Winning Peace - Chapter 48 (Patreon)

“I feel a bit as though we have made a proverbial spirit's bargain,” Declus Olymlinus, Primarch of Palaven sighed as he looked over Archangel Arterius' reports.

His many reports. Far too many, normally, to be attributed to a single incident no matter how many 'VIPs,' as the humans put it, were involved. There were a half-dozen analyses on the various security failures alone which the upper-echelons of the Diplomatic Office were jointly meeting with other state security agencies to go over. Then there were the reports on the STG unit, their technology, their tactical capabilities, and their likely points of insertion. There were more, of course, and he could hardly lay the whole of the blame on Arterius. His partner Atak Droyas, completely atypical for a krogan, was something of an intellectual with an appreciation for the methodical approach.

By the abyss, he was a krogan with three doctorates in the medical sciences of all things!

But, given Arterius' own preferred approach was to simply open fire on anything giving off a heat signature and then saturate the area for good measure, he supposed their team needed one member who understood the value of a considered and measured response.

Thankfully, rather than continue to contemplate what would be a truly towering stack of physical records were it printed from his digital files, a question voiced aloud made him blink and look up, finding his compatriots in similar states of thoughtful disbelief, shock, and listless stupor.

“So it's confirmed, then?” Lucius Nazalinus, a Primarch in his own right asked as he emptied his glass of chak'ta, the fiery turian spirit of a particularly fine vintage.

“As confirmed as anything with the STG can be,” Teus Duvimius replied off-handed, nursing his own glass more slowly. Although not a publicly-elected official of high office like the other half-dozen turians in the room, his appointment to the Head of Military Intelligence guaranteed him a spot at the table. “We've had our eyes on a number of cells throughout the years, for various reasons. Sometimes it's simply better to let the frogs think they have one over on us for the sake of preventing some greater catastrophe further down the line. One or two of them go dark on occasion, but all of them? At once?”

The rhetorical question hung in the air heavily.

Valelia Melril, Primarch of Digeris stared down at her own chill glass, beads of condensate slowly forming on the high-quality crystal. The design, she noted, was unfamiliar though beautiful. That meant the set they were drinking from was almost certainly a diplomatic gift from the humans to Declus. Almost everything that was 'new' or 'interesting' in the Hierarchy these days could be credited or blamed on the humans.

There was the slim chance of the glasses being of accosian or rachni origin, especially the former given the material, but she would put more money on them being human-made goods. Accosians, while not-unknown to turian society at large, simply didn't have quite the export potential or xenophillic tendencies of humanity yet.

Rebuilding your entire civilization from a planet-destroying apocalypse will do that...

She shook off her idle musings and took a pull from her glass. At least the liquor was made here on Palaven. “Practically speaking, do we have any options?”

The silence, this time, was damning.

Lucius cleared his throat. “The protoculture and variable technologies that Lopez has gifted our people with are of incalculable value. Once we properly implement them across the wider army and navy, we'll be able to push back the Prothean Empire, curtail the Hegemony's pirate raids, and police our borders at a level we've not been able to achieve since first contact.”

“More significantly,” Caetilia Balianus interjected, “we've allowed enough information about these 'ancient ruins' to be disseminated to boost morale that curtailing or delaying them would undercut both that boost and faith in the current administration. Putting aside any military failures that could be directly attributed to such a strategy, of course.”

“Of course,” Declus nodded, refraining from rolling his eyes. Caetilia had always been a brazen political beast, it was one of the reasons she was in this room to begin with, but he wished she wouldn't be so bald-faced about it. “So, we need his technology. Are we sure it's clean?”

The question was ostensibly asked to the entire room, but Teus was the one who answered, as they all knew he would. “As sure as we can be, but I'm intensely aware that the STG likely thought their systems were both clean and secure to an even greater degree. The fact of the matter is that virtually every significant piece of information we have on the construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of a protoculture matrix, let alone the Flower of Life, comes from a single individual. That same individual who, by all verifiable data, created this alternative technology base whole-cloth using inspiration from a two hundred year old cartoon.”

Conversation paused as the various participants attempted to wrap their heads around what would usually be regarded as a mad turian's fantasy.

“Which begs the question,” Valelia spoke up once again. “If Ezekiel Lopez wished us harm, would he need a backdoor into our systems?”

Looming silence was becoming a recurring theme of the meeting.

“I do not like the idea that our government, if not our entire civilization's, continued existence is reliant on the goodwill of a single alien sentient,” Declus stated definitively, leaning back in his chair and scowling. “Regardless of how much he has helped us, regardless of how grateful I am on a deeply personal level, goodwill is an intemperate thing. I would sooner prefer we find ourselves back in the days where warfare would be determined by the weather rather than rely on such an unpredictable thing as another party's genial mood. At least the weather we can somewhat understand. The inner workings of another being's mind are as opaque as matters of the spirits themselves.”

“A sentiment I agree with, but one which does nothing to disprove the reality we all now face,” Lucius sighed as he emptied his glass. “The only thing I am heartened by is the fact that the human seems both intimately familiar with the impact his decisions can and do have upon others, and as averse as possible to placing himself in a position to have those decisions in the first place.”

“Insomuch as he is able to,” Caetilia rebutted, drawing attention to herself. “While I agree that he shows great distaste for the political power he has at his fingertips, to say nothing of the industrial, technological, or cultural... he has still been called upon a great many times to wield it on behalf of others. We cannot ignore the fact that there is every possibility he may be swayed to act against the Hierarchy one day.”

“Nor will we,” Valelia stated, an amused exhalation crossing her mandibles.

“Please, share with the unit if you have an answer to our conundrum, Primarch,” Teus replied, frowning at her.

“We need to make a treaty,” Valelia announced.

“We already have a-” Lucius replied, shaking his head.

“Not with the humans. Not with their Solar Council or the Systems Alliance that they're consolidating. We need a formal treaty with Lopez himself,” Valelia explained.

Unlike the prior instances, the silence this time was neutral as the stunned members of the meeting looked between each other attempting to comprehend the declaration.

“You're proposing we treat a single sentient being as if he were a galactic-level political entity unto himself and bargain with him as one would another star-nation,” Declus spoke, seeming only slightly stunned at the words coming out of his mouth.

What surprised him more, internally, was the fact that he found the idea to hold a certain amount of appeal.

“For the sake of argument... there's no precedent for such an agreement,” Lucius stated slowly, his career having been a storied one in the circles of the military courts. “With a colony? Yes, but an individual? No. Additionally, we'd need a way to hold Lopez to the terms of such an agreement and, as with the earlier concerns, I'm not sure if we possess anything that Lopez would value that he cannot simply take were he so inclined.”

Declus reached up to scratch the plating on his neck as he considered both points. “It is the underpinning legal framework of the Hierarchy, which allows our government to exist, that compacts between colonies are binding and sacrosanct. While our people have availed themselves of every world we can feasibly make hospitable to us and our crops, there are a number which are unsuitable for whatever reason, even for our krogan population. We offer Lopez and his family one of those worlds, legally acknowledging the man as the head of a colonial government by the letter of the law.”

Lucius was not alone in working his mouth soundlessly as he chewed the idea over, one or two pairs of turians even whispering arguments to each other before he responded. “There's no specific reason I can think of off-hand that such a thing wouldn't work, even if it is a bit of a farce on the face of it. I'm compelled to add, though, that this will set something of a dangerous precedent.”

“We'll bomb that canyon when we come to it,” Teus shook his head. “I'd much rather put up with a thousand irritating legal cases of bare-faced colonizers getting in over their heads on fringe frontier worlds than see this situation continue as it is.”

“Do you really think Lopez will care about such a thing?” Caetilia asked skeptically. “Given his readily-apparent knowledge of the relay system, including closed relay units, he obviously has access to systems he could colonize on his own should he wish it.”

“True, but there is an answer for that,” Declus replied with a slight grin. “I don't believe it's actually stipulated anywhere within the body of agreements, but it's taken for granted that the head of a turian colony is a Hierarchy citizen in good standing.”

There was a moment of contemplation as the turians looked at each other.

“Not that it isn't a great honor to be awarded Hierarchy citizenship, especially the higher ranks as I believe we're discussing, but...” Valelia began.

“It would give him the right to legally own his own FTL spacecraft,” Lucius realized, looking to Declus as the Primarch of Palaven nodded in approval. “The humans have provisions against such things and while anyone with half a brain has obviously realized Lopez can ignore those restrictions at will, he scrupulously keeps to the appearance of a law-abiding citizen publicly. Making him a top-level citizen of the Hierarchy would give him a legal excuse to own his own vessels and somewhere to store them. There are a number of other benefits, of course, but that is probably the most significant one he would be interested in.”

There was another round of considering looks before Declus spoke up again. “This is obviously merely an idea at this stage. I want you all to, quietly, feel out the details and draw them up in a formal report that we can go over next week. Draw up a list of worlds for him to choose from, get the documentation ready for his citizenship, and make sure everything is in order. I'll meet with Lopez when he comes to tour Palaven later this month and present him with the material privately before we make a demonstration out of it publicly.”

“Good idea,” Teus nodded. “If our goal is to tie the man closer to the Hierarchy and its welfare, the last thing we need to do is offend him by making a public spectacle of a 'reward' he doesn't want or finds offensive for some reason.”

Caetilia began nodding slowly, then more quickly. “Yes, I think this could work. It would definitely be a public-relations coup, especially in the face of what we know of his accomplishments against the Citadel. Even if it won't be public knowledge, the asari leadership will no doubt be informed of Aethyta's conversation with him. Lopez agreeing to accept Hierarchy citizenship and colonization rights to one of our worlds, even if it's only a fifth-rate spirit-pit unfit for sentient life, will send a strong message.”

The politically-minded turian woman paused, considering the matter. “Should we extend the offer to the krogan?”

Lucius snorted, a quick and derisive exhalation of air. “The krogan have no concept of citizenship and they've never let an alien join their clans.”

Teus hummed thoughtfully. “They might let him start his own, though. Even if it's without precedent, as long as he wasn't given voting rights in their Althing, I don't see it causing too much of a stir. Lopez providing a cure for the genophages and a krogan version of his 'Gene Lock' treatment has firmly secured him as a figure of adoration for the entire Free Clans. They won't gainsay giving him honors as long as it doesn't come with a 'cut of the kill,' as they say.”

Declus nodded. “Very well, I'll trust you to reach out to your contacts in the clans, Teus. Normally, I would take this to Wrex himself, but we don't need this to hit the press until we're ready for it.”

Teus nodded. “I'll see it done, My Primarch.”

Declus gave one affirmative shake of his head. “Very good. If no one else has any other business?”

…

...calculating...

[DATA]

Consensus Building

Hardware Improvements Logged

Species: Homo Sapiens Sapiens Novus

Designation: Ezekiel Lopez, Doctor, Ambassador

THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME - UNKNOWN // NON AGGRESSIVE

Course of Action Recommend: NONE – Unit Designation 'Ezekiel Lopez' is of 'FRIENDLY' disposition towards Creators and GETH Consensus. Potential Avenue of Consensus Evolution. Attempt overtures of 'FRIENDSHIP' with Designation 'Systems Alliance.' Rate technological developments for potential trade/security agreement.

Countermeasures for Unit Designation 'Ezekiel Lopez' if Hostilities Ensue: Unknown Currently. Threat poorly-understood. Continue Observation, Wargame Potential Outcomes.

 [DATA]

Consensus Achieved.

~~~

Here's a reaction chapter to the bomb that went off last in the previous chapter of Winning Peace. Specifically, the fact that Zeke let Saren listen in on the conversation he was having. Of course, that meant he told his superiors. Now they need a plan.

Also, the Geth. Because of course the Geth.

I'll likely also have something else out in a few hours. It'll be a Part One of a two-part Lore Dump for Nexus Event. It won't really be a 'chapter' so much as an Interlude discussing a lot of historical details that I want to get ironed out before we get too deep in the weeds of the story. It'll be set after everyone gets to Hogwarts and mainly feature Solomon and Hermione.

Beyond that, I hope everyone is having a great week so far!