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FIC: Architects of Their Own Fortune (Epilogue)
Title: Architects of Their Own Fortune
Author: Jewels (bjewelled)
Fandom: Mass Effect
Disclaimer: Mass Effect is Bioware's. And don't they do well with it?
Summary: Rumours abound: the Omega 4 relay has been used, and signs lead to Shepard being involved somehow. Someone has to investigate, and who better than one of Shepard's former crew? On top of all that, ship crews are disappearing, and it can't be the Collectors. So who's responsible, and why?
From The Beginning
~*~
Epilogue: Wheels Within Wheels
~*~
"Councilman Anderson, please go in."
Anderson inclined his head politely to the asari councillor's personal secretary, sitting behind her desk. She'd been working for the councillor for as long as Anderson had been at the Citadel, but she showed as much polite disinterest in his existence as she had the day he'd first arrived. Inside the councillor's private office, there was a tea set laid out on a low table, and potted plants from a variety of worlds added colour and variety to an otherwise drab room. The councillor herself stood up from where she'd been kneeling at the table, holding out both hands to him.
"David," she greeted.
"Tyli, thank you for seeing me so promptly." He took both her hands holding them for the few seconds that was appropriate. As always, her skin felt slightly too warm to be natural.
Tyli wasn't her 'official' name, of course. Anderson wasn't even sure if it was the name she'd been born with, but she seemed to use it as a way to differentiate between her private and public personas. He'd done some reading that indicated this sort of naming convention was common in some asari cultures, but he'd never felt like it was appropriate to ask.
"I always have time for my fellow councillors," she said, gesturing that he should kneel opposite her at the table, before settling herself down again.
Anderson had known from the moment he'd joined the Council, even without Udina's coaching, that Tyli was the most important woman in the galaxy. She was the asari representative, the oldest of the spacefaring races. Her voice was the one which spoke for the Council, gave a voice and a face to their decisions, and given that she had achieved the position without being a Matriarch of her people said a great deal about the influence she wielded. Anderson had made special effort to gain her acquaintance, and while he also took the time to visit with the turian and salarian councillors, he made a special effort with her.
He was certain that she knew exactly what he was doing, but she had never called him on it, or refused him when he'd asked to see her. Anderson even thought that they rather could have been friends if the pressures of interstellar politics hadn't precluded that. They'd shared a surprising number of interests, he'd introduced her to jazz, and she had given him her daughter's recipe for a delicious asari variation on blackforest gateau.
Such things made moments like this, where he was forced to play politics with her, somewhat unpleasant.
Anderson set the OSD he'd brought with him on the table between them as she poured a thin and hot blue liquid into delicate clay cups, putting it down next to the sweetener bowl. If he let the conversation open with pleasant small talk, it would be all the more unpalatable to say what he had come to discuss. "That," he said, "Contains copies of information on exactly what Lesh T'Vann has been getting up to since she left the Council's service."
It wasn't, of course, the only OSD he'd received from Commander Alenko. The man had stood in his office still clad in his armour having come straight from his mission and having given Anderson a brief report. He had handed over the first OSD and as Anderson turned it over in his hands said,
"I managed to scan a copy of their database in before they shot up the console I was using to access their systems." Alenko shifted from foot to foot. "I haven't looked at it, obviously, but I'd imagine that there's some rather interesting material in there."
Alenko had then unsealed a pocket in his armour, usually used for storing extra ammo, and took out a second OSD, unlabelled. "And this I got from the Normandy." He turned it back and forth; its surface had refracted the uncomfortably bright light of the Citadel into a rainbow of colours. "Managed to divert the AI with some pathetically obvious attempts to brute-force their firewalls. While it was distracted, I copied their system files. It's all encrypted, of course, and I wouldn't try breaking that encryption unless it was on a standalone system, but since I didn't attempt any access, the AI didn't seem to pick up that I'd copied the data."
Alenko really was impressively adept with technology. The OSD, when Anderson had taken it, was still warm from lying so close to Alenko's body, under the hard outer shell of the armour.
"At a guess," Alenko continued, "I'd say that it probably has a lot of information about Cerberus operations, not to mention the rather impressive assembly of experimental and supposedly non-existent technology that Shepard has aboard the Normandy."
"Good work, Commander," Anderson had told him. "This information will be a great asset to the Alliance."
Alenko had nodded, his expression an impenetrable mask that gave no indication of what it might have cost him personally to get the data. "Thank you, sir," he'd said, neutrally.
No, Anderson had no intention of sharing the existence of that second desk with Tyli or his colleagues on the Council.
"Lesh T'Vann," Tyli said, affecting surprise, "I thought she'd vanished after the scandal of her refusal to let the matter of mythical creatures drop."
Anderson wasn't fooled for a second. "Lesh T'Vann is your sister," he said.
Tyli stiffened, all pretence of warmth suddenly dropping from her face. Suddenly, Anderson was sitting opposite a very old creature who'd managed to get to the most prestigious and politically powerful position in the galaxy. "I won't ask how you found that out," she said, acidly. "Considering that it's supposed to be confidential."
"You're right," he said. He raised his tea to his lips and sipped. It tasted like a lemon and pepper, with a hint of cinnamon apple in the aftertaste. It wasn't unpleasant, as far as non-human beverages went. "How I know that really isn't important, it's what it means. Lesh T'Vann didn't 'disappear', she was dispatched on assignment, wasn't she?"
"You shouldn't make accusations you can't substantiate. What purposes would I have for sending Lesh anywhere? She hasn't been seen in over a year, and a politician is hardly a deep cover spy or some such nonsense."
Anderson ignored the rebuttal, and continued. "Asari have always taken the long view in any situation, and I'm guessing that you decided that the risk of the Reapers being real was too genuine to ignore. So you asked Lesh T'Vann, your sister, to prepare a contingency plan. You probably didn't know exactly what she was doing. It's much easier to deny it when you genuinely don't know what she's doing. But you threw resources behind her. Money, ships, contacts in the scientific community to give her experimental weapons."
Tyli hadn't made any move to drink her tea. Her fingernails had paled, showing how tightly she was gripping the cup. Anderson pretended not to notice.
Tyli very carefully set the cup down on the table. She folded her hands in her lap and breathed slowly and deeply. Anderson had essentially just revealed that he could take her down in a single leaked story to the press. The people would tear her down, ruin her, the moment they realised that she was involved in a plot to kidnap vast numbers of sentients and that Reapers were in fact real.
Anderson knew exactly how much chaos such information would cause.
"What do you want?" she asked, every word bitten off tightly.
He could have asked for anything. He could have blackmailed her for years, or at least until she could concoct some way to remove him from his position. She might even decide to cut her losses and have him killed. It wouldn't have been unheard of in Council history, although such instances were supposedly just stories put around to subvert confidence in the ruling body.
"From you? Nothing."
Tyli narrowed her eyes. "You expect me to believe that?" she asked.
"The Reapers are real," Anderson told her, "We have the proof of that."
Tyli scoffed. "The word of a compromised, crazy Spec-"
He set down his cup with a thud and glowered at her. She subsided, looking rather sulkily like a child. She turned her head to look away.
"The Reapers are real," he repeated, "But we're not going to get anywhere by acting independently of each other. We can't hide information from each other. I know you and the others don't think I'm worthy of being included on certain decisions, but that's going to stop. We're going to have to work together from now on. In more ways than one."
Tyli took a deep breath and turned back towards him. "What are you suggesting?"
Anderson offered her a smile. "Lesh T'Vann's contingencies are still in place. That's fine as a last ditch attempt to ensure our survival. Survival isn't enough. I intend us to meet the Reapers and give them a fight they'll never forget."
Tyli raised her cup in salute. "Then," she said, "We have little time to waste."
He clinked his cup against hers.
~*~ End ~*~
Author: Jewels (bjewelled)
Fandom: Mass Effect
Disclaimer: Mass Effect is Bioware's. And don't they do well with it?
Summary: Rumours abound: the Omega 4 relay has been used, and signs lead to Shepard being involved somehow. Someone has to investigate, and who better than one of Shepard's former crew? On top of all that, ship crews are disappearing, and it can't be the Collectors. So who's responsible, and why?
From The Beginning
~*~
Epilogue: Wheels Within Wheels
~*~
"Councilman Anderson, please go in."
Anderson inclined his head politely to the asari councillor's personal secretary, sitting behind her desk. She'd been working for the councillor for as long as Anderson had been at the Citadel, but she showed as much polite disinterest in his existence as she had the day he'd first arrived. Inside the councillor's private office, there was a tea set laid out on a low table, and potted plants from a variety of worlds added colour and variety to an otherwise drab room. The councillor herself stood up from where she'd been kneeling at the table, holding out both hands to him.
"David," she greeted.
"Tyli, thank you for seeing me so promptly." He took both her hands holding them for the few seconds that was appropriate. As always, her skin felt slightly too warm to be natural.
Tyli wasn't her 'official' name, of course. Anderson wasn't even sure if it was the name she'd been born with, but she seemed to use it as a way to differentiate between her private and public personas. He'd done some reading that indicated this sort of naming convention was common in some asari cultures, but he'd never felt like it was appropriate to ask.
"I always have time for my fellow councillors," she said, gesturing that he should kneel opposite her at the table, before settling herself down again.
Anderson had known from the moment he'd joined the Council, even without Udina's coaching, that Tyli was the most important woman in the galaxy. She was the asari representative, the oldest of the spacefaring races. Her voice was the one which spoke for the Council, gave a voice and a face to their decisions, and given that she had achieved the position without being a Matriarch of her people said a great deal about the influence she wielded. Anderson had made special effort to gain her acquaintance, and while he also took the time to visit with the turian and salarian councillors, he made a special effort with her.
He was certain that she knew exactly what he was doing, but she had never called him on it, or refused him when he'd asked to see her. Anderson even thought that they rather could have been friends if the pressures of interstellar politics hadn't precluded that. They'd shared a surprising number of interests, he'd introduced her to jazz, and she had given him her daughter's recipe for a delicious asari variation on blackforest gateau.
Such things made moments like this, where he was forced to play politics with her, somewhat unpleasant.
Anderson set the OSD he'd brought with him on the table between them as she poured a thin and hot blue liquid into delicate clay cups, putting it down next to the sweetener bowl. If he let the conversation open with pleasant small talk, it would be all the more unpalatable to say what he had come to discuss. "That," he said, "Contains copies of information on exactly what Lesh T'Vann has been getting up to since she left the Council's service."
It wasn't, of course, the only OSD he'd received from Commander Alenko. The man had stood in his office still clad in his armour having come straight from his mission and having given Anderson a brief report. He had handed over the first OSD and as Anderson turned it over in his hands said,
"I managed to scan a copy of their database in before they shot up the console I was using to access their systems." Alenko shifted from foot to foot. "I haven't looked at it, obviously, but I'd imagine that there's some rather interesting material in there."
Alenko had then unsealed a pocket in his armour, usually used for storing extra ammo, and took out a second OSD, unlabelled. "And this I got from the Normandy." He turned it back and forth; its surface had refracted the uncomfortably bright light of the Citadel into a rainbow of colours. "Managed to divert the AI with some pathetically obvious attempts to brute-force their firewalls. While it was distracted, I copied their system files. It's all encrypted, of course, and I wouldn't try breaking that encryption unless it was on a standalone system, but since I didn't attempt any access, the AI didn't seem to pick up that I'd copied the data."
Alenko really was impressively adept with technology. The OSD, when Anderson had taken it, was still warm from lying so close to Alenko's body, under the hard outer shell of the armour.
"At a guess," Alenko continued, "I'd say that it probably has a lot of information about Cerberus operations, not to mention the rather impressive assembly of experimental and supposedly non-existent technology that Shepard has aboard the Normandy."
"Good work, Commander," Anderson had told him. "This information will be a great asset to the Alliance."
Alenko had nodded, his expression an impenetrable mask that gave no indication of what it might have cost him personally to get the data. "Thank you, sir," he'd said, neutrally.
No, Anderson had no intention of sharing the existence of that second desk with Tyli or his colleagues on the Council.
"Lesh T'Vann," Tyli said, affecting surprise, "I thought she'd vanished after the scandal of her refusal to let the matter of mythical creatures drop."
Anderson wasn't fooled for a second. "Lesh T'Vann is your sister," he said.
Tyli stiffened, all pretence of warmth suddenly dropping from her face. Suddenly, Anderson was sitting opposite a very old creature who'd managed to get to the most prestigious and politically powerful position in the galaxy. "I won't ask how you found that out," she said, acidly. "Considering that it's supposed to be confidential."
"You're right," he said. He raised his tea to his lips and sipped. It tasted like a lemon and pepper, with a hint of cinnamon apple in the aftertaste. It wasn't unpleasant, as far as non-human beverages went. "How I know that really isn't important, it's what it means. Lesh T'Vann didn't 'disappear', she was dispatched on assignment, wasn't she?"
"You shouldn't make accusations you can't substantiate. What purposes would I have for sending Lesh anywhere? She hasn't been seen in over a year, and a politician is hardly a deep cover spy or some such nonsense."
Anderson ignored the rebuttal, and continued. "Asari have always taken the long view in any situation, and I'm guessing that you decided that the risk of the Reapers being real was too genuine to ignore. So you asked Lesh T'Vann, your sister, to prepare a contingency plan. You probably didn't know exactly what she was doing. It's much easier to deny it when you genuinely don't know what she's doing. But you threw resources behind her. Money, ships, contacts in the scientific community to give her experimental weapons."
Tyli hadn't made any move to drink her tea. Her fingernails had paled, showing how tightly she was gripping the cup. Anderson pretended not to notice.
Tyli very carefully set the cup down on the table. She folded her hands in her lap and breathed slowly and deeply. Anderson had essentially just revealed that he could take her down in a single leaked story to the press. The people would tear her down, ruin her, the moment they realised that she was involved in a plot to kidnap vast numbers of sentients and that Reapers were in fact real.
Anderson knew exactly how much chaos such information would cause.
"What do you want?" she asked, every word bitten off tightly.
He could have asked for anything. He could have blackmailed her for years, or at least until she could concoct some way to remove him from his position. She might even decide to cut her losses and have him killed. It wouldn't have been unheard of in Council history, although such instances were supposedly just stories put around to subvert confidence in the ruling body.
"From you? Nothing."
Tyli narrowed her eyes. "You expect me to believe that?" she asked.
"The Reapers are real," Anderson told her, "We have the proof of that."
Tyli scoffed. "The word of a compromised, crazy Spec-"
He set down his cup with a thud and glowered at her. She subsided, looking rather sulkily like a child. She turned her head to look away.
"The Reapers are real," he repeated, "But we're not going to get anywhere by acting independently of each other. We can't hide information from each other. I know you and the others don't think I'm worthy of being included on certain decisions, but that's going to stop. We're going to have to work together from now on. In more ways than one."
Tyli took a deep breath and turned back towards him. "What are you suggesting?"
Anderson offered her a smile. "Lesh T'Vann's contingencies are still in place. That's fine as a last ditch attempt to ensure our survival. Survival isn't enough. I intend us to meet the Reapers and give them a fight they'll never forget."
Tyli raised her cup in salute. "Then," she said, "We have little time to waste."
He clinked his cup against hers.
~*~ End ~*~