"As was explained to the Terrans, the Empire of my people was vast, and wide. We did not fear the Relays or what might lay beyond them as those of the Council do. No, we charged headlong into them, and whenever a species proved intractable, we annihilated them where possible, where not, we simply deactivated their Relay once more, locking it, using a function of this facility that you have obviously not discovered," Javik's voice sounded proud of his people's accomplishments, even though, to most, his words easily painted his people as the villains of their time.
"We grew quickly, in all directions, and during the few decades between the end of the Metacon Wars, a war with 'cyborg zombies' as Sergeant Shepard put it, we did so without finding any that could equal us, and thus, it was only right that we continue. That we bring the glory of our Empire to them, and bless them as would any who know themselves the superior race of their time."
"But we began to find things, things that made us doubt the past of our people, or our galaxy. In the spaces we had been before, we'd found ruins, a few scraps of technology, from the Inusannon. But as we pushed farther, we found more ruins, as we activated Relays that had lain dormant for a million years, we found evidence of far, far more civilizations than we'd ever dreamed of."
"It took time to put the pieces together, to begin to understand what we were seeing, but our scientists were motivated to succeed at this task, and with so many great minds working together, we eventually began to put the pieces of this puzzle together, the shape it took being one of horrors. Many of our more powerful minds went mad seeing the ultimate solution to it, and more than one took their own life before they could be taken by beings far greater than ourselves."
"Finally, one presented the evidence, telling our leaders, in secret, of their findings. Of the Cycle. This Galaxy was not ours, and never would be, as beings far greater than us walked its stars. They allowed us to grow, allowed us to be strong, think ourselves the Masters. Then they came in, and they destroyed us. At the time, we had no way to know their shape or aims, but we knew they were out there."
"For eons they had done this, and it was a clever thing, controlling what we would see of the past, and destroying all but the barest of remnants of those that came before. But we were too cunning by half, and we looked beneath the remnants, and discovered in them, the Cycle of this galaxy, and it forced us to consider our place in it, as the evidence began to show we were not as special as we believed."
"Each Cycle is different. A single power, like our own, rises up, and through their power, they shape all species into something like themselves. A single thought pattern, a single way of doing things. These spread out the farthest, but, sadly, are the easiest to Reap for the Harvest, as they 'think along the same lines' each Empire of that sort falls to their overwhelming might, with no trace left of their glory."
"Sometimes, of course, the Cycle is like your own. A balance of powers, expanding slowly, cautiously. It is not in you to conquer and take hold of the stars, but to try and guide them. A…noble ideal, but foolish, in my opinion. The stars, and all within them belong to the strong, and must be harnessed. We knew this when we encountered the Rachni, though the fact that some escaped even the Reapers speaks perhaps of their tenacity."
"Regardless, the Allied Cycles, rather than spreading quickly or far, take longer to disassemble. Your kind…think differently. Each conquest is a puzzle to decode. Make no mistake, however. Time is against anyone who opposes those horrors. They will 'solve' the puzzle, and your people, as mine and all the vassal races were, will be nothing but fodder to their hunger."
"Some Cycles vary, of course. A single strong power, with an alliance of smaller ones. A huge alliance, but looser, like your Terminus systems. Sometimes a spoiler near the end as well, a strong power just before the Reaping emerges, and starts sweeping aside all other powers in the galaxy, their forces destroying everything in their path. To fall on the blades of the Reapers when they emerge regardless."
"These are the Cycles, as we learned of them. Each one triumphant, each one a trillion individuals, spread around a thousand stars. Not one has ever held out more than a few centuries, at most. Some are undone in decades, if they are simply too weak. Others surrender to their fates willingly. Either way, none will remember them save as ruins to be picked over by the next Cycle, left as mysteries to entice the spread by the ones who truly rule this galaxy."
That tale hung in the air for some time, as the three Councilors took it into themselves. The ones before they had obviously heard it before, but even still, one could tell they were affected by it. Garrus and Jon stood just a little straighter, Tali gripping him more tightly as she stood beside him. Only Nihlus seemed impassive at the story, looking like it was simply one more report to him.
"So, they rule THIS galaxy, but now they know there's others out there, others with life outside their 'paths'. What do you think they'll do with that knowledge?" asked the turian at last, the question itself seemingly shocking everyone, as most hadn't apparently considered it. Javik, however, had, and he sighed as he looked towards the Council before him, one eye on each of them, to gauge their reaction.
"The Terrans are spoilers, an outside context problem, as the Terrans themselves might say. As such, they are likely to be exterminated, as they do not fit within the Cycle's intended purpose, whatever that might actually be," he said, before turning to face Jon directly.
"Of course, that is only a guess. Another possibility is that your people, Commander, will be experimented on, carved up, and studied, until such time as they have gained all the knowledge they can from you. Only then, will they dispose of you, and make use of your unique technology to expand the Cycle to many galaxies," he said darkly, before turning back to the Council.
"Perhaps to all of them," he added darkly, which once more cast the room into silence for several minutes as those within it digested that bit of information, and speculation.
"That…is going to take some time to process and plan for. We cannot, in any way, allow these 'Reapers' to continue to treat life in this galaxy, any life, as something for them to use. We will contact our governments, to inform them of what we have learned today, and we will open all contact lines we can with the Terran Federation's leadership," declared Tevos, and neither of her counterparts raised a single objection.
"That would be a good start, but we've seen that the 'Reapers' have weapons far and away beyond what even the Terrans have. Worse, we've seen that, while Terrans are at least seemingly immune to the after effects of Indoctrination, the act of it alone took not only all the biological specimens of the species out, but also the synthetic as well. Any battle must take that into account," said Nihlus, and Jon nodded.
"The sample size of biologicals is smaller than the synthetic, but SPECTRE Nihlus is correct. The fact that Skarrde was taken down for a longer period of time indicates that the 'traps' the Robotech Masters put inside Zentradi brains work against the invasive programming, but it still renders Terrans nearly catatonic. Any plans for fighting back must take that into account," he added, and it did disturb the Council to hear it. The Terrans had the largest, and strongest, force of ships in the galaxy. Being unable to bring them to bear was a detriment to any offensive action against this ancient enemy.
"We will be sure to take that into account. The Conclave has been informed of this, I take it?" asked the turian Councilor, and Nihlus nodded.
"They have the brief on what happened, and while we went without contact shortly afterwards, to avoid any accusations of 'tampering' with the Prothean's view of the galaxy, one can assume they know what happened, and what it means. The Terrans, for all their power cannot stand against a foe who's very nature renders them unable to fight back," he said bluntly, and none in the group protested, not even the Terran in their ranks, showing how serious this was.
"That too will have to be debated, and I believe, kept secret for now," she said, turning towards her counterparts, and both the turian and salarian nodded at that idea.
"Agreed, too many close minded individuals might think of using this enemy 'against' the Terrans in some way, regardless of what it might do to themselves or the galaxy at large. It cannot remain secret for long, but for now, I believe we can keep this amongst those in the 'need to know' category," said the salarian.
"Then, until we have contacted our governments, I believe there is little more to discuss. We offer you, and your crew, a free dock here on the Presidium, and permission to send parties ashore if they need a break…parties of a scale to take advantage of our facilities, obviously," she added the last, and Jon Shepard nodded, knowing that his sister wouldn't bother anyway, though Skarrde and Bhatia might. At that, everyone began to break, but Jon Shepard stepped forward, raising a hand to bring the attention back to him.
"If I might beg an indulgence of this body?" he asked, using the proper forms for making a request directly of the Council itself, which was rare enough to see from a representative of a race under the purview, so they gestured for him to continue.
"While I and my partner, Tali, are by no means experts, we have some skill at data crunching, and I would like a copy of former SPECTRE Saren's business holdings. I have little doubt you saw everything he was up to, but it never hurts to have a fresh set of eyes looking over it, just in case something managed to slip through," he added the last as if trying to downplay that he was doing this to make sure such slips did not happen, and the three Councilors looked to each other, wordlessly debating amongst themselves something, before Tevos nodded.
"The information, for obvious reasons, is classified above the level of almost anyone outside this Council, but I can make a copy of all the files available using a secure terminal in an embassy beside my own. Is that acceptable?" she said the last as a question and Jon smiled, before bowing his head towards her.
"Perfectly, thank you," he said.
"I will have the lock keyed to your omnitool then. Ask one of the C-Sec operatives at the bottom of the Presidium Tower to escort you…and I would request that your own guardian not spend the night on the Presidium. It might bring back some bad memories for those on it," she added, and Jon nodded at her.
"I will inform Chief Bhatia that Tali and I can take care of ourselves for one evening," he said, and then the party turned and left, leaving the Council to look at each other one last time, before they divided up towards their private exits to the chamber, even as they removed all the blocks on the room to begin furiously sending out calls to what seemed a million people at once. The Galaxy was poised to turn on the Council's Word once more, and they would make sure it went in the right direction this time.