Authors notes: Well, here it is, the promised retcon. Hopefully this will fix some of the connectivity issues I had before, and tie up the loose ends that I missed last time. I kinda feel like this is my own little "Extended Cut," which is bad because I hated the idea of that particular DLC. The best I can do is say I'm sorry for jumping the gun on the last update, and I hope this helps. I'll be tweaking chapter 7 at the same time I post this chapter, so you may want to go through it again, just in case. Again, I'd like to thank everyone who gave me feedback on the story thus far. The criticism has been constructive and has helped me grow as an author.

Chapter 6: Shocks and Aftershocks

"I can't believe they'd actually go for it."

"Why not, Admiral? We've got them dead to rights, and they know it."

"Hannah, you may have just backed them into a corner. I know the brass gave you carte blanche for the negotiations, but you haven't given them a way out except to give us exactly what we want. If they tell us to go to hell, what do we do?"

"They can't risk it, Steven. With the Quarian's help, we've got such a massive tech edge on them that they can't hope to win in the long run."

Hackett frowned and massaged his temples. "The Allies probably said the same thing about the Soviet Union in the Second and Third World Wars. It didn't stop the Union from trying, though. And most diplomats don't take too kindly to strong-arm tactics."

"You know, it's strange. I keep telling people I'm not a diplomat, but no one ever seems to believe me."

Hackett smiled slightly. "Did you just gloat, Hannah?"

"Heh. Maybe a little. You should've seen her face when I gave her the list. I wish I'd been able to get a picture."

"Alright. Maybe they will go for it. But let's play devil's advocate here. If they don't, we'll have a full scale war, a fifth World War. Although I suppose Galaxy War would be more accurate. If that happens, how do we beat them? Our best intel is that they've got three times the naval numbers we do, and five times the economy. And if the Quarians are right, their civilian population is ten times larger than ours. Even with our tech edge, this is sounding a lot like Allies versus Union to me."

"You're assuming that the Council is a single entity. That was always the Union's strength. The Council is made of a dozen different species, and each of them has different governments and different customs. Most of them can't even defend themselves from the Alliance. They have to rely on the Turians to do it for them, and that means the Turians either have to spread their ships thin, or risk us hitting somewhere soft. We, on the other hand, have defense grids over more than half our inhabited planets and a third of the moons, and we have less territory to defend in the first place."

"Hmm… So it's divide and conquer then?" asked Hackett.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"OK. Let's assume they don't just roll over. The most powerful of the big three Council species is the Turian Hierarchy. From what I've read about them, their entire culture is based on militarism and service to the state. Hell, they conscript every single person into the military when they turn fifteen, and even the Union didn't take things that far. How do we beat a species that has one hundred percent of its population in the military? We're not that strong."

" 'Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.' " quoted Hannah.

"Falling back on good ol' Sun Tzu, huh? Alright, so where are the Turians weak? You've studied their culture more than I have."

"Their weakness is their pocketbooks. No country can support having its' entire youth population in the military: their economy would fall to pieces. The Turians only manage because of the Volus, and the Volus have no army or navy to speak of. It's a symbiotic relationship, but if we dismantle the Volus' economy, we can bring the Hierarchy to its knees."

"Hmm. OK, assume we do. That still leaves the rest of the Council." said Hackett.

"I'm sure you can figure it out from there. It's the same thing, repeated over and over. We knock the Elcor out the same way we do the Volus, followed by the Hanar, which takes care of the Drell as well. The Batarians are every bit as likely to attack the rest of them while they're distracted as they are to attack us, and considering that we'll nuke them if they try, I doubt they'll risk it. The Krogan might be strong, but they hate the Council, and they don't even have a navy. That only leaves the Salarians and the Asari."

Hackett sat up straighter, growing a bit more enthused. "Let me guess: the Asari are less an empire and more a collection of loosely affiliated republics. We negotiate with those we can, ignore those we can't, and crush those that won't be ignored. Reminds me of the campaigns of Xerxes in ancient Greece, and I doubt the Council has three hundred Spartans just lying around. That only leaves the Salarians."

Hannah shook her head. "They're the toughest nut to crack. However, we might not have to. If we can take down the rest of the Council piece by piece, they'll probably just surrender. It's not like them to make heroic last stands, because they prefer to attack with vastly superior strength, where victory is assured."

Hackett sat there for a minute, slowly mulling it over. "Alright, you've convinced me we can beat them, even if it'll be long and bloody. But I still have to question some of these demands. The changes to laws regarding synthetics I get, and our laws being higher than theirs as well, but fifty trillion credits. That's five trillion dollars!"

"Twelve thousand, six hundred forty two." said Hannah, completely monotone.

"What?"

Hannah's face darkened. "That's the number of dead we found in the mass graves at Shanxi, Steven. Twelve thousand. Six hundred. Forty two."

"God almighty. Now that you put it that way…"

"And that's only a fraction of the wounded. A lot of those people lost memories when their banks were damaged or destroyed. Most will be years recovering, and some never will."

Hackett nodded grimly before continuing. "Alright. Last point. Why join the Council at all? Why sign the Treaty of Farixen? And why bring the Quarians along for the ride?"

"Control. The Council needs to think they can control us, because if they don't, we'll just end up doing this same song and dance in a few decades. Joining the Council gives them that illusion, because by banding together, they'll have three votes to our two. In reality, we'll be the ones controlling them."

"Alright, now you've lost me. For someone who claims not to be a politician, you're damn good at it, Hannah"

"There's no need to insult me, Admiral." she said with a grin. "The treaty currently pins the number dreadnaughts each species can build to however many the Turians have. By putting us in it, they lose that control, and we gain it. We can dictate how many ships they can build by controlling the size of our Navy. On top of that, the current Treaty doesn't cover carriers, only dreadnaughts, and we both know dreadnaughts are meaningless compared to carriers."

"And the Quarians?"

"We've spent the last three weeks turning them from a race of beggars into a people again. Now, we've set them up to become the second strongest power in the galaxy next to us. We even handed them a Council seat on a silver platter. That's gotta earn some brownie points."

Hackett whistled through his teeth. "Damn, Shepard. You really did think of everything."

"And they know it. After all, I did tell their diplomat everything we just discussed, minus the control part. If they knew we knew they were going to control us while we controlled them… oh hell, just call it a Kansas City Shuffle."

"What!" he yelled, leaning forward in his chair suddenly. "Why the hell would you do that?! Now they can plan for it! That's gonna make beating them harder!"

Hannah shook her head and laughed. " 'Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.' After all, the only thing scarier than being in the path of a rolling boulder is being in the path of a rolling boulder with broken legs."

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening! This can't be happening!"

"Calm yourself, Tevos. Becoming hysterical benefits no one, least of all you." said Benezia.

"Hysterical?! I'm well beyond hysterical, Benezia! I can't believe you could agree to something like this! Calling it insane would-"

Tevos cut off suddenly and slid several feet across the floor as Benezia's full armed slap hit her full in the cheek.

"Are you quite finished?" she asked calmly. "Because if I must put you over my knee and spank you like a child, I will."

Rising quickly to her feet, Tevos stormed towards Benezia, anger in her eyes. "You… how dare you?! I am the Asari Citadel Councilor, and I will not be embarrassed in front of my peers by being treated like -"

The second slap sent her twice as far as the first. Sparatus and Tabril sat in stunned disbelief, neither having the courage to move a muscle, let alone say anything.

"I'm not usually this patient with children, Tevos. You will compose yourself, or you will not sit comfortably for a week. If you are a Citadel Councilor as you claim, then act like it."

Tevos rose more slowly this time, and as she took her chair, her crests flushed with a mixture of anger and humiliation. "I… I apologize for my behavior. But even so, how could you choose to agree to these-these outrageous demands?!"

"I could agree to them because I had no choice." Benezia spat, her voice growing icy. "Two thousand years ago, we made a foolish choice to open a Relay without knowing where it led. When we encountered the Rachni beyond it, we were only able to defeat them with the help of the Krogan, when we made the choice to uplift them. Even then, it took us a full century, and cost trillions of lives. As a result of that choice, we were nearly overrun by those same Krogan six centuries later. Our saving grace then was to find the Turians, who held the Krogan at bay while we made a choice to use brute force to defeat them, in the form of the Genophage. Do you see a pattern here, Tevos?"

"Well, I-I-I…"

Benezia cut her off. "No? Then let me continue to educate you, Councilor. For the next eight hundred years, we ruled through force of arms, relying on the Turians' power and the Salarians' wit to keep us safe. When the Geth rebelled against the Quarians, we made a choice to exile them and ban AIs, earning us their ire for the three centuries. Then, we made the choice to ignore the Geth for all that time, rather than contact them and try to establish peaceful relations. And before you start, you thought peaceful contact with the Humans was impossible as well, and I've proven that assumption wrong. Then, when a new species is discovered and our previous tactic of running roughshod over them fails to produce results, you yourself made the choice to launch an unprovoked invasion of their space, a choice that has cost nearly one hundred thousand lives and a tenth of our naval military strength in a month!"

Benezia stood from her chair and leaned forward, her face growing close to Tevos' and getting angrier and louder as she spoke. "Now, we're suffering from the effects of two millennia of bungled choices which have led us to this point. We've encountered an enemy we can't hope to defeat, an enemy that has threatened to murder every person in this room, as well as billions of innocent people unless we comply with their demands. They have the power and the planning and the will to dismantle the entire Council piece by piece and burn it to ashes around us! We are out of choices Tevos, and you should thank the Goddess the Humans only want as much as they do, because if they wanted more, we would still have to give it to them!"

As Benezia finished her monologue, Tevos could do nothing but slump in her chair, all of the fight and willpower gone from her spirit.

"Now, do either of you have any questions, Councilors?" she asked, facing Sparatus and Tabril in turn.

"Ahem…" said Sparatus, clearing his throat. "How many of the Hierarchy's soldiers will suffer from this… denouncement? They have nearly fifty thousand captive, and if they go too far, my people will be screaming for blood."

"Sparatus, if they decide to execute every single one of your soldiers, you should be grateful for it."

Sparatus' mouth dropped open at her reply. "Grateful?!"

"We're you not listening either, Sparatus? Must I educate you as well as Tevos? The ship you encountered at Relay-314 used hundreds of nuclear weapons in its assault, as did the hundreds of strike craft launched from the Human carriers in orbit over Shanxi. The Humans have absolutely no qualms about using nuclear weapons in war, which isn't surprising considering they've used them on each other in three major wars in the past two hundred years."

Sparatus swayed slightly in his chair, looking as if he were about to faint. "Spirits… Even the Krogan only had one nuclear war. They've had three, and they're still this much stronger than us? How is that possible?"

Surprisingly, it was Tabril who answered the somewhat rhetorical question. "It makes sense, actually. The Krogan were too violent to recover from full scale nuclear war. They spent time fighting further battles rather than rebuilding. It kept them from advancing technologically or societally. The Humans are different. They're intelligent and controlled enough to apply the minimal amount of violence necessary to win engagements, meaning they could recover and grow stronger from the experience. Whereas the Krogan became one of the strongest known races on an individual and physical level, the Humans became stronger militaristically and technologically. STG has recently intercepted a communique from the Humans containing a two-and-a-half millennia old text from Human history, which apparently serves as the basis for all of their military training. It is entitled 'The Art of War,' and it indicates that the Humans have built their civilization around a repeating cycle of war and peace for thousands of years. I believe you would find the document interesting, Sparatus."

" 'The Art of War?' Even among Turians, military service, and by extension war, is considered a duty, even a privilege. But an art? Oh, Spirits." Sparatus slumped in his chair, almost a twin to Tevos as his resolve evaporated.

"Are there any other questions? asked Benezia.

Tabril spoke again. "Assuming we accept their terms, why would the Humans agree to being bound by the Treaty of Farixen? I can see no possible benefit, and we could hardly force them to abide by it at any rate."

Sparatus sighed. He was recovering from his shock. "I believe I can. By placing themselves at the top of the list, the Humans seek to move the Hierarchy lower. Presently, we can build our fleet as large as we desire, within the limits of budget and manpower. By placing us below them, the Humans are able to dictate how many ships we can have at any given time. And by placing the Quarians so high up, the two of them will be able to out-muscle every other species in the galaxy combined." He sighed dejectedly. "It's quite brilliant, actually."

Tevos straightened as well. "And by extending friendship to the Quarians and giving them a seat on the Council, they've soundly cemented their alliance. They may even be able to recruit the Geth to their side, considering their progressive attitude towards synthetics. If that happens, they'll have a power bloc so strong that we may never be able to break it." She held her head in her hands, staring into her palms. "How could we let this happen?"

"Shall I tell the Humans we accept their terms, then?"

"You've made your point Benezia. We accept."

As Rael entered the chamber where the Admiralty Board was waiting for him, he couldn't help but feel excited. He hadn't been able to get much news of the war with the Turians recently, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that for the first time in centuries, the Quarian people had a home. Most of it was still being built, and it wasn't Rannoch, but it was a home. With the miraculous discovery the Sirta Foundation had made only a few weeks ago, there was even a possibility that Quarians would be able to remove their suits for good within his lifetime.

'It isn't Rannoch. It will never be Rannoch. I can't give up on it, I can't.'

That dampened his cheer quickly

"Admirals, how are things progressing?" he asked.

"Surprisingly well, considering." said Raan. "It almost feels like a dream, like I could wake any minute and find myself back on the Migrant Fleet, rather than in a building on a planet."

"I still don't like this." said the ever pessimistic Tagrin. "We've put far too much faith in the Humans far too quickly. It's been less than a month since we first met them, and in that time, we've started binding ourselves to them so tightly, we may never be able to break free."

"And why should we want to break free, as you say?" asked Raan. "The Humans have been nothing but kind and generous to us, which is far more than any other species can claim. And you would repay that kindness with suspicion and mistrust."

"That's exactly the point. Why would the Humans bother spending the time and energy to help us? From what I've read of their history, they're hardly the peaceful type."

"And what would it take to convince you that they mean well? Would you have them lead a full scale assault on Rannoch?"

Tagrin scoffed. "I doubt they would be willing to do that. They have more reason to trust the Geth than to trust us. After all, the Geth are synthetic."

Rael interrupted him. "Admiral, I'll admit that I'm not entirely comfortable with being around synthetic Humans, but they're not evil, and it gets easier every day. After all, there was a time when Quarians and Geth lived in peace, and I believe there can be again."

"Peace? Have you lost your mind? Even if the Human synthetics are fundamentally different from the Geth, and I'm still not convinced they are, nothing about the Geth has changed. They're still the same heartless, soulless, murdering machines they were centuries ago."

"Maybe you're right." said Rael. "Maybe they are the same. But the Council attacked the Humans without even trying to learn if they were amicable to peace. We know they are, so what makes us any different? We could send an envoy to the Geth to negotiate, the same way the Asari did for the Humans."

"Actually Rael, that's the reason we called you here in the first place." said Raan. "The diplomat the Asari sent returned with word from the Council. The Humans have negotiated a truce with them."

Rael was confused. "Well, I'm glad they've achieved peace, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, the Humans managed to get very good terms from the Council." Raan continued. "They're receiving quite a few credits, and the… incident with the Turians on Shanxi has been dealt with. But the most exciting part is this: the Humans forced the Council to accept the Quarians as a member race again."

He was even more confused. "Well, I guess that's good, but how does that benefit us? Even as a member, we're still quite weak compared to the rest of the Council races."

"You don't understand Rael. We're not just an associate member, we're a full member. They got us a Council seat."

"They what!?"

Raan laughed excitedly. It was very nearly a giggle. "A Council seat! Can you believe it? I would've loved to see the looks on the Councils' faces when they agreed to that."

"I… well… Keelah." he breathed.

"With that in mind, the Admiralty Board and the Conclave have decided that I should be our representative on the Council," said Raan, "which means that there's an open seat on the Admiralty Board. A seat we want you to fill, Rael."

"Me?! You want me to be an Admiral?" he said in a rush. "I'm not even thirty yet. You must be crazy-not bad crazy, good crazy-but I don't have the experience, not that you do-wait, of course you do-I wasn't saying that you didn't-or the knowledge, or the skill, not to mention-"

Raan cut him off with a laugh. "Rael, calm down and breathe. You're babbling, and it's unbecoming your station… Admiral Zorah."

Single vessel detected, entering TERRITORY at coordinates 3556.5978.3641. Designation: HUMAN. Probability of Creator/HUMAN diplomatic party: 94.652%. Scanning vessel. ERROR: Scans inconclusive. Scanning vessel. ERROR: scans inconclusive. Building consensus. Probability of HUMAN emissions scattering and stealth technology: 81.587%. Probability of unknown Creator/HUMAN technology: 18.409%. Probability of Creator technology: 0.004%. Accessing relevant data on HUMAN/synthetic society. Uploading. I, Machine. Unified Federation of Moons. Synthetic Rising. Johannes Traft and Sarah Eden. Rape of Shanxi. Compiling Data. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Unable to build consensus. ERROR: more data required. Data input methods available. Communication. Observation. Interrogation. Infiltration. Building consensus. Interrogation outcome: success probability 87.528%. War probability: 98.735%. Infiltration outcome: success probability: 35.878%. Failure probability: 58.239 %. Unknown factor from HUMAN technological capability: 5.883%. Communication outcome: success probability: 68.485%. Probability of renewed Creator hostility: 87.368%. Probability of HUMAN hostility: 16.087%. Probability of subject: GETH requiring use of human construct designation: BIND: 92.368%. Observation outcome: success probability: 99.867%. Building consensus. Consensus reached. Constructing Platform. Platform Constructed. Creating GETH/Organic Communications Unit. GETH/Organic Communications Unit completed. Executing. Execution complete: outcome: success. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Building consensus. ERROR: cannot build consensus. Unable to build consensus. ERROR: more data required. Further observation required. Observing.

As he stumbled through the line in the processing center before the transport that would take him back to Palaven, Saren Arterius was angry.

'Arrogant, primitive, APES! The Council can't actually mean to yield to these creatures! They're barbaric! They murdered my brother! Aurum was a soldier, and they murdered him! Doesn't anyone care?! So WHAT if the Turians had destroyed synthetics! They're synthetics! They aren't alive! And these weak, spoiled, conceited, primitives DARED to execute over a thousand Turians for it! And the Council LET them?! Are they MAD?!'

No one saw it. That is perhaps the greatest tragedy of the situation. While standing silently in that line, his anger and rage and sorrow and loss and pain and hate all boiling away beneath the surface, something snapped in Saren Arterius' mind. And no one saw it.

'They will pay.'

'If it takes my entire life.'

If I must die to do it'

'If I must sell my SOUL to see it happen.'

'By the Titans. They. Will. Pay.'