *hiss* attack on Shanxi. The humans don't want shame, they want *hiss* blood."
The disgraced turian could only agree with the volus ambassador. "My trial is supposed to give the humans satisfaction. When they see my sentence, that their own judges were forced to punish me in a way that their culture considers so light, it will poison almost every human alive against the Hierarchy, perhaps even against the Citadel. Have you told the Council this Ambassador?"
"The Council *hiss* prefers the wisdom of its asari Matriarchs. They have *hiss* no time for pitiful entertainment. The humans will have their trial *hiss* and the Matriarchs believe that that will be enough." The anger at being ignored and the disaster that was fast approaching was clear in Doran Olar's voice.
Admiral Arterius felt despair before a sudden realisation slammed into his brain. "You're not here to just rub my mandibles in my failure. You're not on the Citadel accepting the disaster, so you must have a plan to avoid this catastrophe without the Council's help. But you'd only come here if you needed me."
Macen Arterius stood and came to attention, pride and purpose flowing through him once again. "How can I help you Ambassador Olar?"
Timeline Changes So Far
First colony on mars: 27 years earlier than cannon
Discovery of Prothean ruins: 64 years earlier than cannon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (council of nations version): 63 years earlier than cannon
First Contact War: 45 years earlier than cannon