The room froze for a handful of seconds, the words ‘Why did you abandon my Legion in the time we needed your help the most?,’ hanging in the air like a noose.

I had no illusions that humanity was out of its depth in the galactic field. There was absolutely no question as to who would win in a war between us, but there were other venues open to me.

To say I had a plan for this was premature; wrath surged through my consciousness and interfered with any finesse I might have been able to come up with. But, some part of me even now was revolving around the issue, an idea, a maneuver forming.

I could recognize that driving force, like someone I knew that was close to me, far closer than anyone else had ever been to me.

‘Smith,’ I felt a mild tremor in my mind, the revenant shards of my A.I. clone and friend working to drive this to our advantage. A peculiar calmness began to weave between my emotions, unable to smother them, but able to guide them. It felt like something had snapped into place then, like I’d been missing some capacity of self control all my life. Restraint had been a word I thought I knew, but now fully comprehended. At least, for now.

Which gave me the presence of mind to realize that my words may as well have been more than just a noose. It was a guillotine for the heads of the council in the eyes of the public. Already I felt streams of data gush out of the room, live feeds available to certain political affiliations outside of this council.

I could see the head council members reeling, each of them exchanging glances - some none too subtly resting upon the council member that seemed to have been responsible for removing weapons from the Obelisk for Earth - as they sought an avenue forward that didn’t result in their reputations leaving this room in tatters.

Surprisingly, the head member rose a hand, drawing attention to everyone in the audience. The tall, long-limbed and four armed man gestured to the vague visage of myself, red blazing skull amidst shimmering black and blue beside Sis, “It would seem we have an undeclared visitor. While you are not a member race, I’m sure we can all agree it would be in poor taste to exclude a native of the planet whom we are convening over from the discussions.” The wrinkled older fellow spoke clearly and eloquently.

It was an unexpected maneuver, one that I wasn’t sure I’d been prepared for. Judging by the murmuring of many other council representatives, I could tell this was not a common occurrence. If it’d ever even happened before, given that those beside the old man each had varying but incredibly discreet responses of intrigue at his decision.

Only intrigue, though, as they seemed to now be working with the new piece of the puzzle before them with impressive expertise.

As such, I responded with a rough approximation of an exaggerated bow, “Your exception is appreciated,” I spoke dryly, rising and readying to speak.

Before another voice cut in, “But unnecessary. A Reaper always has a place at this council.”

As one, the council head members tensed. I felt the source of the voice down one level, an entire layer of the chamber dedicated to classes. The speaker was male, I think, though their body was covered from head to toe in what looked like sleek, angular volcanic glass. It was black, and instead of shining as the polished surface suggested it should, it looked more like the suit was drawing all light in. The face plate bore the slightest visage of dull red, a narrow, jagged toothed skull residing within. On the front of the pod and in the middle of the man’s chest was a lotus flower cast in red, a skull buried within, the same jagged toothed one that emblazoned his chest.

Another Reaper. And more beside him, a pair flanked him, both as unique as the first. One bore broad, sharply angled armor that suited a much heavier metal theme, tusks of red sticking out of the front, while the other was a feminine form, lithe, and incredibly tall. Her four tails and narrow clawed hands almost seemed frail on their own, but there was a predatory force that seemed to hug her alien form even through the armor that obscured any clearer features. Each helmet bore murky shrouded skulls, just as the rest of us.

‘That explains the theme of all of my gear. Aside from looking badass.’ I looked to them.

The first Reaper nodded almost imperceptibly to me before returning to silence.

Around the council chamber, though, everyone was anything but silent. I looked around, focusing on the murmering individuals everywhere. More than a few seemed genuinely shocked about the latest details. Among that number, I think I heard more than a handful of groans. The head speakers jaw tensed for a split second before he carefully schooled his features to perfect neutrality.

I did, however, note that there was someone on a nearby platform looking at me with what seemed to be a blend of horror and admiration. The red skinned fellow truly seemed to be in a state of extremes, though that confused me. Discreetly I sought the register for the members in the council, finding it quite accessible. The man’s name was Yamak Rettle, and seemed to be in some position of honor for the particular Council summoning.

‘Why does that name seem familiar?’ I pondered, frustrated that I couldn’t quite place it. I’d have to check some records later, he had to have something to do with Earth, otherwise I highly doubt he’d be a familiar face at all.

“Indeed? My apologies, I hadn’t realized you were a classed individual,” The head speaker then changed tact, “Then, given the situation, I would like to convene this council for the time being. Surely, it would be preferable to bring you up to speed on the goings on of our esteemed council.”

As I listened, I considered the merits of listening to the man. On the one hand it was probably just a ploy to try to work out some kind of backroom deal outside of the public eye. That honestly wasn’t a bad idea for myself, I was hardly skilled with any kind of political finesse on such a stage, already I was getting through with luck and a sensitive subject that intrinsically had to be treated with great care. To all sides of me, I felt a few prodding messages arise on the edges of my consciousness, likely from various members.

‘I wonder…’ I allowed myself a moment to pretend to consider the offer, trying to multitask and open a few messages. The sensation of doing multiple things at once made my head spin for a moment before my conscious thought stabilized. Instead of one stream of thought, though, I felt several, peering through some messages and committing their content to memory.

‘Okay, that’s going to take some getting used too,’ I shook my head as I increased the count to three tasks, before ceasing altogether. I could experiment with that later.

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“That is agreeable, though may I ask those parties with a… vested interest to participate as well?” I gestured wide, “At least, I’d like to know their relationship to my planet.”

The man nodded, “Then we will recess for a time and return. Member races, please be advised that this meeting is not done for the day.”

And, at that, he sent me a message packet containing information on where the meeting would be. I smirked at that, wondering exactly how I would be getting over to any specific location. Curiously, I glanced about, seeing many politicians that carefully showed no specific emotion regarding the events as they proceeded. There were, however, many who showed no such care.

Perhaps my favorite of them were the Saurians whom seemed disappointed not to be able to view what could have been a veritable verbal bloodbath. The look on ‘Princess’ Arianna’s face was similarly amusing, a grin featuring heavily behind slightly pointed teeth. There were many species, so many that I suddenly had to take a moment and realize how utterly out of my element I was. A brief surge of bewilderment piqued through the depths of my mind before I reined that in.

I felt a voice speak to me, different from what I’d felt before. Instead of sound waves it was all code, and as I focused on it, I felt almost as though the stream of time as I knew it slowed to a crawl.

‘That is uncomfortable.’ I felt what approximated to my gut twist at the sudden perception shift. I suppose it would be helpful in speaking with machines, considering how quickly they could process information.

Though, I supposed I couldn’t say ‘They’ anymore, considering I was almost definitely a synthetic form of life now.

[Sis. It’s good to meet… you?] I greeted, turning my attention to her in what amounted to a digital fashion. It was bizarre, seeing something that was even more human in appearance in this place, but at once gushing streams of code in bursts that vanished an instant later. Invariably, another string of energy would route into her body.

It was then that I realized that there were similar, but far fewer, such streams coming to and from my body.

She shook her head, I could taste regret and sadness on her words. That was a bizarre sensation, I was basically tasting machine talk?

I refocused on the matter at hand, feeling a spike of anguish that I couldn’t quite conceal, [Well, that’s the question of the day. I think Smith may have managed to save… part of me, at least. I tried to salvage what I could. As for if I’m Matthew or not anymore, though?] I paused, feeling a tremor shoot through me again and immediately discarded the subject, my discomfort plain, [Anyways, can you give me a rundown on what’s gone on here? And what the hell is going on?]

She stared at me for several seconds, looking even more distressed than I felt. For whatever reason, I honestly felt like whoever had made Sis had done too well of a damn job on making her lifelike. Finally, though, she broke the silence, She shook herself, managing to turn her mood around a bit,

She explained, sending detailed packets of information that I, somehow, was able to internalize in moments. There were definitely perks to having a robotic brain.

At this she beamed,

It felt kind of nice that she had such pride in her voice, but this left me all the more confused. [Why did we have our weapons disabled then?]

She cringed,

My brain slowed, and I could feel the substance that made up my body dim in stunned silence, [Wait… what? How long has that been going on?]

She answered hesitantly.

I felt a heat rise, one that remained persistent, [You’re saying we could have even more classed individuals and arsenal available?]

[Just… just keep going.] I ground out with frustration, the ‘why’ still not present yet.

[But… why?] I asked, despondent in spite of all the anger I felt.

Even as she started to speak, though, I realized the answer.

[So, we get more and more desperate trying to advance our technology against growing biotic threats, a lack of access to classes and their advanced tech, and here comes in our rescuer. Probably he’d start by giving access back to us for small things, bit by bit, enough to sate us a bit, but not enough to save us outright. Most people would be so desperate for help by then that we’d do anything, and undoubtedly he’d look like the good guy, along with the Titherin. By the time we could have learned anything about all of it, he could have buried the facts and smudged truths.] I seethed, [Can I murder this guy? What’s his name again?]

[Alright. Thanks. I’m going to need any other information you can give me on the situation surrounding this mess, too. I don’t intend to go into this discussion blind.] I glared at the various reports and data streamed directly to my mind for perusal.

All the while I could only think about how much more suffering the human race would have had to go through before Yezzek would have even deigned to make his appearance.