108 Chapter 103

In the absence of Captain Keva, the rest of the meeting went significantly smoother. It was only after the talks were finished that the situation became more complicated.

"ALERT! Unidentified ships incoming" Blared across my ship's comm system.

"That sounds about right," Toph muttered

"Hey, how many times have people tried to assassinate both of you? It's been a pretty regular occurrence for me, but that's probably because of the planet conquering I've been doing."

"Maybe a couple for me. The Flotilla was attacked by a large group of unaffiliated ships which probably wasn't meant only for me. Then after the attack, there were a few more poor attempts. I'm not sure if it was from the unknown people who attack I directly stopped, or if it was other Quarians jealous of my success and popularity from saving the liveship."

"Since The intervention 2.89 cycles ago the Geth have experienced uncharacteristically low levels of violence. Significantly fewer attempts have been made to enter the Perseus Veil"

"Surprisingly none for me too. Figured being the Shadow Broker would have to deal with that, but excluding death by boredom, I can't think of anybody who's made an attempt on my life." Except maybe Shepard, although he was never in a position to actually hurt me. However, my automated system may take care of all of that for me. No reason to put that kind of negativity in my life. I should probably keep a closer on my automated VI if I can't even remember if it's been caring out preventing killings automatically. I just have too much to watch over. Being the Shadow Broker is like running 6 fortune 500 companies, the C.I.A, the K.G.B, and the C.D.C. After the Reapers are dealt with I'm finding a replacement. If Liara wants the job so badly she can have it.

"It seems you've been living extra comfortable recently, so this is probably for you," Toph said.

"No, problem this ship is state of the art. Just, because it was made for a mission of peace doesn't mean it can't handle war."

"ALERT! 25 Incoming ships"

"How confident are you about that?" Suki asked.

"Very," I tell them as I connect further into my ship taking direct control. Recent developments have made significant improvements to almost every aspect of a ship's technology. This includes improved shields, plating made stronger with advancements in material science and the weapons systems. Of everything to be improved upon it was the weapon systems that changed the most. Normal weapon systems were made of two things. First, conventional torpedoes with a variety of explosive packages, and second, mass effect cannons which launch relatively small fragments of metal at speeds around light speed. In addition to these weapons systems, we've developed 2 more. The first is energy weapons, which favor plasma over laser, launches a clump of high energy plasma that disrupts shielding and easily melts ship plating. The final system combines the mass effect and plasma cannons. Called the P.M.E.C, or Plasma Mass Effect Cannon fires several hundred-pound bullets covered in plasma at near-light speeds. The plasma binds to the bullet allowing it to travel at much greater speeds, while also sharing with the bullet its shield disruptor properties.

The P.M.E.C takes slightly longer to charge and fire, but when it does it is devastating. The first shot fired is aimed at the first ship in the incoming fleet. The Babel shakes slightly as the P.M.E.C fires and simultaneously the shell strikes the nearest unknown ship, then the ship behind it, the ship behind that, and then one more ship for good measure. The unknown ships were grouped too close together and they paid the price for it, having four ships split apart before the fighting could even begin. While no other shot of the P.M.E.C was as impressive, it was consistent. The attacking ships quickly lost the surprise numerical advantage forcing the ships that remained to flee.

"ALERT! No more enemy ships detected"

"Those are the weapons you developed to fight the Reapers?" Suki asked stunned

"Why do we even need the legion again?" Toph asked.

"Without the legion, I would need to supply the Council with these weapons"

"With these weapons the Council would have unprecedented levels of power. They would have the drive and ability to quickly expand their borders." The Emissary explained for me.

"Without the Reapers, the galaxy is at a boiling point for several conflicts a Batarian-Council war, Batarian-Human war, Batarain Slave Revolution, Human Council War, Council-Citadel race war, Intra and Inter Terminus War, or war with the Legion races. Most of those are at least plausible."

"So you're just going to throw unbeatable weapons into the mix?" Toph asked sarcastically.

"Without the weapons, the Reapers will kill trillions"

"Worrying about what the Council might do after the Old Machines have been defeated is unnecessary. The Old Machines are the greatest threat in the galaxy. We should not become overconfident and believe that defeating them will be easy. Should we defeat them then we can begin to worry about the Council." The Emissary interjected