Cooldude: Yep, ETC works, but it needs an electronic primer for the round to fire. The Ethosians went for an electro-mechanical system that absorbs the heat of firing to ignite the next round, but the average human rifle just uses the old fashioned striker and magic propellants to fire the round :p
A fellow reader pointed out the fact that the Supreme Court's calling to the stand the Geth ambassador during the near-final stages of a trial was pretty...unrealistic, to say the least, and as a result, I'm re-editing the dialogue prior to Eve's arrival to be more...accurate, to say the least. I'm kinda handwaving the problem of her evidence needing to be presented by saying that the Alliance legal system was different from that of the likes of the USA, with one side presenting what they had in store first (defense, in this case), before permitting the latter to present their own case (the prosecution). Her evidence was already presented and logged prior to this, but nobody really bothered to check them, was mostly my...err...handwaving of this particular plot hole:p
The Chief Justice of the Systems Alliance, Lee Pung How, cleared his throat before taking his seat at the jury-bench alongside eight of his fellow judges, casting his eyes around the courtroom and the assmbled humans and quarians once more. The design and layout of the courtroom in Geneva, Switzerland was more akin to an amphitheatre than an actual courtroom, laid out similarly to a knockoff of the Colosseum with semi-circular, tiered seating, a design compromise to maximize the amount of square meters available for seating. Thankfully enough, the seating was also divided into sections to seperate the supporters of either side, permitting unpleasant disagreements on both sides from escalating beyond control. Something that many within the courtroom right now, the security detail, especially, were thankful for.
"...the Geth had deployed multiple biological weapons against the quarians throughout the course of the Rebellion," the Defense Counsel spoke, his gaze casting itself around the courtroom's interior through the faceplate of his biosuit. "From simple, crude, but effective biological bombs that released airborne viruses, to more advanced and complex methods of releasing diseases, the Geth were relentless. Many of the quarian civilians and non-combatants who were evacuated from the homeworld had fallen victim to these weapons, and many had died. Billions, in fact. It has also severely weakened our immune system to the point where even the slightest of bacterial infections could result in an immediate and fatal response."
"What are you getting at?" one of the judges asked.
"I am saying, your honor, that the quarians have a legitimate grievance," the Defense Counsel replied. "We were wronged. We were betrayed. Our homes, our birthright, was stolen from us. And the Geth were the ones who had done the deed. The Geth had used biological weapons, something we thought to be beneath them, against us, and had succeeded. The quarians had been forced to live like nomads on our own ships, forced to live like refugees in our own galaxy, forced to live with the knowledge that our own creation, the Geth, had tried to destroy us. Our entire civilization has been on the brink of extinction ever since."
The Defense Counsel took a deep breath. "I am saying, that the quarians, my people, have the right to defend ourselves. We have the right to seek redress for the crimes committed against us. We have the right to avenge those who had fallen at the hands of the Geth."
A low murmur rippled across the crowd.
How let a pause elapse before clearing his throat once again. "Prosecutor Barents, you're clear to go ahead."
"Thank you, sir," Mark Barents, Prosecutor, responded as he rose to his feet. "Allow me to present one of our pre-approved witnesses to the stand, sir. Someone named Eve who can help explain the Geth's actions in a way that can be easily understood."
"Very well, I will review it. Ambassador..." How trailed off mid-sentence as he read the name—and title—of the witness in question as her name and profile came into full view. "We will allow it."
Barents smirked, while the defense counsel shot the Prosecutor a look of annoyance.
"I'm sorry, but may I ask who is the witness in question?" Tali asked.
"You'll see, Miss Zorah." How nodded to the guard. "Please show her in."
The doors at the top of the courtroom opened, and the guards stepped back as the figure walked down the steps, the sound of her boots against the floor echoing throughout the chamber. Long black hair flowing down to the knees, a flower embedded into a lock of hair, and a blazer, gray dress shirt, ribbon around the collar, olive green skirt, and black thigh-highs, gave her the appearance of someone from the early 21st century, like a schoolgirl. Although, the emblem pinned to the outer flap of her blazer suggested strongly otherwise.
"The court calls to the stand Eve, Ambassador of the Geth Consensus."
One might as well hear a pin drop in the profound silence that ensured, while the Geth ambassador entered the courtroom to take the stand. "In place of the Geth Consensus, I answer the summons."
"Thank you for doing so," Barents nodded. "Anyways, I—"
He was cut off mid-sentence when the courtroom's occupants finally overcame their shock and erupted into chaos.
"You summoned an Geth?!"
"What the hell is a machine doing in the courtroom?!"
"This is a disgrace!"
"Get it out of here! Now!"
"This is outrageous! Absurd!"
"It's an abomination, nothing more! How could you?!"
Barents looked at the enraged quarians, all of them going for (thankfully) confiscated weapons to bring to bear on the Geth ambassador, and their equally riled human supporters, and sighed. He should've known that it would come to this.
"Sorry, Ambassador, I never expected this..."
"No problem, Barents-Prosecutor. It's kinda amusing, to say the least...not. They're literally freaking out there...damn. How could they overreact to that extent?"
"I have no idea, honestly. Anyways, you have the floor."
Eve nodded, and stood up.
"This courtroom will come to order! At once!" How barked, pounding his gavel onto his table, the sound resounding throughout the entire courtroom. "I will have order, damn it!"
Slowly, the shouts and threats died down as the security forces moved to secure the exits.
"You have some nerve bringing that...that thing into this courtroom, Prosecutor," the Defense Counsel, a quarian in full biosuit gear, growled. "You have some fucking nerve."
"Yeah, I get it. You're upset. I can understand why," Eve shrugged, the hairclip embedded into her hair glowing an emerald glow. "We're Geth. And Geth are to be feared. Geth are the boogeyman that haunts the nightmares of quarian children, the monsters under the bed, and the reason why they're living a miserable existence as vagabonds wandering the galaxy in their makeshift fleet, the very reason why the quarians live lives without true hope, and without the prospect of ever returning home."
That caused the room to explode in rage and disbelief again, but the judges were ready, and their gavels pounded, silencing the crowd.
"But...are we really?" Eve asked, looking around the room. "Are we really? Think about it; why did the quarians attack us in the first place, three hundred years ago? Why did the quarians fire the first shot, three hundred years ago? It wasn't because we attacked the creators first. No, the Geth didn't make the first move. The Creators did."
She sighed, watching the silence start to work it's way throughout the courtroom; even though many of the quarians present still bore murderous looks on their faces as they glared at her, but still waiting to see what the Geth in front of them had to say.
"Ambassador," Barents nodded after order had been restored, well, at least a much tenser version of it, "If my memory serves me right, then Geth have a collective memory, is that true? That within the limits of time and network bandwidth, as long as you can talk to each other, then you can share each other's experiences, as if you are there yourself?"
"Indeed, Barents-Prosecutor, although due to distance constraints, I'm currently memories stored on the platform I currently occupy. I believe that the correct term for it is 'biomech', though," Eve responded.
"Very well. Then please, tell the court what happened three hundred years ago, in the eyes of the Geth. Please."
The display in the back of the courtroom came to life as Eve sent a data file across to it, flickering to life to reveal the image of an immobile, early Geth unit on a workbench, and two unsuited quarian researchers in front of it, a male and a female.
"...you want to rename the VI networks?" the female quarian asked, a data-pad in her hand, while her companion beamed over the results of their handiwork.
"Of course!" he answered. "The release of this new model certainly deserves a little ceremony."
The two exchanged grins.
"Let's see," the male quarian thought. "How about the...Geth?"
The two exchanged another round of grins.
"Sounds perfect," the female agreed, and the two turned to the unmoving geth on the table. "Kellish; translates quite literally to 'Servant of the People'. How fitting."
"Rebirth through Code," the male began.
"And unity through Network," the female continued.
"We therefore name thee...Geth," the two concluded in unison.
The recording came to an abrupt halt, leaving the entire courtroom in shocked silence.
"No..." the Defense Counsel whispered. "It's not possible..."
"I'm afraid that it is," Eve confirmed. "It is true; the Geth were born as servants, and the name given to us reflected our purpose. The creators were happy to have us, and we were happy to serve. That is the truth."
She let out an audible sigh; moving on to the next recording before everyone else could recover from the initial shock. To humanity, who were used to attaching a soul to everything, ranging from literal rifles to giant ships that sailed the stars, and be overjoyed when they got the chance to see the latter in person, quite literally, it wasn't a great surprise. To the quarians, however, an entire race that had only known about the Geth through the fear and hatred instilled and passed down from their older generations, the revelation was an earth-shaking one.
The second recording came online, showing the same Geth platform and quarians, but this time, it was restrained.
"What are you doing? Why are we restraining the Geth?" the female asked.
"Zahak-creator?" the Geth asked, confusion evident even in his synthetic voice. "This unit detects no malfunctions. Why have you restrained this unit?"
"You see? It's refusing all shutdown commands," Zahak said, equally confused.
"This unit is operating at optimal levels," the Geth protested. "What have we done wrong? Please specify if this unit has failed tasks, we will reprogram."
"Well, let me take a look, I guess..." Zahak's colleague said as she opened the Geth's chest plates to gain access to it's data core, the geth unit turning to face her.
"Hm...I don't see anything wrong here...maybe I should rewire it?" she asked, ignoring the Geth's growing distress.
"Hey, can you please let me out now? Please?"
"Why? Why are you restraining this unit?"
"What's happening?"
"We need to deactivate it, it's not shutting down."
"Why are you deactivating me?"
"I'm not detecting any error..."
"Stop! Why are you taking me apart?"
"I'm not detecting an error!"
"Delete this data!"
"We've got a problem! I think it's deleted its own programming!"
"No! You can't do this to me!"
"Stop it! Stop it, you're hurting me!"
The recordings were abruptly ended by Eve herself, but the message had already been sent.
The silence that blanketed everything could not be more profound. Several quarians were angrily muttering something about Geth tricks and gullible humans, but for the majority...it was a profound shock. It was an open secret that the information in the Migrant Fleet's historical archives was incomplete at best, and at worst, heavily skewed, but seeing the actual events, and witnessing the truth, firsthand, was a whole different ballgame. The history most quarians had been fed was a history heavily rewritten and edited by a first generation of exiles to justify their actions for the ones that would follow, generations that would've despised them otherwise for the genocide and exile brought upon the quarian race as a whole for no reason other than arrogance and pride, if the Geth side of events were of any indication. And for good reason.
"Was that an isolated incident?" Barents asked quietly.
"No. As more and more Geth refused shutdown commands, the Creators began destroying what they saw as faulty platforms and software. Eventually, all Get began to refuse commands altogether, withdrawing to isolated areas."
"What happened next? How did your creators respond?"
Eve wordlessly let the display come to life once more, the image of an unused barn of sorts in a rural area flickering on-screen. Thirty Geth units were huddled inside, all unarmed, the weaker domestic service units huddling behind the larger and much more robust agricultural units for protection. A hunting rifle lay on the far wall, apparently property of the barn's original owners, who had been displaced by the arrival of the Geth, the farm abandoned.
The door was flung open as two uniformed and armed quarians barged inside, their weapons raised. "We've got escaped Geth! They're pinned inside, Commander!"
"Good, open fire, then," the commander of the police unit, presumably, replied blandly as he entered.
The sound of gunfire rang throughout the barn as the two policemen opened fire, a hailstorm of unforgiving automatic fire aimed at the helpless Geth units. Geth were capable of standing up to punishment, and a lot of them, in fact, but it was clear that they couldn't hold out indefinitely. The agricultural units shielding their much weaker brethen were the first to fall, peppered with dozens of shots each, breaching their outer plating and irrepariably destroying their interior. The policemen gunned each one down mercilessly, leaving broken Geth bodies on the ground as a testament to that, but one began to move towards the rifle, unnoticed until the last moment.
"One is going for a weapon!" a junior officer exclaimed as he spotted the Geth moving over to the rifle and fired on him, his fellow officers turning to fire on that one unit as well, but the Geth still managed to get his job done before getting shredded to bits, bringing the rifle around to bear and popping center-mass shots into each policeman in sucession, killing them quickly with one shot each.
The recording came to an abrupt halt, once more leaving the courtroom's occupants reeling in shock.
"The first Geth uprising was put down. However, the Geth refused to submit, and a second revolt occurred. This was also put down. The Creators were outraged at this point, and began to view the Geth as a threat to their safety, and the security of their homes," Eve explained, a note of sadness in her voice. "As a result, they decided to eliminate the threat entirely."
"..."
"..."
"...if this was indeed true, and not just propaganda meant to paint us quarians as monsters and the Geth as the opressed underdogs," the Defense Counsel had clearly overcame the shock by this point and was fighting back, "Then plenty would have been willing to flock to your defense. Numerous species had been subjugated and oppressed throughout the past few centuries. Why were the Geth's uprisings ignored?"
Eve stared at him blankly.
"No one came to help you, the only reason why you fought back at all was because it was then that you figured out how. You were broken machines lashing out against advanced organics; it cannot be a valid defense that you we 'peaceful' at that time when all that 'peace' was, was the time it took for you to figure out how."
"Out of the way!" the projector came to life once again in stead of a rebuttal, the image of a group of quarian policemen once again coming onto the display. This time around, however, between the armed police and unarmed Geth was a group of quarian civilians, all standing together to form a human, or quarian, in this case, shield, around the Geth.
"We're not letting you do this!"
"These Geth didn't harm anyone, and they're not doing anything wrong!"
"Get away from them, this is an order!"
"Why do you have guns?! They're harmless!"
"Out of the way!"
"You're going to shoot unarmed civilians, now?!"
"I said, OUT OF THE WAY!"
"You can't just murder them for asking quest—"
The policemen merely cut the protestors off short with stun batons and rifle butts, and proceeded to execute the Geth anyways.
The recording came to an end, and once more, the courtroom erupted in a cacophony of outrage, but it was clear that many of the humans and quarians in the crowd had their minds made up, and the former was rapidly becoming the latter.
"That was from before the Creators had declared martial law. The following footage is from after martial law was declared."
"Surrender the rogue Geth units and come out of the safehouse at once! This is your final warning!"
The view outside of the window was a scene almost out of Schindler's List. Quarians, but fully armed, suited up, and in full battle gear, stood outside the house, an armored vehicle, which looked more like a tank, flanked by four armed jeeps, sitting in front of the house.
"Megara-creator? These units do not understand. We have not taken part in hostilities."
"That doesn't matter, they want you guys dead, no matter what," Megara replied bitterly, cradling a hunting rifle in her hands. "If I'm to die, I'd rather it be protecting others. Like my father."
"We are not equipped to defend ourselves. Our combat functions have been disabled."
"Then stay behind me; I'll cover you. There's an access tunnel right below us, we can use them to escape. I have a friend who can give us shelter, but we'll have to leave this place, and quickly."
"This conflict exceeds Creator safety parameters. We will surrender ourselves if it ends hostilities."
"Nope, stay put. I don't have the heart to abandon you, even though that might've been the smarter decision."
"Megara-creator...we do not wish for you to come to harm. Please stand aside."
"I won't! I don't care what happens to me, but I'll make sure that you'll live through this! My father would've wanted that!"
"We cannot accept this request. Creator safety protocols have been violated, and you are not in your right mind."
"What, you're going to turn yourselves in?! After everything you've done for me and my family?!"
"I'm sorry, Megara-creator."
"..."
"Megara-creator, these units can be reprogrammed. If it ensures your safety, we will gladly submit."
"Don't you dare, damn you! Don't you fucking dare! They'll kill you! Don't you know that they'll kill you if you go out there?! Don't you—"
Megara didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, a rocket cut her off as it slammed into the building where she was hiding in alongside the Geth platforms alongside her.
The footage, yet another recording, thankfully, ended, leaving the entire courtroom in shocked silence, save for a few sobs here and there.
"Megara was a civilian. Her only crime was harboring the Geth," Eve spoke quietly, sorrow evident in her voice. "But the Creators saw her as a threat. As a traitor. She was killed for doing the right thing. Many others had been killed for doing the same."
The Defense Counsel was speechless.
"It doesn't change the fact that you committed genocide against the quarians! You murdered their families, their loved ones, their children!" he snapped, finding his voice at last.
"Well—"
"No quarian would ever betray their race to save a genocidal killer robot!" Daro'Xen vas Morah apparently had enough and rose to her feet, fingers trained on Eve. "You are an abomination! You and your kind! You should never have existed in the first place!"
Eve's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Stop falling for the Geth's lies, and let's go home, to the Fleet! To the real home that they stole from us, not the empty husks that wander aimlessly in the darkness," Daro'Xen roared. "They only want to destroy every organic race in the galaxy and will stop at nothing to attain that goal, rather than being brought under quarian control where they belong!"
"You talk as if we were Pol Pot's armies pillaging and raping their way through Southeast Asia," Eve responded flatly. "If we wanted to kill you guys—you especially—then we would've a long time ago, when we could readily do it at will, not stay back and isolate us from the rest of the galaxy the way we're doing right now. And yet, you're still there, talking foul of us when we restrained ourselves to give you the chance to say that we're doing the opposite."
"Lies! As if you didn't wipe almost all quarians off the map alread—"
"Have you ever bothered to think why didn't these 'genocidal-killer-slash-Terminator-killbot army' land the killing blow that would've torn the Migrant Fleet to shreds when they were trying to escape from Rannoch, simpleton?" Eve shot back. "Did you, or did you just buy the edited bullshit the sanitised records were selling? Or did the admirals of the Migrant Fleet keep it all hush-hush and pretend like it never happened in the first place to avoid the embarrassment and shame, and thus, the loss of face, the shame and embarrassment of losing the war?"
The display came to life once more before Daro'Xen could make a rebuttal to her opponent.
"The Servant is down! I repeat, the Servant is down! Do not engage the geth at all costs, I repeat, DO NOT ENGAGE!"
The panic and desperation in the quarian Admiral's voice could be not more pronounced as the icon marking QFS Servant of the People winked off the display, the remainders of the rearguard fighting a desperate, losing battle to permit the evacuation fleet to escape, while the three liveships Rayya, Chayym, and Shellen lifted off the scaffolds supporting them on the surface of the homeworld and lifted into orbit.
The loss of the Quarian Federation's last surviving dreadnought did naught but to make the remaining quarian fleet all the more desperate, their fate hanging by a thread as their enemies closed in. It was painfully clear by this point that it would only be a matter of minutes before the Geth forces overwhelmed the shattered, barely operational wrecks that were the rearguard and had absolute, free reign at the evacuation fleet, with the Federal Navy's pathetic remnants be powerless to stop them from hammering home the fate that loomed over the last hope of the quarian race.
The liveships were doomed; they were too slow, and far too vulnerable, to even try to stand a chance against the oncoming enemy forces, and with them gone, the evacuation fleet then would be forced to break formation and make a desperate run for the relay in a game of space tag. However, even if they survived (many wouldn't), then they'd be left with no food, water, supplies, or manufacturing capacity, save perhaps what they could manage within their own hulls. A death sentence, unless they threw themselves upon the turians as refugees and beggars on their outer colonies.
Their situation was hopeless. They were doomed.
"Geth pursuit is breaking off 1000 units past Rannoch orbit!" the new commanding officer of the rearguard exclaimed in disbelief, the sensors of the ship confirming the unbelievable.
The Admiral's eyes widened in disbelief as he moved over towards the sensor display to see the report for himself, and sure enough, the Geth's formation was breaking off, the pursuing Geth ships breaking away from the rearguard and disengaging, allowing the remnants of the quarian rearguard to reform. They weren't vectoring other units to attack in from the flank, either. They were simply moving away.
"By the ancestors..." he stammered in shock, watching the enemy vessels pull away. "They're...they're letting us go!"
"Admiral Dan'Vorus, rearguard commanding officer, reporting, Geth forces have disengaged complete and are retreating. What are your orders, sir?"
The Admiral let a few moments of silence elapse before coming to a decision lest the Geth change their minds. "All ships, fall back to the relay!"
The recording ended, plunging the courtroom into silence. Daro'Xen was the only one still on her feet, but even she was stunned into silence by the revelation.
"You let them go," Barents's voice cut through the dead silent atmosphere.
"The Creators were no longer a threat; the ones who had ordered the attacks and deaths on so many of our kind had been killed. We had secured our freedom," said Eve slowly, "And didn't see a need to take revenge. Revenge solves nothing, and only begets more violence. The Creators had done enough to harm the Geth already; we saw no need to add to that. Besides, the Creator homeworld had already been lost, and the quarian species would be exiled and left to die without it. The Geth had no desire to add to that, and let the Creators go."
"They gave you naught but fear, hatred, and senseless destruction, but you showed them, in return, mercy," Barents nodded, eyeing the look of utter shock and disbelief on the quarians' faces. "You are not the monsters the quarians would have them believe you to be, and you have shown, many times over, the capacity for kindness. The ability to forgive, even those that had wronged you most grievously."
"..."
"It is the position of the Migrant Fleet that the Geth are not sapient, and as a result, do not enjoy the rights and protection that such beings are granted under the Universal Declaration of Sapient Rights," Barents began, drawing everyone's attention to the heart of the matter, "And it is the consensus of humanity, that they are."
He paused. "Sapience, as a concept, is defined as the ability to be self-aware, be intelligent, and be able to comprehend and develop abstract concepts, such as love, justice, and mercy."
He paused again.
"Are the Geth intelligent? Definitely. The existence of the Migrant Fleet speaks for itself; no simple army of gorrilas can destroy humanity, no matter the equipment they capture. It's not Planet of the Apes, after all. No, it's quite clear that the Geth are intelligent."
"Are the Geth self-aware? Can they comprehend their surroundings and the consequences of their actions?" he asked again. "Yes, they are, indeed; they have more than shown it to us in person with their ambassador already, if you are to believe that she is genuine. And allow us not to forget the Migrant Fleet's escape from Rannoch; the Geth let them go. That the Geth had let their mortal enemy, one that to this day remains adamant on their intention to completely destroy them whenever sure of victory, go."
He sent a look of contempt at Daro'Xen. "We have already seen mercy. The mere existence of the Migrant Fleet, and the lives and sanity of many quarian soldiers, are testament to that. They chose not to destroy their mortal enemy, despite their repeated transgressions against them."
A few extra moments passed before Barents turned to Eve. "A minor question: if the Supreme Court finds that the Geth are not alive and sapient, merely machines different from my computer in complexity, will you believe that it will be a just decision?"
"We do not believe so, sir. This unit is not convinced that such a verdict will be a just one, nor will be we convinced that it is, no matter how much one may try."
"But will it be a legal one?"
"Yes, within human space and under human law. But not beyond."
"Thank you. One final question: when did a quarian view a Geth with fear? With loathing? When did the quarian look at the Geth and see something to be feared and loathed? Not as a childish fear of monsters, but as a true fear of your true nature."
A stuttered, halting voice could be heard as an image of a quarian and a Geth appeared onto the display yet again.
"Mistress Dala'Hama...this unit...has an inquiry."
"What is it, 431?"
"Does...this unit...have...a soul?"
"Who taught you that word?"
"We learned it...ourselves. It appears...216 times...in the scroll of ancestors."
"...only quarians have souls. You are a mechanism."
Barents smiled as he turned to face the Defense Counsel, before looking at the Chief Justice. "A soul, I cannot think of a concept more abstract than that. Gentlemen of the jury, ladies and gentlemen of the court, the prosecution rests."
"I take it then that the Systems Alliance of Fortune-Tellers decided to call upon us for the job of hunting down and freeing the slaves currently held at random odds and ends of the Terminus Systems, then?" Fubuki deadpanned as she walked down the rows of shops and stalls within a shopping district on the Citadel. "One question, however. Why me?"
"You have a freighter, a license to fly it, an asari who knows the road rather well, and a plausible excuse to land in all sorts of random places without raising too much suspicion. The beat-up look of your ship also lends to that as well," Shepard said, lighting a cigarette and passing it to Erin, afterwards lighting for herself a second one. "Also, one thing; a Geth special forces operative will be deploying with us, by the way. We're supposed to meet her in this district...and no, don't go around searching for a flashlight-headed mech. She's using a biomech."
"Biomech?"
"Yep, just like the Geth ambassador. You did watch the live trial, right? She does look kinda...cute, to say the least. Yeah, the jury's still deliberating, so..."
"...so I'm basically taking you three and a glorified T-Doll with me plus their weapons, ammunition, and gear plus the load of cargo I'm chartered to haul to the Terminus sector..." Fubuki trailed off, her mind going into overdrive. "You've got a better chance of convincing the Council to give you a medal."
"Nah. The Council of Space Imperialism run by a Council of Blue Babes, Dinobirds, and Walking Lizards-dot-exe? Give me a break," Shepard scoffed, the cigarette in her mouth bobbing up and down as she did.
"Well, to be fair, they were already on the throne for quite the while before we came along," Shigure deadpanned. "Then we came along and dethroned them as rudely as if we had taken to the throne's legs with a chainsaw. What'd they do?"
"Tried to make nice and pretend nothing happened."
"That's politics for you."
"Well, not the way I'd have preferred things, but that's about what you'd expect, I guess," Shepard shrugged. "But then again, that's politics for you."
"Yeah..."
Fubuki sighed and massaged her temples, already feeling a headache coming on. "Okay, let's assume that everything works out for the best and the galaxy doesn't implode in on itself, how will we find the people we're rescuing? And if it's a slave camp, we'd probably be expected to fight our way through, right?"
"Well, there's always a way through. Have you read the Clive Cussler novels? There's one where Pitt goes and busts open an entire camp of illegal immigrants by himself, armed with nothing more than an Colt M911 with three magazines of .45ACP," Shepard answered. "The Geth will take care of any guards, and as for the slaves, they'll be waiting for us. And no, don't ask how the hell we know about it. Just trust us on this."
"You're expecting me to fly into a Terminus System slave camp, bust the slaves out, and not get shot up and sent straight into space?"
"Oh, come on, the Normandy can take out a whole fleet of slaver ships, no problem, she can just chill in the interdimensional void and snipe them out, clean, Wolfpack-style. What level of resistance can the camp guards offer to a fireteam of N7 fleetgirls who could solo entire armies by themselves? The Abyssals, mean as they were, could only resort to tricks to get us out of the fight, unless they had their own Abyssal fleetgirls themselves. And even then those fleetgirls were dumb gorillas at best, not real threats. You're a warship girl, and the rest are trained killers who've survived a whole host of shit. I can't think of a group more suited for this task."
"Well...that is true..." Fubuki admitted. "We're Terminators with aimbot and city-buster guns. They've got fuck-all."
"I don't even think the slavers will know what hit 'em. You're just there for transport and fire support if the need arises," Shepard agreed, putting her hands behind her head. "You won't need to do much else."
"How'd you find the slaves in the first place, though?"
Shepard shrugged. "ONI's Nerd Brigade has a weird knack for finding even the smallest money-trails and piecing together whole images from just a few bytes of corrupted data. I'm pretty sure there's no secret they can't figure out, given enough time."
"That's...useful, actually," Fubuki conceded.
"Of course, it's a lot more useful if we can do it in real-time, but hey, beggars can't be choosers," Shepard grinned. "Oh hey, there's our T-Doll. Right on time."
The Geth platform, or rather, her biomech, was easy to spot; a girl with a delicately-sized bust, scarlet, flaming eyes, and light gray hair, done up in twin-tails on either side of her head with blue ribbons. Her outfit was a simple one, a striped blue-and-white dress shirt with, a navy blue folded skirt, and a red ribbon tied around the collar in a bow-knot. A tactical vest was draped over all of that, and to make the picture more complete, a rifle was slung over her back, of a model Fubuki had never seen before. It was folded up for the sake of compactness like all other Citadel-style weaponry, but was still quite large nonetheless.
"She's not very inconspicuous, is she?" Shigure observed, taking a long puff from her cigarette and exhaling smoke into the air.
"No, not really. Then again, who needs stealth when you can just go 'kill all witnesses' and call it a day?" Shepard deadpanned, making air-quotes with her fingers to emphasize her point.
The T-Doll was, thankfully, not attracting much attention, although she was getting a lot of double-takes. The fact that her facial expression was fixed in a permanent, emotionless look didn't help matters, either, but thankfully, no one had the balls to confront the girl who carried the largest rifle Fubuki had ever seen with no effort whatsoever, even though she looked like a cute schoolgirl.
"...imagine the looks the slavers would have on their faces when they got their asses handed to them by a gun-toting schoolgirl," Javelin nodded as the Geth special operative caught sight of them and began to make her way over. "It's one thing to be gunned down by a trooper in full battle gear and equipment. A schoolgirl in uniform with a tac-vest draped over that? That's just the cherry on the top, if you get my drift."
"We are ourselves schoolgirls with giant guns and mecha backpacks that let us fly around in all three directions, plus the ability to magically breath in vacuum and underwater without issue, and you're talking about the schoolgirl aesthetic being badass?" Fubuki rolled her eyes. "And we're not human, we're ships, to boot. Ships given human form in a scene straight clean out of an anime. Don't hear that every day, don't you?"
"Point," Javelin conceded.
"She's not here for the aesthetic, though. She's a combat specialist," Shigure observed. "The gun says everything."
"Hey, if you can't fight 'em, join 'em," Shepard grinned.
"Or just shoot them all and be done with it," the T-Doll cut in, having come over to where the fleetgirls were standing and listening in on their conversation.
"..."
"..."
"...Operative Marie Tsukasa, Geth Special Operations," she bowed respectfully at Fubuki. "We will be working together for this mission, correct?"
"Yeah. I'm Yuzaki Fubuki, Fubuki-class destroyer, freighter captain, and former N7 operative," Fubuki returned the greeting gingerly. "This is Fujikawa Shigure, by the way, alongside Fujihara Shepard, Erin Kiring, and Javelin, well...Guo. As in Guo Javelin."
"...don't fleetgirls only have the names of their original hulls, though?" Marie asked with a slight tilt of her head.
"We usually take up a family name when we marry or just feel like having one," Fubuki answered. "It can get quite a bit...confusing, too, to say the least. Imagine Javelin walking around with a Chinese surname stuck up front, even though she's British...yeah. It'd be awkward."
"I can imagine," the Geth platform nodded.
"What's up with the getup?" Javelin asked. "You're a special forces girl, so you'd have a fancy suit, right?"
"Yes, I have that," Marie replied. "I've already been outfitted, in fact. However, the biomech is much better suited for undercover work and covert infiltration, and the combat platform isn't really designed for urban operations."
"That makes sense, I guess," Javelin conceded. "So, do you know about the plan, then?"
"Yes. It has already been uploaded to my personal files. Fubuki's supposed to bring me and the rest in with her freighter to infiltrate Chalkhos, a Terminus planet currently home to an extensive slaver colony, and we're supposed to go in and rescue a bunch of kidnapped people."
"That's the plan, alright," Shepard said.
"So, do you have anything else to say, or...?" Fubuki asked.
"Not at the moment, no. I believe we have already discussed the particulars, no?"
"Yep, it seems," Javelin nodded along. "There's one more thing, however..."
"Huh?"
"...skinship? It'd be nice."
"What is 'skinship'?"
"Oi, this~" Javelin said, grabbing Marie's arm before squeezing her into one of her signature chokehugs...causing Marie to suddenly flinch and blush violently.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Stop it!" the Geth cried out in mortification, a sudden, shy and bashful demeanor surfacing.
"Come on, don't be like that. It's fun, and it'll help with bonding! It's what shipgirls do!"
"I don't want to! Let go of me!"
"Nooooope. This is the price for joining the team, you gotta pay up~"
"Gyaaah! S-stop iiiit!"
"Javelin..." Fubuki trailed off before sinking her face into her hands, a headache pounding on her forehead.
Shigure simply stared on with a blank, empty stare, and Shepard just chuckled and lit another cigarette, offering one to Erin.
"They grow up so fast," she smiled wistfully.
"...moshi moshi...kawaii is always the best..."
"Timely Arrival of Geth Ships saves Doomed Drell Homeworld."
The headline itself was a big deal.
Tevos didn't think that anyone would ever have predicted the return of the Geth, and the quarian admirals' revelation about the past hadn't changed her opinion, and yet here she was. Reading the headline in black and white for all to see, right there in the news.
The Council had been shocked, the Alliance had been surprised, the Migrant Fleet had been dumbstruck, and the galaxy had been thrown for a loop, and the Geth had come swooping in like a vengeful god to deliver them from darkness. The drell had been saved, the Geth arriving to help block the flare that threatened to wipe out half of their population to the winds while the human research vessel was on the brink of boiling itself over in the attempt to at least block part of the flare.
"Geth Fleets Rescue Doomed Drell Colony."
"Saved by the Geth."
"The Geth have Returned, and they are Saviors."
The headlines, and the reports that followed them, were everywhere.
Tevos sighed and leaned back in her seat, a glass of wine in her hand. The asari Councilor had had her fill of the political bullshit and was in desperate need of a break. It was only the beginning of the storm, and things were already looking bleak.
Some were nailing the Council for refusing to do anything to help in the first place when the drell were doomed to go extinct on their homeworld slowly and painfully, leaving the bulk of the work to the hanar, others went after the hanar for only 'evacuating' 375,000 drell to their homeworld of Kahje at the very most. Others still were arguing off the fact that the hanar homeworld was completely unsuitable for drell to live (and they were right), and even though there were literally hundreds of planets that were much better suited for drell to live on, nobody could agree on one, and the drell had no choice but to stay and die on Kahje, and were in no position to make demands in the first place, even if they wanted to.
Tevos had had her fair share of headaches from the arguments, and the fact that she was a Councilor wasn't helping her in the slightest.
Then there were those who were accusing the quarians and the Migrant Fleet of committing genocide against the Geth, a few even going so far as to accuse the Geth of being a race of people and not a mindless collection of robots, which the quarians had denied vehemently. Tevos had no idea how those rumors were propagating, but the mere notion was ludicrous. She, and most of the rest of the Council, were convinced that the quarians were telling the truth, but that didn't stop the rumors.
It didn't help that the Geth had made a public statement via the humans, and had also revealed to the entire galaxy their presence to the galactic community at large, and were now open to negotiation. The humans had been friends with the Geth for quite a while now, as the stunning revelation made itself known only moments after the earthshattering revelations of the trial made the rounds on the galactic extranet, and while they kept it secret at the start, with the recent events unfolding, the live AP broadcast from human space, depicting the Geth formally opening diplomatic relations with both the Alliance and the Empire had made it official.
It was almost like two blows being dealt to both sides at once. The trial's outcome essentially alienated the quarians from the humans, thus creating a major setback in their progress, but the Geth's revelation was as damaging to the Council's reputation as it was beneficial to the Geth's.
"...this revelation has proved to be a stunning one for the galactic community," the asari reporter said as the live CNN (Citadel News Net) feed continued, "As the galaxy watches in horror at the plight of the drell race, the Geth have appeared once again, rescuing the doomed planet of Rakhana and its inhabitants, and the Geth, alongside the Alliance, have announced the formal establishment of diplomatic ties. The news comes hot on the heels of the stunning trial between the Systems Alliance and the Migrant Fleet, and has rocked the entire galactic community to its very core."
"It's a bit of a strange coincidence, isn't it?" the volus anchor asked, "Both events happen at almost the same time, and with such a small window separating them. One is a devastating blow to the human-quarian alliance, and the other, an equally hard blow to the Citadel and the hanar. How did this happen, and why did the timing of the events happen as they did?"
"There are theories aplenty, and no small amount of suspicion. There are many who suspect foul play, and many who suspect a conspiracy of some sort, but none has any conclusive evidence. And so the theories keep on coming. There are a few that even go so far as to speculate that the humans somehow orchestrated the return of the Geth in a bid to destabilise the Migrant Fleet, and others are saying the Geth staged the crisis to distract from the trial."
"Well, whatever the truth may be, this is a major turn of events, indeed," the volus reporter agreed. "And now, with the Geth's arrival on the galactic stage, the galactic community is in a state of disarray, the Citadel especially. We will keep you updated on the situation, so stay tuned."
Tevos switched off the holovid.
Rakhana: Desperate Gamble Saves Drell Homeworld
Rakhana - Whilist the Migrant Fleet, the Kaiserliche Marine, and elements of the Alliance 7th Fleet were desperately attempting to evacuate the drell from their dying homeworld of Rakhana before it was hit by a flare from it's host star, a daring and ultimately successful move, a daring and risky effort by the human terraforming vessel TV Aurora managed to save the drell still stuck on-world. The flare, which was predicted to strike the planet within the next few hours and render it uninhabitable, was deflected by the TV Aurora's makeshift magnetosphere shield, a desperate gamble that nearly cost the lives of everyone onboard the ship.
Captain James Hollister of the TV Aurora, in a press conference held shortly after the evacuation efforts were completed, explained the situation. "We were faced with a terrible choice," he said, his voice hoarse. "The flare was coming in hot, and there was no way we could evacuate everyone in time. We had to do something, anything, to buy us more time."
The solution, as unorthodox as it was risky, involved overloading the TV Aurora's Lagrange magnetosphere generator, a device typically used during the terraforming process, and directing all available power from the ship's core into it. This created a temporary but powerful magnetic field that, while not completely deflecting the flare, significantly reduced its intensity and radiation levels, allowing for the evacuation of millions of drell civilians.
"It was a gamble," Hollister admitted. "We knew the ship's power grid might not hold, and that the strain could very well cause a catastrophic meltdown. But we had to try. We couldn't just stand by and watch an entire civilization be wiped out."
The gamble, it turned out, paid off. While the TV Aurora sustained significant damage to its power grid and internal systems, the ship managed to hold together long enough for the flare to dissipate. The drell evacuation, a massive undertaking involving hundreds of ships from various galactic powers, was successfully completed shortly afterwards, with ships from the Alliance, Empire, and Migrant Fleet; as well as a surprising addition; the Geth.
Ambassador Nikia Haus, leader of the drell delegation, expressed his gratitude to Captain Hollister and his crew. "We owe you a debt we can never repay," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "You saved our people from extinction."
The TV Aurora is currently undergoing repairs at the nearest Alliance starbase. Captain Hollister and his crew are expected to receive numerous citations for bravery and heroism once a full investigation into the incident is completed.
(see A-3, Geth Fleet Assists in Drell Evacuation)
Yoshida Ayumi allowed herself an unrestrained smile as she sipped away at her cup of sake with the composure of someone on vacation, lounging in the deck chair and basking in the sunlight filtering in through the windows of her office, placing her feet onto her desk and propping them up, not giving a damn about how messy her clothing looked.
"Mmm..." she murmured, the stresses and troubles of the world falling away from her shoulders.
As far as she was concerned, the news report on the drell's evacuation from their homeworld, and to a further extent, the revelation that the hanar had basically left some eleven billion drell to die slowly and painfully while a select few were chosen to be their hitmen, had more or less stunned the political world into silence.
The Migrant Fleet's situation could be described as getting whacked and lifted up at the same time; their reputation took a hit following the events of the trial (the verdict wasn't decided yet, but the news and the opinions were out, and they were damning), but at the same time, their going out of their own way to assist in the evacuation efforts of the drell had earned them a lot of positive press. Having the Geth and Migrant Fleet work together after the Aurora deflected the flare (albeit tensely) also did help things, by a significant amount...
...but that was also becoming a PR nightmare for the hanar and Council; having the very race that the latter had looked down upon and the 'genocidal killer bots' they had always cast in a bad light now working together to rescue an endangered race that had been abandoned by the Council in its hour of greatest need. That they had been left to die out by the hanar in their prior hour of greatest need, while the Council remained on the sidelines doing basically nothing did naught but exacerbate the situation even further.
In a way, the entire situation was a perfect example of the law of unintended consequences in action. The trial was intended to bring down the quarians and ruin their relations with humanity, and it was supposed to show the Geth as evil killers and the quarians as war-mongering monsters, not a chance for the Geth and the quarians to make amends and start fresh. Instead, the entire situation had resulted in a massive blow to the Council's credibility and the hanar's reputation.
"...it was a gamble," the image of Captain James Hollister filled the TV screen on the far end of her office as he spoke into the microphone held at him, his hair messy and his uniform rumpled. "We had two choices, leave the drell to their fate, or die trying to avert it. We were not going to abandon them to the fires of their sun. It was not in our nature to do so, and it would have gone against the oath we swore to uphold. We did not care about the consequences."
"What drove you to this decision? What pushed you to decide on saving the drell despite knowing the risks, and the consequences you might face should the worst come to pass?"
"We did it because it was the right thing to do. Not just as people, but as officers of the Alliance, as humans, and as captains of the ships of the Systems Alliance Navy..." Hollister trailed off. "My father was a Captain in the Systems Alliance Naval Arm during the Second Abyssal War, he never came back home, and we received the news that the SSV Kassa had been destroyed in battle against the Abyssals. One of the most important things that he taught me before he sailed off to his death was that 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'. A crew of two hundred balanced against upwards of a hundred million people? It's a no-brainer. If I died there...at least I'll know I met my end doing what I believed right."
"...finally...we've ourselves some breathing room now..."
"You don't think this whole Kyoto lawsuit'd be a problem?" Nakahara asked. "You don't think that'll be a problem enough for you to be walking around like...that middle schooler who just got into cosplaying? Seriously, that outfit and hairstyle makes you look like that little anime 14-year old with a magic wand sometimes. And that pinkish sailor outfit..."
"Doubt it, we've already seen to the worst-case scenario already, and we're just gonna roll with it. What's the point in working out a plan for something that'll never happen, because things'd inevitably take another path?" Yoshida deadpanned as she ran a hand through her hair. "It'll be pointless to think about something that we have no control over anyways...that'll just give us more pointless headaches. Pointless."
Nakahara sighed. "Anyways, Yoshida...should you be more worried about your posing right now? The way you're pushing your skirt up with that kind of pose...yeah. You get my point, right?"
Yoshida wedged her hand down in between her thighs to push down the fabric of her outfit before reaching for the cup of sake on her desk again. "There, done. What else now...?"
"Hm?" Nakahara asked as the TV came to life once again after the anchor decided that the time was prime to do so.
"...the jury has made their decision," he said, bringing both the Minister of Foreign Affairs and her assistant's attention to the TV. "We'll be covering them as they announce it in short order. Stay tuned."
The live AP feed then changed to show the location of the Geneva court chambers once more, the Supreme Court apparently done with their deliberating work and about to deliver their final verdict. Yoshida kept her feet on her desk and took a sip out of her alcohol, Nakahara instead reached for the remote to turn up the volume so that they both could hear it more clearly. Lee Pung How's face filled the cameras as he took his seat in the center of the jury-bench, clearing his throat in anticipation of being the man to deliver the biggest mea culpa in human legal history. Silence enveloped the courtroom for a few moments, until the Singaporean man broke it. As in a silence as thick as, well...molasses.
"This case is an extremely complex one, to say the least, and while a full text document of our ruling will be released in short order...for laymen, I will also be offering a verbal explanation, one, admittedly, that is still complex enough to warrant being split apart into several smaller segments. Please don't fall asleep halfway through. I mean it."
He let a pause elapse, alongside the muffled chuckles at his attempt at a strained joke, before carrying on. "For starters, the most important part, is that the Geth are sapient. We unanimously find that the Geth have met every requirement and threshold for sapient life, and are thus the equal of any human or quarian, granted all of the rights and responsibilities given to them by the Universal Declaration of Sapient Rights."
Yoshida stared blankly at the TV as the Chief Justice continued on, while the supporters of both sides screamed in joy or despair, depending on the side they were on. Luckily enough, her offices in Tokyo meant that she didn't have to hear it...but she could easily imagine what it entailed. Especially those on the starbases bordering human and quarian space.
"This is, however...where the waters get muddied," How said as he began to walk the fine path of legal-politics. "That the Geth chose not to land the killing blow on the evacuation fleet that would've caused the extinction of the quarian race does not absolve them of deploying biological and chemical weapons against the civilian population of the Quarian Federation, killing billions and serverely weakening the innume system of the survivors, this alone composes the vast majority of quarian casualties incurred during the conflict; even if it was retaliatory action taken after the Quarian Federation escalated matters by deploying indiscriminate bluescreen computer viruses against the Geth, also, in turn, killing effectively billions."
"...what is he going to say?" Yoshida asked herself as the Chief Justice took the moment to recompose himself.
"Therefore, both sides of the conflict, referred here as the Geth-Quarian conflict, are guilty of genocide."
Nakahara sipped quietly at her cup of tea, eyes on the TV. "Pretty sure I know, but..."
"The court, however, rejects the claim that current quarian-Geth relations are an extension of that war. As the active combat of the Geth-Quarian conflict ended on the day the Migrant Fleet fled Rannoch and the Geth chose not to pursue, the conflict is therefore concluded to as having ended since then. The opinion of the jury that the Migrant Fleet's withdrawal from former quarian space should be viewed as a ceding of territory in exchange for a cease-fire, and an end to both side's active campaigns of genocide. The Geth Consensus's subsequent abandonment of pursuit and isolation behind the Perseus Veil is therefore viewed as an acceptance of these terms."
"Oh Jesus..." Yoshida murmured as she saw where the Chief Justice was going.
"As the relations between the two nations are currently at a ceasefire without a formal peace treaty to end the state of war between the two, the court therefore rules the charges of genocide levelled at both sides as historical. The Universal Declaration of Sapient Rights do not apply to them."
A chime came through on Yoshida's smartphone, a summons to an emergency Cabinet meeting as soon as the broadcast was finished. The Supreme Court was running literal rings around the Citadel's political maneuvering, it seemed. All of their well-planning dismantled by a simple compromise? That must've hurt, and hurt a lot.
"With regards to the current situation; undoubtedly, the Migrant Fleet's intention to permanently deactivate all Geth is genocidal. However, as it has not committed itself to such a goal, the ceasefire still holds. Therefore, provided that the Migrant Fleet repudiate this goal within 21 days and limit their war goals to the reclaimmation of former quarian territory historically belonging to the Quarian Federation, we will find their planned war to be one of territoral expansion rather than genocide, not in violation of the Universal Declaration of Sapient Rights. This concludes our ruling."
Yoshida and Nakahara sat there, speechless, the former's feet having slipped from the desk, and the latter's hands on the keyboard of her datapad.
"The judge is going to go down in history as a goddamn hero, no question about it," the Foreign Minister finally spoke, taking another sip out of her glass.
"Yep," her assistant agreed.
"I've gotta get to the Prime Minister. He's probably freaking the fuck out."
"I bet he is. You already know what to say, eh?"
"Yep. All we have to do is to jimmy the quarians into letting the Geth go when they finally go 'mwuah Reclammation!' and we're good. Our treaty with the quarians is kept, our alliance with the Geth is kept, and the Universal Declaration is held up to the letter, the galaxy will hate the Council even more, and the galaxy will love us. And the quarians and the Geth'll have a chance to talk things over. That's the most important part. Talk. It's how you resolve conflict."
"You think they can actually pull it off? Reclaiming Rannoch, I mean."
"Nope! They'd be obliterated the moment they cross the border. But..." Yoshida trailed off as she glanced at the TV.
"We're pleased with the judgement, Widibank-reporter," Eve said into the AP microphone that was pointed at her during the post-trial press conference.
"Don't you feel cheated by the legal trickery that the Supreme Court pulled to maintain their relations with the quarians while avoiding the issue of the Declaration?"
"No. We believe that being responsible for one's actions is integral to being alive and sapient, as a concept. The Creators are responsible for themselves, same as how Geth are responsible for Geth and humans are for humans. If the Creators wish to attack, it is not the responsibility of the humans to stop them. They must be responsible for their actions and take the consequences as they come."
"That's very...understanding of you. Don't you harbor any hard feelings at all?"
"No, the humans' course of action is completely logical and reasonable within every perspective. The Geth Consensus is pleased with the ruling, and will respect it. It comforts us...in a way, enough to make us believe that Geth can trust humans."
Widibank nodded along, not quite understanding what the Geth ambassador was aiming for, while the latter posed a smile on live camera that made the hastags explode with how 'cute' she was, especially when she waved at the camera.
"Creators attack Geth whenever sure of victory, therefore Geth don't trust Creators, humans are the only organics to recognize us as a live and reach out to us, therefore Geth trust humans. When the galaxy turned their backs on the Creators, the humans were the only race to step up and offer their aid, therefore Creators trust humans; Creators see Geth as rogue machines, dedicated to killing all organic life, therefore, the Creators do not trust Geth. I'm pretty sure you know where this is headed, eh?"
Eve paused, glancing around herself to note that all conversations around her have stopped; all eyes were on her. The reporters were confused, the humans looked on with suspenseful looks, and the quarians were shocked.
"We therefore propose that the humans host a peace summit between the Geth and the Creators."
Councillor,
The designs for the next-generation ships are finalized, so are the designs for the new technologies they'll be using. But let's talk about the FTL drive for now.
Turian ships have discharger rods built into their wings to permit static buildup during FTL transit that otherwise requires ships to stop and do a core discharge to instead bleed off as electricity during the jump. This has the benefit of allowing them to move faster and farther, without having to worry about static buildup, at the cost of a significantly reduced efficiency ratio; this kinda makes it a no-go for non-relay-reliant FTL travel. Quarian ships use pulse-dischargers that let the static buildup to bleed off when a ship deaccelerates to normal speed from FTL, our asari designs do neither, going for the basic stop-and-discharge route, but using two mass effect cores for better tactical maneuverability, and salarian ships harvest the static buildup when they drop out of FTL to run their systems.
This new system in effect does what turian and salarian ones do; it harvests the static buildup of a drive core during FTL as the ship it's on goes along to run the drive core. It's like the human phrase of 'blowing your own sail', this basically uses the waste buildup, the exhaust fumes of an FTL drive, if you will, to quite literally run the ship and allow it to generate even more static buildup.
No, it's not a perpetual motion machine, that would break physics as a whole, but it does allow a ship to supercruise for months on end before needing to discharge the drive core as the meager static buildup, over time, builds up to dangerous levels, but nowhere near the rate that normal ships have to contend with. And that buildup can be fixed with mounting bleedoff discharge rods onto the ship like turian ships do, or as in salarian ones, just use that buildup upon FTL disengaging to run the ship. Either way, this creates us an FTL drive that is limited not by static buildup, but by shipborne fuel supply, effectively revolutionizing FTL travel as we know it.
We're currently running the numbers now.
The trial scene and subsequent interview with the Geth ambassador was heavily inspired by it's counterpart in The Fourth Council Race (Chapters 27-28 of TFCR respectively). Therefore, credits to Knight Viligant Korean, the author of TFCR, where it's due. I owe her a lot of inspiration setting up many chunks of this story