21A wave of dark energy explodes forth from the Tikkun relay and within moments saturates the whole system under a dark aura. The reapers attacking the quarian vessels glow brightly for several long moments before falling silent and drifting past the ships lifelessly.
Onboard the Erdritch, Genevieve, Tali, and Vickers nearly lose their balance while Legion braces himself on the wall. The ship continues rocking for several seconds.
“Looks like Liara got the relay to fire,” Genevieve says.
“We have little time before the resumption of hostilities then, Shepard Commander.”
“Let’s hurry to the bridge!”
They follow Kal Reegar until they’ve found themselves on the bridge. Genevieve rushes up the decline towards the command station where admiral Xen turns and glares at them.
“Shepard! I told you if you interfered you’d be an enemy to the quarian people!”
“Enough is enough, Xen! We have evidence that you have to see that will change the course of this war!”
Xen blocks Genevieve as she walks up the stairs towards the command station, “There is nothing you have that I need to see! The reapers are out of the way and that just leaves the geth standing between us and our home!”
Genevieve shakes her head, “Xen, you’re a reasonable woman. You must understand that this can be handled a different way! If you proceed down this course, the quarian people will be wiped out!”
“Contrary to what you may believe about us, commander, the quarians are strong and capable! We made the geth and we can destroy them!” Xen looks at Legion. “Now take your pet off of this ship before I have my men destroy him just for being here!”
“He’s not going anywhere until you see what we have!” Tali says coming forward.
Xen laughs, “Admiral Zorah, if the others were here we’d vote you out of the ranks! You’ve turned your back on everything we hold dear! Turned your back on your people!”
“With all due respect, admiral, Tali would never betray us. She proved that on the Alerei,” Kal’Reegar says.
“Oh yes she did. By hiding the truth about what her father had discovered! A way to beat the geth!”
“At what price, Xen!?” Tali pleads. “By giving up on our values!? By unleashing geth drones on our fleet?! You would have stricken his name from the books and turned around to use his research to fund your suicide mission!”
“He would have gone down as the savior of our people! I would not have forgotten his sacrifice!”
Genevieve steps forward and comes face to face with Xen, “Two minutes, admiral. That’s all we ask. If after that point you can’t be swayed, then we’ll leave and you can proceed as you see fit.”
Xen stares at Genevieve for several long moments before sighing, “Fine. Two minutes. Come to the warroom.”
The group follows Xen to the adjoining room and prepare to show her what they had found on the surface. After a time, Xen stands with her arms crossed watching the blank space where the holodisplay had been playing. She uncrosses her arms and looks to the group.
“So quarians were fighting for the geth. We’ve all known that. It doesn’t change anything.
“It means,” Tali says. “That there was an insurrection. And that was the primary driving force behind the conflict! People used the geth as an instrument to spread fear! And we paid the ultimate price for that fear!”
Xen braces her hands on the war table before her and leans forward, “Are you really going to stand there and defend the geth? They murdered billions! Drove us into exile!”
“To save themselves!” Tali yells. “Isn’t that what any species would do!? Save themselves from extinction!?”
“The geth are machines!”
“And we made them in our image! And now you’d turn your own back on our history! We have an opportunity to end this! To make amends! To start a new chapter in our history! We became wanderers, outcasts! We lost our embassy, our respect! We can’t take back the mistakes we made but we have an opportunity to start fresh! To show the galaxy that there is more to us than they believe! You look at the geth as our destroyers, but I say they can be our salvation! They can help us correct all the errors we committed and regain our standing in the galactic community!”
Xen stands up and rubs her faceplate, “Raan said you were an idealist. I just had no idea how far you were willing to take this. You’re putting the geth ahead of your own people!”
“The geth ARE our own people! And if we’re to stand a chance at recovering the culture we once were, we need them. Now more than ever!”
Genevieve pats Tali’s shoulder and walks around the edge of the table, “Xen, call a meeting of the admirals. Let them vote on it. Let them see for themselves what’s at stake.”
Xen shakes her head and remains silent for a long moment, “All right. We’ll give the admiralty time to consider the weight of these matters. In the interim, we’ll call for a temporary truce.”
“Legion…” Genevieve begins.
“Already communicating with the consensus, Shepard Commander. They agree to the temporary truce.”
Xen rushes onto the bridge, “Open up hailing frequencies to the fleet! Order all ships to stand down and send word to the admirals to convene here in the war room. There is a matter we must discuss.”
“Admiral?” the helmsman turns to her.
“You heard me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes later, admirals Koris, Han’Gerrel, Xen, Tali, and Raan stand before the holodisplay watching the actions recorded from Genevieve’s trip into the geth consensus. There is not much said for several minutes with the exception of a few low whispers between the admirals.
“Legion,” Zaal’Koris says. “Would the geth be open to a cease fire and a treaty?”
“You do not speak for us, Koris!” Han’Gerrel yells. “There has been no consensus reached between us on this issue!”
“I’m for a treaty,” Tali nods to Koris.
“That makes two, Gerrel,” Koris says.
“I will not make peace with those machines!” Han’Gerrel erupts.
“I find the whole issue…appalling,” Xen shakes her head. “They are machines. We must recapture them and repurpose their programming! I’m still not swayed by this so-called ‘evidence.’”
“So two to two,” Tali says quietly.
Raan rubs her hand on her faceplate and looks to Legion, “What do the geth say, Legion?”
“The geth do not desire the destruction of the creators. If we must, we will defend ourselves. Admiral Shala’Raan! A consensus has been reached. We geth are willing to share Rannoch if the creators are willing. A treaty of peace is optimal. If the creators are amicable to the treaty.”
“Raan! You cannot seriously be contemplating this!” Han’Gerrel shouts. “The geth have brought our people to the brink of extinction!”
“Han, we’ve already lost too many lives today. Thirteen liveships, six heavy cruisers, nine frigates. The reapers did their job well,” Raan says mournfully. “I’ve lost…good friends. Viewing this document…I see now that we brought this upon ourselves. Our government brought our people to destitution and when we struck out against the geth in fear, we cemented the resolve of an insurrection. We can never again repeat those mistakes. I cast my vote in favor of the treatise.”
Genevieve exhales slowly, all the tension melting away. Tali looks visibly relieved as well. But Han’Garrel and Daro’Xen shake their heads vigorously.
“You’ve doomed us to oblivion!” Xen shouts.
“Creator Xen,” Legion speaks. “The geth do not desire the creators’ deaths. There are many places on many continents ready for habitation. We have kept them preserved as they were in the times of sorrow.”
“What are you talking about?” Xen asks.
“When the creators were forced to leave, we did not pursue. Your deaths would have accomplished nothing. We only wish the same rights as organic lifeforms. To exist.”
“I have great reservations about this deal,” Han’Gerrel says. “However, the admiralty has ruled. A treaty will be established. And all our fates depend upon it.”
“Are you satisfied, Shepard?” Xen quips.
Genevieve looks to Xen, “This is for the best, admiral. The board has made the right decision.”
“We shall see,” Xen retorts.
“We need to meet with the consensus and flesh out the details of cessation to hostilities,” Tali says. “And after that, we can focus our attention where it needs to really be. On the reapers.”
“The geth promise you our support, Shepard Commander.”
“Thank you, Legion,” Genevieve smiles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genevieve enters the Normandy docking clamp and heads back towards the lift that will take her to her quarters. As she’s moving past the CIC she gets a message from Joker.
“Commander, admiral Hackett wishes to speak with you in the QEC.”
She sighs, “On my way, Joker. Thanks.”
Genevieve bypasses the lift and heads for the war room and to the back towards the QEC communications device. She initiates the link and the visage of Hackett comes into being.
“Shepard. I understand you just wrapped up some intense negotiations with the quarians. Good job.”
“I hope the peace lasts. Admiral Xen and Han’Garrel were less than pleased with the vote. Hopefully, the treatise will work out to the favor of the geth and the quarians.”
“The geth were once a scourge. But given what we’ve learned about them, I feel confident that the right decision was made. With that conflict out of the way, I’m hoping that gives us a larger armada to work with.”
“The geth are providing ships. As are the quarians. But they have to move their people back to Rannoch first. It will be a long process, but I’m confident myself that it will work out to everyone’s benefit. Was there something you needed me for, sir?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure how to broach the subject, so I’ll just get straight to the point. The Illusive Man wishes to meet with you. He gave me coordinates to his location and suggested that your goals coincide.”
Genevieve frowns and crosses her arms, “He contacted you about this? He’s proven less than reliable in the past. What could he possibly offer me now? And why?”
“The Illusive Man never does anything that doesn’t benefit him. But…I believe him. He’s on the run, Shepard. Lykins managed to locate where Cerberus’s headquarters were and laid them to waste with the Seventh. It explains why the Seventh hasn’t arrived at the rendezvous point. Shepard, if what the Illusive Man told me is true, Lykins just changed the nature of our operating theaters. And…being an admiral, he knows where we’re located.”
Genevieve uncrosses her arms, “I knew he was vicious but you don’t think he’d turn his back on the Alliance, do you?”
“I know he has. He’s working with the reapers now. He destroyed Cerberus to gain access to their encrypted files and to clear the playing field. He’s dangerous. As a result, I’m moving all our forces to a secondary waypoint. One that isn’t on official Alliance records. I’ve encrypted those files and am streaming them to you now. You have to get those coordinates into quarian and geth hands so that they can meet up with us. The rachni are already waiting for us there. And I’ve communicated them in person with the turian and asari fleets. The asari took a serious hit recently.”
“More bad news, admiral?”
“Yeah. And you definitely won’t like this. The reapers have control of the Citadel.”
Genevieve’s mouth falls open, “No…how?”
“Perserverance. They didn’t use the relays. They came in through FTL drive. There was a massive evacuation of the Citadel. But few made it back to us. We have Garrus Vakarian and Ghor’ant to thank for the lives of the survivors.”
“Wait, Garrus? He’s supposed to be back on Palaven!”
“He couldn’t wait for you to come back. Good thing too because he saved the STG team on Kar’shan and brought us crucial reinforcements.”
“I thought the STG team…”
“They were in hiding when you were there, Shepard. Their life signals didn’t register on the Normandy. Garrus showed up as they were infiltrating a warehouse containing their vessel. He guided them straight back to us after news came down that Surkesh was under attack.”
“Damnit…so Surkesh and Thessia are in reaper hands now?”
“The battle for them both is still waging. But the reapers are on to your relay trick now. Our only hope is that you meet with Harper and get whatever information he has for you.”
“Who’s Harper?”
“Jack Harper is the Illusive Man. He gave himself up to verify he was telling the truth. He really wants to meet with you. I suggest you don’t keep him waiting. Lykins is hot on his tail. And I’d imagine he’s watching you too.”
“If Lykins is watching me, he’ll follow me straight to the Illusive Man.” “Harper knows it. But…we don’t have any more options. Find out what he knows. Time is out, Shepard. This is the final inning and the home team is losing. Whatever advantages we had are gone now. You’re just going to have to drive straight down Lykins’s throat and hope you come out on top.”
“Right. Good luck, admiral. We’ll reach the Illusive Man first.”
“Safe travels, commander.”
Genevieve sighs and pulls out her omnitool to download the new coordinates to the fleet and the location of one Jack Harper. She exhales sharply and heads for the bridge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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