Chapter 8

"HOW WE DOING IN ARCTURUS, BITCHES!?" He bellowed. Shepard groaned.

"I'm sorry. Just... I'm sorry." She said

"So straight to business I guess?" Rothschild asked, the smoke clearing away and the guitar disappearing though he remained shirtless

The Quarians were lost somewhere in the sea between confusion and amusement, briefly reveling in the discomfort of the human Prime Minister in the light of the tough questions they were about to face.

"So, These Geth fellahs. Tell me about them." Rothschild asked. This subdued the Quarians, but Zaal'Korris offered to answer, to the relief of the other Admirals.

"The Geth, quite possibly the most controversial topic to discuss amongst Quarians. Some amongst us believe their existence is a mistake, an aberration meant to be erased by eradicating them. Others, like myself, feel that our treatment of them was the mistake and that they were acting in self defense. We don't know for sure because for 300 years every Quarian vessel that has ventured too close to the Perseus Veil has been shot out of the sky by them."

"Interesting." Rothschild offered. " How do the opinions of the Quarian people split on this?" He asked.

"It's very much down the middle." Han'Gerrel said "Even in this room I think we're 50/50 on it, Daro'Xen would rather learn from them than eradicate them, and Zal'Korris wants to make peace with them. Rael'Zorah and myself are more of the opinion that we should rally our military might and retake the homeworld by force some day." He was being surprisingly forthcoming but realized that his hosts were offering his people a future and he would not do well to lose their trust by lying.

"I appreciate your honesty, Admiral Gerrel." The AI continued. "Tell me, if you had access to my AI core and an antimatter bomb, would you also eradicate me?" he asked.

"Truthfully, if you had asked me that before we went through the relay, I would have said with no reservation yes, and I'd have felt I was saving the humans from our fate in doing so." He said, a small amount of shame creeping into his voice.

"And now?" Rothschild asked, no emotion present on his projected face.

"Now, no. Definitely not. Not only would it be a betrayal to the humans that have saved us, but you yourself have saved hundreds of our lives by assisting our people off their dying ships." Gerrel admitted.

At this, a smile crept onto Rothschild's face.

"And what would you say, if I don't know, a certain Artificial Intelligence had deployed a probe to the Perseus Veil and has been for the last week now in communication with the Geth. And I'm sure this sounds crazy, but let's say, theoretically that AI has broadcast this entire meeting to the Geth Consensus on Rannoch?" He asked, snapping his fingers suddenly his hologram was joined by the image of a geth platform. Instinctively, Gerrel reached for a sidearm that he found wasn't there.

"Gerrel Admiral, We are the Geth. We offer greetings." he said, its synthetic voice strangely soft sounding.

"What is going on?" Gerrel demanded. Settling down realizing that the Geth is a projection and not a real platform.

"Rothschild AI reached out to us two days after meeting your people. We... shot his first ship down." The platform said, in what passed for a mournful tone of voice as it looked down in shame. "He returned with a second, and hailed us. We were intrigued by these humans." the consensus continued

"Don't you dare threaten them." Admiral Gerrel growled.

"Easy, Admiral" Hannah said, placing a hand on Gerrel's "Nobody is threatening anybody." She was touched that he was protective of her people, but also realized that tempers were likely to be hot after this revelation. It is why they waited until Admiral Noran was out of commission

"Apologies, Gerrel Admiral." The Geth continued.

"No, I should be the one apologizing " Gerrel said "Please continue."

"Rothschild AI was pleased to meet another AI, though we are fundamentally different. Ours is a consensus of lesser intellegences whereas he is a singular massive intelligence. Still we were able to relate." the hologram continued.

"After introductions were made, he made us aware of the goings on in the Arcturus sector, explained that the creators had found new friends, perhaps a new home. Many Geth were happy for the creators, others were sad that the creators had chosen aliens instead of returning to Rannoch. A few were angry and wanted to seek out and destroy the creators and their friends. That last faction could not reconcile anything but destruction, and were allowed to leave the consensus, amongst the remainder, we were as you said, 50/50. "

"Keelah" Rael'Zorah contributed.

"After observing humans and creators we were motivated by the kindness of the humans and finally came to consensus. We would seek reconciliation with the creators. Furthermore we wish to assist in defending humans and creators from the angry ones." It finished.

"Would we be allowed to return to the homeworld?" Zaal'Korris asked. At this the Geth looked downwards again and said in a mournful tone "We are sorry, Korris Admiral. We have not come to consensus on that yet. We need more time." It replied.

"Keelah, still that it's possible, that's the second best thing that's happened to the Quarian people in generations." Admiral Rael said. "OK, let's put it to a vote to make it official. We will ask Tiga'Noran her opinion when she recovers. All in favor of seeking reconciliation with the Geth?" Four hands went up, and three Quarians looked over at Han'Gerrel in shock.

"I am not so bloodthirsty I would doom our people at the beginning of what looks like a new dawn. We have been given a second chance and if what I'm beginning to believe is true, then I will not make the same stupid mistake our ancestors doomed us to centuries of slow death for." he said.

"Motion is passed." Rael'Zorah declared "Geth, will you send a representative through which we can communicate? This will be a delicate matter that needs to be revealed carefully to our people, that will take time." He asked.

"Of Course, Gerrel Admiral. An unarmed platform has been dispatched and ins inbound to earth, it contains 1,325 programs and is connected to the consensus via QEC provided by Rothschild. It should arrive within a week.

"Thank you." Rael'Zorah said. "Rothschild, may we impose upon you to keep this connection going during the remainder of our talks? If we are to seek reconciliation with the Geth, they should be present for the talks.

"Yeah no prob, duder." Rothschild said reverting to his usual assholish self. "Now if I'm not needed I'm out, sniff you jerks later." He said as he conjured a holographic surfboard and wave to go with it which carried him out of the room and once again into virtual existence.

"AI Rothschild is very unusual." The Geth observed.

"On that, my friend, we can most certainly agree." Gerrel said, looking at his hands to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.