A/N: Time to speak with the Council, annoying meanies that they are. Or... are they really? Read and judge for yourselves. :)
And to answer a question... yes, I am quite fond of Aria/Tevos myself. But I'm not saying anything beyond that. ;)
Chapter 43 - Audience With the Council
"Commander," it is Joker's voice on the comms again. "There will be a crew from the Huerta Memorial Hospital awaiting us in the Docking Bay D24. They will take care of Kaidan."
"Thank you, Joker," Morgan breathes a sigh of relief, watching over Major Alenko's prone body. His situation remains the same as it was hours before, critical but stable.
"Also, someone from C-Sec will be down there to escort you to the Council chambers," he informs Shepard.
"That's perfect, thank you ever so much."
"You must be really looking forward to talking with them, Commander," Joker chuckles. "Because all your previous talks have gone so well."
"Uh-huh," Shepard just grumbles, starting to get ready to leave the Normandy, quickly making sure she looks reasonably decent to appear before the Council.
Less than five minutes later, together with Liara and James, they step onto the ground in Docking Bay D24, watching a team of doctors quickly taking Kaidan away, not answering any of her desperate inquiries about his chances, simply telling her to stop by the hospital later. Their thoughts are still on Kaidan by the time their C-Sec escort arrives, in the shape and form of none other than her old friend, Captain Armando Bailey.
"Commander Shepard," Bailey greets her. "Got word that you were arriving."
"Captain Bailey," she smiles. "So you're our official escort to the Council, huh?"
"It would appear so," Bailey nods. "Though it's actually Commander now."
"You seem awfully thrilled about that promotion," Shepard remarks, noticing Bailey's sour expression.
"Mhm. Yeah. Half of my job now involves dealing with political BS and escorting dignitaries around. No offense," he hastily adds.
Shepard laughs. "None taken, Bailey. Hey, I'm just flattered to still be considered important enough for personal escort!"
"Well, apparently they are aware that you intend to tell them something important," Bailey shrugs. "Udina asked me to take you to the Council chambers straight away-" here Bailey is interrupted by Shepard's loud groan and he stops to look at her curiously.
"Gods, I had forgotten that speaking with the Council will also involve dealing with that twat," Shepard moans.
Bailey laughs. "Yes, I'm afraid no way around that, Shepard. Come, I'll take you there."
"Uh, Commander?" James suddenly speaks up. "I'm not really comfortable around all those politicians. I'm just going to slip to the lower wards for a while and mix it up with the other grunts."
"Sure thing, James," Morgan nods. "Try not to get into too much trouble!"
As James leaves them, Liara and Morgan follow Commander Bailey to the nearby shuttle station, ready to be taken to the Presidium. "So, Bailey..." Morgan asks, once they have climbed into the shuttle. "If you didn't really care for this job, why'd you take it?"
"The offer came straight from Udina," Bailey replies gruffly. "You don't say no to a councilor."
"Oh... you want to make a bet on that?" Shepard grins wolfishly.
"Don't... just don't," Liara sighs.
"Well, okay, maybe you would, Shepard," Bailey smiles thinly. "But I have to live here! I'm not even sure why he picked me. I hate this kind of political BS. Maybe it was because of all that mess with Pallin."
"Executor Pallin? Garrus' old boss?" Shepard asks. "What happened with him?"
"He just plain went bad, Shepard," Bailey explains tiredly. "In the end he resisted an arrest and forced me to shoot him. Maybe that's what got me noticed."
"Well, Garrus will approve of the news, anyway," Shepard nods. "Boy, did he ever hate that Pallin guy."
"You don't exactly see the Citadel gearing for war," Liara remarks as the shuttle takes off in the air, the lush green parks of the Presidium below them, with their placid lakes and connecting streams, the serene, relaxing view feels like a balm for Shepard's soul after the terrifying images of ravaged Earth or barren red rocks of Mars. "Perhaps we all need a place like this where the reality of the war is not constantly reminded to us," the asari adds a little later.
"Yes, there is a... false sense of security here," Bailey admits. "It is easy to pretend that the war is something distant and the people are determined not to let it affect their carefree everyday lives. Even the residents whose worlds have already fallen manage to maintain this illusion."
"As the Reapers advance, the Citadel is going to be faced with a nasty refugee situation," Morgan says. "We saw a lot of ships around the docking bays, human, turian, even some batarians. As more and more worlds fall, Citadel will be quickly taxed to maximum."
"You said it, Shepard," Bailey admits with distinct unhappiness. "We're still ways from reaching the critical mass, but the signs aren't good. Not many people made it off Earth, but we still have them coming in by hundreds every day."
"Did you have anyone back on Earth, Commander Bailey?" Liara asks softly.
"Yeah. Got an ex-wife somewhere. And... a son and daughter," he adds, suddenly looking a few years older. "Haven't heard from them since communications went dark."
"I'm sorry," Liara mutters quietly.
"Don't be," Bailey replies. "Thessia hasn't seen the sight of Reapers yet, but they're sniffing around the nearby systems. Pains me to say it, but your people will feel the heat soon."
"I know," Liara nods, looking ill at ease from the painful reminder. Shepard is glad to see the shuttle finally arriving at the top of the Presidium tower and they climb out, Bailey leading them up the stairs and to the little extended bridge stretching towards the large balcony where the councilors stand, already deep in arguing, Udina in particular, bickering heatedly with the turian representative, Sparatus.
"We've got our own problems, Councilor Udina," the turian sternly shoots down the human. "Earth is not alone in this."
"But Earth was the first Council world hit!" Udina argues. "By all reports, it faces the brunt of the attack!"
"By your reports," the salarian councilor, Valern, speaks up, giving Udina a pointed stare.
"Ah, there comes Shepard," Udina finally notices her, looking relieved as she and Liara approach the Council, Bailey quickly excusing himself, probably by now severely allergic to politicians. "No doubt she will be able to verify the reports from Earth!"
Morgan walks up to the end of the little bridge, placing her hands on the railing, Liara taking place next to her. "I haven't exactly counted the Reapers around Earth and in the turian space, Udina, so I can't compare," she replies. "Which means I also can't validate your attempt to pass us humans for some kind of special snowflakes in this war."
Shepard struggles hard not to laugh at the eye-popping expression on Udina's face, his mouth flapping open as he for once finds it difficult to make a retort. Sparatus is looking down at him with a knowing smirk, Valern appears passive and neutral, while Tevos has difficulties containing amusement from reflecting in her eyes. "That being said," Shepard quickly continues, before Udina can demand that she is to be thrown out of the Council chambers. "It is true that we do need to work together. Each of us just trying to desperately defend our homeworlds is not going to work."
"The Reapers are pressing hard on our borders, Shepard," Tevos is the first to reply. "What is it that you suggest, Commander? We cannot give you our fleets, as your councilor demands."
"He wants us to follow him to Earth and leave our own worlds vulnerable," Valern cuts in, shaking his head. "We will not yield to his hasty requests."
"Even if you had our fleets, do you really believe that you could use them to defeat the Reapers?" Sparatus snaps dismissively. "At best you would take down one or two of their capitol ships, before our entire fleets would be annihilated!"
"If that is what Udina has been asking of you, then humanity needs a smarter councilor," Shepard quips again, and this time even Liara gives her an odd stare. "No, we don't need your fleets. Not now. But we do need something, and we do have a plan. I will allow the famous Prothean expert Dr. T'Soni to elaborate," she says, grinning as she makes a small bow to Liara.
"Councilors... we have a plan," Liara begins to speak. "A blueprint created by the Protheans towards the end of their war with the Reapers. It appears to be a weapon of some sort..." she fiddles with the omni-tool, bringing up the same scans that she had shown to Hackett earlier. "The Protheans believed it to be capable of destroying the Reapers."
"The scale of it..." Valern is the first to speak up, his cold, calculating and scientific mind processing the scanned images the fastest. "If an attempt is to be made, it would be a colossal undertaking."
"I've already forwarded the plans to Admiral Hackett," Shepard speaks up. "He is organizing the remnants of the human fleets to gather resources and begin the construction. But even though Liara seems to think this weapon is feasible to build, humanity cannot do it alone."
"Are you sure it would even work?" Tevos remains doubtful. "After all, the Protheans were wiped out by the Reapers. It does not seem as if this... weapon did them much good."
"They never managed to complete it, Councilor Tevos. The Protheans simply ran out of time and resources," Liara quickly explains. "And more so, there is also a missing component that we have not identified as of yet, something referred to as the Catalyst," she points at some detail in the scans, but Morgan isn't exactly sure what she is supposed to be seeing in them.
"And you believe that this can stop the Reapers?" Sparatus gives Shepard a piercing stare.
"Yeah, I believe it's the only chance we've got. Liara is never wrong on these things, believe me," Shepard says, grinning a little at Liara's flustered expression. "But to build it we need your aid. Your scientists, your engineers, your resources, everything you can provide. And once it is complete, we will likely need the combined effort of all our fleets to bring this thing," she points at the scans of the Prothean super-weapon, "into action."
The three alien councilors exchange a few glances amongst themselves, before Valern speaks up again. "Shepard, what you have brought before us seems almost too good to be true, and in these desperate times, it is tempting to believe that this is our sole hope for salvation," he says. "But, we cannot commit our resources to something this massive just based on blind faith. Our researchers must study this blueprint first, we must confirm its authenticity before we can promise you our support. In the meantime, our militaries will continue to fortify the homeworlds."
"Liara will forward copies of the data to each one of you, councilors," Shepard says, Liara nodding at her side. "By all means, have your scientists analyze it, but don't wait too long. With each day more and more worlds fall to the Reapers, and our progress on building the Prothean device will not be as swift as it could be."
"I understand your urgency with Earth facing the worst of the attacks, Commander," Tevos replies, her voice more kind than usually. "We... must admit our mistake of distrusting you before. Clearly, we were wrong. We will not dismiss your warnings again, but I am sure you will agree that decisions such as these cannot be made in haste. Expect our answer soon."
"As for the matter of your need of our fleets," Sparatus speaks up, pointing at Tevos and Valern. "We are convening a war summit amongst our species, to decide on how to best utilize our fleets and coordinate our tactics. I would ask you to attend the summit, Shepard. We might not have always been on the best of terms, but I believe your insights would be valuable as we formulate our strategies. And it is in your best interests to aid us, as the results of our fight against the Reapers will determine how much support we can provide for you later."
Shepard is pleasantly surprised by this offer, until now she has thought that Sparatus utterly hates her guts. "I will attend, just tell me when and where," she replies.
"Details will be forwarded to you at the earliest convenience," the turian councilor tells her. "We have been slightly delayed by some... disturbing reports coming in from Taetrus. Once we know more, the information will be passed to you immediately."
"With that, the Council adjourns," Tevos speaks, as she together with Sparatus and Valern leave the balcony, only a fuming Udina remains behind, glaring daggers at Shepard.
"I can't believe it, but that actually went well," Shepard turns towards the smiling Liara, reaching out to squeeze her hand, but Udina dares to interrupt the tender moment.
"Shepard!" he snarls angrily. "My office! Now!"