The Ambassador (Mass Effect Very Short Story)
Entry posted by GSR
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In the interest of full disclosure, this isn't really a story so much as a scene from a very long, involved story I'll probably never write. And it's only really 90% Mass Effect.
Swoosh.
Ding.
“Welcome, councilor. Please select your destination.”
“Citadel Embassies.”
“One moment, please…”
Rumble.
Jane Myers waited for the sound of the elevator whooshing up the side of the Citadel to fill her ears before passing the datapad she held over to the man standing next to her. Councilor Donnel Udina was not a poor man; Jane had little doubt that he could afford a top-of-the-line personal synthetic assistant if he desired, but she’d learned that humanity’s galactic representative could be very… particular. No synthetic assistants. Same outfit for him, every day. Same outfit for Jane, every day. Matters not directly related to council politics to be redirected to C-Sec, no exceptions. Pre-council meeting briefings to be organized ahead of time and provided to him on the elevator ride up. She’d gotten used to it; the sound of the little metal box being pulled up at tens of kilometers an hour had become her own personal start-of-the-race pistol bang.
“Two major priorities for today’s meeting, sir. The first is Shepard. The second is the new diplomatic envoy.”
She’d long since realized that this little briefing rarely if ever actually provided Udina with new information; it was just a way for him to organize it. Toss out the details; if he didn’t know them already, they weren’t important. Make it as tiny as possible.
He remained staring at the elevator doors. “Is that the agreed-upon order of discussion?”
“Yes, sir.” Jane had never not said the day’s items out of order, and Udina had never not asked her if she had. She occasionally toyed with answering no just to see his reaction, but she honestly doubted it would be worth the effort. Donnel Udina could be a very boring man when he wanted to be.
“Admiral Anderson intends to represent Shepard today, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.” She didn’t envy the admiral; a lot of people out there wanted Shepard’s blood, and it was going to take a lot of convincing to get the Council to turn the commander over to the Alliance. Not that she doubted Anderson would; she’d seen the man cut through an impressive amount of political red tape in the past (even if his preferred term for ‘red tape’ was a little less polite).
“Very well. The diplomatic envoy, how many representatives are there?”
“Four, sir. Though today only the ambassador is scheduled to come before the Council.”
Udina frowned. “I was informed there were three members in the envoy.”
Jane answered automatically. “That was the arrangement, sir. It would seem an additional member of the species stowed away on the asari escort ship. It was deemed more convenient to leave him in the care of his fellows than to reverse course.”
The councilman snorted. Jane remained impassive; she knew Udina well enough to guess what his opinion on diplomatic envoys that took on stowaways was. She caught a glimpse of herself in the reflective surface of the elevator door and cursed silently; she could see on the left side of her head a tangle in her otherwise perfectly pulled back and knotted brunette hair. If she’d been out on the town she wouldn’t have given a cuss, but she knew from experience Udina was the kind of man to notice something like that. Apparently the image of one strolling through the embassy hallways with incredible political purpose was entirely ruined if your PA’s hair was a little disheveled. It was bad enough that he made her wear a two-piece black business suit that looked like it had been borrowed from some museum’s 2000s New York exhibit; she guessed that somewhere in the back of his mind he imagined it made him look like a power broker to have his PA dressed like an advertising exec. He, of course, wore standard business attire for the Citadel; that way, if anyone didn’t buy into his little game, she’d be the weirdo in the room.
“Who is escorting the ambassador?”
Jane kept her voice neutral. “Dr. Khia T’seh, sir. I’m given to understand she has a strong relationship with the race, having been one of the members of the team that made first contact.” If Udina was asking about the ambassador’s escort, that meant he already knew who it was. And if he knew one of the escorts –
“And the remaining members of the envoy? Are they running loose on the Citadel during this meeting?
She could see where this was going. “No, sir. I believe they are being accompanied by an Asari-approved human journalist by the name of Alexa Tanner.”
“Is that so.” A pause. “And which publication does Ms. Tanner work for?”
Jane remained staring forward. “Outlook, sir. The weekly e-magazine.”
“And that magazine is managed by…?”
Jane suppressed a sigh. “Jake Myers, sir. My brother.”
“Is that so.” Another pause. “Miss Myers, I hope you have impressed upon your brother and his 'journalistic' crew the delicacy of welcoming a new civilization to Citadel space? Particularly one with such unusual qualities.”
“I’m afraid I don’t speak with him often, sir.”
The councilor frowned slightly. “Then may I suggest a brief family reunion? And tell him that the human government would consider it a favor if he treated this situation with the delicacy it deserves. This is politics, not gossip.” The councilor’s favorite phrase hung unspoken in the air between them.
“I’ll be sure to pass that along, sir.”
Ding.
Swoosh.
“Welcome to: Citadel Embassies…”
“Thank you, Admiral. You are dismissed. The Council will consider the matter in due course.”
Jane sat back in her seat in the upper level of the Council’s chambers and rubbed her eyes. Anderson had done a fine job of arguing that Shepard should be in Alliance hands, she had to admit; their being the first ones to arrest the Commander was doing wonders for their case.
She watched her boss quietly consult with the other councilors ahead of the next order of business. The turian councilor had been surprisingly silent throughout the hearing, but the salarian and asari representatives had spent more than their fair share of time bickering with her boss – who, unsurprisingly, supported Shepard being handed over to the Alliance and tried on Earth.
She stifled a yawn. Five years as a desk jockey in the galaxy’s highest office had done a lot to desensitize her to politics. Sure, Shepard had done some crazy stuff, but the Commander hadn’t even been allowed to appear before the Council. So instead she’d gotten to listen to the same sort of bureaucratic wrangling as usual – thrilling.
Below her, the councilors finished talking amongst themselves and returned to facing the speaker’s podium. The asari councilor pressed something on her podium to signal the next speaker to enter. Jane sat forward. This could be something interesting for a change – a new intelligent species making its first appearance before the council. Not many people knew this meeting was even happening today; her brother’s magazine (she still hadn't the faintest how he'd gotten this exclusive) had a gag order until after the Council put out a formal statement later today. And as for the race itself…
She’d been briefed, but it was a tough pill to swallow. Perhaps there’d been some miscommunication, or maybe Tony over in Bailey’s office thought it’d be a laugh to mess with her incoming messages.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the ambassador entered and approached the podium. Jane was vaguely aware of the salarian councilor formally announcing the next order of business, but somehow that information failed to make any headway in her brain. The ambassador’s feet clunked against the ground, alien black metal against grey pavement, propelled by steel legs encased in silver armor. His arms and chest were of similar construction, an almost organic, muscular quality to the dark plating and piping that comprised him. Atop his face sat a jet-black mask, with a broad, spiky forehead. Through its eyeholes shone two green orbs, almost impossibly green, and it was here that the fact made its way into Jane’s frontal cortex that no, Tony over in Bailey’s office wasn’t jerking her around.
Beneath her, Udina and the salarian and turian councilors shuffled uncomfortably as the asari councilor nodded to the ambassador, apparently unfazed. “Please state your name and business with the Council.”
The ambassador’s voice rumbled. “Onua, Toa Nuva of Earth. I stand before you today as the ambassador of Spherus Magna.”
In her seat above, Jane let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
All right, I cheated a bit there by not saying it was a Bionicle crossover. I do apologize for that. This is basically just a scene from a Bionicle/ME epic that, frankly speaking, I'm probably not ever going to get around to writing. Still, I'm trying to keep up with the League of Authors' write-something-every-day, so I decided to give this a spin. It ain't much, but it was fun to write, especially given that Jane never existed in any of my original planning (though her brother, Alexa, and Khia did.) This also probably hasn't been edited as much as it should have been.
Comments always appreciated!
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