*EDIT: Originally, Tokhta's speech was a copy of the one used in the Murder of Crows trailer, but after it was pointed out that this did not fit well, and was bordering close to plagiarism, I have since changed it to an original one.*
*EDIT 2: Setting changed from an empty plain in the hills to the middle of a city, and more showing off has been added. Because the Morrigi really love that kind of thing.*
"I thought the Morrigi were a largely extinct race," Ambassador Tevos remarked calmly.
"As did we," Anita Goyle murmured darkly, surveying the bazar with angry eyes. "Clearly, the Crows have been hiding their true colors for some time now."
The pair stood in the middle of a large market, large being the operative word. Morrigi of every shape and size had set up their own areas, showcasing objects both mundane and fantastic. Drones zipped through the air like swirling birds, transporting small objects or carrying about other mundane tasks. Based off the view from the shuttle they had taken down to the planet, the bazar stretched on for at least two kilometers in every direction, and was surrounded by titanic pyramids. A few kilometers away, a second city floated over the first, transports and other craft flitting endlessly between it and its grounded cousin.
"It is actually for your benefit," the pilot had told them after their transport had landed. "The Harrowing is traditionally not a place for trade, but the Morru Khan wished you to be able to sample our luxuries before the main event."
"Tokhta failed to mention exactly what the main event was," Anita muttered darkly. They had seen quite a few events since their arrival, from one on one combat between Morrigi in orbit-capable powered armor, each equipped with their own set of attack drones, to a full simulated invasion on the planet's larger moon. That last one had certainly gotten the attention of the turian and krogan representatives. "And this useless piece of junk won't tell me anything."
The human ambassador indicated the drone that followed the pair, currently displaying a hologram of two destroyers strafing each other through a nearby asteroid field.
"I am sorry, Ambassador. I am not programmed with that knowledge. It will be broadcast to me when the time is right," the drone chirped obediently, just as it had every other time Anita had complained about this issue.
"Be patient. I'm sure all will be revealed soon," Tevos answered with a knowing smile, turning to examine an intricate bracelet. The towering Morrigi female launched into a long and complicated story about the bracelet's origins, but Anita automatically turned her out. A sale pitch was the same wherever you went.
Suddenly, the drones overhead all froze in the air. As one, they turned to face the gathering below them and spoke with a single booming voice.
"Attention. The final event of the Honing will begin in five minutes."
No sooner had they spoken than the drones all returned to what they had been doing, as though nothing had ever happened. The Morrigi below, however, began swiftly packing away their wares. With a flurry of wings, a white-feathered male landed before them, flanked by two others in full armor.
"Tokhta the Just," Tevos said, bowing gracefully at the waist. "We finally meet. I offer you peace on behalf of the asari people, and the Citadel Council as well."
"Be careful, Ambassador, or I just might take you up on your offer. I hear you may soon become the new asari Councilor. Congratulations," Tokhta replied, his eyes twinkling. "And Ambassador Goyle. It has been some time since we last spoke."
"Indeed," Anita agreed with a neutral tone. "It would appear your people were not as forthcoming with us as we had at first assumed."
"You know what humans say about assuming, Ambassador," the Morrigi answered with that same mischief. "Come with me. I shouldn't be late for my own Honing, it wouldn't look good. You two are the last I must collect, the others are already waiting."
"You still haven't explained what this main event is supposed to be," Anita accused, falling in behind Tokhta. She also noticed grimly that the two armored Morrigi had slid in behind them. Judging from their weapons and the drones used in the duel, they were wielding the powerful laser rifles Morrigi seemed to favor, with the armor piecing chakkram cannons mounted in their drones. The fingers of the suit would hold sharpened melee blades, and considering their size…
"You'll find out in just a minute, Ambassador," Tokhta said over his shoulder, breaking her out of her paranoid thoughts. "We're almost there."
Ahead of them was a small platform on a spire. A series of pillars rose from the platform, and Anita recognized them as control pillars, the Morrigi equivalent of a computer terminal. It had no walls or ceiling, but she noticed a large holotank had been placed directly in the center. Several colorful Morrigi males waited expectantly for them, along with the rest of the diplomatic group.
"Councilors, Ambassadors. I trust I have not kept you waiting long," Tokhta called, slithering up the side of the spire with ease. "Please, make yourself comfortable, but I must request you stay off the command platform. We will be starting shortly."
"Still won't say what the point of all this was," Var'Anu Kuumak'Orr, the Tarkasian ambassador, grumbled quietly as he lumbered over to Anita. "Damn Crows. The Supreme should have sent a woman for this, like your people did. I don't have the patience for their bullshit."
"The fact that you know that, Var'Anu, is why he sent you," buzzed Prince Stone Mind, the Hiver ambassador, as he also walked over to where the others were standing. "Be patient. You know the Crows, nothing is ever what it seems. Besides, you should be proud. You haven't made one joke about serving me with butter all day."
"I would never make such a tasteless mark and expect to survive your sons' reprisal, Stone," Var'Anu answered with a savage grin. "Perhaps we should try cheeses instead. Though I imagine I'll still come out worse for it."
"But Tarkasians do not become intoxicated when consuming dairy products," Tevos stated, confused. "Why would you come out worse?"
"He was making a joke," Ambassador Eshelen explained, sliding over on the many tentacles of her hydration armor. "Tarkasian humor is usually self-deprecating."
"Amusing," said their Spectre escort, in a tone that indicated it was anything but. The young Turian's name was Saren, if Anita remembered correctly. He stood off to one side, a bored expression on his face. It looked like he was about to go on, but was cut off when the evening sky suddenly lit up with blinding lights.
Below them, the clouds of drones had all stopped, and were now hovering motionless. Light shone from the tops of every drone, combining above the gathering to form a massive 3D image: two massive fleets opposing one another on the outskirts of the system's asteroid field. As Anita watched, a set of numbers in the Trade Language began counting down in the top right.
"Is this a live feed?" she asked suddenly as everything clicked into place.
"Of course." Tokhta wound himself around the largest command pillar, shooting them all what passed among Morrigi as a triumphant smirk. "Now if you will all excuse me, the main event is about to begin. I must defend my title."
"How many dreadnoughts are up there?" Stone Mind asked, tilting his head back and staring upward.
"Fifteen," Vaanu confirmed, pointing at a running tally in the holotank in the midst of the command pillars. "That's more than the damn Salarians!"
"It would appear the Morrigi have been quite busy recently," Eshelen stated in a tone that from anyone but a Liir would have been dry sarcasm. "Interesting."
The timer ticked down to zero, and both fleets immediately began moving, the angular Morrigi designs quickly slicing through the darkness as they began maneuvering. Predictably, both sides began immediately launching drones in large numbers almost immediately.
As she watched, she noticed two different tactics present. Tokhta had divided his fleet into several parts, sending several groups of destroyers forward while the bulk of his fleet remained back. The screening destroyers used maneuverability to their advantage while his torpedo ships and carriers hid behind the main force in the asteroid belt. Meanwhile, the enemy fleet seemed to be avoiding the belt like it was poison, instead grouping together in a tight knot, using their combined point defense to cut down drones, missiles, and torpedoes before they could get close.
"Tokhta is the existing Morru Khan, so he must defend," a female voice called, and the group turned to see a pair of Morrigi females sliding around the sides of the spire to walk toward them. "He is allowed to place a limited number of defenses, but his opponent is allowed to choose where he will deploy."
"That explains it." Anita turned back to the battle raging overhead, trying to estimate the weaponry mounted on each ship. Positron beams, kelvinic torpedoes, mass drivers… "His opponent must be afraid of asteroid traps. If he stays away from the field, he's safe."
"Safe is a relative term." The Morrigi female rose to her full height, staring down at the group before bowing her head in greeting. "I am Akhilleos the Swift, mate of Tokhta the Just. Our soil is honored by your presence."
"What is that glowing beam?" Tevos wondered, pointing at a cruiser that had snagged a passing destroyer and was dragging it into the firing arc of its guns.
"Tractor beam," Anita answered easily as the destroyer broke apart under the force of the cruiser's beam weapons. "We don't mount them on anything in Council space; ships there are too big for it to be useful."
Silence settled on the group for a moment as they watched the battle unfold. The challenger's strategy appeared to be paying off. Tokhta was taking significant casualties, and his forces had been forced back from their bombardment position, with numerous ships destroyed or crippled. Councilor Tevos visibly flinched as one of Tokhta's dreadnoughts exploded violently under a barrage of mass driver rounds.
"The destruction is simulated," explained Akhilleos reassuringly. "The actual battle is fought with dummy warheads and tracking lasers. What you see in the sky is a simulation based off the data sent from the fleet. We are not monstrous enough to kill our own crews over a matter of leadership."
"That makes at least one race." Vaanu glanced pointedly at Anita and Stone as he spoke, though his large face was smiling as he did. Something flashed in the sky above, drawing all eyes back up to the battle.
The challenger had begun pushing forward through the wreckage of Tokhta fleet, when everything went wrong. There were several bright flashes, and the enemy ships were violently pulled toward the origin of each flash. As they watched, the flashes grew into huge balls of fire, pulling the enemy ships into their depths.
"Did you just make a miniature star?" Anita accused in horror, wheeling to face Akhilleos, who was looking rather smug.
"We call them implosion mines," the Morrigi answered calmly, even as more mines detonated while the enemy fleet tried to extricate itself from the debris field. "The gravity field pulls the enemy to a single point, where you then place a continuous fusion reaction. As you can see, it's quite effective."
"The whole battle was a trap," Eshelen pointed out as several Morrigi carriers decloaked behind the enemy fleet and unleashed a swarm of drones as their opponents floundered. Tokhta's main force had also begun to turn, wheeling around to face their opponents with unearthly grace and opening up with everything they had. "Tokhta sacrificed the ships from his main fleet so the debris would hide the sensor signatures of the mines he placed inside his formation. He encouraged the enemy's tight formations to maximize the damage from the mines."
"It appears that way." Stone watched attentively as repeated strafing runs finally forced a cruiser to succumb, breaking it into burning chunks as the drones that destroyed it swooped away. "This whole battle has been a deception. I doubt there ever were any asteroid traps."
"There weren't," Tokhta's voice called as he began unwinding himself from his control pillar. "My honored opponent has just surrendered. Continuing to waste lives when he is clearly beaten would merely shame him in front of the females. It should show on the simulation in just a moment, it lags behind by about a minute."
No sooner had the Morrigi leader finished speaking than the words Simulation ended, Morru Khan Tokhta the Just Victorious began flashing in the sky above them, the dueling ships fading away to darkness.
"I trust you all found my little show enlightening," he continued, fluttering down to stand between the two females. "On behalf of the Morrigi Confederation, I wish all of your races peace and prosperity. My people only desire to coexist in harmony with all of yours. It is my hope that we will all be able to work together to create a bright future for this galaxy. However, should thoughts of war and conflict ever enter your minds, I have this to say to you.
"My people were ancient when yours were still infants. We have watched you all rise from your humble beginnings to grasp at the very stars, but we knew their secrets before you even suspected there might be more than flat earth and empty sea. Only the asari may claim to match us, and they have no inkling the power we once held at the height of our empire. Your most advanced weapons do not impress us, for we knew their workings before you learned to forge metal."
"All of you are guilty." As he spoke, Tokhta glanced at each of the ambassadors in turn, his gaze level and daring them to challenge him. "We were kind and benevolent when you were but helpless hatchlings. And in our darkest hour, you repaid our generosity by ignoring our warnings, looting our tombs, and claiming our nests as your own. Even your Citadel Council, when they learned about our former wealth, began hunting for our hidden places, in hopes of taking what was not rightfully theirs."
The females to either side of Tokhta seemed to grow in size, slowly beginning to tower over even the Hiver prince as they reared back and flared their wings. Their claws seemed more menacing, and it almost looked like fire was flowing inside their jaws.
"We will tolerate this no longer."
Tokhta rose up in to air, wings flapping, and suddenly, he was an avenging archangel, full of wrath and fury, glaring down at them all. Two massive dragons flanked him, fire in their mouths and death in their eyes. From where he hovered, the angel that was Tokhta spoke again with a voice that seemed to make the very earth shake.
"Make no mistake, children of the dust. We desire nothing but peace. But we will no longer brook your insults. Should you dare to test our mettle, look to the skies. For you can be certain we shall come for you."
As the words left his lips, dozens upon dozens of Morrigi combat drones tore through the skies overhead, easily breaking the sound barrier and deafening everyone below with the noise of their passing. Anita swore she could feel the breeze from their passing as the drones tore through the air, engines screaming. And then they were gone, leaving the Anita's ears ringing and eyes straining against the sudden darkness. But she did not miss the expression on Tokhta's face as he leaned very close to the group and hissed in a harsh whisper:
"Like a murder of Crows."
Shortly after the Honing, the Morrigi Confederation was offered associate member status on the Citadel. In a surprising turn of events, they declined. They did request, and were granted, a small embassy to further diplomacy with the other races. The STG has reported sightings of several large fleets of Morrigi vessels in the Terminus Systems. Independent sources report that several Spectres have been sighted in Morrigi space, though the Council currently denies having any operatives active in the Confederation.