18th April 2156

Citadel

"Any news from the invasion force councillor Quilio?" asked Tevos to the turian councillor.

"Not yet, they are already 3 days late for sending the operation report. Maybe these humans are putting some more resistance, but I now fleet admiral Marthus. He is very capable and will eventually force them to surrender."

Quilio finished.

"I hope so, because for some reason their long range communications are not working. They haven't answered at any of our hails, maybe the humans didn't activate the mass relay's comm buoy. I could send a STG team to establish contact if needed." councillor Zerok offered.

"Thank you, but rest assured the situation is under control. I'm certain that Marthus will contact us very soon." Quilio said.

Suddenly, a fourth voice started laughing. It wasn't a happy laugh, but a slow, mocking laugh. It sounded human, but it also sounded mechanical, like it came from a communication device close by. The councillors were creeped out by that.

"Who.. Who's there? Show yourself!" Quilio ordered.

The old turian's military training kicked in,

making him regain his senses faster than the other two councillors. Then, a frame appeared. (Frames are the mobile platform sentient AI's use as bodies. They look almost exactly like a normal human if they possess external epidermis. The motherchip is housed in an internal compartment.)

"Pleased to finally see you in person councillors. Much better than spying on you like a pervert. Anyway, my name is Grant and my job is to give you a message." he said.

"What message?" Tevos asked, ignoring the fact that she was talking to an AI.

"The 5 directors of the Terran Coalition, our leadership, is coming here in hopes of a peaceful resolution to this whole Shanxi invasion situation." Grant announced.

"The invasion? Do you know what happened?" Zerok asked.

"Of course. We captured your fleet admiral Julrus Marthus in the Hierarchy fist and forced him to surrender. I was there in person, helping in his capture. Don't worry, those who surrendered are alive and well."

Grant informed.

The councillors were shocked. The turians were defeated? And the humans even captured Marthus himself, in his own ship? Now the humans said they wanted to negotiate. And their AI's possessed mechanical bodies too! What were these humans capable of?

Zerok tried to activate her personal silent alarm, but it didn't work:

"Don't bother using the alarms councillors.

We infiltrated the Citadel weeks ago. All alarms are blocked, all the exits are sealed, the comms are cut and your guards are currently unconscious. No need to make a racket and panic like headless chicken for nothing, right?" Grant said, slightly humoured, like he was dealing with kids.

Quilio however was angry. He tried to grab the pistol he always hid in his stand and aimed it towards Grant. Before he could pull the trigger however, a shot was heard. The gun flew out of Quilio's hand and was sprawled in pieces all over the floor, much to his disbelief. 5 more figures materialised out of thin air. One of them was holding a seemingly old gun that was smoking. Grant was looking humoured, like he enjoyed the sight of the councillors being wide eyed at the sight of the black clad humans:

"Didn't you hear me when I said we? You thought we didn't cover every possible angle? " he said to the councillors and then turned to the figure that held the smoking gun:

"Captain Shepard, these councillors are starting to get on my nerves. Can you please continue talking to them because I feel more and more inclined to bash their heads?" Grant pleaded.

"Alright, alright rookie, go with Harper, he will give you some milk and sing you a lullaby for bed." Shepard teased. Grant visibly frowned to the remark. However, he went along with Jack Harper, the second in command of their squad. The councillors were left speechless. A human speaking so plainly with an AI? Didn't they have any idea of the danger they posed?

"Are you mad captain? Don't you understand how dangerous AI's can be?"

councillor Tevos asked, half angry, half afraid. Shepard just looked at her like she was insane and said:

"Who, Grant? Please, Grant is a wimp compared to the rest of us, AIN'T THAT RIGHT GRANTY BOY?" he shouted to Grant, who just showed him the middle finger, saying:

"Fuck you too captain." Shepard only laughed at the remark:

"See councillors? If Grant really was a dangerous AI, he would kill me for this, right?" he asked.

The councillors were speechless. Their mouths, in Quilio's case mandibles, were hanging open like they just saw someone who turned a rock into uranium.

"Anyway, the short version of the message is, our leaders are coming to negotiate, so try to make a better impression as diplomats because you sucked as fighters..." Shepard started saying, Quilio enraged at the last remark:

"... and maybe we can work something out, alright? Also, try not to panic because we are bringing the ACUTE. Any questions?" Shepard asked.

Before anyone could ask, Shepard looked at his wrist and said:

"Oh, look at the time, we are late. Boys, let's make ourselves scarce."

On this command, the 6 CISP operators activated their chrono dislocators and disappeared, each in a blue flash. The councillors just stood behind their stands, staring at the now empty space Shepard and his squad were just a few seconds ago.

"What was that? How could they do it? Teleportation is not possible." Zerok said, unable to comprehend what she saw.

""What does the ACUTE mean? Is it some kind of acronym?" Quilio asked.

"ENOUGH! These questions have to wait. We have to prepare for the negotiations. I told you we had to do it earlier, but no. You just had to piss humanity of. Now I have to clean the mess you created. So help me do it and stop causing unnecessary problems, goddess be damned." Tevos nearly screamed.

Both Zerok and Quilio obliged. They knew that when Tevos lost her cool, things could get really bad if she was pissed off.

Then, a bunch of guards showed up, their leader a female turian;

"Councillors, are you all right?" said. They were all disarmed, their armors damaged, their omni tools disabled and they were afraid for the loves of the council.

"We are fine, don't worry. However, we have to negotiate with a new species that is coming soon. So change back to new uniforms and get some weapons, now!" Tevos ordered, her voice stern and authoritative. The guards instantly snapped to a salute and were gone in a few seconds. Quilio actually laughed at what he saw:

"Haha, even my instructor couldn't make me stand at attention so well. You really have a talent at making people listen to you when you're angry councillor Tevos." he complimented.

"Thank you for your kind words councilor Quilio, now move it!" Tevos ordered.

TCS Terra, on the way to the Citadel

"We are closing to our destination directors. We are preparing for boarding the Citadel." announced admiral Kastanie Drencher.

The directors thanked her and she went to prepare the shuttles.

"So, director MacLeod, can you remind me why we use the chronodrive instead of the mass relay?" Director DeWalt asked.

"Come on now, do we have to get over this again? We have to show the Citadel our superiority. I know, I know, we already beat them to Shanxi, but we have to show the leadership itself that we don't rely to the mass relays as heavily as them. If you have it flaunt it, am I right?" MacLeod answered.

"Yeah, yeah, just like you like to flaunt your ability to drink beer directly from the tap." director Ivanov mocked.

"WHAT? No I don't!" MacLeod shouted.

"Yes, you do!" director Espinoza answered and showed all directors a video of MacLeod doing exactly that at a british pub.

Everyone laughed at that, except MacLeod who looked ready to blow up from what he saw.

"I hate you all." he angrily said.

"I can make you forget if you want." Yuriko offered.

"Nonononono, I'm okay, I'm fine." MacLeod hastily answered, only to make the other directors laugh even harder.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we are getting out of the rupture, so please be ready to get in the shuttles directors." the voice of Drencher called from the intercom.

Citadel, C-Sec traffic control

"Sir, the sensors detect an anomaly behind the Citadel!" shouted a salarian operator.

"What sort of anomaly?" asked a turian supervisor.

"It looks like some kind of energy rupture. Wait, something is coming out..." the salarian's answer was cut short as he saw what came out.

"What is coming out? Let me see..."

The turian pushed the salarian to the side, only to see 5 enormous ships getting out of the rupture. Everyone was staring silently to the hulking behemoths with awe. The salarian was the first to regain his senses.

"Sir, I am calling the Citadel defence fleet!"

he said.

"No, they carry council authorization codes. It says they are the TCS Alliance, Coalition, Union, Terra and Empire, diplomatic envoys of humanity to the Citadel." he said

"Humans? They must be a new race. How did they manage to create these enormous dreadnoughts? They are all twice as big as the Destiny Ascension. Who knows what technology they have to offer to the Citadel species." an asari officer stated.

"True, this method of faster than light travel, using these wormholes, is incredible. Even the most brilliant minds of the citadel species would be unable..."

the salarian was cut short by the turian supervisor:

"Focus on the job. We don't even know what their intentions are. I heard from my cousin in the turian navy that an entire patrol disappeared in a newly opened mass relay. Only one ship survived. If they come with ill intent, it's gonna be worse than the krogan rebellions and the rachni wars combined." he stated.

This comment made them fall silent, realising the possible complications.

Citadel, docking bay E 20

2 platoons of C-sec officers were waiting for the incoming shuttle. When it touched down, the doors opened and out came 1 person (Mary DeWalt) flanked by 6 black suited armed agents (Special Agents), 1 (Andrei Ivanov) flanked by 6 heavily armed and armored humans (SMACC troopers), 1 (Wallace MacLeod) flanked by 6 humans in power suits (Thanotonauts), 1 (Gigiermo Espinoza) flanked by 6 humans in sleek, black armor (CISP operators), and last a woman (Yuriko Omega) without escort who was floating in the air. She couldn't be a biotic because there wasn't any blue glow around her. Despite their nervousness, which Yuriko immediately catched, the C-Sec officers approached, fingers close to the triggers but not on them, and the leader greeted them:

"Welcome to the Citadel directors. The council is waiting for you in the Presidium. If you could follow me please." said the asari.

That asari was Tela Vasir, one of the top spectres of the council and she was brought for this mission because of the high risk. She also had a side job, to hack into the devices of the visitors to get information for the Shadow Broker.

"Alright Tela Vasir, lead the way. Also, don't bother using your hacking device." Yuriko said to the shocked spectre. Tela nodded her head and led the way to the Presidium.

"However, your escorts cannot enter the Presidium, it's only for high ranking personnel." Tela said. A nod from every director to their respective guards and they returned to the shuttle entrance, standing guard and discouraging the assembled crowd from entering it. The 5 directors went in the Presidium elevator along with Tela and 4 more C-sec officers. The doors closed and they were on their way.

"This elevator is slow as sin." MacLeod quipped.

No one answered to him. Finally, they reached the Presidium. At the end of the hall were the 3 councillors, waiting to see the directors.

"Welcome to the Presidium directors. I hope the negotiations will proceed well. We would send you an envoy if we could. I hope we will reach satisfactory results. I am councillor Tevos of the asari republics. The one on my left is councillor Zerok of the salarian union and on my right is councillor Quilio of the turian hierarchy. May I ask you your names? "

Tevos started.

"Of course. My name is Mary DeWalt, I'm the director of civilian affairs."

"I am Alexei Ivanov, head of colonization."

"Wallace MacLeod, armed forces."

"I am Gigiermo Espinoza, head of intelligence, pleasure to meet you."

"Yuriko Omega, science department."

"Now that the introductions are finished, let's move on to business. First, the unprovoked attack against us in our side of the relay. What you have to say about it?" DeWalt started.

"Unauthorized relay opening is banned by Citadel law. While you were unaware of it you need to hear the story about..." Tevos was cut by Espinoza who said:

"Yes, we became aware of the rachni after we found that Codex of yours. While I find the tactic of storing so much important information in such an accessible point questionable, we became aware of the rachni. Which is why we put a military presence in relay openings."

"This is why you destroyed our patrol? You considered us hostile aliens?" Quilio asked.

"No. Our policy is to try and establish communication with potential first contacts. As you must be aware, we found the batarians first. They answered our hails and we talked. The negotiations were successful and they are now allowed to trade with us." Espinoza answered.

"The turians however, entered our space without permission. They strolled inside like they owned the place. Captain Lana Kushner sent them a warning to leave, but they refused, so she opened fire per my direct orders. You shot us, we shot back. Simple." MacLeod finished.

"Then why did you kill so many of them? You butchered 30000 turians and destroyed nearly 40 ships. Is that normal to you?" Quilio asked angrily.

"If they listened they would survive. They didn't so they died. We hit them hard in order to demoralise you, to send a message. We left only one ship back to tell the tale. Clearly, you were too stubborn, so you sent even more to their deaths, blindly and hastily. The soldiers pay for the mistakes of their leaders." MacLeod said.

"Also, we are aware that you authorised the Shanxi invasion to gain access to our technology. Only Tevos resisted at the decision, something that I applaud her for. I am aware that you agreed in the end to keep the cohesion of the council, so maybe there's still hope." Espinoza added, shocking the councillors.

"What? How did you know?" Tevos asked

"You really thought we use stealth frigates only as warships? We have stealtcraft to every major planet and installation. Agents in the Citadel as you learned, Palaven, Thessia, Sur'Kesh, Dekuuna, Kahje, Tuchanka, Khar'Shan, Irune, Omega even close to the Migrant fleet. Your STG is raw amateurs compared to the CISP." Espinoza made Zerok twitch in annoyance at the remark.

"So, here is the deal. We can agree to a ceasefire, maybe even trade agreements, but no way we join the Citadel species as a client state." director DeWalt stated.

""What? Why not? Don't you want to be part of the galactic community?" Tevos asked, her voice laced with disbelief.

"How dare you! In the 2000 years of history, no one even thought of refusing a seat in the Citadel" Quilio was furious at hearing that a new race refused a seat as a client state.

"Does it look like we care? Humanity survived and flourished through many catastrophies and disasters. We fought wars using weapons that are still the stuff of nightmares. We terraformed lifeless rock planets into garden wars, even survived a galactic conflict against rogue warlords. Now, we beat you in Shanxi. No matter what happens, we survive. If you want war with us, we will give it to you. Every single one of your planets will bathe in nuclear fire." MacLeod countered Quilio.

"NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Don't you know how dangerous they are?" Tevos shouted in diabelief. The tension was defused by director Ivanov who tried to appeal to the logical side of the council.

"Hey, hey let us all calm down and face facts. You don't want humanity as an enemy. Yes, we possess nuclear weapons, AI's, terraforming technology that makes yours look primitive and many other advantages, but we don't want anymore conflict. We can just try to get along, trade non military technology, exchange culture and experience and maybe even terraform a few planets for you. Everyone wins."

The council took a minute to think over it. Then, a treaty was given to the directors.

Instead of the standard treaty of Farixen, demanding the limitation of armed forces, a fixed dreadnought ratio, sharing of technology with the Citadel species and allowance to deploy turian fleets as patrols, the modified version only required a ceasefire, reparations from the turians for the damages, allowance for trade between the terran coalition and the citadel and support against outside threats.

"It looks good. And as a gesture of good faith, we offer you one fleet to bolster the Citadel defence fleet and all the captured ships and turian soldiers of the Shanxi invasion." Mary DeWalt announced after the 5 directors signed the treaty.

The council looked relieved, but then Espinoza warned:

"However, my agents will stay on their toes. Try something funny against humanity and I will know about it."

The directors took their leave, except Yuriko.

"Director Omega, is there anything else you need?" Tevos asked nervously.

"I just want to ask you a question. Do you know what cancer is?" Yuriko asked.

The councillors were confused at the question. They looked at each other, the Tevos answered:

"Yes, a disease that mutates cells and turns them into tumors capable of killing the sick person, why?"

"Then you know that the only way to cure cancer is to cut it out, right?" Yuriko asked.

Tevos nodded, still not understanding what was the meaning of the question.

"Then why are you not doing so? Letting the krogan slowly die because of to the genophage after so many centuries is a terrible waste. Ostracizing the quarians because they created the geth is also a waste. Leaving the geth unattended to grow in power and likely invade is foolishness. Allowing the terminus systems to operate unchecked is also foolish. Do you see how many tumors are present to the galaxy? But for some reason you stay idle, slowly rotting away." Yuriko stated telepathically.

The council was flabbergasted. They all heard the same thing in their minds.

"What... what in the spirits name was that?" Quilio asked.

"Some kind of telepathy apparently. Like the asari mind meld but more potent. Are there more like you director Omega?"

Zerok asked.

"Thousands." Yuriko said with a smile and left the Presidium, floating mid air.

AN

Next chapter: Were will young Shepard be in his teens.