Chapter Two: Clan

Batarians outside Council Space have few rules to live by. Being outside the Batarian home system (Harsa), in and of itself is, in fact, against the rules of the Batarian Empire. The Terminus System is deemed lawless by the Council and blamed for any and everything that goes wrong in the Traverse. The Council is not entirely incorrect. Though Batarians have restricted themselves to their own territories, there are those that wander the galaxy freely: pirates, slavers, mercs.

One of the few rules recognized even among the lawless is that when a Batarian marries, he or she may withdraw from the Clan, gaining true freedom. However any new souls brought aboard not as slaves, but as Batarian Clan, must, as soon as the new members are old enough to stand on their feet, be brought to the Clan. Every quarter orbital rotation of the Batarian homeworld Khar'shan, the Clan converges so that they may meet their new children. After the child is accepted, the ship captain responsible for it and the child itself is free to do as they please, though until the child makes its first slaving run no excuse is accepted if a grown Batarian of the Clan sells or enslaves one of them. The offender, instead, becomes enslaved. A moment's reflection should reveal this rule's importance.

Mother had already broken one rule today in that she had waited until Shepard could not only totter, but hold a gun to bring her before the Clan. The ship resembled that of a quarians—mismatched pieces of wreckage that somehow managed mass effect space flight. Jath'Amon, a hefty Batarian that lead the Clan by secrecy and cunning and wore an ever-present and thus unreadable smile, sprawled on the central seat. To his right and left, seated below and above, sat another ninety-nine Council members. Jath'Amon had led the Council for three orbits of Khar'shan though younger, less cunning Batarians sought his seat. He had fallen into the custody of the Human Alliance twice during skirmishes for new worlds that had left him scarred, but knowledgeable of the human race and its ways.

There was little noise on deck, the only ruckus coming from the children being brought into the clan chamber aboard Jath'Amon's ship as they tumbled over each other in front of the Clan, before their Mothers and Fathers. The Clan merely observed the children—some turian, some vorcha, quarian, and more. A few Mothers and Fathers pushed their newest crewmembers further toward the Council so that they would not be overlooked and they could go about their business sooner rather than later.

Jath'Amon, upon his seat, cried "Silence! The trial is nigh!"

Mother prodded Shepard with her claymore's butt, halting the little human's tumblings with a snarling krogan.

Jath'Amon did not hesitate. All children brought before the Clan seemed valuable assets that would one day benefit the Clan. At last, his eyes fell upon Shepard. "Mother of the Frelan," Jath'Amon waved her forward, his voice deeper with urgency. "Where was this one found?"

"A human colony on Mindoir, Great Father," Mother replied.

"Does not the Human Alliance have true claim of this child of humanity, this blight? We are a fleet of pirates, not military."

The audience surrounding the Clan echoed Jath'Amon's concerns. A chorus of deep growls poured down upon Mother, with one voice piercing the crowd "What have the The Batarian Clan to do with a human child's fate? Who else speaks for this child?" The chamber hushed at the challenge. Another member, besides Mother, would have to speak for the child.

One of the few creatures respected among the Clan by all—Thane, a quiet and almost ethereal drell who was once accepted among Mother's children, but possessed his own ship now—would speak. His black shadow dropped down into the chamber.

"The human?" his gargled voice addressed them. "I will speak for the human child. Under my care and Mother's, the Alliance will not know her. I myself will teach her the ways of shadows."

With this, another clamor of voices erupted. Most anticipated that the child would die before the Alliance would ever learn of her existence. What harm could one human do in the meantime? Let her live with Mother of the Frelan.

A laugh, deep and unsettling, could be heard above the roar of voices. Heads turned and the crowd parted for the owner. Her expression teetered between boredom and beguilement.

They knew her, the Clan, for no one breathes in the Terminus without encountering the asari or her mercenaries, and there is no forgetting her.

She rose from her seat and made her way through the crowded chamber until she stood before Shepard. Blue eyes locked with green as she spoke to them all. In a voice as sharp and precise as Mother's blade, she said "To kill such a pretty thing would be a shame and that would be her fate if you do not accept her, Batarians, would it not? She may make better sport for you when she is grown. Mother of the Frelan has spoken on her behalf as has Thane Krios. I, Aria T'Loak, offer not my voice, but something I know you all love even more: credits. A human raised in the Terminus by a Batarian will be well worth it," she sneered at the child as she finished, bending to her level.

Shepard moved her chin away when a purple digit propped it up to examine her further and she did not miss it when the Batarians all nodded in agreement, Mother included. All knew the asari's price could not be matched and the human's fate was now secured. Batarians outside Council Space have few rules to live by, and of the few observed today to accept Shepard as part of the Batarian Clan, the human child had just learned the most important one: Aria was the Pirate Queen.