“You must have had some experience with the Council before, any tips on what to expect?” Luna asked as they waited for the elevator to arrive up at the top of the Citadel tower. Fluttershy nervously shuffled as she remembered the last time she had stood in the particular elevator very well.
“Well, what has been your experience with excessive bureaucrats in Equestria?” Fluttershy asked in response to the princess’ question, causing the alicorn to huff.
“Inefficient to the extreme, the local ones can get stuff done but the ponies in sister’s parliament just sling mud at each other… Oh great, that’s the council isn’t it?” Luna realized where Fluttershy was going with this before she even had to explain herself.
“Well, just like the parliament, I’m sure they do perform duties that benefit the galaxy but, from what I’ve gathered from Shepard’s interactions, having to work with them is like having your teeth pulled.” Luna winced and sighed.
“Tia is much better at this stuff. I simply don’t have the patience to deal with all of the nonsense politicians throw at you,” the princess grumbled, already yearning for the meeting to be over.
The tower chamber was relatively empty as the pair walked up the stairs, only a couple of diplomats were present but the only thing that seemed a bit disproportionate was the security presence with C-Sec posted everywhere. In preparation for the diplomatic meeting, Luna returned her hair to its ethereal state with little glimmering stars in a flowing cloud of darkness.
“They take security very serious, I see...” Luna mentioned as she too found the number of guards remarkable.
“Stuff got a lot stricter around here after the geth along with Sovereign attacked this place.” Luna raised an eyebrow at the pegasus beside her, beckoning her to elaborate. “Sovereign was the reaper we killed here, I was part of the strike team that assaulted this chamber to get that done.” Luna’s eyes widened, she hadn’t realized that Fluttershy had been involved in fighting in this exact place and felt a pang of sympathy for having to return to such a place.
“I guess that justifies this response if they have brought the one responsible for these events to face their judgment,” Luna admitted as they stepped up the final stairs and into view of the councillors.
“Welcome back Fluttershy your absence in the previous year did not go unnoticed to us and we’re glad you could join us again.” The asari councillor told Fluttershy before turning to Luna. “Princess Luna of Equestria, we welcome you to the galactic community even in such extraordinary circumstances.”
Luna bowed her head slightly. “I thank you for the hospitality we’ve received thus far,” she thanked.
“Of course, it’s our pleasure to accommodate you here Princess,” Anderson replied from his councillor’s stand with a smile on his face.
“As my fellow councillor has expressed, we’re happy to have you here, but due to the limited time afforded to our position we will have to skip any further pleasantries and continue with the matter at hand,” the asari councillor continued. “We have to inform you of the newly started investigation into Captain Shining Armor due to his presence in the Bahak system right before its destruction, in the time that he’s being investigated he is not to be allowed to leave the station though he will be free to move arou-”
“Excuse us?” Luna said bewildered, falling back into her old tongue as she felt her rage bubbling up. “We have an understanding of why thou would want to investigate such a happening but we cannot but wonder what thou will do with the gained information? Arrest and try my subject?”
“Please, we understand that your species is young to the galaxy but understand that there are laws we have here in Citadel space and by becoming citize-” The asari councillor was cut off again but not by the Princess’ speech. The lights in the chamber flickered and dimmed while the temperature dropped noticeably and a cold breeze went through the window. Meanwhile, Luna’s coat had darkened to a near black, her mane grew in size and a couple of its stars seemed to have gone supernova. She had grown to nearly match her sister in height, and to top it all off her eyes turned into slits that now bored into the councillors in front of her.
“Let us make this very clear, councillors,”–Luna’s voice was silky smooth but cold enough to pierce straight through the council in front of her,–“We have vowed to defend our subjects from any threat for the last eleven thousand years, failing only once in performing that duty for which we paid dearly. We will not allow for any trial to take place without the appropriate treaties being in place to assure my subject will not become a scapegoat to easily pin the blame onto. Treaties that cannot be made by me but have to be set up by the elected body of the Equestrian government.”
Fluttershy had taken a step back just like the councillors that had been the target of the rant, not because of the sheer venom that laced Luna’s words, but out of fear the princess had lost control again. Her fears would soon turn out to be for naught though as Luna returned to her smaller state as fast as the surroundings returned to normal.
“If thou hast any further inquiries thou can find us with the captain in the human embassy.” Luna lit up her horn and vanished in a flash as she teleported back to the Presidium. The council remained quiet for a couple of seconds to mull through what had just happened in front of their eyes.
“Well... That was certainly interesting,” Fluttershy commented after getting her bearings again. “I’ll give some advice though. Last time I checked, the princess was able to play around with our moon’s orbit around our home with contemptuous ease so please don’t piss her off.”
“We shall take that into consideration,” the asari councillor said, a slight waver in her voice. “I think it’s best we move on to the next topic we wanted to discuss. Bring him forth.”
The C-Sec officers that had stood to the side brought forward their charge. Saren was held in place by armed guards, his hands in cuffs as his eyes found those of Shy’s. He wavered almost immediately, looking down at the ground in shame as he couldn’t hold her gaze.
“Saren Arterius has been found guilty of orchestrating the attack on the Citadel by enlisting help from the geth,” Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she was hearing as the council blamed the geth again, it took a significant amount of her willpower not to have an outburst similar to that of the princess. “But before we level our verdict we want to hear your opinion on the matter as it was you who was responsible for his defeat.”
Fluttershy looked back at the former Spectre and shook her head as she looked back at the councillors who, barring Anderson, still dared to deny the existence of the reapers.
They probably just want to throw him into a dark hole to rot and be forgotten... and to be fair, he can’t get away without punishment either. He wasn’t exactly the noblest turian before his indoctrination either. Now, what advice could I give them which they will accept?…
1. The Alliance should be allowed to get him, they sacrificed a large part of their fleet.
2. He should advise on defending against further ‘geth’ attacks on Citadel space.
3. He should help Shepard with the attacks on human colonies.
This one I'm having a hard time deciding which to vote for.
1. It's not like Saren specifically targeted the Alliance. He primarily targeted the Citadel government and the Alliance volunteered to defend them.
2. Unless I'm reading this wrong, even as an advisory role, this might put Saren in a position of control of some of the Citadel Space defense forces even if it is to a small extent. Issues of trust are a factor here.
3. I don't think that's Fluttershy's call to make. Unless she is willing to give Shepherd a call to ask him about his thoughts of Saren assisting him, I wouldn't consider that a wise move.
Hmm.. Intresting selection, and Luna isnt even Amped yet. Quite possibly they dont have anything except Precursor/Forerunner/Speace Pony tech artifacts in an archeological dig that could do teh job, and they ended up on Equestria anyway?
Slice, Dice, or keep the Bug under observation.
Im going to go with 3. Every time he even thinks of reverting, a little is all it should take to remind him.
Or blast his brain.
I recall one other entry into the crossover between MLP and Mass Effect, The Councilors did NOT want to piss off the Equestrian Royalty because of the reasons Fluttershy mentioned. (sadly that story has failed to update in awhile)
I suspect this is another we will do what you ask chapter cliche, but since Fluttershy just stating her opinion on the matter it's shouldn't really matter.
Option 2 would be ideal because it won't burden Shepard with another crew member he would be forced to babysit.
I think the Council would like it if he was under Fluttershy's careful eye, because it would get him out of their proverbial hair.
Option 3. We do not want the Council to just bury him, might as well make him useful
#2 seems like it could have the largest eventual impact. Save the most people and such.
Course I'm also thinking in game logic where you can only take two squad members. It could also be possible he would remember or notice something vs the collectors that could have a significant impact.
In the end though, I don't really think Shepard needs his gun in particular and it could be divisive to the team he's building.
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I think I remember reading that story.
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Saren has a well known and personal hatred of humanity as a whole due to his brother's death at the hands of the alliance during The First Contact War, so throwing him to the alliance would be a death sentence.
Go, Luna! Another interesting chapter, not sure which way to vote this time.
Keeping him under Shy's supervision would be best but I feel that the Normandy will get too crowded.
Fluttershy would likely want to see him redeemed, similar to Discord... and to be there when he needs help along the way. She wouldn't throw him to the political wolves.
The most in character choice would be recruitment, after clearing it with Shepard.
At the end, Saren was completely indoctrinated by the reapers and in the beginning, he acted on his resentment of the humans and wanted to secure his own race. So his whole attitude rules out #2 because he would only be working for the council out of guilt. Besides, they pretend it was geth anyway, so what's the point?
The alliance could be trusted to put his knowledge to good use, but he bloody hates terrans, so I doubt he'd be as useful he could be, ruling out #1. He'd be of some use, but ultimately, the Alliance want's him dead, too. And if not the Alliance, then every xenophobic organization that gets wind of this will want to put a bullet through his skull.
Shepard put him down, so there's lots of conflict potential there. Saren wouldn't be happy with it, even though he might respect Shepard on a professional level. But enough to trust him with his back? Fluttershy might keep him in line and she'd do her best to redeem him, if only because she seeks redemption herself. But him and Raindbow Dash on the same ship crewed by Terrans? Boom. A reluctant maybe for #3.
So I propose #4: Stick him to Luna and Shining Armor. They will likely do the diplomatic and undiplomatic tasks and they have very cursory information about the galaxy. Saren not only can bring them up to speed, he can provide insights about all the dirty reality behind the council's facade. It seems like he feeld indebted to her - at least he is plenty ashamed - and he'd be willing to repay a debt. Plus, the Equestrians are as non-human as possible and Luna will be something like a kindred spirit to him, offering him another path to redemption. She won't dismiss his information about the reapers and she'll take advantage of everything Saren can offer - information, training, tactics, ressources (you can bet your butt he's got stuff stashed everywhere).
So definetely #4.
1. No, I was not turned on by authoritative Luna. Not at all.
2. ...may I bow down to Sassyshy?
As for the vote...I'd prefer three since that'd keep him under the watchful Stare of Flutters.
I say option 2.
Option 1 is a death sentence that will help noone.
Option 3 is viable, but the Normandy is way too crowded already.
In option 2 he is able to atone by improving the defenses of the citadel (something that is really needed) + the fact that his "Geth" countermeasures will be Reaper sized. The council doesn't want to accept that the Reapers exist? OK, then call the reapers Geth and plan around that, it really doesn't matter how you want to call them, as long as you have the firepower to stop them.
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Well, while he has his own short-sighted racism to deal with, the fact that Fluttershy took the Paragon path and talked him down, then used the Element of Kindness to keep him from blowing his head out suggests that he might be willing to work on a counter to the upcoming invasion for Fluttershy. After all, while he probably has no love of Humans, he probably has a great deal of gratitude for Pegasi. So for her people's sake, he could be convinced to help prepare defenses.
As for the Council whitewashing the whole incident to be a Geth attack... That's frustrating, but also, who cares? From a Realpolitik perspective, it doesn't really matter what name they choose to hang on the threat. If Saren can advise them on fleet dispositions and armament upgrades which will give them an edge against the Reapers, they can call it anything they want. As long as they do it.
This week, on Mass Effect: EoK...ABRIDGED!!!
Luna: Greetings. I am here to retrieve my captain.
Asari Counselor: I'm sure being a princess makes you very important. *condescension set at 11* But I'm afraid you will have to follow the rules our galaxy runs on, and your captain will serve best as a scapegoat for our incompetence and status quo-
Temperature drops, Luna's eyes blaze, and a sense of impending doom smothers the atmosphere.
Luna: BEOTCH!! YOU TOUCH MY PON AND I SEND A MOON SO FAR UP YOUR COLLECTIVE POSTERIORS YOU"LL BE COUGHING UP MOON ROCKS!!!
Luna teleports and sense of doom leaves the room as Council continues to struggle for bladder control. Fluttershy raises an eyebrow and steps forward, clearing her throat delicately.
Fluttershy: Apologies, Counselors, but it seems you are unfamiliar with the actual rules of the galaxy: Auntie Luna's rules.
Auntie Luna's first rule: You don't rule the galaxy. You live in Auntie Luna's galaxy with her permission.
Auntie Luna's second rule: Always remember the first rule.
Asari Councilor:....noted.
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true all of it
3. Everything less is a waste!
Luna rocks
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Absolutely PRICELESS
Nr.3 let's be practical!