Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.

Chapter 3

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Part 7

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24.04.2183GS

SSV Normandy

en route to Therum

A few hours before they reached Therum, Shepard sat in the mess hall surrounded by the tech specialists who would be deploying ground-side. The only two available on the SA side were Alenko and himself, with the other three being Turians – Vakarian who had picked a thing or two either during his days in the military or later in C-SEC and two of the marines on secondment from the CDF.

"This might work," Sergeant Varkas tapped a claw on her chin. "We'll have access to more processing power, generally better software attack packages, however ours won't be specifically built to tackle Geth software. Its curious they're still using compatible systems three hundred years late."

"I won't look this particular gift horse in the mouth." Alenko interjected.

"I don't think that translated properly." Vakarian looked strangely at the LT. "Why would you kiss a horse, whatever that is?"

"Translator glitch." John chuckled. "Its an expression meaning don't question your good fortune."

"Ah." The Turians nodded in understanding. "It would be for the best if we have one person going after the data itself with another dealing with the self-destruct." Garrus continued. "As long as the physical drive is more or less intact, we can always recover something."

"That's great in the long term, however merely recovering data cores before they can slag themselves wouldn't really give us access to immediately actionable information and if there are Geth on the ground, that would be something that could be vital." Alenko pointed out. "Ms Zorah admitted she got very lucky to recover as much data as she did."

"It might not be immediately helpful for this deployment, however recovering samples of Geth software and as many intact data cores as possible would allow our E-War specialists to build tailored software packages targeting the Geth and make us jobs easier in the future. We should deploy in pairs, with the odd one pairing with a demolitions expert who will do their best to prevent the self-destruct." Shepard suggested.

"That would be for the best." Sergeant Varkas agreed. "Still nothing from your colony?"

"Not a peep." Shepard grimaced. "The odds of this being merely an equipment malfunction were remote since the start. Now? We'll either deal with pirates or Geth. The only question is if we'll get there in time to do anything but bury the bodies and clean up any unpleasant surprises left behind."

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24.04.2183 GS

Spectre offices

The Citadel

Jondum Bau loathed the loyalty screening meant to ensure no one brainwashed you or stuck implants in your head while no one was looking. He had to spent the past twelve hours stuck into interrogation room with only a brief bathroom break answering questions. If that wasn't enough, he was covered with all kinds of equipment to back up the scanners built into the room and brought by the STG and CDF personnel conducting the screening. Answering multiple groups of subtly different questions while people scanned him on the atomic level was no fun, the cocktail of supposedly harmless drugs to untie his tongue – those made him babble and going down from them was going to suck Krogan quad.

"Congratulations, Spectre, it seems you're still yourself." A very chipper young Salarian beamed at him.

"You know, when the time comes for your next screening, I'll make sure to be the one leading it."

"Ah. Vindictive when irritated once the drugs begin to dissipate..." The young man nodded happily and made another note on his omni-tool.

"Are we done here? I do have job to get back to." Bau grumbled.

"You're cleared, Spectre." A Turian marine offered him a cup with stimulants tailored for his physiology. Those drugs were meant to counteract and make it easier to get over all the others that replaced too much of his blood during the cursed screening process.

Bau snatched the offered drink and gulped it in one breath doing his best not to let even a drop hit his tongue. He knew from experience in the STG that the damn thing was effective… it tasted like shit too. He closed his eyes and waited for a few moments for the stimulants to kick in and the STG people to get all the scanners and monitoring devices off him before heading to the showers in the back of the Spectre Offices.

Half an hour later, Bau emerged feeling marginally better. The scalding hot shower and a set of clean clothes did wonders for him. Now that he was able to think more or less straight again, it was time to get back to work. First he went to the STG Captain leading the circus – Kirrahe of the Third Infiltration Regiment. He and his unit had been stationed as a part of the CDF and thus they got the joyful job of helping the Spectres clean up house.

"Captain, did you find anyone compromised? Backdoors in our systems? Listening devices?" Bau asked.

"Nothing that some extra PTSD can't explain, however as you know more than half the Spectres are currently deployed all over the galaxy. We'll need to screen them as well. On the technical front – there are multiple setups that allow remote access to the Spectre databases, however with your authority, no matter how irregular..." Kirrahe shrugged.

"It could be done out of convenience no matter it breaks protocol."

"Something every single one of your people has the authority to do if they deem it necessary."

"Saren is one of them, isn't he?"

"He is and we're monitoring his connection. We can't find a trace he has attempted access since before Eden Prime. I have a CDF network security unit going through everything he has touched and we can trace for the past couple of years. At least we'll have better idea what he has compromised if nothing else."

"Less than ideal." Bau concluded. "Please keep me up to date, Captain and thank you for your prompt response." He turned around and headed for his desk. It was time to see what mess Vasir managed to get into since they separated and forward her any and all intelligence that might come in useful when she got to Therum.

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24.04.2183GS

Cronos Station

Anadius

Jack Harper, better known as the Illusive Man, sat with his back turned towards his desk and contemplatively gazed at the Red giant Anadius, the star that his station orbited and used as concealment thanks to the periodic radiation bursts that made its detection almost impossible unless you knew what you were looking for. It was a nice bolthole – out of the way with nothing really useful in the general vicinity to tempt people to visit and thus served Cerberus purposes.

Anadius was clearly visible through the reinforced and shielded window – the giant was so big and close enough to see its surface ripple thanks to the intense gravity and fusion reaction that kept the star going. It was a beautiful, awe inspiring sight that never failed to remind Jack how vulnerable and small Humanity was in the grand scheme of things. It was a sad fact that it was up to him and those like him to keep their whole species safe and if at all possible, push Humanity to fulfil its destiny. Sadly, the Systems Alliance proved again and again that it wasn't up to the task. The Blitz, all the pirate and slaver raids that went unpunished out of fear of confrontation with the Batarians…

Jack's expression darkened. Torfan should have been a stepping stone – the first step in bringing the Batarians to heel, instead, the Alliance backed down and nothing really changed. The Batarians continued to fund pirates and slavers, that scum went on hitting Human colonies and no one dared make the bastards pay! The Alliance had a priceless opportunity to make a stand for Humanity as a whole and when in the spotlight, it blinked and backed down.

When he learned about Eden Prime, Jack wasn't surprised. Something like that was merely a question of time. Why should anyone take the Alliance, Humanity as a whole, seriously when they refused to fight for what was theirs and let their people suffer the predations of the alien alone? The only surprise was that a Council Spectre led the attack and that it was the Geth who struck instead of the Batarians or their proxies. Then again, why wouldn't they when the prize was a Prothean beacon in the hands of the one polity that showed it could be walked over with no repercussions?

Another thing that didn't surprise Jack was the Council's reaction – they were busy to dismiss the evidence of their golden boy turning rogue, or perhaps he wasn't rogue but merely acting with the quiet approval of his masters? What better way to show the upstart Humans their place than to let them suffer under the non-existent mercies of deniable assets? And even if the Council had nothing to do with the attack, they still betrayed their true colours – what use was to be an Associate when the supposed protectors of the galactic peace were nowhere in sight when you were attacked? Shepard being made a Spectre, a few ships sent at Therum… but not really to help protect a Human colony but to extract the daughter of an important Asari, one who might very well be neck deep with the Geth…

This couldn't go on. For decades now, Cerberus under the Illusive Man's leadership did its best to protect Humanity from the shadows. They had their successes and failures, managed to get justice for some of the attack on human colonies, did what the Alliance wouldn't dare to advance human technology and interests… However, it simply wasn't enough! Eden Prime was a proof of that and despite expecting it, Jack couldn't help it but feel that letting it happen was a failure on his part.

Cerberus needed to do more, more than it could ever achieve in the shadows. And no matter how he felt about it, there were enemies in home who threatened Humanity as much as any alien. Enemies who Cerberus hadn't dared touch so far.

Jack looked down at his forgotten cigar and pulled out a fresh one before lighting it up and taking a deep breath of calming smoke. He exhaled slowly a stream of smoke and now that he was calmer, thought about the situation back home. There were elections coming and with Eden Prime disaster, there was an opportunity to be had. It was high time for the guardian dog to slip its leash and take charge.

Humanity needed better weapons, ships, better soldiers and as if not importantly, better leadership. If the SA wasn't up to the task, Jack Harper and his likely minded acquaintances would make it so. Anything less was unacceptable. In the aftermath of the First Contact War he vowed over the graves of his friends that he would see to it that Humanity would not be a victim again – a vow he still struggled to fulfil. No more! The Alliance had to change and he would make it so even if he had to drag it kicking and screaming into the future!

Harper swung around in his leather chair put away his cigar and switched on his computer. It was time to make some calls and throw all possible Cerberus resources behind the right people on the political arena.

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Interlude: Alliance Intelligence I

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In summary, there are three main reasons why a potential direct confrontation against the Batarian Hegemony is winnable. First, unless there is a radical political realignment, the SA can expect the Council to remain neutral or even supportive of Humanity in case of such a conflict. Second, due to the Council using all available sanctions and covert operations by STG and Spectre assets (unconfirmed at this time as anything but direct retaliation for Batarian sponsored piracy) to weaken the Hegemony and force it to change. That has led the Batarian economy to enter a vicious cycle of stagnation and shrinking that has lasted for centuries now.

Third – due to the aforementioned factors, the general readiness, maintenance and technological level of the Batarian Navy is considered equal or lower than ours…

In conclusion, despite popular belief, it is not the Council, nor the Councillors who run the galaxy. They are ultimately responsible to their governments and said governments impose restrains and goals that guide their actions. Our analysis based on all available sources is that in the aftermath of the Krogan Rebellions, the primary function of the Council became fostering economic prosperity to facilitate recovery from that conflict and the Rachni War that came before it. The Councillors of the time were so successful in bringing a golden age to the galaxy under their aegis that maintained the status quo in turn became the primary objective of the Council and the three governments backing it…

While we only have publicly available information about the Geth-Quarian war, the AI believes that the Council of the time and the Turian, Asari and Salarian governments knew at least as much if not more than the Quarian remnant about the conflict, how it began and what led to the Quarian defeat. Officially, the Quarian were stripped off their Associate status because they intentionally or not created a Self Aware Synthetic Intelligence – one of the big taboos among the Citadel species. Unofficially, we're baffled why the Council didn't immediately move on to neutralize the potential Geth threat. With the information available, we can make two conclusions – one the Council knows something about the conflict that is classified to this day* and stayed their hand and two, they faced a political pressure not to engage into a galactic war against the Geth that would have thrown the economy in recess at best and ended the unprecedented age of prosperity that lasted for the past seven hundred years…

*AI is scouring all available sources for more information on the Geth-Quarian war and why the Council didn't intervene. So far all we have is idle speculation and not enough data to reach a reasonable conclusion.

In summary, we can best describe the Council attitude towards the SA and Humanity as exploitative. While they do see us as useful, the Council wasted no time fostering conflict between us and the Batarian Hegemony by offering us colonization rights in an area that until our arrival on the galactic stage was deemed of "Batarian interest". The AI further concludes that the only reason the Batarians failed to properly develop and exploit it – which conveniently was the reason why it was given to us, was the sanctions the Council levelled against the Hegemony and used to cripple their economy. On the other hand, given the strategic constrains the SA has to operate, we have little choice but to stake our claims by colonizing our new frontier – which is vital for the long term growth and health of the SA. The price of that strategy are however obvious – with the Navy stretched thin, many of our frontier colonies are lightly defended, often lacking any form of Naval support until it is too late. Given their generally small size and large number, the marine forces stationed on the ground can more often than not merely keep said colonies from merely being destroyed and protect part of the civilian population and infrastructure instead of having the numbers and equipment to properly repulse pirate and slaver raids.

The conclusion of this analysis is that the Council is using us to further weaken the Hegemony and in the same time keep us in check to diminish the possibility that we would be in a position to disrupt an almost a millennium of prosperity Citadel Space has been enjoying. While the SA has seen an economic boon due to our Associate Status and it remains in our interest to keep close ties with the Council for geopolitical strategic reasons, the price we have to pay for it domestically might prove unsustainable – see attachment A 3 – Summary: Strategic internal threats.

It should be kept in mind that it was thanks to the Council and their careful handling of our entrance to the galactic economic stage we didn't suffer economic meltdown, one that could have been either started or made crushing when our currencies began trading on the Citadel exchanges. Our military, political and economic alnalysts all agree – the Council made sure to prop up our economy and ensure the SA as a whole prospered enough that we could prove credible threat to the Batarians and see a tangible benefit from being an associate species. At the same time, our strategic concerns and the extreme power of Citadel Space based multistelar Corporations did have a devastating effect on many SA businesses and are one of the major reasons why a large percentage of our population hasn't seen a real boon from our membership in the Citadel Alliance. This in turn is one of the reasons for the rise of many of the threats discussed in the domestic portion of this document – see attachment A 3 – Summary: Strategic internal threats for more details.

from Alliance Intelligence analysis of

the SA strategic situation