Author Note:NOT DEAD! Ok long short my soon to be ex wife has been cheating on me for awhile and when I caught her she threw a fit and ran away, she's spent the past month and a half trying to make my life a living hell out of spite so my muse really didn't exist. I forced this out because I was getting tired of her negativity ruining my pastime so here we are.
This chapter is a bit disjointed and short due to it being written on again off again over the past four weeks, its going to end in a Yui diary entry so just warning you so you don't get angry. If you're wondering why well...this chapter is the physical reminder of the death of my marriage, and I just want it to be over with, next chapter will be either West Point or the Skillian blitz, you guys decide. Anyway I'm done and moving on, hopefully the crazy bint stops trying to ruin my life after the papers are signed, peace all.
Citadel, Presidium Tower
Tevos and her cohorts looked as if they were preparing for war, Merag was standing stiffly at his podium saying some prayer or another, Dravis stood at attention taking discreet sips from a flask while she herself attempted meditating. They weren't going to war per say, but they most certainly were about to deal with someone who had a habit of shell shocking them, she'd only been dealing with the man in question for a month and he already had her regularly seeing a shrink. With that thought there was a ding at the end of the hall and the doors slid aside and all of the chambers many hangers-on fell silent at the sight that greeted them, grinning widely Charles zi Britannia stepped off the lift his eyes alight with amusement.
He was unfortunately half dressed, wearing a bathrobe and holding a coffee mug he sauntered up to the platform, glancing down she saw he was wearing some kind of pink slippers with animal heads on the toes, 'Why...why me?' she thought despondently. Tipping a flask into his mug then taking a large gulp he let the room stew in his presence for well over a minute before speaking,
"Sooo, as the Turians may know my son made overtures to the Quarians in regards to some mutually beneficial business contracts, that is all well and good but there's been a hitch in the plans. Ends up the Quarian delegation was jumped by a Turian scout patrol, both vessels are heavily damaged and likely irreparable, roughly half the ships crews are dead or injured."
At this his smile fell and the council saw for the first time not 'Chuck' the affable drunk who enjoyed trolling them, at that moment he was Charles zi Britannia, former Emperor of the Holy Empire. "Lelouch is not amused and I've already had to dissuade him from glassing a few of your colonies in retaliation for this slight, you are all quite lucky my son takes counsel better then I ever did."
With that everyone stared at Dravis who for his part looked surprised, glancing down at his data pad there was a pause then his mandibles and eye ridges rose in rage; after a particularly colorful rant he slammed the pad onto his podium.
"It would appear that someone used their SPECTRE status to initiate the attack, the orders were sealed and the time stamps and authorization codes deleted...I do not suppose there were any survivors?" At this Chuck...Charles shrugged,
"It depends, if what I heard is correct my granddaughter Marianne was in charge of the assault, she is my daughter Nunnally's protege so unless she was given explicit orders to do so I seriously doubt she left anyone alive." Merag finally lost it and shouted,
"What the hell is wrong with you people! You take casually wiping out a patrol and executing any survivors as if its nothing! You wipe out TWO sector fleets then threaten to glass our home worlds if we don't bow to your wishes! Our civilization has stood for thousands of years and you're undoing all of it in a matter of weeks!" Huffing from the rapid fire delivery the Salarian sensed the shocked stares from around the room, his eyes began bugging out as he realized what he had just done.
Much to everyone's amazement the Britannian ambassador broke out laughing, shaking his head he muttered something that sounded like "Yes dear I think I finally broke him, hopefully the next ones heard of prozac." Standing up tall and tossing the back the last of the mugs contents he smirked at the trio then bowed lightly,
"Well, I'll leave it in your capable hands to find out who ordered the attack, if you all need me I have a date with a rather foul mouthed bartender and she threatened to 'kick me in the quad' if I bailed on her, take care." With that he lazily walked out of the room leaving it in dead silence, Merag began hyperventilating as Dravis downed the last of his flask, Tevos for her part came to the stark realization that he didn't care about the attack at all, this was all lip service. As she walked to her offices she couldn't shake the feeling that they had all missed something here and they would regret not knowing it in due time.
Damocles
Pandemonium would probably be the best way to describe the main docks as countless shuttles were sent to recover the survivors from the two wrecked Ter'leh cruisers drifting amongst the debris of the felled Turian patrol. For his part Lloyd Asplund was not use to being rushed through anything, his sociopathic tendencies usually made most people outside of the royal family uncomfortable ergo leaving him free to bask in sweet sweet science, today though he couldn't use that to his benefit. Today nearly five hundred aliens including children were in need of immediate aid only he and the rest of his fellow mad scientists could give them, their experimental nanites the only thing keeping the Quarians compromised immune systems functioning. Turning to his daughter he yelled out to the sky blue haired woman,
"Zoe dear, I need an infants dosage immediately please!" Looking down at the young (everyone was young to him he was 230 years old after all) couple before him he said nothing knowing full well the usual results of him trying to make others feel better, as the infant in the breached containment sphere began coughing ceaselessly Zoe popped up beside them. Not wasting anytime the biochemist barked out,
"Formula Q3I5, infant dosage with adrenaline dear," looking over his daughters head he saw little Joanna expertly tap the keys of a portable synthesizer and after a moment snatched out the ejected ampule, shoving it into an injector she handed it to Zoe who stabbed the device through the infants chest injecting the nanites directly into her heart. The parents seemed frozen in place as the child stopped moving, everyone held their breath then collectively released it as the child began crying, Zoe seemed to collapse in on herself for a moment with a self satisfied smile, glancing over her shoulder to Joanna she said,
"Twenty for twenty kiddo, I think we got it!" Returning the grin Joanna approached the suited couple and tugged the woman's arm lightly,
"I'm sorry your baby was hurt ma'am, the Turians killed my daddy and I'm just glad they didn't take your daughter too," the woman stared down at the child for a moment and gave her an awkward hug seeing as she was still holding the baby.
"Its fine young one, thanks to you people Tali will live to see another day, I cannot possibly be sad about that," smiling in return Joanna extended her hand to the father, cocking his head he took the girls hand and she shook it vigorously. With she glanced at the name tag on his suit then nodded thoughtfully,
"You're Rael'Zorah the head of the delegation aren't you?" Nodding not quite knowing where this was going she then began hopping excitedly, "I'm so glad you made it, grandpa was so angry when he found out the Turians attacked you, oh I'm sorry how rude I'm Princess Joanna vi Britannia welcome to Damocles!" They stared at the girl wide eyed and went to look towards the adults for answers but they had already moved on to the next injured group, finally Neela responded,
"Why is an Imperial Princess helping with refugee work?" The little redhead looked angry for a moment as she placed her hands on her hips,
"If you can help but you don't it makes you just as guilty as those that caused the damage to begin with, we're all in this together it doesn't matter what your title is," shocked to hear such a mature statement from one so young they really didn't know how to respond, Joanna for her part had her attention drawn back to Tali. "So glad she made it, we've been testing these treatments on Turian samples and the few Jayne'Reegar left us with, glad he made it Aunt Luluka really like him but he's really really mad right now. Something about err...bosh'tet's I think, whatever those are, anyway I need to go help Zoe so here," she tapped a few keys on her Omni-Tool when a hovering sphere disconnected from the base and projected a little girl around itself.
"Hello I'm Arya please follow me to the infirmary, we have to be quick about this Damocles was meant to be a fortress not a refugee center," both Quarians realized this was one of Britannia's infamous AI's...and they also realized they had no choice but to follow it. Apprehension obvious they trailed behind the projection as it led them through the body clogged hanger, Joanna started as Lloyd dropped a hand on her shoulder,
"Well played, not quite what the Emperor meant when he said to use your charms on the delegation but still, well done." Smirking Joanna followed the mad scientist to retake her position with Zoe, meeting his eyes she shrugged while sighing,
"I really did care but you're right, letting them know I'm a Princess while helping save their daughter will do nothing but improve Grandpa's chances of turning them to our side," Lloyd began humming lightly as she split off with Zoe and he moved on to his next test subj...patient, he really needed to remember to not let that slip out it could seriously cause issues for Lelouch down the line.
48 Hours Later
Lelouch noted not for the first time that he was incredibly lucky to have two beautiful intelligent wives to keep him in line, because without them he very well may have taken the kid gloves off with this latest Turian disaster. Thankfully their cooler heads (oh gods Kallen had a cooler head over this then him, that was telling)prevailed so instead of burning a few worlds he spent his time talking to Rael'Zorah and his lovely wife while his technicians readied the real time meeting with the rest of the Admiralty. It helped to sooth his nerves hearing Joanna had made such an impression on them, he'd make sure she spent time with the admiral's daughter as they grew up, solid bonds of friendship would help keep the Empire stable in the future once the Reapers met their end.
Stretching while making sure his cybernetic hand didn't catch on his jacket again he stood to addressed the admiral in question, he noted that the man seems far more relaxed then he had the previous day, no surprise really considering how he'd been met with open arms and no prejudice. Personally Lelouch was bloody shocked at how quickly the nanites had stabilized the Quarians immune systems, while the older members of their race had to stay hooked to their suits they no longer needed their faceplates. The youngest though, mostly those who hadn't hit puberty yet had all accepted the alteration quickly, as in within seconds and simply put this was both amazing and terrifying.
The mad six had outdone themselves this time and Lelouch couldn't possibly be more proud of their efforts, noticing Rael staring at him he forced the errant thoughts from his mind as he plastered a grin on his face,
"Well how do you think this is going to fly?" The man before him snorted, his glowing silver eyes showing a mischievous glint as his violet lips curled into a smile; it really threw him how damn human they all looked, he'd seriously have bought into some of Suzaku's insane ancestral alien race conspiracy theories if you know, their races shared the same base amino acids.
"Honestly Your Majes...Lelouch, I have no idea, seeing me appear without my mask on will most certainly turn heads, and your terms are beyond fair and they'd be fools to turn it down. That being said the AI situation is going to be a point of contention make no mistake of that, but retaining our ships after mass upgrades and being given access to all your colony worlds plus one of our own? That...that might quite possibly be enough to overlook it." Nodding without really thinking about it he began twirling a king piece while considering his options, he wanted these people to be part of his Emprie, and they needed to join willingly.
"Well," he stated slowly, "Shall we begin?"
Private Musings of Yui vi Britannia, Part II
It has been said time heals all wounds, I hasten to disagree with this, the Quarian animosity for artificial life forms had only festered in their centuries of exile and truth be told it would be hard to blame them for this, after all who would find it acceptable to be stripped of their home, culture, and pride? The olive branch extended by the Empire was the first salve to be applied to this long maligned wound, and while the admiralty was of course resistant they were also not foolish, in time a treaty was brokered. In less then a year after entering the galactic stage the Holy Empire of Britannia had accepted the Quarian nation as a new Duchy and all their people given citizenship, in a matter of months Quarians could be found in every walk across the empire, from lowly street vendors to top military commanders.
I should note Uncle Lelouch made it a point to spread their people far and wide across the empire while practically begging them to procreate like there is no tomorrow, although this is closer to the truth then not I suppose. I digress, over the passing decade the Quarian population nearly doubled while their new homeworld of Serenity was a built up with defenses and infrastructure akin to Earth herself, the Empire does not go for half measures for her allies. The resource extensive project of upgrading all Quarian vessels not destined for the breakers yard began almost immediately, thankfully raw material was in abundance due to the Turian boneyard above Shanxi. While human/quarian relations blossomed and Imperial relations with the Turian Hierarchy entered a stage of mutual respect if not trust there was a single major fly in the ointment. The Batarians.
The Batarian Hegemony was an antithesis to the Britannian Empire, where as Uncle Lelouch focused on ideals of personal freedom and responsibility instilled with the desire to protect what is ours the Hegemony operated off of enslavement and blind obedience to the state. While not stupid enough to outright provoke the Empire the Batarians held no qualms with attacking independent colonies and convoys, soon there was a market for the new exotic humans and now more robust quarians. The reasoning was of course backwards and self serving, we of the Empire had been settling systems they'd recently set their eyes on for well over a century and had no intentions of leaving, so in turn they punish our people for profit by turning them into sex servants.
We protect who we can, we rescue who we find, but many fall through the cracks as an empire of 41 billion souls cannot be monitored at all times, but these crimes against basic sapient rights galvanized the Emperor to take a stand. After nearly five years of negotiations the Empire finally agreed to help the Council races develop their own Knightmare frames and pulse laser energy weapons with one caveat; the Batarians must be kicked out of Council space and labeled a terrorist state. Suffice it to say the Council gleefully agreed to the deal and the new pariah state was left to wither on the vine, soon afterwards pirate attacks on lightly armed colonies increased tenfold, sadly all those captured insisted they were independent contractors and we could not take action.
This brings us to today, the Council Races are now armed with weapons that may actually stand up to the Empires superiority yet they rely on us for the sakuradite needed to make their war machines function. The Batarians are still enslaving the weak but they've managed to alienate all those who may have held sympathy for them, forced into the cold thanks to their barbaric practices. The Holy Empire now stands strong with their new allies and awaits the uncertain future, yet the Krogan are still fragmented, the Council is still mired in bureaucracy, and the Reapers have yet to make their appearance. I do not yet know what the future holds, I have confidence in myself, my Emperor, and my Imperium, as the coming storm strikes the breakers I can only hope that it will be enough.
AN: I'm so sorry about the lack of quality on this, you have no idea how hard it was to just get THIS out after the emotional breakdown that woman put me through in the past month, that being said the next arc is a fresh start and I hope you all can forgive this lackluster update. Rest assured it WILL be better then this...there was just too much negativity attached to this story and this chapter in particular, I'm sure I'll lose a few followers after this mediocre showing but to the rest of you, I promise next will be amazing.
THAT being said, leave comments or PM's, you guys want a few chapters of Joanna, Kaiden, and Jaq (Subject Zero) at a military academy or do you just want us to jump to the Blitz? Lemme know!
