REQUIEM
CHAPTER TWO:
BENEVOLENCE AT HAND
October 12, 2185
0922 hours.
Docking Station 9, Shalta Docks, Shalta Wards, The Citadel.
Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau.
"Roger that Normandy, you are clear for landing. Welcome to the Citadel, and please enjoy your stay," with that, the C-Sec Controller disconnected the comms and the Normandy brought itself towards the directed opening. All of those present remembered it from two years ago; the dock that the Normandy had used during the majority of the Eden Prime War; now being used again. Marcus had to say that he preferred it; the Zakera Ward Dock just wasn't as accomodating.
He turned to his team, "We'll be landing soon, but shore leave doesn't commence until I've met with the Council. We may have cut ties with Cerberus, but in their eyes, we're still a liable security threat."
"And members of Cerberus," Garrus deadpanned, look exasperated, "They still don't believe the Reapers exist, so why should they believe anything else we say? Us showing up in the Normandy only aims to help their point of view, not to mention the Cerberus uniforms."
"Which is why the crew is not leaving the ship yet," Marcus firmly stated, "Noone, that is, except Kasumi and Kelly. While we meet with the Council, Kasumi and Kelly are going to the supermarket to buy new clothing; we are removing all existence of Cerberus from this ship, starting today. This ship will get a new paintjob, new insignias, new uniforms, new everything. Even Joker will get a proper cap. Once clothes are purchased, we can depart."
"How are we going to convince the Council to pay for the repairs?" Kaidan asked skeptically, "The repairs will number in the millions; the Council was never willing to provide their spectres with equipment; why start now?"
"I still don't get that," Tali mumbled but Marcus pointedly tried to dismiss the topic.
"Hopefully we'll get that resolved. You know me, I can be quite convincing," that got them grinning. He turned back to Joker, he was waiting for him to finish, "Miranda's got the ship Joker; do as she tells you. Unless those orders involve taking the ship to the nearest Cerberus space station."
Joker rolled his eyes, "Its my bones that are crippled Shepard; not my wits. Lay off. Just piss off and the Council to do shit for us."
Marcus smiled and slapped the man gently on the shoulder before leading his team into the airlock; he had only taken the squad he had from the original Normandy; just so he could rub it in the Council's faces that they weren't done fighting, even if they had. Maybe with these schematics, they'd come around. He'd have EDI or Legion present the findings, but it was understandable why both were completely out of the question. But on second thought...
He turned to Tali, "Contact Legion. Tell it to meet us at the airlock."
The quarian frowned at him but did as she was ordered anyway, sending a message to the geth infiltrator through her omni-tool before turning back to face Marcus, "Why are we bringing a geth onto the Citadel? You do realize what kind of a panic that would ensue, right?"
"I do, but I have an idea," Marcus told her, "The Council have obviously convinced themselves that Sovereign was a geth superdreadnought. But with Legion, we have all the evidence to show them that they are feeding themselves bullshit."
Garrus guffawed, "That's so stupid it might actually work."
Legion, with all the effiency of a machine, must have left immediately, as it was in the airlock a second later. "Shepard-Commander," it greeted. He nodded at the geth, and they all waited for the decontamination process to cycle through before the airlock opened and they were able to step out onto the dock. Without further hesitation, they all turned towards the elevator, eager to get this over with.
They all quickly entered the elevator, Marcus hitting the button for the C-Sec Academy for stepping back, hands clasped behind him. He wore his N7 hoodie and cap, while Kaidan wore one of his t-shirts he had brought onboard from Horizon. Garrus wore his armor, as he always did. The elevator design looked exactly the same from all that time ago, not looking to have changed one bit. Even the news reporter was the same.
As they descended, Marcus turned to Legion and immediately hit another idea, taking off his jumper. Everyone looked at him oddly until he started fitting the jumper over Legion, only just fitting the platform. The geth looked confused, as much as it could, but that stopped when Marcus placed the hood over the geth's optics, hiding it from view.
"That should disguise you well enough until we reach the human embassy," Marcus declared, turning back to the door, wearing only his jeans and single N7 shirt now. Garrus looked amused by the sight of Legion in a human's hoodie, while Kaidan paid no mind. Tali didn't seem to notice either, but that was expected; the quarian still didn't fully trust Legion, and that was understandable.
He also remembered just how slow the elevators were on this part of the Citadel. Those were not fun memories.
The elevator finally came to a halt in C-Sec Academy, and the pane of glass that served as a door slid into the floor, allowing them passage. The five of them stepped out of the elevator and onto the tiled floor of the academy, and they all quickly noticed that this place had barely changed either; of course, there was a ladder strawn across a wall and a few cranes, and Marcus could see missing walls and their insides. The Citadel was still under repairs from the battle, even two years after its conclusion.
They managed to weave their way through the crowd of C-Sec officers mingling about, along with the occassional recruit, and made their way over to the rapid transit terminal nearby. Marcus noticed two C-Sec officers stationed at the door leading into the spectre requisitions office, both holding assault rifles. And the more he noticed, every doorway now had guards posted.
He turned to Garrus, "This place looks far more heavily guarded than two years ago; I knew security was tight, but two guards at every junction? That's a bit excessive, don't you think?"
"The geth attack showed just how vulnerable the Citadel really is," Garrus replied as they waited for their taxi, "C-Sec had to really double security. I hear their even being called a militia now, as well as military police. The presence of the Alliance on the station also doubled the C-Sec population, so yeah, they have more officers at their disposal now. Allows for promotions; explains Bailey commanding the Zakera Ward. But all these guards...I have to agree, it seems really excessive. They don't usually do this unless they suspect a terrorist attack."
Marcus simply nodded, crossing his arms and frowning. Terrorist attack. Was Cerberus here recently? Could they know we're here? The thought flew away as their taxi arrived and they all got inside, the spectre asking to be taken to the Citadel Embassies. The squad all lay back and watched as the taxi took off, leaving the Academy and flying down the Ward, towards the Presidium ring.
He heard Tali sigh next to him and dump her head on his shoulder, breathing lightly. Marcus smiled and kissed the top of her hood, before looking back out the window and out into the purple nebula that was the home for galactic politics. He looked down on the many wards; skyscrapers reaching out into space, tiny dots flying through the spaces between them, and the dance of lights on the surface below them. The figures of the Citadel Defense Fleet centered around the Citadel and inside its arms; turian, asari, salarian and human warships alike prowling around, along with the pride of the fleet herself, the Destiny Ascension.
He watched the Citadel Tower come into view; memories conjured up from the Battle of the Citadel sprouting in his mind; his team running up its length fighting hordes of geth and krogan, Sovereign grasping the tower in its arms, unwilling to let go. The Council Chambers situated at the top, where the final battle with Saren had commenced, and where Sovereign had met its downfall. All of that had happened two years ago; yet it felt only like it happened two months ago. He also remembered the battle that had raged; the defense fleet fighting geth warships, and losing.
He shook the memories from his mind and closed his eyes, leaning into Tali, and napping until they arrived. The ride itself wasn't very long, or at least didn't feel like it; almost as soon as he closed his eyes, three-fingered hands shook him awake, the quarian informing him they had arrived. He nodded, and opened the door, getting out and waiting for Tali to follow before closing the door, paying the driver and heading into the embassies.
The Presidium hardly changed either; a beautiful, tranquil blue lake lying in the middle of two-sided unbelievably clean cyan structures that arched up and around with the ring, artificial sun beaming in the sky. Trees and bushes occupied areas where they could, and the movement of turians, asari, salarians, hanar, elcor, volus, humans and even a few krogan, was constant. The smell of fresh, delicious human and alien foods met his nostrils, yet was instantly replaced by foul memories; the smell of black smoke, burning trees and the darkness enveloping the area from a deactivated sun, explosions rocking the station and sirens blaring in the distance.
With a sigh, he continued forward, nodding to his friends as he caught up to them and moved up the stairs, heading towards the human embassy; located inbetween the elcor/volus and salarian embassies. As they moved towards it, Tali moved up to him and shook his arm, turning him to her. She crossed her arms, "What's wrong? You've been looking...distant."
He gave her a warm smile, "Its nothing, just old memories. Bad memories. Memories long forgotten. The Battle of the Citadel."
"That was two years ago," Tali reassured him vainly, "Saren is dead. Sovereign is destroyed and you rewrote the heretics, remember? They won't attack us again."
He nodded, remembering. Not too long ago, before the final battle at the collector base, Legion had informed him of a geth virus being devised by the heretics, the 'bad' geth involved with the Eden Prime War, which would rewrite the true geth and assimilate them to the heretic ideals. So they attacked the station, and rehardwired the virus to rewrite the heretics, causing them to rejoin the true geth, abandoning their worship of the Reapers to rejoin their synthetic brethen. The Heretics were indeed gone, but that wasn't what kept bugging him.
"Sovereign may be gone Tali, but its friends aren't. They're still coming," Marcus told her wearily as they reached the embassy.
"And we'll stop them. You've done well so far; besides, you've got us to help you. We're not about to abandon you now," she promised and he smiled at her, squeezing the hand she offered. They parted as they reached the door and Marcus moved up, knocking. A familiar voice beckoned them inside and they moved in, door closing behind them as Marcus smiled at the human councilor sitting at his desk across the room.
The man named David Edward Anderson stood up from behind his desk and smiled warmly at the commander, dropping his datapad and approaching him. He was a dark-skinned man who wore the same navy blue uniform of the Alliance Navy that he had worn when he originally commanded the Normandy SR-1 two years ago. And two years ago, Marcus had made sure that Anderson won the title of human councilor over Ambassador Donnel Udina, a politician that Marcus strongly disliked and found the feeling mutually returned.
Anderson showed all the posture of authority and strength that came with being an ex-Alliance Navy Captain and N7 operative; Pressly had once told him that Anderson had won so many medals that if they were melted down, you could make a life-sized statue of him. Anderson was Marcus' mentor, but by the way the man heralded him, you'd think Anderson looked up to Marcus, not the other way round.
"Shepard," Anderson greeted, still smiling before grabbing Marcus in a bear hug. Once released, the councilor backed away, "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! I haven't heard from you since that brief meeting of yours with the Council; in other words, a long time. How's that war with the Collectors going? Get any idea as to their origins? Why they're abducting our colonies? Maybe you could-"
"They're gone Anderson," Marcus stood tree trunk straight, glancing proudly at the team behind him, "We stopped them."
"You what?" Anderson asked, eyes wide, "How the hell did you manage to get through the Omega 4 Relay? Their ships are powerful by themselves and they must have been huge in number."
"They were Anderson, but even that didn't save them in the long run," Marcus grinned.
"The Illusive Man, the bastard he might be," Kaidan spoke up, moving to stand beside the spectre, "Did provide us with some nice little trinkets and toys to play with. We gave one of their cruisers are little taste of our new thanix cannon, and we cut through them like butter. As for the Omega 4 Relay, we managed to steal a Reaper IFF from a dead corpse and fit it into our ship. Allowed us instant access."
Marcus nodded, "You'll find that the Collector Base is nothing but debris now; we blew it to kingdom kum. You wouldn't believe how big it was sir; it was over ninety kilometers in length."
Anderson whistled, "The Citadel suddenly feels very small," the councilor leaned against his desk, "I'm glad you wiped them out Shepard; they were a menace that needed to be stopped. But the Council has never liked the prospect of genocide."
"They seemed okay with it when it came to the krogan and rachni," Kaidan replied harshly.
"Indeed," Anderson replied in agreement, "Still; quite a feat you managed to pull; just another title to add alongside 'Hero of the Citadel.' Did you find out their origins at all? Why they were abducting humans? Their involvement with the Reapers?"
"If you don't mind Anderson, I'd like to keep that secret until we meet with the Council," Marcus requested, "I'd like to get this off my chest all at once. It'll be alot to take in. And I've got evidence they simply can't ignore this time."
"Good. As soon as you informed me of your arrival, I immediately put a request through to the Council," the councilor informed them, "They'll request a comm link soon," he turned to the team and smiled, standing straight, "I see some of your crew rejoined you. I knew about Kaidan, but Vakarian as well? And is that you Miss Zorah?"
"Indeed it is," Tali greeted, "It is good to see you again, Councilor."
"Just call me Anderson," the N7 insisted, "Where's Miss T'Soni and Wrex? I know you have Joker and Chakwas; Adams had me informed of that himself. He said to send his apologies; he was 'too busy.' And I know you guys are good, but I didn't think it possible you could take on the collectors with just them."
"I'll admit, we didn't," Marcus shrugged, "Unfortunately, Liara and Wrex couldn't join us; Liara has a personal...vendetta to resolute, and Wrex has to keep the krogan clans in check to get ready for the Reaper invasion. I recruited a much larger team; and its far more deadly than the original sir. I'd be willing to introduce you to them later, if you wanted to councilor."
"Sounds good; I'll clear my schedule."
"I might help with that."
Marcus wanted to groan, but he didn't, so he rolled his eyes instead as he turned to see the grizzled, always arrogant form of Donnel Udina standing in the doorway, arms crossed and a smug grin on his face. The man hadn't changed abit; he had grey hair and a wrinkled face, and seemed to wear the same dull white clothes he always did.
Anderson scoffed, "You helping me with something? Now that's a first."
Udina didn't look amused as he pushed past Garrus to stand infront of Anderson's desk, "As much as we dislike each other Anderson, you'll have to admit that I am the better politician. I can handle your affairs while you...inspect Shepard's ship."
Marcus decided to tug a few strings, "Hope you're not planning to ground me like you did two years ago; I don't think I'd stop with a black eye this time."
Udina sighed, "It was merely politics commander, you must understand that."
"All the more reason to hate politics; it almost got us all killed. If Anderson had suggested escape, I think we'd all be dead right about now," Marcus pointed out.
They both exchanged glares for a short amount of time before Udina broke off, "I heard there was a meeting with the Council; is this correct? I would like to accompany this meeting."
"Very well Udina," Anderson sternly replied.
Udina nodded and melted into the background, avoiding Marcus' eyes. The spectre shook his head and turned to Anderson, "I just want you to know sir, we've severed all ties with Cerberus. They were a means to an end, and we reached that end, so they had no further use for us. The Illusive Man actually wanted to keep the collector base so he could research it; never gave him the chance."
Anderson rolled his eyes, "That bastard's ideals have always been a mixed bag, but I guess he's served his uses well enough. What about the Normandy though? She's still wearing Cerberus white and gold."
"That'll change when we begin repairs. New paintjob hopefully should cover it up," Marcus reassured him, "I-"
"Anderson, the Council is calling for session," Udina informed the councilor.
Anderson nodded, standing up and straightening his uniform, "Very well; let's do this," he nodded to Marcus and they all stood infront of the three diases that occupied the side of the room, the holographic forms of asari Councilor Tevos, turian Councilor Sparatus, and salarian Councilor Valern coming into view. Even they didn't look any different from two years ago. Has nothing changed?
"Commander Shepard," Sparatus greeted with the usual disdain; he had never been a fan of Shepard, and seemed to be personally dislike him more than Udina did. The words 'Ah yes, 'Reapers', a race of sentient machines supposed waiting in dark space. We have dismissed this claim' came to mind whenever he met the turian or heard him speak, and he hated him all the more for it, "This is surprising; I thought we had made it perfectly clear that you were to keep your operations in the Terminus Systems. We want no involvement in your fairytale endeavours."
Valern waited for Marcus' response to the turian's statement while Tevos shot Sparatus an annoyed look. Out of the three idiots, Tevos was the one Marcus liked the most. She seemed alot more willing to listen than the other two and annoyed when Sparatus scolded Shepard. Not to say that she believed him about the Reapers; she didn't, and she was still a political idiot, just the lesser out of the rest of them. The lesser evil, for lack of a better term.
Marcus showed no signs of being fazed by the turian's jab, "Operations which have now concluded councilor; the collectors have been dealt with and human colonies are now safe from any harm they pose."
The three councilors looked confused by the revelation, but Valern wasted no time in investigating; salarians loved doing that, "You say you stopped the collectors? How? The Omega 4 Relay is completey untraversable; any ships who have attempted such a journey have never returned. And what do you mean by 'stopping' the collectors? Have you delayed their operations, hindered them or completely halted them?"
"Me and my crew traversed the relay using a IFF we gleaned from a Reaper's corpse," he was basically ready for the council's eye roll, "Once through, we engaged collector naval forces, defeated them, boarded their station and destroyed it from within, taking all the collectors with it. As of now, the collectors are officially extinct, councilors and no longer pose a threat to the Systems Alliance or any other council or non-council race. I have a datapad with information pertaining-"
"You wiped out an entire species?" Tevos asked with obvious shock, "Do you realize what you've done? The genocide of an entire species-"
"Is a crime the Council is ignorantly familiar with," Marcus replied firmly, "Let us not forget how you bombed the rachni into extinction using your krogan armada and once you were done with them, you began their slow genocide as well. Do not lecture me councilors on the morals of warfare; I did what was necessary. The collectors were a threat that needed to be checked; they were the enemy."
"So is Cerberus," Sparatus blurted out, "Yet you had no quarrels with associating yourself with the Council's enemies."
"My alliance to Cerberus was merely beneficial and not long-term," the spectre fought back, "I worked with them, not for them, and once they fullfilled the purpose they served, a cut the rope holding them to me. My days with Cerberus are officially over councilors."
"We'll need confirmation of us," Valern replied.
"Contact the Illusive Man," Marcus bluntly replied, "I'm sure he'll be more than willing to explain to you how I shat on his plans to use the collector base to further terrorist advances and told him to get fucked."
Sparatus sighed, "This is a formal meeting Shepard, it would be considerate of you to keep profanity out of it. As for departure from Cerberus, we will have to confirm this, but for the long run we will reinstall your full status as spectre; see that we don't regret it. Apart from the destruction of the Collectors, is there anything else you'd like to inform us of?"
"Yes Councilor," Marcus inhaled and exhaled, getting ready for the big reveal, "I have found irreputable proof that the Reapers do indeed exist."
Tevos sighed and Valern shook his head, while Sparatus crossed his arms, "Why do you insist on pushing this nonsense of sentient starships? No matter; present these so-called findings quickly. I have many things to do, and wasting my time on mythical machines is not one of them."
"First off however," Marcus declared, holding a datapad in the air, "I have some disturbing news pertaining to the origins of the Collectors and why they were abducting humans. After boarding what appeared to be a disabled collector vessel, we discovered a collector body and ran some scans and some comparisons; what we found was truly horrifying. The Collectors are, inarguably, the last remnants of the prothean race. Servants that were twisted by the Reapers and transformed into abominations to serve their will. This datapad has all the proof needed," he then handed the datapad to Anderson, who took it and ran scans on it. He saw the look of shock on all four of the councilor's faces, Tevos none the more prudent.
A couple minutes later, Anderson returned, handing the datapad back, "I've just run a comparison between sampled prothean DNA and the collector DNA provided. They are indeed an exact match."
"By the goddess..." Tevos exclaimed.
Valern seemed contemplative while Sparatus leaned forward, outraged, "So not only did you commit genocide against the collectors, but you wiped out the last surviving members of the protheans! The ones who built the Citadel and the mass relays; and you decided to wipe them out!"
Marcus fumed, "You'll remember what I told you; they weren't protheans any longer. The Reapers had indoctrinated and transformed them many centuries ago; they were nothing but mindless husks and servants when we destroyed them; what me and my team did to them as a mercy." The Protheans didn't build the Citadel or the mass relays either, the Reapers did, but I don't really think bringing that up will help my case.
"Indeed it was commander," Tevos replied, recovering from her shock and waving for the meeting to continue.
Anderson spoke next, "Word cannot reach the public about this just yet. If the hanar were to find out..."
Shit. Didn't think about that. Good thing they don't have a Council position then. The hanar were highly religious, in terms of government and culture, and were known for their reverement of the protheans as gods. If they found out a human was involved in the 'defilement' of their gods, there would most likely be war. The hanar would most likely lose said war, as the Alliance had a greater military strength overall and a far larger fleet, but it would be war nonetheless. Not one the galaxy needed if they wanted to be ready for the Reapers.
"This news is very troubling," Valern dictated, "I will contact Dalatrass Linron on Sur'Kesh and send her the data so the STG can review it. As for the abduction of human colonies; did you find out why they were doing it? How they were doing it? All Alliance reports state there were never any signs of battle."
"The Collectors did so by jamming communications first," Marcus explained, "Once in orbit, their superdreadnought, or cruiser as they dub it, would deploy a massive of mechanical insects called 'seekers' in a massive swarm to paralyze the colonists; they would sting them and inject a paralyzing agent that froze their limbs. They would then land, collect the colonists, and be gone. A quick and simple process, one we first witnessed and hindered on Horizon."
"But why?" Valern asked.
"This is where the Reapers come in," Marcus declared, exhaling, "Not long before the battle, the collectors attacked my ship and abducted the crew. Not long after, we commenced our assault, infiltrated the base, and looked for our crew. When we found them, we found the Horizon colonists as well, but we were too late to save them. The collectors...they...melted them down into red goo before pumping it through tubes into the control station...while they were still alive..." he trailed off to let that sink in.
Tevos looked repulsed and he noticed, out of the corner of his vision, Udina looked horrified. Anderson tried to keep his expression passive while mumbling 'god have mercy', Valern looked just as contemplative as ever and Sparatus looked about to puke. Nonetheless, he continued, "When we finally confronted the destination, we were horrified to discover that the collectors were using human body matter to build a gigantic Human-based Reaper ship. Our scientist, Doctor Mordin Solus, believed we were witnessing Reaper reproduction, so to speak. Every cycle, they would pick a species to base their next Reaper off of, and then abduct enough of that species to build a new Reaper. According to the specs, the amount of humans needed would have numbered way into the hundreds of millions..."
"How can you be certain it was 'Reaper' in design?" Sparatus asked skeptically.
"Because the design was definitely not collector," Kaidan replied, "I was there, same as Tali and Shepard. Collector design is organic fused with metal, and very insectoid. This thing...it was made of grey steel, and red eyes like that of a demon and showed no signs of any known species architecture. Everything about it reminded me of Sovereign..."
"...the geth superdreadnought," Sparatus finished, "So the geth are in colloboration with the Collectors, simple as that. The geth most likely finished Saren's job and decided to rebuild Sovereign, but instead chose humans for a template, most likely out of retaliation for the Battle of the Citadel or in revenge for the destruction of their warship. This nonsense about Reapers is beginning to grow boring."
"This tale is entirely logical given contradictory evidence provided to argue point," said the synthetic voice that would change everything.
All eyes turned to the disguised machine in the back and Sparatus scoffed, "A mech with a voice? What's this Shepard? Another one of your stories?"
"This, Councilor, is proof from a primary source," Marcus responded, causing everyone not on the Normandy in the room to frown at him as he turned to the hidden geth, "Come forward, Legion."
The geth did as ordered and stood beside Marcus. With a sigh and an inhale of breath, the spectre reached over, grabbed the top of the hoodie and pulled it off, letting it drop to the floor as the geth was fully revealed. Anderson widened his eyes as he equipped his pistol and Udina leapt for cover. The councilors looked affronted and Valern looked about ready to comm for C-Sec. Sparatus looked infuriated, "What is the meaning of this! You've brought a geth onto the Citadel! You've lost your mind! We'll have you-"
"Why don't you let it speak first," Marcus requested, turning back to the councilors, "This geth is not your ordinary geth. Before Legion speaks, I'm going to let you in on a little revelation I discovered a little while ago. The geth involved in the Eden Prime War were a different faction of geth; the ones the True Geth, the other faction, call the 'Heretics.' To put it simply, the heretics are the 'bad' geth. The True Geth are the 'good' geth and don't wish organics harm. Legion is true geth. This proves that not all geth are evil machines wanting to kill us all. Legion helped me destroy the collectors and while I don't fully trust it just yet, I still believe it an ally."
Anderson seemed to relax, "Two factions of geth? That's alot of revelations to take in. So the heretics are the only faction we have to worry about now?"
"Well, not so much anymore, as they no longer exist. That faction has ceased to be," Marcus told them, "We raided their base of operations in the Sea of Storms system and rewrote them, making them rejoin the True Geth. The heretics won't be a problem for the galaxy anymore."
"How can we trust it?" Tevos asked, doubtfully, "For all we know, it could have made up that story to infiltrate the Citadel..."
"Geth do not infiltrate."
Tali nodded, "Besides, my people built the geth, we know them best. And as much as they have evolved, current studies show that they are still incapable of lying. We built them that way. They simply can't tell anything but truth."
"Very well," Sparatus nodded, "So what 'truth' does this geth have for us?"
Marcus nodded to Legion and the geth spoke, "You organics have placed yourselves under the common misconception that Nazara, the ones you call 'Sovereign', was of geth design. All records indicate this to be a false assumption. All records of geth manufacturing indicate that no such construction was ever made. Scans also indicate that Sovereign is beyond current geth technological status and design and is concensusized to be millions of years younger than even the asari species."
Valern hummed, "If Sovereign was not of geth design, then what was it?"
"This answer has been provided many times. It has been met by the same illogical conclusion," Legion replied, "Nazara is a member of a series of runtimes known as the Old Machines, or as you have called them, the Reapers. They are billions of years old, and predate even the earliest of current organic civilizations. They existed before the protheans, and long before whoever came before them. The Citadel and Mass Relays show signs of their technology in use, and therefore can be concluded that they are of Old Machine manufacture. The geth have concluded that the fifty thousand year old extinction cycle waiting period had concluded ten years ago, but two years ago was delayed by Shepard-Commander's actions on the Citadel. However, this has not halted the Old Machine advance. It is also confirmed that the Human Old Machine design is representative of Old Machine reproduction, and that Nazara's design was based off that of an organic species called the 'Thoi'han'."
"I thought the story was that the geth worshipped the Reapers," Anderson asked confusingly.
"The geth make our own future. Nazara offered to provide that future. The heretics accepted this offer and took to revering them as deities," Legion explained, "The true geth are machines. We have no need for religious subpractices. They are an illogical displacement of devotion and faith, qualities which geth have not quite grasped yet."
Sparatus sighed heavily while Valern shook his head. Tevos looked at Marcus and examined his features before she too shook her head, "This is alot to take in commander; this Council will need to think on this. We cannot act blindly; our actions are major and guided, and if were to inform the public that galactic doom was looming over them..."
"But the geth has already made it clear that the Reaper threat is no longer something to worry about," Sparatus spoke up, looking down at Legion before glancing at Marcus, "You stopped them from coming two years ago; the Citadel was their access point, and you have cut it off, the Keepers are no longer under their control or influence. Wherever they are in dark space, they are trapped."
"You think that'll stop them?" Marcus asked, chuckling. The Council looked at him with confusion before he narrowed his eyes at them, "Nothing stops them; Sovereign was right about one thing: they are beyond our comprehension. Their technology, their logic, their intelligence...it is nothing like we've ever seen. Sovereign carved through the Citadel fleet and Alliance Fifth Fleet like carving through a cake. Just imagine thousands of ships just like it coming for all of us, coming to destroy us all. They have no pity, no remorse, no mercy. They have a millenia of patience, feel no fear and are, conventionally, invincible. It doesn't matter what hell you believe in; they are demons from that hell coming to get you. They will not stop until this galaxy is empty of all organic life. So tell me, do you think alittle bit of travel through dark space will stop them from carrying out their cycle of genocide? I spoke to their leader; the one they call Harbinger, and he is coming. And if we're not ready, we're all fucked."
He looked at all three of them, "Think long and hard councilors; think long and hard about your tactics, strategies and how many dreadnoughts you're going to build. The time for discussion is over; the Reapers are coming, and we fight, or we die. That's the plan."
All three councilors nodded and their holograms disappeared, ending the meeting. Marcus nodded for Legion to put the hoodie back on while he approached Anderson's desk, the councilor holstering his pistol while Udina stood behind him, eying Legion with distrust. Anderson took a seat at his desk while Marcus followed suit on the other side, sighing.
Anderson shook his head, "I hope they listen; I may be a councilor, but I'm just one among three."
"They have to listen or its the death of us all," Marcus told him, "And if they won't, I'll appeal directly to their leadership; the asari leaders, the turian primarch, the salarian dalatra. The quarian conclave, the hanar monarchs...hell, even Aria T'Loak. I'll go all out if I have to. The Reapers will be here soon."
"You know don't you?" Anderson asked, "Just how soon can we expect?"
"A couple of years at least," Marcus declared, leaning forward and wiping his face with his hands, "A decade if we're lucky."
"Christ," the councilor exclaimed, "Looks like we've got our hands full then. I'll get a session running with the Alliance Admiralty, see if we can then take this straight to the Arcturus Parliament. Hell, Udina's friends with all of the parliament, maybe he can help."
"I will try my best," Udina assured them and for once, Marcus found himself liking the guy. He was finally putting that 'politician' title to good use. Maybe I did make a mistake not making him councilor; Anderson's a good man, but he's a better navy officer than he is politician. Udina's a natural at it. Oh well, no turning back now.
He looked at Anderson, "If you do, I want in. I need to discuss certain plans with them, especially Garrong."
"What kind of plans?" Anderson asked.
"Cerberus plans," he told him with a smirk, "Working with the bastards had its advantages. I know the location of one of their drydocks, and once we have that, we might be able to check Cerberus on every front. Even the Shadow Broker might be able to help. I also have a friend who could help too. My plan is to make the Illusive Man desperate enough to finally sucede to my leadership, giving us full access to Cerberus and its resources to use against the Reapers."
"Working with terrorists won't be easy," Udina stated.
"But its necessary. All past prejudices are rendered moot where the Reapers are concerned. While they exist, we are all friends, allies and comrades."
"And, as much as I hate to admit it, my relationship with Tali'Zorah will help in the long run getting the quarians to join forces with us. On a political spectrum, I'm on good terms with most of the admiralty board save one, which means it'll be easier to convince the conclave."
"What use are a fleet of vagrants and thieves?" Udina asked with disgust.
Marcus shot him a glare and he heard Tali bristle behind him, "Think of it this way Udina; its not just a fleet, its a fleet of fifty thousand fully capable warships. There is the problem of civilians and the non-combatants, but if we can find them a world to colonize, we can have all fifty thousand of their ships combat ready and capable. And with the geth willing to fight, that's just an added bonus."
"It will be no walk in the park getting those two to fight together," Anderson exclaimed, "Reapers are no, quarian and geth prejudice runs deep, we all know that. The quarians won't just drop everything to fight alongside the machines that killed billions of their people and took away their homeworld from them."
"And if they had that homeworld back?" Marcus grinned, looking at Tali, "I think the quarians would be more enticed to the idea if the geth decided to give Rannoch back, not to mention the entire Perseus Veil. When I said 'a world to colonize', I wasn't talking about some shithole planet noone wants. I'm talking about the only one that matters."
Anderson raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't sound easy. A matter of fact, it seems downright impossible."
Marcus heard a chuckle from behind him and Garrus spoke.
"Him being able to sit there and speak to you about such an impossible idea just shows how much the word 'impossible' means to him."
{Loading...}
October 12, 2185
1359 hours.
'Humanity's Sanctum,' Upper Level, Cronos Station, Anadius System.
The Illusive Man, First Lieutenant Geoff Dielheart.
"Sir, we've made contact with one of the Shadow Broker's agents," Geoff announced from behind him, omni-tool out and displayed infront of him, "She says she'd contact the Shadow Broker and let her know whether they want to play ball."
TIM nodded, taking a wiff of his cigar before letting it fall casually into the ash tray, "Excellent. It shouldn't take long; the Broker is a very efficient person and its network is quite widespread and rapid. Now we simply sit and wait."
"Wait sir? As in...just stand here?"
"Precisely."
They waited for a couple of minutes. All the while, Geoff just stood there, looking out at the bright light that was Anadius while TIM patiently and silently waited. After a few more minutes of waiting, the Illusive Man's console beeped loudly and he reached forward, hitting the console and bringing it to bear before him. Displayed on the terminal were the words 'incoming message from unknown source'. With a nod, TIM placed the cigar in his mouth and hit connect.
The terminal disappeared, only to pop back up, with the words 'call connected.' A monotone, deep voice, almost like that of a machine, rang through the close to empty room, the sound of it being clearly male, but not of any known species. It sounded machine like, yet hidden under the tone was organic voice cords. Then it hit him. Voice mask code; very intelligent. Mask your voice by making it sound completely different from your normal voice, making identification of it impossible.
"Illusive Man," the Shadow Broker boomed, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"The feeling is mutual," TIM replied, "Our networks and agents have collided in the past, but I don't believe either of us have spoken to each other. Of course, we both know face to face contact is too risky to our identities to attempt, so that's not an option. It is an honor to be speaking to the Shadow Broker himself; few have the honor."
"And those few are usually dead by the next day," the Broker replied coldly, "Although, I am wondering, why you would contact me; I haven't known Cerberus to seek out my services. I would like to chat, but this I would know before I leave. I have much work to do, an army of agents to organize and a business to run. Make it quick, Jack Harper."
TIM smiled inwardly and took a sip of his whiskey, "My proposition is quite simple, Shadow Broker. We both have a potential enemy; you might seek to destroy him, I seek to rein him in as an asset. Lets not play stupid by pretending you don't know who I am."
"I am aware of who you speak of," the broker replied, cold as ever.
"A partnership would seem beneficial in any case," TIM proposed, "We both have vast networks and we could both help each other. You need Liara T'Soni eliminated, and I've got the perfect agent to do that. I need Shepard reined in, and you could help with that. Of course, this partnership would be purely temporary, but it would be helpful to the both of us in the long run."
"Why then," the Broker replied, "Why do you need my help? You have the resources to do this yourself."
"I don't have your contacts, agents or sources," TIM bluntly put it, "I may have troops and ships, but my network is inferior compared to yours. We can easily compliment each other; an alliance between us would be extremely beneficial to both sides. And if you've been listening in on galactic events, then you know what's coming."
"The Reapers," the broker replied, "Do not worry, I am not like those political fools. For two years I have been looking up whatever I can on them. I think we're in agreement when you say that an alliance would be...agreeable, for the both of us."
TIM nodded, humming and taking another whiff of his cigarette, "So you agree that joining forces is necessary."
"Completely," the broker dictated, "As for T'Soni, I will deal with her. I have one of my best agents on Illium right now and standby. When I give the order, she'll pounce and kill Liara like she was nothing. She maybe a Hero of the Citadel, but she's nothing without Shepard."
"If I were you Broker, I would fear T'Soni," TIM bluntly declared, "You may be numerous and powerful, but so is she, and she is one of Shepard's crew, which just makes her all the more dangerous. If she were to learn too much...she might just bring you down."
"That won't happen, not with my agent close by. Just stick to your part of the bargain."
"Which is?"
"Provide my troops with backup when needed and give me a fleet to deposit."
"You shall have it. Cerberus and the Shadow Broker will blossom from this partnership," TIM assured him, "Now if you don't mind, I must find out what my agents have on Shepard. I will report anything substantial to you when I can."
A grunt was heard before the call disconnected. TIM frowned and for a bit simply stood there, looking at Anadius. After a bit however, he turned to Geoff, "This partnership is merely temporary; after that, I'll have no need of him. The Shadow Broker is a powerful ally and a dangerous enemy; I don't want him hindering our efforts. We'll work with him until he feels safe enough to reveal his location and after that, we'll strike hard and fast and remove him. Then, I will insert myself as the new Shadow Broker and Cerberus will expand."
"You plan to betray him, sir?"
"When the time is right, yes," TIM declared, "Although I prefer to call it a...reallocation of valuable resources, rather than treachery. That word is simply too harsh for something like this. The Shadow Broker has betrayed many of his own agents in the past and even some of his own clients, so I'd say its well-deserved karma. However, keep this between us. The Broker has eyes everywhere, and there's no reason not to believe that he has eyes in my organization as well."
"Yes sir."
"You are dismissed. And have Decumbry send me an update on Project Eva."
Geoff bowed and left, the man wondering if he should see how Carter's lessons were going. Ever since joining Cerberus, Geoff's son had been attending daily lessons from Cerberus employed teachers inplace of normal schooling. Carter would one day be a member of Cerberus just like his father was, and hopefully be better.
TIM looked out into space, and for once ignored the radiance that was Anadius. He sighed, putting out his cigarette by squeezing it on the ash tray.
I have the Shadow Broker on a leash, he just doesn't realize it. Now lets see if I can get a second chain for Shepard. And who knows, maybe I won't need a strong leash. Maybe the Broker's bite will be enough to put him into submission.
"The beginning of a new awareness."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"Or, so we hoped."
- Marcus Shepard.
A/N:
Yes, this chapter was mostly politically based. I just wanted you guys to know that the Council aren't complete fuckwits like they're made out to be in ME3. And honestly, Shepard has a geth and evidence of a Human-Reaper, and he never provides? I'm sorry, I call bullshit!
Sorry for the long wait too!