Plan for the Galaxy Chapter 60

PFTG

A/N Hi everyone! Here is the latest update for PFTG. It’s out a little earlier than I was expecting, which is good. That said, Christmas time does mean that things tend to slow down a bit. I will try to give you a little gift to keep you interested though. Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the season. Hope you all are doing well.

CHAPTER 60 – A Delicate Situation

(Brock POV)

I slumped back into my chair at the orphanage, enjoying a few moments of peace before my next meeting. I snorted as I considered how busy I was, as I remembered how many people had been somewhat hostile, or at least uninterested, before I had met them back when I was just starting out. That was no longer the case.

Ever since the Geth Invasion, as it was being called, had ended, I had been in meeting after meeting as I did my best to squeeze every scrap of goodwill to my advantage. And it seemed to be mostly working. The governments of the Citadel had seen how effective my people had been during both combat and the evacuation efforts. It was gratifying to see that my people’s hard work was being recognised. I made sure to suitably reward them all with bonuses if they were on the Citadel during the attack.

Even better, none of my people had been killed during the Invasion. There were a few injuries, but I was the worst hit out of my entire company. Even then, that was more bad luck than anything. And I didn’t have another meeting with Manuel, which told me that I wasn’t close to dying like I had been after Terra Nova.

There were some complications, however. Normally, I would use the goodwill to be able to put orders in for whatever resources I wanted. It would let me massively increase my company’s production ability. Unfortunately, reality had a way of complicating things.

With the damage inflicted on both the Citadel Fleets and the Alliance Fleets, all of the major governments were putting massive orders for resources to repair or replace their damaged ships. Even the Vol Protectorate was making orders for ship-grade metals. I guess that they had finally wised up about needing a proper navy of their own before they could get a Council seat, now that the Alliance had jumped the line and scored one of their own.

It had driven the costs for resources to ridiculous highs, as everyone was trying to get things moving for themselves. Supply and demand was certainly not working in my favour.

Still, Persei had managed to cut a deal with the Citadel scrappers. It meant that we were able to help gather all of the wrecked ships from the battle and use whatever we recovered without having to turn it in to the Citadel or assorted governments.

It was a hell of a deal; no one else was allowed to keep anything they wanted without restriction. It was the sort of thing that could only have happened because of our goodwill from the battle. Otherwise, anything navigation or weapons-based, or containing element zero, was not allowed to be touched, let alone kept, without that government’s approval. As it was, all of our gains were on their way to our new planet in the Terminus, where our factories and shipyards were coming along nicely. Parts would be broken down by the drones and everything that could be recycled for our use, would be recycled.

Huh. Side note, we really needed to rename the planet to something else. The batarian name that it was currently using was not well liked by the mostly ex-slave population.

Between the wrecked ships and the survey ships, like the Hidden Enterprise which was now scouring different star systems for minerals and mineable materials in the Terminus, we were getting a slow but steady trickle of materials we needed to build our fleet and factories. It just wasn’t fast enough.

Still, as I was still selling part of the eezo asteroids I’d been given from Manuel on the private market, I was able to negotiate a few deals directly with some parties, like the hanar who I had just visited. They were open to any business they could get. I had been able to make a deal for more of their ultralight materials which were incredibly useful in firearms and armour. We would be able to stock several divisions of troops with the materials we were able to get. All it had cost us was a pair of Orbital Defence Platforms for their planet, along with the indoctrination scanner and enough eezo to supply a few heavy cruisers.

Honestly, when that floating squid heard that the indoctrination scanner was a prothean device I thought it was going to pop like a balloon. The lights in its body lit up like a rave in its excitement. If I hadn’t left when I did, I was sure it was going to give me saint status in their culture.

The elcor had been less enthusiastic, but still impressed. They had most of their orders for ultra dense metals claimed by other parties but had agreed that we would get enough to be able to expand our shipyards further. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I gave away less than I had for the hanar.

I decided to turn on the TV for a minute to see how things were going, at least from the public perspective. Tapping a button on my terminal, the holoscreen lit up with a Citadel News Network channel.

“… the Council’s public recognition of Shieldstar Corporation has seen significant increased interest into the company,” the turian reporter on the holoscreen blabbered on. “We’ve already received numerous reports from both law enforcement and military groups who are seeking to place orders for the gunships that we saw during the Geth Invasion, that was capable of both aerial combat and ground support to a degree that the current fleet of Mantis Gunships are not capable of matching. Back to you, Hemetilia.”

“Thank you,” the asari news anchor said as the screen focussed back on her. “In similar news, Brock Nielson, the President of Shieldstar Corporation, has been awarded the Citadel Star and Ribbon, the highest honour awarded to civilians for bravery and service to the Citadel community for his actions in helping stop the geth during the invasion. When he received this honour, the first one that a human has ever received, he merely said this:”

The screen quickly switched out to Brock Nielson standing at a pulpit, addressing a crowd of cheering civilians and people dressed in CSEC and other military armours. He was carrying a cane, the only sign of his not-yet fully healed injury.

“When the geth came, I realised that people were going to be hurt,” he said, addressing the crowd. “Chaos alone would have meant injuries, but we know that those geth that invaded us were not likely to leave innocent people alone. I could have chosen to bunker down, and save my company’s assets and resources. But an invasion like that is not the time to be thinking about products and losses of equipment. It is a time to think about the people who need help, who would be unable to defend themselves.

“In that moment, I chose to ignore the material losses that could have happened to my company. I didn’t even think about money or losses. I saw people getting hurt and I knew I was able to do something to help protect them. I armoured up along with my people and I ordered them to help; to evacuate people, provide medical treatment and protect the Citadel. It was the right thing to do, and I would hope that anyone that was in my position would have also chosen to help, as I did, for the benefit of the innocent, and not their back pocket.”

The camera swapped back to the asari anchor, her face smiling at the recorded message. “That was inspiring, and if I might add a personal note, I would also hope that others would choose to act to help people as Mister Nielson did.” Her lips pursed and her brow creased slightly in a frown. “Unfortunately, not everyone did so. And several companies have come forward asking how Shieldstar had such resources on the Citadel in the first place. Councillor Valern’s office responded to criticism on Mister Nielson’s behalf, issuing a statement that Shieldstar had lodged proper applications for an increase in their own security after their people and properties had been attacked on the Citadel earlier.”

“It’s despicable that people would so quickly attack a hero who is still wounded after the Invasion,” the turian spoke up from her spot on the anchor desk.

“Indeed it is,” the asari concurred. “Though, I do also have reports here that several of the loudest voices raising their concerns about Mister Nielson and Shieldstar also have similar levels of security forces and personnel on the Citadel, yet none of them were seen in the defence of the Citadel during the Invasion.”

“It sounds like they are envious of the good publicity and the positive public opinion that Shieldstar is receiving,” the turian taunted. “I suppose that the fact that companies such as Armax Arsenal and Elkoss Combine have suffered a devastating ten and twelve percent market drop is completely unrelated.”

“I’m sure it is,” the asari said, a smug smile playing about her lips. “In other news, The Desmond Doss Medical Academy has just opened on Ilium. It is to be a multi-species medical training centre for combat medics who choose not to be trained in the use of weapons. As suggested by the name of the human whom the academy is named for, the academy will accept anyone who wishes to be a medic assigned to a combat unit, but do not wish to be combatants. The new Director, Ritaly T’nade, said this.” The screen shot to a public conference in front of the new academy.

“Desmond Doss may have been a human who died on Earth long before humanity began to travel among the stars,” Ritaly spoke into the microphone. “But that doesn’t take away from his story. He inspired his squad and was able to show that a medic is not a position to look down upon. He also showed that a medic doesn’t need to stain their hands with the blood of those who seek theirs. A medic, even a combat medic, is a brave soul who seeks the best of everyone. They seek to heal, to stitch lives together, even as events of the galaxy try to take them apart. A medic can stare into the face of danger, unarmed and unafraid of what may happen, knowing that they might be able to hold off death for another day.”

The screen came back to the anchors at the desk. “Already there have been hundreds of applications from asari, human and salarian hopefuls, as well as applications from nearly all other races who are seeking to attend the new Academy,” the turian anchor said. “Even many turians, despite coming from a culture of wide-spread combat doctrine, have applied to have a place at the academy, seeking to help those around them.”

I flicked off the screen and sat back in my chair. When I started to introduce old movies around the galaxy, I had only really been intending to make humanity more popular on a social level. Movies and television were a great way to introduce human stories and imagination in a non-intrusive way to a new society. Considering how poorly humanity had been looked at by the other races, especially the top three, having movies be a way to make humanity look more acceptable had been one of the ideas that I had to sway the general public.

Clearly, I’d had more impact in that regard than I had expected if they were opening up a medical academy named after a human on Ilium. I had no idea who organised that, or who approved it, but it was a good thing as far as I was concerned.

I took a quick look over all the projects that I had to do on my terminal and shook my head at the scope of it. So much to do in such a short amount of time. Some people might think that two years was a lot of time to complete projects, but those people often failed to take into account the amount of time it took other people to get things done.

I had plenty of people now that I could delegate tasks to, division heads that would be working on behalf of my company and doing their best to make things work. Even still, as the face of the company I needed to get out there and meet plenty of people and organise the initial agreements myself. Only then could I throw the tasks to subordinates to coordinate the finer details.

Fleet building, planet building, colony protection, weapons manufacturing, orbital defence platforms to build, expanding the shipyards, more work with the various ambassadors, organising the digs on Eden Prime’s prothean ruins to save Javik and get any information we could to help us win, coordinating more anti-slavery operations and so much more. All of those required lots of people to be able to do properly and quickly. All of them required massive amounts of resources to be able to do, including food, fuels, metals, power cores, element zero, ships, buildings weapons and people. More importantly, people we could trust. And that last one meant having dedicated teams making sure that none of the people we were bringing into the organisation were selling information to the brokers around the galaxy.

As it was, my internal security teams had managed to catch seven different people that were trying to sell information on our activities to different groups, from the Shadow Broker to the STG. None of the people had been able to get any sensitive information that would justify killing them, so all we had done is organise a trip to the Citadel for them and left them there with enough money to get a one-way ticket to wherever they wanted to go.

Thankfully, the vast majority of people that had joined us were exceptionally loyal. Most of them were either former slaves or were from Eden Prime and so they were very grateful to us for saving them and their families from either their former owners or the geth.

That sort of thing seemed to guarantee loyalty.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my new leg absently. It didn’t really hurt, but I did get phantom pains from time to time, as though I should have an injury there, but I didn’t. I was told that was normal and it should go away slowly over the next few weeks. That was when my brain would kick in that the leg was actually ‘mine’ and not a prosthetic.

I shook my head and rubbed my face to wake me up a little. It wasn’t really as bad as it seemed. It was easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of work that needed to be done, but really, I didn’t need to be the one doing it. I just delegated it. That made it far more manageable.

The door chimed and I opened it to see Persei striding into the room, her face locked in its ‘stern’ mode. That meant she was going to be objecting to something. I had the feeling I already knew where this was going.

“Hey Persei,” I greeted her. “Why so serious?”

“Are you certain that you want to do this meeting now?” Persei asked bluntly, her face and tone dead serious.

I was right. I knew exactly why she was here. I nodded. “I know the risks, and yes I know they are substantial,” I said. “But we need more information on what the Council is doing and I need to be able to move any suspicions they bring up away from our operations. Plus, it would give us more legitimacy to the asari matriarchs. They have the largest eezo market in the galaxy and we need them to be on board for the whole, ‘survival of the galaxy’ plan we have.”

She pursed her lips. “That may be,” she conceded. “I won’t argue against that. However, you don’t know the matriarchs like I do. They will not care about the end of the galaxy from a reaper invasion until it happens and they see the destruction of everything with their own eyes. It won’t be until the reapers themselves come that they will realise that sharing information and resources isn’t a problem and they will try and hunt you down if they think that you are able to take their power away from them.”

I sighed. “I can understand that,” I replied heavily, knowing that people in power rarely allowed themselves to lose it. Asari matriarchs had the ability to go above and beyond in terms of selfishness and pettiness. “Unfortunately, this is likely to be the fastest way to get anything done. We need the asari to see that the reapers are real and they are coming. The only way I can think of them finally accepting it, short of unearthing a living prothean, would be to have the prothean VI in the beacon hidden on Thessia to come out and tell them about it.”

“They will also use the opportunity to make their increased access to the prothean beacon to get as much of a head start on the other races before they can catch up,” Persei pointed out.

I nodded. “I know,” I replied. “But seeing as we will be sending out the information of the beacon to the other races 24 hours later, it’s not much of a head start. They will be too busy trying to stop everything going out to the salarians to worry about us for a while.”

“And after that, they will come for the person responsible for letting the knowledge get out in the first place,” Persei countered.

“I know,” I said, letting out another sigh. I was doing that a lot today. “But there is nothing for it. Either this gets done and we have a better chance to survive the reapers, or we don’t and we risk fighting less prepared than we would otherwise be. If necessary, I will hide on our new planet for a while and get things taken care of from there. Or just stay on the Balrog if I have to be involved in things more directly.”

She frowned but nodded, finally giving up on trying to talk me out of this meeting with Tevos. Admittedly, I was a little concerned at how this was going to go, but there was nothing for it. As far as I was concerned, it needed to be done. No point in waiting until the middle of the reaper invasion like the games had.

Though, Persei was right. The asari in the games had known all about the reapers for the entire length of the invasion and it wasn’t until Thessia was going to be destroyed that they revealed that they had the beacon. That was a clear sign that they didn’t care about much as long as they didn’t’ lose the advantage they were given by having a partially activated beacon.

She stayed with me for a while as we worked out our proposals that we were writing up for the colonies in the Terminus. It was a step to both increase our popularity, our reputation as a defence company, increase our own resources and contacts, and deny the reapers of the body mass they sought to expand their forces and build their precious Human Reaper.

Finally, the time came for a meeting that I had been expecting would happen at some point and worried about it all the same, as Councillor Tevos walked through the door, her guards standing outside but visible through the open doorway. It closed with a soft hiss, but I had little doubt that they were still standing outside, ready at the slightest warning.

I stood as she entered the office. “Councillor Tevos,” I greeted her with a nod. “Thank you for making time to meet with me.”

She gave a graceful nod back as she stepped towards the other side of the desk, a small smile touching her lips. “Mister Nielson,” she replied, her eyes looking over to see Persei’s stern face for a moment before looking back at me. “Matriarch Persei. Thank you for being more polite with your request.”

I chuckled, thinking back to the first time I had asked for a meeting with the asari councillor. “Yes,” I said. “I was certainly more… assertive than I was this time.”

She raised a brow ridge as she smirked at me. “If that is the word you are choosing to use, then I will politely pretend that is all it was.”

I grinned sheepishly and gestured for her to sit. She did so, crossing a leg underneath her long dress as she considered me.

“I am glad to see that you are recovering nicely,” she said. “I must admit, I was rather worried when I heard that you were injured. After all, having a Hero of the Citadel injured would be extremely demoralising.”

I smiled blandly. “Yes,” I said. “I seem to get a few more injuries than I imagine most CEOs are likely to get in the course of their duties. But as you said, I am healing nicely. I should be able to return to my previous level of activity before long.”

The tiniest creasing of her brow ridge let me know she was frowning. “If I may,” she said, sounding hesitant, “I was informed that your injuries appeared more… extensive than what you would have received during the invasion. Are you sure you are alright?”

I gave a comforting smile as I nodded to her. “Yes,” I agreed. “I have some mementos from some torture years ago during a different phase of my life. After much counselling and other therapies, I am doing much better. No need for you to concern yourself with the scars. I don’t even care about them anymore.”

She pursed her lips. “I see,” she said, though her tone didn’t sound very happy. “The perpetrators?” she asked.

“Will never bother anyone ever again,” I assured her.

She nodded and leaned back in her seat, though her eyes flickered to Persei once more. “Why did you ask me to meet you today?”

I folded my hands on the desk in front of me. “A few reasons,” I said. “First, I was hoping for an update on how things are going in the wake of the geth invasion. I am trying to get a lot of resources to expand our operations but it seems like everything is being taken by the various governments and the Citadel itself. How bad was it?”

A frown came across the asari councillor’s face. “There was significant damage among the Citadel Defence Fleet,” she answered, “as I am sure you are aware. More than eighty percent of the Fleet was damaged in some way. More than fifty percent of the Fleet was rendered incapable of further operation.

“The Alliance sent an entire Fleet and elements of a second Fleet that were available to respond at short notice. While they were able to turn the tide, more than fifty percent of the Alliance vessels were damaged, many of them significantly.” She shook her head. “As you know, I was onboard the Destiny Ascension during the battle. I honestly thought that we were going to die. The geth had shown us that for all we thought of our superior dreadnought, it mattered little in the face of their power.”

I nodded. “And from what I understand, that was only about ten percent of the entire Geth Fleet,” I said, drawing a shocked look from her.

“Only ten percent?” she stared aghast. “How do you know that?”

I shrugged. “I got that information a while ago,” I replied. “As did you. The splitting among the geth when they warned us about Eden Prime.”

She looked crestfallen at that. “Oh, yes,” she muttered. “I had forgotten about that message.” She shook her head. “It seems so long ago now.”

I let silence fall between us for a moment as Tevos seemed to stare into the distance.

“How about the ship that destroyed the reaper?” I asked. “I know for a fact that it didn’t belong to the Alliance.”

Tevos grimaced. “Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say,” she confessed. “We only have a few bare glimpses of its power, let alone its design. They sent a broadcast after they destroyed the ship in one shot, which none of our Xeno linguistics specialists have even the slightly clue about translating. Our closest guess is that they are a new race to us but have encountered the reapers or the geth sometime earlier and took advantage of the battle to attack. We don’t know where they are, but we will keep looking.”

“Sounds like a long process,” I said.

She nodded. “Quite possibly.” She seemed to hesitate for a long moment, before she spoke again. “However, I don’t think it would be a breach of confidentiality to tell you that the alien ship has the turians quite worried.”

I blinked. This was the first time I was hearing about this. “Worried how?” I asked. “Do you think that the aliens are going to attack us?”

It was a moot point anyway, seeing as there were no aliens. Just my own people playing a trick on the Citadel with the Hidden Enterprise and we weren’t going to be attacking the Citadel. I might have to reveal that depending on where this conversation goes.

Tevos gave me a wry smile. “The turians expect an attack from everyone,” she said, flicking her eyes towards the doorway. I didn’t see a turian guard out there but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t one, or that the guards that Tevos brought with her wouldn’t talk to other turians. “However, there has been no aggression shown to us directly by this new race. Still, the amount of power that was shown has the turians, and indeed all of us on the Council, rather nervous. Should the aliens prove to be hostile towards us, it is quite possible that we would not be able to defend ourselves adequately against them. Their weapons were certainly far more powerful and travelled far faster than our own. The turians and the Alliance both expressed strong concerns about that.”

“And the Republics and Union?” I asked.

“Probably exactly how you would think,” Tevos said wryly. “The Council of Matriarchs want to look for diplomatic solutions and have them join the Citadel, while the salarians want more information before the dalatrasses act. In the meantime, all of our races have committed to a significant increase in our research and development to create more and better weapons so that we don’t find ourselves too outclassed by the aliens.”

“Huh.” I sat back as I absorbed that information. I hadn’t expected this outcome, not really. I thought that there might be some paranoia, but not a massive expansion of the various Fleets from the largest governments in the Citadel community. That would be extremely helpful when the reapers arrived.

I decided not to tell her that the ship was mine. No need for them to lose their motivation to get stronger. Not yet, anyway. Once the reapers make their actual appearance, I will probably let them know of the deception then.

“At least that explains more fully why I am having so much difficulty in getting large amounts of resources in a hurry,” I finished.

“Most likely,” Tevos nodded with a small smile. “It was because of that, that I argued for your increased scrapping licence to clear the debris around the Citadel.”

Well, that was a nice surprise. I had a feeling that I was missing something still, but I had no idea what. No matter; I still knew more than enough to control this next part of the discussion

I looked at her for a moment. “I must say,” I said slowly, “I didn’t expect you to be so candid with me, Councillor Tevos.”

She gave me another small smile of her own. “Well, you are the Hero of the Citadel,” she teased. “I believe you earned a bit of extra information. Besides, while the information isn’t exactly common knowledge, it is still not highly classified. It was released far too publicly for that to be the case.”

I nodded slowly. “I see,” I said. “Thank you.” I took a deep breath and released it in a slow sigh. “Though, I admit, I don’t think that you are going to like the next part of this conversation.”

Tevos blinked, her face falling into what seemed to be a politely neutral setting. “I see,” she said, her tone matching her face. “What is it you wished to bring up?”

“First,” I said, looking into her eyes, “I will need you to stay still for a moment while Persei scans you.”

Tevos blinked, her eyes turning to look as Persei stepped forward, her omnitool already raised. A quick flash of light scanned Tevos for a moment, before the omnitool beeped. “NO INDOCTRINATION DETECTED,” a robotic voice declared.

Tevos blinked and stared at the omnitool in shock. “What was that?” she asked.

“Something that we were able to put together from the protheans to be able to determine whether or not someone was under the effects of indoctrination,” I explained.

She blinked and stared up at me. “But how?” she asked. “Our own scientists are still just looking at the raw data that was recovered from Saren’s base on Virmire. None of them even have the slightest inkling on where to begin yet on something like this!” she looked at me sharply. “Is this what your meetings with the ambassadors has been about?”

I gave her a lopsided smile. Of course she had heard about my other meetings.

“Partially,” I admitted. “Though I was also looking to broker trade agreements with them. Still, I gave a copy of the schematics for this device to everyone that I met with.”

“I see,” she said, looking back at the omnitool on Persei’s arm. “But that still doesn’t tell me how you were able to make this device. How did you come across it?”

I shrugged. “Saren had another beacon on Virmire,” I answered easily. “Jane Shepard thought that it was destroyed in the explosion that the salarians set off. I made sure that it was recovered before that could happen.”

Her eyes widened as she leaned forward. “You mean, you have a fully active prothean beacon?” she asked, sounding excited.

I nodded, getting ready for the next sentence. “Yes,” I replied. “It will match the prothean beacon that you have hidden on Thessia.”

It seemed to take a moment before my words sunk in, before Tevos jerked back in shock. “What?” she almost squawked, before she rammed herself to sit up straight, completely ridged and her face coming expressionless. “What do you mean a prothean beacon hidden on Thessia?”

I shook my head. “Don’t bother denying it,” I replied. “I have known for years that the statue of the goddess Athame in the Athame Temple on Thessia was built to hide the prothean beacon that you have there. And before you go and deny that claim, the prothean beacons are able to link to each other. I can prove it with the beacon in my possession.”

She flinched slightly but opened her mouth. “Oh, and before you get the idea that it would be better to get rid of the information that I am giving out by removing the source,” I continued before she could respond, “which is myself, I should also warn you that I would not be stupid enough to break the Asari Republics greatest secret if I didn’t have contingency plans. If anything were to happen to me, then all of the galaxy would know about the beacon.”

Tevos looked stricken for a moment at my comments. “You really think I would try to have you killed?” she asked, perplexed.

I shrugged again. “You personally? I doubt it,” I replied. “But I don’t think that the Council of Matriarchs would be the least bit hesitant.”

Tevos grimaced, opening her mouth to reply, before shutting it and giving a tiny, tight nod.

I sighed and shook my head. “The funny thing is,” I said, filling the silence, “that if you had managed to completely activate your prothean beacon, you would have known about the reapers thousands of years ago.”

Tevos blinked, her eyes widening a fraction. “What do you mean?” she asked warily.

The surprise in her eyes was concerning. The fact that the asari had never seemed to activate the prothean VI in the Thessian beacon was never really addressed in the games. Only with Javik there was there any sort of clue given as to why the prothean beacon didn’t activate for the asari. You needed to have prothean DNA.

However, protheans didn’t really communicate with DNA. They dealt with each other more psychically. They had that melding connection that they used with every. Shepard experienced that when they touched after Javik was brought out of stasis. But if you couldn’t get an actual prothean, the beacons would accept the next best thing.

Someone that had the Cypher.

Which Persei and I both had. And Persei could give through a meld.

“I mean that according to the information that I was able to access from a vast array of sources regarding the protheans,” I responded, “you should have been able to gain all the information that you needed about the upcoming reaper invasion from the prothean VI that is hidden inside you beacon.”

Now Tevos was gaping at me, her mouth several centimetres apart. “There’s a prothean VI on Thessia?” she asked, sounding mystified. “An active one?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Or at least it would be active if the asari had the last missing component that they don’t seem to have.”

“What component?” she asked hurriedly. “What is missing?”

I grinned. “You need the Cypher.”

Tevos blinked, then blinked again. “Cypher?” she asked. “Wait, you mean that thing that Shepard got from that big alien on Feros?”

I nodded. “That’s the one,” I said. “I still don’t have all the data on it, but it essentially plants a meld file in your bodies readable energy that interacts with the prothean relics. It’s almost like an access card to get from a public area, to a private area where the cooler toys were hidden.”

Silence filled the room as Tevos looked off into the distance as she was obviously processing the information that I had laid out for her.

“I will need to get Benezia’s servant out of custody,” she finally muttered, not really talking to us but more just speaking aloud. “If she can use the Cypher to access the prothean VI.”

I coughed, drawing her attention back to me. “Or,” I said slowly and deliberately, “you could ask someone who was there, and who has the Cypher to be able to pass it on to you.”

She blinked. “You know how to organise it through the meld?” she asked incredulously.

Shaking my head, I pointed to Persei. “She does.”

“I see,” Tevos said, looking slightly apprehensive. “I wasn’t aware that you had managed to get access to Shiala to get the Cypher.”

Ignoring the unasked question was easy, as I merely smiled at the councillor.

Tevos huffed and turned to Persei. “If, you don’t mind,” she said hesitantly, “would you be willing to give me the Cypher?”

Persei’s eyes flickered over to me before she nodded. “I will. Please stand and come forwards.”

Tevos did as instructed. I know that Persei wouldn’t do anything she shouldn’t. Asari culture tended to have very strict rules regarding melds. The only ones that seemed to go against those rules were the ardat yakshi. It was another reason why they were excluded from asari society.

A short exchange of blackened eyes took place as Persei melded with Tevos and it was done. Tevos blinked several times, as though she had looked at a bright light and needed to readjust her vision, before she looked up at me. “That was… most peculiar,” she stated slowly.

I nodded. I braced myself for the next part of the talk. I had a feeling that this next part of the conversation was going to cause some damage in Tevos’ and my business relationship.

“I remember,” I said, acknowledging her experience. “However, now that this is out of the way, I feel the need to add something that you won’t like.”

Tevos blinked and sat up straighter in her chair, her eyes focussed on me.

“I will be passing on the information regarding the prothean beacon to the other governments in the Citadel within the next forty-eight hours,” I revealed. “That’s two standard Earth days.”

Tevos froze. “No!” she objected sharply. “You cannot! It would damage asari relations with the other races severely!”

I shrugged. “That is something that you and your previous councillors, or the Council of Matriarchs should have been more concerned about over the last two thousand years,” I replied. “You and the other two Council seats, I don’t include the Alliance in this situation, forced through treaties that would make sure that no one race would have a hoard of prothean information. Despite that, the Republics have been in complete violation of that treaty by hiding their beacon on Thessia and disguising their use of it any time one of the other races tried to break the asari dominance of the technological market.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to damage asari credibility throughout the entire galaxy!” Tevos stood and shouted. “The social damage alone would be catastrophic!”

I stood too, not allowing myself to be looked down on or put in a subservient position.

“That is a consequence of the asari lying to the galaxy for century after century,” I said firmly. “The only way that you have to get around this is if you get ahead of it and admit it before I submit the information to all the other members of the Council.”

She balled up her fists. “This is espionage!” she snapped. “I should have you arrested!”

I was unimpressed with her accusation. “How was it espionage?” I asked. “I got the information from a prothean beacon found on another planet. I’ve never set foot on Thessia, or any world under the rule of the Republics. As for arresting me, I don’t think the other races on the Council will have as much of a concern about me over the news of the beacon.”

I tapped a few things on my terminal, sending a file to Tevos that had her omnitool light up. “As for the Council of Matriarchs,” I continued, looking at Tevos blandly, “I think that after so many millennia of misbehaving, that they should know that their own actions have finally caught up with them.”

Tevos glared at me, before angrily punching her fingers at her omnitool. She looked at the files, then up at me, her gaze now wary, before going back to her omnitool to keep viewing the message. Her gaze went from angry to pale in fear in moments.

“What is this?” she whispered.

“That is the records of so many of the asari matriarchs over the centuries that have contracted slavers and mercenaries to attack the other races,” I provided. “In fact, the files in question are only those that involve attacks on the salarians and turians.”

Her horror-filled expression stared over at me before she flopped bonelessly into her chair. “Where did you get this?” she breathed.

I shook my head. “Did you honestly think that there would be no evidence anytime someone made an order to the slavers to make attacks on their behalf?” I asked rhetorically. “Every transmission was recorded so that they could use it as blackmail. Which is probably why no one ever received the justice that they were looking for whenever they came to the Council for aid after an attack. With the amount of blackmail against them, it would be easier for you Councillors to say that there was no evidence that the batarians did it than it would be to have their dirty laundry aired to the galaxy. But if this information got out there, how do you think the Alliance or the hanar and drell, or the independent matriarchs would react?”

I waited as Tevos seemed to consider the answer, looking hopeless.

“There are three particular files that I want to draw your attention to,” I said, seeing as she wasn’t going to speak up. “Number eight and number fourteen. They are from two different members on your current Council of Matriarchs, ordering attacks on several prominent salarian scientists and technologists. The orders came because the salarians in question had been on the cusp of some significant technological breakthroughs. Those breakthroughs would finally have let the salarians have an edge over the asari in terms of technology, regardless of the prothean beacon in your care.”

If I thought that Tevos’ face could get any paler, I had been wrong, as it looked like her face was about to go pale lavender at how little blood there was in it. Good. She knew the implications of that information getting out. It would immediately break up the asari-salarian alliance that had existed since the formation of the Citadel community.

“You can’t tell anyone about this,” she whispered desperately. “It would be war!”

“Then your matriarchs should have thought of that when they decided that maintaining their own power was worthy killing off your allies,” I replied, my tone getting a little colder. “The final file I think you should see is number twenty-two.”

Her shaking hand slowly found the file in question and opened it. I couldn’t see the recording being played; omnitools were designed to give that level of privacy. I didn’t need to though. I knew what it was. Right now, Irissa, assistant and protégé of Tevos, and next in line to be Councillor for the Asari Republics, was on her screen, ordering a slave run in Tevos’ name on a colony of turians who were refusing access to an asari survey team.

The turians had found a small eezo deposit and were planning on opening a private mine. The asari would take it over and kick out the turians. The slavers had come in on Irissa’s orders and wiped out the turians. The mine was operating even now under an asari private company. A company that Tevos was a major shareholder in.

I let the silence linger as Tevos almost looked like she was going to vomit or faint.

“I want you to know,” I said softly, drawing her attention back to me, “that I have copies of these files hidden in multiple places throughout the galaxy. If any harm comes upon me of any kind, if I mysteriously vanish, if I come down with a deadly or debilitating sickness or disease of any kind, if I am arrested on whatever trumped up charges anyone can come up with, if I am confined in any way, regardless of by whom, if I am anything other than completely free, healthy and happy, I will assume that this is an attempt by the asari to silence me. As such, that information will be released to the entire galaxy; most notably, every other race that the Council of Matriarchs has sponsored and ordered attacks on will receive the full, unedited list of the asari transgressions.”

Tevos looked like she was about to weep. In fact, a single tear was running down her cheek. I hardened my heart against the sorry sight, not letting my previously friendly feelings stop me from getting through this meeting. I don’t even know if Tevos ordered her assistant to conduct the raid or not but I don’t even know if I would get an honest answer.

I shook my head and let out a slow sigh. “It’s a shame that I find myself so very disappointed in you. Not only that, I don’t think I can find myself having much faith in the Council of Matriarchs for the foreseeable future. I will be leaving the Citadel within the hour and not returning for some time. I know that despite what I showed you, and the warning that you will be carrying to the Council of Matriarchs, some stupid power-hungry asari matriarch is going to think that I am buffing and make an attack on me. I am not sure who that will be yet, but I am not going to let that attack go without consequence.”

I stood from my desk and Persei moved closer to me but keeping an eye on Tevos as I buttoned up my suit jacket.

“Unfortunately,” I said as I looked down at Tevos, who looked absolutely defeated by our conversation, “I need to go. There is so much to do, and now that I have been informed about the current state of affairs and this new potential threat, I imagine that I am going to be busier than I thought. You have to contact your Council of Matriarchs and pass on the information that the beacon is going to be made known to the rest of the Council in forty-eight hours. You should also go and activate that prothean VI as quickly as possible. Too much is riding on the survival of the galaxy to be able to let that fount of knowledge be hidden for any longer. And be sure to give the matriarchs my warning about that blackmail. I do not kid when I say that my happiness and freedom is going to be the highest priority that the Asari Republics is going to have for the foreseeable future.”

I moved out from behind my desk and headed for the door before stopping and looking at her. “I wish you luck, Tevos,” I said. “But remember, I don’t trust that all of your matriarchs are smart enough. You should probably take care of that if you don’t want consequences.”

With that, I headed out the door, passing the guards without a backwards glance. Though, that was more because my own security was standing in front of them, outnumbering them by four to one. Jurt nodded at me as I passed, but kept his eyes fixed on the asari guards as I left.

I love that big guy.

It was only once we were safely aboard the Balrog that I felt safe enough to relax.

“Things got more complicated, didn’t they Boss?” Aleria asked me from the captain’s chair.

I nodded at my trusted pilot and captain of my flagship. “Sadly,” I said. “I think that meeting could have gone better, but I don’t know exactly how. The asari were never going to be happy that they had their beacon made known to the public and would do everything in their power to keep that information hidden. At the very least, it would keep the smarter ones off our backs for now. But I think a few weeks with my daughter on our new planet while we get the next phase underway will be a big help.”

“We really need to give it a new name,” Misol said from the sensor station, where she tended to go when not working in maintenance. The third longest serving quarian had shown more interest in piloting larger ships than she had in maintenance and I had no reason to deny her on a ship as large as the Balrog that needed a bridge crew when I had other mechanics and technicians available.

I nodded. “Then how about we give it one right now?” I asked.

Persei looked at me. “I take it you have a name?” she asked.

I grinned. “Clitoris. That way, no one will ever find it.”

Aleria smacked me on the back of the head. “Don’t be stupid,” she admonished me.

I rubbed the back of my head, chuckling. “Fine,” I said. “I was thinking of a name that would represent strength and safety. A place of refuge from danger. Upholding the ideal of freedom.”

Even Jurt looked intrigued. “Oh yeah?” he grunted. “What name is that?”

I smiled. “Bastion.”

The group looked around at each other and nodded. “A good name,” Jurt conceded. “Better than what we got now.”

I nodded in agreement and looked out the forward viewport. “Set course for Bastion, Aleria,” I said, a small smile on my lips. “Set course for our new home.”

…

1 film, 4 reviews

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Thessian Suns Publication

By Helia Mis’audis

A marvellous conclusion to this epic tale. I must admit, despite my initial scepticism when I first started watching this vid series, I cried so many times at how sad and beautiful this vid was. The scenery was beyond reproach, the script was powerful and the acting was perfectly believable. I believe that Samwise Gamgee may truly be the hero that all of us need in our lives. To see the struggle and the hope and the power of will that made him push on to the very end, made me want to be a better person, and have a better person in my own life. Must see this vid.

Sur’kesh Leaf Script

By Silarn Moduk

The final vid in this trilogy was exceptionally well crafted. The visuals, the choreography, the use of lighting and the use of music to set the scene, especially in that horse charge, was masterfully done. The director was truly a gifted person to bring out the best of this vid.

Production aside, the story was engaging, the characters were captivating and believable, and the crises that came up time and again were both heart-stopping and thrilling. I cannot recommend this vid highly enough. This is up there among the pinnacle of human cinema.

Palaven Daily Call

By Marticus Lossus

This vid was a worthy epic conclusion to a magnificent trilogy. The battle scenes were well done, the talk of duty, the touching and exciting moments among Sam and Frodo, the humour of Gimli and the charisma of Aragorn; all of it combines to an epic conclusion of a spectacular story. I could watch this whole thing again and not be disappointed one bit. Everything, from the acting to the directing, to costume design was all done so well that I think that to call it anything other than a masterpiece would do it a disservice.

The Krogan Word

By Ognut Grax

Fighting a troll with nothing but a hammer is now my new birthday wish.

Two massive battles, two motivational speeches, lots of killing. Perfect vid for me.

Don’t think I want to fight that spider without a flamer though. I think that’s where I draw the line. I got hit by some instant stick safety line once. Took weeks to get it out of my armour.

Got a little sappy at the end. Musta been some dust in the theatre. Made my allergies act up.