Chapter 3
The Council sat within their inner chamber, each of them sitting in one of the various armchairs in the richly decorated room. Drinks and food were laid out before them, delicacies from each of their homeworlds. In front of them stood Nyeszia V'laros, an asari and Captain of C-Sec's little known Clandestine Division. Nyeszia's blue uniform was pressed clean and looked fresh, as if she had put it on solely for this meeting.
Ever since the human embassy had opened on the Citadel every single human who had made the trip was being followed and tracked by a team of agents, and that included the children. Hostilities had ceased, and they had offered the humans an embassy here on the Citadel to improve relations with them and allow them to open up relations with other races, but that didn't mean they trusted them.
"Anything to report?" Tevos asked.
"We are getting better at understanding human facial expressions and body language, and it helps that they are similar to ours," Nyeszia said, referring to the asari. "It's making it easier getting a read on them. As to what I have to report, it is hard to tell what is natural curiosity at their new surroundings, and what has ulterior motives. We've had analyst going over every scrap of data we have on the humans so far on the Citadel, and nothing has caused any alarm."
"Any meetings or run-ins we should be aware of since our last meeting?" Sparatus asked before biting into something crunchy.
"They haven't met with anyone flagged in the system, nor with any of the more unsavory groups. The ambassador has had various meetings with many of the other ambassadors from all the other races. Everything we've heard appears to be standard diplomat talk, trying to establish relations between species and things of that nature."
"Which is to be expected."
"Yes. They met with every race except the batarians. We haven't seen any batarian diplomats near the human embassy or any of the humans. Though we have seen batarians staring at the humans. Well, glowering might be the better word."
The councilors shared a look. That did not surprise any of them. The cluster of stars the humans occupied were in an area of the galaxy the batarians were most likely looking to stake a claim to in order to start colonizing, given it was right next door to their own home system. That was impossible now. No one knew that humans lived in the area, and within the past decade had already colonized the handful of garden worlds in it. The council had declared the five clusters of stars that humanity already had a presence in as off limits. Which meant less and less worlds for the batarians, who were on a rapid expansion push of their own.
The Council's collective agreement that the next conflict to arise in the galaxy would be between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony was looking more and more likely. Was there anything they could do to cut that off before it started? Was there anything they wanted to do, to cut it off before they started, or should they let it play out and see how it goes?
"Anything odd in any of the reports made?"
The C-Sec captain thought it over. She ran through the reports she had been sent, going over each one in her mind with care before remembering that something she read did seem odd to her.
She pulled up her omni-tool and sifted through the files stored there.
"One of the human soldiers went to Flux the other night by himself," she explained as she found the file. She pulled it up and transferred it up to the Council. "He hung around at the bar for a bit and ordered a drink. Besides the bartender he spoke with one other customer, a quarian, before leaving shortly after."
The file was various video recordings, all different angles of the same thing. A human male with a shaved head, ordering a drink at the bar, walking around the perimeter of the dance floor, and then sliding into a booth where a quarian sat by themself. There was a lot of movement in and out of the frame of other bar patrons. Some of the camera angles shifted, trying to get a better view of what was going on.
"A quarian? What was the conversation about?"
"We don't know. Nothing could be heard over the music. We tried to isolate their voices on the recordings but it's impossible."
"Was anything besides words exchanged between them?"
Nyeszia shook her head. "None that we could see. I double checked the video but people kept walking into the view of our cameras. It's possible an exchange happened in one of those moments."
Marock stood from his seat and paced. "Could be a coincidence. Could be on purpose. Flux is a good place to have secret meetings."
"Was the quarian followed?"
A nervous look came over Nyeszia's face. "No councilor. We did not think to tail the quarian after. Would you like us to try to find them?"
"It will be impossible to find one suit rat on this entire station," Sparatus muttered. "How do you even tell the difference from one to the other?"
Tevos shot him a look. "Yes, do your best to find the quarian."
Nyeszia bowed her head and left the room.
"We could interrogate the human," Marock proposed. "No, it would cause a diplomatic nightmare. Unless we grab without others knowing and silence the human permanently. Hmm, we must consider this."
The first eight years after discovering that Charon was not actually a moon of Pluto but instead a mass relay, had been years of expansion for the Systems Alliance. They had colonized eight worlds outside of the Sol System; Demeter (Proxima Centauri System, Local Cluster), Benning (Euler System, Arcturus Stream), Eden Prime (Utopia System, Exodus Cluster), Terra Nova (Asgard System, Exodus Cluster), Reach (Eridani System, Exodus Cluster), Tiptree (Hubble System, Horse Head Nebula), Mindoir (Fortuna System, Horse Head Nebula) and Shanxi (Hubble System, Pythéas Cluster). None of them had large populations but at the time that wasn't a concern of humanity. When a new garden world planet was discovered, off they'd race to put down roots and claim it in the name of mankind.
They were in the process of colonizing a ninth planet, to be called Destiny, when the First Contact War, as the media was calling their conflict with the turians, broke out. A few dozen prefab modular buildings and a couple hundred people, and they were ready to declare a new world colonized by the Systems Alliance, until the galaxy had other plans.
It had only been 68 days since the war had ended but since then human policy had shifted. Colonizing new worlds didn't seem as important as making sure the ones they currently had were properly defended, and they already had more than enough space for their thirteen billion people. Exploratory and survey fleets were currently docked as they looked inwards, shoring up defenses and building up their military, before turning their gaze back outwards.
Although it is worth pointing out that it doesn't help expansion efforts when two-thirds of the galaxy are suddenly shut off to exploration. Immediately to the galactic north, south and west was Citadel space, too close for anyone's comfort, and those were the directions of the systems that they had been in the process of exploring for new colonies. The galactic east was open to them, if they wanted to take it, and they would in time, but that time was not right now.
Admiral Cremer knew that a lot was going to happen over the coming years. The military industrial complex had been kicked into overdrive to produce new gear, especially new warships, and every research and development entity in human held space, both in the government and in the private sector, had been given blank checks. The propaganda machine had started churning and was tasked with three key initiatives. The first was driving up military recruitment because less than three percent of the population was in the military, and with aliens on their border that low of a percentage no longer cut it. The second was to reverse the stagnation of the human population that had taken hold over the last five years as birth rates had dropped. The third was to drive mass emigration from Earth, where eleven-point-three billion of thirteen billion humans lived. If they wanted to defend their new colonies, they would need people on those colonies to defend them.
"We have confirmation that the package has been delivered to a quarian pilgrim," MP Haugseng said.
They sat in the MP's office on Arcturus Station, just the two of them. Rear Admiral Komen had been assigned to the SSV Quito as part of the 3rd Fleet, which was currently patrolling the space around Shanxi. Major Burgos was still on Reach, discussing the construction efforts with other Systems Alliance brass. Major Kyle had been called away to assist with a training exercise at Gagarin Station, AKA Jump Zero.
The confirmation had come in via standard communication, but like anything deemed classified that those on the Citadel sent back to the Systems Alliance it was not only heavily encrypted but sent in morse code. While it was likely the aliens would be able to decipher morse code given enough time, the newness of human language would give them delay. They would switch to another form of coded message within the next few months but until then, morse code worked just fine..
"Do we have any idea of when we can expect some kind of response?" Admiral Cremer asked.
"Nope. For all we know it could take months. We'll just have to wait and see."
That was easy for them to say, not so easy for those of the SSV Henry Hudson, the Tyr-class corvette Section 3 had commandeered from the exploratory fleet to be their diplomatic vessel to meet with the quarians. The SSV Henry Hudson would be stationed in a nearby starcluster, Argos Rho, a system that had no worlds worth colonizing and hadn't yet been properly explored for mining opportunities, waiting for the potential arrival of the quarians. The thought of staying months on a small vessel like that was an unpleasant thought to her, and she captained warships for a living.
"No problems from the Prime Minister and parliament about us setting up these negotiations with the quarians?"
"Of course not, they think it was their idea after all."
They both smiled at his words.
"How goes the intel gathering on the krogan?" MP Haugseng asked. "Any luck there?"
"Seems to be everything the Council told us was right. They're aggressive and confrontational. They're either loners who travel the galaxy working as bodyguards or mercenaries, or they live on their wasteland of a planet in clans numbering from a few hundred to a few thousand."
"What are the analysts saying? Any way to get them to ally with us?"
"The analysts are leaning towards a hard no at this point. Though we've only been gathering intel for two months, and most of it is gained by sifting through the Citadel archives and what our men see and hear when walking the Citadel. What we need is to get people on the krogan homeworld."
"Like an embassy?"
Admiral Cremer snorted at the thought of them setting up an embassy on the krogan homeworld. "Doubt it. The krogan aren't known for their diplomacy and would probably react better to soldiers than diplomats, and that's saying something because they'd probably kill the soldiers on sight."
"You can't mean a stealth team. It's in a demilitarized zone that I'm sure the Council has heavy surveillance in. Even if we find out where it is, they'll know the minute we enter the system."
"Komen thinks we should just hire a thousand of them as full time mercenaries and call it a day."
"A thousand isn't enough."
"So it looks like we continue to wait on the krogan front."
"And cross our fingers on the quarians."
Captain Rael'Zorah vas Alarei watched as the shuttle flew away from his ship after dropping off its passenger. One of their pilgrims had contacted the fleet saying they had completed their pilgrimage and needed to make his way back to the fleet. Such a request had sparked surprise in those who knew the young quarian, he had only left on his pilgrimage a little over a month ago; most took at a minimum half a year, and there were a lot who would be on their pilgrimages for multiple years.
In his message, the pilgrim had requested to join the QMFV Alarei, something that happened often after Rael'Zorah had become captain of the ship. Fighting off the batarians on the Yaska had made him and Han'Gerrel celebrities with the rest of the fleet. Becoming captains of their own ships had made those ships the desired destination for a lot of young pilgrims who rejoined the fleet. The Alarei was a special projects ship, but it still needed quarians to run the ship.
Rael'Zorah had arranged to pick up the young pilgrim near a mining outpost in the Kepler Verge, which was close enough to where the fleet was currently drifting that it wouldn't take much effort for him to make his way back to them once done.
When the decontamination process was over with, the pilgrim would present to Rael'Zorah the gift he had acquired on his pilgrimage. Hopefully it was something worth it because he would hate to have come out this way only to kick the kid back out into the galaxy to find a better gift. While something like that was rare, he had personally seen it happen twice before.
The bridge door slid open and a young quarian hesitantly entered, looking every which way in order to fully take in his surroundings. His enviro-suit, a dark reddish color, looked a little worn out but gleaned under the lights of the bridge.
"Greetings Vaator'Sufin nar Tesost, welcome aboard the Alarei," Rael'Zorah greeted.
"Thank you Captain Rael'Zorah vas Alerai. I hope you, and the rest of the fleet, finds my gift worthy."
Vaator'Sufin held out a crude looking data module. Was this a model from two centuries ago? Rael'Zorah took it with a confused expression.
"What is on this?"
"Have you heard of the humans?" Vaator'Sufin asked.
They had heard of them but it was piecemeal information brought by returning pilgrims. First it was news that the turians were engaged in conflict with a new alien race. Then it was that the Council had negotiated a ceasefire in the conflict but the new aliens, called humans, had refused to join the Citadel. Then it was WHY the humans had turned down a position in the Citadel. That was the one that really caught the attention of the Admiralty Board.
Pictures, snapped with omni-tools, were sent to show what the humans looked like, and a handful of far away photos of the ship they arrived at the Citadel with was passed around to all of the captains.
"They want to meet with us to discuss trade. They said they have resources to provide to us, to help with our fleet."
Rael'Zorah looked at the data module in surprise. The humans wanted to set up a meeting?
"And what we heard about them and artificial intelligence, is it true?"
"Yes, it is true. It appears to be a big part of their society. They aren't allowed to bring any on the Citadel but from what the human told me, their AIs are separate units that are not connected in any such way like the geth. They're also strictly software, no, uh, bodies for them to inhabit."
This involved the entire Migrant Fleet so it would have to be brought before the Conclave. They desperately needed resources and the thought of their being a friendly species out there that would be a welcomed one, but could they truly be friendly with a species that was so reliant on AI after their own history with it?
"This is a great gift you have given to the Migrant Fleet. Welcome aboard Vaator'Sufin vas Alerai. Keelah se'lai."
Vaator'Sufin gave him a salute. "Thank you Captain Rael'Zorah! I will not disappoint you. Keelah se'lai."
Rael'Zorah turned toward his navigation officer.
"Get us back to the fleet."
The children stumbled out of the barracks, still not used to the early morning wake up calls. They put themselves into line, almost perfectly straight lines that took the smallest of incentive by the drill sergeants to correct. Then their morning routine started; jumping jacks, pushups, situps, burpees, and a nice three mile run to get the blood flowing. Afterwards they would get breakfast, followed by a couple hours of school. A quick lunch and then they were in the playground, which was really just an elaborate obstacle course with rope bridges, pulleys, and climbing walls, one that's layout changed every day, that the children were forced to navigate. After the playground there was another run, followed by warm down exercises and stretches, and then finally dinner and bed.
Dr. Catherine Halsey watched them from a distance, all two hundred of them. The original plan was to have, at most, seventy-five children in the program, but since Section 3 limited the "recruitment" to orphans only, which meant most of the children were not 100% genetic matches, she had changed the plan and asked for a larger amount of recruits because there was likely to be a higher washout rate than originally calculated.
It had been going on for a little over a week and it would continue like this for a few months more. Once the children grew used to it, once it all became second nature to them, they would change it up. The morning exercises would be different. The run would turn into a hike up a nearby mountain. What they learned in school would shift focus. They wouldn't allow the children to slip into complacency.
They were currently on Earth, reusing a formerly abandoned military base in the Russian Federal Union. The arrangements were temporary, and in half a year they would be moving everything to Reach, which was currently under major construction. Hundreds of buildings were in the process of going up on the colony, including a secluded section that would house her project, the Spartan Project.
"Déjà," she called.
In a swirl of lights the AI appeared next to her.
"Yes doctor?"
"What are the latest test results on the personal kinetic barriers?"
"That is classified information doctor."
Catherine looked at the holographic image with a raised eyebrow. "I gave you the information needed to break past the encryption on the files, were you able to do so?"
Most AIs were limited in the scope of what they could do. If the AI was created to help pilot a war vessel, then that is what they were best for. Sure, they'd be able to assist in other tasks but something like coordinating the tasks of multiple autonomous harvesting tractors, decrypting alien technology, or translating alien writing, would be outside of their scope of expertise and they would fail at the task. That was done to preserve them, as there was only so much data an AI could store before it started to affect their processing, just like any type of computing system out there. Déjà was unique amongst AIs in that when Catherine created her, she didn't limit her abilities. Yes it meant that Déjà wouldn't last as long as the other AIs, but she'd be able to do so much more in the time she had. To her Déjà was a smart AI, while the rest were dumb AIs.
"Yes doctor," Déjà answered. "I read the files."
"Then I ask again, what are the latest test results on the personal kinetic barriers?"
"You will not be happy with the results. Every attempt to get a barrier to hold on body armor has been unsuccessful so far."
The lack of kinetic barriers for their soldiers and marines had meant they lost three to four men for every turian they killed during the ground conflict on Shanxi. Before the war, all of their research had pointed to it being an impossible task to make kinetic barriers small enough to only cover an individual, as well as have a small yet efficient enough power source to fit under someone's armor to power the barriers. They quickly learned that all of their research had been wrong.
"Perhaps I should take a look at it," Catherine muttered. While it was not exactly her area of expertise, she had more faith in herself than any of the useless halfwits who worked research and development for the Systems Alliance.
"They are hopeful the quarians will assist."
"Ah yes, our potential alien allies. How do the negotiations go?"
"I do not know, doctor. There has been no word on any channels I have access to."
Working with an alien race would be equal measures unsettling and fascinating, though she imagined the unsettling part would fade quickly. All that technology had been at their fingerprints but then the Council had to make the unreasonable demand that they give up their AIs. To see all the possibilities slip away from her like that had been hard to watch. Now a new opportunity was in front of them thanks to the quarians. Hopefully, this one didn't slip away too.
"Keep an ear out, and let me know when something turns up."
