A/N: Sorry that I took so long to update, I was busy tackling my exams for mid-terms, and had to spend quite a few weeks to prepare for the papers.
I also believe it is time for this fanfic to get a new cover picture. If any of you are skilled artists on deviantart and are willing to take on my request, please PM me and I'll consider taking your offer. Thank you very much.
Sceoon: I will admit, I wasn't thinking straight when I wrote the last chapter. I edited some parts to make more sense, but I left the part about Sparatus unchanged because I wanted the Hierarchy to experience the UAP's power first hand. So I apologize if it did not feel like my writing.
WindBear47: Sorry if you were disappointed on the lack of action during Shepard's and Wrex's reuniting.
BlueScreen26: I'll think about it.
Grumpy(Guest): Your opinion, your words.
Chapter six: Uneasy Diplomacy
Tevos was summoning every bit of restraint she could to stop herself from grabbing her head crests in frustration, causing her Salarian and human counterparts to shift uncomfortably in their seats.
She was not having the best of days at all, not since the Batarians suddenly declared themselves an independent, rouge state and cutting themselves off from the Council years ago, when their protests about limiting human expansion into the Skylian Verge fell on deaf ears.
She was fine with their decision, so long as she had a reason to justify increased spenditure on the military; increasing the number of Asari Commandoes and ships to 'protect' the populace from external threats.
Now, however, she was receiving reports of attacks being made on the Hegemony throughout Batarian space, with some of them even occupied by foreign powers the Council did not know had actually existed outside of their space.
The Turian Hierarchy, she wasn't really surprised despite it being engaged in all-out war, given Sparatus' earlier actions that landed the Hierarchy in such a situation.
But as much as she hated the Hierarchy's arrogance and impulsiveness just for being the peacekeepers of the galaxy, she could not allow the Council to lose its military arm for its blunders, lest the other member races suffer for their lack of a security force.
Just when she thought her troubles could not get worse though, a news broadcast began to interrupt every channel on the Television network, bring her eyes and the other Councilors' to the holoscreen before them.
"This is Citadel News Network, bringing you urgent news," A rather frantic looking Asari hurried to scramble through the information in her holotablet, "The entirety of the Batarian Hegemony has just been conquered by foreign powers only refered to as the Allied powers by Batarian prisoners, and Palaven has just recently fallen to enemy control."
"Independent Batarian colonies that have remained neutral throughout the conflict are unharmed, but there have been accounts of Batarian civilians arming themselves with looted weapons and fighting alongside the Allied forces against the Hegemony, with some even helping them in the reconstruction efforts following the aftermath of the war."
"For now, the Batarians have managed to reestablish peace throughout their section of space, and formed a new government known as the Free Batarian Republic, it's principles mostly adopted from the Asari Republic, whilst Turian forces struggle to maintain their defensive against the Allied powers who have managed to capture over two dozen colonies.
"We will keep you updated about further developments. Reporting for Citadel News Network, I'm Naaki Vaara."
Tevos and the others were shocked; it had been only two weeks since the attacks on Batarian and Turian soil had begun, and for the Hegemony to fall so soon after the beggining of the war...
Worse still, the Turians were being beaten on a scale never seen before, not since the Krogan Rebellions did they suffer such humiliating defeats in their home space.
"Clearly we cannot ignore this war for much longer, Tevos," Her human counterpart, Anderson said, "If we don't-"
"I get it, Anderson," Tevos hissed through gritted teeth, "Just let me think this through."
Wearing a blue military dress befitting of his status as a renowned N7 soldier – and the first of the N7 initiative – he directed an angry glare at the grandiloquent Asari Councilor who constantly wore a mask of understanding and compassion to fool others to symphatise with the Council, and who was currently no doubt trying to find a way to bring the new unknowns under Council rule.
"You know we cannot delay any further Tevos," The Salarian Councilor, Valern, countered, "Our fleets are not as strong as the Hierarchy's, and we can-"
"I said, I get it," Tevos growled impatiently, silencing any further remarks by Valern.
Valern was also a former soldier, though he was more of a stealth agent to be precise. Formely of STG, or Salarian Task Group in short, he was asked by Tevos to fill in the vacant position of Salarian Councilor when the previous one died of old age, a victim of his considerably shortened lifespan.
As the Salarians were the primary intelligence arm of the Council, STG was not made for direct combat against organised military forces, neither was it made for aiding diplomatic matters; something best left to the Asari. As such, he was slightly apprehensive about allowing the war to rage on without pause.
"We will try diplomacy with them, see if they can be made to see reason," Tevos suggested.
"I don't know about this, but I'd rather see what capabilities these Allied powers have before trying to devote any military support," Anderson said, a hint of caution in his voice.
"Best have STG spy drones in place, to get a better view of what is happening," Valern said.
Tevos could only nod in agreement; she could only hope the talks for peace would succeed, before the threat looming in the horizon became far too great that even a monumental effort would be insufficient in eliminating it.
IIOII
Vayr Cali was sweating rivers just waiting for the Diplomatic fleet to reach its destination. As it exited the relay leading to the Batarian home planet, she could suddenly see just how insignificant both she and her fleet were in comparison to the gargantuan fleet of monstrous-sized ships she and the rest of the crew saw.
For every ship, their sensors registered their length at over a kilometre in length, with the largest at a staggering, nearly heart-stopping hundred kilometres in length. Goddess, the behemoth of a ship surpassed even the Citadel in sheer size! Not to mention they outnumbered the fleet a hundred to one!
Several dozen smaller craft, what she assumed to be fighter craft or what they were considered by the occupying force to be scouting ships, were flying around the ships in what was undoubtedly a routine patrol, ensuring no other ships caught them off-guard.
"Ambassador Vayr," a synthetic, monotone voice called to her, "The unknown ships are hailing us."
"Patch them through," Vayr commanded, not willing to earn the ire of the occupying force.
Soon, the holoscreen displayed the image of what seemed to be a brown-skinned, masculine humanoid having mini tusks for teeth, bright, piercing blue orbs that currently looked in surprise at the Asari before him.
He wore what looked like a bear pelt on top of his head which cascaded down his back like a cape, blocking much of his black hair from view, along with archaic yet modernised armor with many runes of an unfamiliar language adorning the breastplate and pauldrons coloured in a primary cobalt blue, the metallic pieces a slightly lighter steel grey.
Focusing his gaze on the Asari before him, he coughed softly into a fisted hand, before saying in clear, albeit accented, gruff English, "This is Commander Kraoran Battlescream of the AC Frostfang, of the Allied forces currently occupying Khar'shan. Identify yourself, unknown fleet, or risk annihilation."
Now she was starting to panic; now that they were discovered, the entire Allied fleet began to focus its sights on the diplomatic fleet, some even beginning to charge their weapons in preparation to open fire. What should she do, what should she do...
Quickly moving her lips to save her own skin, she barely stuttered out: "I am Vayr Cali, ambassador of the Asari Republic. I have come to negotiate peace terms with your superiors."
The humanoid seemed to mumble to himself in deep thought for a few moments, stroking his short beard as he did so, before ordering in an authoritative tone to a wrist-mounted device on his arm, "All ships, hold your fire."
As soon as the humanoid said the order, much to the Asari's relief, the ships powered down their weapons, with the fighter craft returning to their hangar bays in the ships.
She then heard the humanoid Commander say, "I will relay your request to the Emperor, but do not expect much."
"Wait!" Vayr pleaded, elicting a raised eyebrow from the humanoid commander.
"What is it now, Vayr?" He questioned, saying the Asari's name for the first time since the near fatally accidental meeting.
"Actually, would it be possible to speak to you first? I and the rest of my species would like to learn more about your species, and the others you are allied with," The Asari suggested, leaving the humanoid commander genuinely surprised, leaving him to ponder about his response to Vayr's request.
"I suppose you may come aboard the Frostfang whilst my surbodinates inform our leaders. But do remember: We will not tolerate any provocation of war, despite your peaceful intentions," Kraoran warned.
"Of course, thank you for the opportunity," Vayr said as the holoscreen became blank, devoid of any image.
All according to plan, Vayr thought as she took the brief time she had to calm her jittery nerves by taking deep breaths, now we try to steal as much information as possible whilst I take care of negotiations.
IIOII
She took the time to immerse herself in her surroundings as she walked to the meeting room where she would be talking with the ship commander in person. Simplistic, rugged decor was what mainly comprised the interior of the ship's corridors, though there were a few animal skulls and glowing markings that stood out, causing Vayr to swallow nervously everytime she cast a glance at one of them.
Most of the guards were the same race as the brown skinned humanoid she talked to prior to her boarding of the Frostfang, though there were a few recognisable humans socialising with the occassional panda-
Wait, giant panda-men? And women? Was she seeing things? Vayr was certainly unsure what caused these pandas to turn into an actual sapient species; from her few lessons with human biologists, pandas were an animal species native to Earth, and were incapable of moving fast like other animals, so why-
"These people you see are called Pandaren," A humanoid guard told Vayr in his gruff accent, "They gained sapience thanks to exposure to high concentrations of magic in life-giving waters."
Magic? Of all the possible explainations, he could only say it was because of magic?
The mere notion was ridiculous; all supernatural occurences were attributed to biotics, prenatal Eezo exposure allowing the wielder to perform feats thought impossible using the nervous system's responses to generate power.
She decided to leave it for later. These... Pandaren, as her humanoid guide had called them, were predictably obese and had black and white fur covering their bodies, and all wore a black outfit made from linen whilst carrying staves of sorts.
Exactly what was with the Allied troops' need for outdated weaponry, when they already had the technology to craft firearms capable of massacring squads of infantry in a few seconds?
She had no time to ponder, however, as she finally met Kraoran Battlescream face-to-face.
He looked slightly older than what Vayr saw on the holoscreen, with a few wrinkles previously not seen due to the holographic nature of the screen, but they seemed to enhance his handsomeness rather than despoil it.
Vayr asked for her Commando guards to stay at the entrance to the door whilst she sat down on the table provided for them, Kraoran doing the same.
"Greetings, Vayr Cali," Kraoran said in a polite manner, "As you know, I am Kraoran Battlescream, commander of the Frostfang serving the Azerothian Coalition, and the Allied powers as a whole."
"I am pleased to meet you, Kraoran," Vayr greeted in the same manner the ship commander did, "Before we go on with negotiations, might I kindly ask what is your species called?"
Kraoran seemed pleased that Vayr asked such, and graciously answered: "My kind are known as the Orcs, originally native to our homeplanet of Draenor. We were originally scattered into several tribes, struggling for dominance among each other until other races arrived."
"Other races?" Vayr uttered the words like they were unfamiliar on her tongue, "Did they happen to have some sort of spacefaring technology to manage to find your world?"
Upon hearing the Asari ambassador's question, he laughed heartily as if what Vayr asked was a joke of sorts, making her shift very uncomfortably in her seat.
"By the Ancestors, no! They came to our world by a magic portal!" He said as he attempted to calm his swelling amusement, "You honestly need to get yourself exposed to a world not involving biotics for once!"
Vayr's mind stopped at the familiar word uttered from the Orc's mouth. If they knew all about biotics, then they should have come across Prothean ruins, did they not?
The million credit question was, if they already knew about biotics, why have these Allied powers never explored the potential of biotics in their people?
Sensing Vayr's sudden serious mood, Kraoran's mood sobered immediately as he composed himself, willing to answer any questions the Asari might have for him. One problem the Asari – and perhaps the rest of the Council – would have, was that they would not accept their usage of AI, as since their ships used Prothean technology, they most likely stumbled on a Prothean beacon that warned them that the Protheans did not trust AI.
He mentally cursed himself for mentioning that the Allied powers knew about biotics; though there were a few biotics in the military who bore Exso amps to give them enhanced biotic powers, they were a very small minority at best, making up less than one percent of the whole Allied population, magic and psionics still being the popular powers used in daily life.
The Warchief would not approve of his breaking of orders, but the High Emperor certainly had something else in mind; he always was quite the strategist to be able to come up with some sort of nefarious scheme to foil his enemies.
Coughing into his hand in a poor attempt to get Vayr's attention, Kraoran began to answer some of Vayr's concerns.
"We stumbled upon some Prothean ruins in our home system, and from the beacon within the ruins, we learned about the uses of Element Zero and by extension, biotics."
Vayr turned her full attention, her commando guards doing the same without making it obvious, as Kraoran continued his explaination.
"However, we did not bother reverse-engineering their technology or relying solely on Eezo for our technology," Kraoran said to stave off any questions as he continued, "Instead, we went on a different route. We developed our own technology, by simply learning the important aspects of other technology and making it better; always inventing, always innovating, this ushered a new age of invention, a golden age of prosperity unparalled in comparison to other periods of time ever documented in our history."
"Then, the Burning Legion came."
The Asari ambassador could see the Orc's hands clench hard into fists, his features hardening, eyes narrowing as his fangs began to show through his thin lips, his voice turning into a growl as his anger began to overcome his rudimentary discipline.
Eventually his anger began to subside, albeit slowly, and as his facial features began to soften, he apologised: "Forgive my earlier outburst, but the Burning Legion was an enemy not to be trifled with in the time of it's existense."
Vayr asked nervously: "M-Might I ask what is this Burning Legion?"
Kraoran only focused a sombre gaze on the Asari, his look brookering no nonsense as he said, "Prepare your recording spy drone, this will be very long."
Vayr was about to retort, when Kraoran held up a recognisable hovering robotic unit, held in place by some sort of invisible restraint since it was unable to even leave the Orc's hand.
Vayr could feel her world crashing down on her at that moment. Their pretence of an honourable diplomatic meeting was seen through. Now there was no chance of making peace with these Allied powers through the Orcs at all, now that they've blown their cover.
"If you are wondering what will happen to the conquered territories of the Turian Hierarchy," Kraoran began, "They will be returned to the Hierarchy as soon as an armistice is agreed upon."
Wait, if they were attacking the Hierarchy in the first place, then why would they even return their conquered territories?
"This is because of a special request made by of one of our Turian prisoners of war, who goes by the name of Councilor Sparatus," The Orc commander said, as if he read the Asari's mind.
Councilor Sparatus, the Turian who instigated the invasion of Allied territories. Vayr was almost wanting to mandate his punishment for causing the string of events that completely disrupted the status quo, and resulted in complete chaos across the galaxy.
"Now, where were we?" Kraoran asked, as if he forgotten the eailer topic of discussion.
"I believe you were going to indulge me in your nation's bloody history with this 'Burning Legion'."
"Oh yes, it was indeed the bloodiest period of our time," Kraoran agreed, "And it was certainly not the last."
IIOII
An Orc ran through the ruined corridor of the formely primitive, but no less formidable Blackspire Citadel, as burning comets of bright lime green fell from the sky in a vertable hailstorm, as his fellow Frostwolf clansmen rushed to fight the invasion forces rushing their defences all over Draenor.
The once cloudy, but pristine skies of the savage world was now burning with felfire, as demons streamed throughout the continent, killing both Orc and Draenei alike.
They received reinforcements from both the Alliance and Horde, which gave them an increased number of soldiers and advanced equipment to fight with, but the Burning Legion's numbers were infinite; every time a demon was killed, several more took its place.
All across the skies, bright streaks of felfire clashed with lances of sapphire blue, as Azerothian ships were valiantly fighting off the Demon invasion force whilst suffering heavy casualties on their part.
It had been only three years since the Alliance and Horde began to put aside their differences and prepare for the inevitable invasion by the Burning Legion, with the Draenei sharing their advanced technology, whilst the Master Chief and Green Dragon sped up the process; they still had to rely on portals to connect the two worlds of Draenor and Azeroth.
Yet, despite advances in technology never thought possible, it was still not enough. Thousands of soldiers were dying, and many more civilians were becoming victims of the slaughter that ensued in the opening moments of the invasion.
Azeroth was faring little better; the various dragonflights and other independent factions, including the Shado Pan and Four Celestials, struggling to maintain the defensive effort alongside the Alliance and Horde, even with King Varian Wrynn and Warchief Vol'jin entering the battle themselves.
To his acurssed luck, a felfire comet streaked towards his position, killing his entire squad on impact as limbs and rocks scattered in all directions.
His head throbbed with pain, his senses dulled by the sudden loud noise threatening to damage his eardrums and deafen his hearing. More pain, excruciating pain was felt throughout his body as fragmented rocks penetrated through his skin, causing multiple wounds both minor and major.
The Green Dragon told of a way they could win against the Burning Legion; not score a total victory, more of a way to at least delay the inevitable fight with a centuries' old enemy that had a former Titan as it's leader.
But it was four hours into the invasion, and the superweapon they had prepared had yet to fire. The Green Dragon, an Elven arcane warrior, had stated that he needed time to prepare the superweapon, three hours into the invasion, but how much longer does he really need? His fellow Orc brethren and brothers-in-arms were sustaining massive casualties.
A bright beacon of light shot forth into the sky, alerting Kraoran of only one thing, one thing that had reinstilled hope and a willingness to continue to fight on.
The activation of the superweapon, known as the Godwraith.
The Godwraith was devised by several Dwarven and Gnomish technological experts from the Alliance, and knowlegeable magi from both powers and many independent factions, with even the Celestials and Dragonflight leaders lending their aid.
It made use of a huge Crystal core, infused with the pure essense of a Narru and powers of the Dragon Aspects to emit a pulse of mana that would kill a large number of demons and weaken Sargeras to the point that he would remain silent for several centuries.
If the power core was insufficient in fuelling the pulse, there was a huge reservoir of mana distributed throughout several compartments in the superweapon to amplify the sonic wave's strength by seventyfold, ensuring that the Godwraith would fufill it's intended purpose.
Theoratically.
The Orc always hated it whenever the Green Dragon said that his plans would work theoratically; it always meant that there might always be something unexpected that would throw a wrench into the plan, and that someone might either suffer a chronic headache or a simple heart attack.
Nonetheless, the Godwraith had fufilled it's intended purpose. Every demon that was caught in the blast radius, they had either disintegrated into nothing but ashes of their former selves, not retaining the dignity of having their faces recognised, or simply burned in a wreath of fire that burned endlessly at the flesh, yet not being extinguished by any magic on the demons' part, a final reckoning for their ruthless conquests.
A loud, inhuman and pseudo god-like scream reveberated throughout the world, making it's way to even the most remote corners of the world of Draenor, and most likely Azeroth as well.
They had done it. They had truly done it.
Even though the Burning Legion would one day come back to exact bloody vengeance, they had done it.
For the first time since the existense of time, since the Titans had mysteriously vanished, the mortals had scored a major victory against the Bane of a Thousand Worlds.
The demons would learn that neither Azeroth nor Draenor would be so easy to conquer.
And they would certainly rethink waging war against them.
"And now, my people, the Orcs, stand as a proud people of the Azerothian Coalition, which stands as a proud member of the United Allied Powers," Kraoran finished, a sense of pride noticeable in his voice.
Vayr could not help but be mesmerised in Kraoran's brief recounting of his people's – no, his entire nation's history; never in her entire centuries' long life did she so diligently listen to another nation's history lesson, and that was when she still attended school, long before she became a diplomat.
True, she may have at least listened out of curiosity about the history of other cultures; Human, Turian, Salarian, but none of them proved to be as mesmerising as Kraoran's recounting of his people's history.
For the Coalition's to have faced such devastating wars before even elevating to the galactic stage, and still managing to build themselves back up even after facing such manslaughter and devastation, they were certainly resilient in the face of adversity.
Vayr was even more confident now that under the Council's guidance, the Coalition would certainly give up their saucy technological secrets and become willing subjects that would admit the member races' superiority.
But first...
"What about the Batarian home systems?" Vayr asked, her earlier good mood fading away. "We heard that they are establishing a new government after you conquered the Hegemony and dismantled it, so why haven't your fleets pulled out yet?"
"Ah, I was about to tell you the reason," Kraoran's face lit up, as if he had just found his inspiration. "You see, the new government actually requested us to station our fleet as a peacekeeping force to deter any mercenary attacks until they can reestablish their own military. You wouldn't want a new government to collapse as quickly as the old one, do you?"
"I... I suppose not," Vayr conceded the point.
She had to admit, she did not expect the new Batarian government to willingly ask for a peacekeeping force to be temporarily stationed in their space, although due to it's sheer size, it could hardly be called a peacekeeping force; anyone could easily mistake a fleet of such gargantuan proportions as a conquering force instead, paving the way for... drastic consequences.
Vayr could only thank the Goddess that these Allied powers did not come with the intention of conquering, she shuddered at what would have happened if these newcomers had brought their full army to bear on the Citadel.
A sudden beep sounded from Kraoran's side, prompting the somewhat seasoned Orc commander to check on a crimson glowing wrist-mounted object, afterwhich he turned to face the Asari ambassador.
"It was nice talking with you, Vayr Cali," Kraoran spoke, "But I'm afraid I have been recalled to Palaven to act as an escort whilst our leaders sign a treaty with the Turian Hierarchy. You may tell your superiors that everything is fine with the Batarians, though the outcome with the Turian situation is still yet to be determined."
Now that was just disappointing; Vayr was hoping she could ask Kraoran to contact his leaders to get them to join the Council, but her being mesmerised in the Orc's history lesson had actually cost her valuble time, a rather decent embarassment on her part. Nonetheless, the Asari ambassador had at least managed to gleam vital information regarding the Hierarchy and new Batarian government, so she could still confidently bring back some good news.
"Is it possible for the Asari Republics to send more delegations in the future? Perhaps engage in negotiations should the chance arise?" Vayr asked with a hint of hopefulness in her voice.
"If my superiors allow it," Kraoran answered vaguely, "But before you go, here's one piece of advice."
Now the Orc's features hardened, highlighting the seriousness of the words he was about to say.
"Beware of the situation in Omega, for we have heard about it from both the Turians and Batarians. Due to repeated attacks by mercenaries on both Batarian and Allied space, the Allied leaders have decided that they have had enough, and are planning to mount a massive offensive on Omega itself."
"When they do attack, warn your leaders and those of other affiliated powers of the Council to not intervene in the coming conflict; doing so would be tantamount to declaring war on the Allied powers, for they will not take kindly to anyone other than those aiding them in the war."
Kraoran then proceeded to place a meaty hand on the Asari's slender shoulder, fixing a hardened glare on Vayr's eyes.
"I know you are wiser than those of your government, so do your best to dissuade them from their intended course of action."
Vayr gulped nervously. "And if they refuse to listen?"
Kraoran simply closed his eyes, his features softening as he withdrew his hand.
"Then may your diety help them all," He intoned, answering all concerns Vayr had about the upcoming conflict the Orc was kind enough to inform her about.
Something was not quite right. She, and by extension the Asari Republics were an unknown to the Allied powers, even if they had managed to find a copy of their codex from surfing through Batarian or Turian computers.
If that was the case, then just what compelled the kind Orc, Kraoran Battlescream, to even indulge her attempt in negotiating with the Allied powers through him, or even tell her about the attack the Allied powers were planning on Omega?
Unless... It was because his superiors ordered him to do so? Or perhaps he simply disobeyed orders out of concern for Vayr's people? She was more inclined to believe the latter, as she did notice a hint of genuine concern in Kraoran's softening features.
Far too many unknowns, and much more confusion began to tax Vayr's mind as she struggled to find answers to her questions; the more answers she found, the more unanswered questions began to fester in her mind.
Left with no other option, she summoned what courage she had and asked Kraoran: "Why are you even telling me all of this? What sort of reasons do you have?"
Kraoran simply fixed a no-nonsense look at Vayr, and answered: "It was partly because of concern, and partly because the leaders wanted the whole Asari Republics to know one thing: 'Do not trifle with the Allied powers'."
Kraoran could see the sheer confusion in Vayr's face; she had only gotten more unanswered questions with the answer given to her. No doubt, her thoughts were raging like a maelstrom in her mind, every answer she sought evading her mind like a leaf dancing in the wind.
As Vayr stood from where she sat down, she nodded her thanks, and left the Frostfang, her shuttle promptly returning to the ship she arrived in. Kraoran watched with a sombre look as he watched the Asari diplomatic fleet travel towards the mass relay, tendrils of azure blue light extend from the massive construct warping around and touching the ships, eventually flinging them out of Batarian space in a brilliant spectrum of lights.
As the last of the diplomatic fleet had left the system, he turned to face an individual who stood behind a wall, the lack of light obstructing many of his body and facial features save his slender, yet pseudo-masculine form and emerald glowing eyes.
"Do you think Vayr will be persuaded to warn her superiors, Lord Alharon?"
The now named Alharon stepped foward into the light, making himself completely visible to the Orc commander.
"After hearing about our planned attack on Omega, she will surely make the efforts to do so, Kraoran," Alharon stated, his voice baritone and thickly accented, "You have done well, Kraoran, but we must make haste to Palaven. Amarthathor prefers that we be punctual in our arrival."
"Of course, Lord Alharon," Kraoran bowed respectfully.
Alharon Theron was the son and successor of Regent Lord Lor'themar Theron, who abidicated at over 820 years old in the year 327, by the Azerothian calender, naming his eldest son Alharon as his successor to lead the Blood Elves in his stead.
Initially many were unsure whether Alharon was truly as capable as his father was, given that he had next to no experience as a politician, especially in diplomacy or as a negotiator to speak of.
He was more than happy to prove them wrong as he once managed to skillfully remove his political opponents' power – Elven nobles who had xenophobic sentiments – at a feast, though he did have the help of the Master Chief and Green Dragon to participate in his master strategy.
Regardless, he quickly distinguished himself in the war against the Burning Legion in the Second Legion War, when the Demon Legion had assaulted the colony in full force, intending to secure a fortified beachead for a war to crush the Azerothian Coalition once and for all.
He managed to score an astounding victory with minimal casualties and damage – in comparison to the previous times they had waged war against the Legion – against a much more powerful attack force, using only a small squadron of highly skilled veterans and a carefully plotted strategy fraught with risks.
Since then, Alharon Theron had been able to lead his people to a brighter future, his efforts ushering in a new Golden Age of peace and prosperity and technological advancements.
The specially Elven made Goldenhawk-class ships were one example of how far the Blood Elves' shipbuilding technology had come; a mix between agility and battle-hardiness, the Goldenhawk-class ship combines the usage of different types of magically powered and magnetic engines with strong alloy plating and mana shields, resulting in a tank of a ship able to dodge most attacks and retaliate with it's mounted spinal cannon and other ship arnaments.
It was no secret that Alharon himself commanded the flagship of the entire Sin'dorei navy, the Eye of Lor'themar, which was a Goldenhawk-class ship and a joint project between the Azerothian Coalition and the Thedosian Empire long before First Contact with the Korprulu Alliance.
Despite him being as old as 789 years old, thanks to advancements in medicine, all Elves had regained their immortality and were an ageless race once more; Night Elves, Blood Elves and High Elves, they had never thought it possible that technology could ever help them regain their immortality, and Alharon remained as young as if he was eighteen years old.
Onboard the Frostfang, he watched as the Orc-made ship activated it's stellar portal generator, a large violet portal opening and widening before his very eyes. Once it had widened until it was large enough for the ship to pass through, the atmosphere beyond the ship's command deck had shifted from the cold, dark expanse of space to a dimension swirling bright violet and dark azure.
Stellar portal generators were designed to artificially create portals the way mages do; fundamentally, they were made to transport ships of all sizes. Whether they be battle cruisers or simple scout prowlers, they operated using a seperate energy core containing a specially treated crystal core that amplified the artificial portal's strength without draining substantial amounts of power from the ship's main core.
Normally, no one would have problems handling their first times travelling through space using such a method, but with the Batarians and Turians having been introduced to the Allied powers through brief but brutal wars, there have been numerous problems regarding how both ex-Council races should revamp their technology without causiung too many deficits in their overall military and civilian structures.
Said problems were mainly in the form of scientists beginning to hit dead ends in their research projects involving the new Exso technology offered to them. Both races did find that Exso had far more utilities than Eezo in it's pure state, but that was also the exact reason why there was hardly any progress in their work; they had just no idea how to further utilize the isotope's properties.
Nonetheless, both governments were grateful to the Allied powers, and have reported great success with replacing biotic amps for their soldiers, though they now needed trainers to supervise them on controlling their newly enhanced biotics.
Sighing heavily as he stared into the ripples of violet and azure, Alharon could only hope that the Turians and Batarians could open their eyes to the larger threats that could spell the end of the galaxy, lest they abandon the restraints of Eezo and finally begin to acknowledge that the Council was no longer the sole power of this galaxy.
May the Sunwell awaken these aliens to the possibility of a full-scale war, the Elven Lord thought to himself as he sat down on a nearby chair, closing his eyes for a quick nap.
IIOII
Aria T'loak was not a happy Asari at all. As the self-named ruler of the cesspit of crime known as Omega, she was charged with leading all mercenary forces under her command and oversee the state of the colony at large.
Omega was a city built into a mined-out asteroid that used to be brimming with Eezo deposits. Once the reserves ran out though, mining operations predictably ceased and the asteroid was left alone; nearly, when some who saw that the asteroid field surrounding the former mining site created a natural barricaded space, and there was a lot of empty space that could be utilised to create a new colony to handle more settlers, especially since the Council was running out of worlds to colonise after the Rachni wars.
She sat down on a soft leather couch, drinking a glass of ryncol in a poor attempt to assuage her irritation.
It had been two weeks, two weeks ever since the last convoy of transports smuggling Eezo to the Turian and Batarian governments had never returned since their departure. She had heard virtually nothing from the missing transports. No messages, no video transmissions, absolutely nothing.
It was almost threatening to give the Asari overlord a terrible migrane just pondering on how the mercenaries managed to get themselves captured, or perhaps killed performing their jobs.
At first she was tempted to think it was the Turians. The arrogant millitant species always wanted an excuse to launch an attack on Omega since many mercenary gangs made attacks on their colonies, but could not do so with Tevos always intervening to prevent them from taking such a drastic action; that woman was also the reason why the Asari Republics always had the largest Eezo reserves compared to the rest of the Council races.
However, recent news reports had ruled out that assumption, as the Turians seemed to be busy refitting their ships by the lack of patrols at the edge of their space.
That left either the Systems Alliance or the Batarians as the likely culprits, as the former had always been pressing the Council to address the most recent increase of mercenary attacks on their space, the latter complaining about the same thing.
However, the Systems Alliance's efforts in stemming the number of mercenary and slaver attacks were always interrupted by Tevos' constant waving off of their concerns, saying that they were never severe to the point that it warranted a miniscule war.
As for the Batarian Hegemony, it's slaver attacks were always bold and close to heavily fortified space, mainly because the Council had implemented a law stating that clash of cultures was not acceptable at all, even including slavery.
As she was about to order a refill for her now drained glass, a Batarian mercenary ran up to her, short of breath as he tried to deliver whatever message he thought Aria needed to know through his constant huffing and puffing.
"T-There's an... incoming transmission... meant specially for you, Aria. The one... broadcasting it wants you... to answer immediately."
Wants her? Demands her? Does this person think him superior to the point that he or she must demand her to answer such a mundane transmission?
For now she would entertain this mysterious person, if only to make one rule clear.
Don't fuck with Aria.
Unfortunately for the Asari, she would be doing no such thing, because as soon as she did answer the transmission, she came face-to-face with a stern-looking humanoid wearing the strangest armor she had ever seen, who bore crimson irises and pointed ears that caught the Asari's attention.
Aria could not believe her eyes. Pointed ears, fair complexion, long blonde hair flowing down his back, he almost looked like one of those Elves her Human subordinates kept talking about and flashing pictures of. She was, at first, inclined to think this was nothing more than a prank being played on her, foolish move as it may be using costumes and such.
She overruled that thought when she saw his pointed ears twitch. Yes, twitched, as if they were real ears and not some sort of byproduct as a result of illegal genetic manipulation.
Snapping out of her stupor, as it was unbefitting of the ruler of Omega, she demanded in an impatient tone lacking any curtesey, "Who the fuck are you, daring to make a transmission to the ruler of Omega?"
The 'Elf' seemed amused by Aria's order, a sly smile gracing his lips as he decided to humour her demand.
"I am Erlan Heiquinal, leader of the vigilante group known as the Blademasters of Andarath," He introduced himself, his earlier smile now changing to a blank mask "I and the rest of my company, along with many other mercenary and vigilante groups, have congregated to attack, and eventually conquer Omega for the Thedosian Empire and its allies, for we have decided that it is time for your reign to end, self-proclaimed ruler of Omega."
"You think you're so high and mighty that you go so far as to disrespect me, Erlan?" Aria seethed, her anger growing worse by the minute, "I'll have you know, I am Aria T'loak, ruler of Omega. Everyone that lives in this station obeys one rule: Don't. Fuck. With Aria."
"Pity, it seems you cannot be reasoned with," Elran said, looking at Aria as if she was some pitiful child who did not know what she was doing, and it proved very insulting to the Queen of Omega.
"No matter, we have cordoned off the Omega-4 relay and blocked all access on both sides, so you are effectively alone. I'm pretty sure some of our Krogan allies would love to get back at the 'Blue Bitch Queen' that has cheated them one time too many."
"Farewell, Aria T'loak," Erlan said as he placed a helmet on his head, "May you treasure the last fleeting moments of your rule."
With a final mocking gesture of fake politeness, the Elven leader had cut the transmission, leaving Aria infuriated beyond description.
Seconds afterward, she began tossing around empty bottles of liquor and overturning expensive furniture that cost thousands of credits to buy, not caring if she scared off more than a few of her bodyguards as they turned a blind eye to her tantrum.
Never before, in her centuries' long life, has someone had the audacity to challenge Aria's undisputed rule over the station of Omega, not since she killed the previous ruler who was a Krogan mercenary and asserted her dominion over all the denizens of the mercenary haven Omega had come to be known as.
The fact that the 'Elf' she was takling to had the balls to declare such words to her, either meant that he did not know about the iron-clad rule Aria had implemented, or that he was very confident he could achieve such a thing without sustaining massive casualties; Omega was, afterall, a veritable fortress in the right hands.
Just then, a Turian bodyguard rushed up to her, short of breath and stained with blue blood as he ignored the state of unrestrained fury his domineering ruler was in.
"We've got trouble! Big trouble on our hands, Aria!" The Turian shouted and repeated, clutching a bleeding wound where his armor was punctured by a bullet wound as he winced in pain.
Aria, seeing the injured state of the Turian, immediately composed herself and grabbed a nearby Mattock rifle, coking the gun as she asked the Turian, "What the hell happened?"
"I-It's a full-scale invasion! It's the real deal, and plenty of our guys are-"
The Turian halted halfway through his brief report as he felt another jolt of pain through his open wound. He quickly reached for a small canister containing a green sort of jelly-like liquid attached to his belt. Popping off the cover, he proceeded to apply the pseudo liquid jelly onto his wound, which quickly sealed it to staunch the blood flow from his wound.
Confident that the wound was at no risk of infection, he proceeded to continue his rudely unfinished report.
"We've been bombarded by strafing runs made by their fighter craft on our fortified positions, targeting our bunkers, AA guns and the like. Afterwards, they began landing troops on the outermost regions of the station."
He rubbed his eyes with a bloddied hand, wiping the few tears his Turian discipline would allow him to shed.
"It's a massacre, Aria. They got the advantage in both technology and numbers, not to mention that they seem to know every intricacy of waging war, having more experience than us in comparison."
Now he began wimpering like a little child, the last vestiges of his discipline falling apart before Aria's eyes, something she was not expecting at all, not even from a Turian.
"And then those... monsters..." His voice croaked at the last word, "Somehow, these attackers have monsters on their side, and they're doing a very good job at cutting through our veteran mercenaries and defenses like wet paper."
The Asari shook her head to make sure her ears were not toying with her mind. What the Turian just said and the manner he delivered the report was very disturbing, and if he was correct, then Omega would soon be lost to these invaders, much to Aria's dislike.
But as much as Aria hated the thought, she was sure she would have to escape and leave Omega alive, if only to bide her time until her kingdom was hers once more.
This was because no ordinary invasion force would have the ability to so easily reduce Turian discipline into nothing more than tatters; all Turians, military or mercenary, all served a mandatory military service for a few years, developing a sense of strict discipline that had become renowned throughout the Galaxy, so even in the face of difficult odds, they would not panic or easily lose control of their emotions.
Just as she was about to ponder her options though, a loud roar followed by rumbling felt throughout the whole club brought her attention to the main entrance.
It was buckling under tremendous amounts of stress, a number of huge dents in the door emphasising that fact. That, and every new huge dent was followed by a loud banging sound that came from the other side.
Already? They had already managed to get this far into her territory? This did not bode well for her at all, or her dominion over Omega.
Leaving the Turian for dead, she quickly dashed to the other side of the club of Afterlife, rifle in arm with energy thought lost during her younger Asari days. Her bodyguards followed suit with their weapons, moving to form a loose protective formation around their leader as they made for the other exit to the lower docks.
She would bide her time. Once the time was right, her kingdom would be hers once again.
IIOII
It had been utter chaos throughout the whole station as the invasion forces inched closer and closer to the inner districts of Omega. Even something as simple as dashing towards the secret docking bays buried within the innermost bowels of Omega was fraught with risks, as shots rang at every corner, every turn as more and more mercenaries died by the minute.
She did not even know how long she had been dashing towards her only escape route, her mind utterly focused on avoiding clashes that would cost her precious seconds and mobility.
More than half of her bodyguards had already died from stray shots that were lucky enough to find their marks, leaving Aria with less than half of the protection she had initially set out with.
But it had been worth it. Through their sacrifice, and countless minutes of madly dashing like a madwoman, she had finally reached her salvation from this whole mess.
A set of doors lay just in front of her, their undamaged, pristine state tantalizing her desire for freedom.
She could almost smell it, the scent of freedom looming just beyond
Just a little further... a little further.. and she would be far from the clusterfuck she became trapped in.
She would not live to see that dream come true.
Ethereal projections of arrows shot cleanly through the door, completely bypassing both Aria's and her bodyguards' kinetic barriers and piercing cleanly through their high-grade armor like melted butter.
As Aria's mouth began filling with the coppery taste of blood, the doors parted to reveal several more 'Elves' holding bows of sorts, her mind wondering as to why they still used such primitive weaponry, and vigilantes of other races, all of them working as one cohesive unit.
As they aimed their weapons at her, a voice boomed out: "Let me through."
Hearing the commanding voice, they parted to allow their supposed leader to pass through, who turned out to be...
Erlan Heiquinal. The one and only.
She could not believe that he and his forces had so easily managed to triumph over the feared boogeymen of the galaxy, which were in fact the notorious mercenary gangs that had managed to outrun both Alliance and Council forces time and again, in just one day.
She could not think of any moment more humiliating than any other event in her entire life. Her, the ruler of Omega, officially brought low by a group of more experienced vigilantes who managed to injure her to such an extent.
Erlan stood over Aria, simply staring at her dying form as he weighed his options in his mind regarding Aria's life.
In those last moments, the soon-to-be ex-Overlord of Omega remembered the last words Erlan had said to her before her impending demise.
May you treasure the last fleeting moments of your rule.
Then, he drew his bow, an iridiscent shaft of energy passing off as an arrow materialising in his fingertips...
And let loose the bowstring, the shaft piercing cleanly through the Asari warlord's skull, spilling a trail of blue blood at it's exit point.
Nearby civilians who watched the execution could not believe their eyes at all. No one, no single individual in the entire history of Aria's rule had anyone ever dared, no, they had not even a shred of courage to stand up to the Asari overlord that commanded an entire legion of mercenaries with a wave of her hand.
But it was not through simple intimidation that Aria T'loak had become as feared throughout Council space as she was then. She was also very shrewd and knowlegeable in the art of both in-atmospheric and space warfare, and had even stood toe to toe with platoons of the Turian Hierarchy, and managed to score victories one time too many.
She was also reputed as an intelligent businesswoman, having earned hundreds upon thousands of credits from profitable smuggling runs and illegal weapons trade to various other mercenary factions such as the Blood Pack and Blue Suns, and certain extremist groups such as the xenophobic Turian militants operating throughout Hierarchy space.
To see her life end at the hands of some humanoid vigilantes using strange technology and unnatural biotics, it was almost too much of a dream come true.
Or for some others, an absolute nightmare made manifest.
"What do we do with Aria's body, Grandmaster?" One of the vigilantes addressed Erlan by his title.
"Burn it," Erlan said, turning away as he did so, "And make sure no speck of ash remains."
Bound by a code of honour, the vigilantes, or the Blademasters of Andarath as the vigilantes named themselves, obeyed his orders out of obligation to said code, and one of them began conjuring a glass bottle containing a sort of translucent oil in his hands, who then proceeded to pour the oil on the corpse of the now deceased Aria T'loak.
Once the bottle was completely emptied and the Asari's body completely drenched in the oil, the same vigilante who poured the oil then proceeded to intone a few words, a sort of final prayer or such, then with a wave of his hand, Aria's body ignited in a brilliant flash of orange.
All who were present for Aria's cremation just watched, as the flames burned her body beyond recognition, from the flesh all the way to the bone...
Then nothing was left once the funeral pyre had finished. No burnt carcass, no speck of scattered ash, absolutely nothing was left behind to indicate that Aria's body was once laying in a pool of blood on that same spot.
Once the surviving mercenaries and civilians had witnessed the Asari warlord's cremation, whether in person or through security cameras, they could all only agree that the impossible had actually happened right before their very eyes.
They had dared challenge the ruler of Omega, and were not crushed for their efforts.
No one knew what lay for them in the future, but it would certainly utterly demolish the status quo many had come to begrudgingly accept.
IIOII
"...Reports and witness accounts have confirmed that Aria T'loak is indeed dead, and Omega has officially fallen under control of the United Allied powers, as the factions responsible for the capture of the station have identified themselves."
"We will watch out for any developing updates and continue to keep you updated. Reporting for CNN, I'm Naaki Vaara."
Tevos cut off the connection to the news broadcast, rubbing her head in a masked attempt to stave off her headache.
It was all happening too fast; first they received reports that the Turian Hierarchy had officially declared itself an ally of the UAP, followed by sudden sharp drops in mercenary presense across the Terminus systems, and now the haven for mercenaries has fallen to the UAP as well.
For years since she became Councilor, she had been content with letting mercenary slaver attacks go unanswered, using them as justification for increasing the military budget to stay on top of the galactic food chain.
But now those same scapegoats were becoming cannon fodder in a wasted try at stemming the tide of UAP forces, in which they utterly failed at their intended objective.
This news was by no small measure shocking to her, considering that Aria was very capable of defending Omega from an invasion force if one did arrive, though she was not expecting either Valern or Anderson to share the same state of mind as they did; considering that both were rather unhappy with her for letting such attacks on their space slide, as if they never really happened.
"So now the infamous Aria T'loak has finally met her demise," Anderson mused, fiddling with a datapad that held no data of importance whatsoever, "I wonder what's the next big change that will come to this galaxy?"
"You almost sound as if you are enjoying the recent string of events, Anderson," Valern mentioned, trying hard to suppress a lighthearted chuckle with a fisted hand, "Though I suppose the recent changes are for the better."
"Aren't they?" Anderson replied to his Salarian counterpart, his happiness erupting into laughter.
As Anderson's laughter had an infectious quality to it, Valern soon joined in, though Tevos was not finding anything funny about the current situation.
Councilor Valern was not like his Turian and Asari counterparts; everytime Shepard had tried to convince them about the previously unknown threat that was the Reapers, and that the Citadel itself was a gigantic mass relay, Sparatus and Tevos predictably denied every word Shepard had uttered from her mouth.
For Valern, however, he was former STG, and STG's motto was collecting information and analysing it before taking real action, and he was not one to easily ignore a threat to the galaxy if he could help it.
And as he simply acknowledged the information Shepard had tirelessly dispensed to him, the recently appointed Human Councilor did something unexpected; he had started becoming friendly with the Salarian figurehead, and began engaging in private discussions on how to better prepare for the Reaper threat in the future.
Suddenly, the private transmitter located in the room they were in began erratically blaring loud, ringing sounds, indicating a top priority message for the Councilors themselves.
This caused both Anderson and Valern to snap out of their happy mood reluctantly, as they were just beginning to enjoy the current state of things. Tevos hurriedly answered the transmission, connecting her to the Captain of the flagship of the Citadel Defense Fleet, the Destiny Ascension.
"What is happening, Lidanya?" Tevos asked.
"An entire fleet of ships is appearing just outside of the Citadel, Tevos!" Matriach Lidanya exclaimed, her eyes conveying a look of utter disbelief and shock, "They're just outside range of the mass relay and are numbering in the thousands, and ...by the Goddess, this shouldn't be right!"
"What shouldn't be right?" Tevos inquired, unclear as to what the Asari Matriach was refering to.
"Some of these ships are giant behemoths! Twenty kilometres, fourty kilometres, a few of them even exceed the size of the Citadel!"
That was just not right. No one, no matter how much Eezo reserved that have, would ever fathom building a ship of such gargantuan proportions.
And why is this so? This is because firstly, no mass effect fields could reduce such a huge amount of mass without ripping the ship apart into shreds, and secondly, all of the Eezo in the known galaxy could not add up to the substantial amount of materials required, not to mention the absurd costs that would have to be paid to facilitate the construction of such a giant of a ship.
Just then, a message could be heard on all channels throughout the Citadel, through all sorts of media including television stations and every single omni-tool.
"This is High Emperor Amarthathor of the Thedosian Empire, speaking on behalf of the United Allied Powers. We have come to deliver our demands to the Council, following the destruction of the Batarian Hegemony and the recent capture of Omega, with Commander Jennefer Shepard acting as liason between the two sides."
"We ask that the defending fleet power down their weapons and clear a landing bay for our transport craft, so we may discuss the terms of our demands to the Council. You have five minutes to make your decision."
Once the message had cut off, Tevos returned her attention to Matriach Lidanya, whose eyes began to widen in horror.
"I-It's the Rachni! And the Geth! All forces, fire on the unknown fleet now!"
Whatever hope Tevos had for the upcoming negotiations were immediately dashed upon Lidanya cutting the transmission, prompting the three Councilors to investigate the situation outside.
The Matriach's words were true. A swarm of ships had gathered outside the Citadel, and there was a huge variety of designs visible from where she observed, indicating that there was more than one race comprising the UAP. Some were streamlined and delicate, while others were more angular and bulky, but nonetheless the sight was unfathomable.
An entire fleet of super-dreadnoughts, outnumbering and outgunning the Citadel Defense Fleet severalfold to one.
Yet the Defense Fleet continued their offense, uncaring of such odds, mainly because there were Geth and Rachni ships among the attacking fleet, though there were Quarian and Krogan-made ships as well, which was rather unexpected.
But now the Citadel Defense Fleet was being ruthlessly cut down like lambs to the slaughter, their thin armor plating and kinetic barriers doing nothing to stop the energy arnaments the ships employed in the battlefield.
The Citadel's arms began closing themselves up, a defense measure used if the Citadel's security was compromised by external threats.
Tevos could do nothing but pray that the bloodshed would end soon; too many lives were lost, she did not want to see more add to the count.
IIOII
Amarthathor was busy coordinating the crew of the Eternal Guardian for the battle, the flagship having managed to just avoid severe damage, thanks in large part to the highly advanced shielding the flagship employed. As such, the 'True' dreadnought suffered nothing more than slight scratches on it's hull that was quickly repaired by the regenerative bio-steel engineered by Elven technicians.
Earlier, he had hoped that the news of the capture of Omega would deter any ignoramus within the Defense Fleet's ranks to open fire on the gathered fleet, but it seemed too tall an order to fufill.
Damn those Council races and their synthophobia and fear of Rachni, they just blindly followed the teachings of these Protheans about hating AI and copied their technology, and still feared the Rachni because of their wars, when they should fear the Reapers for what they are capable of!
And now it seemed that the station's arms were enclosing themselves, isolating the denizens from the outside battle.
"Emperor, it seems that the Citadel's defense force is currently utilizing a defense mechanism, by using the arms as shields to protect the station from further damage," Taenith reported, his avatar materialising in a flash of blue hexagons in a projector next to the Emperor.
So they at least managed to find out about such a function of the Citadel? No matter, a plasma lance should take care of that.
"I want the ship's main cannon to target the station's arms," The Emperor ordered, "Open a passageway for our strikecraft and transports to deploy ground forces."
Immediately compling, the crew scrambled to redirect the cannon's firing range to the Citadel itself, metal plates shifting to reveal a pulsing core of azure blue energy that began glowing ever so brighter, aiming directly at the station itself.
A bright lance of blue energy shot forth from the spinal cannon of the Eternal Guardian, decimating whatever enemy ships were in the trajectory of the beam and burning a clean hole in the Citadel's structure, completely detatching two arms from the station.
"Deploy the 202nd and 431st Arcanetrooper Battalions and a detatchment of the Knights of the Starlight through the breach!" Amarthathor bellowed as he took the chip containing Taenith and inserted it into his helmet, "I will be leaving command of the Thedosian navy to Admiral Feriha Bradash."
"As you command, my Emperor," The nearest crew member affirmed the Emperor's order, who then broadcasted it for the whole Thedosian navy to hear.
Undoubtedly, the Coalition and Alliance will have deployed their share of forces, along with the Quarians, Geth, Rachni and Krogan, meaning that C-Sec will have no chance of standing up to the invading force, but that did not mean they would put up a valiant effort to stop them in their tracks.
An effort that would be wasted entirely.
Originally, Amarthathor would have simply settled for bombing the station to nothing more than smithereens, given that through the data they had recovered from Prothean ruins, the Citadel itself was a giant mass relay that activated everytime the sick, perverted practice of genocide known as the Cycle was nearing it's end, and it emitted subtle signals that slowly wore down a sentinent being's mental defenses, turning him or her into a mindless slave.
If not for the tireless persuasion on Valerian and Anduin's part, he certainly would have made sure it came to pass.
Instead, he would be content with taking the station by force, since their earlier attempts at attempting to diffuse the conflict had horribly failed, and deliver the UAP's demands to the Council in person.
Although the UAP was initially known as the Allied Triumverate, the collective had to change it's name with the inclusion of the Quarians and geth as new, independent allies.
The Turian forces and the Normandy that have come to act as liason have opted to stay out of the conflict, mostly because they used to be affiliated with the Council races and that many of their friends were still on the station either as civilians or members of C-Sec.
The Batarians, however, were more than willing to participate as part of the attack force that will eventually storm the Citadel, as they were terribly fed up with the Council for having ignored their pleas of help during the Hegemony's authoritarian regime.
Commander Shepard was especially uncomfortable with fighting Systems Alliance soldiers, despite the Alliance Parliament continuously dismissing her warnings about the Reapers, to which Amarthathor honoured her request and asked her to remain behind ally lines.
Upon entering the drop pod launching bay, he entered the one closest to him, securing the safety harnesses onto his body to prevent his person from lurching around in the pod due to the high G-forces it would experience.
Once the pod was full of soldiers, the doors to the pod closed.
With a slight lurch and a sound similar to uncorking a bottle, the pod launched from the ship, Taenith setting the drop point for the pod to impact on the outer rim of the Citadel.
Immediately, the atmosphere became saturated with Eezo slugs being fired from the numerous Anti-Aircraft guns scattered throughout the Citadel, which often were obliterated with well-coordinated strafing runs and lucky missile shots. Though the Council forces were not expecting such a high-level of technology from the UAP, that did not mean they were unable to deal their enemy its share of casualties as well.
Already, many ship Captains were reporting hull breaches and loss of fighter craft from AA fire, with the UAP fleet even losing about three ships, which was actually a feat, considering the huge technological gap between the two sides.
But they were acceptable losses, nothing too serious to worry about. This fleet was, after all, only a miniscule fraction of the UAP's real strength on the galactic scale.
A huge number of drop pods impacted on the station's intact arms with a loud thundering sound, followed by hissing sounds accompanying the pods' doors violently displacing themselves from the constructs as hundreds upon hundreds of troops streamed out of them towards the already beleaguered defenders.
Other troops landed through strange, golden plated transport craft bearing delicate wings that aimed a certain contraption at bare ground, causing several dozens of bipedal, blue skinned soldiers to simply appear from boxes of light, assembling their bodies' atomic structure together in plain space, whilst fearsome creatures resembling the Rachni of sorts landed through bio-organic pods of large proportions that burst upon impact, unleashing swarms of them towards unprepared C-Sec forces.
Hefting his axe, Amarthathor tossed Taenith in chip form towards a whittled-down C-Sec company and removed the visor attacked to his helmet, making it vanish in a flash of arcane fire.
When Taenith neared the defenders, he underwent a transformation from an Artificial Intelligence in a computer chip to a shock trooper in a flash of blue pixels, quickly dispatching what remained of the alien company with quick draws of his bow, shafts of golden yellow magic completely bypassing their kinetic barriers.
Within minutes, Amarthathor's forces had ruthlessly cut a path through the beleaguered C-Sec ranks and made a push towards the Presidium, where the Council was taking shelter from the whole invasion.
Only a few platoons of C-Sec personnel stood in the way of the High Emperor's retinue, forming lines whilst aiming their weapons at the encroaching tide of Thedosian soldiers.
He had to applaud them for their bravery; no one would dare stand in the way of a Thedosian charge, unless they were either Zerg or Protoss, or those who had confidence in their absolute power.
For the unfortunate C-Sec personnel, they never stood a chance, as they were cut down by barrages of concentrated fire and spears flung towards their position, not even doing so much as to even slow them down by brief moments.
Now the way to the Presidium was clear, and no one else was there to stop them, or the other UAP forces.
Now it was time to make demands.
And hopefully, this time, make the Asari and Salarian Councilors realise that the Reapers were far too much of a threat to ignore, or the Burning Legion or the Ethereals.
Either way, nothing would ever be the same for the Council.
IIOII
Tevos could not believe her eyes.
It was a nightmare made manifest; the Defense Fleet was being absolutely decimated by the advanced technology the UAP fleet employed, and C-Sec personnel were being slaughtered left and right all across the Citadel.
Not to mention they managed to dislodge two of the Citadel's arms from the main station, killing thousands of lives.
Anderson could only pray that the UAP would not be so cold-hearted as to annex the whole Council into their fold as payback for what the Batarians and Turians did to them, not to mention that Councilor Sparatus still had not yet returned from UAP territory, which could only mean that something terrible happened to him.
Valern, on the other hand, was less than optimistic about how the current situation would turn out. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, his large pupils blinking continuously to prevent his eyes from being coated in the smelly, salty substance.
Loud banging could be heard from the far side of the Presidium, where the doors of the main entrance were beginning to buckle and bulge under tremendous pressure and strain that they were receiving.
The banging began to get louder and louder, until the doors could withstand the pressure no more as they were violently dislodged from their hinges, clattering harmlessly onto the floor.
An inhuman, beastly roar accompanied a large, reptilian-like creature's entry into the Presidium with several soldiers of both humanoid and unknown races, scaring the nearby guards witless.
The three Councilors could only stay fixated in their seats as the creature trekked through the Presidium, its steps making heavier impacts as the floor began bearing larger indents in it's surface.
Once the creature was close enough to the Councilors, it roared a second time, before somehow wreathing itself in black mist, which began shrinking in size until it was just about large enough to engulf an average human being.
Once the mist reached said size, it dissipated to reveal...
A humanoid-no, an Elf, one of the mythical beings thought only existing in human fiction, here in the Presidium in flesh and blood.
The 'Elf', along with several others who possessed authority over their troops, ordered them to stand down but keep an eye on the guards nonetheless. Afterwards, the 'Elf' then turned to face the Councilors.
"I am Amarthathor, High Emperor of the Thedosian Empire," He introduced himself to the Councilors, not bothering to answer any question they had about his recent transformation, "We have come to make demands to the Council in response to the Turian and Batarian slaver attacks on our space."
So, it was the Turians who were responsible for this, Tevos thought to herself, Damn Sparatus and his arrogant pride.
{Don't think you can simply blame the Turians for your countless blunders, Councilor Tevos,} The Asari heard a voice give the mental equivalent of a scowl at her, {If not for Amarthathor, I would have simply killed you here and now!}
"Who's speaking?" Valern asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
Both Tevos and Anderson were stunned at this moment; not only did this coalition of species have advanced technology at their disposal, but they could communicate through... telapathy?
They turned to find the source of the voice, who turned out to be one of the pale-skinned bipedal aliens who wore blackish, infernal armor and raidating a fearsome aura that was visible through his crimson glowing eyes, his face lacking any mouth to speak through.
{I am Alarak, Highlord of the Tal'darim Protoss,} The alien stated his name, still scowling at the Councilors.
Then another alien stepped foward, this time one which had sickly brown skin and had no orifice to speak through, closely resembling a Rachni queen but lacking the same skin colour and the claw-protrusions from where the mouth should be.
{I am Zagara, Queen of the Zerg Swarm,} A distinctly feminine, yet slithery voice boomed.
Following Zagara was the Rachni queen herself.
{I am Zi'Thoak, the only remaining Rachni queen of my species.}
Next, there was Legion, the Geth representative.
"I am Legion."
Tevos halted Legion's introduction, much to the annoyance of all those present.
"Exactly why is a Geth here, revered leaders?" She rudely stated, much to the annoyance of those present. Except for Legion, who only swiveled his head around in amusement.
"My kind are more than highly advanced VI who failed to grasp organic emotions, Tevos," Legion answered, fixating a glare of anger at the Asari, "We have evolved from a congregate of machines who only understood basic Eezo technology to true AI who are now staunch allies of the UAP."
"So don't you dare try to insult us, Asari," Legion seethed, causing Tevos to be taken aback.
"C-Can you show us proof?" Tevos stuttered, trying to find out just how did the Geth suddenly begin to prove all the myths about them wrong.
Legion wordlessly decided to humour her request, and opened a chest plate, revealling a beating organic heart surrounded by cybernetic mechanisms.
Closing it, Legion was content with delivering his point across, and waited for the Quarian delegate to move foward.
Wearing an exotic exosuit decorated with a metallic pauldron and a golden yellow sash across his torso, President Rael'Zorah of the Quarian Republic stepped foward, his mauve skin was in plain view, along with his brightly glowing irises and external sensory ligaments on the back of his head that passed off as hair, and his pointed ears.
In Thedosian or Azerothian society, he would have passed off as a rather handsome Elf who gained the attention of many women, mainly Human and Elven, though he was content with being the husband of Tali'Zorah's mother who was a fellow Quarian.
"I am Rael'Zorah, President of the most recently established Quarian Republic," He proceeded to introduce himself.
Tevos was confused; he did not look like a Quarian at all. Most Quarians had a polarised visor covering their faces from recognition.
"Are you really a Quarian?" She asked.
Rael simply sighed. "It's no surprise that you have not seen our actual faces, given that we were restricted to our exosuits by our atrophied immune systems."
That would explain why he was not wearing his helmet over his face.
Next was Urdnot Wrex, High Chancellor of the Principality of Tuchanka, who wore a new set of crimson painted Exso armor hardened by magical enchantments, and who was also more than happy to berate the Asari and Salarian Councilors for their previous incompetence.
Then came Emperor Valerian of the Terran Dominion, who had honey golden hair tied in a short pony tail and was wearing his version of regal clothing; a military-styled dress uniform with golden encrusted pauldrons protecting his shoulders. A sword lay at his side, which would have had Tevos assuming it was decorative if not for the natural manner in how his hand rested on it's pommel.
His expression remained a blank mask, but he managed to convey the severity of crossing the Korprulu Alliance through the power of his words, making Tevos think twice about trying to steal their secrets.
Following Valerian was High King Anduin Wrynn of the Azerothian Coalition, wearing his late father's steel blue armor, the pauldrons designed as a gryphon's head and a moderately large double-edged sword with a pulsating orange crystal core and a hardwood staff on his back.
Like his Terran counterpart, he refused to tolerate any threat to his people, or any of the UAP factions as a whole, planting his sword into a console to direct his point.
Next was the Batarian ambassador, Ghathe Cros'rass of the New Batarian Republic. He was not hesitant in bombarding both Tevos and Valern in all sorts of slangs and vulgar language possible for not supporting anti-slaver movements all across Batarian space, which would leave Batarian-Council relations strained for a long time.
Finally, much to the surprise of all three Councilors present, came Councilor Sparatus.
Except, he was not wearing his usual blue coloured Councilor uniform. In it's place, he wore a plain white T-shirt and blue slim-fit jeans, which proved far too casual for such a place and time.
But the big question was: Why is Councilor Sparatus not with the UAP as a prisoner?
"Where have you been, Sparatus!?" Tevos snapped at the Turian, her hands slamming on a table, "Have you and your people lost their minds, attacking the UAP!?"
Sparatus seemed unfazed by his Asari counterpart's outburst, and coolly replied: "We did attack the UAP, but in doing so we suffered heavily for our actions; more than few dozen colonies were captured over the past few weeks, thousands of soldiers lost their lives, and all of it proved one thing: The Turian Hierarchy is no longer the strongest military power in the galaxy."
The final nail had been hammered into the coffin. Never had Sparatus so easily admitted that the Hierarchy had comitted one of it's biggest blunders ever since it's existense, or that the Turians were no longer the strongest military force in the galaxy.
"Would you like to state your piece, Commander Shepard?" Amarthathor called out to a woman who mainly hid behind a wall for the most part.
She stepped out, and revealed her mostly undamaged face to the whole Council, though they could see that she was wearing the customary white and black Cerberus fatigues rather than the Alliance's blue dress uniform.
"C-Sec forces are decimated as they are, Tevos," Shepard stated, foregoing any formalities in the meeting, "Those who surrendered are being rounded up and kept that way until further notice, but there are plenty of those who are uncomfortable being in the presense of AI or Rachni, so you can guess where that went."
Tevos could definitely guess where the whole thing was going, which left her with only one option.
"I will listen to all of your demands," Tevos solemnly stated in a defeated manner.
A smirk plastered itself onto Amarthathor's face, satisfied that all was going according to plan, though the smirk disappeared as fast as it appeared.
He took out a scroll of paper, and as he unrolled it, stated out the demands.
"Firstly, the Council is to declare that Omega is officially a territory of the UAP, and that Council patrols are forbidden from entering our space."
That was acceptable, given that Omega was always an unpleasant place to live in.
"Secondly, you are to hereby acknowledge that the Turian Hierarchy is no longer affiliated with the Citadel Council, and that all Hierarchy space is hereby off-limits to Council patrols and Spectres."
Did she just hear that right? If the Hierarchy were to no longer be a part of the Council, it meant that they all had to develop their own military, and the Volus, being a client race of the Hierarchy, would leave the galaxy's economy in the hands of the Asari, and they made extremely poor bankers.
But she had to hold her tongue, lest she risk antagonising the UAP leaders once more.
"Thirdly, you are to acknowledge that the Systems Alliance is a full member race of the Council, and that you are to respect its sovereignty as a galactic power as a whole."
Now they were asking for far too much; the Council had already let the Systems Alliance have a human Spectre, and given them a Council seat, though they did veeto everything Anderson suggested since she wanted the Asari Republic to remain on top of the political food chain.
Unwilling to contain her emotions any further, she snapped at the High Emperor, once again slamming her hands on the table.
"This is unacceptable! You are asking us to do the impossible!"
A shot rang from Amarthathor's handgun, silencing any further complaints from the Asari Councilor, who reluctantly sat back down with indigant fury.
"Finally, you are to reinstate Commander Shepard as a Spectre, with immediate effect."
Tevos had never felt such a strong need to revoke Amarthathor's demands, to make him and the rest of the UAP feel inferior to the Citadel Council, to keep the Asari on the top of the block over all the other races, but such a thing was impossible; the High Emperor effectively held her by the throat, and there was absolutely nothing she could do to avenge this humiliation.
"Anyone who wishes to cast support for this ultimatum, raise your voice now," Amarthathor stated, rolling up the scroll as he did so.
All of the leaders of the UAP stepped foward, ready to cast their vote.
"The Terran Dominion supports your ultimatum."
"The Quarian Republic supports your ultimatum."
"The Azerothian Coalition supports your ultimatum."
"The Principality of Tuchanka supports your ultimatum."
{The Khalai, Nerazim and Tal'darim Protoss support your ultimatum.}
"The Geth Consensus supports your ultimatum."
"The New Batarian Republic supports your ultimatum."
{The Rachni supports your ultimatum.}
It was over.
The status quo that the Asari had worked so hard to establish was demolished in less than a day, and thousands of lives had paid dearly for it. Asari, Turian, Salarian, and possibly some Humans as well.
"The Turian Hierarchy supports your ultimatum."
All eyes in the Presidium turned to Sparatus.
"No more appeasement, no more empty promises. Today, the Hierarchy declares itself an ally of the UAP."
Now it was truly the end, the Council no longer had a military arm to rely on in times of crisis.
Anderson and Valern were genuinely surprised; the UAP had managed to hold the Asari Councilor by her throat and made sure they reaped the maximum number of benefits throughout the whole negotiations, if it could be called such.
"You have heard our ultimatum, now our business is done," Amarthathor said as he turned around to leave with the rest of the UAP leaders.
"However," He turned to give one last look at Tevos, "Should you ever try to override the terms of the agreement, it will be considered a violation of the agreement, and will be considered a declaration of war."
One by one, the leaders of the UAP and their respective guards had left the Presidium, leaving Tevos to slump in her chair with a tiredness she never thought she would have in total defeat, her earlier fury being replaced with anguish and sorrow.
As Amarthathor and the other leaders walked out of the Presidium, the High Emperor narrowed his eyes upon noticing a disturbance in his mind.
{Alarak,} He communicated telepathically with the Tal'darim Highlord, {Do you feel it?}
{As much as you can, Amarthathor, and I am not liking it one little bit.}
Shepard looked around, trying to find out the source of the voices talking in her head.
{It is telapathic communication, Commander Shepard,} The Rachni Queen kindly explained to the Spectre, despite her being equally disturbed.
So what has got you guys so hyped up? Shepard thought out loud informally, now knowing that the others would be able to pick up her thoughts.
If whatever is disturbing the leaders of the UAP is enough to prevent old enemies from breathing down their necks, it was definitely a cause of worry.
{It is this station,} Zagara said, equally wary of both the Citadel and C-Sec, {It is producing a signal that is very subtle, but noticeable to both psionics and magi, but at the same time subtle enough to go unnoticed by non-psionics.}
For those who aren't psionic or a mage, could you please explain how the signal feels? Valerian asked mentally, making sure his thoughts were loud enough for everyone included in the mental conversation to hear.
{At first, the signal just persuades you to let down your guard, not bother about the troubles of the galaxy,} Anduin chimed in, {Judging from the signal itself, it would take several months, perhaps over a year to achieve complete control of one person if continuously exposed to the influence.}
So whoever built this station has plenty of time on their hands, Shepard stated, having learned a new fact about the Citadel.
{And we certainly do not want to become someone else's puppet,} Amarthathor concluded his statement, {The Councilors have not been on the station for that long, have they Shepard?}
They certainly haven't, Shepard answered, But Tevos's pride is getting in the way, though Anderson and Valern are more willing to listen.
{We had better increase security across all our borders, just in case,} Zagara suggested, {I would not want to be caught unprepared for the time when this 'Cycle' nears it's end.}
{Neither would we want the Burning Legion to be able to roam unchecked across our space, or these Ethereals,} Anduin finished Zagara's thoughts.
For this, all leaders, including those of the Korprulu Alliance, gave an honest summary of their forces.
{The Empire has had a thousand years to rebuild since the Eternal war,} Amarthathor stated, {All of our planets fully garrisoned, and ready to withstand a siege in times of war.}
{The Protoss are still down to half our number before the Great Wars, even with all three Protoss factions,} Alarak said, {But we are nonetheless ready to defend the entirety of our space.}
{Ever since the Second Legion War, the Coalition has made great progress in reconstruction efforts, but our forces are still eighty percent of what they were in pre-war times,} Anduin explained.
{The Zerg Swarm is completely rebuilt; all losses are replenished and new Hive Clusters have been established. Do not worry, they are all in Zerg space, as per our agreement.} Said Zagara as they began nearing the transports waiting for them.
Dominion ground forces are ninety percent replenished and new ship fabrication technologies have ensured that we can park at least one battlecruiser at every colony, Valerian stated with confidence, However, we are still down thirty percent below pre-war levels, which can be a cause of concern.
Uh, don't mean to impose, but the Krogan and Quarians don't exactly have a substantial military as of yet; increased Krogan birth rates have allowed us to get a population boom, but we will have to rely on the rest of you people for now, Wrex stated, as if the other leaders were forgetting something.
{Not to worry, Wrex. Our treaties have ensured your protection by other factions,} Amarthathor said in answer to Wrex's statement.
I hope so, Wrex stated doubtfully, I especially don't think the Asari will take the insult they took lying down.
Neither do we, Wrex, Valerian chimed in, Neither do we.
A/N: Okay, this is definitely the longest chapter I have ever done. Over 12k words, and this is to make up for the long period of time for which I was away.
So if any of you wish to make a cover art for this fanfic, please PM me and I will consider the offer.
Until then, this is Ebanu8.
