Citadel Control had been warned to expect them, but it was still a shock when a cruiser weight vessel of turian design entered the space around the Citadel from the Relay…putting out a full Protoculture energy signature, and having a Federation FoF signal. They had plenty of chatter coming from the various ships in the system about that, queries that were just this side of demands from both military and business interests, and even a request for tactical data from the Destiny Ascension, just in case.
They denied everything, and shocked everyone in the queue by jumping the ship, the Normandy, a Terran word which made everyone cry out that it was some kind of trick, a priority berth, one ON the Presidium ring and not in one of the Wards, which was almost never done save when a Councilor requested it, and even then usually in secret. This ship sliding in was literally the most watched vessel in a century to enter, and every sensor, down to the eyeballs in peoples' heads, stared at it intently, as if it would give up its secrets to them without effort.
On the Presidum, the officers of C-Sec assembled at the private bay just off the Consort's offices, in parade formation no less, as if they would try and keep people from seeing who was coming off. In the case of one of the people coming out, this was impossible, given it was a Terran, who towered above everyone else, the blank faced giant staring down at them all, and causing cries of alarm, and one hanar having to be escorted out when they started shouting about how the 'judgement of the enkindlers was come'!
For all the excitement the Terran brought, it actually kept people from noticing anything about the ones at their feet as they, and some others were escorted by C-Sec across the Presidium and to the Tower itself, where a small group of five figures climbed into the elevator, and made the long ride up, while the Terran, in an almost direct parallel to a sight from twenty years prior, stood at attention by the same, their stance all but identical, and causing many a being to decide they had business far, far away from the area.
The small group made their way up the tower giving them all time to fidget a little, and giving anyone observing to take in the composition of the group. Three turians, one micronized terran, one quarian. That was it. An odd mix for an odd vessel, especially since it heavily favored the Council Races, given one of the three turians had a Captain's mark on his helmet, which, strangely, all five were still wearing as they came up to the Council dias, Tevos looking them up and down, before gesturing to her salarian counterpart.
The salarian Councilor pulled up his arm, and began to rapidly type something into his omnitool, one that began to expand outward, revealing that, whatever the Council might lack in power compared to a few decades ago, they were still up on all the latest in technology. The omnitool's interface soon covered the front of the salarian, who began to look around the room through it, nodding as he spotted things.
Each time he nodded, there was a popping noise, one that could be seen to sometimes produce a small amount of smoke, which made the Councilor tsk in response, muttering the word sloppy as he went through each and every listening device in the room, slowly disabling them one by one, and even doing a final sweep with a personal program of his own make that found six the 'STG's Best Scanner' had 'missed'. On purpose he was sure, given they were popped in sequence after the first, indicating his own people had placed those.
"This room is as clean as can be made. Please, if you would indulge us, remove the helmets you wear, and allow this Council to see the faces of those we would speak with," said Tevos as her salarian and turian counterparts stood beside her. The five before her took not a moment to look at each other. Instead, hands went to seals along the neck lines, pushing in small sequences of pressure points, so that, after a heartbeat, there was a sequence of five hisses, and the helmets were removed.
The Terran and quarian were known only in passing to the Councilors, but they WERE known. Jon Shepard, and his partner Tali'Zorah. The two had a certain reputation that made them hard to ignore, especially the former given the Mindor incident had made headlines even back in Citadel Space. He seemed to stand there stoically, but it was hard to miss that he moved just slightly closer to the quarian, who leaned towards him, but otherwise stayed pillar still herself.
Beside them, Captain Garrus of the Normandy stood, his feet exactly regulation apart, and his face betraying nothing that had been in his reports. He had offered commendations to his crew, and recommendations of aid to the Terran Federation to help speed the…not recovery but at least last rites of Eden Prime. They'd granted that without even having to debate it for once, and their homeworlds had offered, at best, perfunctory resistance to the idea of helping the other galactic power after a 'natural disaster' of that magnitude.
Beside him was Nihlus, the sleeve on his right side hanging limply, showing that there was no limb inside it. They could fix that, of course. It was difficult, but limbs could be replaced by either certain, esoteric and not widely documented applications of medigel, or a prosthetic could be offered. That they hadn't been told he was missing the limb before this point was quite telling, of course. Either he didn't trust the communication lines from the Normandy, a Terran built, but mostly Council crewed vessel, or he had simply deemed the loss unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
The reason for its unimportance stood beside him. The others gasped, despite knowing what to expect, or perhaps because they had known it would be there logically, but not truly grasped it. Tevos was different. She had been to the Goddess' Temple on Thesia, and was allowed into the sacred archives. She'd seen the drawings there, and had known what this moment might look like, what those four eyes might seem like, as they looked out from a head with, to this era, a strange shape, as none had anything like it.
A Prothean stood before the Council, onboard the Citadel. The others, in their mind, might be wondering if this being intended to assert their people's right to this place they built. Tevos, however, knew that this was far worse than that. Her people knew that, at some point before the dawn of recorded history, a great force had swept the galaxy clean of the Protheans. And she had seen the images of one of those forces, and gotten the report from one of their spies aboard the Normandy of just how powerful the thing was.
"So, it is true. A Prothean returns to the Citadel, for the first time in fifty millennia," she said, wondering if they could understand her. They nodded at her words, indicating they could, as they stepped forward, and slightly, barely perceptible from where the Council stood, inclined their head.
"I am Exalted of my people, leader of the last of my kind, that you know as the Prothean. My name is Javik, and I have come with dire warnings, and requests for aid," he said, in a language that Tevos' omnitool identified as Terran. That was odd, and perhaps would taint others' view of them, say that the Terrans had corrupted them, if they heard it, but she was already thinking of ways to squash such moves. This was no time for division, not if the Enemy had made its first move against the galaxy.
Oddly, it was the Terran who stepped forward next, taking the forefront of the group, as he bowed his head the exact distance one would expect in recognition of their ranks. Jon Shepard was, according to her files, listed as a trained diplomat, but given her dealings with some of the races who followed the Citadel Conventions, it was shocking to be shown respect by one who honestly had no need of it. Was it genuine, or perhaps a ploy to gain something from them?
"Honored members of this Council, I have been given the role of representing the Terran Federation's interests to you today, as I was the only Terran aboard the Normandy who was willing and able to Micronize myself," he began, and then held up his arm, giving them a moment to see his omnitool, and that it was in 'safe' mode, so all the combat applications had been sealed. That could be faked of course, but they allowed it, motioning for him to continue, as he moved his hand over it.
"Two weeks prior, as I hope you have been informed, a force made an assault on a Terran Colony, that being Eden Prime. The force was made up of three distinct groups, as we are aware at the moment. The first was Geth, who, being members of the Federation, would normally fall under the purview of our own justice and enforcement systems, requiring in no way we inform you of the assault, regardless of what happened," he said simply and plainly.
"However, while they made up the bulk of the force numerically, their leader, as it happens, was a Citadel citizen, specifically the SPECTRE Saren Arterius, acting against the wishes of this Council, given his attempted assault on his fellow SPECTRE Nihlus, who stands with us today to confirm his identity, and his actions," saying that, he turned to the one armed turian, who nodded and stepped forward to stand beside him in the Petitioner's Dias.
"I can indeed confirm it was him. I've met the bastard a few times, and he's always been ruthless, and had a grudge against the Terrans for…events in our history. However, even with that, this is far and away the worst action anyone in our position can take, and I request this Council Deathlock him, and declare him a criminal," he said with a bow, before stepping back into line with the other four behind the Terran.
"Thank you, SPECTRE," said Jon, before turning back to the Council, using his omnitool, he then projected an image in the air before him, three dimensional, and slowly rotating. The image of the large vessel they had already been informed of. Still, to see it was something else, especially when he put the Destiny Ascension beside it for scale.
"The third force, and true architect of the attack was this vessel, a living ship that the Protheans identified as a 'Reaper'. It is, according to their testimony, one of a fleet of such ships numbering above one-thousand individual vessels, that laid waste to their empire fifty-thousand years prior. Their power is very…daunting now, given that the most powerful weapons of our age could do damage to this single example only by luck, and such will likely not be found again," he said, and then placed readings beside it, energy outputs, metallurgical analysis, and many other things that, while Tevos didn't understand completely, knew they dwarfed the strength of any ship flying, as the 'Reaper' itself dwarfed the Destiny Ascension.
These revelations…well simply confirmations honestly. The Council had been informed, both by the Conclave that led the Federation, and by its own sources on what had happened. Still, to have it laid out like his, and to see the sheer scale of the foe that had set itself against them, against the whole of the galaxy, and still expected to win? It would have been an insult, had it not been so clear that even with all the forces they could bring to bear, they might not be able to so much as dent this creature, least of all because it was mixing the technological base of both the Element Zero technology, as well as Protoculture.
"Your report has been heard, Commander Shepard, by this body. We had some information before, but it is best to have confirmation. That we would finally find a living example of a Prothean, only in time to be confronted with what destroyed their civilization feels like a joke on a cosmic scale, but we of the Council will bring the Punch Line, as it were," she said, and held up her own hand, using her omnitool, she accessed the sealed part of the Citadel's systems here in the Council Chamber, and began to project her own reports.
For all that she might have wished to hide this information, to downplay it, and gather forces and information quietly, Tevos was no fool. The Federation did nothing 'quietly', and it would openly declare what it planned to fight. The panic that might ensue, then, was best tempered by action, and so the Council reports were brought up around them, flat screens rather than three-dimensional images at first, before three worlds popped out of them.
"As you have told us what transpired on Eden Prime, allow this body to inform you of our own forces actions since we learned of it, on Feros, Noveria, and Virmire," she said, highlighting each of the worlds as she spoke.