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.
My thanks to HTM for sorting through my spelling and grammar.
Apologies
I am very sorry that this has taken me so long to write. I have been working on my election campaign and it has been a very long, hard slog. The UK has local elections tomorrow (Thursday 2nd of May 2019) and I will be standing as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats. Wish me luck! If you weren't going to vote, then this poor exhausted author would love it if you'd think about going to vote in solidarity with me tomorrow, it is going to be a long day on the campaign trail and then counting through the night. Who needs sleep eh?
Tang System – Gemini Sigma
2113.06.09
Han'Gerrel vas Neema stood in his position at the weapons station on the bridge of the Neema, one of the last quarian heavy cruisers in existence, and flagship of the Heavy Fleet.
As the flagship, Neema was leading the vanguard of the Heavy Fleet towards the beautiful blue-green world of Guangxi. It was one of the three former Chinese colonies that had broken away from their mother country to form the Celestial Peoples Republic, and join the Systems Alliance.
More specifically, Neema was leading the vanguard towards the sprawling complex in orbit that was the primary military shipyard for the Gemini Sigma cluster.
Only Sol's shipyards and the fleet bases at the sector capitals were larger, and all of the shipyard's industrial might would soon be at the disposal of the Migrant Fleet.
More ships of the Heavy Fleet, and the vanguard of the Patrol Fleet began to enter through the relay, moving to secure the Tang system as the standard Alliance Navy patrols continued on their de-jure assignments. Even though it was clear to even a casual observer that they were no longer in control of system patrol and defence on anything but paper.
Admiral Keenah'Gazu looked up at Ambassador Goyle as she stood next to her, watching the final result of more than two months of negotiations.
"I never thought I would see the day that the Migrant Fleet finally entered drydock," the Admiral spoke in awe. Despite her reservations, this was a huge opportunity for the Migrant Fleet, and she was going to seize it with both hands.
"To be honest, neither did I at several points," Anita replied wearily, massaging the front of her armoured helmet.
"It helps when humans have headaches," she replied to Admrial Gazu's querying look. "It doesn't do anything with this helmet on, but old habits die hard, and it seems even the mere memory of the Conclave can induce headaches."
The quarian admiral laughed as she looked at the data file on her omnitool. The docking schedule for the Heavy Fleet's ships had been finalized weeks ago, and it would see all of the Heavy Fleet repaired and looking like new within a few months. Civilian ships were at the back of the repair queue. They were relatively easy to come by, but to survive – and one day take back Rannoch – the quarians needed warships, and no one was willing to sell them operational warships.
Despite everything that had been said, and all the arguments that were still giving the human ambassador headaches, it had been worth it. The Heavy Fleet would be repaired, and then new construction would begin. New quarian warships would begin launching from a shipyard for the first time in over 200 years.
"By the way, happy birthday," Keenah said warmly, smiling behind her mask. "None of this would be possible without you so please accept this, it's my family's pattern."
The Admiral passed a colourful piece of patterned cloth to Ambassador Goyle. The cloth acted as a headscarf, shrouding the pipes and cables of quarian suits life support systems as they entered the back of their helmets, serving the practical purpose of preventing anything catching on them.
As it was such an easy and cheap thing to customise, the headscarf had become one of the very few items of fashion that the quarians allowed themselves. Colours were chosen according to individual taste, but over time families had decided to each use a unique pattern. It had become a way of having a physical connection to your other family members, who were usually on other ships of the migrant fleet.
Anita Goyle smiled genuinely as she wrapped the headscarf around her armoured helmet. "My mother in law is going to be so pleased that I'm finally wearing a headscarf, and so annoyed that it was an alien that finally succeeded where she's failed for 20 years."
Admiral Gazu laughed along with her friend.
Suddenly Anita lurched forward and grabbed the back of the command chair.
"Ambassador?" Keenah'Gazu rose, concerned.
"I…."
Anita Goyle didn't say another word, she simply collapsed face first onto the deck of the bridge.
"Ambassador?!" There was no response to Keenah's yell.
"Medic to the bridge!"
The call went out but Keenah'Gazu found herself staring down the barrel of the guns of the human marines.
"Stay back."
The command was gruff and to the point as one marine secured the hatch and two more kept their guns on the bridge crew. The fourth rushed to the fallen human ambassador and his omnitool lit up showing lifesigns.
"Admiral," Han'Gerrel spoke on the bridge crew's suit to suit communication network. Designed to allow them to communicate in case of atmospheric loss and main comms failure, it now served as a way to speak without the human marines knowing about it. "I can take them."
The young weapons officer sounded stunned despite his confidence in his abilities. He couldn't believe that people he had begun to think of as true friends were now holding them at gunpoint and had effectively pirated the Neema.
"Do nothing Gerrel," Admiral Gazu responded shortly, franticly assessing the situation.
"Admiral, they're pirating the Neema! Even if the Ambassador wasn't in on it, it's too much of a coincidence. We're too far from the Migrant Fleet for help."
Admiral Gazu wanted to scream, everything was going so wrong. Her young weapons officer was right, they were in a terrible position, but the humans could have had them in even worse positions if they were only willing to wait a few weeks, or even days, why would they strike now? And why wouldn't Anita have warned her?
Her human friend had been far to skilled, both at reading people and at obtaining information she wasn't supposed to have. There was no way that any human plan large enough to threaten the Migrant Fleet would have escaped her notice, and Keenah'Gazu was certain that Anita would have warned her if the humans planned to be treacherous. Or at least, she had been certain a few moments ago.
The human marine's movements became more frantic as he undid the clasps of Anita Goyle's armour and hurriedly stripped off the helmet and chest pieces.
Abstractly, the Admiral noted that she would have to order a level 1 decontamination of the bridge.
Shaking her head to clear the vital, but far from urgent, thought Admiral Gazu focused on the rapidly deteriorating situation.
"Gerrel! Hack his omitool and share the results with us. Does anyone have any medical training?"
There was silence across the network as Han'Gerrel dutifully hacked and copied the marine's omnitools readouts, then displayed them on their suits internal heads up displays. Keenah'Gazu feared the worst as the human battlefield medic appeared to panic at the readouts they were seeing.
She didn't know anything about human anatomy, but she was fairly sure that there shouldn't be that much free blood in a human's skull cavity, and that the inter-cranial pressure shouldn't be rising that fast.
"It doesn't mean anything Admiral, this is a human trap! Ambassador Goyle must not have known about at and that's why they had to get rid of her." Han'Gerrel was adamant, he had decided what was happening and was now committed to the course.
"Quiet, Gerrel!" Admiral Gazu snapped out, her famous temper flaring to life.
She opened her mouth to berate her lieutenant more, glad to have something that she could control even if only for a moment, when the realisation slammed into her like a freighter forgetting to fire its breaking thrusters.
Her temper.
If she hadn't become such good friends with Anita Goyle, if she wasn't certain that the Ambassador would have warned her of any human plot – charges of treason be dammed – then her first reaction wouldn't have been confusion and horror at her friend's collapse.
It would have been rage. Utter rage at the human's treachery. More than enough for her to give the order to open fire on the human vessels in system and begin a fighting retreat through the relay, running before the humans could spring whatever trap they had devised.
Whoever had done this had been banking on the sentiments she had expressed in the Conclave. They'd thought she'd see the ambassador as a sacrifice to get marines onto the bridge and decapitate the Migrant Fleet's command structure in this system.
Keenah'Gazu looked down in sorrow at the pale body of Anita Goyle.
The headscarf with the Gazu family pattern in Alliance blue and grey was still wrapped around her discarded helmet.
If she hadn't gotten so close to Anita, if she hadn't considered her a friend, then she would have fallen headlong into the trap. The shock of her friend's collapse had stopped her usual temper from flaring up and given her the few vital moments to think.
Now the time for thinking was over, it was time to take action to salvage the situation. Resolute, the Admiral of the Heavy Fleet deliberately turned her back on the human marines pointing weapons at her and addressed her bridge crew.
"Comms, inform Tang system control we are declaring a medical emergency."
"Helm: Set course for Guangxi at maximum speed."
"Yes Admiral," Helm replied, following their Admiral's lead and turning back to their console.
Neema leapt forward at full burn, roaring away from the other quarian ships without any care as to what dangers may be between them and the planet.
The marine's guns lowered marginally, the belief that the quarians hadn't done this to their charge becoming stronger, even if they weren't ready to believe it fully yet.
"Admiral, at least issue the emergency retreat order to the other ships!" Han'Gerrel cried out mutinously.
Admiral Gazu turned and stared at the fallen form of Anita Goyle.
The human marine battlefield medic sat back on their heels, shaking their head and deactivating their omnitool. They picked up the headscarf she had given Anita only moments ago, and placed it gently over the human's exposed face.
Keenah'Gazu had no idea what the human death and burial customs were, but she guessed that they involved covering the face.
She checked the hacked omni-tool readouts to confirm it.
Ambassador Anita Goyle was dead.
Admiral Gazu turned towards her helm officer to order full about and begin the – PEACEFULL – retreat though the relay.
She had no evidence that the humans were not preparing a trap, only her instincts. With the death of the human ambassador, she no longer had a high-ranking human hostage either, as much as it pained her to think of her friend like that, which left them utterly exposed and under attack from an unknown source.
The Migrant Fleet's standing orders were very clear in such situations. Eliminate all possible sources of the threat and retreat. She was already stretching those orders by preparing to order the retreat without firing on all non quarian vessels, but despite that she still couldn't do it.
Her mouth wouldn't form the words.
The memory of Anita Goyle talking about how she had married outside her religious group against the wishes of her family was running through Keenah's mind on a constant loop.
'I had no idea if it was going to work out or not. Sometimes there just isn't a way of knowing for certain. In cases like that you have to decide if what you want is worth the risk, and if it is, make a leap of faith.'
Admiral Keenah'Gazu, commanding officer of the Heavy Fleet, turned away from her crew and her fallen friend and looked at the shipyard still sitting calmly in orbit of Guangxi, the words of Anita Goyle still ringing in her head.
"Comms: All other ships are to proceed as planned. They are not to deviate from the course and speed agreed with System Control."
As her bridge crew looked at her with various amounts of shock and anger, Admiral Gazu began frantically praying to the ancestors that her leap of faith wouldn't cost the Heavy Fleet dozens of its most powerful warships.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.06.21
Matriarch Irissa Theris, asari ambassador to the Citadel, looked back at the tops of the towers of the human city visible above the trees behind her.
The death of Ambassador Goyle had stunned the political world of the Systems Alliance. Granted most of the human population had known little about the American woman, but those involved with building the Alliance knew just how vital she had been to its success.
The prestige and influence from her successes on the Galactic stage had helped the leaders of the Alliance forge the new government, neutering political rivals and steamrollering legal roadblocks.
Now the most skilled and talented human diplomat in existence resided in a wooden coffin. And none of the Alliance Cabinet thought it was from natural causes.
To be fair to them, none of the Citadel Council thought it was from natural causes either. Oraka, Tevos, and Tolan were all scrambling, frantically trying to find out who had ordered the assassination of the human Ambassador.
Currently they had only managed to confirm one thing for certain. The humans and quarians viewed the three of them as the prime suspects.
Irissa sighed and turned back to the beautiful surroundings of Stanley Park. The clearing around beaver lake had had temporary stands and stages erected for the occasion, the lilly pad covered lake itself forming the backdrop behind the coffin.
The Matriarch plastered on a political smile as the Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance arrived.
"Prime Minister Tharoor. Please accept the sincere condolences of the Citadel Council on this terrible occasion."
Irissa held out her hand to the Indian man, but he refused to take it and just stared at her.
She calmly let her hand fall back to her side and kept her face blank, taking the snub calmly and with a grace that made the insult look childish.
"Thank you, Ambassador. The Citadel Council has been in my thoughts a lot recently, it is good to know that we are in theirs as well." Rajendra Tharoor's response was icy but Irissa took both the tone, and the implication, without showing a flicker of true emotion.
Tevos was on very thin ice with the Council of Matriarchs due to her antagonising of the humans. Irissa had no intention of joining her.
Rajendra Tharoor scoffed and swept away into the clusters of waiting dignitaries.
With Deputy Prime Minister Odang already there escorting Admiral Keenah'Gazu, Matriarch Irissa was left with the insult of being attended only by the Foreign Secretary.
Again, she let the insult slide. Even if she did not have the concern of Tevos's previous actions hovering over her like a dark cloud, the situation was very delicate.
"You handled that well, Anita wasn't exaggerating when she praised your level of control."
Irissa turned and looked down.
The Foreign Secretary, Christine Swinson, was a short, fat, woman, who's shoulder length hair, pointed nose, and round glasses gave her the overall appearance of an owl.
"I see no need to exacerbate the situation," the asari matriarch replied calmly. "Especially not at the funeral of someone I liked. Did you know she didn't show even a hint of fear when I slammed my fists into her desk hard enough to dent it?"
Swinson gave one of her trademark chuckles. "Aye. She was fucking terrified you know?"
"But she didn't show any sign of it, not even to me. Many ambassadors have actually screamed when I used that trick before."
"Did you kill her?"
Ambassador Irissa nearly fell over from the shock. "I see your reputation for bluntness is well deserved. An odd choice for Foreign Secretary."
"I let my ambassadors do all of the pretty talking." Secretary Swinson shrugged. "And you have to know that the Citadel is the prime suspect. Remove our most effective diplomat, destroy human–quarian relations, and bring Tevos's plans back into action against a weakened Alliance. It's the Council's wet dream, Tevos would be dancing for joy right now if it had worked."
"And Oraka, never underestimate the power of humiliation and vengeance as motives."
Christine Swinson blinked. Surprised.
"You're not the only one who can be blunt, madam secretary," Ambassador Irissa smiled. She liked this human, she reminded her of herself.
"Aren't you supposed to be persuading me it's not true?"
"Would you believe anything I said?" Matriarch Irissa answered honestly.
"You won't believe we had nothing to do with this until your own intelligence agencies confirm it, so what's the point in-"
Both women heard a wet thump and ignored it, but they couldn't ignore the screaming.
They span around just in time to see Rajendra Tharoor's headless corpse topple back into beaver lake with a loud splash, sending red stained water raining down on those nearest to him.
Matriarch Irissa heard a faint zipping sound, before Deputy Prime Minister Odang's head exploded and his corpse toppled forward onto one of the buffet tables, the smashing of glass mixing with the screams.
"SNIPER!"
The call was redundant at this point, and barely heard over the screams and panicking people, but Irissa was struck by the sudden thought that the three highest ranking humans were all in one place, exposed. Two were already dead while the third-
Matriarch Irissa grabbed Christine Swinson and shoved her to the ground behind her, raising a strong barrier between them and the tops of the towers of Vancouver, visible above the trees.
It wasn't a moment too soon as a third sniper shot slammed into her barrier, weakening it.
Irissa grinned as she poured more power into her barrier, savouring the rush of violence as she saw both human and her own security running towards her. Her mercenary days might be long behind her, but if they wanted her or Swinson dead, the assassin was going to have to do considerably better than that.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.06.21
Wachtmeister Alois Mader of the Swiss Guard looked down in awe at the African woman as she cursed and threw the sniper rifle to one side.
"That damn blue bitch protected Swinson. I only got two of the fucking traitors."
Alois didn't care. He knew that even getting two of the scum selling humanity out to the aliens was an incredible achievement. Even though he had training as a sniper, he was honest enough to know that he would probably have got Rajendra Tharoor, but he wouldn't have got the others.
The African woman, who had refused to give him any name other than 'asset', composed herself and picked up the sniper rifle from where it had come to rest against one of the three dead police officers present on the rooftop.
When the Swiss Guard had been approached to become the Systems Alliance's Secret Service equivalent, just as they were for the Pope, Wachtmeister Mader had nearly resigned in protest.
When he first met like minded people, he was glad he hadn't.
When his cell commander told him to kill the three local police officers assigned to his team and await the arrival of an asset, he was certain he had made the right call.
The only thing that made him hesitate was the order to remain behind and take the blame, while letting the asset escape. He hadn't seen why he should be sacrificed for the cause while another survived and ran away. He'd almost refused, not seeing why he should take the fall alone to let his commander's daughter or something escape.
Now? Now he understood. The asset was an unparalleled sniper, she would be invaluable to Cerberus in the fight ahead.
"Sister, the rifle." Alois held out his hands. "You must escape."
The asset wiped the body of the rifle clean of evidence before handing it over.
"Cerberus thanks you for your service, brother."
Alois was amused to see a little brown makeup around the scope. It seemed even when she was killing the Prime Minister, a woman wanted to look her best.
He wiped it off as the asset disappeared into the building, ensuring that his prints and other evidence was all present on the rifle, to go along with the gunshot residue he had already exposed his clothes too. He settled down to await the arrival of his fellow Swiss Guards.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.06.21
The asset raced down through the building. With Wachtmeister Mader still present on the roof she had a few moments before any of the frantically scrambling Swiss Guard and Vancouver Police noticed she was within the exclusion area.
Dodging three different armed squads who weren't looking for her due to the helicopter updates reporting the assassin was still on the roof, she burst out of one of the buildings side doors into the sunlit streets of Vancouver.
Now was the most dangerous part, but she had an ace up her sleeve.
The asset biotically charged across the street into the entrance of the next building, moving so fast that the helicopters focusing on the roof, and paying only cursory attention to side entrances, missed her.
She ran through the new building, charged across the street on the other side, and repeated the process twice more before reaching the edge of the exclusion zone.
It was chaos. The police were hard pressed, trying to keep the surging crowd back, what the crowed thought they were going to do once they had broken through the police line the asset had no idea.
Neither did the police, or if they were honest with themselves, the crowd.
Regardless, it didn't matter, there was no way for anyone to get passed the police line undetected, the area behind was too empty and exposed and the asset did not have a uniform to blend in, she had deemed it too high a risk, she was too likely to encounter something that would blow her cover.
She raced up the building at the edge of the exclusion zone before entering an apartment on the thirtheenth floor. Taking care to remain inside until the last moment, she charged across the space and onto the balcony of the apartment on the opposite building.
The building outside the exclusion zone.
The asset looked down at the police line on the street below before entering into the apartment she had rented before Anita Goyle had even been assassinated. Turning on the television to the CBC news channel and setting the volume to maximum she headed for the bathroom.
Stepping out of her clothes the asset gratefully took off the wig that was part of her disguise to confuse any security cameras that had caught glimpses of her, and gratefully jumped in the shower.
She turned on the shower and listened to the chaos that was happening in the Alliance's temporary capital city.
The water turned brown as her makeup washed off her face, and her neck, her hands, her arms, her torso and her legs.
Finally free of the cursed stuff, Tela Vasir rubbed her blue skin vigorously with the bathroom towel as she went back into the living room, poured a glass of wine, and admired her handiwork.
Codex Entry: The Government of the Systems Alliance – The Governor General
(Citadel Codex, First Human SPECTRE Collector's Edition, 2183)
In countries that separate the head of state from the head of government, the powers of the head of state are mostly ceremonial. The head of state of the Systems Alliance is known as the Governor General.
The Governor General serves for 12 years and is appointed in the middle of every other 6 year parliamentary term, so that the appointment does not interfere with a general election. As such each 6 year term will feature the appointment of either the Governor General or the Gyaan Sabha.
The Governor General has three rights and three duties.
The three rights are: The right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn.
Every week the Prime Minister and the Governor General will take tea together. There will be no staff present, no minutes will be taken. At this tea, the Prime Minister will brief the Governor General on the current state of the Alliance, and the decisions facing the government.
As the neutral and impartial head of state, the Governor General is the one person that the Prime Minister can use as a sounding board for their ideas and problems, safe in the knowledge that the information will never be shared.
In return the Governor General, though maintaining absolute impartiality in public, can, at this meeting, to encourage the Prime Minister to continue with polices they think will be beneficial, as well as warning them of the dangers of continuing with others.
The three duties of the Governor General are some of the most vital in the Systems Alliance. The duties are:
To hold the Prime Minister to account, to arbitrate coalition negotiations and appoint the Prime Minister, and to serve as temporary head of government during coalition negotiations and activation of the emergency protocols.
The military of the Systems Alliance swears their oath of allegiance to the Governor General rather than to the Prime Minister. This is so that if the government acts unconstitutionally, and the Supreme Court orders the impeachment and arrest of the Prime Minister, the police and military are not faced with arresting their commander in chief.
As dictators have used a nebulous concept of 'the people' as the only ones they are responsible to to confuse matters when they act unconstitutionally, the Alliance constitution makes it clear: The guardians are the Supreme Court. And if they find that the Prime Minister has acted unconstitutionally, then the Prime Minister is responsible to the impartial, apolitical, Governor General.
After an election, there are 14 days allotted for the leader of the largest party to form a coalition that can command a majority of the Grand Assembly. Should they fail to do so, the leader of the second largest party is given 14 days to try, and then the leader of the third largest party. If, after 42 days, no government can be formed, then a fresh election is called.
During the coalition negotiations, the Governor General acts as caretaker Prime Minister. They do not make any decisions but are simply there to provide authorisation for the day to day requirements of government and to respond to crisis such as natural disasters or declarations of war. During the negotiations, the Governor General acts as a neutral, non-political arbiter, helping to smooth over disputes.
When a party leader reports that they can command the confidence of the Grand Assembly, the Governor General appoints them Prime Minister.
The Governor General has a specific and vital role in the Emergency Protocols. For more details, see Codex Entry: Emergency Protocols – Chapter 25.
These duties require the utmost impartiality and a non-political nature. It is for these reasons that the Governor General of the Systems Alliance is not elected.
A bitter and bruising election campaign, resulting in a head of state supported by barely half the country, was decided to not be a good way of choosing a unifying figure. In any case, a person that has fought an election campaign can never be seen to be non-political again once it is over, especially not if they received an endorsement from one of the political parties.
Instead, the Governor General is appointed in a similar way to the to the Gyaan Sabha.
If a Governor General is seen to act in a political or non-impartial manner, or in another way that compromises their role as a unifying figure, then the MPs of the Grand Assembly can announce a recall petition. If it gains the support of 10% or more of the MPs, then the Governor General faces an Alliance wide vote of confidence.
In a vote of confidence, the Governor General must secure 75% or more of the vote to remain in office. If they secure 50% - 75% they must still resign as although they have majority support, they are no longer seen as a unifying figure.
Appointment Process
The appointment process for the Governor General is as follows.
In the first stage, 2 years before the new appointment is due, the entire Alliance population can submit suggestions for people that they wish to be the new Governor General.
One year and 9 months after the nominations period was announced, the nominations close and the second stage, eligibility begins.
To be eligible to be a member a person must be:
Be seen to be capable of being impartial in all circumstances
A citizen of the Systems Alliance
Of voting age (16 standard years old and over)
Not a member of a political party
Be healthy enough (as standard or with treatment) to faithfully discharge the duties of the Governor General physically and mentally.
Have great experience in an area of life such as, but not limited to: Social Services, Education, Higher Education, NGOs, Agriculture, Industry, Culture, Arts, Literature, Health, Trade Unions, Science or Commerce
The list of nominated persons is examined and people who are not eligible are removed from it. The people remaining on the list are then contacted and asked if they would we willing to serve as Governor General.
Once the list has been reduced to only those people who are both eligible and willing to serve, the 40 people with the most nominations are selected to move on to stage 3.
In stage 3 a Citizens Assembly of 100 members is formed.
A Citizens Assembly is similar to a jury in that its members are selected randomly from the electoral roll in accordance with the Alliance's demographics. (ie: only so many % university graduates, only so many % in each age bracket, only so many % on minimum wage etc…)
As such it is as close to a fair and unbiased body as it is possible to assemble.
The Citizens Assembly then takes the list of 40 eligible and willing people nominated by the people of the Systems Alliance and debates their various merits among themselves.
Over the course of 3 months they will select 5 candidates from the 40 to serve as Governor General. the The Citizens Assembly will disband upon the completion of this duty.
In a secret ballot, using single transferable vote, the Grand Assembly will then vote on the 5 candidates and elect the next Governor General.
Timeline Changes So Far
First colony on mars: 27 years earlier than canon
Discovery of Prothean ruins: 64 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (council of nations version): 63 years earlier than canon
First Contact War: 45 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (parliamentary super state version): 44 years earlier than canon
Citadel Ascension Process: 52 years longer than canon (humans become an Associate Race 7 years later than canon)