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—
"Commander Shepard's tears can cure the Krogan Genophage. Too bad he never cries"
Serpent Nebula
Widow System
Citadel Tower
Donnel Udina, human ambassador to the Citadel Council cursed for the umpteenth time. The sudden influx of aliens, along with a minority of humans, escaping from the Batarian Hegemony has been a boon for humanity's standing in the greater galaxy, but it was a taxing and problematic work.
He and the embassy had been distributing supplies, offering medical aid and helping the former slaves connect with their family and friends. It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart that he decided to spend hundreds of thousands of credits, but to increase the System Alliance's reputation, though he wouldn't say it out loud.
As if the mountain of bureaucratic work he had to deal with wasn't enough, the council had summoned him for some reason, only saying it was extremely urgent.
So here he was at the Citadel Tower, being led to the private chambers by an Asari.
"Councillors" He greeted the ultimate authority figures in the Citadel Space. The Councillors, sitting around a table, watched him for a couple of seconds before Tevos indicated at the empty chair for Udina to sit.
"Please sit, Ambassador"
Udina took the offered seat and examined the Councillors. He had worked on how the various species of the galaxy behaved, whether under normal circumstances or the extraordinary ones like they faced now.
They were tired, as he was, so there was no need for the usual pleasantries.
"Ambassador, we summoned you regarding Commander Jonathan Shepard, and the actions he has taken against the Batarian Hegemony. Was this an Alliance sanctioned operation, or did Commander Shepard act by himself?" Sparatus, ever the blunt militarist, asked directly without any of the political talk the other two Councillors would employ.
Udina too wanted to know that, but the Alliance Parliament was currently in a closed session, discussing the implications of Commander Shepard's actions, and he had been ordered to not say anything until the man himself had the chance to explain himself to the Parliament.
"Due to the nature of the events, I have been ordered to keep silent on the matter until the Alliance investigation is concluded to avoid any misunderstandings"
"And when will that be?" Valern understood the Alliance's position, the Salarian Union and the other governments would do the same, but it didn't change the fact they needed answers.
"Commander Shepard is currently on his way to Arcturus, and the Alliance is gathering intelligence on the state of the Hegemony, however, there is no way to tell how long it will take as such any length of time I give you would be unreliable" Udina knew the Parliament was slow even at the best of times but they all agreed that the Batarians were a problem that needed to be solved.
Commander Shepard had handed that solution to the Alliance on a silver platter and Udina didn't see him facing any punishment, perhaps a slap on the wrist for going AWOL.
"Understandable, and we will be expecting the Alliance's report as soon as possible. We also had one more matter to discuss. As I am sure you understand, we have some concerns regarding the Commander's nature. One person, no matter the species, doing something like this is quite unbelievable" Tevos explained delicately, as openly accusing the newest member of the Citadel community would be counterproductive to their interests in Humanity's further integration.
"What do you mean, Councillor?" Udina narrowed his eyes, already having an idea where this was going.
"What she means is that we want to have Commander Shepard examined to see if the Alliance has broken any laws and regulations pertaining to genetic and cybernetic augmentation" Sparatus spoke, throwing Tevos' delicate approach out of the airlock.
Tevos did not display any disagreement, but internally she was wondering if the Turian was even aware of diplomacy.
"While I can not tell you anything regarding the Batarian situation, I can tell you that certain studies on Commander Shepard's DNA were commenced to see if he was augmented as you are worried and the results were negative. However, I am sure the Arcturus will agree to your request to show that we are taking your concerns seriously" Udina tried to get information on Shepard from his contacts, but even they were unusually tight lipped. While he didn't learn as much as he wished, he still learned some interesting things, such as the studies.
They must have been taken back by this and how easy he agreed as they formulated what to do.
"Very well ambassador. We will be waiting for your government's answer" Tevos said and Udina took the cue and pushed his chair back.
"Have a pleasant day, Councillors"
—
As soon as Udina was out and the door closed behind him, Tevos turned to Sparatus.
"Why don't you just forgo any kind of investigation and sanction them already Sparatus?" She asked her Turian counterpart rhetorically.
"You were saying the same thing, just less direct, that's all. You didn't have a problem with it before" He retorted, matching the Asari Matriarch's gaze.
"She didn't have a problem with it when Udina was the unreasonable one, not you" Valern supplied, for both he and Tevos did not appreciate his open antagonism towards the humans.
"He is right. If Udina is the unreasonable one we can just use it as an excuse to stop him from reaching too far, but if it is you, it just feeds into their rhetoric of how we are trying to keep them under control. Your aggression against them needs to stop being so apparent" Tevos chided the Turian, no matter how much she wished she didn't have to.
Him, and his predecessor were both the same in their approach to humans due to the Relay 314 incident.
"Still, Udina's acceptance of examining Commander Shepard most likely means we can rule out the option of him being a super soldier," Valern said, drawing the attention back to the matter at hand.
"Provided the Alliance agrees" Sparatus wasn't going to let things go until the last second, it seemed.
"Indeed" Tevos nodded.
—
Arcturus
Arcturus Station
Parliament Chambers
Shepard found the whole meeting boring. They have been doing this for three days already, and those imbeciles kept repeating the same questions. He yawned, and whoever was speaking noticed this and interrupted him.
"Are we boring you, Commander?" A member asked, and Shepard leaned towards the microphone to retort.
"Commander Shepard is tired, both due to these proceedings and the operation he single handedly ran against the Batarians. Please, excuse him" Anderson snatched the microphone and stopped Shepard from insulting the politician, and gave him a pointed look.
Shepard leaned back, tuning out the speaker.
Admiral Hackett had grilled him for twelve hours before accepting that he was telling the truth. The politicians couldn't do the same after three days with the Prime Administrator and the Ministers of the Batarian Hegemony paraded before them.
He didn't like dealing with the civilian government for this exact reason. They were slow as a Krogan solving a crossword puzzle.
"What did I say about insulting the politicians, Shepard?" Anderson whispered, leaning towards him.
"Its not my problem they have the comprehension skills of a third grade student" he whispered back.
"It will be when their fragile egos get shattered because you decided to be brutally honest. So for both our sakes, don't run your mouth off" Anderson had already warned him before they entered the chambers the first day, but Shepard's patience was running out.
"I have a question for the Commander. Did you not consider the risks before you embarked on this one man crusade? What if you had failed and were killed or captured, and started a war between the Alliance and Hegemony?" A blond woman in her forties finally asked something different than the rest.
"No"
"No, as in you did not consider the risks?" She asked very pointedly.
"No, as in I didn't see any risks"
"May I ask why not? You were reported as a military genius, yes, but certainly going against an entire interstellar civilization must have had some risks?"
"Ma'am, my shield wasn't even depleted once, not in Elysium, not in the pirate ship and not in Khar'shan. It might have been risky to others but not to me. As far as I am concerned it was just a walk in the park" Shepard sounded bored while explaining himself, and the Parliament Chambers went silent.
"Very well. Then what do you suggest our next step should be, since you are the one who gave us this opportunity?" She continued, changing the matter to not humiliate herself further.
"Reinforce the Batarian border while the revolts continue and wait for the inevitable civil war. After that we should secure as much of the Attican Traverse and the Terminus Systems when the Batarians call their proxies in there for the civil war. With a carefully planned colonization effort, Systems Alliance could have the largest territory in the galaxy and cleaning out the Terminus could be used as a stepping stone to apply for a Council Membership" Shepard already had some ideas on what the Alliance could do, but with the Parliament moving at the speed of a dead snail, they would have a hard time taking advantage of this.
"You suggest we go to war with the Terminus Systems?
"If you are scared of the idea, just give me volunteers and ships, I'll do it myself" Shepard offered, dead serious.
"How can you guarantee there will be a civil war?" Another MP asked, raising his hand to take a turn.
"The Batarian society puts emphasis on might makes right, and with their leadership in our custody, the Batarian elites are going to scramble to be the new Prime Administrator. If they somehow don't start a civil war, I'll go and send them back to the stone age, so you don't have to worry either way" Shepard's tone was dismissive, the boldness of his statement causing the MP to shrink himself.
"I have no further questions" The blonde woman taking the stand said, realizing he actually would do both.
The debates heated up again, discussing his idea, making Shepard regret saying it rather than doing it.
—
One good thing that came out of coming to Arcturus was the open buffet offered to the Parliament members and everyone else part of the meeting. They had actual beef, rather than the one prepared in a lab, and Shepard wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
He had hidden himself in a corner while Anderson had gotten lost in the sea of people, warning him not to get into trouble.
"Commander Shepard? Robert Carson, Developing Nations Coalition party leader, a pleasure to meet you" He held out his hand with a million watts smile.
There went his peace.
Shepard watched the man, he was younger than most MPs he had seen, with black hair and barely any lines on his face.
He didn't appear to be one of those vultures who wanted the publicity of being seen with a hero, so he slowly took the offered hand.
"Congratulations are in order Commander, humans everywhere, even the ones who despise the Alliance are celebrating your name"
"I thought the Alliance did not release any news about that?"
"No one told you? Someone already leaked everything, including your camera footage, from Elysium all the way to Khar'shan and back" The MP opened news feeds on his omni-tool, showing crowds stretching on as far as the camera captured, gathered on Earth and Alliance worlds, carrying signs with his name and celebrating the fall of the Batarian Hegemony.
"You just became the most famous person in the Alliance, and perhaps in history"
"Huh, what do you know, the Alliance can't keep a secret. Big surprise there" Shepard dryly commented
"I was hoping to speak to you about the Parliament elections next year" The man finally got to the point.
"And?" He already had an idea what the MP wanted, but still asked for confirmation.
"I want you to endorse our party. I know the limitations that come with you being a military personnel but just expressing your opinion on a news channel would be more than enough"
"Bold" Shepard thought.
"Why you and not someone else?" He wondered what made this man confident enough to approach him so brazenly.
"Because I want to make changes, Commander, to make the Alliance better for its citizens. I too grew up on the streets, and I know how much they don't care and I want to change that, but when you are running against people supported by the rich and the elite who can afford to spend billions for their campaigns, a party like ours with limited support due to our policies isn't going to get far, especially against the Blues and Forward Humanity. That's why I need your help. I mean have you seen the polls they started on who would you prefer as Prime Minister? Let me tell you, if you decided to leave the military and enter politics, you would definitely win with a land slide"
Shepard blinked at this, checking his omni-tool. He had left it behind so he wouldn't play games during the meeting, and what do you know.
Four hundred million votes for him, in just an hour, while the poor Prime Minister got like two and a half million. The website crashed afterwards.
"All good points, but what changes? Send me your plan for when you become the Prime Minister and I'll do it if you impress me"
"Oh, thank you Commander. I promise you won't be disappointed" The man enthusiastically shook his hand, elated.
"I better not" Shepard responded, letting his warning hang in the air.
—
Shepard's making some friends in high places.
There isn't any info on the Developing Nations Coalition on the wiki, at least I couldn't find any, so I chose to make them the idealists who can't match up to the wealth and support the Blues and Forward Humanity, canonically two of the strongest parties, has.
Politics, beyond Shepard utilizing it to cut through red tape and prepare the galaxy for the Reapers, won't be very prevalent in the first two parts.