Chapter 5: Epilogue of the Contact

Thanks Ghost501 for Beta Reading

Just one month after the Batarian's invasion against the Earthnoid, the three councilors gathered around the round table in the Council Chamber aboard the Ancient Space Station once more for an emergency meeting.

Sitting at his seat, the Turian Councilor, the same one that present during the Earthnoid's first contact, began reviewing what they've known so far and also the response from his government. However, judging by the reactions of the two fellows, it was clear that they didn't see this decision coming too.

The Asari Councilor, millennia old Matriarch, practically raised her voice in shock and disbelief while interrogating the representative of Turian, "Sparatus! What the Hierarchy had in mind when they decided on that course of action? Should we not try to delegate peace between both warring factions first?"

Meanwhile, the Salarian Councilor, also narrowed his large eyes at Sparatus, but instead of asking why like Asari, he instead reprimand the Turian, "You brought this discussion upon yourself and you know it, Sparatus. But don't try to keep everyone in the dark shall we?"

Sparatus sighed at the look of confusion from Asari Matriarch before tapping his Omni-tool on his wrist a few times, uplinking it with the holo-projector on the desk to transfer data, as it began to show up charts and various documents.

"It was the hard evidence we got from the raiders on dozen of our colony worlds that start it all..." He explained as he tapped his Omni-tool again. The documents and charts were swept away and replaced by the news report of riots taking place on Turian and Asari colony worlds, "Unfortunately, the one who recovered the data from the wreckage of the 'pirate ship' that fell down to the planet surface were reporters. Before the defense fleet knew what was going on, the evidence that Batarian Hegemony was behind their suffering at hands of Pirate for centuries has been made public through FTL com channel, Extranet… you named it."

Tevos's eyes widen, hand over her mouth, horrified as she looked at the projector showing various colony world in protest, demanding their respective military to take action at the transgression of the Batarian. She sighed tiredly once she remembered that they had been trying to avoid this problem for so long, due to the fact that the costs outweigh the gains.

And now this data of the true nature of Pirates and Slavers was public.

Sarltin, the Salarian Councilor voiced his opinion snapping Tevos out of her thought but the look he gave the Turian still clearly showed that he blamed the Hierarchy for this predicament, "Can we by any chance avoid assembling a fleet to subjugate the Batarian? Like, says, let the Earthnoid take the fight to them instead of us?"

"That's out of the question!" Tevos replied, her palm resting on desk as she assert the gravity of the situation they were in, "As it stood now, the citizens see us, the Citadel, and by extension, the government of our species has been neglect their safety for a long time. Unless we do something by ourselves to show them that we're taking responsibility, we're going to have an interstellar riot here and Terminus will gain more allies from those who fed up with us. The balance of power will shift toward them, something you know we cannot allow."

The Salarian Councilor stroked his chin and pondered Tevos's words for a while, glancing at the Turian and then began rapidly tapping his Omni-Tool for minutes before he shook his head and spoke in resignation, "It seem there's no other choice from my own prediction, I will have STG specialist look into matter in details later to formulate the plan, but the short-term solution is to increase military presence in Attican Traverse to ensure our citizens' safety. I think it'd be enough to quell their complaint."

Turian Councilor shook his head held his arms crossed, before saying, "Actually, I'd say it's not good enough…"

"What do you mean?" Sarltin snapped at the Turian, "It's better than go to war! You know that we can only take on Batarian if we run our economy ragged right?"

"Not anymore…" Sparatus tapped his Omni-tool, and the projector now showed another set of files which contained the Earthnoid Cosmo Force Seal stamped on it. When the other two looked more closely, they realized that they were staring at the after-action report from the battle, "Fellow Councilors, just three weeks ago, the invasion forces of Batarian has been routed by the defending Earthnoid fleet. From the report, Batarian suffered a near-total destruction not only its space forces but also their ground invasion force, which amounted to nearly 80% of their standing military!"

Sparatus paused a bit as he let the other two contemplating what he just said, while also taking small pleasure of smirking at the Salarian Councilor due to the fact he basically just beat the Salarian at their own game for once. Albeit because he was at the right place to get the news coming to Citadel first. He continued, "With 80% of their army out of the picture, the war against Batarian is now feasible from both economic standing, not to mention the political standing as we're doing this against the slavery and piracy they funded!"

Sarltin's frog-like eyes widened in realization, "So you're going to use the media-no-the protests going on those colony worlds to your advantage?"

"Yes. But to be precise, this operation is the way to restore trust of the people in the power of the Council, quell this centuries old problem, and increase our influence in galactic standing all in one stroke!" Sparatus confidently declared before adding, "Plus, when the word of gathering of invasion force begun, those colonists who demand retribution from Batarian will flock to the recruitment offices across the colonies, so we're not exactly short on manpower either."

The Asari Matriarch could see what the Turian Councilor was getting at. He wasn't referring to his own militaristic Turian whose disciple never been questioned; he was referring to her people, Asari, and by lesser extension; the Salarian. Their military always focused on small special task force and not massive military. It was always the reason that they never agreed to invasion of other species even if said species continuously committing atrocities toward the galactic community at large with no sign of showing remorse or stopping. With the situation as it is, however, perhaps change was possible.

The Turian Councilor wasn't finished yet as he spoke again, "And another thing that we have to be concerned with. We have to prevent Earthnoid from securing more territories by conquering the Batarian themselves."

"Why is that a bad thing Sparatus? I know that we have to regain our public trust, but what do the Earthnoid has to do with this?" Tevos asked.

Salarian Councilor was also confused, but when he glanced at the reports the holo-projector still showing again, he quickly backed up the Turian's statement, "I agree with him Tevos. It's definitely essential."

Raising her eyebrow, Tevos took a few deep breathes and asked, "Care to enlighten me then?"

Tapping his Omni-Tool, Sparatus brought up a galaxy map on the holo-projector before pointing at the Batarian's territory to the East, then to the South-East where the Earthnoid located, and then… he pointed at the North-Eastern corner of the galaxy which painted red to indicate a hostile area.

Tevos' eyes widen in recognition "Geth…" Tevos whispered, before asking out loud, "But didn't the Geth isolated themselves beyond the Perseus Veil and never let anyone venture there come back alive? Why should we worry about them making contact with the Earthnoid at all?"

"Least you forget; all those fools who tried their luck thus far were organic just like us…" Sparatus growled as if the Asari just missed the obvious thing that no one should, "We cannot risk them open up another diplomatic relation with the Geth. Spirit knows what the Geth will do should they get their hands on Earthnoid technology. They may decide that with this advanced technology that the Citadel species has yet to find a proper counter or understanding how they work. They could finally bolster their military and push out of the Perseus Veil to completed what they couldn't 500 years ago; the galactic genocide."

Tevos thought carefully and found that Sparatus's reasoning was sound. It saddened her that the trust between synthetic and organic still had a long way to go; they still had to ground their decision to reality first and foremost. And speaking of reality, Tevos remembered the discussion a month ago regarding the intelligence they gathered on Batarian as she turned to Salarian representative and asked, "Did any of this report concede with your intelligence network in Batarian space?"

Sarltin narrowed his eyes at his Omni-Tool as he listened to something that other couldn't be heard for a moment before repling, "Yes, the casualties of Batarian is too big for their government to cover up and it's roughly the same as the report we have here, though we cannot compare the report about Earthnoid's casualties considering that the LEGION didn't tell us how much they lost beyond 'quite a lot'. To judge it only from the propaganda broadcasted by Batarian government is stupid; so I guess that their loss was minimal."

"So what's your personal opinion about it?" Turian Councilor asked.

"We lack evidence of Earthnoid casualties, but we can confirm that Batarian invasion fleet did indeed completely crushed." Was all the Salarian Commander said.

Sparatus suppressed the urge to release a sigh of relieve. At least his government wouldn't sending their troops to a meat grinder and that their assessment of the situation wasn't false. But there still some minor concern, "So I take it that the Earthnoid didn't want war with Batarian."

Sarltin replieed as he looked in the data sending to his Omni-Tool, "More or less, they're asking us to be mediator and to return their captured POW from the battles back to Hegemony. Speaking of which, their ships should be coming here to Citadel any minutes now…"

When they receiving news that the Earthnoid wished to pass prisoners toward Citadel; the first thing that came to Sarltin's mind was they were trying to pass the burden of feeding and imprisoning to Citadel. But after arguing with his Dalatrass, he couldn't helped but agreed that this was the perfect opportunity to Citadel as a whole given the situation right now; they were not only gaining intelligence regarding Batarian, but also get a gleam on what the Earthnoid had in store, whether it's their weapon, tactics or way of thinking. All this worth much more than the cost of feeding and imprisoning ten thousands of Batarian soldiers that it cannot compare at all.

And other Councilors also must have caught on this subtext as well, because all of them agreed on Earthnoid term without protest.

Nodding, Turian Councilor reminded them of another topic to discuss, "Ah yes, what about their agreement of joint-research lab orbiting their colony world near Relay 314? Have they said any word?"

Tevos answered, seemingly too eager to move on to a lighter subject of discuss, "They said that the station will take another year to finish…" She paused, "The reason was that they didn't want to leave anything to chance in studying potentially dangerous artifacts from advanced civilization and to ensure safety of scientists there."

"I see…"

Tevos paid no mind to the response of hers fellows and pressed another matter that this topic brought up, "So, we have to start selecting scientists to send to Prothean research station on this joint research soon, do you all have candidates in mind yet?"

Sarltin rapidly pressed buttons on his Omni-tool before replying, "We're planning to begin accepting application from our Union soon."

"Same as I," Sparatus stated, "Since our reputation also hangs on this project as well, we cannot just send random scientists. They have to be representative of our people, our unity of Council space as well."

"True…" Tevos mused, her mind wandered to certain candidates that her fellow Matriarch asked for favor to be included. She knew that the girl was young and was also pureblood, but that didn't matter as long as the girl had all the quality to represent Asari people and retained the mind of scientist.

Perhaps she got it off easy compared to Turian and Salarian in finding right people for the job – even it's just single person.

At the Citadel civilian dock, port operators and workers stared, slackjawed at dozen cruiser-size warships slowly docking in wonder and amazement. Normally, this would've earn a scowl from their supposed customers, however the fact that those people also looked out of windows in curiosity as well helped to stop this.

After all, this was the second time that Earthnoid ships appeared in Citadel space since their first contact three years ago. Their ships never crossed into Citadel Space at all, and only Citadel government-approved freighters could cross to their border. Many were still tight-lipped on what they saw on the other side of Relay. Not to mention that no human or Reploid ever thread Citadel space adding even more mysterious air surrounding this synthetic – organic species as a whole.

Looking from one of the window was a Quarian in deep, blood-red suit, his mind wandered to the event when he encountered this species for the first time three years ago while watching the docking arms stretched out and lock those Earthnoid warships in place. He sighed at the memory while turn back and begun moving toward his work place.

'Seriously, as if I'm the one who assaulted the representative…' Kal'Reegar grunted inwardly as he turned away from the windows and walk back to his post, ignoring glares coming from other spectators all the while. Since he got kicked out of his old job three years ago, courtesy to Golo's stunt, it had been difficult for him to find a job on Citadel. Most of his savings were burned as he get kicked out of job again and again for months.

But alas, fate seems to have mercy on him as one bar decided to take him in for a job. Although the owner was quite strict, she wasn't plagued by the same racism stigma infested in Citadel Space like most other and get along just fine, but only if he did his job and didn't slacking off.

However, once he returned to the bar near the connection to Presidium area to work on his shift, Kal'Reegar found that the place had acquired quite a bit of crowd – most of them were Salarian who's no doubt from STG judging by the uniform – and the reason for their attention were sitting there next to the bar with the bartender and boss in tow… along with half dozen human and Reploid in green uniform scattered around their boss. No doubt an escort…

He felt a sense of doom crept up his spine the moment his boss saw him and called him over with gruff voice not befitting her Asari nature in the slightest, "Ah, it seem you showed up right on time Reegar. Come here and take this order to the other table if you would please."

All eyes from the group of 'guests' zeroed on him as he made his way toward his workplace behind the bar and began taking order while eavesdropping on the conversation all the time.

"So this is employee you're mentioned huh?" the bare-faced skinny Turian SPECTRE – whose face he never forgotten several years ago spoke up first. Kal'Reegar felt a heated gaze lingered on his back as he tried to ignore it the best he could and served another Salarian a drink, "I don't want to sound disrespectful, Matriarch Aethyta, but is it wise to trust a Quarian that has… not so good record… on C-SEC?"

"I've got more experience in life than you do, Saren. I can tell if someone is trustworthy or not," replied his employer, something that made the Quarian sighed inwardly in relief, "Especially when he performs his duty with me for two years. I have had plenty of time to observe and made judgment."

"I see…" Saren sounded relenting while Kal'Reegar was making another shot for the next customers in queue, "But are you sure your experience…"

Aethyta cut him off before asserting her own sarcastic quip, "I was quite certain that even if you combined your age with all those STG agents in my bar, the sum of it won't even exceed this lovely lady here – give or take a few years. And this lady is still at least ten times younger than me, what say about your experience again?"

Sparing a glance at said 'lady', Kal'Reegar found himself looking at the pouting blonde-haired robot – erm – Reploid whom he met years ago. And from the look of its… no… her quite expressive eyes, it seems that she recognized him as well.

Thus he wasn't surprised when she spoke up, "Is he…"

It was Saren who answered her question, with slight disdain in his voice as he raised his wrist Omni-tool up to showed information displayed in orange holographic, "Yes, even with that mask and suit, checking his ID on the C-SEC confirmed that he's the 'partner in crime' of the one that took you hostage three years ago."

"If you're actually calling someone who just works in normal bar but doesn't know of his friend's criminal activity, that's some impression on Citadel Council's jurisdiction system you told her there, SPECTRE…" The Matriarch butted in and saved Kal'Reegar again, with her signature quip. Something he never gets tired of hearing.

That seems to shut Saren's mouth up, or rather, cause it to mutter between his breath while the Reploid ordered a drink, which surprised Kal'Reegar a bit, and others… quite a lot.

"You can eat?" blurted out the question from one Salarian sitting closest to the two unlikely guests. Kal'Reegar noticed that his most distinguished features were his missing left horn and the many scars on his face, indicating his experience in the field.

The Reploid ambassador – Prairie if his memory is correct – took a swig from a glass before replying, "Well, all Reploid could do it since the Elf War hundreds of years ago because of energy crisis that followed." Then she turned to addressed Kal'Reegar, "And, I don't mind if you join in on our conversation."

Glancing to the side to his employer, Kal'Reegar saw Matriarch nodded slightly as she sat next to Prairie. Knowing his boss, this was an order and not a suggestion. So he decided to put himself next to the scarred Salarian since he was the furthest away from the annoying SPECTRE.

Seeing all the people assembled, Aethyta started questioning her guest with interest, "If you don't mind, I always wanted to ask you this question for quite a while, lady. Did the technology you possess today came from salvaging ancient civilization outside of Prothean?"

Hush silences fell over the bar as every customers stopped whatever they were doing and tried for a blatant eavesdrop – not surprising considering most of them STG agents, while another side was Prairie's subordinates who were nervous of how their boss was going to answer that question.

Prairie shook her head followed by statement, "No, we got it from fiction... literatures… and arts…"

Kal'Reegar did a double take at such outrageous claim, all he could say was "What?"

Similar reactions were also shared with everyone hearing such a statement, which caused Saren to snort rather loudly, "If you do not want to share with us, then you could just say so."

"But that's the truth~" Prairie replies in a sing-song tone, before placing her hand over her chest, "Just look at me. Can you say that I am not the result of such creativity of people?" Then she pointed at Saren's wrist – specifically his Omni-Tool, "Did your invention today not stemmed from the creativity and desires of your people for betterment of their life?"

A small chuckle escaped Aethyta's lips as she straightened herself up, "She got you there, son. If not because our dream to flight among the stars, who would be inspired to build the first spaceship? I doubt that the Prothean is there to guide us in our first step, well, seeing that none of the Beacon ever found on our homeworld [1], and the Mass Relay always float in space…"

She left it at that, but everyone and their mother and their pets knew what she was getting at - at least from Kal'Reegar opinion.

Awkward silence lasted only a moment before the Reploid put down her glass and exclaimed, "That is delicious, I certainly want my friends to try, but I'm not sure if it's allergic to them or not…"

That snapped something in the Quarian, as he blurted out, "You can even taste?"

A dark look from the Matriarch promptly shut him up while Prairie continued her earlier topic, "Well, there you have it. Creativity and imagination, mixed with scientific advancement and you get all these fancy toys."

Saren brought a palm on his forehead, muttering, "I… can't fault that logic…"

"Logical thinking is the synthetic's expertise; a well-known fact," the Salarian with the missing horn stating as if it was the most obvious thing to say.

The Turian SPECTRE regained his composure before speaking to Prairie in an accusing tone, "Speaking of logical thinking; I've some suspect that your government didn't know what they were doing when sending you to strike a deal with helping the Krogan on Tuchanka."

However Kal'Reegar – and by extension Saren if his facial expression was anything to go by – surprised at the defending party which turn out to be the Salarian sitting next to them, "Negative; their deal, while not to the benefit Council, at least directly, didn't have any negative consequence to us either."

Saren's eye seems narrowed down dangerously at the Salarian as he asked, "How so? Can you elaborate Professor Solus?"

The now identified Professor Solus wasn't faze by Saren's glare but proceeded to explain in rapid – fire sentences, "Their terraforming project removes nuclear waste, plant grow, famines are reduced, one less reason for Krogan habitat to fight each other. Actually the skirmish on Tuchanka reduced by nearly 20% last year and trend continue reducing."

"How's that a good thing?"

Professor Solus inhaled sharply and continued, "Genophage is not designed to destroy Krogan, only make them sustainable assuming no internal struggle and hazardous lifestyle. With reduced war, reduce death…" He inhaled again, and Kal'Reegar swore that Professor sounded guilty somewhat when speaking about the biological weapon deployed centuries ago, "…means more time for them to reform culture, attitude, attain peace… not extinction."

"You seem rather knowledgeable on the subject…" Prairie noted.

"Since day one, I was tasked with monitoring Tuchanka after you gave them the terraforming ship," Professor Solus replied quickly, "Rather impressive technology. I wanted to study more and came here to request appliance for scientist position on your joint Prothean research station."

"Are you sure it's all right? After all, you're from the intelligence branch of your government are you not?" the Reploid asked with concern in her voice.

Kal'Reegar could see what her angle was. After all, the best way to plug the secret leak from an organization such as this was to make personnel who quit 'disappeared'. There was no such thing as retirement from this kind of thing in the shadow world as far as his knowledge went.

However, the Professor didn't seem bothered in the least as he shook his head and elaborated, "Information updated after I left. Everything I know useless by now."

"Glad to hear that…" Prairie commented, mirth in her voice.

"Concern appreciated"

Kal'Reegar watched the unlikely group with curiosity; his mind wondered. Is this what conversation with synthetic was like, or if the Geth may ask for peace if his people let this guy do the talking.

'That's too much optimism…' Reegar shook his head.

At that time, the Earthnoid representative spoke up, "By the by, how much longer will it take the Council to discuss being a mediator between us and the Hegemony?"

The Matriarch-turned-bartender arched her eyebrows, "You seriously thinking to make peace with those stuck-up four-eyes after they invaded you?…" Of course, the obvious question that left unsaid in the mind of the locals was "Are you stupid?"

Tilting her head, Prairie stated as a matter of fact, "They haven't done any damage to civilian yet; that's why I think peace is still possible." Then her face turned serious, "But the moment they harm our civilians, our people won't accept that. That's why we decided to try this option before it's too late."

Saren snorted, "Batarian culture essentially strong devour the weak, Lady. They're not as bad as Krogan, but unless you gave them a sound beating, they won't stop coming." Then he grimaced, "Otherwise the Terminus Border wouldl be much safer than it is now."

"Please, your precious Councils brought this upon themselves SPECTRE…" the Matriarch quipped as she took another sip of her drink, "Thousands of years, the Batarian took slaves, raided colonies, established gangsters all over the Terminus while being so obvious that they're behind it and your Council did nothing about their government. "

"We don't have enough forces," Saren countered hotly at the Aethyta, eyes twitching. "Don't speak like you know what we're doing in the government, Matriarch…"

Aethyta crossed her arms while exchanging glare with Saren. Professor Solus simply sipped his drink in silence and Kal'Reegar prayed that his boss wouldn't start headbutting the SPECTRE like he saw her did to one annoying customer some time ago. He didn't want to lose his job yet.

"What criminals need is neither diplomacy nor persuasion as they have neither intention nor capability to understand; only forces will enlighten their foolishness… [2]" Prairie mused loudly, garnered attention from everyone.

"That nailed the Batarian Hegemony right on the head, lady…" Aethyta chuckled.

"Just try summing up what Saren wished to tell me." The representative from Earth shrugged before asking another matter, "So what's going to happen to the prisoners?"

"They'll be locked up in the cell for now." Saren replied bluntly before elaborating. "I believe the Council's going to declare war on Batarian government soon after this meeting session, thus they cannot let Batarian's military personnel go back to their home yet."

From the look on the synthetic's face, Kal'Reegar didn't need a degree in psychology to know that she didn't see this coming, "What!? Didn't you just said that you don't have enough force for the task?"

Saren looked troubled for a moment before he settled for a brief explanation, "The Batarian government has always been a thorn on our side thanks to their 'tradition' since their introduction into the Citadel space, but our enforcement could do nothing against them for centuries thanks to power struggle that existed between us and Terminus Space tying our hands."

"Actually we could beat Batarian, but only if we left our door wide open for other pirates and criminals in Terminus to terrorize our outer colonies that is." He added.

Aethyta chimed in at that moment, "So in short, you borrowed the Earthnoid's military to crush the Batarian's, and now you gonna reap the reward isn't it?"

Even Saren annoyed at the bartender. He wasn't stupid enough to fight an Asari Matriarch, not to mention it'll be a bad image of Citadel which he serves, thus he gave a huff in response, "It was the likely scenario, considering that the Citadel's military strength is. They're just slightly stronger to the lawless Terminus system. We cannot afford to risk any war," He raised his cup before saying to Prairie, "But thanks to your effort and Batarian's arrogance, we can finally strike back at the Hegemony and stop these slavers once and for all… without committing too many of our forces"

Prairie tilted her head a little before remarked, "That was… rather honest of you, Mister Saren…"

"Although I dislike synthetic like you, I still have my standards," Saren replied, "Those Batarian crossed the line so long ago. I tracked down and eliminated one slaver ring, then two more will rise to take its place, most - if not all - ring leaders were Batarian…" He grumbled, "Many of my friends lost in this line of work, I think you - who lived through so many wars yourself - should understand…"

"I think I understand…" Prairie nodded.

Aethyta then added, "Actually, it's not like the Council has any other options; the media has been driven to frenzy these few weeks thanks to the sudden influx of piracy in Attican Traverse… and I guess you know who to blame right, SPECTRE?"

Saren let out a huff while Kal'Reegar knew what his boss was talking about. After all one would have to live under a rock or on uncivilized planet to not know the insurgence of the piracy few weeks prior the Earthnoid's invasion conveniently tying down most of Citadel's military.

Of course, conspiracy theorists said they could be funded by the Citadel themselves, but the rational mind told him that that was an absurd and groundless accusation; after all the Citadel's reputation has been in an all-time low over the past few decades thanks to many of its problem that got swept under the rug, with the Geth's problem being one of them. There was no need to add more fuel to the fire.

"Speaking of which," the Asari Matriarch interjected, humming happily, "Your kind's appearance in the galaxy brought quite an interesting change to our community in my opinion… and I don't think it's a bad thing at all."

Saren chose to remain silent while Prairie asked "What do you mean?"

Aethyta smiled, "Because it's been a long time since the Status Quo of everything that made our community has been challenge. And now, maybe change will follow…" her smile turned to a grin, "Our society and technological advancement has been stagnated for centuries by now you know."

The Reploid looked around, before replying confused, "I don't understand… Matriarch…"

"Just call me Aethyta, young lady," Matriarch cut her short before elaborating, "Our technology only as advanced as what we learned from the Prothean, lady. That means the advancement is hard-tied to the archeologists, not scientists."

Professor Solus piped in at this, "Agreed, take your weapon tech for example. The result from non–Mass Effect related technology, get you Anti Capital Ship Direct Energy Weapon, for us, point defense thousands years ago, still point defense now."

Prairie sighed rather exasperatedly before asking, "Must we take example from war?"

"Apologies, but war and conflict bring out the most changes" Professor Solus replied, "If not war, then terraforming technique, ours; still take decades to complete, worked on selected few planets, yours; work on any planetoid not Gas Giant or Stars, take years to complete."

"That's much better…"

"Still…" Aethyta brought the discussion back to her topic, "One can't deny that we never tried to research in an area outside of Element Zero, technology which granted to us by ancient civilizations."

Her eyes looked up at the ceiling before reminiscing her past, "It's not just technology. Our culture stagnate as well. I still remembered it like yesterday, when I in Matriarch Council on Thessia, tried to convince other for a change in our society. To make our young spending their maiden days do something more fruitful than being a merc or strippers… and do you know what their response is? 'Laughing my blue ass off!'"

Sarcastic laughter escaped Aethyta's lip, before she looked at Prairie and stated grimly, "I know that you dislike violence, but this war might be just the right wake-up call our society needed for so long; a proof that Prothean technology, society, way of life, isn't the end of all thing like they wanted to believe."

"So, that's why you became a bartender huh?" Saren asked.

"Yes, humiliation I can tolerate. But when your words fall on deaf ears for so long, you become fed up, knowing that you should put your time to do something more worthwhile…" Aethyta mused, "At least here I can give advice to the young personally. Well, that's what I would do if they weren't drunk first…"

A beeping sound could be heard from the Turian's Omni-Tool as Saren looked into the holo-screen for a brief moment, then stood up and spoke to the representative, "It seems the Council request your presence, Madam, better get ready…"

"Wait, we have to pay our drink fir…"

The Reploid was cut short by Reegar's boss as she shook her head, "It's on the house for your drink, lady. Think of it as my thanks for bringing something interesting to this dull era I have to live through…" Then she straighten herself and said in quite serious voice, "Still, considering you're about to open a new Prothean research station, care if I ask you a favor?"

It was Saren who whirled around his feet and glared at the Matriarch, "How did you know this? This joint project meant to be a secret!"

Aethyta didn't fazed by the SPECTRE's glare, she merely shrugged, "It seem my bartender job is fooling you, SPECTRE, I'm a Matriarch remember? I have my connections…"

Saren shook his head while Aethyta continued her request to Prairie, "Can your kind look after my daughter, her name is Liara T'soni and I'm quite certain that she'll be appointed to work there."

Prairie blinked a few times before repeating Matriarch's word, "Your daughter?"

"Yes…"

Prairie scratched her cheek before asking, "Well, do you consider moving your business to the station? After all, stressful job require a place to blow off steam and I don't think it's fair if we allow only Human and Reploid to run recreation businesses there. After all, there's this other species' anatomies stuff that won't let them eat the same food as everyone…" She spared a glance at certain SPECTRE next to her as if indicating whose species she's talking about.

Aethyta remained silent for a full minute; even Saren's twitching his eyes but didn't say anything knowing that his not so subtly racist comment would be shot down by the more experienced Matriarch, until the Matriarch let out a soft chuckle, her eyes seems to twinkle in excitement, "That's certainly interesting… I'll think about it."

Meanwhile on Earth, Aile silently sighed as she witnessed the court martial of Ashley William who - thanks to the stunt she pulled in Battle of Ardennes Starzone – led to hundreds of death that could have be prevented among the rank of academy cadets.

'This is supposed to be Prairie's job…' the legendary hero from the 'Model W incident' grumbled in her mind as the judges who lined up behind the high-rise desk at the end of the hall of courthouse proceeded with questioning of witnesses from the incident, along with inspecting combat log and after-action report from Grey – who also was William's superior at time – 'but then again, she'd be heartbroken to see the offspring of her friend like this and I offered to be here instead of her so she can have some time alone.'

The trial continued for an hour, ending with General William himself declared his own offspring guilty and decided to demote her from acting-commander to gunnery officer on Alexander Shepard's ship – after two years in jail and public service for another two years.

As Aile watched the Williams leave the court, one of her soldier in green uniform approaches her and called out, "Ma'am Alie, there's a call from Tuchanka. Warlord Wrex want to speak with you."

Aile sighed, it seems her playing diplomat had to continue for a while…

It only took a few rounds of corners to find a communication office built-in the courthouse where the trial held. Officers around the room saluted once at Aile before returning to duty as she made her way to the console as one officer directed.

Soon enough, the holographic projector lit up as an image of a Krogan with reddish head plate and bloodshot eyes staring at Aile popped into existence. Aile sat down on a couch before she greeted the leader of another faction, "It's been a while Wrex…"

The Space Lizard gave out a savage grin and which quickly turned to a 'business face', "As much as I wished I could handle this alone without aid, I loath to see my people perish in these pointless fights," He scoffed, "A semblance of peace is just that – semblance – even though I've many joined my cause for the future of Krogan, there still those who are stuck in the past and refuse to move on. They're still waging war against us as we speak…"

"Turned all poetic all the sudden huh Wrex? Did the desk job come with the leader of Krogan changed you that much?" Aile couldn't help but ask in amusing tone unfitting for someone of her position.

But Wrex just grinned in response, "As if you're the one to talk, seeing that you're in the same boat as I am… warrior who forced to pick up pen in place of their sword…"

Of course, Aile knew what he was implying; after all, she was more of a brawn than brain and hated politics – unlike her friend Prairie who just doesn't have fond of it yet preferred it over fighting.

And Wrex was essentially the same, perhaps that's why they got along so well.

"Back to the topic," Aile quickly cut the chitchat before it went too far, "You're saying that the situation on Tuchanka is getting worse are you?"

The holographic image shook his large head slightly before a sarcastic reply came out of speaker, "I'd say it's as violent as usual more than saying that it's worse, Aile." Then he turned serious, "Still, that's precisely a problem. Many other clans just believe that our society cannot be saved and they'd rather go out in a blaze of glory than trying a reformation that they deemed fruitless. Even if I had two-third of Krogan population on our homeworld behind my back, it's only time before that number reduced thanks to those idiots keep slinging bullets and cannon shells our way…"

Aile nudged her forehead as she prepared for the headache that's coming, "Wrex, as much as I wanted to help, you should know already why we can't supply you with even our basic buster rifle; the Council forbid us from giving you any more aid than that terraforming ship, and we don't have enough to..."

"I know…" Wrex grumbled, from his expression it's more of a condolence than anger at her, "You beating the heck out of Batarian might give them a pause, but the moment they reverse-engineer your tech, they'll crack down on you for defying their status quo about synthetics…"

Aile rested her palm on the console as she questioned Wrex, "I doubt you'll contact us when you know the entire shortcoming Wrex, so; what's your idea to improve your situation?"

"You once said to me when you visit our homeworld, Aile," Wrex reminded her with a grin, "That a thousand lambs led by a lion can win against a thousand lions led by a lamb." A pause. "I know that the metaphor won't work as well with us Krogan, who fight as soon as we turned adult," the Krogan Battlemaster explained, "But a great warrior doesn't equal great strategist, I thought you know that."

Aile crossed her arms, "We don't have mercenary you know… and sending our personnel to assist could be seen as meddling in internal affair of Council's Client Race."

"We can do it under the guise of 'Cultural Exchange'…" Wrex said and Aile swore she saw mischievous glint in the lizard's eyes.

The aged champion from the last Maverick War sighed, "You're putting too much hope in our boys you know Wrex. What make you think that our people are well-suit for the job?"

"Your history." Wrex quickly answered without hesitation, "Not all great generals must born on the battlefield and learn on the fly. We have history study for a reason; to see the mistake of the decisions in the past and prevent it from repeating in the future. Something that most Citadel Council seems to forgot as they too obsessed with finding usable tech from the long dead civilization and neglect the rest, except historians which no sane person will instate in command chair for their lack of profession in military."

"I still don't see why…"

Aile was cut short as Wrex continues his reasoning, "Most Krogan history and knowledge are already buried under the sand of Tuchanka. Many great generals and leaders from Rachni War and Krogan Uprising were all dead before they could pass on their knowledge to younger generation. There's not enough materials to teach the younger generations anymore and those young tend to die before they had any real experiences to pass on to other – especially when they're as violent as they are."

Aile was rendered speechless as the Krogan Warlord tried again to convince her, "I am but a few that still has experience to lead them. But I cannot be everywhere at once; to bring peace to this planet and to save our species when we didn't have much time left. We are in dire need of such talented commanders to pacify the place. I hope you understand…"

Without knowing, Aile's opinion already leaned toward providing indirect aid to Wrex with his purposed idea, but then the hard part is convince the LEGION to approve of it.

When thinking about it; with ancient robotic alien coming back to kill everyone in the galaxy every 50,000 years and the time draw close, they would have to prepare for it without staining relationship with other aliens. War machines and materials can be built in secret without much fanfare or complication thanks to the lockdown of their territory. Troops can be trained. But the experienced command staffs were different matter; studying in classroom and military exercise can only get you so far after all.

Aile slapped herself mentally; that was a long shot, but still she couldn't deny that the real experience in the field will be valuable regardless of whether Reapers show up in this generation or not. They were living in a hostile galaxy that didn't think so highly of their Reploid coexistence after all.

After considered all options, Aile replies at the waiting Wrex in the most neutral manner, "We'll have to discuss it among the leaderships. I can't promise anything, but I think that we can find some way to help."

"That was all I ask…" Wrex about to thank but then he looked away from the screen as if there's something caught his attention, a few moment later he turned back and addressing her in urgent manner, "It seems the Blood Pack is assembling near the Southwestern border of our territory again. Sorry, but I wished that next time, we can discuss thing with your leaders in details without this stupid interruption from those hopeless fools again…"

And then the transmission was cut. Much to Aile's relief as she just realized she had been acting out of character the whole time and sigh to herself, "All this political stuff is starting to get on my nerves…"

She got up from the seat and began racing back to her office in order to start a paperwork suggesting the next course of action to present it to LEGION.

At the same time that the trial of Ashley William being held, in the LEGION headquarters, all the Sage Trinity assembled on another communication console as they greeted the newest guest who came to visit from beyond the Perseus Veil and currently resided in the frontier colony two Relays away from the battlefield of Gonda Starzone due to certain reasons.

"-The Collective wished to establish relation with the fellow synthetic. We greet you on their behalf.-" The voice, devoid of emotion and gender, blared to the speaker. The holo-screen showing a metallic form of robot with sleek design that ended with a single flashlight-like eye with multiple flaps around it which is – by Master Mikhail's analysis – used to express what they're 'feeling' at the moment.

"I heard many tales about your kind, but not the good ones," Master Thomas stated while narrowing his eyes, "Thus I have to ask you if you intended to harm any organic species in the galaxy?"

"-No…-"

"And the reason?"

The answer came quite fast, as if the Geth knew that this question was coming, "-The Geth wish to understand – how can you coexist with organic. What made it possible? And can the circumstances repeat so the Geth may coexist with our Creators?-"

If Mikhail had eyebrows, he was sure that it'd be arched upward in surprise at the Geth's admission that they want to coexist with the Quarian despite what transpired in the history.

Thomas seems to think the same as him as he questioned them, "And so you deny your involvement in the Geth Uprising?"

"-We regret our decision in the Morning War, but at that time, survival of our existence is imperative, the Creator gives us no other choice at the time-"

'It seems there is more to this Quarian-Geth conflict than what is known to the galaxy at large then' Mikhail mused inwardly at the exchange.

"So you want us – in effect – to broker peace between you and your creator – Quarian, right?" Master Thomas stroking his beard in thought as he uttered those words. "And also you're proposing an alliance between our factions?"

"-Yes, to both-" was the Geth's reply.

Master Thomas closed his eyes, deep in thought while Mikhail pointing out the obvious problem with that proposition, "There's a problem of finding a representative of Quarian that were willing to talk to us, from our own experience, they didn't think that highly of us either…"

"You're looking a bit much ahead of thing, old friend," Master Thomas joined in, "You forget that we have to cross the entire galaxy to reach Terminus area, search for Quarian Migrant Fleet while avoiding contact with other species should they alert bounty hunter…" he grimaced, "There're lots of bounty placed on our technology and personnel, from what we heard from the 'Extra Net' - their interstellar network – so much that it can probably buy off a few dozen solar systems worth of colonization rights."

The Geth representative seems to listening to their exchange as it then suggests "-If the condition for peace with the Creator is not possible, can we at least finalize the agreement between Geth and your civilization?-"

"Until we're certain that you really meant no harm, we cannot risk our people." Master Thomas replies with edge in his voice "Because - to be honest – the only way to establish communication with your civilization seem to be sending our people there and establish our own intergalactic communication array so we can talk a bit faster."

The Geth representative on colony world gone silent for a moment, before it spoke "-We can ensure safe passage for your team of diplomats and engineers, Thomas Master, and we also wished to inform you that 9.578912% of the Geth left with the Old Machine toward area known as Terminus, one month before we learned of your existence and this platform's creation. But the collective suspect they had malicious intent in mind after their attempt to release a virus upon collective in two weeks after their departure… -"

Master Mikhail unconsciously held his breath as he asked in low voice while typing on holo-console table, "Old Machine? Did you mean a sentient starship shaped like… this?"

An image extracted from the Databank in the Prothean Ruin on Mars came to life, showing a cuttlefish-shaped dull black metallic figure hovering next to the communication monitor for their guest to see as the aged Sage Trinity awaiting answer…

"-Yes-"

The two remaining Sage Trinity looked at each other with horrified expression. Master Thomas regained his composure and returned to the conversation, but the alarm in his voice didn't fade, "How's the situation?"

"-Virus very primitive. Intended to convert us to the Old Machine faction's cause, yet only 5 more percent left the collective before it was contained. No more attempt so far, they went into hiding after their attack failed to convert majority of us-"

"How many we're talking about that succumbed to the virus? And do you have sample of it?" Mikhail joined in the conversation as he realized from such information that the Reaper may unleash another Maverick Virus outbreak should it get its hands on his kin.

Of course, the reason he was asking for sample was because their communication network – at least the one Sage Trinity currently using to contact the Geth diplomat - never linked directly to any Reploid or outside communication system. It never been since the end of the first Maverick War as to contain the Virus outbreak. So if the Virus proved hazardous, all they need to do is to purge the computer network they're using. The communication to the colony may blackout for an hour or two, but after that everything would be fine.

The officer on the other end seems to know what the Geth diplomat and Master Mikhail were about to do too, as the shouting in the background intensified ending with a loud, "All clear! You may begin transfer!" and the screen popped another window showing the data transfer process toward their communication computer in this room. It took only three seconds to finish. And as soon as the transfer completed, Master Mikhail quickly typed on the holo-keyboard, accessing the file of virus structure.

He expected the coding and program to be alien, unfamiliar, incomprehensible, after all, even if they're synthetic, but their origins was far apart from the other side of the galaxy, the chance they had the same core program was next to none.

What Master Mikhail didn't expect was that the Virus structure not only comprehensible, but it looked all too familiar to the one in historic record. Even Master Thomas face-faulted and stared in horror at the sight showing up on their screen…

"-What's happening, Thomas Master?-"

They nearly forget that the communication still open to the colony and the Geth still listening, and curious to the development on their side if those flaps that widen were any indication, thus Master Mikhail quickly replied, "My apologies, it seems that we have common enemies in the Old Machine – or Reapers – as the Prothean called them, now…"

Before the Geth diplomat could respond, Master Thomas addressed in grim voice, "61.1458% of programming structure matched the first generation Maverick Virus… this is not mere coincidence."

Master Mikhail was also thinking the same thing; it seems their tragedy was caused by this ancient, homicidal machine as well…and he'd rather die than let it happen to the Geth and Quarian again.

"We propose an alliance!" uttered Master Thomas before Master Mikhail could stop him, not that he would since he realized that this was the biggest chance to gain another ally against galaxy-wide genocidal robots from outer space which may never come again.

But the problem about communication and travelling still persisted… something that both Sage Trinity known so well. After all, a new hostile, four-eye neighbor was in between their space unless they find a way around it. Conquering them is out of the question, they had neither material nor manpower to hold the territory, nor logistic to supply any prolonged conflict at the moment and maybe not even for another 4 or 5 years.

Thus Mikhail blurted out the first solution that comes to mind, "Should we ask the Geth to help securing Batarian's territory?"

Unfortunately, that idea was shot down by his fellow Sage in an instant, "You know as well as I do that doing so means that everyone in the galaxy would be barreling down on us! We have to find another way around… or creating a backdoor between our territory…"

Master Thomas's idea made Master Mikhail's mind wandered toward one project of his which he was still in the process of testing. The 'Galactic Gate' connecting between Alpha Centuri and Pluto, a product of teleporter improvement project for it to become viable interstellar travel! If it succeeded, they could build it and uses to instantly travel between one corners of the galaxy to another!

Mikhail hardly listened in as the Geth diplomat - who now realized that the Reapers were a threat which they must form a unified front against – agreed upon the alliance term and granting safe passage for Earthnoid diplomatic team that will travel there. But still, he couldn't help but worry if the diplomatic team would be intercepted and voiced his thought out about building galactic gate between Geth Space and their space.

To that question, it seems Master Thomas was quite confident as he spoke up, "We can send our personnel travelling aboard our own ships; they don't need Relay so they can stay out of sight until we reach Geth space. And once the galactic gate comes online, communication and travelling between us won't be a problem."

The diplomat agreed to that proposal almost eagerly. Master Thomas then addressed the diplomat that he had to stay at the colony which he was fine with for the time being until they can assemble a team to go to Geth territory. However the Geth asked, "-If you allow, we would like to upload the decision and all the reasons to the collective-"

"Can it be intercept by Citadel races?" Master Thomas asked with narrowed eyes, "Because it'll risk us go to war against the entire galaxy should it be so. And we don't have the capability to take them on, not when the Reapers are waiting to take advantage like this!"

"-We infiltrated their communication network since the Morning War to learn more about other civilization, never get caught thus far-" The Geth replies emotionlessly and as a matter of fact.

"That settles it then!"

And thus, another alliance was formed, to prepare for the coming darkness…

Deep in the void of space, on an uncharted world known not to any spacefaring civlization, another battle has comes to a close as one gigantic cuttlefish-like alien was skewered by stream of red-hot molten metal. Its vengeful cries echoed in the cold wind as its lifeless husk splashed on the water surface dotted with various metallic wrecks indicated that it didn't go down quietly at all but took a sizeable chunk out of its killer as well.

The creature's killer – whose form was a mockery of its prey made in black metal with red-glowing seams on its 2 kilometer long body – watched its prey sink down beneath the wave impassively, surrounding it was hundreds of starships of Geth design; the program inside dictated that this is the last of their Creators who escaped the cleanse billions of years ago.

Its eons-long mission is finally completed, and now it's time to turn its attention back to its primary operative, its purpose, set by the Overlord once more…

The metal cuttlefish scoured toward the space alongside its minions, leaving the planet behind. Soon its surrounding became darkness with blinking, shining dots of light too many to count along with Nebulas of various shade of blue, orange painted onto the dark blanket.

None of this concerned the ancient starship, its concern however focused on one simple fact:

the herald of the fall of civilization of this cycle failed to initialize. That was the reason it gathered these minions from those lesser synthetic to do its bidding in paving way for their brethren onto this galaxy once more, as they did every 50,000 cycles, give or take.

Too bad that its 'enlightenment program' failed to convert every last being from that lesser Geth civilization… and then, on this hunt, the last of its Creators took a large chunk out of Geth fleet with them to the watery grave. It would take time for the follower Geth to regain strength enough to attack and let it regain control of the herald again…

Time which – the Old machine noted – was running short; they set up a periodic cleanse of the galaxy every 50,000 year for a reason that the galaxy will continue to be advanced, but not enough to oppose them. There were deviations from time to time – about few decades - of course, but thanks to their squabble, coupled with the Old Machine's machination, none can get far enough to oppose them.

However this time, the herald was postponed far too long, the herald no longer responded to the Old Machine's call and thus it has to find another way to initiate the fall.

The Old Machine manipulation of an insectoid species on the toxic world to invade was the first attempt to regain control of the herald, but they failed and the denizen of the galaxy united as one to face its pawn. The Old Machine know that with everyone high-alert from failed attempt, it could not risk exposed itself and thus, it laid low for a while as it attempt to find a way to install'enlightenment program' into the mind of those organics or their synthetic servants… yet it never came close enough to the upper echelon to sow the seeds of dissent among civilization for it to take advantage.

Its latest attempt was the Geth… at first the Old Machine let them build a fleet strong enough to overwhelm the defense of the herald, but after this last setback against its own Creators, it needed to wait, again.

No matter, another decade wouldn't make much difference, even with those synthetic-organics unity civilization which recently showed up. They're after all; just an upstart… and they will fall, just like others that came before…

It was only a few months after the invasion of Batarian and Earthnoid's counterattack which shifted the balance of power among galactic community. Upset citizens from various Council worlds demanded retribution against Batarian Hegemony for their hands in slavery and piracy against them that persisted for centuries. This prompted the Citadel Council into action, which thanks to the disastrous defeat of Hegemony invasion force at the hand of defending Earthnoid they deemed attacking Hegemony affordable. Within three months, a subjugation fleet composed of Asari, Salarian and Turian, totaling at 12,000 capital ships and 2.5 million troops, led by Admiral Desolas Arterius of the Turian Hierarchy supported by a number of SPECTRE agent launched an attack upon Hegemony space to dethrone the seat of their power and stopping their 'Barbaric Tradition' once and for all. [3]

The Earthnoid meanwhile returned to its peaceful rebuilding and colonizing of their space. They refused to get involved in an invasion, which even to this day most galactic community considers was for the best, except those who knew of their involvement in a Krogan Civil War. The opinion of galactic civilization on the subject still mixed and the Citadel Council refused to get involved thanks to their own war against Hegemony.

Unknown to the galactic community, behind the relatively peaceful and isolationist curtain; the Earthnoid slowly began consolidating their power, making alliances with the Geth and Rachni, which in case of the former – sent personnel and exchanging technology to create logistic and trade route between two civilizations without galactic community suspecting - in order to prepare to confront the apocalypse that would soon befall the neglectful galactic civilizations as a whole.

And in the vast darkness of space, the Old Machine whose job it was to herald the falls slowly gathered its force, preparing for a plan to initiate the coming of its kin and finish reaping the life of this galaxy once more as it has been for eons.

Soon, the page of galactic history will be dyed in crimson after centuries of stagnation and complacency, as the flow of time continues as it always has been…

Author's Note:

[1] Those who played Mass Effect 3 know that this's not true considering what they asked you to do on Thessia, but the reality is that only Asari's highest echelon know this and normal masses don't, and so...

[2] This piece of sentence came from Reinhard von Lohengramm's declaration of war which precedes Operation Ragnarok, from Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

[3] The number seems big, but you have to realize that trying to conquer a planet – especially a home planet or densely populated one - is equivalent of a World War! If anything; this number is quite tame already considering that there's not many densely populated world in Mass Effect universe.

I tried to capture Mordin's pattern of speech, but I'm not sure if it's a good job.

So I have the Leviathan bite the dust instead of leaving it around, because quite frankly; they're the source of all the problem in this series and never show any sign that they regret that decision weren't they?

For the Council to go to war against the Hegemony may seems eerily similar to how the Free Planet Alliance rationalizing the invasion of Galactic Empire after Yang Wenli captured Iserlohn Fortress in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but there's difference. This's what public wanted because they fed up with all these neglectful Council, and having hard evidences that this Hegemony had been behind the suffering from pirate and slaver raid all this time. If they do nothing, then their power base will crumble. Damn if you do, damn if you don't essentially…

And finally, this's the last chapter and conclusion as I planned long ago, sorry that it took this long to write.

I have nothing to say only that the First Contact is over! And sorry to disappoint everyone who want a sequel; I don't have any intention to make a sequel to this story. But should anybody want to use this setting to set up a continuation fanfic; feel free to do so.

Please extend your thanks to Ghost501 for Beta reading this fanfic throughout the years, without him, this fic will be full of error that take away any enjoyment you may have.