Prologue, Part 2- Interrogation.
June 7th, 2034
Morvan lay on the bed in the quarters the humans had assigned for him. The captured STG team had been surprisingly well treated by their captors, as the hotel provided for them was quite comfortable. However, a prison was still a prison, regardless of how comfortable it was. A chime announced the arrival of a human interrogator. A few seconds later, the door opened. A human stepped in, carrying a device similar to a datapad, albeit thicker. He sat down at the small table in the room Morlan was occupying, gesturing for the salarian to sit across from him. Morlan sat down, activating his translator as he did so.
"Is the translator on?" The human asked.
"It is." Morlan replied.
"Good. Now I suppose you are wondering why we shot you down, rather than wait for you to land and state your business." The human started.
"That is one of the questions that comes to mind. Why shoot us down? For all you knew, there was a fleet waiting just out of the system ready to bombard you to oblivion. For all you know, it is already on its way."
"The answer is simple. You are not the first of your kind that we have encountered. In 1947, we found a crashed alien craft near the town of Roswell, New Mexico. Upon examination, we found several alien bodies inside in various stages of disrepair. They were of your species. Most of the technology inside was destroyed, however, we managed to recover several functional datapads, and one partially intact computer system. We spent nearly sixty years decoding what was inside before we finally made a breakthrough. We knew from the recovered data that you were scouting us out, and proof enough that you were not planning an invasion. The rest of the data we found was either irrelevant or too corrupted to make any sense out of. We were supposed to attempt communication with the next scout craft we detected, but we found none. None, that is, until yesterday. Your ship was significantly larger than previous scout craft. The people in charge assumed hostile, and ordered our fighters to engage. Personally, I think those people are idiots for doing so, but they give the orders and we follow. Now on to the real interrogation. Why are you here?" He asked the salarian.
"We were here to begin the uplift of your people. What for, I do not know. I was not privy to that information. We were supposed to stay here for an extended period of time, and to introduce our technology to your people." Morvan answered.
"Does that mean more of you will be coming here soon?"
"Probably, in say 10 salarian years, which would be... 12 of yours, we would likely send a second team in." Morvan said, doing the math in his head.
"Who is in charge of this operation? Who ordered it?"
"Dalatrass Leroen, the current Salarian counselor."
"So she is a member of a council. Who makes up the rest of it?"
"Councillor Tevos, of the Asari republics, and Councillor Julias of the Turian Hierarchy."
"So these counselors are the highest authority in the galaxy?"
"Yes. The Citadel council presides over hundreds of systems and is the primary power in the galaxy."
"Are there any races out there besides these turians and asari?"
"Yes. The Volus, Elcor, Hanar, and Batarians all have embassies on the citadel, and are considered client members. With time, they will earn a full member status and a seat on the council."
"You mentioned a 'Citadel' several times now. What is it?"
"It is a massive space station, built by the protheans tens of thousands of years ago. The protheans also forged the mass relays, massive space constructs allowing for near instantaneous transport between star clusters."
"You talk about the protheans in past tense. Did something happen to them?"
"Yes, they disappeared approximately fifty thousand years ago. We are unsure as to what happened, but only their legacy remains."
"Are there any races that are not a member or a client of the council?"
"Yes. The Krogan were once a council member, but they seceded and declared war, which ended with them being confined to their homeworld of Tuchanka." Morvan chose not to mention the genophage, so as to keep the true capability of the salarians hidden. Let them believe that the Krogan were quickly crushed by the might of the council. "In addition, the Quarians once owned an embassy on the citadel, however, they created the Geth, a race of sentient machines, and were driven from their homeworld. As punishment for the creation of the geth, they were stripped of their embassy and denied the right to settle on any worlds in council space. They currently live in a constantly moving fleet of liveships."
"What do the collective races of the council do to keep themselves in power?"
"The Turians are the military might of the council. They have a fleet of approximately twenty thousand ships, and own the most dreadnoughts out of all council races. The Asari are the political arm, mediating disputes and keeping the peace domestically. Finally, the salarians are the intelligence of the council. We create most of the galaxy's scientific innovations, and our military is focused on intelligence gathering and sabotage."
"What about the lesser client races?"
"The Volus were one of the first races encountered by the council, back when it was only composed of Asari and Salarians. They were instrumental in the creation of a galaxy wide economy. The Batarians would have probably gained a council seat by now, if it weren't for their continued practice of slavery, which the council frowns upon. All the other races are relatively new to the council, and are mainly content to stay in their own space."
"What did the turians do that gave them a council seat ahead of the volus? It seems to me that the volus are deserving of a council seat of their own."
"The turians won the krogan rebellions. As thanks, they were given a council seat."
"Very well. That is enough for now. I will be leaving to file a report to my superiors. In 3 hours, several scientists and engineers will be entering to discuss some of the technology we have salvaged from your crashed ship, as well as from the equipment we took from your fellow crew. It was nice talking with you. Have a pleasant day."
The human left the room, the door sliding shut behind him, leaving Morvan behind, wondering just what the future held for him.
"Are you sure all this is true?" asked the man on the vidscreen.
"Yes. When I interrogated him, he said his reasons were to uplift us to become clients of this 'Citadel Council', so why would he lie about critical information related to gaining membership?" Arthur Morrison replied. "However, I do think that he was trying to paint this government in an all too favorable light, and for the most part he succeeded. However, he let a few details slip that were enough for me to assume that there is a darker side to this council. For example, the volus. According to Morlan, they were one of the first races that this council made contact with. Said council only had two members back then. The Volus were instrumental in creating a galactic economy, and were members for thousands of years. However, the Turians come in much later, win a war, and then are given a council seat just like that. Meanwhile, the Volus, the ones whose economy made the victory possible, are passed over. Another example is the case of the Quarians. I am willing to bet a significant amount that they did not intend to create these 'geth', or if they did, they did not intend for them to become hostile. Either way, the geth turned on them, driving them from their homeworld. When they asked the council for aid, they replied by stripping the Quarians of their membership status, and forbidding them to settle on any world in council space, confining them to a fleet of refugee ships. These two facts paint the council in a decidedly different light than what this Morlan wants us to see them in."
Arthur finished his long winded explanation, waiting for a reply.
"Very well. You are to continue your interrogation of the alien. In the meantime, we will be attempting to set up an interface between the 'wrist computers' and our own devices. The knowledge we have from the Roswell crash should give us a vital head start in accessing the information inside of them. Goodbye, and keep up the good work."
The communication ceased, the screen going black. Arthur stood up, stretched, and returned to his duties.
"How do your ships' engines work" The engineer asked Morlan. He had lost count of the amount of questions tossed at him. He cursed at the fact that his team was only supplied with one human translator, causing all the questions to be directed at him.
"Antiprotons are injected into a reaction chamber filled with hydrogen through use of mass effect fields. This matter-antimatter annihilation creates large amounts of propulsive power. The downside of this is that antiprotons are difficult to manufacture, leading to antiproton thrusters being used mainly on warships. Most civillian ships use fusion torches, which eject the plasma of the ships' drive core."
"You have discovered how to fabricate antimatter?" One of the scientists asked, shock evident on his face.
"Yes, although I am not sure as to how. I am not a quantum physicist or an antimatter plant worker."
"Of course. However, given the power of antimatter, why limit it to engines? Surely antimatter weaponry would be more effective than those mass drivers you said your race uses, and wouldn't antimatter be a better source of power generation than the mass effect cores you currently use?"
"Yes, that is true, however the inherent instability of antimatter makes it too difficult to harness as a power source. As for antimatter weaponry, it has not been attempted recently due to a ban of weapons of planetary destruction after we salarians revealed a 'planet cracker' antimatter bomb that could permanently destabilize a planet's biosphere. They were developed, but never used, during the Krogan rebellions, and were destroyed soon after the rebellions ended."
"While on the subject of weaponry, are mass effect accelerator cannons the only weapons in your arsenal, or are there other weaponry in the council's armory?"
"Although Mass effect cannons are the main ship to ship weapons used in space combat, we use infrared or ultraviolet lasers for point defense. We also use missiles with small nuclear payloads."
"What sort of defenses do your ships carry? With the power to manipulate mass, it would be surprising if you have no defenses against mass drivers or laser cannons."
"We use kinetic barriers, which use mass effect fields to apply force against incoming projectiles, effectively stopping or deflecting them."
"What about lasers? They are not projectile weapons."
"Lasers are only useful as point defense weaponry, as they suffer from severe range limitations."
"Very well. Now the next question."
Morlan listened to the questions come in, answering most of them to the best of his ability. When the scientists finally left, he felt himself collapsing, quickly and gratefully embracing sleep.