Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect nor Honorverse. I am merely throwing the two worlds together. Any original characters, however, are mine.
Hmm looking over some of the responses, I decided to revise my stance on the new Primarchs, and yes indeed my friends there are more than one. The Codex even says so.
Chapter 12: The Embrace of Eternity
Tevos felt them. Eyes, the eyes. Hundreds upon thousands upon millions of eyes. All of them watching her. All of them assessing her. All of them finding her wanting. There were so many, yet none of them spoke. They watched, they studied. The sheer oppressive silence of their mere presence was maddening. So many, too many! It felt as if the weight of an entire world was barreling down on her, so she screamed. Screamed as loud as she could to drive the silence away.
Then they focused, the many became one, or was one the many? Many were ancient, some were young. Some were living, most were dead. Some were faded, others were like suns. All of them merged to become a shining golden beacon to her. This new entity was the many, it was one and it was all, it was the People.
She wanted to understand, to get to grips with this colossus of a mind. She wanted to learn, and so the People taught her. They showed her their history, from the time when the People first Sang, to the time they learned to listen. To her horror she even heard the waves of pain and agony of the Rachni Wars, and the Sour Note that had come to color them.
Then she saw the ships, the human surveyors who were songless, and the curiosity, but caution of the People. Then later the decision that was made when they discovered that the two-leggers were to stay on their world. And then, with amusement, she learned of the daring commando raids to steal the vegetable known as celery, and the way that the celery increased a treecat's telepathic powers, and how delicious, even if otherwise indigestible, the plant was to the People.
She saw the first meeting of a young two-legger female and the People. She felt the mind glows of respected two-leggers like Soul of Steel, Dances on Clouds, Dreams of Peace, and Truth Seeker. She experienced the lives of Smiles Brightly, Sings with Sorrow, and many many more. Felt the horror of the Star Fall, and the unbridled rage of the treecats. It was then that she learned of the two types of enemies.
She did not want to become their enemy.
Then she experienced the memories of the treecat she was melding with, of when the vessel that housed him approached the station, and the itchy feeling of a sour yellow note trying to worm its way into the mindglow of the People. How the 'cat fended off the sour yellow note, and kept it at bay, not letting the itchy feeling do more than pester at the 'cat's two-legger companions. Her eyes widened when they took the elevator to the source of the note. The source, which was where she and the other two Councilors had been standing!
With that the melding ended and she slowly came back to herself, and what she came back to was pure chaos. True, she could see the faceplate of the suited 'cat in front of her, but there were guards all around pointing their weapons at the 'cat. The other Councilors had been taken out, and the 'cat's guards had their guns trained on the C-Sec officers.
"What is the meaning of this?" She demanded tiredly as she looked to the Turian officer in charge.
"Beg pardon ma'am, but you were screaming. The higher ups feared for your safety and had the other Councilors evacuated."
"I…I see. Bring them back in, I was not harmed. Just overwhelmed. The complexity of a treecat mind is far too much for even someone as old as I, no damage was dealt or intended." and that was saying something. She was nearing Matriarch stage, and if she'd tried this stunt when she was a Maiden she was sure that her mind would've succumbed and killed both of them. Psionic backlash was actually fairly common to the Asari, true this little effect was usually never seen by other races, after all the only race as long lived as an Asari where the Krogan, and by then the child would've had at least sixty years of psionic training with her family.
"Not necessarily a fact," the 'cat signed as he looked around in amusement. "I am a Memory Singer, an Elder of the Poison Sky clan. Most of the People would be far easier to meld with than I it seems."
"Yes, you are right." Tevos said with a bit of a smile as she settled back into her seat. It took only a few moments before C-Sec escorted the other Councilors back into the room.
-TED-
Dalatrass Narra was concerned as she resumed her seat beside Tevos. She had a program discreetly running to check the health of the Asari Councilor, nothing too damaging had been done to the Asari Councilor, despite the rather disturbing events that had just occurred. The damage was minimal, something that a headache remedy or Asari tea could easily cure.
"My fellow Councilors, I have to beg your pardon for my earlier unsettling outburst. It is a little known reaction to an Asari mindmeld, generally caused when an Asari is attempting to meld with something far older than themselves without proper conditioning. If it were not for Ambassador Babel's talents in the mental arts, I fear I might have inadvertently caused our deaths." Tevos explained, folding her hands before her. Narra was rather shocked, the 'cat was older than she? Not only that, but she was rather surprised that her colleague was willing to admit her blunder, a blunder that could've reignited a war they were ill prepared to engage in.
"What of the ambassador's accusations?" Dalatrass Narra stated, clearly wanting them to stay on track. This was the most important part of all of this, and the reason why Tevos almost foolishly reignited hostilities.
Tevos took a breath before speaking. "The Ambassador is right. There is some sort of device in the Citadel Tower that was attempting to make the Ambassador agreeable to anything we wanted, at the detriment to his own race. This…according to the ancestral memory of his people, this same device may have been used on the Rachni."
"It also would not have worked. We would have been checked over by others of my race the moment we returned for brainwashing, and The People would have found it. War would have been inevitable," the ambassador signed.
"That is rather paranoid of your government. Do they not trust their ambassadors?" Councilor Tuitio asked, though both could see the amusement in the small furry alien right after she said it.
"Not really, our enemies have been known to use both brainwashing and biological agents to force scenarios that would most benefit them. We've learned over time to constantly watch out for any signs of tampering with our officials."
"Enemies?" Dalatrass Narra asked as she looked over at the small alien.
The small alien took a deep breath before it started to sign again. "Humanity," he said gesturing two his bodyguards, "are a highly diverse race. Technically they have branched off into many different species already. For instance, Bernard, Edward and Micah could be considered a distinctly different specie than my friend Oliver, since they hail from different worlds."
"How could that be possible?" Dalatrass Narra questioned. It was fascinating, but how would that work? The humans were highly diverse then, oh she could see where this was going. There might be a faction of humans that considered them better than the others and tried to conquer them or some such. There could be members of this race that would be willing to ally with the Citadel over the others. Such an alliance would help them conquer the ones they would be fighting should diplomatic relations fail.
"The Diaspora of Man came before safe and reliable FTL methods were developed. True they had FTL travel at the time and used it to scout planets, but it was too hazardous to use commercially. So the many colony ships that left Old Terra were essentially on their own. It took nearly a thousand years before reliable FTL was developed and the colonies were found once more."
"Therefore, there would be colonies with extensive genetic drift depending on the amount of time it took those colony ships to reach new planets," Dalatrass Narra said nodding along. Little contact with the home world, not necessarily any loyalty towards it. Yes, they could use this against their enemies if they could find colonies that were sufficiently at odds with this so called Grand Alliance.
"Indeed, and one such colony, Mesa, a granddaughter of Old Terra, sought to enforce their beliefs in genetically engineered superiority on the rest of Humanity. They planned for five hundred years and ignited several wars that destroyed the Solarian League. When finally confronted the resulting war killed a sixth of the human population, roughly five hundred billion lives."
"And it is this colony that utilized these mind control techniques?" Tuitio said, though Narra could tell that the Turian Councilor was quite shocked. And of course anyone would be, the loss of five hundred billion lives was catastrophic, and that was only a sixth of humanity's population? That would mean that humans were about as numerous as all the Citadel species combined! Still, to ignite such a war with such extreme beliefs. Hmm..if only they could find something less hostile, but there was always a chance they could contact these extremists. Much more studying must be done before they could seek other alliances behind these aliens' backs.
"Mind control, body control. It became necessary for The People to ensure the safety of political figures after the Mesans attempted to kill several leading figures."
"I'm sorry body control?" Dalatrass Narra asked. Why would that be different than mind control.
"They would introduce a virus into your system using something as simple as a spray. Programmed to take effect when certain conditions were met. Then without warning your body would move on its own, and you would be forced to take an action against your own will. Poor for espionage, but perfect for assassination."
"Smiles Brightly," Tevos said a little shocked. "He was the first of the People to discover the virus was he not?"
"Yes," Babel signed with a smile. "While we managed to cripple their military base during the war, we did not find all of the leaders. So the threat is out there. That explains why we're concerned about any attempts to manipulate our minds, and it also concerns an offer we have on the table for technological exchange. If the Mesans get wind of your races, they will attempt to conquer you and turn you against us. Their overriding goal is the dominance of their Mesan Alpha lines."
Tuitio nodded and watched the small alien for a moment. "I take it you will not be signing the Treaty of Farixen then?"
"Alas no, the Mesans were able to build a military powerful enough to challenge the rest of the human race in secret. We can't afford to retire 99% of our military forces."
"Surely you do not have that many dreadnoughts," Dalatrass Narra said concerned. It was ridiculous, what sort of people would be willing to have so many dreadnoughts that signing the treaty of Farixen would be so crippling. But the technological advancements that they would receive would be a tremendous boon. Perhaps they should focus more on gaining the Grand Alliance's partnership. Though from the looks of things either a non-aggression pact or full enclosure with a Council Seat would be needed. She would definitely maneuver for the pact, she didn't want to give these totally unknown aliens political power on the galactic scale and free access to their Spectre resources without getting to know them in depth.
"The Grand Alliance altogether has well over four thousand superdreadnoughts currently in operation, with another two thousand in the mothball fleet. Restricting ourselves to the treaty of Farixen would essentially cripple us and leave us easy prey for the Mesan Alignment."
"F-four thousand!" That explained why four hundred could be used as an intimidation technique. The massive fleet outside was just a tenth of the forces that these humans could bring to bear, and already they completely outclassed the Citadel forces! Damn those Turians, how could they have gone ahead and screwed them over so badly without bothering to gather any sort of intelligence! This whole debacle could've been avoided!
-TED-
Councilor Tuitio was feeling a little out of her depth. True, she had agreed to take on this prestigious position in order to help her people, but now she was beginning to see how truly complex her job was going to be. Still, she wouldn't have been selected if Primarch Fedorian himself hadn't thought she could handle it. She just had to believe that she was good enough for this position. She would sit back and watch her fellow Councilors work, try to see all the angles like she would during one of her cases, and then take the appropriate action. Never again would Turians blindly charge in. "Actually Councilor Narra, I believe he said they have six thousand. Only four thousand currently in service," which she believed made them even deadlier adversaries.
"Yes, and that does not include the navies of each of our members either. The Grand Alliance Navy is an extrapolitical military force whose primary focus is to serve as the reinforcements and offensive support of our members. Some, like the Kingdom of Torch, have modest sized navies of their own. Others, like the Terran League or the Star Empire of Manticore, have navies that are fairly robust and fully capable of waging wars."
"I see," Dalatrass Narra said, with a calculating gleam in her eyes. Tuitio knew that the Dalatrass was trying to come up with some sort of strategy should they end up going to war and the diplomacy failing. Still, while there was an extrapolitical military force, what would happen in the case of infighting and just how long have these aliens been in space?
"I must ask, precisely how long has Humanity and their assorted allies travelled the stars?" Tuitio asked, watching the small furry creature.
The creature bleeked at her before signing again, amusement in its eyes. "The current date used by humanity would be 2157 Post Diaspora, meaning that it has been two thousand one hundred fifty seven years since the first colony ships left Earth."
So it seemed that humans have been in space about as long as the Volus and Quarians, and yet technologically they seemed to have advanced to the level of the Asari, or may even surpass them. That was a little unsettling. "I see," Tuitio said as she digested the information. Definitely not the new kid on the block at all.
"Before we continue with our discussion, I will have to inform you of some things that would remain constant no matter where our talks shall lead us. My superiors wish that these demands be met no matter what. They are:
First and foremost reparations for the attack on Shanxi and a cease fire between the Turian Hierarchy and the Kingdom of Torch be made. Such Reparations are free for discussion, though Queen Berry I of the House of Zilwicki has stated that she wishes for a full apology to be made by the Hierarchy's leadership.
Second, that the Council sign the Eridani Edict banning the use of damaging weapons of mass destruction be used on inhabited planets. Should a violation of the Edict be made, the Grand Alliance Navy and every signatory will immediate strike at the offender and render them terrestrially bound to their homeworld.
Third, that the Council at least acknowledges that the Grand Alliance's member nations are all signatories of the Cherwell Convention, and that should any of our military vessels come into contact with any form of slavery they will not hesitate to engage the slavers and free the slaves. To prevent an intergalactic incident, that all such military vessels and a region of space surrounding them be considered part of the Grand Alliance's sovereign territory and thus subject to Grand Alliance Laws. The amount of space designated as Grand Alliance Sovereign Territory is up for discussion however."
Tuitio's eyes widened as she listened to the three main objectives that the small furry alien had to fulfill. The first two were actually quite easy to understand and would work to better the galactic community. It would be an amazing deterrent for anyone to use WMDs if everyone in the galaxy would turn on you the moment you used one, and she was already coming to the table with intended reparations. Sure they would argue about that quite a bit, but she also had a few things she needed to accomplish, like the return of the naval POWs since the Asari had managed to extract most of the ground pounders.
The third however, made her wince. True, slavery was illegal in most of galactic space, but it was still legal in the Hegemony, and she was already foreseeing the sheer amount of headaches she was going to get from them. Although, this did provide a wonderful out for her people. They'd been trying to close down that avenue for centuries, but the Hegemony had been able to keep it in place by decrying it part of their culture, and the Asari were too loath to do anything that would severely damage another race's culture in any way shape or form. But with this, oh she could see her people handing the humans likely slaver routes, the slaver waystations. The least she could do was help the humans make sure that the Batarian raiding parties never tried to enslave anyone outside of their own space ever again!
She shook herself just a little, she needed to stay focused. Already Dalatrass Narra was starting to negotiate for certain technological advances, Tevos inquiring about economics, and she supposed she should be talking about military matters, like naval bases and things like that, and of course the Turian POWs. There was still a lot of work to do, and while it was the three of them against humanity's ambassador, according to Tevos he had an entire race's experience in diplomacy behind him. It was going to be difficult to hammer out an agreement that made everyone happy.
Codex:
-TED-
Cherwell Convention: An Anti-slavery pact signed by every single member of the Grand Alliance. The Cherwell Convention bans slavery in the signatory star nations, but also allows their military vessels to pursue slavers should they come across them. Also, many of these star nations place an immediate death penalty on any slaver that is caught. Regardless if there are any slaves currently on the ship or not.
Eridani Edict: Created after three billion people were killed when an enemy vessel destroyed the planet Eridani, the Eridani Edict was one of the unifying foreign policy measures of the now defuct Solarian League, and one of the main policy measures of its successor the Terran League. The Edict stipulates that any nation who destroys an inhabited planet has therefore declared war on the galaxy and should be dealt with extreme prejudice, usually to the point of completely obliterating the offending star nation's space capabilities.
Memory Singers: Immediately regarded as Elders of Treecat clans once they are identified, Memory Singers are the living Avatars of the People's will. Capable of retaining every memory of every treecat who has ever lived, Memory Singers are able to relay such information to any other treecat therefore allowing the rapid advancement of complex ideas as well as having the entire civilization's experiences to call upon at will.
-TED-
So there ya have it. Another Chapter Finished. I dunno if I really like it myself, but I leave it up to you guys to decide. Please ask questions and I may give answers. I love responding to reviews!