The Price To Save You

October 19 th 2187 Citadel

"They are open."

"What are open?" Sparatus asked Valern. The Salarian had called him but had said that without preamble. It made no sense. The hologram of Valern showed him reading a number of documents.

"Relays in Batarian Space."

"What!?" His patrols hadn't mentioned that.

"Only just came online," Valern said easily. "Sending probes through now."

"Keep me posted," Sparatus said, already connecting through to the Hierarchy forces. They had to be made aware of this.

October 20 th 2187 Earth Orbit

She'd stopped screaming a while back. It was odd. She still felt the horror, could still look down to see her body contorted in fear and look up to see the stars but she no longer screamed. She had screamed though, screamed until her throat was hoarse, except there was no pain. Even now, as she hung silently in space, there was no pain.

That was actually what had brought her back to herself. She was a pleb. There had always been pain and now there was none. Around her, others screamed but she had learned to ignore the pain of others long ago. Except… Jarra couldn't help but wonder if they were really in pain. She hadn't been but she'd screamed.

It didn't matter. She wasn't hungry either, and she knew she should be. That was another odd sensation. Her mind said to eat but her body, and she could feel her body, was not hungry. She was far more used to actually being hungry and having to ignore that sensation than the opposite. Still, while she had no actual hunger, it was easy to ignore her mind.

Jarra looked around again. She'd already walked around. She didn't know where she was but she knew she was no longer on or near Khar'shan. There was a blue planet below her. It was pretty she supposed and it was populated. She could see the lights of the cities at night. Jarra had no idea whose planet it was. It could have been Batarian. She'd seen some ships flying but she'd never seen any of the inhabitants.

Of course she hadn't! Jarra berated herself. She couldn't see that far. She sighed, mostly to hear the noise she made rather than the screams of the others or the silence that reigned when they fell silent. She was slightly cold, but that was nothing new. She'd been cold all the time on Khar'shan. Cold and tired, and hungry. She still had cold and hungry, though the hunger was not real and Jarra wondered sometimes if the cold was her imagination as well.

She didn't feel tired. That was new. No matter how long she remained awake she didn't feel tired. It was confusing and she'd thought about it, but it made no sense. She'd been forced to forget her thoughts. They lead nowhere. She'd tried talking to some of the others. They were all around her but none saw or none cared and so all she could do was wait.

But she had no idea what she was waiting for.

October 23 rd 2187 Citadel, Council Chambers

Valern sat at the table, several holograms floating in front of him. The reports were not pleasing. The STG probes had gone into Batarian space without a hitch. What they found… That was frightening.

There had been nothing. No transmissions. No ships. No debris. No life.

The probes had made straight for Khar'shan but before they even reached the Batarian home world, Salarian analysts had known that something was wrong. The entire place was too silent. They had discovered why even before the probes moved through the first system. There were no comm buoys. Whatever had gone through had destroyed them all. For an unfamiliar race, fighting a war, that was not necessarily unusual so the analysts weren't too concerned. When the silence persisted, and there was nothing from the first planet the probes hit… then they began to get worried. And all the probes were re-directed to Khar'shan.

Whatever had happened, the final battle would have been there.

The Harsa system was silent. No comm buoys. But it was too silent.

There was no communication traffic of any kind. Not in space, not on the planet and it took a moment for the salarian analysts who were watching the feed from the probes to realize what they were looking at.

Khar'shan was a green blue planet with light green clouds. It had no deserts. It did now. The entire surface had been flamed to the bedrock. For three hours the probes scanned the surface but found nothing. There was nothing alive on the surface and they began to realize exactly what they were facing.

Scans then turned to space. The Batarians were not as advanced as some races but they would not have been defeated easily but there was nothing. There was not even any space dust. The probes had been directed to shift outwards then, to look at the other planets.

Spekilas was silent. Ilem was silent. Verush and its moons were silent but it was in the shadow of one of its moons that they found something. The scattered remains of a comm buoy. A probe was not the best instrument for collecting samples but they managed and the remains were hurried back into Citadel controlled space as if the hordes of hell were upon them. They needn't have bothered. When the reports from the other probes came in, what had formally been Batarian Territory was declared to be empty. Oh, there was some indigenous life left on some planets but they were stupid things, millions of years from developing sentience.

So attention had turned to the only piece of evidence they had, the wreckage of the comm buoy. The STG team assigned to it had not been hopeful, but they had, after much effort managed to extract one fragment of useful information, a vid file.

The file was simultaneously useful and useless. They now knew the form of the Batarians enemies but while they had examined the background, even the reflections, they knew nothing about the location. It might have been Khar'shan, it might have been a thousand light years away. The warrior the vid showed was skilled but the moves could be made by any Asari and they could not get a clear view of their face.

So what did the video tell them? Valern shook his head. The answer to his question was easy. It did not tell them much. They had the evidence from the planets themselves, but that told them the outcome, not the battle. How close had the fight been? The evidence would suggest not close… but once you won changes could be made and there had been enough time. But they couldn't have been fighting the entire time. That just didn't seem right to Valern. To him, the sheer perfection of the clean-up indicated time. Whoever the aggressors were, they had had time to make sure they swept space and the surface of every planet clean.

And that meant that the Batarians must have fallen quickly, and that the aggressor race, in addition to being able to close Relays, had numbers. No matter how quick they had been though, why hadn't the Batarians asked for help? Of course they would have been punished for attacking an unknown race… but surely that was better?

Valern lowered his head. The question was academic and they had to deal with what they had, not with what might have been. Whoever the race was, whatever abilities and skills they possessed, it was obvious that they did not wish to meet the Council. They knew they were not alone. They'd have known that after meeting the Batarians but they must have gathered information from Batarian space that mentioned the Council… the very fact that they had closed Relays made it clear that they were not ready to talk, not ready to integrate into the Council races. Or could it be more than that? Did they somehow think they were superior? For a moment the salarian considered it.

No… whoever they were, they possessed some interesting technology and obviously knew something more about the Relays but if they were that much superior, then why hadn't they driven off the Batarians years ago? Or had they gained a new ally? What had happened to make them go from the Batarians equals to their betters?

Valern shook his head and put the thoughts aside. There was simply too much unknown to draw conclusions. Practically speaking, they could only continue to patrol Batarian space and hope that when the Relays opened, that the race behind them was friendly. They should be. It was not the Council who made war upon them. And then what? That was easy. Once they decided to make themselves known, then they should be invited to join the Council species…

He blinked thinking… Should they be offered a Council position? They did have strength enough to take on the Batarians… No, Valern shook his head. That would be unheard of and they knew nothing of them. The unknown race should join the Council species, yes and in time, perhaps a very short amount of time, they should be offered a Council seat. That decision would have to wait until they knew them better.

Valern nodded to himself. Yes, that is what he would suggest to the others. They should continue to patrol the border but each ship should be given special instructions. First Contact with this species would be delicate and they should not be under estimated. It was imperative that the Council show that they were civilized, that they were peaceful. They could not strike first. Assuming they were not like the Krogan, mindlessly aggressive then this should be the start of a great relationship. Yes… a race that was capable of closing the Relays… they would have many things they could teach.

He flicked his eyes back to the video, watching again as the Asari like being cut through Batarian soldiers. It was brutal but one could not forget that they had been at war. The Turians could not be allowed to take this as proof of the unknown races innate aggression though it was proof that they could and would fight viciously if called for. That was all it could be taken for. He would have to emphasize that because there was no reason this should come to war.

2188

Discussion between the Systems Alliance Command, Humanities Government, the SIL and SOCL come up with what is initially considered a theoretical plan for bringing in at least some of the alien SIL partners, though as the plan is discussed further, it is seen as being viable. The Quarians make up the largest percentage of required aliens, and they are a dextro amino species. Within Human Territory there are several dextro-amino planets which are relatively useless to levo-amino species. The Quarians are outcast from Council Space and are not allowed to settle any planets. An offer could be made to them to immigrate into Human Territory and settle those planets. The SIL take it further and indicate that contact with the Geth had already been initiated via Nazara which gives the Quarians the possibility of returning to their home world. The SIL neglect to mention that the Geth in contact with Nazara are worshiping him and that they were being used for the Cycle.

The price for this would be approximately 25,000 Quarians who are required for synthesis. The Systems Alliance and the SOCL indicated they would do their best to explain to the Quarians what that entailed.

Behind the negotiations, at least for some of the Systems Alliance is the knowledge of what the SIL did to the Batarians. Opening negotiations with other races gives humans another place to run if the SIL turn on them.

Another 3,581 SIL Partners for capital class SIL are found. There are one or two older humans who just had not been tested found but the majority are eighteen-year-olds who have grown up knowing that the SIL were present. The young ones agree, without exception, to synthesis, though a few delay for a little while to get their bearings. The older humans who are found usually take longer to agree though the SIL prove to be patient. Unknown to the Systems Alliance or to any Government the SIL feel an echo of fear, knowing full well that the organics they are joining with in synthesis would have been the organics they would have harvested in the cycle. There had been some resentment towards Harbinger for having them play this charade but as more and more found synthesis that feeling lessened.

July 5 th 2188 Terminus Systems

Tali'Zorah kept her eyes fixed on the screen. It showed the flotilla that was meeting them. It was only two hundred ships but already the military Admirals were staring. One of the ships was a five kilometer long behemoth and at least fifty of the others outclassed most of the Council's dreadnoughts. The rest of the ships ranged in size from standard frigates to carriers, though they were an odd assortment. There appeared to be two main designs. One looked almost organic with tails that arched over them while the others were blocky.

"They definitely aren't a Council race," Han'Gerrel muttered.

Staring at more dreadnought class ships than the Turians possessed made that more than obvious. Before the Quarian ships was what the unknown race had described as the scout fleet, specifically the scout fleet they had deliberately sent to find them. That fact had caused almost as much excitement as what the aliens wanted to discuss.

Three weeks ago, a Quarian scout ship which had been trying to find a path around Council space had been hailed by an unknown ship. The Quarians had no experience with First Contact but they had Council records. No record said anything about the species already knowing their language. The race, which introduced themselves as Humans, had admitted they got language translations from the Batarians. That had led to a whole heap of questions from the Admiralty but some of the newly returned Pilgrims had been able to provide some answers. The Council was keeping it quiet but Batarian space had fallen silent and the Turians were now patrolling the border.

A human had calmly admitted that they had been at war with the Batarians but that the war had ended with the Batarian's defeat. They offered no further explanations and the Quarians weren't interested in that, not once they heard why the race had wanted to talk to them. And truthfully, having the humans admit they had defeated the Batarians gave the Admiralty some re-assurance. The humans were not after the Quarian ships for any perceived military prowess. The Admiralty assumes that it is human orders which closed the Batarian borders and they respect the political clout to do so without the Council suspecting another race was to blame.

"How do they move that thing?" Tali heard the question voiced around her. She shared the thought. The ship that was in the center… it was just too large. Theoretically the Relays could propel it through space but the energy requirements… The Live ships were already straining… that ship dwarfed them. It would… the amount of eezo it would require was staggering.

"Why are we even here? They're Geth!" It was probably a good thing they had been speaking remotely when the Humans had revealed that. They'd explained the differences in their ship designs by revealing a bit of their history. The ships with the spinal mounted arching cannons were synthetic life forms, who had taken on a human partner. The rest were made by the human race. They seemed to think it was normal and frankly their offer was such that the Admiralty could over look something like that.

Tali didn't know exactly what it was. The rumors were impressive enough and she was on the team that was going to talk with the humans. She'd find out what they were offering soon enough.

"Right, we're heading over to the human ship. No, not the big one, that's something they call a SOCL, so we are heading to one of the human ships instead," Admiral Shala'Raan told the gathered Quarians. "You are all coming because you represent the best of us. The humans have made the Quarians an offer… which is frankly unbelievable. But that's what we are going to meet them for. We've been talking but this will be true first contact with them."

"What have they offered?" The question was logical and came from near the back of the shuttle.

Auntie Raan looked uncomfortable for a moment but only Tali knew the Admiral well enough to notice. Han'Gerrel nodded and Raan took a deep breath. "Colonization rights on five planets within their territory," she said.

While the passengers had been quiet to listen to her, that announcement brought sheer silence to the shuttle. And then everyone started talking at once.

"Colonization!"

"Five planets?"

Those expressions were accompanied by no small amount of shock but Tali frowned. "What do they want?" She thought she said the question softly but apparently it was loud enough and a few moments later everyone was looking towards her. "What do they want?" she repeated, directing the question towards her Aunt.

"That's what we are going over to discuss," Raan replied. "From what we understand, they are a levo-amino based species, the planets they offered are dextro-amino based and are within their territory, so there'd be some need to integrate military. But the real thing we need explained is that they want about 25,000 Quarians to become a partner to one of their ships."

"What?"

"That's what we need explained!" Raan shouted to be heard over the din.

"We cannot ally with the geth!"

Raan didn't say anything to that, but Tali could see by the way that the older Quarian woman held herself that she was uncomfortable with something. "What's the truth?" she asked quietly.

"That is the truth," Raan replied.

"No," Tali disagreed. "There's something else."

Raan seemed to smile. "You always were too smart for your own good," the older woman said. "How much longer do you think the fleet can survive?" Tali didn't have the clearance to know but a hint never went astray. Raan watched as Tali thought and though she couldn't see the expression, she knew from the young engineer's body language that she was beginning to see the truth. The Admiralty had been on the verge of ordering the Fleet into truly uncharted territory to find a planet, any planet they could settle on. They had a few more years, but after three hundred years, the live ships were failing. They were living on borrowed time. And then this race appeared… and offered them not just a planet but five planets, all within a territory that was quite obviously well defended. This race knew the Council laws but they did not adhere to them. The price that they wanted was steep but their offer was… It was a way out and the Admiralty truly didn't know which way to turn.

Twenty-five thousand Quarian lives were almost unthinkable… but they would buy everyone else's survival. Was it really that steep? In a war the decision would be easy… but they weren't in a war. Not a traditional war. They were fighting the universal war, the one for their survival and the Admiralty knew, even if most of the population did not, that unless something changed, that war was nearing its end.

Tali looked up at her Aunt, her entire posture screaming worry and the older woman merely nodded, reaching out one hand to steady the young engineer. "There's time yet."

July 5 th 2188, SAV Benjamin Davis

The Quarian delegation had touched down easily enough. They'd been greeted by a mixed group of humans. Some were obviously military, others were dressed in jumpsuits of different colors, all highlighted with cobalt blue. The two groups were at ease with each other and had moved with the Quarians through to a meeting room where they'd taken their places.

After the obligatory pleasantries Han'Gerrel had got right to the point. "Can you explain better what you mean when you say that 25,000 Quarians would be required?"

The humans shared a long look and then one of the ones in a jumpsuit answered. "It's probably best if we go over some terminology. We told you that a couple of years ago, just as we were beginning to explore through the mass effect relays we were approached by a race of synthetic beings."

A couple of the quarians flinched back at that but they remained silent.

"They called themselves the SIL – Synthetic Intelligent Life. What they wanted was pretty easy. You, of all people know the dangers of creating synthetic life. They have warned us about that as well, showed us histories of wars between organics and synthetics. Sometimes the organics won, sometimes the synthetics did but what no one considered is what if they joined? If there was no difference between organic and synthetic?

"That's what they wanted from us. Organic's who were willing to join with them; to become partially synthetic, while they became partially organic. So from that, we created new terms. SOCL, CEuman, SILO."

"You referred to some of your ships as SOCL?" Raan asked.

"Because they are," the human nodded. "SOCL refers to the union between synthetic and organic and means Synthetic Organic Cybernetic Life. I'm one half of one and I'm what is generally called a CEuman."

"But you look human?"

"Because I am. I just have cybernetic enhancements and act as a partner to a SILO. CEuman, Cybernetically enhanced human, and SILO, Synthetic Intelligent Life Organic," the human chuckled. "Not our best naming effort there."

"My name is Dan Sewei. That refers to both of us, what you would call the ship and me but before I joined the SIL my name was Yang Liwei and the SIL's name was Y'dran. I was actually the first."

The quarians were silent. Except for the jumpsuit there was nothing to distinguish the CEuman from the other humans.

"That still doesn't explain why 25,000 Quarians are required," Han'Gerrel managed to keep any annoyance out of his voice.

Dan Sewei looked down for a moment before he turned his eyes to meet Gerrel's. "Each SIL has one organic being they can join with in synthesis. Just one. Of the SIL that are in orbit around our home planet, it's been determined that approximately 25,000 of them can reach synthesis with a Quarian."

Raan was not usually the most military minded but she was the first to realize the implications. "How many SIL are there?" she breathed the question.

The human Admiral who had started the conversation shrugged. "There's about 550,000 SIL in Earth orbit."

"How many?" the question was choked.

Dan Sewei looked amused, though Raan realized that they were probably being allowed to read human expressions at the moment but there were so many implications with the Admiral's statement. They had that many ships… granted they were geth like ships but that many around their home world and the Admiral did not appear overly concerned. One of the other CEumans spoke up. "There is approximately 50,000 SIL undergoing synthesis and another 400,000 SOCL existing. Some are in orbit over our colony worlds."

"You have a navy of a million ships?" Disbelief was clear to hear in the quarian's voice.

"No," the human Admiral who had introduced himself as Steven Hackett replied clearly. "SIL and SOCL are not under Systems Alliance authority. Though we have a long standing treaty with them, they still fall under the authority of the SIL Leader, Harbinger."

"We are integrating slowly," Dan Sewei said. "And our scope of interest is becoming wider."

"The treaty, as modified in '53 holds. Harbinger is more than welcome to re-negotiate," Hackett said with a smile.

"And he probably will as soon as he's finished."

"Excuse me," Han'Gerrel interrupted. "Who is Harbinger and finished what?"

"Harbinger is the leader of the SIL and SOLC. He is currently undergoing synthesis with an organic. The process is not instantaneous. It varies from a couple of months to years but that's not really what we are here to discuss."

"No, it isn't."

"You'll have to forgive us," Raan stepped in to the conversation. "It is not that your offer of alliance is not welcomed, it's just that it came as a complete shock! No race has offered us anything remotely like this. Even with the price."

"Synthesis is completely voluntary," Dan Sewei said. "We find that most people object because they don't understand. Even Harbinger's organic didn't agree initially."

"What do you mean?"

"Both parties have to agree for synthesis to work. Harbinger and his human spoke for a few weeks before they agreed."

"You never refer to the human by name."

"Their identity is classified information I'm afraid," Hackett said. "Shall we get on with it?" He asked, gesturing towards a screen which showed several planets. "We are willing to invite the Quarian nation into Human territory, specifically to colonize these dextro-amino planets. Your planets would have the same representation as ours within the Systems Alliance and militarily we would eventually merge. Trade and other arrangements would be worked out. The only thing the Systems Alliance would insist upon is that no one ever approaches Sol System unless you have been specifically invited."

Han'Gerrel nodded. "Your home system?"

"Yes. It's a part of our original treaty with the SIL but that isn't our focus now."

Raan nodded and then decided that the rest of the Admiralty were deliberately being quiet on a key point. "We want to return to Rannoch at some stage. That will involve us fighting the Geth. Where do you stand on that?"

Admiral Hackett didn't look surprised at the statement. "We would not support a war against other synthetic beings," he said shortly, his expression calm.

That didn't matter to Raan, though she knew it would matter to the rest of the Admiralty who wanted to reclaim Rannoch. As far as she was concerned if the humans were going to offer them settlement rights on five planets, then that was a fresh new start for the Quarian people.

"There may not be a reason for war," one of the other CEumans said.

The other humans looked towards them, so did the quarians. "What do you mean?"

"The geth are synthetic life forms," the CEuman continued. "The SIL are synthetic life forms. There's no reason they couldn't talk to each other. At least we'd be sure then if war was what the Geth wanted."

Beneath her mask Raan blinked. Talking to the geth was a heretical suggestion to the quarians but when presented in such a matter of fact manner it seemed completely logical. It was true. They didn't know what the Geth wanted. "That's something we can consider," she said before anyone could interrupt. "We'd best keep on track. There is a lot to cover."

July – December 2188

After hearing the explanations from the SOCL and Systems Alliance the Quarians respectfully request further time to discuss the proposal. They inform the humans that the issue is not with them. Their offer is generous, beyond generous but that they are not used to other races showing such respect to the Quarian nation.

The humans agree to the Quarians desire for more time on one condition, that their presence and offer be kept in the strictest confidentiality. The Quarians agree to hold all Pilgrimages temporarily while they are discussing the human offer.

During the extra debating time they requested, the Quarians collect what information they could. They confirmed that Batarian space had fallen silent and are surprised when the Humans who are acting as diplomats merely shrug and provide further details about the war. It makes some Quarians frightened but it reassures others that this unknown race is not just trying to get a hold of their ships. The footage of the Batarian ship being destroyed in Citadel Space is also found and this time it's the SOCL who admit that was them. It's a bit hard to deny it when the ship responsible is present in the negotiation team.

While the Quarians remain split, the offer of worlds to settle on is the clincher and so after two months of debate and the CEumans giving the best description they can of the process of synthesis the Quarians agree to come into Human Territory and to deal with the SIL. In preparation all Pilgrims are called back and in late 2188 the Quarians disappear from the Council's eyes. The SOCL open several mass relays for the Quarians before closing them again.

The Quarians land on the three of the five planets provided and members of the Human Government and the Systems Alliance meet them. The Quarians are absolutely floored when days after they have finished landing on the planets approximately 8400 SIL enter each system and take up guarding positions. This does however re-open the split in society and some become isolationist, refusing to deal with either Humanity or the SIL. They point out that the SIL are essentially Geth, older, stronger Geth who's only saving grace was that they had not yet turned on organics. The Systems Alliance points out that by initiating synthesis the SIL are voluntarily removing their synthetic nature. They can scan as both organic and synthetic. The Geth might have driven the Quarians from Rannoch but not every Quarian wanted to fight them, and perhaps peace was possible.

The vast majority of Quarians don't care. They have a home and it's well defended. They will work with the Systems Alliance and the SIL. Quarian genetic mapping is uploaded and the SIL Partners are located, though only 20,000 are initially found. Synthesis begins for approximately 3,000 immediately and these are the first SIL to undergo Synthesis outside of the Sol System.

The Systems Alliance actually remarks that this might be a good thing, as the resources required for synthesis are huge and the SIL and SOCL are delivering them to those undergoing synthesis all the time so that the Sol System has a very active Relay, but it was becoming almost impossible to schedule to send a ship through.

During this time the SIL make an odd request. Where a human body is unclaimed by family they request that it be given to them. When asked why, the answer is given only to the highest levels of the Systems Alliance. At first Command is repulsed but cold tactical logic wins out. It is an odd relationship. Parts of the Systems Alliance are waiting for the axe to fall with the SIL, others are embracing and trying to work together closely. The thought that the SIL can reanimate the bodies into front line troops is both sickening and pleasing. The humans are already dead, so their loss is not devastating. The bodies are unrecognizable except in a vague way as being human so there is no outcry and they are expendable. Age or gender does not affect their combat effectiveness and they can go into the most dangerous situations without the Systems Alliance needing to worry about losses. The war with the Batarians has not been over for so long that the Alliance cannot appreciate those aspects. Permission is given and the bodies are reported to be cremated.