Petroleum Effect
Chapter Fifteen - The Human Menace
Terran Dominion Frigate Normandy II, The Citadel, Serpent Nebula, 14 July 2183
The Citadel News Network (CNN) was a vast news reporting concern, based on the Citadel but available throughout Council Space and even beyond, where it would sometimes be carried on an affiliate or syndicated basis. Theoretically a corporation, CNN was usually a reliable part of the establishment and indeed, received subsidies for, 'public interest broadcasting' and other benefits from the Citadel Council and various governments.
CNN did not just carry the short newsflashes and video segments carried by some Citadel lifts. It had 24/7 news, ranging from news programmes to in-depth interviews and documentaries. Articles and videos could usually be streamed or downloaded from CNN indefinitely after first broadcast.
Notionally independent, CNN would regularly tout its supposedly fearless independent journalism. It was happy to target corporations or local politicians. Criticism of the Council itself, Citadel institutions, or the big three governments of the Asari Republics, Turian Hierarchy or Salarian Union was much rarer but it did occasionally happen when CNN would for various reasons flex its position as a watchdog.
The destruction of all life on two well-known worlds in the Athena Nebula in the very heart of Citadel space was a huge story. Over 2 billion asari had lived on the planet Lusia. Added to this were reports of other planets being devastated, including the confirmed bombing of Feros, a priceless and irreplaceable archeological site.
On 13 July 2183, CNN had, without warning, run a documentary report on the war within Citadel space between the Temple of the Golden Star and the Council, which had a lot to say about it and about the humans. The lengthy video had been fronted by respected, but maverick, asari journalist Voniferus Avera ('Voni' for short and to her fans). The documentary had been flagged by the embassy as important. It was decided that the crew of the Normandy II and other humans galaxy-wide that interacted with aliens should watch it to better understand the sinister nature of the galactic media.
At the time of the documentary, the Normandy II was docked at the Citadel anyway, awaiting the expected attack by Nihlus, Nazara and the Geth. The Dominion government had not shared its whole intelligence, merely warned the Council it had information that there may be an attack by Nihlus using Geth ships, advanced ancient technology and supported by saboteurs inside the station. Security had been beefed up, and a few more ships had been called in to the Citadel, however Council loyalist ships were scarce and precious - few could be spared.
Grey Lady Miranda Lawson, Lieutenant Commander Lilith Shepard, Captain David Anderson, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, Lieutenant Tom Bradley, Communications Officer Friedrich Gunther and the rest of the crew were sitting in the ship's luxurious mess watching the video, which had been seamlessly translated into English using human language AI. Only a few officers were absent, leaving a skeleton crew on the bridge to comply with regulations in case of emergency.
Special Report, Citadel News Network, 13 July 2183
Asari announcer: "Citadel News Network is proud to present this urgent in-depth documentary report on the ongoing conflict between the Citadel Council and the evil terrorist cult known as the Temple of the Golden Star. The Council and its members have been aided in this conflict by the independent government known as the Terran Dominion - but how much do we really know about our so-called allies and what have they been hiding?"
[An energetic news title segment plays, with dynamic CGI and video clips over Asari music, before fading to a single, smartly dressed asari standing superimposed on a video of the devastated world of Lusia, made to look as though she is physically standing in orbit]
Voni Avera: The ruined world behind me was, until last week, an Asari colony of 2.2 billion. It has been destroyed, for all practical purposes - rendered lifeless, in direct violation of the Citadel Conventions. The tragedy is only the latest atrocity in the fight against the horrifying cult known as the Temple of the Golden Star, which has seen bitter fighting on Asari worlds and the Citadel itself. We have all seen shocking footage of asari-alien hybrids eating children alive and the cultists feeding themselves to the giant alien organism that was seen on Lusia shortly before its destruction. [Stills of half-eaten asari children and an image of the Golden Star creature looming over Lusia appear in boxes as Voni speaks]
The latest horror demands answers. Who destroyed Lusia, how and why? The truth will shock you. This report, prepared in secret using whistleblowers from within the Citadel Tower itself, will reveal some dark truths about just how far the Citadel has gone to fight the cultists.
[The view changed, the view of Voni zooms in on her face whilst shrinking to a box at the top left of the screen. The main view is of an asari silhouette in front of a dark blue background]
Voni Avera: This is one of our sources, we'll call her 'Sula' - that's not her real name and her identity is being hidden through the use of a VI actress. Sula is a senior member of Citadel Council staff who works in the Citadel Tower - one of several who has come forward to speak out.
Sula: It was the humans. The so-called Terran Dominion destroyed Lusia. But, they did it with the Council's consent, and councillor Tevos' agreement.
[The image changes again, to show humans in sealed armour blessing the Council, shifting to show scenes of humans in other parts of the galaxy blessing turian and asari soldiers - Voni Avera stays in the corner of the screen]
Voni Avera: One of the strangest announcements from the Citadel Council since the insurrection on 23 June was the alliance with the Terran Dominion - a supposedly minor independent power known mostly for exporting element zero - and an agreement to use human special forces who are said to have experience fighting the beings they call, 'eviloids'. The only public sign of this is human soldiers blessing Citadel Council forces in the name of strange gods.
But, who are the humans? The concerning answer is that very little is known.
First contact with the human polity, which styles itself the Most Holy Imperial Terran Dominion, was made in 2158 after an incident on a garden world in Shanxi. Turian forces investigating encountered a Dominion fleet who proved helpful in the destruction of a Batarian slaving ring that was found to be working with corrupt Turian military officers. Not long after, a small Terran Dominion delegation traveled to the Citadel to open relations and arrange the sale of cheap element zero into Citadel markets.
Since then, the Dominion has become a major force in the element zero trade ... yet almost nothing is known of this race.
[Image shifts again, Voni is full-screen again but behind her is now a shot of the Rainbow System trading station]
Voni Avera: The gateway to human space is the so-called Rainbow System, which contains a mass relay and a large space station guarded by a significant human fleet. There are no inhabited planets in the system. No Citadel ships have ever been allowed further than this system and curiously, no one has ever pressed. An attempted Batarian incursion is rumoured to have been brutally rebuffed. No one knows the location of a single human colony world. No one knows how many ships the humans have.
Humans are almost never seen in the galaxy, except for their embassy on the Citadel and the occasional trading mission. Instead, they hire Citadel haulage corporations to move element zero from their outpost in the Rainbow System to clients in Council space and beyond.
Humans, like quarians, are never seen outside pressurised armour when interacting with non-humans - but unlike the quarians, video feeds from human vessels and stations show them not wearing the armour when alone. Our best information is that humans look almost identical to asari and can live comfortably in a practically identical environment. Humans work on the Citadel, but only in official human institutions and they live and sleep on their ships.
Yet, the Dominion government is now sending ships and special forces into battle with the Temple. Why? Why has this supposedly minor galactic power suddenly taken such an interest, and why is the council engaging with them?
Part of the answer may lie here on the planet Rainbow-2. [Voni gestures as the camera pans across the Rainbow system to a bright lava world, burning red]
Rainbow-2 is an anomaly - it is far too hot for its age and position in its solar system. How did it get that way? Our whistleblower Sula has some answers.
[Voni shrinks back into a talking head box once more]
Sula: The humans claim they bombed Rainbow-2 into lava. They admitted it to the council openly. They say it was an eviloid colony - 'eviloid' is a human term for the Temple creatures called Care Bears from the planet Care-a-Lot. The eviloids call themselves Care Bears but part of the deal between the Dominion and the Council is to use human, condemnatory, terminology. After the meeting we had experts tasked to do an assessment of the technologies likely needed to melt a planetary surface white-hot. It would take a huge amount of energy.
The humans seem to hate the Care Bears. They encountered them before and wiped them out.
During the insurrection on 23 June humans were seen fighting Care Bears and their asari hybrids in the streets. Their government approached the Citadel Council shortly afterwards and provided footage of a human special forces team which had infiltrated the Presidium and Zakera Ward in full combat gear and assassinated the local Temple leadership. Far from complete footage - only what the humans allowed us to see.
The mere presence of Care Bears on the Citadel seems to have provoked the humans to send a death squad, without any legal authority or jurisdiction, nor any request from the Council.
Voni Avera: How did the council react to that?
Sula: Oh, the Council made a token protest but then they basically ratified the human point of view. The Citadel Council has adopted a policy of extermination of these, 'Care Bears' and anything connected to them, even asari hybrids. No negotiation, just bullets. They agreed to permit humans to destroy worlds occupied by the Care Bears and later even agreed to the destruction of Lusia. They repeatedly referenced the rachni, but these Care Bears aren't rachni. These are beings capable of speech and reason - yet the Citadel adopted the absolutist human policy of slaughter.
Voni Avera: Why do you think that is?
Sula: I only have suspicions. There are two likely reasons. First off, humans are an element-zero powerhouse. That makes them incredibly rich. Human money can oil a lot of wheels, if they want to.
Voni Avera: So you suspect bribery?
Sula: Not just that. These so-called eviloids have some way to influence sentient beings - except the humans who claim immunity, or at least resistance. Their resistance suggests that the humans learned how the Care Bear influence works during their prior conflict and perhaps can duplicate it.
Voni Avera: You believe humans may have compromised the Council?
Sula: Voni, I can tell you that in the last two weeks, human forces have effectively destroyed five planets. On 29th June 2183 they bombed an obscure world called Feros which apparently hosted a small human archaeological colony. Not really a colony - more of a glorified corporate dig. The surface was turned to lava during sustained bombing from a human superdreadnought.
On 7th July, the planet Delos-3, also known as Care-a-Lot, was rendered lifeless by human special forces with the express agreement of the Council, using an advanced weapon - there was no bombing - just a single ship - a frigate. The humans have a planet wrecking device that fits in a frigate.
On 8th July, a human superdreadnought attacked a privately chartered corporate world called Noveria, bombing it into lava as with the planet Feros.
On 9th July the planet Lusia was ruined by the same type of device deployed on Care-a-Lot, again with Council agreement.
On 11th July an uninhabited garden world called Virmire was destroyed by bombing from a human superdreadnought.
The council has condemned none of these attacks, ratifying two beforehand and three afterwards.
The council has also declared respected Spectre Nihlus Kryik rogue, again at human urging. That would have been a huge story in itself but it was buried by the Temple insurgency and the destruction of Lusia.
Voni Avera: We can all understand at least the motive for attacking Care-a-Lot and Lusia, but why did the humans attack their own colony on Feros or the corporate bases on Noveria? Why attack an uninhabited garden world like Virmire?
Sula: That's the most shocking thing, Voni. The human reasons border on the ridiculous.
They claimed Feros had been compromised by an alien organism related to the Temple and they claimed Noveria was home to rachni, of all things! Virmire was destroyed because Nihlus was supposedly breeding an army of krogan in a concealed base there.
The Council accepted all of these explanations, all of which were supported unequivocally by Spectre Saren Arterius.
Voni Avera: Are you suggesting Saren is helping them feed misinformation to the council?
Sula: Saren Arterius was never known for his ... inclusive ... attitude to non-turians. Yet, he has taken by all accounts to living happily on a human vessel and has not been off it for months. He has not one bad word to say about them and is borderline servile. Again, the council have overlooked this highly suspicious behaviour.
Voni Avera: What about these human superdreadnoughts? What can you tell us about those?
Sula: The humans have only admitted to one. We don't know if that is true. Their first fleet figures claimed only 20 dreadnoughts and did not even mention superdreadnoughts. We don't know if the attacks were the same superdreadnought or not. The vehicle seen by observers at Virmire was approximately 4.8 kilometres long - it is bigger than the Destiny Ascension. It arrived from outside the system on an odd vector and had unusual energy emissions. The size of the explosions in comparison to human ordnance size suggests anti-matter, but we don't know for sure.
That ship was large and moved quickly - it is clearly highly advanced.
Voni Avera: What can you tell us about the human religion?
Sula: The Terran Dominion claims to have four religions. The only one they tell us about is the official religion, the 'Imperial Creed'. The religion involves worshipping three beings, the Archlord, the Wyrm and the Hunger. One is their head of state, one is a giant worm perhaps symbolising some kind of entropy concept and one is something like the spirit of desire.
Voni Avera: Sula, thank you.
[Main display fades]
Voni Avera: Sula is not the only one to be concerned about human involvement in the conflict with the Temple. Celda Maketari is a shop worker living in the City of Nartin on Thessia.
[Main view cuts to an asari woman standing in a war torn city, looking sombre]
Celda, can you tell us what happened?
Celda Maketari: It's been like a nightmare. The Temple overran the city for a time. The local officials were completely on their side, and those creatures, the Daughters - the hybrids. They were hot, like melding on legs, but they had a taste for raw flesh. Children were being taken to their stronghold and eaten alive, slowly, piece by piece. Sometimes by their own hybrid sisters, with the blessing of their asari mothers.
Then, some of us were rounded up by the cultists but before they could move us they were killed. We were saved by these aliens in heavy sealed armour.
They were these beings, they looked like pink asari through their helmets. They said they were from the Terran Dominion and were working with the Citadel Council. They killed the cultists but ... they had this strange way about them. They took some of us aside, even some children. I later heard those people they took aside attacked the cultists using suicide vests.
I didn't want anything to do with it - I kept back and the humans did not take me. I guess they had enough.
But my friends, [sobbing] my neighbours and their children. They are all dead!
Voni Avera: Human forces were deployed on Thessia itself?
Celda Maketari: Yes! I've never seen anything like it. To be fair to them they killed the cultists - but they seemed heedless of how much collateral damage they caused doing it. You could compare them to the krogan - but the humans they are calculated in their violence.
Voni Avera: Do you know if the humans provided the suicide vests?
Celda Maketari: No. I kept away from the humans as much as could, so I did not hear all they said to the others ... the ones that didn't make it. I'm just an ordinary shop-keeper! [sobbing]
Voni Avera: Celda is far from alone in her experience. Eyewitness to the Temple atrocities in the Thessian city of Ulee report devastation left in the wake of a human attack, which completely wiped out the Temple but also much of the commercial district.
[Main view fades to a shaky video, plainly taken from a handheld device, showing a number of tall Asari buildings in a city. Then, there is a flash of light - camera darkens for a moment and when it resumes, buildings are collapsing and a dark debris cloud is rolling through the streets. Screaming asari flee from the cloud]
Voni Avera: Another Citadel Tower whistleblower is a salarian scientist, we're calling him, 'Ish' to protect his identity.
[View fades to a salarian, silhouetted against a bright background like the asari known as, 'Sula', speaking Asari]
Ish: Human technology is terrifying. They have at least one superdreadnought that is larger than the Destiny Ascension and can wipe out whole planetary surfaces. They either use anti-matter ordnance or have some other technology with a similar energy yield. They have highly effective weapons and mass effect technologies. There have been anomalous readings by STG agents that suggest they have cloaking technologies or may even have an alternative type of FTL. Where we had had observer platforms, some have shown human ships apparently appearing out of nowhere.
Human forces on Thessia and elsewhere have been observed cloaking, flying and firing what appear to be absurdly powerful laser small-arms, more powerful by orders of magnitude than the best weapons possessed by the Council member races. Power in the range of tens of thousands of kilowatts [translated from Asari term]. Some of their elite troops have personal barriers orders of magnitude more powerful than our equivalent. They can stroll through battlefields with impunity.
Our intelligence on the destruction of Care-a-Lot and Lusia includes intercepted chatter from the defending ships, which were largely Asari Republic traitors. There was no warning, no alien ship detected, just a massive gravitational anomaly on the planets, which started on the surface and descended into it. The closest thing we could think of would be a black hole, but a black hole that size would be too small and whatever this was disappeared after about 11 hours [translated from Asari term] after shaking the entire planet's crust into pieces.
Voni Avera: The Salarian Union are famed for their intelligence services. What information do you have on the human worlds, their society, space, military?
Ish: Nothing.
Here's the scary thing. The Council has never really tried very hard to look into the humans - it's suspicious in itself. What STG and other forces were tasked to investigate were either politely intercepted and turned back, or disappeared. The only human outpost we know of is the Rainbow System, which has one large station and a human military presence. When non-human vessels are in the system to collect element zero or deliver materials to the humans, human ships are almost never seen leaving or arriving at the same time. On the rare occasion they do, they are returning from Citadel space or arrive and depart on nonsensical vectors.
Voni Avera: If human technology is so powerful, do we have any samples?
Ish: Almost none. During the recent human interventions we obtained a few surviving samples of weapons and armour from killed humans. The humans retrieved most of their bodies and equipment but Asari intelligence got a handful on Thessia. We only got their special forces front line though, not their elite leaders. Their regular barriers are more efficient than ours, their armour materials and weapons somewhat better. Their construction methods are quite enigmatic though. It is hard to work out how certain alloys and composites could be made efficiently, or why some things work. We have no samples at all of their best stuff or their ships.
The bodies confirm that humans look very similar to asari, except they are dimorphic, they seem to have two types like we salarians or the krogan. They have a childbearing type called a 'female' that looks very like an asari and an 'impregnator' type called a 'male'. The male has an organ that can be pushed into a female birth canal and releases genetic material. The term for the distinction is sex - same as is seen in most galactic species and some Thessian animals.
Oddly, we have repeatedly seen humans appear to use biotic abilities, but not one specimen had element zero in their body, not one. We even think we have linked one specimen to video footage that showed them using biotics, but they had no element zero in the corpse and carried no device that could simulate biotics. We have no explanation for their ability to resist eviloid mind control.
Voni Avera: No offence, but that seems ridiculous. How could humans have biotic powers without element zero?
Ish: It seems strange. However ...
Voni Avera: Go on?
Ish: We have some eviloid samples, and some eviloid-asari hybrid samples. Their biology is ... weird. Really, really alien. Even the hybrids' biochemistry makes no sense. Having said that, they also used strange abilities, like that beam from their torsos, shields, all those effects, caught on video. There is no element zero in most of their bodies either. The only theory that makes sense is that somehow the element zero is released or destroyed instantly on death, before we recovered the corpses, or their abilities do not use element zero. Again, perhaps the humans have the same abilities, or learned them from the eviloids.
The vast alien star creature that attacked Lusia did not use conventional FTL to arrive or leave, to the best of our knowledge. It used something else.
Voni Avera: Is there anything else?
Ish: The humans, backed by Saren, have been telling the council that Nihlus Kryik is under the control of the Geth. They say his flagship uses dangerous and ancient technology, that in fact his flagship is some sort of advanced Geth threat. Again, they humans only release information they want us to have but the readings they have, if true, suggest the Geth have technology exceeding our own.
Voni Avera: So how would you summarise?
Ish: Our so-called allies have weapons technologies that are significantly ahead of our own - perhaps vastly ahead - and are destroying entire planets. They have abilities we do not understand. So do our enemies. We're latecomers to a conflict between powerful alien races who barely explain the issues between them. In fact, the Geth may also have unearthed ancient technologies, putting us in the middle of a three-way war.
The council at best is letting desperation blind them to a possible threat. At worst, they are compromised.
[Ish fades away and Voni Avera's box resumes the screen. Behind Vonia is a graphic of the Milky Way galaxy]
Voni Avera: The Terran Dominion's military influence is a serious cause of concern - but not the only one. Behind the scenes, quietly, is a vast trading empire that, like all the other human endeavours, has received very little scrutiny. Their web of financial influence extends throughout known space - Citadel space, to the Batarians, to the Terminus Systems and the Attican traverse.
[As Voni speaks, ominous musical tones play in the background and a sinister red web grows from a single point (the Rainbow System) throughout the galacy]
Voni Avera: To untangle the web of human financial interests, I'm joined by Yap Irit, a respected Volus financial analyst.
[Voni shrinks to a talking head box once more and the main view reveals a Volus sitting behind a desk in a serious, opulent looking office on the Citadel. The Presidium is visible through a window behind him. Next to the window is an impressive looking set of shelves holding valuable sculptures and jewels]
Voni Avera: Thanks for joining us, Yap.
Yap Irit: Thanks for inviting me Voni!
Voni Avera: What can you tell us about the Terran Dominion's financial dealings?
Yap Irit: My team and I, we've been looking into this, through the archives, interviewing sources and researching public records. When humans came on the scene in 2158, let me tell you, the Dominion-clan caused quite a stir. The only thing anyone knew was this weird new race who looked a bit like pink asari were selling element zero dirt cheap. At first people thought it was a scam, crazy prices, but the Terran Dominion had an answer. They agreed to escrow with reputable Citadel institutions so a few entrepreneurs took a chance on them and hit it big. The humans weren't scamming. The deliveries were made and the humans got paid. The resellers made huge profits.
Then, a lot of people thought the humans were rubes, but they didn't care. The humans became big players in the element zero trade. After that it seemed the humans got wise, they eventually put prices up. They still always have a competitive price for every purity grade of element-zero and they always sell really good quality stuff for the price. They are just not so far below everyone else anymore.
The humans made a lot of money from their cut-price element zero and they spent it on investment. They have diversified into numerous public and private corporations. It's well behind the scenes, they almost always use intermediaries from other races - there are almost never humans working in these corporations except their rare interventions when employees find out that humans own the company that owns the company that owns their employer.
The humans own a lot of Citadel space businesses but we own no businesses in human space, at all. None. A lot of us work for humans, never the other way around.
Voni Avera: You say the humans sell element zero, but do they buy anything from us? I mean, not businesses, do they ship anything back to their space?
Yap Irit: Almost nothing obvious, samples mostly. Gathering examples of other races' technology and knowledge. What's notable is what they don't import. They don't import anything. They never buy element zero, never buy raw materials. Just occasional one-off samples - a weapon here, a shuttle there, a small freighter. They don't seem to want anything we make or mine or grow.
Voni Avera: Isn't it sinister that humans actually own parts of our economy? A lot of us work for humans without knowing it, but we know next to nothing about their economy and own nothing in Terran Dominion space?
Yap Irit: Exactly Voni. If you ask me, a lot of that early human element zero money talked. It talked, and it greased a lot of wheels. Dominion-clan played it sharp. The humans slid into the galactic economy and extended financial tendrils just like the tiny hair-tendrils on their heads. Now no one knows just how far those tendrils reach. You can buy a lot of things - and people - with that much money.
Voni Avera: Can you tell us anything else about human influence?
Yap Irit: Just this, Voni. We've run the numbers on their influence in the element zero trade and the humans have sold a lot of element zero over the years. A LOT of element zero. Either they have some really good sources of it, or they were happy to suffer hardship to get a foothold in our economy. I don't think the humans were rubes at all. I think they played the game of commerce really well.
I think they played us all.
Voni Avera: Yap! Thank you very much!
Yap Irit: Thank you, Voni.
[Voni's box grows back until it fills the main view again, Yap Irit fades out, ominous music swells then shifts into something more update which ends with a decisive chiming tone before fading to an almost inaudible, calm, background music as Voni begins speaking in front of an image of the galaxy again]
Voni Avera: Of course, Citadel experts aren't the only available source of information on the Terran Dominion. We've been in contact with sources in the Temple of the Golden Star itself. Whilst this will undoubtedly be controversial, they provided this shocking footage of Terran Dominion ambassador Ravenna Crown discussing the possibility of selling out the Citadel Council in a conference call with Temple leader, Olaessia T'Star. We here at CNN are satisfied of its authenticity.
[Voni's image returns to the box in the corner of the screen. Ominous music plays as clips from the conference call between Ravenna and Olaessia show on the screen. The conversation has been seamlessly edited to cut out some material. The Temple representatives Olaessia T'Star, Trant Gilax, Glory Bear and a Daughter sit in an opulent temple chamber at an unknown location, surrounded by murals. They are facing holograms of Ravenna Crown, Miranda Lawson and Lilith Shepard]
Olaessia T'Star: Greetings humans. I am Supreme High Priestess Olaessia T'Star of the Temple of the Golden Star. This is my acolyte Trant Gilax, Glory Bear of the Care Bears and one of the Daughters of the Golden Star. Perhaps you could introduce yourselves and tell us what you want?
Ravenna Crown: Thank you, Supreme High Priestess. I am Ambassador Ravenna Crown of the Most Holy Imperial Terran Dominion. These are Commander Miranda Lawson and Lieutenant Commander Lilith Shepard.
The Dominion government has asked me to contact you to increase understanding of yourselves and the ongoing galactic conflicts to see if our hostility can be resolved, to mutual benefit. We want to understand your goals better and what benefits the Dominion might derive from ceasing to oppose them.
Olaessia T'Star: So, if you agree, is there any reason you should not stop opposing us and help us seize the Citadel?
Ravenna Crown: What benefits can the Temple provide us?
Olaessia T'Star: The favoured servants of the Mother experience joy and pleasure eternally. Even the less favoured servants experience great ... gratification.
Ravenna Crown: What about technology or other useful information?
Olaessia T'Star: Does it really matter when your life is spent in unimaginable happiness and pleasure?
Ravenna Crown: Supreme High Priestess. I am very grateful for your time. We have some common ground and I will take it to my government. I can make no commitments for now.
[The clip ends. Voni's box grows back until it fills the main view again as the ominous music swells and darkens further. Voni begins speaking in front of an image of the galaxy again]
Voni Avera: So there you have it. The Terran Dominion may be our allies, but we know very little about them. It has become very clear this is no minor power but a new big player on the galactic stage, one with questionable motives and loyalties. They've committed acts that would be war crimes for anyone else, slaughtered entire planetary populations, all with the Citadel Council's permission.
The question is, is this newcomer species a trustworthy long-term ally like the Salarian Union or the Turian Hierarchy, or will they turn on us like the krogan? They clearly have something to hide - they won't let anyone or anything enter their space, whilst they've comprehensively infiltrated our economy.
Some may say the Council need to take a long, hard look at their new allies. Until they do, viewers will have to make up their own minds.
[The words are left hanging for a moment. Then the CNN credits roll]
Terran Dominion Frigate Normandy II, The Citadel, Serpent Nebula, 14 July 2183
"NO WAY!" exclaimed Miranda as the CNN report ended. "They have a concept of war crimes! Fucking Citadel races!"
"What's a war crime?" asked Shepard.
"It's this weird idea they used to have back home on Earth in the Dark Times before the Archlord. They actually made a list of some of the most effective strategies and tactics that can be used in warfare and then ... banned them. Of course in these enlightened times we know that is a vile heresy. Apparently it was invented by the Rejected."
The 'Rejected' was an archaic term, Shepard knew, one of several, for those the Archlord and his High Lords had found unfit for his Dominion and wiped out during the Cleansing of 2045. Lesser races and deviants such as those who subscribed to foul beliefs or unspeakable, unnatural, lusts. Other terms for the Rejected included, for example, 'Unclean Ones'.
"Wow!" responded Shepard. "But ... what if that's the best tactic or strategy for a given situation?"
"Well exactly," responded Miranda. "There's actually a faction of the priests of the Imperial Creed that believes performing the so called war crimes grants spiritual merit as a rejection of the Unclean Ones. They even made a list and called them, 'war blessings'. However, we as Grey Lords consider that it is more important to use the right tactic first. It is a nuanced situation. It would be spiritual hubris and a sin to use a technique which was on the list when another activity would be more effective. It would be to put your own spiritual growth before the needs of mankind and the will of the Archlord. On the other hand, using a war blessing appropriately could mean spiritual gains."
"So, Miranda, do you have a copy of the list?" asked Shepard.
"Yes, I have it somewhere," replied Miranda cheerfully. "In fact, one thing that is on it is genocide and we've obviously done that with the rachni so we should have gained spiritual merit from that. There's some other cool stuff on there too that could be useful. Biological warfare, chemical warfare. Loads."
"What if some rachni escaped, or exist elsewhere?" asked Shepard.
Miranda explained in detail. "Well, thinking within the Imperial Creed varies but most agree that at least a part of spiritual virtue comes from intent and execution, as opposed to results. If you diligently try to make the best choice available to you in your circumstances on the available knowledge, with the resources you have in hand, that gives merit."
"I'm so lucky to have you as a mentor Miranda," said Shepard gratefully, "I never realised you knew so much about theology. But, what are we going to do about the rest of it? The CNN video I mean?"
"Oh that," responded Miranda dismissively. "Well Ravenna's handling it but we had a conference call yesterday. The Council are indeed under our control so we put out a statement dismissing it as lies and deepfakes. We'll detain the journalist if we can and claim she was killed by Temple extremists. We'll condemn the temple for Voni's murder whilst we extract the names of her sources and deal with them too. You and I just need to make sure we're ready to defend the Citadel from Nihlus."
"Fair enough," replied Shepard.
