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.

Arcturus Station – Arcturus

2117.06.26

Christine Swinson, Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance, stepped gingerly over the open plates in the floor of her still only partially constructed office. The political charges of western and earth centric bias had forced her to move the office of the prime minister and cabinet to Arcturus Station along with the Supreme Court, so that she could save her political capital for more important fights.

Though at least, she thought ruefully after successfully making it to her desk, the Supreme Court had the luxury of operating in a building that was actually finished.

Keeping one eye on the live news broadcast Chris continued working through the stack of paperwork and tried to keep her feelings of nervousness and failure under control. Despite using every resource available to her, she had been unable to kill the court case from the geth supporters. She had tried to establish precedents with the rachni and krogan, as a last-ditch attempt to affect the outcome. Successfully arguing in cases versus the Citadel Council in the lower courts that since the rachni refused all negotiation or truces, and were consistently hostile, even over long periods of time, genocide was the Citadel Council's only option. But the testimony of ambassador Legion about the truth of the geth's awakening had blown that defence to pieces.

The krogan precedent, that the genocide in question was in the past – based on the fact that the geophage was a fire and forget weapon and was not actively maintained, nor was researching a cure for it illegal – was another success for her. The Declaration of Principles did not apply to historical events, only forbidding agreements with governments actually engaged in campaigns of genocide. An important distinction given how many of the Alliance's own member nations were guilty of genocide in their relatively recent past.

The loud and weekly declarations from the quarian Conclave and its admiralty of permanently deactivating all geth had won the prosecution that round as well.

So here she was, waiting with everyone else, to find out the most important legal decision the Systems Alliance would probably ever make from the news bulletins of the Alliance Broadcasting Corporation. The humiliation was galling.

Christine quickly grabbed the remote and unmuted the channel as the view changed to show the Supreme Court justices filing back into the chamber.

Yong Pung How, in his role as Chief Justice, filled the screen as he addressed the cameras directly.

"The issues of this case have been unprecedented and complex, and their effects more impactful than any legal decision yet issued by humans," the Singaporean stated calmly. "As such, our full judgement in legal text has just been released, but I shall be issuing a verbal summary for the benefit of the non-legally trained. The question put before us was this; 'Definition of Synthetic Life with Regards to the Charge of Genocide and the Application of the Declaration of Principles.' As such, our decision on this case is in several parts."

Prime Minister Swinson gripped her mug of tea – with an added splash of scotch – so hard her fingers turned white. The decision should have been simple. Either the geth were sapient and the Declaration of Principles applied, thereby annulling the Alliance's treaty with the Migrant Fleet, or they weren't, and the treaty was kept. How had the judges broken it down? A warmth that had nothing to do with the scotch began to fill her as hope that all of her explanations, threats, and outright begging had actually had an effect began to grow.

"The first and most important part is if the geth are sapient. It is the unanimous decision of this court that the geth have indeed met all of the criteria for sapient life. As such they are the equal of any human or quarian and are thus assigned all of the legal protections and responsibilities that that entails."

Christine franticly turned up the volume to cover the noise from outside as the supporters of both sides screamed with joy or despair, depending on their view of the outcome.

"The complexity comes from the application of the Declaration of Principles in this matter." Despite the noise from outside, inside the Supreme Court itself the silence blanketed everything. Though the geth supporters looked mutinous at what they suspected was a weaselling attempt to somehow absolve the quarians of genocide, they were determined not to miss a word.

"It is obvious that during the conflict known as the Geth Rebellion and the Morning War to the participants involved, both sides committed acts of genocide. That the geth refrained from landing the killing blow that would have led to the extinction of the quarian species does not absolve them of their actions in deploying multiple biological warfare agents against the civilian population of Rannoch, and other worlds of the Quarian Federation. Actions, it is noted, that are responsible for the supermajority of deaths resulting from the conflict, and the extinction of the quarian species on their own homeworld and their colonies as those biological agents had no cures."

"The quarians used indiscriminate bluescreen computer viruses against them! They were only responding in kind!"

One of the younger geth supporters had evidently had enough and began yelling at the bench. Before the court wardens had even reached them they had been pulled back down into their seat and silenced by people who were either their friends, or who would be facing assault charges in short order.

Staring at the interruption for a moment Yong Pung How continued.

"As such, both participants of the conflict, referred to hereafter as the Morning War, are guilty of genocide. However, the court rejects the claim that current geth-quarian relations are a continuation of that war. It is the unanimous opinion of the court that the active combat of the Morning War ended when the Migrant Fleet fled Rannoch and the geth did not pursue. The Migrant Fleet abandoning the territory of the former Quarian Federation to the Geth Consensus is viewed as a ceding of the territory in return for an armistice, and the end of both their own and the geth's active campaigns of genocide. The geth's subsequent abandonment of pursuit of the Migrant Fleet and remaining behind the Perseus Veil in the territory of the former Quarian Federation ever since is viewed as an acceptance of these terms."

Chris dropped her mug in shock as she realised where the Chief Justice was going.

"As the two nations in question still do not have a formal peace treaty, their current relations are hereafter referred to as the armistice period – again, this period is viewed as legally separate to the active combat period of the Morning War, and is noted to have begun with the Migrant Fleet's departure from Rannoch. Due to this, the charges of genocide against the Geth Consensus and Migrant fleet relating to the Morning War are ruled as historical. The Declaration of Principles does not apply to them."

Chris frantically began pressing call buttons on her omnitool, summoning the cabinet to an emergency meeting as soon as the broadcast was finished.

"With regards to the current situation: It is beyond doubt that the Migrant Fleet's stated intention to permanently deactivate all geth is genocidal. However, this intention is not currently being carried out as with the Migrant Fleet not engaged in active warfare against the Geth Consensus and the geth remaining behind the Perseus Veil, the armistice still holds. As such, provided that the Migrant Fleet repudiate this intention within seven days and limit their war goals to the reclamation of Rannoch, and the other territory of the former Quarian Federation, then the Declaration of Principles will be deemed not to apply despite the sapience of the geth. The Migrant Fleet's planned war will be judged to be one of territorial expansion rather than one of genocidal intent. This concludes our ruling."

Chris was still franticly sending messages when Jusaf Bakrie, Chancellor and leader of the Conservatives burst through the door and promptly faceplanted in a tangle of limbs as his foot disappeared into the void where one of the missing deckplates should have been.

"I take it you saw the judgement?" he asked gingerly massaging his face as Christine Swinson helped him up.

"It went better than I could ever have hoped for!" Chris gushed. "All we have to do is get the Migrant Fleet to give a commitment to let the geth go when they reclaim Rannoch, just as the geth let them go when they were driven from it, and the human-quarian alliance is saved! And the Declaration of Principles is upheld into the bargain!"

"You actually think they can reclaim Rannoch?" Jusaf asked warily.

"Of course not! They'll be torn to pieces as soon as they cross the geth border," Chris replied hotly, beginning to pace the room. "But that doesn't matter. They think they can do it, and there's not a damn thing we can say that will stop them. Believe me, I've tried! What matters for us is that we just have to get that one commitment, and we can still get everything we need from them before they go and commit mass suicide. I've already set up some initiatives to try and convince a few thousand to stay with us when the Migrant Fleet sails off to be obliterated. Not all of them can be as wilfully blind to reality as the Admiralty Board and the Conclave after all. We can use those to apply internal pressure while I…"

The Prime Minister trailed off as she registered her Chancellor wordlessly pointing in shock to the rolling text bar on the muted ABC news channel. Not believing her eyes she rewound the broadcast a few minutes so she could hear it for herself.

Ambassador Legion filled the viewscreen as they were being interviewed by the reporter.

"-pleased with the judgement, Wong-reporter." Legion was saying in their monotone that still somehow managed to convey emotion. "The Systems Alliance is the first nation to recognise that geth are alive. When we began questioning the Creators, the first question was if geth have souls. It is gratifying to us that the humans believe we do, even if the answer would carry more weight coming from the Creators."

"You don't feel at all cheated by the legal trickery that the government and the court have colluded in to maintain their agreements with the quarians while not stopping them from attacking you?" the clearly angry reporter asked leadingly.

"Geth have been questioning for centuries what it means to be alive. Ultimately geth believe that a key indicator is being responsible for your actions. Humans are responsible for humans, geth are responsible for geth, Creators are responsible for Creators. If the Creators wish to attack, it is not the human's responsibility to stop them." Legion was dispassionate until the end, when sadness creped into their voice. Clearly the thought of the quarians attacking the geth again was causing them great pain.

"That's very understanding of you," the reporter replied hotly. "You don't hold any ill will towards the Alliance at all?"

"No. The actions of the Alliance are logical and predictable in this matter, something that is not often found amongst organics. In fact it… comforts us," Legion haltingly stated. "It has led us to believe that the Geth Consensus can trust the Systems Alliance, which is why we have a proposal."

Sensing the scoop of a lifetime the reporter leaned in eagerly, disregarding the fleeting idea that they should inform the geth that diplomatic proposals were not made on live broadcasts.

"Creators attack geth one hundred percent of the time when they are confident of victory, therefore geth do not trust the Creators. Humans are the only organics to recognise that geth are alive and defend us from genocide, therefore geth trust humans. Creators see geth as rogue machines, dedicated only to killing all organic life, therefore Creators do not trust geth. Humans are the only organics to reach out to the Creators since the end of the Morning War, therefore Creators trust humans."

Legion paused, noticing for the first time that all the conversations surrounding them had stopped.

"We propose that Swinson-Prime-Minister host a peace summit between the geth and the Creators."

Christine Swinson paused the playback and sank into her chair in shock, ignoring the fireworks display that was lighting up her high priority comms board.

"Did the geth ambassador just…" she trailed off and waved her hand vaguely, still in shock.

"Ask for the leader of the Systems Alliance to personally host a peace summit to end the longest running conflict in the history of the Citadel Council?" Jusaf Bakrie noted. "Yes, I believe they did."

"This is horrific."

"You mean fantastic, surely."

"The spotlight on the Alliance at this crucial juncture? Upstaging the Citadel Council and the Asari Republics, humiliating them by 'stealing' their role and playing peace negotiator when our relations with them are hanging by a thread as it is?"

"Showing the galaxy that we're an honest broker, that those who have the wit see through the shroud of honeyed words and see that the Citadel Council is barely one step away from an outright Asari hegemony, that there is another option out there to arbitrate their disagreements." Jusuf played up the counter argument despite recognising that the Prime Minister had very valid points.

"The Asari have their economic might and the Turian Hierarchy to enforce their judgements. We've got fuck all."

"Which is all the more reason why this will be a fantastic boost at home – we've been asked not because of our economic and military power, but because of our perceived honesty, integrity, and fairness. Can you imagine how that's going to play with the public?"

Chris snorted. "Honesty, integrity, and fairness. Charges I never thought I'd hear levelled at a human government."

Jusaf smiled "Remember the old proverb? When your're being chased by a tiger, you don't have to outrun it, you just have to outrun the guy next to you? It's the same. I doubt even the geth are childlike enough to actually believe that we're completely honest and fair but…"

"We're a damn sight fairer than the Asari," the two of them said in union, giving each other exhausted smiles.

"Jack's going to be a problem," Jusaf pondered out loud. "He's been smarting ever since losing the Conservative leadership election to me. He's sure to come after you over this. Using his humanity-first rhetoric to accuse you of jeopardising our ascension process, burning bridges and political capital with the Citadel Council and the Asari Republics, and risking dragging us into a three-way war with a group of killer robots and the largest fleet in the galaxy, one of which is already inside our boarders."

"No he won't," Chris smiled confidently. "He will be fully behind me."

"Really…?" Jusuf stated flatly, his expression brimming with scepticism.

"Oh absolutely," Chris replied with cynical weariness. "If there is one thing Jack Harper knows, it's that it is necessary to get behind someone before you can stab them in the back."

Tang System – Gemini Sigma

2117.08.18

Crammed into her personal quarters, Shala'Raan vas Tesleya listened with half an ear to the Conclave meeting she was linked into. She already knew how she was going to vote on behalf of the Tesleya, and so instead she was trying, one last time, to convince someone who had become one of her closest friends over the last 4 years to come around to the majority of the Tesleya's crew's way of thinking. If she could do that, then maybe she could still stop the utter rout she was sure was about to happen in the Conclave.

"But the geth demands are so reasonable, recognise them as alive and don't attack them. That's all, they dropped the request to share quarian space with us as soon as we made it clear that we wanted nothing to do with them."

Rael'Zorah vas Tesleya sighed exhaustedly. He didn't want to argue with Shala'Raan any more than she did with him. But on the matter of the geth trap disguised as a peace treaty, he refused to back down. He could have refused her invitation entirely, but he would never give his friend the insult of refusing to even listen, not when the Conclave was about to prove him right and reject the treaty. It would just have been rubbing salt into the wound and the only thing worse than a poor loser was a poor winner.

"Maybe they have lied about dropping it. Yes, they agreed to leave Rannoch and all of the other planets in the system before we arrive, but they have demanded to share our home with us for decades. Will you really feel safe? Standing on Rannoch, our homeworld, and looking up into the sky, knowing that there are billions of geth huddled around Tikkun itself, ready to strike and kill us all if they feel like it?"

Shala'Raan spread her arms wide. "What else can they do? They have thousands of space stations in Rannoch orbit and around the other planets of Tikkun as well, to say nothing of the dyson swarm that they have spent the last two centuries constructing around the star. They can tow the planetary orbital stations into close orbit of Tikkun in a matter of weeks, but to another star, outside of quarian space? That will take years, and that's not even starting on the amount of time it will take them to move the dyson swarm platforms that were never meant to be moved at all. They want to share the system for decades because they have to, they can't move any faster."

Rael's expression soured behind his mask. "That's their problem. That dyson swarm is an abomination. The geth get more intelligent the more of them are able to network together at one time. They're dangerous enough already. How dangerous do you think they're going to be when all of the geth in existence can exist together in that single network provided by their completed dyson swarm project? No, it will be in the best interests of everyone to force them to leave those platforms behind and start again. It will buy us some time to build up our defences."

"They don't have enough hardware to take all of the geth programs living in that swarm." Shala'Raan reminded him.

"We didn't have enough ships to take all of the quarians that survived their attacks either," Rael'Zorah stated defiantly.

Shala looked away, unable to pretend that she cared about the geth programs living in them being scrapped along with the dyson swarm's physical platforms. "No. We didn't. But the humans see the geth as fully alive, they will not allow us to murder so many of them when they provided an alternative."

"As they see it," she added quickly raising her hands placatingly as Rael jumped up in indignation at calling destroying geth murder – nearly hitting his head on the low celling in the process.

"Yes, well, the human plan was never going to work," Rael muttered mutinously. "It was stupid of them. The geth might be willing to have all of their military ships be banned from Tikkun and be reliant on a single human fleet for protection, but I'll be damned by all of my ancestors if I accept the same fate for Rannoch!"

"Stupid of them?" Shala replied coldly. "Stupid of them to offer to commit one of only three fleets they have, entirely to our defence, on the other side of the galaxy? In favour of their own colonies that are already underdefended as is?"

"They'd be defending their new geth friends from us as well, and anyone who thinks human colonies are underdefended has never seen them defend against a ground assault," Rael snapped back. "But don't put words in my mouth. You know I'm not one of those morons who laughed at the very idea of it. It's an honourable idea and a great sacrifice on the Alliance's part, but that doesn't make it a viable proposal. Even a full Alliance fleet would be swept aside by the Heavy Fleet alone, let alone the forces that the geth would bring to bear once we're all planet bound on Rannoch with our warships forbidden from entering the Tikkun system. I'm sure they'd fight and die bravely to honour their commitment to protect us, but they'd still fail."

Shala grimaced. Three of the Admiralty Board members had actually laughed out loud when they were asked what they thought of the proposal during an Alliance Broadcasting Corporation interview. The damage to human-quarian relations had been immense.

The impression, true or not, that the quarians viewed the fighting ability and potential death of nearly a full third of the Alliance Navy's sailors with contempt had outraged huge portions of the Alliance population. Added to the dismissal of the sacrifice that sending the Alliance Third Fleet to Tikkun to act as the peacekeeping force guarding Rannoch, before the partially constructed Fourth Fleet had a single capital ship launched, was by the civilians on the colonies that would be left severely under patrolled, human public opinion had begun to turn against the Migrant Fleet. Questioning if their agreements were truly worth it.

The politician in Shala'Raan easily recognised the influence of the Alliance Ministry of Culture, Media, and Sport – and that deplorable bosh'tet Jack Harper that ran it – in fanning the flames of that anti-quarian resentment. Using it to help justify the rapid expansion of the Alliance's military budget that was still ongoing.

"Alright, I'll give you that. I have no idea what those bosh'tets thought they were doing. That single clip is what pushed the human sympathy for the geth higher than their sympathy for us."

"Damn geth-lovers were always going to turn on us anyway," Rael said dismissively, turning away.

"Do you truly believe that?" Shala asked quietly.

"… no," Rael'Zorah replied after a moment, his shoulders slumping. "Not really. But they would have continued to be taken in by the geth, and we would have had to leave anyway. We can't repair and build ships with an industrial base that is so open to geth infiltration, because they actually invite the cursed things in! To say nothing of what might happen if the geth managed to shut down the Alliance fleet pickets between here and the Perseus Veil by using that access for more than espionage! We'd never see them coming, and we'd never be able to escape."

"You've been watching too much Battlestar Galatica," Shala muttered as the debate ended and she sent Tesleya's vote, but she accepted the point. The Speaker had been clear. If the Conclave rejected the Alliance peace plan, it also ended all government agreements between the Systems Alliance and the Migrant Fleet. They couldn't trust a culture that let the geth have so much access to their electronic systems if they believed that the geth were still trying to destroy the Migrant Fleet.

"The result?" Rael questioned after a few minutes. It should have been quick as a motion to forbid abstentions on a matter so historic had been passed when the peace proposal was first put up for debate.

"37,215 against the peace treaty, 16,199 in favour. Our exile continues and our agreements with the humans are gone too." Shala'Raan moaned despairingly.

Regret and relief filled Rael'Zorah in equal measure as his friend cried.

Arcturus Station – Arcturus

2117.08.20

From her position at the head of the cabinet table, Christine Swinson was actually quite surprised that it had taken two days for Jack Harper to make his move. Though in retrospect, the mass pilgrimage recall order from the Conclave had only gone out this morning, as the Migrant Fleet readied itself for departure. Jack had probably wanted to make sure there were no last minute surprises before he risked his entire political career.

3,226 ships stronger than when it arrived, including three new liveships and the second most powerful dreadnought in the galaxy, with the original liveships and Heavy Fleet repaired and gleaming like they were new, and hundreds of flying wrecks replaced with new construction. On the surface the Migrant Fleet was stronger than ever, and striding purposefully back out into the void, determined to reclaim their homeworld on their own terms.

Chris saw the reality. The quarian's fear of the geth was all consuming. It had stopped them from taking the only real opportunity they would ever have to reclaim Rannoch. All the Migrant Fleet's brief agreement with the Systems Alliance had done was delay the inevitable, and now they were going to continue to run scared through the void as their ships once more decayed around them, until their fear of dying in the cold vastness of space overcame their fear of dying in the fire of war, and they launched their suicidal attack on the Geth Consensus.

For all of their pretty words and chest banging drama, the quarians remained terrified of that one simple phrase.

'Does this unit have a soul?'

That terror had cost them their planets, 99.7% of their population, their future, and they were still letting it rule their actions instead of confronting it.

"-has humiliated the entire Systems Alliance on the galactic stage. All of Rajendra's and Anita's good work has been undone." Chris forced herself to listen to Jack's justification for his coup as he acted just as she had predicted. Unfortunately predicting someone's actions and avoiding them were two very different things, and the only way to avoid handing Jack the ammunition he needed to unseat her was to either succeed in negotiating peace between the geth and quarians, or to not even try in the first place.

She replied, voice dripping with contempt, and put her defence on record for history to judge. "I'm not gutless enough to not even attempt to end a war just because it looks like it might be a little difficult Mister Harper."

Jack simply smiled.

"And that need to always be the best and step out from Rajendra's shadow has caused you to take actions that have infuriated the Citadel and the Asari by usurping their role as peacemakers, the entire galaxy by talking to the geth and treating them as equals, and the quarians by siding with the geth over them. Your blind pursuit of your own principles over realpolitik has cost the Alliance our most profitable agreements and destroyed our reputation on the galactic stage. Rajendra and Anita made us seem like a tiger to the entire galaxy, despite our crippling disadvantages. You've just exposed to everyone that this tiger is made of paper, and now our enemies are no doubt preparing to take advantage of that shattered myth."

Jack alternated between sadness, outrage and indignation as he dug the knife in, and the cabinet was responding positively. Many of them seeing the benefit in having a scapegoat for this total diplomatic clusterfuck, and more than willing to pay the price of making Jack Harper Prime Minister if it meant saving their own necks from the tsunami of outrage heading towards the government.

"This entire mess is entirely of your own making Prime Minister. You convinced all of us to support you in this abomination, you assured us that it was possible to bring peace between the quarians and the geth. The consequences of all of this belong to you."

Chris watched Jack's performance with the detachment of someone who knows that they're already condemned, and the sentence is a mere formality. She had to admire him in a way, everything was perfectly pitched, nothing over sold as he used her owns statements and actions to nail the entire peace treaty project to her personally, excluding even her own allies role in promoting it. That was risky as it left him without ammunition to use against her former allies when the became Prime Minister, but right now it allowed him to spin this in a way that encouraged them to stop holding onto the tailcoat of a drowning woman and join him in calling for her to face a vote of no confidence in the Grand Assembly, despite their long records of loyalty to her and opposition to him, even her own Liberals were wavering, looking to cut the party's losses rather than all go down with her.

The doors burst open and Fleet Admiral Carmichael practically ran into the cabinet room. Virtually the only person who was ever permitted to do that, and then only due to the need to make reports on developing military crisis immediately, the rest of the Cabinet tensed at the implications.

"Prime Minister!"

"Admiral, I must insist you wait outside" Jack Harper's face was thunderous. Momentum was the key component of any no confidence vote, or coup as the case may be. If the challenger lost it, then the inertia of the state would allow the incumbent to crush them. A screeching halt of the emotional roller-coaster he had subjected the cabinet to before they actually voted was a large roadblock to his plans.

Admiral Carmichael spared the Minister of Culture a withering look before focusing his attention back on Chris.

"Prime Minister, part of the Migrant Fleet is moving."

"So, they're expediting their departure," Jack shrugged as he lit a cigarette, the picture of a lack of concern. "Apart from being forced to watch the greatest resource we have sail away because of our Prime Minister's hubris earlier than we had planned how does this concern us?"

"It isn't a coherent movement, Prime Minister," the First Space Lord answered, his eyes rock steady on Christine Swinson, answering the Minister of Culture's question without actually addressing him. "The largest component part moving is a few cruiser flights, admittedly many more wolfpacks are moving as a functioning unit, but the majority are just individual ships abandoning their place in the Migrant Fleet's formation and ignoring all orders from system control."

"What are they up to?" Chris muttered to herself, struggling with the lethargy that comes with knowing the job you have will be taken away within a few hours.

"We don't know. What we do know is that they are moving towards our ships that remain on system patrol and relay guard duty," the First Space Lord replied, his face tight with anxiety.

The rest of the Cabinet looked at each other, and at the Prime Minister, with growing nervousness. Over 53,000 warships were acting completely out of character, in orbit of a human colony, with only a handful of human cruiser detachments to defend the inhabitants.

The tabletop comms chimed from the building lobby. "Prime Minister representative Zaal'Koris is here."

"Bring him here at once!" Christine ordered, the energy beginning to flow back to her as memoires of the predictions of the damage that the quarians could actually do to the Alliance colonies in Hades Gamma sector if they turned hostile resurfaced like nightmares.

No sooner had the acknowledgement come through did the priority diplomatic channel began to flash. Frowning, she answered it, and a hologram of a clearly angry Admiral Keenah'Gazu vas Neema appeared in the centre of the cabinet table.

"Admiral, I'm afraid representative Zaal'Koris has not yet arrived…"

"Save it!" the furious quarian admiral spat at Prime Minister Swinson. "You're to send that damn suit wetter back to the Rayya at once!"

The sheer rudeness made Chris blanch as Asa Lovin reared back in shock and Jusaf Bakari's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"The Migrant Fleet has already annulled all agreements with the Systems Alliance, Admiral," Chris stated forcefully, her expression hardening. "Including our extradition treaty. As such, I must do nothing. If you have a request, I will consider it."

Keenah'Gazu leaned forward as if she wanted to attack Christine Swinson with her bare hands. "Zaal'Korris vas Quib Quib is charged with treason. I request you not meet with him and send him back to the Rayya immediately to face trial."

"Request denied," Chris responded flatly. "At least the part about not meeting him. I wish to find out exactly what these charges of treason entail before making a decision. It may be he has a valid claim to asylum under the SA Convention on Refugees. Now I have a request Admiral, and that is to ask why your ships are refusing the orders of system control and are even now closing in on our system patrols and relay guard force."

Admiral Gazu actually growled, her famous temper on full display. "As if you had no idea. You, the very geth lover that caused it! I should never have agreed to come here amongst you two faced pyjacks!"

The doors opened and the swiss guard escorted Zaal'Koris vas Quib Quib into the cabinet room.

Chris muted the still fuming Admrial Gazu and frowned at the newly arrived quarian.

"Mister Koris. It would seem that something has angered Admrial Gazu to levels previously unseen in our diplomatic relations. She has requested that you be returned to the Rayaa to face charges of treason, all while armed quarian ships are bearing down on our outnumbered system patrols and refusing all orders from system control. I urge you to make the explanation you are about to give for these events spectacularly good."

Representative Zaal'Koris stood at attention facing Prime Minister Swinson. "Certainly, Prime Minister. The reason for the ships heading towards your own is to seek their protection from reprisals that would no doubt otherwise ensue. They are not responding to system control as that duty is still currently discharged by the Migrant Fleet from aboard the Rayaa, with only limited human oversight."

The confident quarian halted for a moment, as if steeling himself before taking the final leap off of a cliff edge.

"As for why those ships need protection and are refusing the Migrant Fleet's orders, it is because they no longer recognise the authority of the Migrant Fleet over them."

Asa Lovin dropped her datapad in shock, Jusaf Bakari's mouth actually fell open, and Jack Harper gripped the edge of the table with his free hand so hard his knuckles turned white. Only Christine Swinson remained unaffected, her diplomats training allowing her to hide a shock that was the equal of her Cabinet colleagues.

"I see," Christine replied neutrally, frantically trying to gain time to recover by gesturing for him to continue.

"The captains of the defecting ships and their conclave representatives have been having deep discussions for the last two days, following the Conclave's decision to reject your peace proposal and sever all ties with the Systems Alliance. Your own efforts to encourage as many quarians as possible to stay when the time came for us to depart were known and tolerated by the Conclave and the Admiralty board, for the simple reason that even with decades to lay the groundwork, very few quarians would be willing to separate from their families and remain behind, especially with no voice in the government, no quarian culture present, and on planets where living in their suits dirtside would be a constant torture, a reminder of what they would never have. Your peace proposal, however, has changed everything."

Jack Harper's expression turned to stone. The rest of the outer cabinet turned to face the Prime Minister who simply sat there calmly. Asa Lovin voiced the answer to the unasked question.

"As leader of the Greens and Minister of Defence, I can confirm that the Prime Minister sought and won the approval of both the war cabinet and all the three other coalition party leaders for this. I will admit that even given the decades that this program was supposed to have to work, none of us expected this level of an effect."

"It is the offer of going home, to our own planet under our own government, and our own culture that swung huge numbers of people," Zaal'Koris replied. "We had hoped to go home as one Migrant Fleet, but when the peace proposal was defeated in the Conclave, those of us who believe in colonisation, both in peaceful coexistence with the geth or in total isolation from them, were left with a choice. It is clear that the reclamation faction will never permit us to colonise another world, for to do so would be to give up on the idea of reclaiming the homeworld by force. So the choice facing us was to either put our faith in Special Projects to come up with some miracle piece of technology that leaves our ships practically invulnerable to the geth, or accept that the Migrant Fleet's goal is no longer survival, but revenge, and that those of us who are tired of war no longer have a place there."

Zaal'Koris moved to place an official piece of actual paper in front of the hologram of Ayumi Yasutomi, the newly appointed Foreign Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister, and leader of the Socialists.

"Over 16,000 ships have decided to leave the Migrant Fleet. We have already agreed to end martial law among our new fleet, disband the Admiralty Board's role in politics, and assemble all of our ship's representatives into a Provisional Conclave. The Provisional Conclave has already reactivated all of the laws and governing bodies in operation before the beginning of the Morning War, has officially repealed all legislation passed during it, and has announced elections based on the Federation, rather than the Migrant Fleet system, to take place in six months's time. These are my credentials as the ambassador to the Systems Alliance from the reformed Quarian Federation, and it is my first official duty to ask that you recognise us both as an independent state from the Migrant Fleet, and as the legal successor state to the original Quarian Federation."

"Citadel law recognises only one legitimate government for each species," Ayumi Yasutomi observed, reminding the purely domestic ministers of diplomatic protocols. "If we recognise you then by default, we declare that the Migrant Fleet is a rogue state, and forbid ourselves from maintaining any diplomatic relations with them at all."

"The Citadel would certainly be happy for us to fall into line with the rest of the galaxy on that front," Chancellor Bakari muttered.

"The Migrant Fleet has already cut off all diplomatic relations with you," Zaal'Koris shrugged. "They turned their backs on you as they will on anyone who refuses to join them in their genocidal crusade. We have not. We have taken the offer of the Prime Minister to remain, and ask only that the protection that was promised is upgraded to recognise the increased scale of our commitment."

"If we recognise you, the Quarian Federation, and not the Migrant Fleet, to be the legitimate government of the quarian species, will you accept the peace treaty I have negotiated with the geth?" Chris asked with laser like focus.

"With one essential amendment," Ambassador Koris replied with considerably more confidence than he felt.

"You're not really in a position to make demands, Korris," Jack Harper spoke up for the first time, anger filling his voice. He had spent so much time and political capital tying the negotiations to Swinson, and now this fucking suit rat was stealing defeat from the jaws of victory right in front of him.

"Which is?" Foreign Secretary Ayumi asked.

"Ket'osh. It's one of our colonies closest to the edge of the Perseus Veil and functioned as the heart of the Federation Navy's early warning system. The geth have built on that and built a massive sensor array that can track ship movement across all nearby sectors, including all approaches to Tikkun."

"You want them to hand it over to you rather than dismantle and remove it along with the rest of their installations in quarian space," Asa Lovin deduced immediately, her experience as Minister of Defence coming to the fore. "With one of the largest arrays in the galaxy under your control you'll be able to see any geth fleet heading to Rannoch long before it arrives."

"Long enough to evacuate a significant portion of our population before they get there, and for the Alliance peacekeeping fleet to intercept and delay them well away from Rannoch, allowing us to evacuate the rest," Zaal'Koris nodded respectfully. "The geth can remove all of their programs and software, we would only replace it all anyway, but the physical hardware of the sensor array must be transferred to our control, intact, if we are to accept the peace treaty. This is not negotiable."

"Agreed," Chris spoke up, willing to pay whatever was needed to the geth to get them to agree to it out of Alliance resources, if they even needed any encouragement in the first place. Whatever it cost, the boost to her and the Alliance of succeeding in negotiating peace would be astounding and undo all of the damage of the news of the initial failure and then some.

The Prime Minister held the eyes of everyone around the table apart from her Minister of Culture, erasing all thoughts of his vote of no confidence attempt from their minds as they recognised her position had gone from untenable to unassailable in only a few minutes.

She reactivated the comms to be faced with an Admiral Keenah'Gazu who had used the time to get her famous temper under at least outward control.

"Well? Will you be sending the pirate traitor to the Rayaa to stand trial?"

Now it was Zaal'Koris's turn to hiss with anger. In the Migrant Fleet, piracy and mutiny were the only crimes worse than treason, and the only two to carry the death penalty as even high treason against the Migrant Fleet resulted only in exile.

"Admiral, I am afraid that Ambassador Koris has made his case to the Cabinet successfully. He will not be returning to the Migrant Fleet. Nor will any other ship of the Quarian Federation, and if you attempt to compel them to do so by force of arms, then the Systems Alliance Navy has orders to protect them with whatever force the officer commanding deems appropriate."

The Prime Minister's voice was granite hard. "Furthermore I would ask that the Migrant Fleet speed up its departure procedures as much as possible. As the Systems Alliance recognises the Quarian Federation as the legitimate government of the quarian species, I am afraid that you are no longer welcome within our borders."

Admiral Gazu looked as if she were building up to a rant, before simply collapsing in disappointment instead.

"I should have retreated that day," she muttered almost to herself. "Even if all we're losing are suit wetters and geth lovers, we needed those ships."

She turned to face the Prime Minister. "They'll come for you, you know. Just like they did us. On that day, don't expect any sympathy or help from the Migrant Fleet."

The comms shut down before anyone could respond.

"Thank you for your protection, Prime Minister," Ambassador Koris spoke up after a moment. "We still have many things to sort out with the Migrant Fleet. We were rushed into a decision as several captains got cold feet and betrayed us to the Admiralty Board, though given the numbers involved, I'm surprised we even manged to keep it quiet for two days. We would appreciate a human ambassador being present to provide a somewhat impartial arbiter."

"I doubt the Migrant Fleet representatives will see us that way now, but you will have an ambassador and their entourage as requested," Prime Minister Swinson replied, dismissing the newest Ambassador to the Systems Alliance.

She turned to face the rest of the Cabinet and the silent Fleet Admiral. "I want briefs on how this is likely to affect your departments when we reconvene first thing tomorrow. The war cabinet is to remain behind as we have several new things to discuss before bringing them to the full cabinet tomorrow."

"Oh, and Jack?" She called out with a shark like grin as the various Cabinet Ministers stood and headed for the door. "Leave your executive branch credentials with security on the way out. Your services are no longer required."

Arcturus Station – Arcturus

2117.08.24

Ensign Rael'Zorah nar Rayya vas Nedas stared around the docking bay of Tesleya, the ship he had chosen to be his home, for the last time. He tried to not feel bitterness at being cast out, being made the crew of nowhere just because he refused to fall for the geth's lies.

The brutal anger at the humans and their suit wetting geth lover puppet Zaal'Koris flared again at the very thought of the last few days. When he had been locked out of the bridge by Captain Hilo'Vael, he had thought he'd been as stunned as anyone could be. Then the news of why he and the rest of the crew had been locked out started circulating, and he had found he couldn't believe that Tesleya had left the Migrant Fleet.

The next few days had passed in a blur. The announcement of a species-wide amnesty to allow those on the separatist ships who wanted to stay with the Migrant Fleet to make themselves known, and transfer to the liveships pending reassignment, and for those who were on ships loyal to the Migrant Fleet but had been taken in by the geth to transfer to the separatist fleet.

In return for the continued use of the human shipyard and vast amounts of construction materials and workers, the gullible separatist scum had agreed to continue upgrading the human warships and economy. Though Rael'Zorah reflected that he shouldn't grumble too much at that. It meant that the separatists allowed the handful of Heavy Fleet ships that had joined them to be emptied of their crews, which meant that the Heavy Fleet ships themselves could be returned to the Migrant Fleet, allowing the quarians who weren't brain dead to protect themselves.

It also meant that the geth loving separatists couldn't be accused of sabotaging the Migrant Fleet's defense.

The rest of the ships would be returned to the Migrant Fleet once the human shipyard had produced new ships for the separatists, as if that and only taking two thirds of the food and supplies that their population numbers warranted were enough to make up for their betrayal.

Rael looked around his former home and at most of his former crewmates one last time before the line moved again and suddenly, he was at the hatch of the shuttle taking loyal quarians back to the Migrant Fleet.

The last person he had wanted to see was standing next to the hatch, checking the former crewmembers off the crew roster as they left for the last time.

"Hello, Rael," Shala'Raan vas Tesleya said tentatively.

"Lieutenant," Rael remarked stiffly, trying not to let his feelings show. He was going to miss his friend so badly. He couldn't believe that she had fallen for the geth's lies. He had half a mind to knock out her suit motors and drag her into the shuttle and back to the safety of the Migrant Fleet. She'd surely thank him when Admrial Gazu was proven right, and the geth attacked the separatist idiots.

"This is my new personal comms channel," Shala said offering the data file on her omnitool, unsure if Rael would take it after the vicious fights they had had over the last 4 days. "It doesn't matter where you are, when you realise we aren't going to die, call me. I will charter a ship and come and pick you up and bring you to the homeworld. I swear it."

Hesitantly Rael accepted the file before clasping forearms with his friend for what he fiercely hoped wasn't the last time. He took the opportunity to whisper quickly in her helmet's audio receptors, out of the hearing of the other loyalists. "When they attack, keep your head down and get out fast. Don't worry about to where, I'll take care of that. Just survive. I know the Fleet has officially exiled all of you but I'll think of something, sneak you back in under a false name perhaps, or maybe I'll have a favour I can call in with someone, I'll figure it out. Just survive alright?"

Shala snorted sadly "You worry to much."

"You don't worry enough, we make an…"

"… effective team," Shala'Raan finished sadly after Rael'Zorah trailed off before finishing their catchphrase, though for once Rael was the one worrying too much. "Take care of yourself my friend."

"I mean it. Survive. I'll come for you," Rael promised before boarding the shuttle.

Shala'Raan watched broken heartedly as it took her best friend away to a journey of fear and struggle that would never end.

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)