Chapter 8

Shepard stormed into the auxiliary council chamber. Compared to the main council chamber, the room seemed shrunken and claustrophobic. The councilors sat at a long table cluttered with datapads and going through the day's notes. Ilk smirked at a news vids flashing on his Omni-Tools. A lamp on each end of the table provided the only light.

"Councilors." She marched up to the table.

Tevos's two assistants looked up from their datapads in the corner then recognizing her looked backed down.

"Councilors did you—"

"Let me finish this." Ilk glared touching his ear piece.

A stack of articles, actual paper, fanned out in front of him. Uncapped highlights and smeared ink shorthand covered the pages. He leaned back over them with a pen and made some more scribbles. Shepard sighed. Tevos covered a yawn with the back of her hand, shifted in her chair, and glanced over at Ilk. Sparatus stared out the window at the end of the table. The bare branches of trees on the lawn cut black silhouettes against the purpling sunset.

"Spectre Shepard." Mason propped an elbow on his chair's armrest and rested his face on his fist. "We agreed to meet with you. We're here, but let's make this quick. It's been a long day in hearings. Early day tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"I'm trying to finish this!" Ilk snapped.

"Then go off and do it," Sparatus grumbled shoving some of Ilk's papers out of his space on the desk. "The rest of us want to go home. Some of us have lives outside of paperwork and numbers."

Ilk plucked out his earpiece. "I cannot help that your baser—"

"Let's just get on with it," Tevos said. "Go on, Shepard. What did you need to talk to us about? But like Mason said, let's make it quick, shall we?"

"Doable." Shepard stood in front of them. "This mission for the relay? You know about it?"

Tevos's eyes widened. She glanced over at her assistants.

"They should go," Mason lowered his voice turning to Tevos.

Tevos nodded and flickered her hand to dismiss them. Shepard waited for the door to close behind them leaving her alone with the councilors.

"Then, you do know about it?"

"Of course, we do." Tevos sighed. "It's been a major source of … contention."

"Contention?"

"The Alliance is using it as a power game. What else? Vying for primach of the galaxy," Sparatus said.

"As a Spectre with Council authority, I should be under your direction on this. I don't need their oversight."

"We don't have the upper hand right now," Tevos said.

"They're squelching us," Sparatus spat. "The upper hand may not be ours again for a long time."

"They can't grind us down that far," Tevos said.

"Can't they?" Sparatus leaned forward on the desk looking past Ilk to Tevos. "They've already taken over the relay construction. The Council is currently located in Alliance Headquarters. We're using their resources. After we leave here, we still have the Citadel floating above Earth. And, reconstructing it? Who's going to take charge of that, you think? Who's going to be flooding the Citadel in a ratio of five to one with this new location? Humans, Alliance. They're not pushing us around for the fun of it right now. No, they're laying groundwork. I'm a turien. I'd know."

"I've lived over eight hundred years," Tevos smiled indulgently. "It will come back around."

"For you," Ilk said bitingly.

"What if I just did this mission for the Council?" Shepard said taking a step forward.

Tevos frowned. "What do you mean? Without your sponsor?"

"Without the Alliance. Without their oversight."

"Ha," Ilk grabbed a datapad off the table. He shook his head as he looked down at it.

"That's ridiculous," Sparatus muttered.

"Why? Spectres can be autonomous," Shepard said.

"Sure," Sparatus said. "How are you getting there? Who's going with you?"

"I have friends."

"Friends with their own weapons, gear, ships, money, resources?"

Shepard shrugged and crossed her arms. "Maybe plus or minus."

"There's no way," Sparatus said again.

Tevos sat forward. "Shepard, I understand your frustration. We're frustrated, too. No one likes being pushed around, but our hands are tied. We can't undermine them, even if it were possible. We won't give you authority to go over the Alliance's head. You'll burn your bridges. We all need those bridges. Maybe in the next twenty, twenty-five years—"

"Twenty-five years?" Shepard walked up to the table and put her hands on it. "You think your hands are going to be tied for twenty-five years? Are you joking?"

"I'm sorry. You need to realize - yes, you're a Spectre, you're our agent, but you're also Alliance. We're not going to supersede them. We need to stay on their good side. Throw away the Alliance, and there's even less we can do for you. In time, we may have more resources and influence again, but that time is far off, I warn you. You need your human sponsors. The Council doesn't give Spectres anything but a blind eye to do what is needed for the galaxy. Right now, we can't even give you that."

"Very well," Shepard said sharply.

"You called us together to talk about this?" Sparatus said. "Don't bother next time."

"Actually no," Shepard said. "I wanted to talk to you about something else, Councilors. The krogan—"

"No!" Sparatus said. "We won't discuss that."

"Urdnot Wrex—"

"Spectre," Tevos said. "We are aware of his attempts to contact us. The Council, at this time, must focus on matters of priority."

"This is a matter of priority, Councilors."

"You'll leave now, Spectre." Sparatus's face twisted as he stood up. "You've wasted enough of our time today."

"A moment …"

"No!" Sparatus boomed.

"Wait, Sparatus." Ilk looked alert for the first time. "I will hear what she has to say."

Sparatus grumbled, shaking his head, and stacked datapads together on the desk. He didn't sit down.

"When we started this war, we needed help," Shepard said. "No one did it alone. Coming together was a factor, the factor, in why we're here instead of the reapers. The krogans were part of that."

Sparatus straightened his back and squared off to her. He opened his mouth, but Ilk touched his sleeve with a frown. Ilk turned back to Shepard.

"We needed them then, and they came," Shepard said. "Just like all of us. They sacrificed like all of us. Bled, died, lay wounded like all of us. Lost ships, were stranded."

Ilk shifted in his seat. "Some would say curing the genophage was payment enough."

Tevos regarded Shepard with thinning eyes. "The future holds who knows what crises now because of that cure."

Shepard lifted her shoulders and let them drop in a shrug. "The future holds a lot of things, good and bad, but you can have some agency in its direction. What do you think happens if you refuse to talk with the first krogan in centuries who's united the clans?"

Ilk shrugged. "With a nonfunctional mass relay, they will be contained."

"For a time," Shepard said. "The krogan were great once though. They figured out how to activate the relay once before. Without our help, yes, the relay may take generations, but they'll fix it."

Sparatus sputtered. "That's assuming they could be cohesive enough to work together despite all their bickering and chaotic warfare."

"If that's true then why do you even fear them? You fear them being cohesive enough for an invasion but don't think they'll be cohesive enough to fix the relay? Probably be step one in an invasion. Besides, I've found nothing brings people together quite like a common enemy."

Sparatus crossed his arms but didn't speak. Ilk, Tevos, and Mason sat silent.

"By the time they're advanced and collected enough to reactivate the relay, they'll have expanded in size, and they'll be angry and bitter. Our unfulfilled bargain will fester through generations. But, if you reach out to them now, you can shape how the krogan's civilization grows. Progress it into something different. Please, Councilors, just listen to him."

Tevos leaned forward and put her chin on steepled fingers. "We did fulfill our bargain, they have nothing to complain about. The genophage, quite against the Council's wishes, is cured."

"Sure, the genophage is cured. Whether you think it's true or not, they see that as what they were due. It's not a gift on our side, but repaying an old debt. It doesn't win us anything, only sets us square. Cooperate with them, Councilors. Reinstate them as recognized contributors for the galaxy. Help them find room to grow, expand, and direct it in the way you want instead of it bursting at the seams into an invasion. If you help them, you help yourselves. You'll be seen as magnanimous. That breeds loyalty, which can also pass through generations. You don't easily forget, and certainly don't turn again the people who sacrificed to help you when you needed it most."

They regarded her silently. Councilor Mason smiled at her.

"Spectre, you've been at our meetings for months. You have a lot to say for never saying anything."

The other councilors sat quietly. Sparatus picked up his stack of datapads and held them to his chest.

"Thank you, Spectre. We will think on this," Tevos said.

Shepard nodded and left.