I don't own either Mass Effect or the AvP franchise

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I'm back. Sorry for the long delay, but I just got a new job, which involved moving to South Korea for the foreseeable future. Now that I'm settled in, I can go back to writing.

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So much has changed.

Salarians weren't used to watching social and political changes unfold on galactic scale. Their lives were too short and socio-political developments took too long. But councillor Nosharn had watched it happen.
When he was born the galaxy was working the way it had worked for centuries. The governments of the three dominant species were running things as they saw fit. The other species, by and large, did as they were told. Meanwhile, the Citadel Council, respected but ultimately powerless, had advised and mediated and smoothed things over. And above it all, the military might of the turian Hierarchy had guaranteed the peace. It had not been an ideal system, but then again no system was ever ideal and by and large things had worked quite well. Anyone who disagreed could move to the Terminus and fend for themselves. A simple choice: peace and prosperity, albeit at the cost of some of your freedom on one side, anarchy on the other.

But that was before. Before the discovery of a new spacefaring species, the first in centuries. Before the Hierarchy in its arrogance had casually dispatched a few warships to deal with the newcomers. Before the humans had lashed out in anger and fear and exposed the fatal flaws in the turian order of battle. Before massed human fighter squadrons broke the Hierarchy's fleet and human soldiers trampled the turian pride into the dust.
In that moment, all the old certainties had disappeared. The two other people in this room, together with one of Nosharn's predecessors, had seized that moment and in doing so, they had effected a change that no-one could have imagined. For the first time in centuries, the council held true power. When they spoke, people listened. When they gave an order, it was obeyed. With faith in the turian military badly shaken, not least among the turians themselves, the people of Citadel Space had rediscovered the importance of interspecies diplomacy, not just as a convenience, but as a necessity for survival, and only the Citadel Council could give it to them.
Unfortunately, for all the change they had wrought, one thing had remained the same. The Council's power was still a matter of perception, rather than actual strength. The Council had power because people obeyed its orders and people obeyed orders, simply because they thought they should. But what would happen when they stopped obeying? It was a fundamental problem that Nosharn had come to understand very well. Like unspoken agreement between Council and governments: They obey our orders if we don't push too far. In return, we don't push too far if they obey our orders. One misstep, power of the Council crumbles, galaxy worse off than ever before.

Case in point: the Batarian Hegemony. Of all the governments, they were the most troublesome and the least likely to obey. That made them the most dangerous. The Council had nearly pushed them over the edge when it allowed the humans to settle in the Skyllian Verge. However, in the immediate post-war political climate, the Council had had enough prestige to make it happen and ignore the batarian protests. That had created a galactic trouble spot that was bound to explode sooner rather than later, creating the possibility for a human-batarian conflict. Neither Tevos nor Sparatus would admit to it, but Nosharn suspected that that had been exactly what they had intended. Let the arrogant newcomers and the obnoxious batarians deal with each other. Shortsighted, dangerous. Could have started a war. Then what do we do? Fight for Hegemony against humans? Would have won the war, but at great cost. Also lose moral authority. Fight alongside humans instead? Tempting, but politically difficult, would have needed guarantee that humans join Citadel. Simply stand aside? Might as well publicly declare Council to be powerless.
But there had been no war. The Hegemony had hidden behind its claims of independent pirates and the humans seemed to have accepted that. Until they turned it around. Now the humans were hiding behind that same shield. They were not fighting against the Hegemony, they were just fighting against pirates. Surely, anyone would support such actions? Yesterday, Donal Udina, the new human ambassador, had appeared before the council, willing, even eager, to answer all questions. A rescue operation he had called it; to liberate the captured humans, of which he had thousands to show the Council in support of his claims. Even better, the humans had liberated hundreds of asari, salarians and members of associate species as well. Wasn't that wonderful? Some of them had already been delivered to the Citadel, where they could tell their stories of captivity and miraculous rescue. The rest were receiving medical treatment and would be repatriated as soon as the doctors cleared them for travel. It was unfortunate, of course, that so many of the slavers and pirates had been killed in the process of freeing the captives, but what could one do? If criminals insisted on resisting arrest, then sometimes violence was necessary.
It had been a remarkably smooth performance, worthy of an asari matriarch, and Nosharn had watched it with considerable appreciation. Udina had risen several notches in his esteem. It had also made a remarkable contrast with the visible anger he had displayed immediately after the Skyllian Blitz. Had that been just an act, a deliberate ploy to distract the rest of the galaxy with a show of impotent rage? In any case, he had outmanoeuvred the Hegemony quite nicely.
Unfortunately, the Hegemony, finding itself in an impossible position, had now decided to raise the stakes in a desperate attempt to win a game that was already lost. They had delivered the Council an ultimatum: Either support the Hegemony in taking action against the humans, or the Hegemony would withdraw from the Citadel. The discussion that followed had been short and to the point.

-o-o-o-

"Absolutely not," Sparatus voice was cold. "Whatever we may think of the human actions, their ambassador was correct. They have not violated their treaty with us. Any attempt on our behalf to punish them will just make us look foolish. Already people are asking why we didn't take such action ourselves. Besides, what form would the punishment take? I can tell you now that the Hierarchy will not go to war over the deaths of a group of criminals. So, what would the alternative be? Economic sanctions will never work and may hurt us more than them. Especially if these rumours about a medical breakthrough are true."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"The batarians say they will leave. I say, let them leave. They were always more trouble than they were worth. Let them isolate themselves and see how they like it. Under the circumstances, I doubt anyone will blame us. After all, we can hardly be expected to support pirates and slavers."

Tevos nodded. "I concur. This situation would have occurred sooner or later anyway. Better that it happens now when we clearly have the moral high ground, rather than under less favourable circumstances."

"And what about the humans?" Nosharn asked. "Once the Hegemony is isolated, the United Systems Military may decide on direct military action against them."

"Possibly," Sparatus admitted. "But that possibility always existed. The humans are not stupid. They must have realized how little support the Hegemony had among the other governments. Frankly, I would not have been too surprised if the USM had invaded the Hegemony directly. I suppose we should applaud them for showing this much restrained. Having the Hegemony leave the Citadel may increase the risk, but it has its advantages too. If the batarians leave the Citadel we will no longer have treaty obligations. We can try to mediate from a neutral position. But I doubt it will happen, at least not under the present circumstances. For all their warlike talk, the humans tend to respond, rather than be proactive. They seem to take some pride in the fact that they never start a war, but only fight to defend themselves. Of course, if the Hegemony organises a second Skyllian Blitz, I daresay they'll get smashed flat, but honestly, if they are that stupid, I doubt any power in the universe can save them."

"Still, losing the Hegemony will weaken us versus the humans and versus the Terminus. Can we afford to let that happen?"

"In terms of actual combat power, it makes little difference," Sparatus answered. "Their fleet looks strong on paper, but in reality it's a shambles: poorly trained, poorly equipped, poorly maintained. Their ground forces are in better shape, but not by much, and they're more of a police force than an army anyway, Worst of all, the Hegemony's officer corps is so riddled with nepotism and corruption that their soldiers are devoid of effective leadership. Oh, I'm sure they'd fight quite well when defending their own worlds, most people do; but as an effective force outside their own borders? No, we could never have relied on them. Besides, the departure of the Hegemony will actually allow the rest of Citadel Space to function more smoothly. In practice, we will be smaller, but not necessarily weaker. In terms of perception... Tevos?"

The asari councillor hesitated. "I think it will depend on how we present it. The Hegemony has never been popular, either with the governments or the people in general, and we can play on the issue of slavery to maintain the moral high ground. There will be some unrest, of course, but when people see that the economy won't suffer significantly, we will recover. And, as Sparatus pointed out, the absence of batarian bluster will probably be a benefit to the function of government everywhere. Of course, that's in the short term. In the long run, a lot would depend on how the batarians themselves develope. I suspect that they will either isolate themselves further and further, thereby becoming less and less relevant, or they will think better of their decision and aks to return to the Citadel after a few years. In the first case, well, we'll need to keep an eye on them, but I suspect their economy will collapse, rendering them powerless. If they want to come back, I suggest we allow it, and we'll be able to negotiate from a position of strength. Meanwhile, we can use this to improve our relationship with the Alliance of United Systems. "

"You want to use this to get some concessions out of them?"

"No, absolutely not." Tevos actually looked shocked at the suggestion. "Oh, I'm sure we could arrange a trade, where we abandon the Hegemony in exchange for a reduction of their import taxes or something like that, but that would not look good at all. We're supposed to be above such mercenary behaviour. Besides, this is an internal matter of Citadel space. We should not allow the humans to influence that directly. No, I'm thinking of our long-term relationship. Despite their militarism and xenophobia, our relationship with the humans has been improving steadily ever since the war. Or, at least it used to be until the Skyllian Blitz. We have more humans on the Citadel than ever before and they are moving into a number of planets as well. In particular on Noveria. Meanwhile, they have increased the number of our traders that are allowed into their space. This is a trend we should encourage. The more interaction we have, the more they get used to us, the better it is. The Blitz set us back, but now we can make up for the lost ground."

"And what about the other report," Nosharn asked. "Frankly, it makes for rather disturbing reading."

"Oh, that."

"Yes. It's all well and good to talk about slavery and keeping the moral high ground, but that will be rather difficult to maintain when the people we're siding with are behaving like a pack of wild varren."

"So they killed a few pirates and slavers," Sparatus scoffed. "Who cares?"

"Not exactly a few. They killed more than a thousand of them. But it's not just the numbers, it's the way it was done. Even the ones that surrendered were apparently executed or left to die in the bombardment. Some of them, after being tortured for information. And the humans didn't even bother to hide it. They did it right in front of the slaves. They must have known that word would get out. So, either they didn't care, or they are sending a message."

"Probably a bit of both," Sparatus said. "Remember, the soldiers that did it had first fought their way through the entire colony and they must have taken considerable losses. That has consequences. By the time they were done, it might not even have been possible to stop them from killing the prisoners. But I'm sure there was a bit of a message in it as well. Though it was probably aimed at the Terminus systems and the Hegemony, more than at us. Not a bad idea, really. Even if the Hegemony starts stirring up trouble, I doubt many pirates will be willing to help them out. At least, not for the foreseeable future. That denies the batarians the shield of plausible deniability, which means they are more likely to behave."

"Nosharn does have a point, though," Tevos interjected. "We will have to find a way to spin this if we want to publicly support the humans. Something that we regret the necessity of these actions and call for more restraint, but we weren't there and won't second-guess them. I'll work on a proper presentation."

-o-o-o-

And so the galaxy changes again, Nosharn thought while composing his report. The Dalatrasses would not be pleased. The situation remained too fluid, hindering their ability to plan ahead. Not that Nosharn was all that fond of the Dalatrasses, but he could not ignore their opinions completely. Still, what was done was done. Whether they fully realized it at the time or not, Sparatus and Tevos, together with the now long dead Molnari, had set out on a course of action twenty years before and now they were determined to see it through. They would allow the humans to do as they pleased as long as they could put a positive spin on it. And along the way, they would tie the humans closer and closer to the Citadel until one day the galaxy would wake up and realize that there were now four, rather than three, major species in Citadel Space.
Do they even realize price to pay? Humans ambitious, will not be willing to serve as associate species. WiIl want seat on council. Then what? Volus, elcor, hanar. All will feel slighted. Will demand council seats. Not impossible, but changes political balance. Council becomes big, unwieldy maybe, but also stronger. Presence of humans will force Hierarchy to follow council or lose position. Quarrians and batarians. They'll see change, feel threat. Batarian government fails at cooperation. Arrogant to point of delusion. Quarrians smarter. Insular, but can cooperate. Will need allies. Krogan! Krogan fractured but can act as one when necessary. May respond to quarrian offer. Perhaps involve vorcha as well. Krogan and vorcha shocktroops transported in quarrian ships. Nightmare.

"Give someone enough rope to hang himself." It was a human saying and it had taken Nosharn several hours of study before he fully understood its origin and meaning. He liked it. It showed the kind of political subtlety that suited the salarian mindset. But it had worrisome implications. Two decades ago, the Hierarchy had seized the rope with both talons, tied it around its collective neck and hanged itself in truly spectacular fashion, and now it seemed the Hegemony had done the same thing. But that left the Council to make a lot of decisions and if those decision failed... Who is holding the rope now? If Nosharn had been human, he would have shrugged. Whatever happened, he would not be alive to see it. One more year on the council, then he would retire to live out what little time remained in peace and quiet. His successor, soon-to-be-councillor Valern, had already been selected. Let him deal with the future.

THE END

The story continues in 'Soon, everyone will hear the screams', first chapter has been published.

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I didn't like the character of Udina much in the games (well, obviously he's unlikeable, but even for en 'evil' character, he annoys me). He is too much of a stereotype: the obstructive bureaucrat and the blindly ambitious politician rolled into one. Then, when in ME3 he finally seems to have grown a brain and a pair of balls, he starts conspiring with Cerberus. A pity, because I liked that version of Udina better than the one from the first game. Still, you don't normally achieve a position like this if you don't know how to play to an audience. So, I've chosen to believe that most of his obnoxious behaviour is an act that he chooses to portray because it suits his purpose at that time.

Some reviewers speculated how the council would react. The question is: what can they do? They cannot claim jurisdiction over Torfan. If they do, they also admit to complicity in piracy and slavery. The Hegemony is officially not involved (again, Torfan is not part of council space) and the humans are not even a Citadel species. So, the council has no authority over anyone here. They have no grounds to interfere and they cannot demand that Shepard is handed over to them for trial. At most they could demand that the humans put her on trial, but under these circumstances, the humans would probably just laugh at them, which would make the council look weak and foolish. So, they just put the best possible face on it and move on.
Of course, it will not be forgotten. One of my goals was to establish a strong reason why humans are considered to be dangerous and violent, which in the games never made much sense. This will definitely help.

This was an interesting story to write. I always wanted to do a separate story on Torfan. If it's part of Shepard's past it's a truly defining moment and yet, there is very little canon information on it. Also, while it pops up in many fanfics, it's usually as part of a background story, rather than the focus of its own story. Using this particular format (each chapter from a different alien viewpoint) was a decision I made once I started writing. It seemed an interesting challenge.