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This is Ping Wei reporting to you live from Demeter! *the screen flickers, showing chaos in the background and a fire towards the rear of the viewing screen* We've just ... we've just witnessed an attack on the war memorial! The Prime Minister was about to address us again when - HEY! Watch where you're going! *screen shakes repeatedly as the cameraman is jostled* We don't know what happened! One minute she was walking towards the podium, the next this! *the camera swivels around to show people screaming and running, with military officers seen clearly trying to help evacuate people* Two explosions ripped through the stage. It was horrendous. We saw the Prime Minister being carried to a waiting shuttle by ONI officials and she looked pretty bad; she definitely wasn't moving and she had blood on her face. We're hearing that the Director of ONI has initiated lock-down on the planet, but I'm not sure - HEY! Give me that camera ba-

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"The merger of my firm with Tobias Detweiler's is one that benefits not only us and our clients but the galactic community as a whole. In this day and age, when corporations are collapsing due to selfish endeavours and broken promises, and others are being indicted for corruption, I believe that moral standing and ethics are becoming more and more crucial in the business world. This is something Mr Detweiler also believes in. Our firms are an extension of that belief. The combined services we will provide are intended to better the lives of everyone across the galaxy. Better homes for the poorest citizens. Better equipment for the servicemen and women who risk their lives so we can live in peace and security. Cleaner energy to protect our environment and greater legal services so all can have their day in court, and feel that the system is not operating against them.

We are dedicated to fulfilling the promises we make, and we are more than prepared to work alongside the regulatory and investigative organizations of the Citadel to root out any corporation that would bring harm to the populace of the galaxy. Battersby, Felix, Harris & Schmidt will remain devoted to the tenets and principles both of our firms were founded one. Our promise is a simple one. We will make a better world. All of them; better worlds. Thank you."

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"Back when I founded this company in twenty one fifty four it was originally called Utalco Enterprise, and back then the only aspirations I had for the company was the creation and manufacture of reliable drive cores and engines ... since it became Felix Armament Industries in twenty one sixty three, that aspiration hasn't changed, but since the relaunch it grew to encompass everything from massive shield generators to protect colonies, to innovative fighter crafts for the Systems Alliance. And it continued to evolve, eventually not just supplying solely to humanity but its allies as well, even later on with the blessings of the Hierarchy, Tetriarch Heavy Industries merged into FAI with Tirus Orthanium becoming a board director."

"It has been a constantly evolving business but I have always maintained my business ethics, that will never change for as long as I'm alive. My partner Alexandra Schmidt has given me her assurance that a straight and true business practice will be continue to be our number one priority, and for anyone that has known me for even a year, you can all breath a sigh of relief that I would not be allowing this to occur if I did not have complete faith in the reputation of her company. As big as FAI has become from its humble beginnings, I want to assure everyone that even the most rural colonies won't be forgotten, we have all been through a tremendous ordeal and having been fortunate enough to have survived what occured last year I will continue to do my best to help those that have been adversely affected, as a Detweiler always has, and always will."

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"This merger does not bode well for the galaxy. Am I the only one frightened by the idea of the monopoly these two firms will create by merging together? You can't preach an opposition to corruption and making a better galaxy whilst you're reaping in trillions from military contracts and energy services."

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"It's another swift of power in the galactic economical stands, a mega-corporation is born out of the assets of two large companies. Even thought they are operating in System Alliance and Citadel Space, I wonder when the trade agreements are send over the wall towards the Terminus system. We all know what has happen towards the people that had enormous power, they fell"

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”Hello, I’m Kathryn Sinclair. I’d like to start this speech by expressing my deepest sympathies to the family of Gregory Tico, who as you all know suffered a heart attack last month. Gregory was a hardworking man who devoted his life to the Alliance. Though his career was varied it had several consistencies; the first was his ability to excel at anything he put his mind to, always doing the best he could possibly do and often achieving the highest possible result. The second was his devotion not just to the Alliance itself but to the principles and tenets it stands for. I remember meeting Gregory on numerous occasions and was always struck by his approach to things; his unwavering belief that our principles and our beliefs are what make us strong. And he was right; without these things we’re no better than the criminals who choose to operate outside the boundaries of the law. I am sure you will all join me in sending our best wishes to the Tico family.

So, I want to let you know a little about me, because I suspect many of you hadn’t heard much of me before my appointment as Minister of Justice, or perhaps not even until this promotion of sorts. Er, I was born on Earth and raised there by my parents, both of whom were hardworking and instilled that same principle in their children; my brother and I have worked all our lives, with him serving in the military as a career officer. At twenty three I passed the bar and joined the Alliance Prosecution Service. My job was to prosecute companies and business individuals who routinely broke our financial and economic laws, often defrauding either the government or large groups of citizens. I worked there for nineteen years, prosecuting and winning several large cases before I … I grew despondent at the direction our government was heading. Although we were prosecuting these big corporations the maximum penalties were so far below standard that they were, in effect, just a slap on the wrist. So I took up tenure at the University of Bekenstein where I taught, you know, the big financial topics; corporate litigation, bankruptcy law and so on. It was there that I saw the damage these corporations were doing to young people and I began studying it, researching it. After a few years I widened my scope and realised that it wasn’t just the young, but the entirety of the lower and middle classes being hammered by unfair laws and a government that just didn’t work. It was a discussion with a colleague that made me realise there was only one way to get things changed, so I ran for office and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bekenstein. I stand here, today, eight years later, to tell you that the system still doesn’t work.

You know, when I joined politics, I did so for very specific but basic reasons. As a lawyer I watched as corporations manipulated the government and those officials serving in it; big eezo, big arms manufacturing, big companies who were using their wealth to influence policies and the people making them. People who were appointed to represent their planetary constituents, not to represent the interests of mega-corporations. When I began teaching at the University of Bekenstein I conducted research into the economic policies of the Alliance and published several studies, and here again I found the same thing. Time after time after time, bills were being either introduced to benefit big money or rejected because they didn’t benefit them enough. I watched as lower and middle-class families were chipped, squeezed and hammered by a system that ultimately does what it can to make sure its bed-fellows – corporations – stay in bed. Because if they leave, god forbid, those elected representatives might have to start asking some hard questions about our fiscal policies.

When I sat as the chairperson for the Banking Committee in Parliament I often found that big corporations had this … this stranglehold on our political system. There were times when, meeting with regulators and enforcement officials, that there seemed to be a reluctance to do anything when corporations and banks broke the law. If they did do anything, it was nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a warning not to do it again. Banks argued they were “too big to fail” in terms of our economic systems, but let me use an old slogan when I say that “too big to fail” has become “too big for trial”. In the process of avoiding a trial – using pitiful settlements and their influence in parliament – these banks and corporations are hurting the working people of the Alliance. It isn’t on. One of my first challenges as Prime Minister will be to work with those in parliament not in the lobbyists pockets to draft legislation that will end this corruption and ensure that “too big to fail” does not mean they can avoid prosecution for crimes they commit.

I’m not just here to talk to you about the corporations, however. I’m not going to sugar coat it; the Alliance is on the verge of failing. The reapers caught us drastically unaware –“

*a report for an independent news network interrupted the speech, asking if anything would be done about those in parliament who knew of Commander Shepard’s warnings about the reapers but did nothing*

”If you could please hold all questions until the end, thank you. Suffice it to say, I intend to meet with my advisors and the cabinet later today to discuss potential repercussions for any who ignored hard evidence of the reaper’s existence. As I was saying, the reapers caught us unaware and as a result we have suffered tremendously; I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this. Our military suffered heavy losses, thousands of servicemen and vehicles and starships lost in the chaos of battle. Millions of citizens died at the reapers hands. The cost of rebuilding is staggering, and as a result our economy is on the precipice. My predecessor chose to accept a bailout from an interstellar conglomerate rather than petition the Citadel Council for assistance. In my view this was a mistake, as it ties in with my earlier statement about corporate influence in parliament. However, we will use this money to set right the damage done and set our economy back on course. I cannot stress enough how important this is; many have criticized me over the years for focusing too much on credits and not on our justice system, or our educational system, or the military.

You cannot have these things without credits. The economy is the glue holding it all together.

It isn’t all bad news, however, and I apologise if it seems that way. This war … we came out of it victorious. A war many thought we would all lose. Now we have an opportunity to rebuild our government and our lives, steel plate by steel plate, house by house, planet by planet. Core worlds and colonies have a chance to mend broken relationships and heal old wounds, and from this chaos we have emerged with new allies. Ones we might never have obtained without the reapers to unify the galaxy. Our position on the Council is strong, but more than that our position in the galaxy is great; the Alliance is, as I have said before, the beacon of hope and strength for humanity. It is our duty to make sure we are a bright beacon, not a dim one, and as your Prime Minister I intend to work day and night to ensure that is the case. I’d like you all to remember something – something the reapers found out the hard way:

Alone we are strong. Together we are invincible.

Thank you.“