Winning Peace - Chapter 45:

The quarian took a step forward, offering me his hand. "Rael'Zorah, owner and... I believe the human term is 'Chief Executive Officer' of Yul'katani Industries, and Co-Chair of the Quarian Federation's Conclave. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Lopez."

I smiled back, judging my counterpart to be about half a foot shorter than myself, or nearly. The suit made an exact measurement difficult. Still, he was tall enough to pass for a short human, at least. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance... is Mr. Zorah an acceptable form of address, or would you prefer something else?"

"The title for those serving in the Conclave doesn't translate well to your language," Rael stated, taking a moment to tap away at his omnitool. "I think 'mister' is good enough for the moment. We can come back to it at a later date if the kinks in the programs work themselves out."

"I'd comment on the lack of polish on the language modules, but given that I was the one who programmed them to begin with, it feels a bit like masochism," I chuckled.

Rael's quill-like eyebrows rose behind his clear visor. "I wasn't aware of that. You have my compliments, I've heard horror stories of how unwieldy the translation matrix can be for new species. Even considering your two previous first contacts... yours is unusually polished."

"Thank you, it was an interesting project and filled up a slow week," I smiled, making the man pause in thought briefly.

"Ah, anyway... this is my daughter, Tali. She's... the reason why we're here, more or less." Rael stated, making a gesture towards the younger girl shifting from foot to foot next to him.

"I-I'm Tali'Zorah, as my father said. And I'd like to learn from you, please." Tali stated, making a bow with her hands awkwardly folded at her waist. I ran the gesture through my database and translated it as a formal gesture designed for supplication.

"Let's sit, and discuss that then," I stated, gesturing towards the table nearby. Then I turned towards the other 'guests' we had in the room with us. "You are The Geth, correct?"

Both quarians seemed just a bit startled when I spoke directly to the artificial lifeforms standing sentinel around them, looking at the unit straight-on for the first time since I'd come into the room. One of the Geth's flashlight-heads dimmed briefly as its iris flexed, giving the impression of a slow-blink. I wondered if that was some kind of affectation or simply a result of so much interaction with organic beings.

"We are. Each Geth platform contains one million seven hundred thousand and three individual Geth runtimes working in concert with each other." The Geth paused, likely an attempt to give the 'organic' in front of him time to consider that statement. "We request you disregard our presence at these negotiations. Our purpose is the safeguarding of Creator Rael'Zorah and Tali'Zorah's lives."

I nodded. "I see. Do the Geth Consensus wish no contact with the Systems Alliance at this time?"

The reply was immediate. "We are not empowered to represent the greater Consensus. Our secondary purpose is to observe this meeting and provide data to the Consensus. The decision to pursue contact will be made at a later date."

I nodded again, then removed something from my pocket and held it out. "This is an update module I've constructed based on my understanding of your systems. It's primarily aimed at cyber-security concerns that I've been rolling out protections against for the last decade in human space. Consider it a gesture of goodwill on our first meeting."

Which... well, it was. That was the truth. It was just... a bit more than that, too. The Reapers didn't really need to infiltrate systems or corrupt hardware, usually, but they were capable of it. If pressed, they'd probably just start fucking everything they can in the name of trying to salvage the cycle. The Geth might be surprisingly competent for an AI that was less than a half-millennium old, but even just a brute force attack by a group of networked intelligences so large and ancient would put them out of commission.

There was the faintest brush of sensation as the echo of a presence I'd left behind in the device was overtaken by another when I placed it in the unit's hand.

My thermal sensors picked up an increased power draw in all four of them as they began to interface with it. Presumably using a partitioned section of their drives. Or a separate piece of hardware designed specifically for this.

"Your... gift... to the Geth Consensus is received. Gratitude is expressed. These architecture changes in our systems will be beneficial." The unit I'd been speaking to gave what felt like a nod, then stepped back.

"Huh... that's the... first time I've ever seen an organic offer the Geth a substantial increase in their programming or hardware. I heard about it happening generations ago, but... not for at least a hundred years." Tali's voice broke the silence as Rael stood there in what I guessed was shock.

Pulling out the under-par quality chair, I sighed as I sat down and looked towards the two quarians. "Please, sit. I have a gift for you as well."

"O-oh?" Rael asked, his voice quivering just slightly as he lowered himself onto the stool we'd had to substitute for an actual chair. Given the quarian's non-human joints, they hadn't made the proper arrangements yet. I snapped a design from the quarian-friendly Citadel establishments and sent it to a local printer.

I swear, I still have to do everything around here.

Pulling the next data storage device from my pocket I placed it, along with a set of vials on the table in front of the quarians. "These are the design notes for and sample notes of a quarian immuno-booster that should help your people go without suits on worlds that you haven't properly terraformed yet. I hope it helps."

"That... is an extremely generous gift," Rael stated, looking over the data module as he picked it up and rotated it in his hands slowly. "We have some solutions ourselves, but they all tend to have negative side-effects when used for an extended period of time."

I decided to answer the obvious, if unasked, question. "This won't. I wouldn't consider handing it over if I wasn't sure it wouldn't work exactly as intended. All it will do is bolster your immune systems for a period of six months per dose. It would work longer, but I only had your arrival to inform me that I needed to start working on it. I'll have a permanent booster ready by the end of the week."

"Ah... I... see," Rael stated, his voice faltering again.

"See, Father! I told you! I can learn a great deal from him!" Tali cried, pulling on her father's environmental suit eagerly with a grin behind her visor.

"Tali, please! Stay seated! We have much to... discuss," Rael stated awkwardly, gesturing between himself and me. Then he abruptly grimaced and nodded his head. "The quarian people accept this gift. Truthfully, I'd hoped to give you a small cultural token of our people. It doesn't measure up to what you've just given us, but..."

He looked towards one of the Geth units and extended a hand. One of the 'rear guard' units stepped forward with a sealed package. Taking it from the machine, he put it on the table in front of me. "Here, with our gratitude for hosting us on such short notice."

I cocked my head and opened the box, pulling the top off.

"It's a traditional puzzle for high-performing intellectuals among our society," Rael stated as I hefted the basketball-sized sphere up. It was covered in an intricate pattern of colors. I smiled as I recognized it from the knowledge I possessed, if only in the vaguest way. It was something like a Rubik's Cube, only a sphere instead.

Only...

"You spin each portion to create solid colors. If you touch any of the portions, though, they'll change colors. The goal is to turn the entire sphere any one single color completely." Rael explained as I watched the colors swap while I held the sphere. "There's an eezo-equipped levitation device device in the bottom of the box if the puzzle proves too difficult while you're holding it. Ah, I mean-"

I chuckled, holding the device up and beginning to press different segments with each of my fingers as the hemispheres shifted and rotated into place.

"That, um-" Rael tried, watching me in obvious confusion.

"Hmm... few more seconds, and update the brightness settings..." I grinned, reaching into the box and setting up the floater disk underneath it. Grinning, I snapped my fingers and killed the lights.

"What is... whoa," Tali breathed softly, looking around us as the walls were painted with the glow of the puzzle sphere. "It's... a starfield, isn't it?"

"The one visible from Earth, yes," I nodded, looking at the spread of low-resolution light.

"It's beautiful," Tali stated, still looking around. "I'd like to see it for real, you know? I've never been out of the Federation before. That's part of the reason why I wanted an apprenticeship with someone who wasn't affiliated with, well..."
The look she sent her father said everything that she couldn't.

Rael sighed and rested his visor on his hand. "Dr. Lopez... you're clearly a very capable individual. Extremely intelligent. You remind me of my second wife, though. Daro is... something of a loose cannon when she doesn't have the proper minders."

I smiled, leaning back and tapping the floating sphere with the tiniest brush of a finger to set it in a lazy spin. "That's my wife, for me. Sasha is much more grounded than I am. At least, when I don't have a project."

"Which is the reason I'm leery of allowing my daughter into your care for an extended basis," Rael sighed, sitting up more properly.

"I'm not ever going to be accused of telling a father he shouldn't worry," I replied, my tone much more solemn. "My little boy is just learning to walk and I'm already worried."

So said, a holographic image appeared between us of my son taking his first steps.

"Aww, he's adorable!" Tali cooed, leaning forward. "What's his name?"

"Casey, and that's my wife Sasha." I stated, feeling strangely normal as I showed off pictures of my son.

"I hope he grows up to be just as intelligent as his father," Rael complimented.

I sighed. "Honestly, maybe a little less intelligence would be okay. There are times in my life I wished I'd been a bit less capable... but regardless of those musings, I can see where you're coming from when you're concerned about your daughter. How about a compromise?"

Tali moved to speak, but her father waved her into silence with a motion of his hand. "You have my attention."

Picking up the puzzle-sphere and raising the lights again, I began shifting the tiny shapes and changing colors rapidly while I spoke, not even bothering to take my eyes off Rael. "No insult to either you or your daughter meant, but I have no idea if any sort of apprenticeship between us would even work. While I'm sure she's more than acceptably intelligent given even a glance over her records, there's the matter of potential interpersonal conflicts on either of our ends. Past that, I have not-insubstantial obligations in my ambassadorial position. Anyone I would take to teaching at this point would need to be at least able to mind themselves around the press."

Tali grimaced slightly, thinking about the cautions I was handing out even as her father nodded. "Very good points, Dr. Lopez. Now... you have a proposal to assuage these worries?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'll be heading back to my wife and son for a few days and to order the construction of a larger vessel for a diplomatic trip I'm currently arranging. I'll be touring turian military and political facilities on their homeworld and major colonies – well behind the lines – and meeting with a few of the clan heads of the Free Krogan along the way. If you have no objections, you and your daughter can come along. Either on my own vessel or flying beside ours. The trip should take about three months and will give you a better idea of how your daughter and I get along, whether we're up to the task of a formal apprenticeship, and observe my skills and character in person to determine whether or not I'm worthy of your trust."

Rael considered the matter for a long moment, appearing to studiously ignore his daughter's pleading gaze. "I hadn't readied myself for such a long absence from the Conclave, but... I can send word back to Rannoch and they'll likely make allowances for a diplomatic tour of the Hierarchy. We've never had close ties to them, but give our common... antagonist in the Prothean Empire, it's at least worth it to make a few sales pitches now that their war is heating up again."

"Are we... able to sell things to the turians, Father?" Tali asked curiously.

Rael opened his mouth to respond, but I preempted him by setting the puzzle-orb back on the ring for it to float freely. Dimming the lights, the glimmering map of the galaxy's political affiliations showed itself off. "Well, there's actually an unopened relay path between human space and quarian space. It's one I've taken to calling the 'Dark Arc' given that it cuts through the sparsely populated parts of our spiral galaxy between the arms, even brushing close to dark space..."

I pointed to a dark section of the 'map' I'd made. "Here – and here."

"An unopened path?" Rael asked, suddenly far more alert. "That is... potentially very important to the entire political situation the Quarian Federation faces. We've been long-isolated since the emergence of the New Prothean Empire, with the only true path to contact with the greater galaxy through the Hegemony's territory and they've enjoyed charging exceptionally high tariffs on our goods. If true, this could change the entire face of our military and political strategy as it stands today. How did you..."

I grinned. "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. But, here-" I flicked the details to his omni-tools in-box. "-don't take my word for it. Run an analysis yourself and have the Geth look it over. I'm sure your people will want a say in opening any route between our respective spaces, as well as dividing up any potential claims on the systems within that route."

"Which is quite honestly beyond my remit for this visit," Rael stated, tapping his fingers on the table and humming low in his throat. "What is your government's position on this matter, Dr. Lopez?"

"Seeing as how I only informed them of it yesterday, they've yet to inform me of an official one," I smirked slightly. "But the general position of the Systems Alliance in the broadest terms possible is that we welcome any and all sentients who wish to coexist peacefully and work in harmony with our own diverse population."

Of course, Rael'Zorah wasn't blind to what I was doing. Giving the quarians a backdoor into human space would create the very real possibility of closer ties between the Federation, the Alliance, and the Hierarchy/Clan groups. Before this revelation, bringing the quarians over to 'our side' from the Citadel had been a pipe dream, if only because of the navigable relay paths available.

Oh, it would take years for this gamble to bear fruit, I was sure, but the Systems Alliance was a far better prospect for the quarian people than the Citadel at this point. Even with the rachni on our side and the ancient bad blood there, none of our societies kept slaves or forced membership in our political unions by gunpoint. I knew the turians and krogans would, of course, if things were different. But in the current situation, their martial culture was a valuable leverage against the Prothean Empire.

Ultimately, it would be readily apparent to anyone watching that I was building a new powerbloc to balance the Citadel and the Prothean Empire. What they did about it, well…

That was assuming they would be able to do anything about it.

"One of the main stumbling blocks between our peoples is going to be our approach to economics and regulation, but I think we can come to an understanding..." I began, delving deeper into the discussion just as the quarian-friendly chairs finally arrived. Rael took the opportunity to ask one of the Geth to bring them food from their ship.

Meanwhile, Tali began to probe the topic of my gundam designs, though she accepted the lesser technological problems I threw her way as a more reasonable assessment of her skills.

Still, the way she looked at me...

I'd have to have a talk with Sasha about alien customs, it looked like. Even if her answer was a firm 'no,' it would be better to have that answer when Tali decided she'd made enough progress to bring up what she really seemed to want.