"I had known these humans had been hiding something"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but when we first made contact with you people you had just come out of the unification wars, right?"
"We didn't lie about it at least!"
I had been engaging in conversation with this man for far too long. His insistence of demonising the humans has grown far too troublesome to merely ignore, and jeopardised his position as a Citadel Research Council associate.
"Agus, I will be forced to report you if you keep this up! We don't want a diplomatic incident!"
It was at the hight of my anger that the Salarian doctor, Siyath, interrupted.
"It seems they have a cache of prothean technology on Mars that they neglected to tell us about"
Before Agus offered to call the council to declare war again, I had to interrupt him.
"They're probably keeping it a secret from the rest of the galaxy until they see how Citadel negotiations work out. I'm sure the council is well-informed of the matter?"
"It seems so.."
Dejected, the defeated Turian decided to continue our little war via infrequent guerrilla attacks that consisted of glares and occasional grumbles.
"Listen, so long as the ruling party does not participate in genocide, we cannot act on what happened two centuries ago."
"Still, the fact that some of the humans were willing to yell autocratic slogans at us seems to indicate the beliefs are still popular."
"Probably not" Said the Salarian. "It seems there are pockets of neo-racist groups on Earth, even though the concept of 'race' had largely been ignored due to increased globalisation in the past two centuries. They're hardly a threat."
"Still, have you heard of a single Citadel species that had committed large-scale genocide against its own people?" Retorted Agus.
"The Unification-"
"Not at this scale. We're talking over a hundred million people, that eclipses even the Rachni Wars!"
Admittedly, loath as I am to admit it, he had a point. That large a death toll is surprising. However, there had to be an explanation.
"Likely explanation is wars were pre-spaceflight. Insufficient technology to sufficiently mount medical ventures or arm soldiers. Humans reached advanced levels of civilisation prior to achieving space-flight so large wars were fought on land without adequate technology to support them. The more technology advances, the easier it is to prevent casualties disease or lack of armour. If anything, medical technology and shielding advances faster than offensive weaponry."
"Siyath, think about it for a second. Have you heard of a single pre-Eezo series of wars that exceeded a tenth of a billion?"
"The Krogan Civil Wars took half a billion, I believe." Siyath replied
"Exactly! We're dealing with a species as bad as the Krogan! These human 'world' wars took place before the advent of nuclear weaponry from my understanding. Had they had fission bombs, dont you think they would've made good use of them"
"They have them now, and they haven't so far, not that we know of. They must've moved past this phase" I interjected.
"Can a Varren resist Pyjak meat? You can't move past your nature."
"Agus, you're borderline racist. If word of this gets out you may not only endanger your position in the Council but this entire mission as well."
That seemed to shut him up. I had decided to freshen up in a human bathroom. Humans seemed to enjoy taking long baths. Unlike Asari, humans sweat in order to cool their bodies. As such, they seem to worship cleanliness. The city we had been to seemed to be one of the cleanest places I've seen in my life, almost to the same level as the Citadel.
What had fascinated me most, however, was the human use of scented candles and various soaps and bath salts. We had been told they should be safe for Asari or Turian use, but had been warned to ensure Siyath avoids it, as it may cause irritation to Salarian physiology. Admittedly, this was something I would have to sneak back to Thessia. My daughters adore this kind of things, I'm sure they'd appreciate an alien bath salt that they'll see before any other Asari in the galaxy.
After being thoroughly cleaned, I embarked on the airport. Humans, for whatever reason, still do not utilise element zero technology in air travel. Apparently, having evolved with a significant lacking of this material, they found cheaper alternatives. Considering the abundance of Eezo in the galaxy, it's likely this cost-effective alternative is only cheaper for societies with significant lacking of the substance, much like human ones.
The next city we had been introduced to was a metropolis in the centre of an island nation known as 'Japan'. In the original language, this translates to "land of the rising sun."
Which, of course, was something which was unfathomable for us. The language they spoke there was completely different from that spoken in Berlin! We had been warned, multiple times, that Earth featured an incredibly wide and diverse linguistic history, easily eclipsing the globalised and universal languages spoken in Citadel Space. However, for a globalised race to speak multiple languages to such an extent that entire nations have lingua franca is practically unheard of!
"Welcome to Tokyo. My name is Hibiki, I shall be your guide." He was dressed in a rather…flowing gown, perhaps the humans had intended to show us the cultural diversity that was prevalent on Earth with individual displays of each nations' cultures?
"In Japan it is customary to bow as a sign of respect."
Siyath and Agus both attempted to imitate the young man carefully. I, on the other hand, was a bit too distracted with the large building outside to pay much attention.
"I'm sorry, but what's that giant building over there? It seems rather ancient."
Admittedly, I've grown fascinated with human architecture. It was very radically different from that of Berlin. The roofs in particular were the most visually impressive, parabolically leaning with various coloured bricks. They don't seem to be made of concrete, but rather of some native Terran substance. Surrounding this sight was were large trees, many of them tinted a pinkish hue, that made the entire area seem more of a small city than a building.
"That would be the Imperial Palace, ma'am"
"The Imperial palace?" Siyath had stressed 'Imperial'. We had been assured most nations on Earth had a very similar political structure. Perhaps this was an outlier?
"Yes, it houses the Emperor of Japan. I understand our guides in Berlin had been inattentive to some historic information regarding the world wars. Whilst we understand the need to present a proper image of humans, we understand we were wrong in keeping this from you. We humbly apologise."
The man bowed, his head firmly fixed at the ground. Even Agus found this humility refreshing to the point where he felt ashamed to look down at the man. I guess even the Turians and humans share the mannerism of associating 'looking down' with superiority.
"In that case, I'd be interested to know about your emperor. How does your political structure work?" Asked Siyath.
"The Emperor of Japan is the figurehead of the Japanese people. Initially, the position of 'emporer' was an autocratic position from the Meiji era three centuries ago. However, after the second world war, which I'm sure you've been acquainted with, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Emperor was forced to relinquish his rule in favour of a more democratic government. Yet,…"
The man kept on talking, but there was something that kept replaying in my head over and over again.
"atomic bombings…"
Shit.
"I'm sorry, but atomic bombings?" Asked Agus. He seemed to have a genuine tint of respect in his voice. It's true what they say, if you bow down to a Turian you can get him to do whatever you want.
"Unfortunately, towards the end of the second world war, two nuclear bombs were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with a total death toll of about a quarter of a million. Although the bombs resulted in large casualties, they were not used again. The world war marks the one and only time in history these bombs were ever used."
"Has nuclear war ever seemed likely?"
"Yes, various times. Some former nation-states such as the U.S.S.R, The United States, Pakistan, India, The DPRK, and several others had come close to nuclear encounters in the past. However, nowadays the system alliance maintains complete control of all nuclear missile silos and submarines, and no country is allowed individual nuclear WMD's."
I swore I heard Agus mutter "that's acceptable", but out of shock at this new character revelation, I decided to avoid calling him out on it.
"The Emperor has agreed to grant you an audience, if you wish. It is a chance for you to experience Japanese culture in its purest."
Just as we were preparing to exit, I noticed a crowd of people being pulled away by a police force, one of them was waving around a giant portrayed of a mushroom cloud.
Something was unnervingly wrong with this planet. I don't know what, but I feel as if we're being mislead. Hopefully, the audience with the Emperor will sooth my concerns.