章 111: Chapter 106
Now inside the Citadel, the seven leaders of the Council and Legion bow tensely waited for the submit to begin. Councilors Udina, Tevos, Sparatus, and Valern stood behind their usual podiums elevated well above their Legion counterparts. Queen Toph, recently elected High Chancellor Suki, and the Geth's Emissary stood in front of them as if being heard by a judge. Suki took the slight the worst, frustration visible on her and her assistants' unmasked faces. The concept of a poker face having been lost on their people. In contrast, the two emissary units and I looked stoic as can be. In anticipation of future diplomatic meetings, the Geth started producing more emissary units. Similar to my infiltration unit but modified to appear like a Quarian. It's hard to say which surprised people more the suitless Quarians or the metal ones. If the Quarians looked upset, and the Geth neutral, then Toph and the Krogans looked amused slightly smirking completely disregarding the attempt at a slight.
In addition to the respective leaders, each side had a few bodyguards and government leaders. For the council security was being provided by Spectres and C-Sec. Also, each councilor had another leader from their respective governments. Admiral Hewitt, a Matriarch, a Dalatrass, and a Primarch were all in attendance. On our side, Toph brought two guards not trusting any of her subjects to give level headed advice. Suki brought two of her fellow Chancellors. The Geth brought two Emissary units and me, although the second unit is solely to keep up appearances.
"And so it is with great honor that the meeting between the Citadel Council and the Legion may now begin" A Volus in a muted green environmental suit said taking large breathy pauses every few words. In addition to everything else, there was a lone Volus to act as a moderator. This only really makes sense if you don't think about it, but to be fair I have no idea who we could find to be impartial. I guess the Reapers would want to kill us all equally.
"It's always nice to see struggling people come together to help each other" Tevos started.
"Or it would be if they hadn't resorted to such desperate mean," Sparatus said.
"Yes. Clear use of genetic engineering" Valern said
"And that's without mentioning the digital elephant in the room" Udina added
Hmm. So that's their plan. They're going to play aggressive in hopes we cave under the pressure. They assume we view hostile Citadel action as an existential threat, which under different circumstances would be true. They're going to start with a hardline, but eventually, make just enough allowances so that we can join the Citadel. They'll forgive any past actions and decriminalize our existence but past that I doubt they'll offer much. I think relaying it to the lead Emissary.
"You're all a bunch of two-faced hypocrites. How many rouge AI has System Alliance made now? How many more bioweapons do the Union have ready to be used on whoever they decide is their enemy. You all like to criticize the methods we use to solve problems you all caused." Toph said cutting off my thought on how best to approach this. I can't say it will help with diplomacy, but it did enrage them. They all tried to talk over each other trying to refute what Toph said. It seemed like the Volus would need to step in only for the four of them to silence themselves.
"Even if what you claim is true, the difference in scale makes the offenses incomparable. The Council has played no role in your fates. You have accomplished them yourselves through greed and overreach" Tevos said making me desperately want to place my head in my hands. It's fair to say the Council didn't cause the initial problems with the Geth and Quarians, but that's not how you say it. I'll be shocked if this ends with anything productive being agreed on. The Emissaries seem to agree as they put themselves in stand by mode.
"How dare you say that we overreach. Humans started a war with the Batarians, Salarians started the Rachni War, Turians started a war with the humans, and the Asari have been hoarding Prothean Beacons for themselves." Suki said causing a repressed rage to spread over the Council.
"If you think we're so quick to start a war perhaps you should be more careful," Sparatus said steadily.
"War's coming one way or another, either from you or the Reapers. We're ready for the Reapers and none of you are. They'll come and even the odds if not win the war for us." Toph retorted
"The Reapers are not real" Tevos insisted
"And even if they were nothing is stopping us from dismantling this alliance now before it becomes a larger problem. Although if the Reapers are real they'll probably take care of it for us." Sparatus said
"You would need to launch a proper invasion leaving yourselves open to others, and the Salarians can't use their normal tactics because they're afraid we might fight fire with fire," Suki told them.
It's at this point I start making plans with the Geth. I had hoped we would be able to come together against the Reapers, now I think we'll be lucky not to have to shoot our way off the Citadel. Even if the Council is being petty and aggressive, their citizens don't deserve to be slaughtered. I wish I didn't have to balance saving the lives of billions against the Reapers vs billions from the Citadel if I provide it too much protection.
"OUR ONLY MISTAKE WAS NOT DEALING WITH DANGEROUS GROUPS SOONER" Valern yelled.
"NO YOUR PROBLEM WAS TURNING EVERYONE WHO DISAGREED WITH YOU INTO A PROBLEM." Suki yelled back as she turned and marched off. Everyone quickly copying her and walking away.
"DONT YOU WALK AWAY FROM US!" Tevos shouted.
"As if you could stop us. " Toph laughed while also flipping her the bird as we walked away.
On the bright side if the Quarians and Krogans had sent anyone besides Suki and Toph this definitely would have ended in bloodshed. So, I'll take that as a small victory.
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