The dust has settled at the graveyard of Capella, where the Alliance was believed to have again survived against the Shivan menace. After the rebellion of the NTF and the crisis at Capella, the turbulent rule of Toqueville's Coalition government has restored a tentative calm to a greatly troubled Alliance. While the Great Destroyers may have been sealed away for now, they will soon prove themselves more awakened and powerful than ever.

Matthias Coleman is the leader of the League, and will soon be elected Secretary-General of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance, destined to be the greatest civilization ever to span the galaxy. His ascension, to a long and prosperous reign, marks the beginning of an age that is to last all the way up until the Great Galactic War.

In a new era of unprecedented technological progress, doubts will be cast on certainties that have stood since time immemorial, and new dogmas will rise in their place. A nascent Alliance is poised to take its place amongst the great powers of the galaxy. A hegemonic Council is desperate to hold onto power in the wake of a rising Coalition. Within the shadowy depths of the Alliance's GTVI division, the gears of the Special Operations Command churn away at the dominance of the Citadel's Spectres. Far away, across the sea of stars, the riches of the Terminus and Traverse beckon.

This is their story. A story of politics, diplomacy, intrigue, and war. A game of Astropolitics.

/Reworked this chapter to remove similarities to modern day political events.

Delta Serpentis - Janus - Syrk - Coleman residence

June 2, 2377

Matthias Coleman, leader of the League, returned to his tower penthouse not far from the seat of government in the Alliance for perhaps the first time in weeks after an extraordinary close and bitter campaign, was finally sat in the rather comfortable-looking couch, surrounded by augmented reality displays of various monitors and screens, each displaying a separate newsfeed for the election's results, though only one taking center stage and with any sound audible, with the bottom status bar collecting, processing, and tallying up data down to a single sequence of numbers: The number of seats that each party had won.

The clock hit midnight, universal coordinated time. "The polls have now closed," reported the rather distinguished looking, Grey-haired gentleman on the screen, and now, the moment of truth, "Exit polling has the League at two hundred and ninety, very close to a full majority. We expect non-ordinary votes to be declared very soon."

He grinned, and leaned back in his couch, raising his glass of 2324 Aldebaran vintage to the screens as the filler content proceeded, colleague from the League Nicole Greene sitting with her counterparts from the other parties, discussing the results, the policy out comes, and trying to spin it all to a success no matter the outcome.

"Now, we're confident that the non-ordinary votes will favor the League as always," remarked his soon-to-be defense minister. The election analyst standing next to his own antiquated flat-screen projection replied almost academically, "Well, in the past two elections they have favored the League with a margin of roughly five percent, but in the grand scheme of things of course that's only tallied to a one point five percent swing in the overall results."

He continued on as the projection he used to explain to the audience changed to a view of the planet of Janus, capital world of the GTVA, "Now, Janus has, of course, always been the first to declare, and has just finished counting. The League has won thirty seats out of sixty-five in the capitol world of the Alliance. The traditional bellwether, no party has ever formed government without coming first in Delta Serpentis…"

The central projection flashed for a moment, and was immediately replaced by the results for Delta Serpentis, 72% counted, Janus being the sole major population centre in the system. Leauge, thirty and a half of the fifteen-million vote quotas. Coalition, nineteen point four, and the Democrats and People's Party both hovering just below seven.

As the time passed, status bar projection below ticked up, fifty for the League, thirty-eight for the Coalition, sixteen Democrats, twelve Reform, nine People's Party, before the fifty for the League flipped and dropped down to forty-seven.

"Results have just come in from Deneb, and it's a real shock with the People's Party coming first, and Reform in second…"

For the Coalition, up to eighty. Reform, People's Party, Democrats, nine, fifteen, ten. And the League, ninety-two.

"A strong showing from the Democrats, this is the first time they've passed the threshold in Beta Aquilae, with the Coalition projected to win half the seats and the League a third. No surprises here, really…"

One thirty-three… later votes on the outer rim worlds have always favored the League…

"We can confirm now that Delta Serpentis has finished counting and is distributing preferences. It will come down to the Democrat and Reform preferences for the last three seats in the system, as the League and Coalition are on a knife edge of a margin…"

Two hundred… Beta Aquilae will declare soon, and the polls were unmistakably pointing to the League carrying the world…

"Final results are in for Beta Aquilae. This is only the second time since the Great War that the People's Party has carried the most votes," explained the man on the screen as the historical voting record of the system flashed up on the left, and the opinion polling and trend line on the right of the full results breakdown, with both pointing to a comfortable League plurality.

Two-fifty… he clenched his glass tightly…

"At three twenty-two universal coordinated time, the Electoral Commission has just declared full results. The Unity and Liberation League has two hundred fifty-six seats, followed by the Coalition with just shy of two hundred, the People's Party with sixty-eight, Reform on fifty-eight, and the Democrats with a record high of thirty."

Two hundred and fifty six.

Staring at the screen for a good half-minute in disbelief, he picked up his PDA and called the lead of his campaign team.

"What the hell happened?"

Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – Citadel Tower

"We have no reason to believe that a League government will be willing to implement a more assertive foreign policy. In fact, we can expect them to pursue a more isolationist stance if they are indeed forced into coalition with Reform as the initial results indicate."

The Salarian councilor's response was, of course, calm as ever. After all, his analysts did spend thousands upon thousands of manhours poring through every last bit of minutiae in each and every major party's manifesto in order to prepare for every possible result. He grinned slightly, so slightly as to be almost invisible.

"There are no guarantees. Both parties have repeatedly stated their intentions to withdraw from the Agreement as it stands, an act paramount to withdrawal from the galactic community," retorted his Turian contemporary.

"Perhaps, but as always, we will have the upper hand in the negotiations to come," replied Councillor Valern confidently. "If they fail to produce agreeable terms for us, all trade and technology exchange will cease and they will be left as a galactic backwater. And this, the Alliance is aware of," he continued.

"Of course, that is only as a last resort," added Councillor Tevos.

"Yes, of course," agreed Valern with a nod.

Spartaus sighed, and continued to speak, "There is always the possibility that the League's negotations with Reform fail. If that happens, any government would have to be backed by the Democrats, a worst case scenario by any means."

"All of the Terran parties have explicitly ruled out accepting the Democrats in government," reminded Tevos. "The most likely scenarios if that happens either fresh elections, or a return of the Toqueville government, which is our best case scenario."

"Perhaps," the Turian mused. "Nevertheless, the Hegemony's stance remains unchanged. Should the Terrans wish to repudiate or renegotiate the agreement, we should not allow them to get off lightly. We need to press for hard terms."

"Pursuing closer integration so far has only resulted in the Terran peoples electing the League in protest, and it is doubtful they will be as amicable to negotiations," agreed Valern.

The Asari councillor stood up and sighed, "Very well. I must remind you, the Terrans are still a young species, with an extensive history of conflict. It is just as likely that they accept no deal at all over a deal that doesn't favour them," she said with warnings.

Codex - Milky Way / GTVA Core Systems / Laramis System / Venice

Orbital Distance: 4.264 AU

Orbital Period: 6.4 Earth Years

Keplerian Ratio: 2.4

Radius: 9,020 km

Day Length: 11 Earth Hours

Atm. Pressure: 1.12 atm

Surface Temp: 13°C

Surface Gravity: 1.43 g

Mass: 2.86 Earth Masses

Satellites: N/A

Venice is a terrestrial world within the Laramis system. The second planet in the system, Venice's atmosphere is almost entirely consisted of Argon gas, rendering the atmosphere impossible to breathe to the Terrans who inhabit the planet. Despite this, Venice remains an important part of the Terran GTVA, as it is a pristine world by any measure and rich in mineral resources.

A key manufacturing hub in the GTVA, Venice is the site of the RNI shipyards, responsible for production of the Aeolus cruiser, and comprises over seven percent of the entire GTVA's industrial production.

The primary import of Venice is edible foodstuffs, as the soil and atmosphere composition of Venice renders the vast majority of Terran crops impossible to grow naturally on Venice, and the heavy industries of Venice hinder hydroponic crop growth.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Due to the considerable distance between the systems in the area known as the GTVA core and the nearest currently active mass relay, travelers are advised to ensure sufficient fuel supplies to make the trip.