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Chapter 10

Tartarus Station, Sol System, April 2166

Jack Harper was a much different man than he was five years ago. He had changed a little bit. By a little bit that meant he tried to be nicer when his girls were around. That was a lot more often, ever since the first attempt on their life. Someone decided to mail him some sort of mail bomb. It was either an attempt on his life or on theirs, and as far as his staff knew the mail parcel had been unmarked.

He knew there would be attempts. But having small children really made that felt more deeply. So now his office and living chamber in Tartarus had an extension for the girls. Tutors were cheap. But having two nine year old girls with genius level IQ's made their education very important. Miranda was smarter than Julia by far, and was being sent onto her third language. She had Human basic(English) as well as Asari basic. She was now learning the troublesome language that was Chinese. Julia was having trouble learning Asari, and had tried Turian. Humans couldn't quite get their tones right until puberty had completed, as their vocal cords were too limited.

Julia did have her father's eyes, as well as a red-brown head of hair. Miranda had the raven hair and blue eyes that he was so proud to have himself. Both of them were as they were designed. Perfect examples of what a hero should be. A nine year old hero with dreams of being the next Admiral Drescher. Miranda didn't have as much hero worship problems, but then again she had a strong desire for any and all books. She devoured them, but strangely didn't like reading from the data pad as much as from paper books.

The walls of his girl's room were filled with books, where they didn't have a stash of weapons hidden. No one really entered there, so Jack used those walls to hide his own personal weapons that were declared illegal after the Council accepted Humanity into their midst. That went much different this time around. Rather than approaching Humanity and offering them safety from the rampaging Turian warmachine, they offered to mediate their troubles. He could still remember the words of the Turian Primarch.

"In this Humanity we can see a worthy foe, one that has not acted dishonorably towards us. We aggressively tried to enforce Citadel Law, and for our attack we were justly repulsed. We do not hold Humanity accountable for the losses we incurred, nor do we hold them to blame for any of the damages we experienced. They only sought to defend themselves, and their region of space. Any and all damages caused by the assault upon their planet will be reimbursed to them, and we look forward to a long and continued peace with them."

Lying bastard. With one hand they offered peace, and with the other they reinforced their borders so that Alliance teams couldn't enter their area of space. The reparations and reimbursed costs were all at the galactic standard, as determined by the Volus Protectorate. Of course that favored the Turians, as casualties were not factored into the damages. When they complained, they were told rather gruffly by the banking representative that they were lucky the Council had called them off.

The Volus saw a profit somewhere, and through them they only got enough money to replace the cost of materials and labor to install the new colony buildings. Of course based on galactic standard. Cheap labor and even cheaper materials. So just like the first time Humanity had been screwed by that. Shanxi was now a colony in slow growth stages. The best land and territory was so riddled with craters and debris that it was unusable for farming or implementation for a long time yet.

Which brought him to today. He had the most interesting vidmail waiting for him. The Alliance needs five volunteers to be posted indefinitely to the Citadel. We have an ambassador that will be going there to sign a treaty and nothing can afford to injure them. This vidmail details the needs and requirements of those who may volunteer. The Vidmail would logically go through the list of things they didn't want their agents involved in. Hannah was right off the list, as she had weapons and a history of killing Turians.

He grinned. This wasn't that hard. But he knew from his memories that this was going to be Humanity's first major signing of the Treaty of Firaxen. They would agree to Citadel conventions, and become an associate race. The thousands of doors that would open in the next months were going to be a perfect opportunity. Humanity, even though it got attacked by the Turians six years early, still were only prepared to follow Citadel conventions in 2164. That mostly had to do with disarming weapons of mass destruction that had been created in light of the war with the Turians, as well as their economy needing the time to prepare for a scale of foreign investment that no one could prepare for adequately.

It hadn't been pretty last time, and Jack had viewed it as just another STG attempt to control something in lieu of the Council. Asari investments, Salarian cheap technology, and Turian weapons were about to flood their market. Drugs from Omega and Illium had already been in motion towards Earth and her colonies. That had been fun to identify, yes indeed.

Part of disarmament had been to put away all of the truly terrible biological weapons that they had developed to kill Turians. The only other race that would be affected as strongly were the Quarians, but they were easy to kill already. Creating biological agents for a group of people that already had a weak immune system was useless. Plus, their numbers were too low to be a threat to anyone. Even the Geth would win in an open war against them. But knowing that the Reapers would be using the easily-corrupted Geth made contact with the Quarians a necessary evil.

They would be the only people who developed disruptor ammo. A few other groups had it, yes, but the Quarians were the best at it. Humanity needed those for the Geth. He had discreetly purchased a few to try them out, and against organics they were just weak. Turrets and automated defenses were torn apart, though, which made the use of the ammo perhaps useful. Not enough to become a generally produced mod for their weapons, but it was a start.

He had until 2183. That was when Sovereign would become truly active. Right now it was just out there, hiding. Perhaps it was already active at this point, but as far as Cerberus had found in his memories, Saren had been under the control of the Reapers for a long while. Whether it was from the Reaper directly or not was unknown. His body and records were lost in the battle of the Citadel. As far as Jack could remember, Saren Arterius was actively prepared to use the Geth and Sovereign long before Eden Prime.

He had been looking for him, though. Cerberus had considered him a serious threat at that time. Right now though, with Hannah having killed him, he didn't know who the Reapers would use as a chief agent. He knew that Sovereign would, though. Harbinger worked the same way, multiple times. He could personally attest to this.

He had seen Saren on Shanxi. He had seen his brother too, who had been involved in some terrible things in his memories. But with the Alliance holding on for eleven days instead of less than three, the Turians never held the area long enough to reinforce anything. Once he saw Saren Arterius on the battlefield, he got his attention. That had been easy. No matter what race you were, when someone throws a rock at your head, it gets your attention.

He had clipped the side of Saren's helmet. That had been a terrible idea in hindsight. Saren was a brutal combatant with an anger problem. Jack needed some medical help after Saren beat him within an inch of his life. But he knew that Hannah was coming to save him. She had said so before the communications ran out. So, he planted himself in the path of Saren. He staged Saren finding his Omni-tool, and then taking it. Once he had it, Hannah wouldn't even look the other way in her haste to stop Humanity's secrets from falling into the hands of the enemy.

She had done perfectly. Saren was a front line combatant, a Spectre candidate. He didn't prepare himself for all of the completely dishonorable things that humans would do to survive. Most spectres did the assassinations themselves, and weren't the kind to expect house calls. So, at the cost of one brutal beating, he had spared Humanity from the actions of Saren. He would kill as many of them as he could over the next twenty years, and jack had no intention of letting him continue like this.

Hannah had no idea what she had removed from the galaxy. The youngest and most promising spectre in the history of their service was dead and gone before he could become a threat. Jack drank quite heavily to that. After he had recovered from the injuries. Strangely enough, in his memories he remembered getting injured a lot less. It was a curious occurrence, as this time he hadn't gone through his time in the military.

Over the last few years, he had been tied down to mostly Cerberus and his family. His daughters were important, and deserved every minute of his time that he could give. His work suffered due to that, yes, but it was much more rewarding knowing that every minute reading Real Men Hug Aliens and Starship Troopers 13 returned later. All of the girl's reading was directed towards convincing them that aliens were completely friendly, but had their own interests that might not match your own.

Or at least he tried. Trying to predict children and their interests was hard. They were his offspring, so of course they were stubborn. They were too smart for their own good, too. Their tutors had to be very sharp to catch them at it. Thankfully the tutors were all members of Cerberus. They all were supposed to be smarter than children. Even the most gifted children he could possibly create, but that might be stacking the odds against them. To be fair he egged them on to try to trick their tutors, to surprise them, and most importantly to learn what their tutors held back from saying. For them and their goals in life, what people avoided saying would be more important than what they actually said.

They attended Cerberus classes on language, surveillance, and body language of aliens. No one in those classes realized, as the girls could just use the cameras. That way he could filter what the girls saw and heard. It wouldn't do for them to hear about the most efficient ways to kill aliens yet. Once they got into the armed services they could focus on that. Right now they needed to see them as people, so that when diplomacy was necessary they could use it.

His girls were the best that he could make them. Other than some unhealthy attraction towards some of the men on base, he was comfortable with them being able to do what they wanted. They even had some kids their own age on base, now that Cerberus employees could bring their families up here. Adding more to the base had been necessary when the Alliance requested that all of their special forces go through here for armament and class training. Every infiltrator in the Alliance came through here, as well as the new class that would be coming through soon.

"Sir, they're here." Came a notice from his secretary. That woman was one of the more daring people he had met up here. She had washed out of training but wanted to keep her access in Alliance systems. So she had become a secretary. She had control over who could and couldn't get into the offices of the people who lead the Cerberus Foundation. Her name was Jean Louis. Not the kindest sort of woman, and very much a married woman. He had no intention of treating her like some of his other secretaries. Most importantly because she was the genetic parent of one of the most powerful biotics in history.

Little Jennifer wasn't dragged off to Pragia and her death concealed from her parents this time. Jennifer Louis would never be subject zero in this life. She was quite the little terror, however. Julia liked her well enough. This time, Jack swore to never have to share his name with someone who labeled herself as the 'Psychotic Biotic'. Plus, all of the reports on Jennifer so far showed that she had all of the same performance indicators. None of the mental trauma and biotic conditioning, but all of the social needs were met. Tartarus Station just had a way of bringing the real world out more clearly.

Jennifer was going to be a strong biotic, just like everyone else he had earmarked. This time, though, there would be no Biotic Acclimation and Training camp. Humanity didn't deserve to suffer under a bigoted Turian teacher. More importantly, Tartarus Station had just finished its newest addition. They had just finished the Solaris wing of the base, dedicated to the growing biotic population of Humanity. With basic human nervous systems being clone-capable, Henry Lawson had generated a way of testing biotic amps on patients without breaking too many laws. It just took three years and a few million credits per clone to make them. Three years to grow them and then they would last perhaps two years. Not long enough to warrant any brain activity, and so much of their life span was testing biotic impulses.

Jack had come up with this expensive plan, and after being exposed to the rest of the galaxy, the Alliance decided to fund it. No human test subjects were needed. Not to mention he kept leaving oddly placed clues and hints as to where the research should go. Doing so anonymously took time and effort, as well as a lot of fake bank accounts, but it worked well enough. No one had called him on his sleuthing around Alliance personnel yet. Perhaps they approved. Or they approved of what little they could see of it.

Who knew. Going in to find out would only raise concern for what he was doing, so it was safer and more profitable to just go forward. If he got notified about it, well at that point he would act. Until then, it wasn't worth raising trouble.

"Send them in. I think they've waited long enough to get here." Jack paged to his secretary, after removing any signs of his daughters on his desk or in his office. Sometimes they liked to cause him trouble with that. He grinned at the thought of what he was about to do.

Coming into his office were three Asari. Blue skinned, comfortable with their physical forms, and curious about Humanity. Perfect. Or at least it would be if they went along with his plan.

"Jack Harper. We are pleased to meet you." Said the lead Asari, who was wearing a nice looking dress with black highlights on the shoulders. "When we received your invitation, we were quite pleased to come. You asked for someone competent in biotics?"

"Of course. I do thank you for coming here. I expected to see one of your commandoes or representatives, instead of actually seeing a Matriarch come. As such, I can offer what seems to be pleasant." Jack pulled out a bottle of his best wine. He knew from his memories that this worked equally well on Salarians, Humans, Elcor, and Asari. Drunk Elcor were entertaining to see try to walk. This wine, however, he knew would be to their tastes. "This is from a vineyard with over a thousand years of heritage. For our race, there are few older brands that exist. This bottle is as old as I am, and has aged properly." He pulled off the cork, which came as a surprise to the Asari. Their wines were contained in different containers. Corks and other such necessities had been mostly done away with in their culture.

He poured four glasses. One for himself and one for each of his three visitors. "Matriarch T'Soni, welcome to Earth." Behind him, his office was angled so that the window was always facing his homeworld. He was prideful and vain about it, sure. Living on a dome on the moon could do that for you.

"It is a nice little paradise." She said, remarking on the planet in the window. She did try the wine, as did her escorts. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were pleasantly surprised. "I was pleased that your race managed to hold back the Turian offensives."

"Not for a lack of effort. They are just as stubborn as we are when they decide to do something. While we did hold them off, we did manage to have one of our main producing colonies leveled."

Benezia T'soni nodded. Jack Harper had never met her. Not in this life or his memories. But Shepard had made mention in her reports that Benezia went to Saren with the intent of saving him. So she was knowledgeable, inquisitive, and very understanding. To see what the Council didn't must have taken some close connections. Too bad the rogue spectre was dead. "I have lived through much of the problems that have plagued my race. Especially the ones related to the newer races." She finally sat in the offered chair, which meant that Jack could sit down. "Which begs the question of why you asked me for this."

"I needed someone trusted that I could ask. We are about to be training the very first human biotics. Rather than ask the Turians for help, which might be politically helpful, I decided to ask the Asari. Your race is naturally biotic, and after looking in some of the old files, I saw that you were involved with teaching the Quarians how to use biotics when they first came into the galactic envelope. That made you very qualified."

Benezia outright laughed. It was a deep laugh, but not unsettling. "You must have traded the Shadow Broker for information about my maiden years." Either that or he had knowledge from the future. "You want me to come and teach your children? You would trust the Asari that much?"

"I am willing to pay an Asari to train our first generation of biotics. That does not mean they would be trusted. As you were allied with the Turians, I know that if Humanity had gone on the offensive, you would have been dragged into the conflict."

She gave him a neutral look. "I voted that we mobilize along with the Turians. Alas, we were voted down. So, do you trust me enough to hire our services?" Jack didn't know that. But now that he was aware it made sense. She was one of the few impulsive Matriarchs that were willing to go against the normal principles. She was one of the more outspoken Matriarchs.

"You are one of the more liberal thinking Matriarchs. Just because you wanted to mobilize doesn't mean that you were going to attack us. The Batarians are just as deserving a target for your fleets." Jack didn't see any change of emotion for any of them. His guess must have been off, then. The Asari didn't have many direct threats, however. If they thought the Turians needed help, then they might have been in for a land grab on some of the areas of Alliance Space. That seemed more likely.

"You assume much, Mr. Harper. The Asari Republics did not feel as though mobilization was needed. Too many voted against direct interaction. But to come to me means that you don't seek more traditional instruction for your biotic learners."

"Traditional isn't what Humans want. If anything, we enjoy shaking up the general market. We like to be unique. That is the kind of teaching style we are looking for. You were at the top of our lists for possible teaching sources, and if not you there were a few other Asari groups we wished to approach. If all of you refused, we will approach the Turians and get their support. It might not be the best solution, but we have the first wave of biotics coming here in less than eight weeks."

"You want to hire Asari from my organization?"

"I want to hire Asari with commando training and experience fighting Batarians, really." Jack said offhandedly. Let them interpret that as they will. He just wanted the most effective training that he could get the initiates. The Batarians were just the most dishonorable fighters that civilized people could get experience fighting. Only the best and most efficient tactics could win when the enemy didn't care for casualties or collateral damage. That was the kind of training he wanted human biotics to have.

"So, you thought that the commandos from my organization would be most suitable? Our actions are mostly religious in nature."

Jack smiled. There was an obvious trap to step into. Her Siari based religion that she ascribed to was growing very quickly, and some elements of the Asari government did not enjoy the threat to their precious Athame. Since it was mostly a colonial religion, a pirate raid was staged on one of their main planets. Nothing like a Batarian Pirate raid to prove a religion wrong. Benezia caught wind of it and sent her commandos in to end the threat.

Her commandos did have that kind of experience. She just wasn't about to outright claim it when supposed 'mercenary organizations' had fought off the invaders. It was all still a very touchy subject for the Asari government. Siari was still touchy, as it had only risen up in the last thousand years or so. Benezia was one of the few members of the older generation that supported the growing religion.

So instead of walking into that trap, he chose a different direction. "I only ask for three of your commandos to come and teach a few dozen human children. If what I hope for succeeds, I will happily donate time and materials to your own organization. If that is what you want in exchange for the time and personnel, I am perfectly happy about that."

"What I want, Mr. Harper, is access to your Prothean Archive. When you can secure that for me, then you'll have your trainers."

Well. Damn.

To get her a pass to the Mars Archive, which would be a required thing to share once they became a Council race, was difficult. It was one of the most secure facilities that their race had. It was the first to receive the newest and most capable sensors. Salarian STG had been sighted in some of their systems, and they had been sleuthing around. None had been sighted directly at Earth, but Jack could see the signs of their actions. Sirta Foundation had been probed and audited heavily, the Council trying to put pressure on the company that was keeping Humanity's emerging economy afloat. Other companies had received the same abrupt and unwelcome attention.

Some of the governments on Earth had been bribed and affected by the new foreign powers, and would see some political movement. Which lead him to his current meeting. He was going to meet with the Naval Committee to ask for a nonhuman pass to the Prothean Archive. That was always a bit expensive. Just arranging a meeting with all of them officially was difficult to get, going through the proper channels.

It was much easier to get the more important and willing members together for a nice dinner. So that was how Dierdre Scott, Donovan Hock, Toshiro Toyoda, and Gustav Chekorivic sat at a table together with Jack Harper. Dierdre was simple to bring in, as this would be fine for publicity on her end. Donovan was somewhat of a peacenik, wanting a gradual standing down of certain forces and an escalation of the local forces not directly controlled by the Alliance. He was most certainly corrupt at some level, but as to why or who was paying him Jack didn't know. South Africa, where he hailed from, was not very forthcoming with information about him. He was a lot like the corrupt dictators that usually came out of the African states. They all deleted their past so deep behind misinformation that it became impossible to find where the truth began.

Jack didn't know even in his memories. Donovan was older than him by a long shot, and had survived the genocide committed against the white population. How that was accomplished was still unknown. Toshiro Toyoda was part of the manufacturing giant Toyota, which had jumped to space travel faster than the other car companies. Their vehicles were dependable, and could be found in every colony in Alliance space. Japan and its components in Asia, as they had expanded following the 2020's, contributed heavily to the Alliance electronics sector.

Toyoda was a large contributor and the man appointed by their government to watch over where their most advanced gear was distributed. He was also a bigoted bastard, and saw Humanity as the top of the food chain. He also saw how to get there, and his products reflected that. Gustav was from the Eastern European Federation. He was part Ukrainian and part Russian, hated by most people and tolerated by his government. But he was also a warmonger, and no one was able to stay in political positions like them. He was absolutely corrupt. But more importantly he was the chair of the committee. Gustav could veto anything that Jack put forward unless he was appeased.

Donovan he had promised to allow on a tour of some of the more secretive parts of Cerberus, namely the biotic research lab. He was expressing an unhealthy interest in it. But if that was the price of getting biotic training from some of the best Asari he could get, so be it. Toyoda wanted Jack to buy out one of the businesses that was competing against Toyota directly for alloy production. Of course, they weren't selling, so Jack would need to do some sort of corporate move to take them down. That would be months of work. Even weakening them would be enough. But the Taiwan-based company was one of the more independent corporations that operated within China and its territories. The Reds didn't have as much influence on Taiwan. So removing that company would only strengthen the Reds. Or at least give the more corrupt and destructive forces more reason to grow.

Fulfilling Toyoda's demands would be difficult. Each choice had its consequences. Gustav though, that took the cake. He wanted something that Jack could actually give, but did not want to. Gustav wanted to be a major shareholder in Markov Heavy Industries. It was a private company, so the shares were not being actively sold. Which meant that he wanted Jack's personal shares in the company. Those had been hard to come by in the first place, and Gustav wanted them as a favor to maintain his acceptance of the nonhuman access. So, that lead him to this dinner party. All of the people here knew what the score was.

So, Jack invited Hannah. He hadn't seen her in years. But Dierdre would most certainly keep her hands to herself if he invited another female companion along. They had a business relationship that was well cultivated. Ever since his twin girls had been born, their more personal relationship had been strained. Not as though Jack was refusing her advances, but he got busier. Arranging to sneak her up to Tartarus Station was exponentially more difficult than sneaking her into one of his penthouses. So he had gone after the more accessible and younger crowd of prospective agents and workers in Tartarus and Polaris.

The lunch was as one would expect. None of them mentioned any of the topics that were dangerous. Strangely enough, most of their conversation revolved around the rising corruption rate in the nations of Greece, Germany, and Turkey. This was a problem for much of the Alliance, as Turkey was one of the electronic production giants. Greece had always been poor, ever since the waterlanes of trade were mostly abandoned. Once petroleum had fallen from the top fuel source, Greek shipping companies had dried up. Now they were little better than the third world countries that depended on tourism to maintain themselves.

Germany, though. That country had been a serious power in terms of economic investing power. The German economic superpower had become weaker in the growing shadow of Asia, but had made a comeback by investing heavily into the Alliance war machine. BMW was now the main producer of the fighters the Alliance fielded. As such, Germany was targeted by Asari investors. The Volus had gone after Turkey, as they always needed better electronics. Buying out the human companies seemed like a fine idea.

There was no law that said that you couldn't sell to an alien. With the Alliance being inducted as an Associate race soon, the investors and capitalists from both the Volus and the Asari were hunting for easy pickings. With the credit being stronger than the Alliance standard currency, they could buy out companies for less than what they would be in a few months. The desperate companies would sell quickly, and without any of the legal protections that the Alliance would gain from a treaty, the companies that sold out early would be under the complete control of the outside races.

Their workers couldn't unionize or work outside of the rules established by the ownership. As the Council had no control present yet, these greedy aliens were going to come in and just steal everything they could for the lower prices. Especially technology. Thankfully, Sirta and Markov were safe. He had adequately provided for their costs of preparing for the larger galactic market. Henry hadn't seen a penny come back yet, and reminded him incessantly about it.

But medigel was going to hit the galactic market in four months. After that, Humanity was assured its place. With a fleet that could challenge the Batarian menace, and an economy whose core was protected from wrongful alien investments, they would have a much better chance. The last time that Humanity had emerged into the galactic community, Sirta had nearly gone out of business just getting more infrastructure. Only later did they realize that much of their problems were caused by some STG wetwork teams that had found the company breaking Council policy. Sirta had used illegal policies that the Alliance was trying to avoid getting into when creating medigel in the first place. Test subjects had originally been provided by the government. Thankfully this time Jack had a seat on their board and directed them to use penal colonies. Much more secure and the Alliance could just use those on death row for the testing. Nothing was more glorious than using someone whose life was already forfeit to save the lives of millions of others.

Among the members of the Naval Committee, the threat of aliens was real. Donovan may have been the most peaceful one of them, but even he agreed that something needed to be done about the threat. That was when Jack came to a solid conclusion.

"Gustav," He asked, getting the larger man's attention. "How many of your retired navy men are causing trouble in your country?"

"I would say no more than a thousand. Outside the penal camps, we have a few hundred in rehabilitation. Perhaps more that we aren't aware of." He gave him a loose look. "Why?"

"During the late 1600's, the French did not enjoy the foreign market being so heavily controlled by the Portuguese and British. Their answer was a group of Corsairs, loyal to their country as loosely aligned citizens, but armed with some of the best ships and weapons they could afford. Consider them an ancient group of terrorists that were allowed to engage in piracy by their government. If, and I don't mean that we should allow this to leave closed doors, we enact the same strategy for our borders. The Batarians have never been too threatened by their own piracy. Our youth as a race allows us certain leeway."

"So you think we should create a group of Corsairs for our own use?"

"I think it's a fine idea." Toyoda mentioned. "We can sell the oldest frigates and cruisers in the fleet, without having to create trouble increasing our numbers as a whole. We can make profit for the Alliance directly, while allowing private citizens the right to protect their homes."

Hock wasn't pleased at all with this. "This is not going to encourage anyone to be peaceful with the Batarians. They are trading partners that offer a substantial opportunity for investment."

"The Reds seem to profit from it. But they are paying in flesh and blood rather than credits." Dierdre remarked. "I wouldn't mind if human trafficking stayed in our systems. But even if we arm the basic citizen who wants to help, we can always deny their existence."

"So, perhaps a better question is who we will send to staff those ships." Jack remarked. "Deniable assets. Able to go into the Terminus systems and hit the Batarian slaving worlds and trade lanes. Perhaps they might enjoy a bit of their own medicine." Pirate raids had already been reported in some of their less protected systems.

Gustav grinned. "I have plenty of extremely combative and poorly rehabilitated soldiers. Combine that with whatever the Reds buy, and these Corsairs will be able to take as many as there are ships to fit them."

"Assuming the Navy allows this, which they won't, who can implement this?"

"Gustav has immunity as his country no longer considers his actions crimes. Dierdre, you would be too close to the weapons market for them to be comfortable with you doing this. Toyoda can't afford to get his hands dirty, and I am already knuckles deep in Cerberus. Hock and you both own nothing in the weapons and ship market. As you both aren't connected, you would be the perfect people to work this. There would be no connection as long as the people we sent are properly vetted. So, either you or Hock should handle this."

Hock looked very displeased. Gustav more so. If he had to keep his hands out of the military, then he would have to pick something he wanted other than a piece of Markov Heavy Industries. Hock would never agree to this. Even though at some point in the future he might fall prey to corruption more deeply, and hire his own mercenary army, right now he was a sitting Senator. Anything Jack wanted to investigate about him was going to have to wait until he got voted out. There was no question that Hock was working behind the scenes. Everyone was while the government and economy went through this shift.

"I am not going to involve myself in this." Hock said, making his displeasure at the idea known.

"We can always simply delegate this." Gustav noted.

Jack saw an opening and took it. "But it has to start here, otherwise it won't have any sort of legitimacy. You happen to be the more liberal members of the committee, and from you this has to start. You have the political power to authenticate the sales of the old frigates. You also have the power to legalize piracy in the Terminus systems, as the Batarians have. Of course, that wouldn't be the kind of thing that Donovan Hock would recommend, with his history of peace and compromise. Gustav, you have a history of trying to stir up trouble at home and abroad. Lastly, it was your vote that decided the launch and completion of the Everest just in time for the Turians to be forced to retreat."

"Perhaps, we can appear to sell the ships. Calm down our Turian allies," He said that word the same way someone talks about an annoying neighbor. "and give ourselves some breathing room. If the Reds buy them, who cares. Our own ships can have the clearance to shoot any of these resold ships if they appear to be practicing piracy in our sectors of space."

"There is another option for the old ships, as well." Dierdre noted. Jack kept his grin to himself. Gustav would have to be careful in how he phrased things from now on. "We could sell our frigates to a few other groups that would strengthen local resistance to the Batarians."

Hock scoffed. "Allow precious Alliance hardware to be used by Terminus scum? Preposterous."

"The Turians sell all of their older ships at Omega." Gustav sneered. "I don't see why we can't do the same. So long as we hold some back for our privateers."

"I meant that we should sell to groups like the Quarians." Dierdre said. "They have a need for ships, and arming them means that they will be an even bigger threat to the Batarians. As they are out in the Terminus systems mostly, this only benefits us."

Curious. Jack hadn't considered that before. "Why would we want them invited to interfere with our precarious economy?" Toshiro said. "They do not trade in credits, but in trade contracts and materials. Worse, they trade as a singular entity."

"Much like guilds of our near history. Collective bargaining can work in our favor as well." Jack clarified. "But the Quarians have things that other races don't have. Their synthetic technology and specialized weapons against such enemies might be of worth to investigate."

"Or they can provide labor." Dierdre said. "They have some of the best technicians in the galaxy, and ours are behind. I say we hire Quarians to upgrade and update our older colonies and some parts of the unfinished Arcturus station. Nothing that breaks security or protocols. Without any ties to any of the other Council races, they don't represent the same level of threat."

"I don't like the idea of aliens working with our technology any more than Toshiro does. But I can see some of the benefit of taking the pressure off of our technicians. Maintenance needs are being forgotten in the wave of construction the Alliance is going through currently. If we hire Quarians we can take a temporary labor rise to keep the pressure off. Not to mention perhaps earning some of their trust."

"You just want their weapons technology, Harper." Hock said. "The rest of us have more altruistic concerns."

"Either way. Corsairs or strengthening the Quarians and other mercenaries, this weakens the Batarians. Acting indirectly is still safe while we are in this probationary state. But Mr. Harper brings up a good point. The Quarians have no borders or colonies for us to fight over, nor do they offer any sort of credits to buy out our companies. A guarantee of temporary labor." Jack replied without any venom. Hock was just defending his position.

"Jack, are you willing to let the fleet shrink? How much of your investments rely on the maintenance that is being redirected?" Dierdre asked, concerned.

It was true that he would be sacrificing the dry docks that had been in the works to repair and maintain the growing fleet if they sold off all of the old frigates. But to be perfectly honest those ships were not worth the material that built them anymore. Losing a few million credits of investment meant that a mobile dry dock would be sold off. Perhaps that would be something that the Quarians would buy. But any of the other races would spend more than enough on it to keep it out of the Quarian hands. Jack blamed indoctrination about that. But if he considered the Quarians and their natural skills a threat, he would do his level best to keep them weak and confined too.

"If that means i get biotic teachers that aren't Turian, it might be. Not in terms of profit but in terms of personnel it will be. We have more potential than the Turians do, and they have been fiddling around with this for twelve hundred years. Their Matriarch won't tell me what she wants access to, so we will have to review the logs of what she accesses. If you are willing to take that in trade."

Gustav grunted, not giving him anything to work with. Both of his parent peoples were known for stoicism. They did start the trouble in the 2020's, to be fair to their efforts. Toshiro thanked him for the wine and dining, as his customs required. Hock shook his hand, thanked him, and left. Dierdre gave him a very close hug, whispering some sweet nothing in his ear.

"It should pass. You were right to mention the pity card." She had come up with that to nickname the Quarians in any kind of diplomatic capacity. He found it hilarious. Thought he did not plan on mentioning it in anything official. "Good luck, Jack." she said, leaving.

If he got Benezia inside the Mars Archive, he felt like she would take a look at some uncomfortable things. She was one of the few people in her society that knew about their own Prothean Archive. She had been a priestess of Athame before converting to Siari, possibly in reaction to what she found out in their own archive. His worst fears would be if she noticed what he had done. If she was looking for the Catalyst, then he was going to have to act. Benezia was enough of a firebrand that she might just reveal the existence of the Asari's beacon, though that was highly unlikely. The Asari had not been very disgruntled with the death of their Matriarch in his memories, perhaps due to this knowledge.

Jack took a last look around the room, noticing that their reserved part of the restaurant had none of the telltale signs of cloaking fields. That worried him. He had invited Hannah to this, and he knew that she had received the message. But she wasn't here. He had been hoping that she would be here. He did miss her to a slight degree, but really he wanted her to investigate Hock.