Chapter Ten: Shadows and Salvation
By the time the canopy lifted from the front of the Land Speeder, Shepard, Miranda, and Legion were greeted by a circle of armed Space Marines. Shepard was getting tired of being greeted at the wrong end of a gun everywhere he went, now the guns were lowered, but he could see the hostility oozing from them.
"Halt, synthetic." One Marine whom Shepard did not recognize approached them as they got out of the vehicle. Steam hissed loudly as the clamps attached to both sides of the Speeder and the engines slowly turned off. "Raise the shield to prevent any hacking attempts." A band of blue light flew behind the Space Marine perimeter, separating the shuttle bay from the rest of the ship.
"I thought Ventralis vetted his arrival?" Miranda asked in a somewhat angry tone, displeased with the welcome they received.
"He is still a xeno, organic or otherwise. Precautions must be taken given the many concessions we have so generously and carefully given. If he had not given word just minutes ago, we would have shot him and then most likely the both of you."
"That would be unwise." Legion stated.
"Thanks for thinking so highly of us." Miranda replied, but the Space Marines seemed to ignore her statement.
"Bring forth the techpriests. Let them do what they must to deem him clean." Suddenly two men appeared from behind one of the Space Marines. They were hunched over and wore tattered crimson robes, whose hoods obscured their most likely ruined faces, cords and wires attached unknown apparatuses and technologies to non visible regions of their bodies, and they both walked with long staves decorated with Imperium insignia. They stopped just in front of Legion and, whilst chanting a whisper in an incomprehensible manner, put together a device.
Legion became alarmed, his brow plates jumping out and quickly moving, "Alert. User's platform in proximity of software scrubbing mechanism."
"Now let's not do anything we will regret." Shepard jumped between the techpriests and Legion, the two hunchbacked techseers did not acknowledge his presence, but the Space Marine met his gaze. "This synthetic is, or once was part of my crew. He has endured the passage of dozens of millennia leading his people to prosper and not once wronged this Imperium!"
"It's just a software scanner, Shepard, what harm could it do?" Miranda asked.
"Simulations conclude one out of every three geth programs on this platform will be corrupted or erased if flagged by the scrubber. This will result in an irreparable error, loss of data or sentience, or trigger a violent outburst." Legion replied.
"Is there an alternative? Something that would allow him free passage to the rest of the ship?" Shepard asked.
"Is there a problem down there?" A voice over the loudspeaker in the shuttle bay immediately silenced the room. The Space Marine touched his earpiece to respond.
"The synthetic that followed Commander Shepard and Miss Lawson aboard has yet to be cleansed of potential virus and Trojan programs." He replied.
"Eventually there must be compromise. Now it may be seen as heresy but eventually this endless cycle of hatred and paranoia must come to an end. I allowed it to come aboard, so you will not need to scrub its programming. Also it has invaluable information that could be erased during its cleansing, so you will refrain from doing so, is that clear?" The voice was of Company Master Ventralis, who seemed impatient with the Space Marine who was simply doing his duty.
"You will be escorted to the Epistolary's Sanctum, with armed guards. I… apologize for inconviencing you Commander, Miss Lawson. Just keep the robot in check or I will personally crush him to the size of a football and launch him out of the nearest airlock." The shield behind the other Space Marines disappeared, and they formed into squads and marched away, leaving five behind including the one closest to the group.
The guards were allowed as far as the front door when the trio reached the Epistolary's private chambers. In contrast with the rusted and dented bulkheads that made up the majority of the ship's interior, these doors were easily twenty feet in height, and a two-headed eagle was etched into the two cobalt sliding doors. When they opened the Space Marine guards retreated from sight, and the Chief Librarian led them inside. Epistolary Kuzon was a very interesting man from Shepard's point of view, since he wore red armor in place of blue, and he was also one of the few in the entire Chapter to use a jump pack, which of course he was not currently wearing.
"You have a library on a spaceship?" Miranda was befuddled, she looked around at the musty wooden bookcases stuffed with ancient manuscripts and hardcover codices written eons ago, suddenly correcting herself because technically she must be older than all of them. The Chief Librarian led them around a corner and down a longer hall, with each wall still lined with bookcases. Here a table stood at the center of the end of the hall, and the Company Master and a servitor stood waiting patiently.
"Company Master Riker Ventralis, Chief Librarian Kuzon, we are honored to work with you at this time." Legion bowed slightly and stood at the opposite end of the table from the two Space Marines and their servitor.
"The servitor will record all information gathered here, pay him no mind." Kuzon pointed to the legless shell of a man typing at a computer with one hand while the other was attached to the device itself by a wide tube protruding from where his left hand should be.
"Can we be promised this knowledge will not be used against the Citadel?" Legion asked.
"We will keep this 'Citadel' a secret from the rest of Humanity if and only if the well being of the Chapter cannot be compromised by keeping this secret. Hiding the existence and whereabouts of a secret benevolent alien empire tends to make heads roll." The Librarian replied in his fine accented voice.
"Then we will start from the beginning. However humans, I ask you do not act until we are finished. What has to be said will change your perspective, but overall change nothing." Legion activated what looked like an Omni-tool. His was extremely different from the one in both Shepard and Miranda's possession. This one was blue, and contained far more moving parts than any 2185 graphics chip could handle. Clicking a button with finger, Legion made a floating television screen appear in the center of the table, and the others began to watch whatever he was going to project on it. "This is the story as best as we can tell it."
"Marking the thousand year anniversary of the First Contact War at Relay 314, a group of radical xenophobic humans stormed into public schools on Palaven and the Presidium at the Citadel. It was there almost at the same time as one another, where they brutally stabbed or gunned down at least seventy turian students between the ages of nine to sixteen." The screen first played a news broadcast with an asari anchor, obviously centuries past Shepard and Miranda's time, but the images struck home for them both as more newscasts played. Helicopter mounted and amateur cameras captured images that they never wanted to see. Shepard fought his mind to keep his gaze on the screen, he had to see it all, but it was simply heartbreaking.
"As the turians attempt to rekindle their relationship with the human race with several new initiatives backed by their homeworld's government, a bombing in Santa Barbara, CA on Earth marks the sixth bombing in the past two months at youth recreation centers built by the turian-backed Sapphire Torch Association. Casualties are now totaled at forty-seven turians, two asari, and five humans. The Systems Alliance has promised to crack down on organized crime and terrorist organizations to prevent further attacks."
"A jubilant day for the galaxy as the geth have finally joined the Citadel Council, almost 1600 years after being declared an enemy of the state during the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius's campaign against the Citadel and the Human Alliance. This inception into the Council also comes 465 years after the inauguration of their creators the quarians, but beating the Batarians, Volus, Hanar, and Drell. Talks are in motion to release the quarian homeworld, which is currently under the geth's control. It is also a few months shy of the tenth anniversary of the Singularity Contingency, the infamous subroutine that has officially declared the geth a sentient race." It was obvious that many of the clips were centuries, if not millennia apart from one another, but together they all painted the same grim picture.
"The Terra Firma political party, a radical Human group, infiltrated and hijacked the asari dreadnought Destiny-Ascension earlier this week and attempted to kill all of its ten thousand crew. This was fortunately avoided thanks to the glorious sacrifice of the brave men and women of the 13th Deck Security Staff. This group of asari and batarian security officers in charge of security at the heights of Destiny-Ascension's 13th deck, they went above and beyond the call of duty by laying down their lives to save ten thousand others."
"Humanity's great divide got wider last Saturday when the Secretary of Defense of the Western American United States went on live television attempting to apologize for the attack on the Destiny-Ascension no more than a week ago. Much of the galaxy is well aware of the divided opinion among humans in regards to aliens, but last week the xenophobes explained their intent clearly with an assassination attempt on the Secretary on live television. Though he is being treated for a minor injury to his right shoulder, Mr. Frank Banderas was adamant for keeping his promise and ending this smear on humanity's name."
"It is a solemn day on Kahje today as the Hanar begin to recover from the nuclear missile strike at Justegir province, just miles away from their capital city. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by sixteen different pro-human groups, including the infamous Terra Firma Party and Styx, the so called successors of the enigmatic Cerberus. Never before has the galaxy dealt with nuclear fallout with an underwater civilization, but the Drell have quickly come to the aid of their former masters and have begun rescue efforts near the edges of the blast zone. It is also unclear if the Hanar will retaliate now that the xenophobic factions of humanity have now attacked them. With approximately twenty thousand dead and no way to get a true body count, the Hanar have more than enough of an incentive to seek some sort of revenge."
"Protests outside the Embassies on the Presidium calling for the ousting of humanity from the Citadel Council ended violently this past Friday as Citadel Security responded with riot control teams. These squads were armed with non-violent weapons like tear gas, tazers, and sonic weaponry, but when word of such protests spread to the Wards, some humans in the nearby Tayseri Ward grabbed a few small arms and a flamethrower and rapidly 'came to the defense' of 'their right to power'. Overall the humans caused six fatalities and dozens of injuries from the panic they caused before being gunned down by a brave krogan lieutenant who faced down the barrel of the flamethrower and survived with only minor burns thanks to the miracle of Krogan resilience."
Legion paused the harrowing display of news broadcasts and reports to speak. Miranda, as hardened as she was, was on the verge of tears. Shepard's eyes were wide, his brow firm and face frozen with shock. "As the centuries turned into millennia, humanity seemed to divide in two. Some of your race became utter xenophobes and the other stayed loyal to the Citadel. But even with the escalating violence, the Council saw it as a phase." He stated as his brow plates rotated and fluttered.
"Wait a minute. Are you saying that even with these attacks the Citadel you saw it as a phase?" Shepard was visibly angry, but failed to understand the entirety of what he was being told.
"Yes. If half of humanity still remained loyal and supportive to the whole galactic community then we had no reason to do away with humanity and have you end up like the batarians."
"But now humanity is so… absolute and uncompromising in their hatred for any alien race that most of the Space Marines on this ship would gun you down without any pretense other than your appearance! What the hell happened Legion? What led us from what I know to be humanity and this?" Shepard screamed, letting his anger and frustration flow out of him as he finished his sentence by pointing at the Company Master, the Librarian, and the hunchbacked servitor diligently scribbling notes.
"We understand your frustration Shepard Commander, but we can do nothing but explain the information of the events between these two time periods."
"How can you understand? What can a geth possibly understand of organic emotions?" Shepard was now inches from Legion's pale grey lens that periodically dilated and contracted.
"Geth have changed much since you saw us last. We are all Geth, but I am Legion. We are all our own individual, linked by a collective mind that stretches across the galaxy."
"Impressive indeed, synthetic. At any given time one of you can call upon the knowledge and expertise of your entire race." Kuzon raised a brow and smirked, intrigued.
"But you don't get it!" Tears came to Miranda's eyes as she pushed Shepard aside and pulled Legion down to eye level. "If we end up like this, this savage, barbaric, war-hungry variance of Puritanism that worships the shell of a man whose soul has long since ascended this reality…"
"Excuse me, Miss Lawson?" Ventralis asked with a touch of anger.
"She's right Ventralis. I mean look at us, we as the Fate Breakers are humanitarians, a true rarity in this galaxy. The Ecclesiarchy, the Inquisition, the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines as a whole, we have been raised from birth for the past ten thousand years to hate the mutant and the unclean, the lost and the damned, and above all the xeno. Any slight deviation, any hesitation, any mercy has for ten millennia been deemed as heresy, a sentence that requires nothing short of immediate execution and undeserving of due process." Kuzon pulled the Company Master back slightly and spoke with a calm voice and only the truth left his mouth. He seemed to take the anger and confusion in the room and made the information understandable. "I mean from their perspective, on the eve of a suicide mission to rid our past of these 'Reapers' they see what they will become if they succeed. Is survival really preferable to extinction in this case?"
"Commissar Grissom spoke to the bridge of the SSV Prometheus for thirty-four seconds." Shepard calmed down but still stared at Legion's eye. "In that small amount of time he did not address any single man or woman on that bridge, but all of humanity. He wanted only to see the galaxy he lived in become a better place. He may not have ordered me directly, but I became from that day forward obligated to keep his promise. Without it I would not have been the same man I am today. I would not have been driven enough to reach N7 status, to take the XO position on the Normandy SR1, to survive Eden Prime and become a Spectre. And all of that time I had four hundred and twenty hours of reminders of what I was fighting for, the Ultramarines video logs which I'm sure by now you've seen! Whatever you have to say Legion… it will change nothing. I am going to stop Grissom and whoever has led him down the dark path he follows now. I will see this through to the end, and then and only then will I be able to face the Reapers on a level playing field."
The room fell silent, most seemed to be moved by his statement. Ventralis cleared his throat and addressed Legion, "Now that we get the gist of what happened to humanity, could you tell us what happened to the other races, preferably in less detail?"
"Understood. Processing." Legion turned to face the screen his Omni-tool was projecting, fiddling with the controls the screen flickered and a second presentation began, only this time Legion was the narrator.
"The current council's major races are the geth, drell, turians, batarians, and the krogan. The other races that are not as powerful, but still sit on the council are the volus, elcor, salarians, and the Eldar stand as our non-council allies."
"Did you just say Eldar?" Kuzon asked. Shepard's mind flashed back to the council chambers, and the shadowed figure near the center of the room. It was tall, thin, and had an ethereal presence to it. There was no question that man or woman was one of the Eldar. Thinking back to the vids he actually knew next to nothing about them. He only saw shadows and blurs of tanks soaring over buildings as if they were planes, and cryptic riddle-like transmissions to the Imperium every so often if they happened to fight in conflicts with common enemies.
"What is the extent of your relationship with them, geth?" Ventralis asked, uncomfortable with Legion even uttering their name.
"When humanity became fully detached from the Citadel, it was the Eldar who created the cloaking devices for the Mass Relays. Also, approximately 1400 years ago, the salarian homeworld was overrun by the Ork menace. This crippled both their numbers and their seat on the council. The Eldar granted the salarians asylum on their craftworlds." Legion replied.
"Could you offer any insight into the Eldar that the Imperium does not have? Fleet deployments, colony locations, long-term goals?" Kuzon asked.
"…No." The two Space Marines knew they most likely could not extract the information by force, so they dropped the subject.
"Then aside from all of this information, what is the next step?" Miranda asked.
"There are rumors that Commissar Grissom has a single contact, an old friend that funnels him money and supplies. He's the Planetary Governor of a Paradise World on the borders Uhulis Sector." Kuzon replied.
"A Paradise World? What's the catch?" Shepard asked with an extreme amount of skepticism.
"All Paradise Worlds are owned by corrupt and feeble fiends that hide behind heavily bribed police forces and private security armies. Every single one is corrupt unless the Governor is the only man who lives there, then he's just protective." Ventralis added, showing his disdain for such folk.
"We need to get there and find out what he knows!" Miranda exclaimed.
"We would have years ago if our arrival didn't spark further incidents. This man has close ties to the Inquisition, and would surely bring them down upon us if we were to... invade. We simply lack the resources for a covert offensive. But if you three get in and take him down, there will be no such incident."
"If you could get us there, I'm more than happy to take down whoever he is." Shepard smirked and put his helmet on as the trio was signaled to leave.
As Legion moved himself to the pilot seat of a Raven storm gunship, Shepard came up behind him, but his wide armored pauldrons could not fit between the seats. "There's something you left out of our discussion."
"Specify. Frequent interruptions prevented the viewing of exactly 0.02116 petaquads of data."
"You failed to mention the Emperor."