AN- So, five chapters- I didn't expect this story to be so well received, so thank you all for liking and reviewing, and of course all of the favorites. here's chapter five- read it, review and most importantly- enjoy!
Disclaimer- i don't own either franchise.
Council Chamber, Capital, Capital System, six hundred years after the firing of the Halos
Born stood at his place in the council chambers, next to his wife and the new Master builder, the galaxy was displayed before him and the entire council. The meeting was a trial, the trial of the captured Batarians for their actions on the human colony. One of the only witnesses gathered whose evidence was eligible in the hearing was the human he had escorted here personally; she was certainly different from Riser and Chakas.
The trial started in a manner similar to Faber's own trial centuries ago, only this time no Halo's and rampant Ancilla's attacked the Capital halfway through the opening ceremony. The captured Batarians were brought forth in front of the Council, stuck within containment fields and stripped of everything except the barest of cloth that covered their anatomy. Born walked forward, towards those that were on trial—a dozen Batarians that had a mixed look of pure, unadulterated hatred and a large dose of primal fear, when he stood in front of them he made a sweeping motion with his arm and spoke.
"The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all. That is the reason why these… creatures are still alive, and the only reason." He started; he walked around the platform, around the prisoners on trial. "We came here, to this galaxy, to start anew, to rebuild our entire civilisation outside of Precursor influence, away from their twisted and perverted way of insuring dominance. And yet here, millions of light years away from our ancient home, we still encounter their rotten touch. Those brought before you today are accused of the sin of attempting to enslave another species and to dominate them, cruelly, without wisdom." Born kept pacing around the Batarians like a predator circling its prey. He could hear the disapproving voices of the Council, they were not happy with this, some probably weren't happy with him for getting them involved with the affairs of this galaxy so quickly after their arrival while others, namely his Warriors, were unhappy that these atrocities had been allowed to happen unabated by the species of this galaxy.
"The Mantle shelters all, yes. But you should let them have their say, allow them the chance to defend their actions. We already made the mistake of acting without all the available accounts, and that's what led us here." Chant said, stepping forward from here place to stop his pacing. She never did like it when he paced around. Murmurs of agreement rippled through out the council chambers and Born saw the human, Elizabeth, shake her head in a silent fury. These Batarians had tried to wipe her people off of that planet and either make the inhabitant's slaves or kill them; she didn't believe they deserved such mercy.
"Well then, speak your case." Born said, waving a hand at one of the Batarians, it dropped to the floor and struggled to rise, when it did it spoke with the same amount of venom as all the others had.
"You'll pay for this! The Council won't let you get away with attacking a member race and neither will the Hegemony let you get away with this!"
Born reactivated the constraint field and spoke to the council members, "And so you see, they think themselves superior, think themselves above us. Us! Forerunners! We defeated the Precursors! We wiped out the Flood! The most difficult challenge these Batarians have overcome was to crawl out of oceans and into the mud in which they fester!"
"Didact," the Master Builder warned, his voice much softer than Bornstellar's own, but it was just as firm and just as powerful. "What of the… witness you brought with you, allow her to have her say before we show the council what your interrogations uncovered."
Born bowed his head slightly as a sign of acknowledgment and the humans platform moved from the wall and lowered down onto the main platform, with the prisoners and current speakers of the council.
The human looked frightened but she masked it well, when the council saw her, the entire chamber erupted into shouts, most of them demanding to know why a human was here, in another galaxy.
"Quiet!" the First Councillor spoke for the first time; he stepped forward and shot a glance at Bornstellar, the council members quietened as he looked at the human and the Batarians.
"Bornstellar, you will tell us more about the human later, but not now." The first councillor looked at the human and spoke to her, "Human, tell us everything you know about these creatures, seeing as they simply wish to try and scare us into submission, even when they are the ones on trial."
Elizabeth nodded, her jaw worked but no words came out at first, she was scared, she was confused, she didn't know what to say to these people, these Forerunners.
"They're Batarians; they've been part of the Citadel Council for around eight hundred years. They don't like humans because they feel like we're nothing but pets to the council. They have openly attacked us multiple times—the raid on Elysium was just the latest attack, a few years ago their government sponsored an attack on the colony of Mindoir, a small farming colony whose population mainly consisted of large families, children were slaughtered in the streets for amusement, women were raped in front of their family. By the time the Alliance got there… the Batarians had left and taken most of the survivors and left the dead were they lay." She spoke quietly; her voice was unmistakably haunted by memories.
"And yet, you survived?" the first councillor said accusingly, like she was the one on trial, he had picked up the hints as well. Elizabeth said nothing but she shot a glance at the first councillor and then Born.
"That is not relevant councillor, she survived, humans all ways survive." Bornstellar said before Elizabeth could reply, the fact that she survived and was still haunted by memories was enough torture; she didn't need to feel guilty about surviving as well.
Chant-to-Green took place next to Elizabeth and placed a hand on the humans shoulder and spoke to her quietly, the human was done speaking and the Council had heard enough form her. Bornstellar looked to his wife and gave a small nod as she took the human out of the council chambers. A few minutes later she returned and gave him a look that answered his unasked question.
Guards took the prisoners out as well, they had made their case and revealed nothing more, and it was all the same superior comments that were useless and meaningless. The council made a unanimous vote, a course of action that would end any threat caused by the Hegemony, not to the Forerunners, but to the galaxy. They couldn't do anything that would reveal Forerunners to the galaxy but they couldn't just allow the Batarians to get away with their actions. No. The plan was to allow the Hegemony to destroy itself and the Forerunners would clean up afterwards. Drones and ships would blockade any 'Mass Relay's' and prevent outside sources from interfering; cut off from the galaxy the Hegemony would slowly crumble, their oppressed nations would rebel and then Forerunners will dismantle any form of civilisation and make the weakened Batarians start from scratch.
Of course there was still the problem of the Batarians not in Hegemony space, of course they would be dealt with; the criminal underworld of this galaxy was highly unstable, all Bornstellar had to do is create something that would cause the Batarians to either flee back to their home space or come willingly, create fake orders from the top levels of government, not a hard thing to do.
Elizabeth was escorted out of the chambers by the female and then taken by shuttle to a new place by the floating ocean. The estate was massive, it was easily the size of Arcturus station, hundreds of little drones floated about the place while Forerunners moved around, going about their business.
She was taken to an open room on one of the uppermost floors, one thing she noticed was the lack of a bed but Elizabeth could still tell the room was very well decorated, despite the completely alien features. A balcony allowed her to see much of the estate and surrounding city; massive towers floated above the ground and reached up into the clouds, lights from craft moving from place to place made the dark sky look like it was full of fireflies, combined with the dark purple sky and untainted view into space made her feel at peace, like she didn't have a worry in the world.
Of course she was part of the System Alliance infantry, some of the most renowned ground troops in the galaxy. She kept an ear open and an eye on her behind as she rested, she wouldn't let her guard down around these people, no matter what.