Chapter 17: Of Politics and Ice Cream

Tali went up the elevator on the Rayya with a million thoughts spinning around her brain. On the top of her list, was she wrong to let Jack go on with his mission after what happened to the Shellen? His Cerberus squadmates could've told them a lot about what the terrorists were planning under the right pressure. She ultimately stood by her decision to let them go, dealing with the Reapers was more important than fighting Cerberus, no matter what she thought about the organization. The Admirals might not see things her way though which was why she was so worried, had Prazza told them everything? What would happen to her if it went public that she let top members of Cerberus go because one was a friend?

The door opened and she immediately felt uneasy at who was waiting for her, Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib. Zaal was one of the primary representatives for the civilian ships at the Conclave. Unlike some of the more military minded Admirals like Han'Gerrel, Zaal was less concerned about defeating the Geth and taking back Rannoch, and more worried about finding any kind of home for them. It made sense, his job was to protect the interests of everyday Quarians who didn't want to die but, Tali felt like he was missing the bigger picture. Getting Rannoch back was the only way to guarantee Quarian safety, and they were so close! They had already made the Geth less organized with the help of Legion's brain, now all they had to do was figure out how to shut down the consensus. Of course as a civilian, Zaal didn't know that and thus made conversations awkward.

He raised his hand to attract her attention and started walking beside her, "I'm glad you have returned Tali, the report you transmitted about Freedom's Progress was a page turner. Although, I hope Gerrel doesn't think saving my wife's nephew changes anything, we need to start diplomacy with the Citadel."

Tali kept in close step with him but was irritated, "I don't work for Gerrel as he'll happily remind you on an hourly basis. Me and my team were looking for salvage and detected Veetor's distress signal in the neighboring system."

Zaal huffed shaking his head, "Still looking for salvage? I swear you go out and do that enough that I'm starting to think Rael intends to rebuild the Shellen with it."

His sarcastic tone made it clear he didn't believe her but, Tali was telling the truth. Her father had sent her and Prazza's team to locate salvage but more specifically, Geth salvage. The only way Legion was even remotely willing to allow them access into the consensus was to give him a back door out so to speak. He did it this way to prevent himself from being contaminated by the Reaper virus within the consensus. It was definitely understandable, he was protecting himself and his people, however, it was difficult to capture half dying Geth that Legion could use as a back door. They were eventually going to run out of 'easy pickings' in the Terminus so, what would happen then?

Tali responded feeling just as sarcastic, "Maybe that's a good idea, certainly better than letting our population go into a panic about mass starvation."

Zaal grabbed her arm and stopped her in the glass tunnel high above the agricultural farms, "People are starving Tali, millions of people! Tell me your father and Gerrel realize that? That we have a concrete plan to get everyone out of this mess! Otherwise, we will lose a third of our people and it will be because we were too proud to reach out for help."

Tali's anger grew from the implications Zaal was spewing out, "You think it's so easy to reach out to the Council and they'll automatically send aid? Give us a new home?! No, they won't. My father is working day and night to help our people, he will get it done but we don't need a constant reminder of what is at stake."

Zal slowed to a stop in the middle of the tunnel, "Have the other Admirals even tried to communicate with the Council? They listened to you two years ago about Saren, surely our ancestors mistakes have faded into memory."

She laughed amused, "If they had listened to me they would've been preparing for a Reaper invasion these past two years. And nothing will fade when the Citadel's population thinks the Geth were attacking alone. We are on our own Koris, and it's fine that way."

Zaal was starting to shout now, "You think what's happening right now is fine?! Tali, statements like that in this kind of crisis are how rulers get slaughtered."

Tali tensed glaring at him, "Is that a threat vas Qwib? Because if it was I'd be happy to find another civilian Admiral to the Conclave."

He shook his head obviously trying to calm down, "No it's just a fact, our ancestors on Rannoch could've avoided destruction if they had asked for help. All I'm asking for is to be a part of whatever is going on. I can lower the temperature among the people if I know we actually have a plan besides blind ignorance to the problem."

The easiest solution was to ignore him, once the consensus was cracked, no one would care about a perceived temporary complacency on the part of the Admirals. Unfortunately, Zaal still had a point, they wouldn't be able to enjoy the homeworld if there was a rebellion on the flotila. Gerrel may not like it but, having Koris be a part of their meetings could help them in the end. What was he going to do, exile her for letting another Admiral in? Her father would never let that happen and Zaal wasn't the type to leak information. At worst, she'd get a slap on the wrist and the cold shoulder from Gerrel.

Making up her mind, Tali started walking again and motioned him to follow, "Come with me and you'll understand why we've been so quiet."

Her fathers voice could be heard as they walked in to the meeting room, "I still think Legion is our best option, while I admit progress with him is slow, in the long run we will be better off. Imagine having our workforce again the moment we touch down on Rannoch."

Gerrel coughed shutting down the video feed of Legion tied down to a table, "Rael, maybe it would be a good idea to remind your daughter not to bring other Admirals into a classified meeting."

Before she could speak, Zaal stormed in front of her, "She wouldn't of had to if you all let me be in these meetings to begin with! Your plan is to launch a blitz invasion on Rannoch now?! Our people are dying! We are losing food by the hour, we need aid damnit!"

The scientifically inclined Daro'Xen sounded fed up, "Take a breath Zaal, we have enough for everyone for six more months. Do you truly believe we're sitting on our hands watching the clock tick down?"

Zaal threw his hands up in the air out of frustration, "I don't know Daro, no one in here will tell me anything! If all you've got is attacking the Geth, then I swear civilian ships will start leaving the flotila."

Rael spoke and seemed to have a happy tone, "Not an attack Zaal, we've already won. With my daughters help over the past two years, we have been able to see glimpses of the Geth consensus through Legion. My research on the consensus has given me the knowledge to eventually pull the plug on their intelligence, with enough time they could become our workers again and jump start our restoration period."

Tali loved hearing the optimism about their future in her fathers voice. Whenever she was able to see him again he was always on the cusp of a breakthrough that could save their people. His confidence on the subject was often so infectious that she ignored the dangers of bringing half dead Geth back to the ship. He even treated Legion with a degree of respect that Tali hadn't expected. The way Rael saw things, Legion was going to be the Geth's representative on the Conclave. She personally didn't feel like mindless drones needed representation but, it was an honorable goal nonetheless. Hopefully Zaal would understand everything was going to be ok once her father finished his work.

Instead, Zaal just started laughing, "You all have to be joking right now, right? You wouldn't possibly think it is a good idea to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors beat for beat? We will all get kicked off Rannoch in fifty years and this time we'll receive even less sympathy. This plan is utter madness and has no chance of success."

Han kept his usual snotty attitude, "Good thing we will actually communicate with the Geth through Legion and the Human child we kept. Quit treating us like children who know nothing about history."

Zaal looked at the floor for a moment, "The girl you speak of is gone. I traded her to the enemy to stop this foolish war."

Everyone in the room shouted the same word, "WHAT?!"

_o0o_

Jack returned to the Normandy annoyed and defeated. He had such high hopes that the Council would do the right thing and join the fight against the Collectors, what he got was a reluctant 'good luck!' Even with Saren telling them he had been indoctrinated wasn't enough, they were determined to ignore any evidence provided just because. How was Citadel Space going to be prepared if he failed and the Reapers arrived? The answer was they weren't going to be which just made it more important for him not to fail. Everything rested on him and his partnership with Cerberus now, whether he liked it or not. He could only hope taking down the Collectors wasn't going to take as long as it did to hunt Saren down.

Kal was sitting right where they had left him outside the medbay but, he was drawing now, "I'm guessing by all the happy faces that the meeting went well?"

Vetra laughed trying to keep a light tone, "If you'd call basically being thrown out good? Yeah it was excellent, otherwise we're stuck here."

A familiar Turian voice came from around the corner in the mess hall, "It isn't all bad, the fridges are bigger and were already stocked with dextro steak.." Garrus limped around the corner with a massive bandage on his left side, "How bad do I look? No one gave me a mirror so I'm assuming pretty bad."

Vetra smirked looking him up and down, "You were always ugly Garrus, just slap some more makeup on and you'll be as good as new... I hear the ladies like scars..."

He laughed but Jack noted the way Garrus' expression was full of regret, "Ow, don't make me laugh. My face is falling apart as is.."

Saren folded his arms giving his brother a glare, "When we left you were being sedated for talking too much, what the hell are you doing walking around?"

Garrus smirked with a small shrug, "Maybe I got tired of sitting around being a useless piece of shit. I'm not in fighting shape yet but, Kal told me what's going on and I want to help. It's good to see you by the way."

Jack took a careful tone knowing Saren was standing right next to him, "You know I'd always appreciate the help Garrus but, I don't want you to hurt yourself doing it. If you need more time to recover, I'd understand."

He knew Turians were tough sons of bitches because of their extensive military training at an early age, however, it was still impressive Garrus was almost ready to fight again. Medi-Gel could often work miracles given the proper time and other treatment, it wasn't supposed to be used for a quick fix to napalm burns. That being said, Garrus seemed to be moving and talking fine with only a minor grimace of pain. While it was important to keep Garrus away from any intense combat situations, Jack wasn't going to turn down help from someone he trusted. With the Council unwilling to help him, it was vital he surrounded himself with family while working for Cerberus.

Garrus had a determined look in his blue eyes, "I'm not just going to sit around and recover from my mistakes, not when the Reapers could come back and indoctrinate someone elses family. No one else should have to watch that. Besides, dextro cherry ice cream makes everything better."

Saren sat across from him, "Nyreena's going to kill me for not just strapping you down to the bed and making you recover but, ice cream sounds good right now."

Garrus looked down and played with the spoon between his fingers, "Mom died a year and a half ago...I'm told the service was lovely but uhh...I wasn't allowed to go." He gave Saren a sad smile, "You uhh...framed me doing something that gave a bad name to our house."

Jack honestly felt bad for Saren in this moment from the blank expression on his face. It was clear that family meant everything to the actual Saren and he would never purposely hurt Garrus. At least the frankly stunned look on the Turian's face confirmed to Garrus that he was fully indoctrinated by the time of Kajhe. Garrus' face was partially obscured from from the burns and bandages but, the sadness in his gaze was clearly visible, everyone deserved to be at their mothers funeral. Hopefully the pair would eventually be able to get past this, it was just going to take some time to heal.

He was about to say he was so sorry for Garrus' loss when Kal stood up, "I think we should give these two some time to catch up. I have Turian ale in our cabin if you want to come with, Vet?"

She rubbed the back of her neck in the awkward silence, "I have to check up on a few leads with Kasumi, maybe later though."

Garrus looked up at her, "I promise we'll find out who betrayed us and get your sister back." He looked over at Jack, "I'll be here if you need me Shepard, I'm ready to help again alright?"

Miranda's voice came from behind them at the elevator, "Shepard, The Illusive Man would like to speak with you in the conference room."

Jack gave a sarcastic reply, "That was awfully quick of him to need a favor. Tell him I'll be right there."

Kal took his hand and spoke in a sarcastically sweet tone, "Mind if I come along? I'd love to meet the new boss."

His tone was almost sickeningly sweet, Kal was up to something here. It probably wasn't a great idea to see what Kal had to say to The Illusive Man but, at the same time it would definitely be entertaining. Cerberus wasn't going to kick him out for a couple of jabs, they needed him just as much as he needed them. Having the Commander Shepard be a part of the organization gave them some legitimacy, and they needed his knowledge on the Prothean beacon. If The Illusive Man was going to hold Kal hostage when he wanted things done his way, the least he could do was let Kal talk to him.

With a knowing look in his eyes, Jack nodded, "Follow me."

The conference room was already dark when they entered together, "Shepard, how did things go on the Citadel?"

Jack tried not to sound too defeated when he answered, "The Council still believe the Reapers aren't a real threat, they dismissed Saren's testimony because of his connection to you."

The Illusive Man flicked his lighter on and off repeatedly, "I suspected as much, they're too narrow minded to see the bigger picture. No matter, we never needed their blessing to begin with."

Kal stepped forward and looked casually around the virtual room, "Not what I was expecting but, neat place. What nebula are you in the middle of?"

The Illusive Man closed the lighter with a snap, "I beg your pardon?"

Kal had a mocking analytical tone now, "The solar flare's outside your window aren't behaving the way they should, meaning your in a nebula, I'm just not sure which one. I mean there's-"

He cut him off, Kal had struck a nerve, "A fascinating exercise but, we have work to do. Shepard, I need you to head to the Purgatory prison and complete a transaction for me. Once its done you won't owe me anything else."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't I be focusing on finding the Collectors? Surely you have another agent that can do that."

The Illusive Man folded one leg over the other in his chair, "This deal is very important for me to get done. And you owe me for giving you permission to head to the Citadel. Get it done."

Kal spoke just as he was about to end the call, "I hope Cora's doing ok...I know cutting off a chunk of hair can be pretty damaging to a twenty something concerned with her image."

The feed ended abruptly and Jack raised an eyebrow looking at Kal, "Whose Cora?"