Winning Peace - Chapter 41 (Patreon)

Tali'Zorah relaxed on her bed, her arms behind her head as her eyes tracked the latest feed she'd subscribed to through the net. It was everything the kids at her university were talking about, given the fact that new species coming onto the galactic stage was a comparative rarity to other news. Even if the New Prothean Empire had made a habit of exploring and conquering more species over the last three hundred years or so, they tended to be pre-space flight races. The last time a species capable of standing on its own had shown up was the protheans themselves. Prior to that, it would probably be the turians, and that was more than half a millennia ago, now.

The rim-visor wrapped around her forehead and looping under her eyes, much like a pair of glasses without lenses, displayed the latest news.

Apparently, the 'humans' were already acquainted with two different races as well! And had fought off an inadvertent invasion by the Prothean Empire!

Which, well... there had been rumors, but no one had believed them. Footage of an entire fleet getting turned into space-dust changes things. I suppose if you throw enough antimatter at anything, it stops being a problem.

That, at least, made sense on some level. Oh, sure, Tali had run the numbers herself and found that the amounts of the most energetic material known to galactic civilization you'd need required a level of dedicated infrastructure and throughput of energy that almost beggared belief, but it was possible. Theoretically, at least. If an alien civilization, these 'humans,' had decided to wage interstellar war in a way that was fundamentally different than the galactic norm, well...

Her people, the quarians, didn't really have room to talk on that issue.

The more unbelievable part of the entire story was-

“Geth,” Tali spoke up, not bothering to turn her head at the household unit standing in the corner. “Run structural analysis on footage selections I have marked from the human first contact footage.”

“As you wish, Creator Tali'Zorah,” the Geth unit spoke up in its harsh digital tones. “Analysis complete. Structural capacity of 'mobile suits' exceeds currently known tolerances of material sciences available to any galactic society.”

Tali clicked her tongue against her teeth as she stretched her arms over her head. “It's those nanofabrication devices, I just know it. Being able to construct materials on the fly at at a sub-molecular level would allow you to bypass the current processes that form imperfections in industrial-grade substances.”

It was irritating, because she could see it, in her mind's eye. Her people had already developed something similar to the nanofabrication units, but for much simpler tasks. Between quarian ingenuity and the geth's tireless precision, they were the dominant bleeding-edge technology manufacturer in the galaxy with seven of the top ten corporations hailing from the Quarian Federation.

Of course, the asari had them beat for scale, what with having the Citadel as a captive market, but there were select military and civilian appliances that would be utterly impractical without quarian hardware.

Even if it killed the salarians to admit it.

“Consensus finds your supposition extremely likely, creator Tali'Zorah,” the Geth unit stated, drawing her from her musings.

“I wonder if they've already started espionage attempts to steal the technology,” Tali grinned and stretched slightly, feeling the pleasant pull of her muscles against themselves.

“Information pertaining to covert operations is highly classified,” came the unexpected reply, causing Tali to giggle.

“That was a rhetorical question,” Tali stated, snickering. “I'm sure the salarians are already trying to data-mine the humans' military channels for leads, and they haven't even opened formal diplomatic relations yet.”

“Information pertaining to covert operations is highly classified,” came the now-expected reply. “However, current speculation on the local networks estimates the probability at being greater than ninety percent.”

Tali laughed outright, finally sitting up properly as she flicked the footage to the smart-screen which overlaid the large window overlooking the expansive garden of her family's private home. She glimpsed a few of her cousins playing some sort of simple game for a moment before the image of a giant quarinoid mech snapped into view. Crossing her legs beneath her, she cocked her head at it.

There was something... stirring about it. Her fields of choice were engineering, not poetry, but there was something about the beauty and fluidity of a well-crafted machine moving in perfect harmony with itself.

“What was this unit called?” Tali asked, cupping her chin with one hand as the other swept aside a set of the soft quills that were so similar to the human and associans' 'hair.'

“Available human documentation has labeled the unit XXXG-00W0 Wing Zero Gundam Custom Z01.” The Geth unit dutifully responded.

Tali hummed in the back of her throat, considering the information. “Gundam, huh.” She paused. “Geth, query: Current feasibility studies by quarian government entities or published privately-authored documentation.”

“Accessing. Available files downloaded to your terminal.”

“Excellent,” Tali stated, cuing up the new data and beginning to skim it on the displays next to her eyes. Even as she did so, another thread of attention set the current image on her wall as her background of choice. “Now, let's see-”

Which was, of course, when her screens all cut out and she was forced to reckon with the bright mid-afternoon Rannoch sun. “Ancestors Damn It All! Mom!”

“Network access limit reached for current standard day,” the Geth unit unhelpfully stated.

“I can see that!” Tali hissed, leaping up and stalking out the doorway into the main complex. Taking the circuitous path, Tali danced around the working Geth units all dedicated to deep-cleaning the area for the upcoming family reunion. She didn't understand why they had to host-

No, no, that was a lie. Her part of the family was the 'main' part, which generally just meant the section of the family with the highest-ranking military or government officer. Rael'Zorah outright owned a majority of the mining corporations responsible for exploiting much of the Federation's settled world's resource deposits. The standard for operations when working around sentient beings was, understandably, much higher than the sloppier industrial worlds or asteroids, which meant they had few competitors even when one factored in the exclusivity of Federation licenses.

“Ah, Tali! There you are. I wanted to ask you for help on – what's wrong?” The first adult quarian asked her as she approached them, the other woman's form bulging with her expectant child.

“Do you know where my Mom is, Mother?” Tali asked, grimacing. “She cut my net time short again!”

Daro'Zorah chuckled. “Ah... I told Kella that trying to get you to be more sociable before the guests arrived would just put you in a bad mood. But what do I know? I'm just the second wife.”

Tali rolled her eyes at the joking self-deprecation in her Mother's tone. “Mom's been trying to get me out to 'touch grass' since before you married Dad, Mother.”

“'Touch Grass'?” Daro chuckled. “That's a good one. Is that what the kids are saying these days?”

Tali snorted and shook her head. “No, it was in a human cultural drama I was watching as part of the initial exchange.”

Daro hummed, her opalescent eyes shining with interest. “Ah, if your father hadn't barred me from the heavy labs until this one is born-” She gestured to her pregnancy. “-I'd already be at it trying to recreate those stupid giant robots they're using, if only to shut down the panicking Conclave heads thinking we're suddenly behind militarily.”

Tali grimaced. “I was just looking into those, actually.”

Daro blinked, her eyes scanning the younger quarian. “Is this going to be like the time you tried to rebuild a Geth unit into a zaurspod to ride around the house?”

The teenager bristled, her head-quills flexing with what little evolutionarily-atrophied muscle was still attached to them. “I didn't say anything about trying to make one!”

Daro laughed loudly. “You didn't have to, clever girl. I might not be your birth-mother, but I know you well enough. So, you've caught the giant-robot fever, have you?”

Tali took a deep breath and released it in a slow sigh, trying to fight the blush she knew was heavy on her face. “Is it that obvious?”

“To someone who knows you,” Daro nodded. “And to someone who spends their time telling the Conclave to direct their resources to more worthwhile projects. Honestly, it's not the machines themselves that I'm interested in. It's all the derivative technology the Federation could glean from these... gundams.”

“So, you'd support attempts to replicate the technology?” Tali asked, a plan beginning to form in her mind.

Daro sighed. “I would, clever girl. I definitely would, however, it's unlikely we'll be getting anywhere with it anytime soon.”

The forming plan shuddered to a halt and Tali frowned. “What? Why?”

Daro scowled. “Politics.” Her eyes traced around the building. “You didn't hear it from me, but the Conclave is thinking about extending diplomatic feelers to the Systems Alliance. It's pretty obvious with what happened to their attempts to make peace with the Empire, that they'll be forging some kind of military alliance with the Hierarchy. The Citadel certainly isn't happy about that, particularly the batarians and salarians, but it may create a stable three-way balance of power on the galactic stage moving forward.”

Tali blinked, a trace of shock lancing through her. “W-wait... do you mean the Conclave is considering...”

“It's too soon to tell. The humans have barely been on the galactic stage for six months, and the revelation that they're allied with the rachni is making a lot of the conservative and militaristic factions nervous. Even if Rannoch wasn't a major player in the Rachni Wars, we still participated in a number of defensive actions.”

“I did take history classes at university, Mother.” Tali reminded the older woman. “It's why I was so surprised by the idea that the Conclave would even entertain something like that.”

“There's a great deal of public fascination with the idea of a 'civilized' rachni strain. It helps that the last emergence of a rachni threat was over a hundred standard cycles ago now, which takes it out of living memory for most quarians,” Daro stated, sighing and tapping her omni-tool for a moment.

Obediently, a Geth emerged from a side-corridor moments later with a cushioned chair, which Daro immediately eased herself into. “There's also the fact that it was the Prothean Empire that dealt with the bugs last time around. This whole affair is drawing attention back to the asari's numerous diplomatic failures over the centuries. People are wondering if they and the salarians somehow incited the Rachni Wars initially for some nefarious reason. It's all patently absurd, but the tendency of complex networks to spread disinformation to promote insider bias is always stronger than either common sense or fact-checking.”

“So this is just the anti-Citadel faction of the Conclave high-jacking the political momentum, then,” Tali gasped, her eyes widening as she made the connection.

Daro chuckled, reaching out to pat the teenager on her head gently. “See, kid? This is why I call you 'clever girl.' I only hope my son's half as smart as you.”

Tali rolled her eyes. “Ugh, Mother... you're avoiding the question. Is the Conclave really thinking about allying with the Systems Alliance?”

“It's a complicated situation,” Daro replied with a shake of her head. “The most likely thing that's going to happen is that the Federation will flirt with joining the Alliance to put pressure on the Citadel to come to more beneficial trade terms. We're far enough away from their main territory that even the batarians are bottle-necked through a small relay chain and have limited raiding capability. So even if the fact that slavery is legal in their space leaves a bad taste in everyone – or almost everyone's – mouths, it doesn't personally affect the Federation much.”

Tali grimaced. It was often and publicly discussed how vile the batarian 'cultural practices' had turned the political environment of the Citadel into such a cesspit. The problem was, the Prothean Empire loathed her people's widespread use of Artificial Intelligence, especially after the Geth had beaten them back during the Great Awakening.

Even with the quarian people's greater technological edge, the Prothean Empire was still able to make more advanced hardware, but only in very limited amounts for their most advanced craft and weapons. They were still rebuilding and could benefit from a strong ally such as the Federation to act as a manufactory to create arms and munitions for their conquests.

But the Empire doesn't want allies. They want vassals, and vassals are subordinate both politically and militarily. The Rannoch Federation is an ideologically-opposed and heavily-armed neutral state along its border.

All of which meant that the Citadel and, through them, the Hegemony, were a vital lifeline for resources to fuel the quarian's defense industry and the Geth Consensus' expanding output.

Tali paused and cocked her head. Her previous plan had been to use the political momentum to lobby for her own research division. Her father had more than enough pull to give his eldest daughter an easy position at the head of her own private development department. It had been her aim to convince her father of such for the past few months, ever since she'd graduated. She'd hoped that this new release of the human-contact would be enough to finally push him over the edge.

“But if Dad's already spearheading the political movement to bargain with the Citadel by flirting with the humans...” Tali muttered, a much wilder idea beginning to take shape in her mind. She knew enough about Conclave politics to know that her father was, if not the head of the movement, then at least one of the leaders. No one hated the Hegemony like he did.

“What was that, kid?” Daro asked, frowning at her.

Tali turned to stare at her Mother. “Do you think... if the Citadel thought it was more legitimate attempt, we'd be able to push for more trade considerations?”

Daro stared at her co-wife's daughter, frowning. Then she smirked. “Kid, I have the feeling you're about to suggest something really off the wall. And if it's half as crazy as I think it is, I'll help you pitch it to Rael, if only to see the color his face turns.”

Daro ended up laughing so hard she almost sent herself into an early labor, but Tali ended up getting her wish. Even if the quarians had long ago done away with the concept of nobility, their oligarchic political structure was based on the ancient houses, of which the Zorah were an important piece. And diplomacy such as Daro was suggesting here always went over more smoothly if there was a hostage involved to guarantee good behavior.

What better hostage than a princess? Watch out, Dr. Lopez. You might have been able to shoot your way out of the Empire's attempts to get a hold over you, but you won't escape mine!

Talit paused.

Maybe tone it down just a little. Don't want to appear too eager.

~~~

You know what this story needs? It needs quarians.

Specifically, everyone's favorite quarian!

Have a look at how humanity is changing things by just existing as the political realities of the galaxy realign themselves. Oh, and a teenage girl decides she wants to get her very own giant robot. How will her quest affect the larger galaxy and the fate of nations? Stay tuned to find out!

That said, next up is some Industrious, as promised.