Senior Advisor Jagun Mahuklu of the Batarian Hegemony drummed his finger on his human-import mahogany desk.
As a member of the illustrious Hegemonic Cabinet, he was privy to a lot of things. These subjects included, but not limited to, military research, Terminus mercenary network, detailed slave market data, names of spies, blackmail material, and so on.
Also, an exemption to trade bans for luxury goods such as his custom-designed mahogany desk worth more than a thousand slaves.
The smoothness and the coolness of the desk as well as the looks of envy from his rivals made this desk worth every single credit.
The general gist of a highly cultured nation's politics and those owed to its successful politicians.
His job made life even better.
As a senior advisor, he compiled reports for the rest of the cabinets to discuss.
And just earlier that day, Jagun had submitted three reports: one from the slave markets, one from the mercenary network, and the last from military research.
Technically, they were subsections of a single report named "Need for a Raid on the Escherian Empire."
The reasons as he stated in the report was thus: the Escherian Empire was the only non-Citadel Council entity that had human population, a species in high demand in the slave market, there was a new Mass Relay that they had discovered going from Terminus straight into their "Rimworld," and there was a chance that the Hegemony might be able to steal a tech or two during the raid.
Then just an hour ago, three hours since the end of the meeting of the cabinets, a video went viral in the Extranet. It was a human soldier, but he moved so fast and smoothly that his very existence was a blur.
Less than ten minutes after that video went viral, he received confirmation for approval from all other cabinet members.
Jagun smiled as he submitted a proposal to put together a mercenary force to attack the human colony.
One named Quentius, oddly turian sounding colony name.
The reason why he chose this colony was because his spies reported a significant lack of defenses. While it had a small fleet guarding the colony, the said fleet was also supposedly responsible for an entire sector. So if they strike hard and strike fast, it would be no issue.
It also sounded like a turian colony, so even if the Hegemony was not going to be actually attacking Hierarchy colony, it would feel good nonetheless when they would all feel better when they read on the report that a colony with turian-ish name got raided by their mercenaries.
Jagun chuckled to himself.
Yes, it would be grand.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"The new duke is a magician?"
"Yes. Our representative of the sector confirmed this."
"I did not expect that."
"What should we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's not part of the Association or the Academy."
"...You are right. How did he come about to learn magic?"
"Perhaps from a rogue or a stray tome?"
"A stray tome in one of the most pirate infested region of the galaxy before his own arrival? I doubt it. As for a rogue magician... none of our tripwires activated beyond the systems in the Inner Sector closest to the Core Worlds, where all of them were apprehended."
"Well, you know what they say about pirates. You find a lot of odd things in their hoard."
"That is true..."
"Well? What are we going to do about him? He's risking exposure of magic."
"...You know something? Why don't we just let him?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I mean, hear me out. We magicians have been in hiding for so long that we simply accept it even after our mundane cousins went out to space and colonized planets. Isn't it time that we also have a revolution of our own?"
"You sound like a reactionary."
"Maybe it's time for a reaction."
"You intend to make half of the entire Academy and half of the Association your enemy?"
"I won't have to. We'll simply … let the duke expose magic for us."
"You intend to use one of the most powerful nobles? Are you insane?"
"From what I hear, he has no power outside of his own sector."
"And if any of our associate decides to try to kill him for exposing magic, it'll put a target on all of us regardless of our part in it, and whether or not they succeed is a whole another can of worms."
"Then we protect him. Make him our own representative."
"I don't think it's a good idea. You know how insane this sounds, right? We can't predict what anyone is going to do once this goes out."
"Well, I rather like the thought of that. An unpredictable future! Besides, it's not like there isn't a galactic substitute for it."
"... Sometimes, I think it was a mistake letting someone with 'Chaos' for their element become one of the Directors of the Associate."
"Well, I do have a plan in place, you know."
"Of course, you would. Tell me about it."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"General Sheperd."
The old human woman frowned. "Did my son do something?"
A blink. "Pardon me?" the man at her door asked, confused by the question.
"I know that John is a little hipster in the making, but I didn't think that he would garner the spook's attention."
"... No, ma'am. It has nothing to do with your son."
"Oh, then what is this visit about?" she asked. "You know what? Come in. Take a seat while I get us some tea."
The officer of the Systems Alliance Intelligence Service hesitantly and then reluctantly walked into the retired general's home. Once the said woman disappeared, the officer scrutized the retiree's home.
It was surprisingly normal place. He had been surprised to find out that the famous Taylor Sheperd, the Efficient Pacifist General of the Systems Alliance, lived in a normal house just nine blocks from his own home. Now that he was inside the said place, he saw that the place was just .. normal.
Other times he had visited other admirals', directors', or generals' home, he found artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and other expansive items displayed tastefully in a house worth at least a million dollars in value.
He saw none of those in Mrs. Sheperd's home; a few pairs of Nikes, a pair of sandals, his own pair, and a coat hangar at the entrance, a pot with …
…
…
Holy shit, there was plants everywhere in this house.
There was a Venus Fly Trap right at the entrance, a multiple species of orchids-
Was that a bird?
…
He was sweating.
It felt like a jungle in here!
He walked on, trying to see what was different. And then he saw-
His eyes bugged out as he drew in an impossibility.
There was a canopy of some kind of tropical tree in the middle of the house, covering the ceiling. And the base of the tree itself was closed off by rails. He looked over the rails and saw the tree trunk extend down and down and down... The tree itself, he now calculated, was at least thirty meters tall, and it was the center of an open basement that stretched just as deep and as wide as the house itself in diameter.
His heart calmed down as the logic of the world settled in.
'Of course, of course,' he thought. This was the house of a general. 'There was no way it was going to be normal.' And thus, all was right in the world.
"Come, sit."
He looked to the voice and saw Mrs. Sheperd with a tray. She set the tea down on a branch table(?) carved straight out of one of the extending branches of the tree at the center of the house. The seats themselves seemed normal... until he realized that the chairs too held an odd rainbow hue to them similar to the table.
"So...?" he asked, looking around.
"It's a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree," she explained. "I just fell in love with it when I first saw it as a kid, so I had one planted in my own house. Of course, it's a little expansive, but it's what I love so I'm glad to pay for it."
"I see..."
He sat down across from the lady of the house.
"So," she began. "What business does an intelligence officer of the SAIS have with retired lil' old me?" she asked with a smile. "And since it has nothing to do with my son, it obviously has to do with me, no?"
He responded with equally polite smile. "It does, ma'am. I've come to ask you a few questions regarding your recent correspondence with the new Duke of Freyr Sector."
There was a pause.
And then laughter.
"Oh goodness me, you visited me because of that?!" she cackled.
"The SAIS has been wondering if you were in possession of anything … worthwhile, so to speak."
There was another pause, but this time, the atmosphere was frigid.
"You mean something you can use to your advantage."
"Ma'am, I wouldn-"
"Shut up and get out. I was hoping for an interesting visit, but all I see is another spook poking his nose where it doesn't belong," she growled. "And you'll leave my house before I count to five in my head. I'll be shooting you full of holes otherwise." With that said, she pulled out a shotgun from underneath the branch-table.
She pumped and aimed.
Sufficed to say, the officer was quick to be gone without even giving a retort or smart backtalk to the retired lady.
But considering that Taylor Sheperd was one of the heroes of the Systems Alliance and the one whose word still holds sway in media and the brass, it was probably a good idea that he didn't earn more of her ire.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Taylor scoffed as she watched the supposedly unflinchable spooks of the SAIS run out of her house.
"Mom, did you scare someone again?"
She merely grinned as her eldest son walked up from below.
Jonathan Sheperd was the eldest of the 41st generation of Sheperds, and the only one among three generation not directly involved with the military. As a prodigy software programmer, Jonathan devoted his life to making games, mostly strategy games. His work was not that big of a hit, but still earned him a large steady income.
"Yeah. Another spook came by."
"Ah. Is this about your pen pal?" he asked as he took the tea that the said spook did not drink.
"Yup!"
For a woman of 88 years old, she looked only 50 and fit. Modern medicine and exercise helped her a lot. So the way she was wielding an antique trench gun with only one hand was no surprise to Jonathan. It also helped that he was often on the receiving end of the threat the fleeing spook got every time he didn't do his laundry on time.
Yes, the eldest of the siblings, still acting like a big baby in his mama's home. Well, he did it because he could, so sue him!
Or shoot him, because that's what his mom does.
Back to the matter at hand, Jonathan too was curious about his mother's pen pal. Supposedly, it was the new Escherian duke ruling some backwater Rimworld sector.
Hell, when he heard that internet could reach there, Jonathan was shocked!
"Did my encryption work well?"
"It worked really well," she grinned. "The spook probably got too frustrated and decided to just ask up front. Dumbass didn't even bring a gun with him."
Jonathan laughed quietly.
Contrary to what a lot of people think about his mom, Taylor Sheperd was a crude woman. She wasn't the refined admiral or general everyone thinks of, but was the near-perfect image of a drill sergeant not at work.
This mostly had to do with her education, or so she always told Jonathan and his siblings. She was a street-girl who had been conscripted during a minor seccesionist movement in the Inner Sector. Instead of acting like a regular, disgruntled conscript, she apparently went out of her way to make achievements instead. In the span of a single year, she went from being a Private to a Sergeant, then another five years to become a captain after one of the colonels at the time recommended her to the officer training.
Exactly twenty-three years after becoming a captain, she became a general of the Systems Alliance Army.
Throughout his life, Jonathan saw two people. Ones who hated his mother for being born a street rat and outdoing all "elites," and the ones who admired her for overcoming what everyone considered to be impossibility.
Because seriously, a street rat?
Jonathan shook his head.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well, what?"
"I know that the spooks only come and go every time they see an exchange of letters between you two. What did he say this time?"
"Ah! Something about building a carrier."
"... Odd choice of topic between pen pals."
His mother scoffed. "We're both militarymen. We enjoy talking about this, especially considering that he invited me over."
There was a pause.
"Wait, what-?"
"That's right, hon!" Taylor suddenly shouted. "We're going on a vacation!"
There was a thump and a creak, and then a series of rapid climb up the basement/tree garden stairs. From the same stairs that Jonathan popped out of, his father popped out.
Whereas his mother was fit, slim, and powerful, his father was rotund, fluffy, and lovable. An retired lieutenant of the Systems Alliance Navy, Edward Sheperd was a great cook with even greater walrus moustache. In fact, if you gave him a bandana, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a black leather jacket, he would make the perfect image of the old biker gang member.
Unfortunately for the man's fear factor, Edward chose instead to wear pink aprons, stove mittens, and a chef's hat.
Still, a great cook. Once he got two rivals to make amends lest they never taste his secret sauce smeared boiled shrimp.
And just like his wife, a travel lover.
Thus it was decided that the two of them would visit her new friend at the edge of the known human territory.
The Rimworlds.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
