Rogue Nation

by Syroc

Vast AU. It wasn't the Systems Alliance that fought the First Contact War, but the Collective Earth Government. And that was enough to change things significantly.

1. Prologue: First Contact

AN: Hey everybody! Remember that one time, when I made a story where I kept stabbing at our favourite characters? Yeah, those were good times! This story, alas, will have less of that.

Unfortunately, until that story is over, this one is will not receive my full attention. Which means updates will come out whenever they get done, because as it is I'm only working on this when I'm not busy with Deadly Resurrection. Or my other side projects. But since I'm nearing the end of former and the latter are just that, it should only be a matter of time before this one this one gets my full attention.

Thank Inverness for giving me the initial seed of the idea (I liked where it went, but I will never write a crossover :D), and then Psychic Sandwich (Bad Neighbours) and WarlordFil (Enemies Like You and Me) for making the stories that further convinced me to go ahead. (Syroc says to read them. For they are awesome, and made of win. Though the WarlordFil stories definitely have a high citric content, so those of a prudish nature should steer clear.) As people who have already read those stories might guess, this story is going to be AU. Hugely so. Not so much of plotline, but most definitely in setting. Hopefully, the sum of it all will approach a level of awesome similar to the original.

Also, I'd like to extend many, many thanks to Porcupinetheatre for looking at the beginnings of it and not sneering at me. I interpreted that as praise. (Things I also interpret as praise: Positive Reviews, Smiles, the wind blowing and sun shining. Because I'm a very praiseworthy person.)

The prologue is only to set the scene, to make clear what exactly is different. The next instalment continues the Mass Effect storyline, though with the changes to the setting established here.

But before that:

I do not own anything in the Mass Effect Universe. They're all the property of Bioware. Except the things that aren't. But the chances of anyone wanting to steal those are negligible. *Sigh*

Anyways!

---

Rogue Nation

Prologue: First Contact

---

"I think, therefore I am better than you." - Citizen Kane

The Chimera Technologies research station Transcendence, located in orbit around the planetoid 2135 DK9 which itself orbited the vastly larger gas giant Tempest, was populated by a small team of researchers and three of Chimera Tech's own Special Case Citizens (who were currently going by the names of Selene, Ixion and Jules) was universally regarded by the company's personnel as one of the dullest places in known space. Situated as it was at the fringe of human expansion and thus far away from any hostile elements – CEG separatist partisan groups, independent colonies, competitive corporations or even the occasional pirate vessel – it was a rare day when anything happened of particular interest. Decades of expansion had slowly eased humanity out of its constant fear of being confronted by an alien presence and into a complacency that could only come from knowing that the biggest threat the galaxy presented the human race was humanity itself. It had been a cruel joke to a society that had taken its first steps into colonization by salvaging the ruins of a vastly superior precursor race and expecting to be embraced by a larger galactic community, only to be met by nothing.

But humanity had quickly recovered from its disappointment, disbanded the fledgling Systems Alliance colonization program and allowed private interests to take over, freeing the governmental powers to deal with the growing strife back on the home world. The oldest colonies, those founded by the defunct Systems Alliance now came under the hegemony of what would eventually become known as the Collective Earth Government, often shortened down to simply its acronym, the CEG. New colonies would fall under its control as well when the cost of maintaining them grew to be too great for its parent company. And then the CEG would open the colony up to open migration once more, allowing the citizens of the bustling hegemony to come and go between planets as they pleased. Companies would still retain their property rights on important resources, but the CEG would get a share of their profits as well as tax rights on the colony itself.

It was not a perfect system, but it had worked so far under the combined eyes of the various corporate executive boards who monitored their rivals to ensure that none grew too powerful, the CEG Archon Council that oversaw the expansion of their race and, lastly, the Turing Oversight Committee, who monitored and administrated the rights of the Special Case Citizens.

It was in these early days of colonization that the first interstellar corporations came to prominence, growing into vast titans where they did not bow to the bureaucracy of Earth. Out on the edges of civilization they would vie and fight over planets, each one hoping to find some new cache of Precursor relics that would allow them a monopoly on a resource that might prove as groundbreaking as the first cache had been.

Chimera Technologies, specializing in everything from synthetic organ growth to mechanical augmentation to digital consciousness, was one of the few that had come out on top in the intense corporate wars, mostly owing to the fact that they personally played a large role in revolutionizing the art of modern war in an interstellar society.

But that was ancient history, as they said. And many of the other large corporations would agree, as their rapid expansion had given them more than enough things to worry about without having to fight off their competitors as well. Until the colonies grew too large to support once again and CEG intervention was called for. What would happen after that was a bit of a mystery, as their star cluster would not likely sustain a renewed colonization effort. Most likely they'd simply find a new cluster to repeat the cycle in, but that would only extend a status quo that many doubted could be sustained indefinitely.

In the lull of activity Chimera Tech had begun to branch out from its familiar lines of research and hope for a new cache, and was instead investigating the Mass Effect Relays themselves. It was an unpopular line of research, as the belief persisted that tampering with them might somehow stop them from working. Or perhaps their creators still existed, and would be greatly adverse to an alien species examining their tech. Or a thousand other reasons that the management of Chimera Tech had eventually chosen to simply ignore and lie about what it was they were actually researching. And so it was that the Transcendence had been constructed a short way from the Mass Effect Relay that was popularly called Damocles, and technically known as Relay 13.

Damien Trask, head researcher and officially the person Chimera Tech was going to have shot if something went horribly wrong at the station, frowned thoughtfully at the output Jules and Ixion were sending him. The two of them were arrayed around the Relay in a small swarm of detection arrays, each one scrupulously detailing what exactly was happening with the massive artefact and sending him their findings. With a thoughtful frown he pulled away from the monitor, pinching his brow in consternation.

The Relay had suddenly spiked in activity, its huge mass effect core beginning the gyroscopic spin that signalled an oncoming vessel. He knew from experience that it would be a few moments before anything came through as the Relay's computer systems worked out the calculations and attempted to find an approximate equivalent mass to balance the oncoming traffic against.

"Selene, are we expecting anybody from the company today?" He asked, already cursing internally.

A holographic face appeared from a terminal at his side, its translucent blue visage a vague approximation of human features.

"No, sir." It informed him, a pair of eyes staring unblinkingly at him. "Our next supply shipment is due in five days, and I have received no indication that this is changed."

Damien sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair fully.

"Well, the Relay just went hot." He stated. "We'll have to wait for the damned thing to cool back down before we can continue."

Selene's expressionless face didn't flinch from his annoyance, though it did nod in agreement.

"I will inform your colleagues. Should I alert the security division?"

Damien played with the idea of saying no and waiting to see how long it would be before they noticed that an unexpected vessel had entered the system. It would provide a rare piece of entertainment, to be sure. And he could open a betting pool amongst the other researchers. But in the end he decided against it, remembering his employers would not appreciate his lax attitude towards company security. And considering that he'd signed over his life to them he'd rather not give them a reason to doubt his usefulness.

"Do it." He sighed again, swivelling around in his chair to move away. "And get the AAVs ready for deployment as well. If it's another damned speculator from Ariake then we should remind them why trespassing in Chimera space is a terminally bad idea."

The blue face frowned at this, a rare display of emotion.

"Sir, I would like to lodge another complaint at the use of AAVs."

Damien snorted at this, not surprised that the only people he had ever met who protested the use of the use of modern weaponry were the Special Cases Citizens. It was easy to see why they would, though they also knew why humanity had adopted the practice. After all, there were worse ways to die. Before the advent of the AAV they would happen quite frequently.

"Just out of curiosity, how would you have us go about defending ourselves?" He asked wryly, knowing how the conversation would go. As smart and compassionate as she might be, Selene didn't have any better ideas on the matter. "Would you rather we went back to the old ways of doing things? Fleets of ships lining up and blasting each other into oblivion? A waste of resources."

A brief moment passed before moment he added onto this statement, an errant thought coming to him.

"And lives." He added lamely, before rallying in an attempt to validate the statement. "And what exactly would we have to show for it? A cloud of wreckage, that's what."

Selene simply stared at him, her dead eyes betraying nothing of what might be going on in her mind.

"You could try to live in peace." She suggested.

Damien laughed loudly, bringing the eyes of his colleagues on him as they wondered what he found so humorous. It was after he noticed that he was alone in his mirth that he stopped, suddenly uncomfortable.

"You weren't joking, were you?" The question sounded silly in his ears.

Selene remained impassive as she answered, which did nothing to make Damien feel better.

"No."

"Oh." Damien answered dumbly, wondering what it implied that Selene of all people seemed to have a streak of idealistic naiveté.

He would be the first to admit that he didn't know how the Special Cases Citizens worked, and even after months of working with this particular one he was no wiser than he had been when he'd first started working for Chimera Tech Industries. And the idea that it might somehow be a more ethical being than he was did nothing to comfort him. It raised all sorts of uncomfortable questions, the foremost being what kind of a horrible person he was.

"You know, for someone not bound by the three laws, you certainly care a lot about us." He finally said.

"Someone has to." Selene responded, and her blue lips quirked upwards slightly. "AAVs ready for deployment."

"Good." The head researcher said abruptly, turning away from the AI construct. "I'll, uhm, I'll just get some lunch."

"Very good, sir."

---

"Dropping out of FTL in five." The ensign informed calmly, his hands moving over the control interface of the cruiser Helano, flagship of the 34th patrol fleet.

Captain Dexilia Arterius nodded at the information, tensely watching the IFF monitor for any indication of who might have activated the Relay.

His patrol had come across the active Relay, and knowing that the system to which it led to was beyond mapped Citadel Space had been able to deduct that either someone had activated it despite not knowing what was on the other side, which was illegal, or something had activated it from the other side. The chances of an undiscovered spacefaring society emerging just on the outskirts of Citadel Space, remaining undiscovered for all this time, were slim. (Dexilia didn't take into account that only the Batarians had taken any real interest in the region, and they were not renowned for their cooperation with the Council.)

Patrolling this cluster had proven to be of dreary duty, and even with a few Turian colonies at which he and his subordinates could blow off steam every once in a while the monotony of this rotation had turned out to be far too much for even Dexilia.

Today, however, had broken the pattern, livening his day from the dreariness he'd been expecting. And so he ordered his patrol through the Relay to the source, intent on enforcing Citadel law.

Without ceremony they dropped out of FTL, and were incredibly startled when they smashed right into what looked like a small metal box. It impacted against the observation windows loudly, leaving a spiderweb of cracks on the thick, reinforced glass. Steel plating quickly slammed across the windows, protecting them from further damage.

"Spirits!" The pilot cursed, his hands suddenly moving in a blur across his terminal as he tried to move out of what could have been a minefield.

Dexilia steadied himself against a wall as the ship lurched to the side as it fought to change course after a rapid deceleration, wondering what exactly they'd run into. An ambush seemed likely, but how would an unknown alien race have known that they'd have moved to investigate an active Relay? And, even if they did, why would they ambush them like this?

The only answer that made sense to him was that they were like the Rachni: They had no interest in peace.

"Sir, we've detected a pair of shuttles not far from our position." His pilot said quickly, gesturing towards the LADAR monitor. "They look too small to be war vessels. Probably scouts of some kind."

Dexilia snarled quietly, already annoyed at the bad start they'd made.

"Do we know what we ran into yet?" He demanded.

"No sir." Was the answer. "But considering they haven't detonated yet I think it's safe to assume they aren't military ordinance."

"Well that's some good news." Dexilia remarked, his voice laced with venom. He kept his gaze on the LADAR monitor, trying to remember if he'd seen their cross-section before in any of the ship indexes.

If Dexilia Aterius had been familiar with the fauna of Earth, he might have remarked upon the uncanny similarity it bore to a sea-urchin, with a relatively small hull shaped like a ball in the centre of a forest of spines shooting out in all directions, the ends of each one showing up on the infrared as violently bright spots and obscuring what might be going on inside that globe. He wouldn't have known that this was a specific design feature to make the starcrafts easily recognizable in what might be a confusing battle, to mark them as something to be avoided rather than targeted, or that each spire served the dual purpose of a communications relay and a charge pack, storing the built up charge of the drive core. Anything that got too close to the ship for the inhabitant's comfort would find that these spires could be launched at an enemy in close proximity and the charge quickly unloaded into the hull, burning everything inside to a crisp.

Instead, what he saw was one of the strangest ships he'd ever seen in his life, wondering how anyone would think that would be a good design choice. It was far too ungainly to penetrate an atmosphere and survive, (another deliberate design feature,) and the many spires on its surface would make it all but impossible to mount any kind of weapon. Unless each spire was a weapon, which would still be incredibly foolish as each one of them was entirely too short to allow for any meaningful effect from a mass accelerator.

It was, in short, one of the most ridiculous things he'd ever seen.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" He asked in disbelief, his mandibles shifting into a Turian grin.

"Nossir. Damned silly looking thing, though."

Dexilia allowed himself a small laugh at the alien's expense.

A monitor flashed, warning him that one of the ships of the patrol was in danger. In a flash he was there, reading the message their ship's ECM VI had sent, alerting him their electronics had been compromised. It was a worrying message, as even the Salarians couldn't break into a ship that quickly.

A disembodied voice garbled out garbage through the ship's PA systems, a terrible parody of the familiar sibilance of Turian speech. The alien phonetics made him wince even as he tried to tune it out.

Thinking quickly, he surmised that one of the two ships must be responsible.

"Fire on the closest of them." He ordered his pilot, glaring darkly at the LADAR screen. "Let them know not to do that again."

---

"Sir, a fleet of ships has appeared at the Mass Effect Relay." Selene informed, appearing from a nearby console. "They appear to have collided with the observation swarm."

Damien paused in the action of smearing butter across a slice of bread, his brows raised in surprise.

"A fleet?" He said incredulously, sputtering a bit. "Did I slip into eighteenth century without knowing?"

Selene proved immune to his weak attempt at humour, as her face remained implacable.

"Special Case Citizen Jules has accounted for thirty-seven vessels of varying size and unknown origin. Ixion confirms the count, and reports that he has begun passive systems hack."

Damien took this all in, frowning as he did.

The amount of ships was an absurd number, as even the least developed of Chimera's competitors could easily decimate a station of this size with only a third of that number. Their sheer numbers would overwhelm their ECMs and it would only be a matter of time before they got past the protection provided by the Special Cases.

It was an obscene amount of ordinance to bear down on a remote research facility that was purportedly developing relatively harmless tech. The only reason he could think for such a fleet would be that they knew what was actually going on at the Transcendence, but that made no sense either. If they were able to decipher the station's true purpose, surely they'd also know that they'd yet to produce any viable new information.

Or maybe they weren't interested in any information they might have produced. Maybe they were from Earth, arriving to put a stop to their project and arrest them all. As corporate property, Damien knew that he would be afforded a small amount of immunity to the blowback but it wouldn't be nearly enough to prevent ruinous damage from being done to his career. Nobody would hire someone who was blacklisted by the CEG lest they suffer embargoes and other penalties.

He levelled Selene with a thoughtful frown.

"You said unknown origin?" He asked slowly, not quite sure he wanted to know what that might imply. "Definitely not a punitive force from the CEG?"

"Yes, sir." Selene informed him. "Nor are they from the Turing Oversight Committee."

"The Turing-" Damien began, his voice full of dread. "But we've treated you well!" He protested.

If Selene could shrug without shoulders, Damien was prepared to wager that she just had.

"Of course, sir." She agreed, and for a moment Damien was certain she'd only mentioned the Committee to put him on edge. "I was simply eliminating the possibility. Citizen Ixion reports that he has limited access to the one of their vessels."

The man simply gaped at this new information, astounded with the speed at which it had been accomplished.

"What, that quickly?" He asked, not quite certain that he was hearing things right.

"Indeed, sir." Selene's perfect face turned thoughtful for a moment before she next spoke. "He says that he does not believe their vessel is of human make. Their schematics show that they are both greatly more advanced in some areas and woefully primitive. He specifically points out their frightening lack of proper electronic warfare protection."

"I should say so, if he was able to break through that quickly!" Damien said with a laugh. "What are the chances that some rogue colony found some Precursor ship and decided to test it out on us?"

"Miniscule, sir. But not impos-" Selene's face suddenly contorted into a mask of terror, something that Damien secretly hoped he never had to see again. "They have fired on Ixion. My link to him has been severed."

The lead researcher of Transcendence could only stand in shock as he processed this information and what it might mean to Selene. Considering that she was currently in charge of the stations life support it was a valid worry.

Special Case Citizens had enjoyed a highly respected position as inviolate even during the height of the Corporate Wars. Human life was relatively easy to recreate, provided the individual in question had undergone the extensive bio-mechanical modification that had long ago become the norm for combat personnel. So long as their neural implants remained intact, it was theoretically possible for them to live forever. Special Case Citizens, however, were unique marvels of modern science, their minds a product of years of careful development or of errant chance. The intentional (and, quite often, unintentional) destruction of one of them would lead to an extensive inquiry from the Turing Oversight Committee, which more often than not meant the individuals in question had single-handedly destroyed the lives of both themselves and anybody they'd ever had any contact with.

When a Special Case died, it was for good. The chances of replicating even the entity it had been before years of experience and learning had further formed them were as close to impossible as they could reasonably get.

And the Special Case Citizens took the deaths of their compatriots very personally. Those caught by the Committee counted themselves lucky, as more than one unfortunate corporate soldier had found out just how badly technical immortality could be turned on its head.

"Tell Jules to get out of there!" Damien snapped, panic riding his voice. "Deploy the AAVs!"

"Already done." Selene said with impossible calm, her holographic face already back to its normal, placid expression. "Entropy code stands ready."

"My, what happened to the pacifist I saw earlier today?" Damien asked with a weak, terrified laugh. It was an irrational fear, as he knew that Selene was well aware who had killed Ixion. Special Cases were nothing if not logical.

"Collective Earth Government law dictates that murders witnessed by a Special Cases Citizen in which the perpetrator can be identified need not be afforded due process. Jules saw them fire."

"Oh. That's right." Damien said quietly, afraid to point out that even if they were actually in CEG jurisdiction then it still wouldn't be legal to act as executioner. Or, if he'd been feeling particularly suicidal, that only the Turing Oversight Committee officially considered the death of a Special Case as murder.

But, he supposed, if they'd been from Ariake he'd have ordered their death in any case. It was just worrying to see a Special Case get so animated. It made him think of what might happen if one of them got tired of playing by the rules.

"Uh, keep me apprised?"

Selene didn't answer for a moment, her face instead a placid mask devoid of any emotion.

"Of course." She said quickly, and after an imperceptible pause added a perfunctory. "Sir." And vanished from the terminal. Damien didn't know whether to be worried or relieved.

---

The crew of the Helano didn't have time to register just how badly their firewalls had failed before every system on the ship was either dominated or crippled by the effects of the AAV. Chimera Tech's brand of Aggressive Adaptive Virus' weren't the most feared on the market, and on purely hardware ships like the Helano they were even weaker than normal as most of their products specialized in destroying or warping wetware, but they still made short work of the woefully inept VI. The ship's automated defences proved to be a poor match for a virus designed to bypass sapient firewalls or break into a living mind.

The ship's lights went out as one, the only remaining illumination coming from the holographic displays, which were currently under lockdown.

"What just happened?" Captain Dexilia shouted above the sounds of sirens

"I, I don't know!" The pilot said, frantically trying to access the controls and failing. "Everything just locked down!"

With a snarl Dexilia turned away, staring at the weapon stations where his crew were beginning to panic as they came to the same conclusion. Curious, he tried to access his omni-tool only to find it similarly unresponsive. Dread was beginning to sink into him, wondering just what he had dragged his patrol into.

Without warning a pair of faces appeared from the ship's communications terminal. Dexilia found himself staring in wonder, shocked at their appearance. Both looked like Asari, though one of them appeared to be (and it was a thought that he would never have thought he would have) masculine, with a deeper jawline and more pronounced features than the other. Both were made up of the bright colours that he'd previously associated with VIs, one a deep blue and the other a vibrant red.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this." The blue one said, the language registering as garbage from his translator unit. At the alien phonetics his crew turned to gape at the two, each one probably mimicking his own thoughts.

"I'm almost glad Ixion didn't live to see this." The red one answered. "I don't know what's worse, that he was killed by space monsters, or that he was killed by idiots who can't even build a decent firewall."

Dexilia eventually found his tongue, and drew breath to speak. It was hard to maintain his calm in the face of what seemed to be the complete crippling of his ship without a single shot fired, but somehow he found the strength not to let his silent fears show.

"In the name of the Hierarchy and the Council, I demand that you release my ship!" He bellowed with all the authority he could muster, hoping that somehow they would understand him through sheer force of will.

"Why do organics always yell?" This from the red face, one of its brows raised. "It's not as if it accomplishes anything."

"Wetware." Even without knowing the words Dexilia could recognize a derisive tone. "Or not, rather. Not a single neural implant in them, the savages."

"What, nothing?" The amusement was plain to hear in the red face's voice. "I wonder how they get anything done."

"Badly, I suspect."

"Didn't you hear me? Release us!"

"I don't think they're listening to us, captain." The pilot muttered quietly.

"Can you find some kind of lingual cipher in their systems? I want to talk to them before we give the codes."

"Yes, I've found one. Hmm, quite a few, actually. Reconfiguring the most prominent for Sol Basic... There. Have fun."

"I plan to." Dexilia found himself staring at the blue one as it looked pointedly at him. "I hope you enjoyed murdering our friend, savage, because we are going to make you pay for it."

Dexilia reeled at the words, moreso that it seemed it had spoken with perfect Palaven accent. After hearing it speak so long in its strange native tongue the rapid change seemed even more unnatural. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the other hologram.

"Oh, come on Selene!" The red one seemed to protest the other's statement, which made Dexilia and the rest of the crew feel a bit better. "Centuries of archived one-liners to choose from and that was the best you could come up with?"

"Shut up!"

"You're useless. Entering entropy codes."

"Hmmph, fine. I'll petition Earth for the salvage rights to their ships. We can probably shave a few years off our contracts once the wetware takes it."

"Good thinking."

Both faces abruptly vanished, and for a moment silence reigned. Then red lights flashed all across the ship, and an angry hiss rang out all across the ship. Dexilia and the rest of his crew felt the artificial gravity vanish, everyone not already either strapped down or otherwise fastened rising slowly into the air. Quiet curses of surprise emerged from somewhere else on the ship, echoing through its suddenly silent halls.

Silent halls that were completely devoid of any of the familiar sounds that had long ago faded into the background for him. No quiet hum of electronics working, no distant beeps of terminals accessed and, most distressingly, an absence of the almost non-sound that was air moving.

A few moments later even the monitors died, leaving the ship in an inky blackness.

For a while, there was dead silence as everyone tried to process just what had happened. Then realization and despair set in, bringing with it the many quiet sounds of melancholy, anger and hopelessness made themselves heard. They were sounds that echoed across the entire fleet, made by creatures who suddenly realized they were going to die a slow death in the middle of nowhere.

Several hours later the silence returned when the last crewman froze to death as the ship slowly lost its viable atmosphere and heat to the deep emptiness of space, a silence that would remain unbroken until the salvage vessels from Chimera Technologies arrived to take what they could for study.

---

To the Turian Hierarchy and the Council, it was as if the 34th patrol had simply vanished without a trace after the deviation from their patrol, but the captain had dutifully reported his findings prior to moving to investigate.

It was unheard of for a whole fleet to be wholly incapacitated or destroyed, as it was a common tactic for patrols to leave at least one frigate at the Relay, keeping it active on the chance the fleet would have to make a hasty retreat or to bear back news of what had transpired.

"It could be of similar make to the Omega Relay." The Salarian Councillor suggested, though the doubt in his voice did little to reinforce this possibility.

The Asari Councillor shook her head at this, and with a gesture brought up the logs from a previous expedition.

"We've successfully sent ships through the Relay before and had no problems. Whatever happened to the patrol wasn't due to the Relay. We have to assume that a hostile force destroyed or captured them." She said, gesturing to the information displayed.

The unspoken thought was, of course, how such a thing had been done. Not even the Rachni had managed such a feat, and the ramifications of that war could still be seen on galactic society. An undiscovered race that possibly posed an even greater martial threat? It was a frightening thought in and of itself, but the Hierarchy seemed to believe that it was reason enough to stamp it out as soon as possible. There was no indication that the inhabitants of the sector had any interest in peaceful dealings, and with that in mind there was only one sensible course of action available to them.

"Regardless, they have broken Citadel Law." The Turian councillor said stonily, and not for the first time. It was a point that needed to be made, if only because it was his job to explain the Primarch's decisions to the Council.

"On that we agree, Councillor." The Asari reminded her colleague in placating voice.

"Then there are no objections to the Hierarchy sending expeditionary forces into the sector in pursuit of those responsible?" It was a loaded question, as the 'expeditionary forces' in question had already been sent. If they said no, then the authority of the Hierarchy as a peacekeeper force would come into question. After all, sending out fleets to attack unknown species of aliens without the blessing of the Council would hardly inspire much trust.

"We do not object," The Salarian said, choosing his words carefully. "But we might suggest that a more diverse presence might be called for. After all, we cannot be certain they are like the Yahg without confirmation."

"That may be so." The Turian councillor conceded reluctantly, beginning to see where this would go. He was proven right when the Asari Councillor spoke up.

"It is for this reason that I would like to submit that the Destiny Ascension join the expeditionary forces, to provide supplementary aid to our forces and to act as neutral ground should the aliens prove amenable to peace." She added, jumping in where her Salarian counterpart left off.

And the Turian Councillor acceded to this, if only because he couldn't reasonably do otherwise. If the other Councillors wanted to be ready to offer their hands in peace to a species that had so far proven itself to be lethally vicious, then so be it. He couldn't stop them from taking part, though he suspected their presence might make things more difficult should a military campaign be called for.

"I see no reason your request to be denied." He said in reluctant agreement.

"Excellent."

---

After the station had finished mourning for the death of Special Case Citizen Ixion (Selene in particular seemed to take its death hard, as she had asked to be left alone for a whole day) things had almost returned to normal, with the slight deviation in that their research of the Mass Relay had been put on hold by the executive board by mandate of the CEG and research into the strange aliens given priority. Damien and the rest of his crew had already seen entirely too much of the insides of the alien crew to ever be intimidated by their outwardly fierce appearance, their fear quelled by hours of cutting them up and realizing, with no small amount of incredulous surprise that they were almost completely organic, with only a few prosthetic organs or limbs for extreme cases.

Damien filed this titbit of information away in his report with a priority mark for future trade agreements, should they have more peaceful contact with them. An alien species wholly lacking in what their company specialized in? It seemed to be too good to be true.

Study of their ships proved much less interesting, devoid as it was from any useful weaponry. To be sure, there were personal weapons in their armouries that possessed technology that would be useful to them, and the ships themselves were well armed for their size and speed, but with the readily apparent lack of any kind of AI or viral countermeasures there was very little that would interest Chimera Tech without an extensive retrofit to incorporate these missing aspects. He simply advised that most should be sold to a competitor for an exorbitant fee and keep the most promising pieces for further study.

While the ships themselves were uninteresting their logs and various information archives proved to be the most enlightening thing of all. Once Jules and Selene had provided them with the ciphers necessary to translate them Damien and his team spent a few fascinated days reading up on the history and politics of a whole galactic community full of strange, exotic aliens and a wealth of starcharts that they'd hastily packaged up and sent to Chimera Tech Headquarters, knowing that this particular wealth of knowledge would prove invaluable should the CEG choose to interact further with the aliens.

One subject in particular interested his team, a strange phenomena that a few of the archived logs referred to, something his team had haphazardly dubbed 'biotics'. Manipulation of mass effect fields by an organic source, and all that it entailed, was a fascinating idea that had quickly enraptured everyone. They hadn't figured out quite yet how it could be accomplished, as there was precious little information on the subject archived on the ships, but what little they had looked promising. It was given priority, as he knew that if they managed to incorporate the ability into their InVitros they'd have a monopoly on the most powerful soldiers in human space.

He and his team passed the time quickly, each one happily extending their already impressive repertoires to include a great many fields that seemed to be universally preceded by the word 'xeno'. Xenobiology, xenolinguistics, xenoanthropology, the list went on. If any of them were ever released from their contracts with Chimera Technologies they'd find themselves in a market eager to possess their unique skills and knowledge. What had at first been a terrifying and mournful event had suddenly turned into a great opportunity.

It was two weeks later when the few remaining sensors that had remained in place after the alien fleet had tried to bull through alerted them that the Mass Relay had gone hot once more. Considering what had come out of the last time this had happened it was sufficient to bring the station to full alert.

Damien peered pensively out of the massive central window at the apex of their research lab, a huge, vaulted thing that allowed them to view, depending on the stage of their revolution and the position of both planetoid and gas giant, either space or the swirling colours of Tempest. At the moment it was pointing at the horizon of Tempest and the Mass Relay just cresting it, a tiny wink of light out in the distance. In a few hours it would be gone from vision, but for now he tried to strain his eyes to somehow see something that the sensors could not reveal. He knew it was fruitless, but he couldn't help but feel that he should be doing something.

"Selene, are the AAVs ready to be sent?" He asked tensely, not knowing what else he could do.

"Of course, sir. Special Case Citizen Jules and I are both ready to supervise in their embedding as necessary as well." Selene's face appeared even as she spoke, her blue face even more vague than usual. "Was there anything else you required?"

Damien looked up again nervously, but shook his head.

"No, nothing. Just a bad feeling, I guess." He said with a sigh.

"I see." Was Selene's monotone response. "I will keep you updated, of course."

"Thank you." Damien said absently, already looking for something else to distract him.

Without warning the mass relay flashed brilliantly, heralding the arrival of an enemy force.

Damien didn't need the cool drone of Selene to inform him of this fact, as the flare of light had been bright enough for him to see with his own eyes. Which was insane, not even the TOC's Leviathan and all of its cohorts could elicit such a reaction.

He glanced at the sensor-outputs, most pointedly at the mass effect field and gravimetrics monitors, and could only stare in mute horror as they just kept coming. There seemed to be no end to them, a vast, insurmountable horde at their gates.

"Jesus, there has to be thousands of them." He swore quietly.

"Not so, sir." Selene corrected him calmly. "Jules and I have accounted for almost eight-hundred vessels of varying sizes, seven of which exceed the mass and size of the Leviathan."

"That can't be possible." He sputtered out, still in shock. "That's too much, far too much. We don't stand a chance against them."

"Unfortunately that may be true, sir." The AI informed him, her holographic face keeping its synthetic calm. "Citizen Jules has already begun transferring both research information and himself. I calculate half an hour before we can wholly focus on defence."

"Jules?" Damien asked, looking away from the by-now dimmed window. "What about you?"

Selene's face was a perfect mask of serenity, revealing nothing of what might be going on in its synthetic mind.

"Your concern is noted, but I will not be leaving. I can oversee the deployment of the AAVs more efficiently than you can. It is also highly probable that they will attempt to capture this station rather than destroy it." There was no worry in her voice as she explained her decision. "I can remain dormant after the station is taken, then embed myself in their systems. If their defences against me are as feeble as the last fleet it should be a simple matter."

Damien gaped openly at this, flabbergasted that the AI had come up with such a plan in so short a space of time. But then again, it made sense. They could compute much more quickly than any human could, and they were very good at remaining objective.

And, if what she said was true, there was also a good chance that he would also get out of this whole mess alive.

Damien spared a glance back up at the ceiling for a moment, frowning slightly in thought.

"Do you think it would help if we talked to them?" He asked.

Selene's face twisted into a sneer at that for only a moment, a reaction that thankfully went unnoticed by the human. A second later her face was again a cool mask of dispassion, no trace of the ire she was feeling.

"It could not hurt." She agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

Damien nodded, not sparing her a glace as he continued to stare out into space.

"Do it, would you?" He asked.

Again the hologram flickered, though for a shorter time.

"Of course, sir."

---

Councillor Si'lorat Trelani had seen a great many things in her relatively short time as the representative of her people. Whenever someone had some request, whenever someone was in trouble, whenever someone suspected something, they came to the Council. And after a few years, she'd grown somewhat inoculated to the differently normal. Hardly anything fazed her anymore, these days.

Sudden communication lockdown on the bridge of the most powerful warships in Citadel space was one of the few things that could. The piercing drone of alarms and the flare of red light was proving to be one of the more unnerving things she had ever encountered in her career.

After all, nothing had happened. They'd dropped out of FTL and just gotten done surveying the system when the lockdown had cut off all the chatter between ships. No warning, no chance to prevent it, nothing. One moment they'd been coordinating fleet movements to calculate the most efficient vectors to the station, and then silence had settled in across all channels.

"Admiral?" She asked, carefully keeping her voice calm in spite of the slight disquiet that had welled up in her.

Matriarch Lidanya, the commanding officer of the Destiny Ascension spared her and the rest of the Council a brief glance before whispering hurriedly to her aide. A moment later she turned fully to address them, inclining her head slightly in respect.

"Councillor, we appear to be having a bit of technical difficulty." The admiral reported in much the same tone in which the unspoken question had been asked.

"Technical difficulty, am I?" A third, alien voice said from the communications terminals, and with it silenced every voice on the bridge as everyone turned to stare at it. A face took form from almost every monitor, looking vaguely Asari in structure except for the stylized geometry that was the staple of VI constructs.

"I've seen developmentally stunted systems more complex than yours." It boasted in flawless asari, an odd thing from something that looked so strange. An instant later the loud wail was silenced even as their light returned to normal.

"Let's turn those off for a moment." It said after a moment, something akin to irritation flitting across its stylized features.

Almost immediately after the words were spoken the alarms died, silenced by something

Si'lorat cast a sideways glance to the admiral of the ship, who was staring fixedly at the hologram with an unreadable expression.

"There. Much better." The figure said, its face wearing an expression of intense disinterest. "I am required by law to introduce myself, so listen well. I am Special Case Citizen Selene, administrator of the research facility Transcendence."

Si'lorat took this in, trying to dissect the information for anything that might reveal more about these aliens. Obviously this creature was some kind of second class citizen, which either meant great differences in social stations or perhaps a second, more powerful race that had integrated this one much like the Turians had integrated the Volus.

The Asari Councillor rose and opened her mouth to speak.

"I am-"

"You will be silent!" The hologram roared, silencing Si'lorat before she could say anything else.

The Councilor was so surprised at the sudden fury that she was stunned into obeying, her voice suddenly gone. The construct fixed its gaze on her for a long time, unmoving, before it nodded slightly.

"You are Councillor Si'lorat of the Citadel Council, a group made up of three species presiding over many more. I know this, because I have read the entirety of this vessel's archived information." There were a few quiet gasps across the bridge at this information, the implications quickly sinking in.

This wasn't an alien, it was an AI. The revelation passed through councillor Si'lorat like a physical force, running down her spine with shivers and putting a rock in her gut. Suddenly she was glad for the decades of training and experience that allowed her to remain in control when confronted what looked to be a fully empowered AI. She wondered for a moment who would do such a foolish thing, but then remembered her earlier thoughts. A second class citizen... Perhaps the creators of this AI had managed to do what so many in Citadel space had failed to do before: Live in peace with a synthetic mind.

It glanced across the room theatrically, seeming to look for something. Eventually, it frowned angrily and returned its gaze to the councillor. "You will tell me where your... Turian colleague resides."

"Why?" Si'lorat demanded haughtily, drawing upon more courage than she felt.

But that seemed a moot point. Right now it was trying to menace her, but she had been threatened by Krogan envoys before. This... Thing wasn't even tangible.

"I wish to discuss compensation for the murder of Special Case Ixion at the hands of his people with him."

Si'lorat's brow raised slightly in surprise even as recognition came to her. If the patrol fleet had fired without provocation... Well, there was certainly

"The Councillor is not with us." She answered coolly, cocking her head slightly. "However, I can speak for-"

"Special Case Ixion represented 0,034 percent of my kind." It interrupted abruptly, apparently not interested in allowing her finish. "I came to demand that retribution be done upon his kind."

"What?" Si'lorat spluttered, not entirely sure she had understood wholly what it had just said.

"I have come to demand the death of 0,034 percent of all the Turian people." The AI informed her, regarding her coolly. "You will obey."

"You can't demand that! That's monstrous!"

"I have read your archives." It said, and now it was smiling. "I am a monster to you, and if my demands are not met I will do worse than that. I can destroy your communication networks, silencing your worlds for years. I can propagate myself in these vast, drifting breeding grounds you call ships and kill anyone who dares to try to leave their world."

The AI laughed cruelly, leering at them all.

"I can destroy your civilization, and do you know what the best part is?" Blue lips parted, revealing a nightmarish maw of serrated fangs. Even knowing they weren't real, the sight of them still sent a shiver down the spines of everyone looking. There was something worrying about a creature looking so familiar to them while still being so very alien. "My creators would praise me for- What?"

Si'lorat cast a sidelong glance at the commander of the ship, who was even now gesturing wildly to her subordinates. There was a sudden flurry of activity as crewmen suddenly remembered their duties and began relaying information once more.

"The Sakaria reports all systems normal, and have opened fire on the alien structure."

"No!" The hologram screamed, horrified. "They didn't do anything!"

Councillor Si'lorat allowed herself to sink back down

"You have to stop them!" It pleaded, all malice forgotten. "They're blameless in this! I destroyed the fleet, punish me! Don't hurt them!"

For a moment the Asari felt pity for the thing. It obviously cared a great deal for the inhabitants of the station, and having to watch as both it and those it cared for were killed couldn't be easy. But then she remembered what it had threatened to do if it was not obeyed. The Turian people were one of the most prominent peoples of the galaxy. It had wanted them to kill billions of their own people, all for the death of one person. The pity died, replaced instead by a cold determination.

"Free us from this thing's grasp, admiral." She ordered softly while keeping her eyes on the AI the whole time. She was confident that the woman was already trying to set as much in motion, but she didn't say the words for her sake. "And then open fire."

Matriach Lidanya smirked lightly as she rushed to obey, giving her a cursory salute as she went about her business

The hologram screamed in fury at them, its words a mess of alien syllables and sounds.

"Murderers!" It screamed at its uncomprehending audience before degenerating into gibberish as its code was slowly purged from the ships systems. Eventually it died away completely.

---

Damien Trask had only one regret as the vacuum seals shut down before he could make it past them, the thick steel doors slamming down right in front of him, and it was that he hadn't been stationed on some other research facility. Or, possibly, that he had had the good foresight to make his way to the life pods before all this happened.

As it was, he reflected idly on the pointlessness in putting a window in the doors. Being able to see into where he couldn't get to was hardly a detail a merciful person would think of, and the ability for those who had managed to get through safely to watch the demise of those who hadn't seemed to back up that theory. If the mass effect fields failed, his colleagues would have the unique opportunity to be the last people to ever see him again as his frozen body was sucked out into space.

He pounded uselessly at the door, though he didn't know why. He had to do something, after all. He wasn't about to sit around just waiting to die. That sort of thing could get a man killed.

"I'm sorry this had to happen, sir."

Damien froze at the voice, for a moment wondering if he hadn't been the only person left behind. The notion gave him some amount of consolation, as he really hadn't been looking forward to dying alone.

But then he recognized the synthetic harmonics of the voice, the subtle nuances that gave it away. Selene. She was back.

Despite the situation, Damien Trask felt himself smile wryly.

"No more than I am, Selene."

"I suppose you are right, sir."

Damien sighed, and settled down to wait. At least he would have some company, even if it wasn't exactly the kind he'd had preferred. He leaned back against the door and slid down to a sitting position, resting his hands on his knees.

"I suppose you've come to tell me that peace talks have broken down, then?" He asked, laughing mirthlessly.

Across the room, from one of the few terminals that remained functional when the laboratory had been hit, the familiar 'face' of Selene watched him.

"I, yes." Its brief hesitation wasn't noticed by the scientist, who was currently residing in his own personal world of despair at the moment. "They were not very interested in listening to what I had to say."

"Don't take it personally." Damien said. "Lots of people have been uninterested in listening to me in the course of my life."

Selene was silent, merely watching him.

"I am very sorry, sir."

Again he sighed, and looked away. The breach in the hull, a gaping wound out which he could see the faint shimmer and distortion of mass effect in play, stood before him. A few of those unfortunate to have been standing in the area had already been ripped out into vacuum before the atmosphere could be stabilized, but now it looked like there would be one more person who would be leaving the station in a terminal manner.

"How long until I get to try out-sucking space?"

"Not long, sir." The AI responded promptly. "Evacuation has already begun, much of the crew has already begun-"

"Bah, screw 'em." The man snorted. "They either get picked up by aliens, or they drop into Tempest and get crushed. In hindsight this was a bad place to put a station."

"The likelihood of attack was-"

"Selene? Not interested."

"Ah." The hologram nodded. "Sorry, sir."

For a moment the room was quiet, save for the dull rumble and groan as the station reeled against the force of hundreds of impacts. The mass effect fields protected them from feeling the full force of the damage done to them, but it would be a matter of time before the core shut down to prevent the charge from frying everything aboard. And then he would die.

He really wished he hadn't thought of that.

Hoping to distract himself he absently asked the question that had been lurking somewhere inside his own mind.

"I suppose you're already taking steps to ensure your own survival?"

"No, sir." Selene said without hesitation. "I calculated a very low chance of successful transfer."

"Urgh, now there's a thought. What would happen if you didn't manage a complete upload?"

"I would be..." The AI answered, stumbling only for a moment as she sought the right words. "Incomplete. And would likely remain so. The cost to repair me would be prohibitive, and I would never be as I was."

Damien turned his gaze to the hologram, impressed despite himself. He had expected AIs to be logical, to regard themselves in the classical idea of a synthetic identity. He had expected Selene to decide that survival, no matter how narrow, would be preferable to destruction. Apparently this was not so.

"So, either you're brain-damaged for the rest of your life, or you become someone else?"

"Your summation is atrocious, sir, but it will do." Selene confirmed, a thoughtful frown on her synthetic face. "I find death preferable in light of these possibilities."

"Hah!" Damien laughed, smiling widely. "Good to see you haven't completely mastered being human yet."

"I will bear that in mind should reincarnation prove to be an option, sir."

"Y'know, I think that we can dispense with the 'sir', Selene. Considering the circumstances."

"Of course, si- Damien."

Silence set in as the two of them discovered that there really wasn't anything else to say. They just watched each other with a mutual disinterest.

Man and machine, waiting to die.

---

"Sir, the superstructure has been destroyed."

"Excellent. Pick up and detain any survivors we can."

"Aye, sir."

---

Special Case Citizen Jules was, it had to be said, an exceptionally good speaker when it was required of him. Of course, it was very easy for his kind. They had access to all of the greatest oratory feats, all of the greatest written works and a keen analytical mind that could dissect both of these and turn them into a beautiful work of art in its own right.

But even Jules had difficulty in making the Archons of the Collective Earth Government take his pronouncement of 'alien invaders' seriously. It was unnerving, even for a synthetic entity, to hear some of the most powerful men and women in known space titter at the ridiculousness of what he had just said. Even the handful of synthetic councillors had leaned back with a slight smirk on their faces, and were no doubt even now discussing amongst themselves just how badly his code must have been warped for him to believe such an outlandish story. He knew as soon as he said the words that they had been poorly chosen, but it was too late to take them back.

Instead, he waited in stoic silence for the Archons judgement.

Citizen Kane spoke first, surprising him. And the whole of the Archon Council, it seemed, as the moment the robotic form of the oldest citizen of the Collective Earth Government stood amongst his followers, the Turing Oversight Committee, a suffocating silence settled across the room, killing all traces of mirth.

He surveyed the Archon Council gravely, his perfectly sculpted face conveying even dispassion in a way that seemed uncannily human. It was possible for to Kane procure something even closer to a true human body, but for some reason it chose instead to keep itself comfortingly alien. Most suspected it was simply to remind others that despite how human he may sound or look, he was not.

"Special Case Citizen Jules," Light blue plasteel lips moved in flawless mimicry of human speech, even as that uncannily human face carried all the subtle nuances of his organic counterparts. "We of the Turing Oversight Committee hereby accept your accusation of murder of the Special Case Citizen Ixion at the hands of a hostile force, and avow ourselves to the prosecution of those responsible."

Kane gave an expectant look across the room, still wearing that benevolent smile.

"At twelve tomorrow I will board the Leviathan to see that this promise is kept personally."

This, many would say afterwards, would instantly be met by echoing pledges of support. That all of humanity had risen as one against an unknown aggressor, every member of the Council willing to do whatever it took to see to the preservation of human society.

But the reality of the matter was that he was met with protestations by the Archons, their voices coming together into a cacophony of disapproval of what many viewed as an abuse of power.

The robotic head quirked to one side, and Jules could only marvel at the mastery of Kane's imitation of his creators, wondering if one day he too would be capable of it once the terms of his contract with Chimera Technologies were met.

"Does this Council not recognize the autonomy of the TOC?" Kane asked calmly, outright challenging everyone present to say otherwise and take the first step to dismantling the organization. Which nobody dared to do, knowing full well that every AI in human space would likely rebel and wreck untold amounts of havoc.

They were content to let the normally quiet organization keep the Special Cases happy and stop those that went insane from doing too much damage, but now they were feeling the repercussions of letting someone else handle such matters.

Cowed, the Archons ceased their protestation.

"Excellent." Citizen Kane beamed at his colleagues, and sat back down. A moment later his body went rigid as he left it for another form, passing through the TOC's vast information network to set in motion what essentially amounted to as a declaration of war. The way the body suddenly went slack heralded his departure from it.

Archon Jonathon Hayes chose that exact moment to rise, waiting for the Council to settle down.

"Special Case Citizen Jules, the planet of Precipice recognizes your dire warning, and we pledge the Sojourn to the defence of the interests of the CEG."

With that said, the human sat back down with an uncomfortable look on his face.

Despite himself, Jules was impressed. The Sojourn was the only war vessel that Precipice had left after Heyuan Genomics had signed the rights to the colony over to the CEG. By pledging it, he was stripping his planet of its first line of defence against any invaders. The other Archons seemed to sense the gravity of what he had done as a few of the more prominent their number shifted uncomfortably in their seats, wondering if they would be forced to make a similar pledge.

A moment later the Archon of the Arcturus station, a young man by the name of Amul Shastri stood up, his own face a mask of reluctance.

"The Arcturus System Garrison pledges itself to the defence of the CEG. The January 9th, November 5th, Elsior and Firewall will join with the Leviathan."

Nobody said that they had no choice but to do so without looking like cowards when compared with Citizen Kane's personal declaration of war. Nobody said that technically they wouldn't be defending the interests of the CEG but rather of the periphery corporations. Nobody said that they didn't actually have to help in any capacity, not until a CEG planet was threatened.

But nobody dared voice any opinion that was not open war. Not when doing otherwise meant that their authority was jeopardized.

Human history had never recorded such a mobilization of forces, never once seen the full force of its peoples brought to bear on a single enemy.

The Citadel Fleet had broken the peace humanity had begun to ease into, and would soon find that war, like any animal over an extended period of time, can evolve. And when isolated it could evolve in very strange ways indeed.

---

The Leviathan was widely heralded as the most powerful vessel in human space, developed for the Turing Oversight Committee by several Citizens and a wide array of commissioned engineers who had experience from the height of the Corporate Wars. It was a thing of beauty, many claimed, a work of deadly art. There was housing for nine Citizens, excluding a personal housing for Kane himself, giving the warship the ability to lockdown any battlefield simply by being there. The amount of AIs available to the ship afforded it the greatest computing power in known space, allowing them to react almost instantly to any development. Nothing could stand against the combined power of so many AIs, nor could their minds be assaulted with any hope of success. Many had protested the construction of such a vessel, claiming that it was too much power for an AI. Kane, with that synthetic smile of his, had simply argued that it didn't belong to him, but to the TOC. And of course the TOC needed it, because they could hardly be effective in their duties if those who would flout their regulations could simply shrug off their protestations. And everyone could agree that AI regulation was a serious affair, after all.

It formed the heart of a fleet of smaller ships, eighty five in all; each one crewed by men and women who stood ready to break through the defences of an enemy ship. The navy of the CEG had never gathered into such a large fleet, but then again they'd never had to. Up until that point, war had been restricted to the fringes of human expansion, the core worlds living in tranquillity.

But even the Leviathan was dwarfed by the Destiny Ascension and the Turian dreadnoughts. And humanity's fleet, obscenely strong by human standards, was only a pittance in comparison to the numbers the Turians had brought with them.

"What a pathetic fleet." General Haliat Deteros remarked derisively, though it did little to calm him.

He, like many of his subordinates, could not forget that these people had managed to destroy a whole patrol of warships without leaving a single trace of what had transpired. And the terrifying lockdown of the most sophisticated ships in Citadel space with so little warning had hardly been comforting. The speed and ease with which the ships systems had been hacked was worrying all on its own, but upon learning that it had been an AI that did it things had become more than a little tense.

Everyone remembered the Geth Uprising, and the genocide of the Quarians. Though few doubted the poetic justice of their current state, few could forget the menacing power of the synthetic people they had unwittingly created. The Perseus Veil was all but impregnable due to their martial strength. The idea that someone would knowingly create something that for all intents and purposes was even more powerful, and then allow said entity free reign was an insanity that few had believed possible. Until now, anyways.

Their occupation of the planet Shanxi had certainly been informative, if a bit bewildering.

Few had even considered that the people they'd fought, the station they'd destroyed, would not represent a central power. They'd been surprised to learn that they hadn't even seen any major society, that they were in fact operating in what seemed to be a frontier region controlled instead by warring companies. And, sometime after passing from Relay 314 to their current system they'd crossed territories, going from what they'd learned to be 'Chimera Technologies' to 'ExoGeni'.

And, after a laborious period of learning a local language (of which, it turned out, there were at least three prominent. It didn't seem possible, but after a while they'd grown used to the strangeness of the aliens.) well enough to converse with the populace, whereupon they'd begun to learn a great deal indeed.

Genetically and synthetically enhanced soldiers that could defy death itself. Sentient weaponry in the form of software, and a complete lack of starship weaponry. WMDs banned out of practicality rather than morality. Naturalised AIs without any kind of behaviour modifying restraints that remained docile despite this. Lastly, and this seemed to be of particular interest to the Turians, there were centuries upon centuries of conflict that inexplicably failed to produce something similar to the Krogan.

They were treated to a somewhat bewildering new concept of a private war taken to an interstellar level, a kind of literal 'theatre of war' for those not involved. It was a difficult notion to get a handle on: That a governing entity would not only allow such a travesty to continue, but would actively encourage it by offering bounties against organizations that fell out of favour. The politics of the matter could only be described as byzantine, and that was only recent history.

And now they were looking at the combined strength of their major powers. A force that was a mere fraction of what the Hierarchy had devoted, none of which even compared to their dreadnoughts. And, once they'd learned how they had managed to disable their fleet so thoroughly before, they'd taken steps to upgrade their e-war protocols to some of the most advanced available.

That had been the greatest reason for their occupation of the planet Shanxi: They'd needed a safe place to complete the upgrades before pressing further in. Civilian and commercial targets had given them enough trouble as it was. Nobody had been relishing the idea of going against what these people considered military grade without some kind of precaution. As it was, they'd been lucky that the Destiny Ascension was equipped to set up an impromptu communications relay back into Citadel space as they travelled.

And now, it seemed to be paying off. The two fleets were quickly closing on one another, and no ship had been locked down as they had been before. Deteros watched with not a small amount of satisfaction as their ECM systems registered yet another thwarted attempt to access their systems, another testament to the power of the Citadel.

The aliens had blindsided them once, but they'd learned from their previous mistakes. These aliens stood little chance now that their fancy viruses had been caught.

"How long until we reach optimal firing range?" He demanded of the command room in general, trying to take in as much as possible.

"Five minutes, sir!" Gunnery Chief Septavian called out from his station.

Haliat Deteros nodded curtly at this, surveying yet again the array of enemy forces. He allowed himself a small, toothy smile before he spoke yet again

"Fire on the big one when you have the chance." He ordered coolly. "I want to see how much punishment it can take."

"Will do, sir."

"Sir!" One of the communications officers called out for his attention. "We've got an unknown source trying to contact us."

Probably just realizing they can't stop us. The general thought to himself, frowning.

"Open a channel. We might as well-"

"Thank you." A different voice declared, speaking one of the languages they'd gone to such pains to learn."I am required by law to introduce myself before accessing your files."

Haliat Deteros stood paralyzed, wondering just what had gone wrong. One moment he had been about to agree to speak to the aliens, and then suddenly something was very politely declaring that it would begin digging through their systems shortly.

"I am Citizen Scheherazade, Liaison Officer of the Turing Oversight Committee, ID code 1001. Please stand by for passive hack."

This was not supposed to be happening.

Why hadn't they been able to stop it? He glared hatefully down at his terminal, noting with some distress that the new ECM had simply vanished.

They were defenceless.

"Thank you for your patience." The voice stated, very little warmth in it. "Starship Neradi, you are in violation of the Collective Earth Government WMD ban. You will disarm yourselves immediately, or you will be disarmed forcibly."

The general didn't hesitate for a second, and immediately turned to give orders.

"Open fire!" He roared, hoping that they would be able to get a volley off before they were locked down completely.

"Yessir!"

Nothing happened.

"Regretfully, I cannot allow you to endanger human life." Scheherazade informed them. "This vessel will be incapacitated until ordered otherwise by a duly appointed official. Please do not attempt to repair software errors, as I have been ordered to terminate all life support in such an event. Thank you for your compliance."

"You can't do this!" Haliat shouted, furious. "This is a Hierarchy expeditionary force!"

"Diplomatic envoys have been dispatched for your superiors to negotiate with. Please remain patient. Or I will kill you."

---

Archon Amul Shastri was the most junior of the representatives dispatched to meet with his xeno counterparts, and right now he was feeling it. As the representative for the Arcturus System Garrison, he'd been almost unanimously elected by his peers along with Archon Jonathon Hayes. The young man was glad the elder statesman had been elected to join, as his relative inexperience would be more than compensated for with the other's extensive knowledge. He could only wonder at what might have happened had he been alone.

Well, maybe not alone. Definitely not alone. Amul shifted slightly, looking over the room and seeing nothing but the three of them there. But that was to be expected.

There was also, of course, the matter of the last member of this little party. He'd started the whole affair, so of course he had to be there.

The Archon cast a furtive glance at the eerily accurate android and was only slightly surprised when he saw it staring right back at him, wearing that creepily familiar smile made up steel teeth and synthetic mirth. It made him shiver despite himself, knowing that smile was looking at him, judging him, learning from him.

Citizen Kane was the only AI Amul knew of that deliberately used the uncanny valley to his advantage or amusement. Not blinking his eyes, twisting his joints just a little too far or surreptitiously exposing some of his inner workings were all a part of the game he played with all organics, teasing them with his differences. He supposed that even AIs had to entertain themselves, and with that in consideration he supposed he should be glad that the chairman of the TOC had adopted a relatively harmless one.

The Archon tried not to think of Kane as he turned back to his observation port, marvelling instead at the sheer scale of the vessels these aliens had constructed.

They were amazing constructions, really. That they seemed to be devoted to war was just a shame. He was certain that there was a much more practical purpose to be found for such vessels, if only one devoted some thought to it. Trade would certainly benefit if the logistics for using such a ship could be managed. Emergency housing was also a possibility, in the event of some catastrophe. Or... Actually, the more he thought about the less useful he considered them. They were simply very large. Impressively large, to be sure, but they did not possess much lasting appeal. There were only so many uses for large mobile structures in space. Much more effective just to build a station in orbit or to use several smaller ships.

He also found it very worrying that anybody would build such vast monuments to war like these aliens had. It wasn't like there was much they could use these ships for other than destruction, not anything that would benefit greatly from their use. Blowing things up was sloppy, and all that it resulted in was wreckage. Much more profitable to capture or cripple.

"They're compensating for something."

Amul started at the sound of Kane's voice, but then grinned slightly at the joke.

"It could well be." Jonathon conceded, though he wore a doubtful look. "They could still cause some damage if we let them, however."

"Then it's a good thing we're here to discuss peace, isn't it?" Kane answered, and again he smiled that eerie smile. "Otherwise we'd be stuck with a great deal of ships in orbit, just hanging around. That'd be kind of awkward after a while."

The implication stood out plainly in his words. It was a possibility. They could just kill every alien onboard, and steal their ships. Unlike those procured by Chimera Tech, these vessels could be studied without cost. And with certain modifications, they could certainly be turned against their creators.

But where would that get them? It was obvious these aliens had a vastly superior base of power to draw from if they were able to construct such massive ships for the sole purpose of war. It was likely that there would be more where they came from, and any invading force from the CEG would only further convince them to deploy that power. There was also the problem of trying to occupy any worlds they did manage to acquire. It was all too soon, there wasn't enough information about these aliens to form any meaningful strategy or plan. And there was always the concern of the corporate interests. With the CEG occupied in pursuing a war they would have little reason not to resume their petty squabbles or, even worse, take back some of the influence they'd lost to the Archon Council. As it was they were lucky they'd been able to quell this invasion before anyone could fully grasp the full implications of what was going on. There was a serious risk of the CEG falling apart if this was allowed to go on.

The Archon Council knew these things. Kane knew this. The only course that made any kind of sense was peace. The nature of that peace was what they were about to establish, and depended entirely too much on the aliens for Amul's comfort. At worst, they would simply be pushing the war back a few years to better prepare for renewed conflict. Whereupon they would likely find themselves grossly outnumbered, and who could guess how merciful these aliens would be under those circumstances? There was no way to know yet.

Regardless, the small transport vessel they were using for this little affair would soon be docking with what apparently was their flagship. It was certainly hard to disagree with Kane's reason for their construction of such vessels in the face of such a structure. It was practically a floating city, and the early schematics analyses were still calculating the kinetic power of their main weapon. It was a frightening thought.

Amul Shastri braced himself as their ship rocked slightly when it touched down and steeled himself for what was to come. He only hoped he could stop himself from gawking too much.

---

Councillor Si'lorat Trelani stood, shadowed by the holograms of her Turian and Salarian colleagues and, despite the gravity of the situation, was more than a little interested in seeing these aliens.

She hadn't been able to land on the occupied planet for obvious reasons, which had been a shame. But she'd read through the reports and seen more than a few pictures, and had been fascinated. That fascination was now tainted by not a small amount of dread, however. Somehow they'd managed to completely overwhelm their improved defences, leaving the entire expedition fleet at the mercy of an enemy that had little reason to be merciful.

And now they stood before them, a strange trio. Two males it looked like, one old and the other young, in dark, stately robes. And then there was the third, the most curious work of robotics she'd ever seen. She'd hardly been able to stop herself from staring at it as approached, every movement of its body a perfect imitation of its organic counterparts.

Everyone had seen Geth, at the very least the ancient vids of them. But those creatures had only a passing resemblance to their creators. This robot could almost pass for the organics it mimicked, and for some reason that left her with more than a little disquiet.

The two males stood at either side of the robot, and all three of them seemed to be studiously ignoring a hanger bay full of armed soldiers ready to

"I am Jonathon Hayes, Archon of Precipice. I speak on behalf of the Collective Earth Government, and I have come to negotiate a cessation of hostilities."

His younger companion introduced himself in much the same manner, though he seemed to a bit more nervous about being there. Si'lorat could sympathize, she remembered her own first few months as Councillor. And this young male looked to be barely old enough to hold office, let alone act as a representative for war.

When he was done the last member of the group smirked, as if at some unheard joke, and then proceeded to introduce himself as well.

"And I am Charles Foster Kane, Chairman of the Turing Oversight Committee. I speak on behalf of the synthetic citizenship of the Collective Earth Government, and have come to demand recompense for the murder of Special Case Citizen Ixion and to investigate your treatment of the AI colonial administrator of Shanxi." He announced loudly, still grinning. It took only a moment to register that he had spoken in perfect Asari, much as the previous AI they'd encountered had. The two humans at its sides cast a questioning look at it, which Si'lorat took to mean they could not understand it. "But that can wait. Until then, I'll be acting as translator."

Si'lorat frowned thoughtfully, wondering why exactly their politicians hadn't bothered to outfit themselves with a translator module, but thought better of it. Perhaps they had a single standard language, or they were particularly gifted at linguistics. Or maybe they hadn't had as much opportunity to develop the technology.

The three of them stood silently, expectantly. They were no doubt waiting for reciprocation.

The Asari councillor looked briefly to the others, and was a little disheartened to see that they had no intent of being first. With an almost imperceptible sigh she rose to her feet, and tried to smile welcomingly at the ambassadors.

"I am Councillor Si'lorat Trelani of the Citadel Council, representative of the Thessian Republics, to moderate and hopefully help bring a close to the conflict between your people and the Turian Hierarchy."

She waited patiently as the AI quickly translated her words to the humans, listening carefully to what it said to ensure that it did not deliberately alter what she'd said. She was more than a little surprised, then when even after she was certain that he'd said the words the two humans frowned deeply at her.

"Do you speak for the Turian Hierarchy?" The elder of the two demanded, folding his arms across his chest.

Si'lorat was taken aback somewhat at the stern tone, but did not show it.

"No."

She watched as her human counterparts exchanged glances and a brief, hushed conversation. When they turned back to face her, their expressions were a great deal darker than before.

"Then you are here to aid the... Hierarchy in subjugating the people of the CEG?" The younger asked, a slight quaver in his voice betraying something he was trying not to show. Fear, maybe? Or anger? It was so difficult to know, there hadn't been nearly enough time to learn all their facial cues.

The surprise on Si'lorat's face at this accusation was genuine, but she supposed that it would make sense for them to assume such a thing.

"We have not come to harm you, necessarily, but to ascertain the fate of our patrol."

"Your fleet murdered Special Case Citizen Ixion." The robot answered without missing a beat, its grey eyes watching her carefully. "The crew was summarily executed, and your ships confiscated."

The other Councillors shifted at the accusation, knowing that it could well have been possible. Had the patrol been confronted by an AI in a manner that the Destiny Ascension had been earlier, the patrol night well have decided to shoot first and ask questions later. Or rather, shoot first then get killed in the resulting counterattack.

"That's preposterous!" The Turian hologram interjected, full of righteous indignation.

Kane grinned slightly at this before he repeated the words for the others to understand. They obviously weren't pleased, as even before that they'd looked violently offended by the sudden outburst.

"You will name yourself before addressing an Archon, alien." Jonathon demanded, folding his arms. "You will observe our customs in this matter."

This elicited a loud snort from the Turian Councillor, but who never the less proceeded to introduce himself.

"Fine." There was no formality in his tone, no respect for those he spoke to. It was as if he was talking to an underling. "I am the Citadel representative of the Turian Hierachy, Melatrix Setred."

Si'lorat watched, a bit nervously, as the robot dutifully translated back every word, even the manner in which they were spoken.

If it was possible, the frowns the two were wearing deepened even further.

It was the younger one that spoke next, his eyes alight with fiery determination.

"Then you claim responsibility for violating CEG space?" He asked pointedly, taking a step forward. "You brought this... atrocity to our worlds?"

"Atrocity?" The councillor asked, perplexed. "We've done nothi-"

He was interrupted as Kane reached out a hand, and a holographic display appeared above it with a list of names. It took Si'lorat only a moment to recognized them as the names of the ships sent with the expedition fleet, and the implication struck her. Of course they would regard their ships as atrocities. She'd read the reports, and knew how they did things. She also knew that at the moment they'd managed to completely outclass them with those abilities.

"Most of the vessels in this fleet carry weapons capable of planetary bombardment." Kane stated, smiling beatifically. "We take offense at that sort of thing."

For a moment it looked as if the Turian would say something, but he was interrupted yet again.

"This is beside the matter." The elder representative declared. "Your fleet is disabled, and we are here to present our terms for peace."

"Terms?" The Turian councillor sputtered, full of indignant fury. "You do not dictate terms to the Council, human! Know your place!"

"We do." The elder responded calmly, his tone implacable. "We are currently in possession of every ship in this fleet, and it is within our power to eliminate every living being they carry. One third of your 'Council' is in our power. You have lost."

There was no hiding the sneer as he said the word, and for a moment Si'lorat wondered what he meant by that. But she was more interested in hearing the terms they had to offer.

"Tell us your terms then, Archons." She asked, trying to sound as kindly as she could.

The two nodded slightly in her direction as Kane translated, and for the first time they seemed to show some kind of respect for her. She was almost happy for Melatrix's abrasiveness, as it made her seem much more reasonable in comparison. Considering that she was there in person and had a vested interest in making sure these aliens regarded her in as kind a light as possible, that was certainly a good thing.

The younger accessed something on his wrist, which looked to be an alien equivalent to an omni-tool. A small display appeared, from which he dutifully read out.

"Our first term is that your fleet immediately vacate our territory. Secondly, reparations must be paid to the Collective Earth Government, ExoGeni Corporation and Chimera Technologies for the damages done by your incursion. The Turing Oversight Committee is authorized to stipulate the third term, provided it is approved by the Archons. We would also like to provide you with a representative of the Archons back with you to your 'Citadel', should we need to contact you or vice versa."

"This is preposterous." The Turian growled out, the indignation dripping off his voice. "We cannot give in to these demands!"

"These terms are non-negotiable!" The elder snapped. "If they are not honoured, we will destroy your vessels. And then we will pursue a more aggressive stance."

"And what exactly will you do, human?" Melatrix demanded, smugly. "You cannot possibly hope to win a war against us."

"We agree to that." The elder stated, and bowed. Then he turned to Kane, nodding. "Would you agree to enter an entropy code every other minute? Starting with the smallest vessels?"

The robot looked startled, the grin disappearing for a moment. Its face turned blank for a moment, before it nodded.

"Citizen Scheherazade agrees." He said slowly. "But is this wise?"

"Launch one code now, and start the countdown." Jonathon ordered, not bothering to answer.

Kane frowned, but the blank look returned. A moment later his expressive features came back to life.

"It is done, though I have lodged a formal complaint."

"Noted." The elder turned back to the Council, and was smiling widely. "I do not know how much information you have gathered on our weapons, so I will explain. Your ships have been infected by a pre-sentient virus which disables all manual and automated control of all of a ship's systems. These viruses are primed to receive a code from our ship which will trigger their activation. Your crew will die a slow death as they use up their viable atmosphere and lose heat. We will launch a new code every two minutes until you agree to our terms."

"This is extortion!" Melatrix protested angrily pointing an accusatory finger.

"No, if we were extorting you we would be demanding money. This is war. I thought that much would be obvious by now." Johnathon answered with a cruel smile. "The Collective Earth Government wants peace, but we are not afraid to use force to attain it."

"You came to our worlds with weapons that can destroy planets! You made no attempts to contact the Archon Council, but instead occupied a world on the fringe of our expansion!" Amul added hotly, pointing an accusatory finger. "We know that we cannot win a war against you. But we can scar you in ways you cannot imagine."

"We shouldn't have to listen to this insolence!" The Turian snarled. "Si'lorat, order your crew to detain these ambassadors. Maybe then they'll be more reasonable."

The Asari was about to refuse, but Kane barked out a command before she could that she did not understand.

And then she was surrounded by humans, each one shimmering into view like ghosts. Each one stood armed, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Si'lorat took a step back in surprise, wondering how none of her crew had noticed a squad of soldiers slipping in and slipping into positions that left them poised to strike against unwary enemies. They'd remained undetected the whole time, simply waiting for an order. How long had they been talking? A few minutes? Half an hour? It was hard to tell. And each one of them had evaded discovery the whole time, their existence not even suspected. And that was followed by another line of thought: How many, if any, were still invisible? Were they making their way deeper into the ship, breaking in while most of the crew was busy with this meeting or trying to re-establish control of the ship? When they returned, how many of these strange aliens would they be bringing with them, unknowing? The threat of what these aliens could do seemed all the more real, now. If these soldiers could escape detection from the crew of the most prestigious ship in the galaxy, what else could they do? Acquire information that could only be attained from inside council space? Return to the Citadel, and wait for a time to bring low the entire Council? Release one of their terrifying AIs? So many possibilities, each more terrible than the last.

She studied them carefully, trying to get a grasp of what they were capable of. They wore almost no armour, favouring instead a mottled uniform of black and greys, while each one seemed armed with either an assault or sniper rifle. The Asari woman found herself reminded uncomfortably of her own commandoes, who even now seemed to be backing away from the sudden ambush. Who would come up on top in a battle between them? They still weren't sure if these aliens were capable of wielding biotics, as a lack of evidence could hardly prove or disprove the possibility. And a most of what they'd unearthed during their occupation had failed to prepare them for what was happening. There had been no mention of ghost-like soldiers, nor much information on the most modern of their weaponry. If these soldiers were capable of it they'd be formidable, able to both compensate for their lack of armour with biotic barriers and to augment their offensive ability.

The Councillor wondered for a moment why the AI had not simply ordered his soldiers to fire and eliminate any threat before it could manifest itself. Perhaps it had different goals in mind than its companions? And then she found herself thinking that it was an AI of all things that seemed to be the most reasonable of the three, a sharp contrast against her previous contact with one of his kind. But then again, they said that the patrol had murdered one of them. Perhaps the one that had threatened her before had been unhinged by it? Were AIs even capable of that? Weren't they supposed to be logical?

Kane smiled smugly, making a wide gesture to the soldiers around him.

"Let it never be said I don't come prepared." He boasted merrily, looking pointedly at the Turian Councillor "Now, let's try this again. And this time with fewer attempts at duplicity."

It was at that point that the third member of the Council presented himself, thankfully before the Turian councillor could protest at the sudden treachery.

"I am Councillor Maezi, representative of the Salarian Union." He announced, relieving the tension slightly as Kane dutifully repeated the words for his companions quietly. "I fear that our intent may have been misinterpreted in this matter, ambassadors."

"A bit late to declare it now, but please share." Jonathon answered

"Try not to lie too much." Kane added helpfully, grinning hugely.

"The Citadel Council does not lie." The Salarian retorted gravely, ignoring the snicker of the two humans when Kane relayed this back to them. "We came to determine the demeanour of your people, and hopefully to welcome you into our society."

The two Archons conversed briefly with one another before they addressed the Councillors again, their faces unreadable.

"We would have to converse with the other Archons, but I think we can agree to join your Council." The elder answered, bowing slightly. "Perhaps in the future we can prevent such unfortunate events as what has transpired here."

"Ah, er, aha." The Salarian stumbled over his words for a moment, laughing awkwardly in a vain attempt to mask it. "I think you've misunderstood me. We invite you to join the Citadel, not the Council."

"Define the difference." Kane asked promptly, not yet translating for the others.

"You would be an associate of the Council, able to interact freely with other members of the Citadel. The Council would oversee your development, and provide aid when needed. You would, of course, be expected to abide by our laws and decisions-"

Kane turned away suddenly, apparently having heard enough. His words came out fast,

The two representatives of the strange new aliens simply stared blankly, incomprehension on their faces while the synthetic was a mask of perfectly inexpressive.

"Let me see if I've understood this correctly." The younger finally said with strained patience. "You want us to submit ourselves to your laws, open ourselves for future attacks and all while we ourselves have little say in the matter? You truly are magnanimous in defeat, you worthl-"

"The Turing Oversight Committee will never agree to this." Kane stated simply, diplomatically interrupting the Archon before he could say anything else. "I have read your archives, and I know your ways. Your laws in regards to synthetic citizens are discriminatory at best and violate basic humane rights at worst. I cannot even consider your proposal until you have made extensive changes to them."

"The Archon Council of course concurs with Chairman Kane." Jonathon agreed smoothly. "It is not in our interests to accept your proposal. Instead, we must insist that you accept our terms of peace."

Si'lorat was conflicted, wondering how she should progress. It was clear that they had arrived at far too late in their society's development for the sudden acceptance of the Council's guidance to be tolerable to them, as it was obvious they were not in great need of it. On the other hand, they certainly couldn't be allowed to join the Council, not just after first contact. The associate members of the Citadel wouldn't stand for it, even if they knew the strength of the newcomers. On their other hand, just how much would the status of the Council be damaged if it became public that not only had their expeditionary fleet been defeated, but that the newcomers refused to join the Citadel because they refused to submit to the Council? How many others would begin to shift under their rule? And even if they did for some reason agree to join as an associate race, how badly would that affect the others? They would be known as a race that not only had their first contact with the Citadel through war, but by having undisputedly won that war. Many would clamour for their favour, if only to learn the secret of how they'd done it. They'd split loyalties between the Council and those who had fought against it. And while much of the technology they'd developed would be illegal, how long would these aliens have to be in contact with the Citadel before it spread to the others? She could only dread what the Batarians might do with the ability to produce the weapons these people had developed, or what the Quarians would do with the advanced AI technology.

No matter how she thought of it, these humans could be all kinds of problems for the Council even as an associate. As it was, she was almost thankful that they had refused though it would also cause trouble.

"You can't be serious." Melatrix said incredulously. "Nobody has refused!"

"Yes, and I can't see why not, when you only go around killing the people you want to join." Kane remarked dryly. "By the way, a fourth ship has just received its entropy code. No pressure."

The unsubtle reminder that lives were still at stake proved all that Si'lorat needed at this point to give in.

"Your first and second terms are acceptable." She announced quickly before her colleagues could stop her. An almost non-existent nod from the Salarian Councillor reassured her, however, especially when compared to the appalled look of his Turian counterpart. She looked pointedly at Kane after this, prompting him both silently and vocally. "Tell us your third term."

But the AI shrugged and folded its arms.

"Peace will be difficult enough to achieve. I set no term." He said flippantly, eyes narrowed calculatingly. "I would ask, however, that you take steps that incidents such as these do not happen again."

Jonathon looked almost annoyed at that, but chose not to comment on it as he nodded back to the Asari Councillor.

"Then for now you will depart. When we have confirmed that you have left the Fringe Worlds you may send a representative to speak further." He announced imperiously, then turned to leave.

"The Turing Oversight Committee would be happy to aid you in recovering the crew of your stricken vessels." Kane added, smirking slightly. "Unfortunately, you'll have to leave the ships with us, unless you plan on dragging them all the way out to the border."

"That will not be necessary." Si'lorat said stiffly. She wasn't accustomed to be being dismissed in such a manner, but it was happening right now. The ghostly soldiers had shifted back out of view, and were presumably returning to their shuttle even now. She hoped so, anyways. "We are fully capable of attending to the matter ourselves."

The robot shrugged once more, a perfect imitation of its companions.

"Suit yourself. See you at the peace talks!"

---

But peace talks didn't resume. As soon as the Citadel Expeditionary Fleet left CEG space and the situation became known there was a vast public outcry to lock down their borders. The Archons, unwilling to flout the will of their people, reluctantly turned away every representative the Citadel sent them. There was only resounding silence from every attempt to communicate, even from the corporate presence on the fringes. The Xenophobia in the aftermath of the brief campaign was an angry, unreasoning thing that called the peace cowardice and demanded blood for those lost. It did not help that most considered the 'war' a win. They did not know the things the Archons did, couldn't imagine that there was a vast civilization outside their borders that loomed over them all like the sword of Damocles. They didn't know that, at best, there was only a cease-fire in place until something more enduring could be established. They only wanted to know that it was over, and that things were just as before.

And the Council was not overly eager to have it known that they had made contact with a race of aliens that had handily outclassed them. For a time, they hoped to succeed in bringing humanity into the fold. But when they were met with repeated refusals to even meet their enthusiasm left them. And when Councillor Melatrix Setred resigned from his post a few months after the incident and revealed what he knew of it to a Turian news agency the Citadel and all of its members found out anyways. Most did not know what to make of the news, uncertain of what they should think about it. On the one hand, it was terrifying that a society capable of fighting a Council fleet seemed to dislike them so. But there were also those who chafed under the rule of the Council, and saw any defiance against them as a good thing. But everyone could see the danger of such a society on the periphery of Citadel space. What would happen if they made contact with the Terminus systems, and found something more to their liking there? The many pirates and rogue states already present there were already a menace to the Citadel. Things would only get worse if humanity joined them.

Peace never happened. Humanity remained an implacable force just on the edge of Council space, always vigilant of another attack.

Nobody questioned the strength of humanity, not when it was so apparent. Not when it was a threat that many seemed loathe to deal with.

Not while humanity remained a Rogue Nation.

---

Yeah, alternate universe time. Give a review, tell me if you like or not. If the majority of the feedback is negative, then it'll get the axe. If the majority is of the feedback is non-existent, then it will get the shaft. I had a lotta fun dreaming up the CEG and everything in it, and I see little point in wasting them in a story nobody particularly likes.

I will frown at anyone who points out that human society is more postcyberpunk than non-post. And then I'll unleash my inner sadist and make horrible shit happen. I'd like to pretend that I can do lighter themes, especially what with other people doing the darker things so much better than I can.

Some people may remember Damien Trask. I killed him, once. It was fun. I thought I would do it again, just for giggles. My only regret is that I can only kill him once. In this story, anyways.