Chapter Twelve
Slowly the fleet travelled through space. Shepherding the vast caravan was a hectic job. Fifty thousand ships, moving through the relay network the whole while. With them only Thunderflare. The Quarians had countless warships, of course, but most were hideously encumbered by shipping containers and bolted on hab modules. Meanwhile the news came in of the mining company demanding a Citadel investigation, claiming the Migrant Fleet had destroyed their flotilla - a distress call about an "alien attack" had been picked up and everyone knew what that meant.
Tanda, of course, sent the documentation, including the interview with Guiterrez identifying the Collector ship, and observing that she had taken measures to stabilize the situation and was escorting the Refugee Fleet out of Alliance-activity space in the interests of intergalactic peace. Caleston first, then straight through to Omega... Not much else to be done for it, as any other route was too close to the Perseus Veil or had too many inhabited systems patrolled by other governments, and Tanda was still trying to avoid the scrutiny of organised militaries for her ships that could reveal just how powerful they were. The fleet... well, it just took so damned long to get anywhere—nobody on the outside knew the destination, and that helped, but... stragglers had to be escorted as best as possible by the Patrol fleet, their frigates swooping in to cover civilian ships that fell out of the formation, for one reason or another, and the saga carried on unending.
Perhaps thankfully, the Quarians were used to this, moving about - their heavy ships holding position near the centre of the mass, making jump after jump, slowly moving towards... where they were to go. And so they would sweep down into Omega. The great fleet massing there began to move toward Thunderflare.
And then it halted. The relay had spun up, and the Quarian fleet was arriving. "Broadcasting homogenous IFFs?" Tanda glanced neutrally to her new Chief of Staff.
"Yes, Moff Pryl," Tali'Zorah answered. She seemed to glint a bit at Omega, and who wouldn't, for the scale of the eezo it held.
Tanda realised what it was, then. The pirates and smugglers of Omega didn't know the true power of an Imperial Star Destroyer. But they did know that the Quarians, despite all the contempt others held for them, held the largest, and in fact most powerful fleet in the known galaxy. They might think that they could take Thunderflare alone, but even the pirates had no possible illusions about taking her in combination with the squadron after squadron of Quarian cruisers arriving in the system at the same time and broadcasting the same IFFs, clearly indicating some kind of joint allegiance.
Kessingon stepped up to her side. "Moff Pryl, our opportunity to deal with Aria T'Loak is at hand. Order the Quarian squadrons forward. We can provide distant cover against the artillery emplaced on the Omega station."
But Shala'Raan was there too. "Moff Tanda'Pryl, our ships are in poor repair and casualties would be heavy from the proposed course of action."
I think Kessingon is quite well aware of that, Tanda thought to herself. "Perhaps we can obtain the same result for less effort." She stepped down into the comms pit. "Hail Omega!"
"Communications going through, Your Ladyship."
A very familiar purple-blue face resolved itself after a moment. Aria T'Loak was a profoundly unhappy woman. Furious, in fact. Her authority was clearly being challenged from both within and, from her perspective, also from without, by the presence of the Migrant Fleet in combination with Thunderflare.
Tanda smiled. It bore no real emotion, except to perhaps allow her bemusement. "Governor T'Loak, you have my gratitude for arranging these contacts with the Migrant Fleet. Please inform me if you need any assistance in maintaining control over Omega or any kind of recompense. I prefer reliable people to unreliable ones. Your assistance in replenishing the Migrant Fleet as we continue to travel to the Sigurd Sector will earn you gratitude from me, and that gratitude will be invaluable when considering the contributions of Omega to the Empire compared with the contributions of others also seeking my gratitude."
"Gave yourself a promotion, did you? I'll tell you want I want," Aria abruptly snarled. "Don't come back! We'll provide supplies to the fleet and the pirate gangs will disperse. Leave Omega alone, Moff Pryl."
Tanda stiffened at the obvious slight. She was sensitive to her own action and its implications for herself, for the respect of her men. What she didn't need was the 'Governor' of Omega reminding to her what she'd done.
"If that is what you want for my gratitude."
"All your 'gratitude' does is force me to kill more people, Pryl."
"So be it. We'll begin transiting out of Omega in twenty-five standard Council hours." She'd created a power. The Quarian fleet conferred that much on her.
Aria glared back. But the supplies came in, and Tanda departed on time. She expected that she had upset everyone at that point. Aria, Kessingon, both the people of Omega and her own men who wanted decisive action against the pirate station. But Shala'Raan seemed happy, and Tanda presumed, with her the Quarian admiralty.
It took another three weeks for the fleet to reach Mil. And when they did, there was something waiting for her. This time, she could not make Kessingon ignore it. It was a request from Cerberus to send a ship to her to allow direct communications with the Illusive Man, who was 'concerned' at her recent activities.
Very well. Send the ship and I will parley through it, would be her answer. It was an answer she wrote with the ISB looking over her shoulder. Tanda settled back.
"You're allowing aliens to become the dominant influence in our government here, Moff Pryl," he said, simply. "No wonder the Illusive Man is so concerned."
"The Illusive Man is a jumped up neobarb who doesn't understand what's required to govern a galactic civilisation!" Tanda replied, grabbing the table and leaping to her feet. Her anger was hot and heady and made her feel so very, very powerful.
"Commandant, or shall I say General now, let's be clear about this. I know you want me to deal decisively with the alien problem, but the fact of the matter is that we need them all. I even need Governor T'Loak. As long as Omega is intact, the Council can convince themselves we're not a threat. Look, we're just not going home, not for decades anyway, and we're going to be leaning on the Quarians until then."
"The Quarians, the engineers, fine, Moff Pryl. But what about the Asari?"
"They were here first. We didn't put all the Duros into reservation. We still won. Humanity will come out on top naturally. There are still a few million Asari, a few million Quarians, only. There are, what, twenty billion humans in this galaxy? Something like that. We have nothing to be worried about." Breathing hard, Tanda sank back into her chair.
"But the Quarians and Asari will now monopolize Imperial governance."
"Not when we give all the Admirals and Generals in the Systems Alliance equivalent rank." She reached for the brandy, this time, not coffee. Blue eyes looked across at green.
"Then we need the Systems Alliance."
"No, rather, we will. Look, give me enough time to get the Quarian fleet refitted for combat, their civilians safely off, those cargo pods jettisoned. Then... Then we will have a strong enough force to do battle against the Council. If the Illusive Man will prepare the way for me to bloodlessly occupy Earth, at that point in time, and only at that point, I will consent to it."
"And when the ship comes?"
"I don't intend to communicate. I'm going to take it to his headquarters and speak with him face to face, General. That will settle things out, and let me judge him in person. It also shows to you that I, at least, believe we have nothing to fear from Cerberus, and still intend to cooperate with them according to the precepts of the New Order." She looked at him, hard.
Kessingon nodded his head. "I am confident there will be no risk to you. Who will you take with you?"
"Some of the aliens, so that they understand that, firstly, their cooperation is a guarantee of their safety, and secondly, they cannot prevent us from collaborating with the representatives of our own race."
"Very good, then. Thank you, Moff Pryl." He didn't bother to let his gaze linger, as she dropped her eyes down toward her boots.
-
It was bemusing to see the Quarians with Imperial rank squares on their suits, though Tanda knew that some people were not actually at all bemused. Commander Tali'Zorah was prone to staying up far too late, but managing to very aptly demonstrate that she and all the Quarians worked... fast. They were profoundly talented at what they did, and with the Migrant Fleet settling down around Mils, processing minerals and making preparations for their first journey to their new homeworld.
Over the course of two weeks, the plan they were formulating now had started to come together. Tanda, sitting with Gristholm across from Tali'Zorah and Shala'Raan, engineering schematics done up in holograms before them. "Of course, we'll have to completely re-program the drive control computers in every possible way," Tali remarked.
Tanda nodded. "Yes, but once the constants about shape and mass are changed..."
"The energy scales are roughly the same, yes. Well! That's two LiveShips."
"Move two in orbit of our new home, and keep one here for insurance and to provide food to the rest of the fleet," Shala'Raan clarified.
"Ultimately they would be permanently in orbit," Tanda responded. She wasn't drinking any coffee, in that usual human way of finding it a bit off-putting when your companions at a table couldn't join in. "We'll need to use them for multiple trips to ferry the civilians and knock-down kits for hab modules in orbit."
"Close enough. I like the plan. It makes sense without relays, of course, but it is impressive to me that two hyperdrive motivators are aboard each of your capital ships, Moff Tanda'Pryl."
"Well, now there will only be one," Gristholm muttered softly. "But it's so. We've got the capability to spare. In the short term with the reliability of our systems we can make more out of spare parts, even, but that will require that we have a reliable future supply of spare parts."
"We will meet your requirements, Commander," Tali'Zorah replied. "Our factory ships already no longer have to plan for keeping the fleet sustainable indefinitely. That makes us possess reserve capacity from the start."
"So it does!" Tanda pushed herself to her feet. "Well, then, I believe this discussion is at a conclusion. Thank you, Admiral, Commanders—Commander Zorah, if you could stay, I would much appreciate it."
"Of course, Moff Pryl."
The two remained together as Admiral Shala'Raan and Commander Gristholm left. Tanda went for water, in the end.
"Commander, how have things been going?"
"Well, sometimes your men are patronizing. They doubt that a Quarian can really do what we can! They also don't like aliens, but you warned us about that."
"It's true. Well, if anything interferes with you, let me know."
"You're just like Shepard."
"I'll take the compliments where I can get them..." The comm trilled, and Tanda sighed and cued it on. "Moff Pryl."
"Your Ladyship, a Cerberus cruiser has arrived in the system and is requesting communications with you."
"A Cerberus cruiser?"
"It has the correct power signature, Your Ladyship."
Tanda stared at Tali. They both started for the bridge deck together. And it was, indeed, an actual Cerberus liveried cruiser, broadly similar to the human designs but different in certain ways. Now Tanda stared at the display.
"...Are they idiots?" She asked the question out loud, even. "This is supposed to be a secret organisation devoted to the rise of humanity and they just schmaltz around with openly marked cruisers?" This created a profound problem for Tanda Pryl's tenuous race relations, and she was acutely aware of it. So, so acutely aware of it, with Tali'Zorah staring at her right then and there.
The cruiser hung in the outer system, at least, and sent an un-marked shuttle while the Asari rumour mill on the ship went into overdrive.
"Summon Admiral Shala'Raan, L'tenant Avera." She started back toward the conference room. "This way, please, Tali."
Tanda rubbed her eyes as she watched her small party assemble with her. And then pulled a small metal cylinder from her desk, shoving it into her boot, and looked at her Asari flag lieutenant and then at the two Quarian women. There were none of her native crew present to watch the gesture.
"Admiral. You're in command while I'm gone," she said to Shala'Raan. "I... Please understand the relevance of this gesture."
"Understood, Moff Pryl." The woman replied in her accented voice, glowing eyes nearly inscrutable behind the visor.
Kesea, in turn, was hiding the odd look she wanted to give her superior officer very well. Cerberus... had quite the reputation.
"Commander, L'tenant. We're going about that cruiser. Don't expect to be home for a while."
"...Understood." Tali spoke, with... audible uncertainty in her voice. "I'll need time to... get everything I'll need to stay healthy aboard a ship like that, ma'am."
Kesea said nothing, but... a flicker of uncertainty went across her face.
"Don't worry. They don't understand the powers they are consorting with, and I intend to educate them."
"If you say so, ma'am." She would say in response to that-Tali... did have quite a bit to gather together-food supplies, for one. Filters, scrubbers, toolkits, everything else a Quarian alone would need to bring with them, rather like she were embarking on pilgrimage again.
In the meanwhile, Tanda had the shuttle brought aboard and the crew brought to her. There was no reason not to... Since they weren't aware of this plan yet, anyway; not like they would ever be aware of the real plan. The crew that was presented to her consisted of two pilots, a liaison in a suit-it wasn't a very big shuttle, able to hold maybe ten on two benches—built to the human standard, as they might have seen during voyages to Systems Alliance affiliated planets. The crew and the shuttle, at least, were not visibly Cerberus.
"There's been a minor change in plans," Tanda addressed them. "I will be accompanying your ship back to meet with the Illusive Man in person, bringing with me only two aides. I have decided that simple live communication is not sufficient for the level of coordination we need to obtain."
... The man in the suit stiffened. "That was not the plan. I will have to get clearance from command, Moff Pryl."
Tanda shrugged. "I am one woman. If we can't coordinate, misunderstanding is inevitable. Get your permission."
"... You can come aboard the Anesidora, Moff Pryl." He would reply after some communication.
"There are some troublesome aliens in my staff. I am bringing them to arrange an accident where the witnesses will be-reliable," she would add more softly.
He gave a glance, and his eyes flickered. "Of course, Moff Pryl." He did... relax a hair after that. Cerberus had wanted to get their hands on aliens... well, unspeakable experiments were their forte, as the Asari rumours went.
So it was that they would file into the shuttle to head for the cruiser, then... One Quarian and one Asari who apparently were supposed to have horrible things happen to them where they were going, by the request of their own commander. Tanda's lips curled into a faint smile and she felt the lightsabre reassuring in her boot. Jedi had done this kind of thing all the time. She had seen it growing up in the holovids of the Clone Wars, and with her emotional connection to the force she could match it. And she went right on telling herself that, as they swung back to the cruiser, moving into dock-the size of a Dreadnought, but with a crew of only eighty... locking into place at the docking collar, there was a side party of troopers to present arms when she arrived.
Tanda snapped a very crisp salute. "Permission to come aboard?" Some human traditions were for whatever reason, universal, bred into the race.
"Granted, Moff Pryl!" The officer, a young fresh-faced woman, stepped back before her squad, who snapped up their rifles in salute as her boot touched the deck.
The ship was metallic, sterile - just like an Imperial ship, though a bit brighter. They loved the same combination of white and black in armor that the Empire did, though they carried it to uniforms as well.
Tanda retained her distance from them in the way of a senior officer, seeing where she was being taken, and calming herself to be confident in her chosen course of action. No biotic could even dream of the power she had found.
They travelled up to the bridge, to meet the captain where a scarred, grey-haired man, who'd offer her a quick salute, would welcome her. "Moff Pryl, welcome aboard."
"Captain. If you can... Arrange quarters for the personnel I have brought along. We may speak in private, then."
He gave a look. "Of course. There's a conference room on Deck Three." He nodded to the aide who had welcomed them to the ship, and she moved to take the two members of her staff away. Tali was getting twitchy, and Kesea was restraining herself. This still looked like they were getting sold out as far as they were concerned; the abrupt and public arrival of Cerberus had meant that there was no time to actually explain to them what would happen.
Then he went for the conference room. Inside was a respectable table for a dozen or so, and viewports showing the stars outside -a guard before the hatch, and an aide ready to take notes or run to the ship's kitchen if needed, and a small stocked bar to one side as well.
Tali'Zorah, this is not a betrayal. The voice would seem to whisper into her mind as their courses then diverged. The Quarian girl stiffened, enough to get glances... but she forced herself to keep walking, thinking to herself. I certainly hope so... my shotgun's in my luggage.
Meanwhile, Tanda had started talking to the Anesidora's Captain. "So, our simple objective is to bring humanity under the New Order. This will allow the ultimate domination of the galaxy by humans. Nothing else is acceptable or of Imperial interests."
Tanda looked levelly at the Captain. "There is a problem of course."
"I needed personnel immediately, and I did not wish to simply show up in Terran orbit and... Order the Alliance to surrender."
"Of course... would you like a drink, Moff? We'll be getting underway shortly. It's true, you know. Nothing unifies humanity like a clear external threat. We love our freedom... but as we know, you can't have it without strict obedience to order. The concepts have always existed in tension for us."
"Certainly, Captain." She focused through the force, though, trying to determine the motivations of those around her. A poisoned drink would be such a silly end of me. "Something neat - we have Corellian Whiskey and Corellian Brandy back home as the most famous, as the humans of Corellia make by far the best liquors... I've started to see the evidence of Terra being our homeworld as somewhat conclusive. Modern Homo sapiens existed thirty thousand years ago or so there, after all, but the origins of humans on Coruscant are an utter mystery."
"If the Protheans hadn't already vanished, you might have had an answer, but..." He shrugged. "I've an excellent Scots whiskey, if you'd like to try it." He'd direct his aide to pour her a finger to try. "We'll find out when we have the leisure to study the matter."
"That will be a nice era." She savoured the whiskey for what it was, not bad at all, or rather appreciably good.
"It would. To humanity, Moff Pryl." He offered a toast.
She took the toast. "To humanity," she echoed, and sighed. "I want all of you working for the Empire, Captain. I want you building ships with Imperial technology instead of wasting your time with these, however lovingly engineered they are. Continuing your current activities is a waste of time when the blueprint for an entire technology base presently exists in my territory that is an order of magnitude better in most respects. The only critical thing is to avoid a juncture of public opinion regarding Cerberus and the Empire as one and the same. And that is the reason I reached out to the Quarians."
"We'd love to be... well, sometimes you have to use aliens, Moff Pryl." He swirled his around, sipping it. "We have. Your ships, they're proof that even those snooty blue bitches aren't the be-all and end-all of the galaxy, as much as they like to lord their 'superiority' over us and hold us back from what we deserve."
"There was a race famous for its starship design aptitude," Tanda remarked, looking down into her drink. "We enslaved them." She allowed herself a light laugh, then. "That is I think the one problem I've been having with humans here. You disassociate from aliens."
"Back home, we conquer, dominate, and direct the fate of alien species according to human interests. So people see the Empire making deals with aliens and think we are not acting in human interest. But of course as a reality, I am co-opting the greatest threats with the intent to reduce them to irrelevance. Seventeen million Quarians are giving me the industrial base to conquer the Alliance - and then eighty billion humans will render them worse than slaves; a literal statistical insignificance."
"Quarians, sure, but asari?" His face curled. "Parasites on the rest of the galaxy, tempt and corrupt and don't give anything back, too good to even breed with themselves. I mean, look at 'em."
"That was a case of bare survival, Captain, when we first arrived. They're one colony world." She allowed a look of distaste. "They are... Well, not the worst rivals humanity has ever faced. Imagine six meter long slugs with armoured carapace heads and opposable thumbs. Possibly the biggest brains in existence in a sapient—and that's the one thing going for them."
"They actually managed to stalemate us... For the first couple thousand years. Now they're reduced to a criminal underworld. Against the kind of deviousness the 'Hutts' can get themselves into, I am not too worried about Asari."
"That said I do rather badly want them outnumbered. Which is why I need Cerberus; I need to be able to crew the new ships I am building with humans-thus in the end why I decided to speak to the Illusive Man in person. If we're not directly collaborating, the fortune of my arrival here could be wasted." Her face stretched to a taut grin. "I need to swamp the Asari I let in as an exigency of circumstance before they can do anything about it."
"Well, we're going to meet with him, you've been cleared for that, Moff Pryl. Cronos Station..." He was also grinning. "We... are much more than the Alliance dares think."
"Good. So is the Empire." Tanda Pryl looked back levelly across at the Captain. "Understand Sir that this is a bit of a game of poker—isn't that what you call it? See: Cerberus can negotiate evenly with me... But If I am followed as I expect to inevitably be the case... You may only obey."
"Case in point: Thunderflare is hull number fourteen thousand and sixty-five... Of f her class. She is but a destroyer for a reason. I will not negotiate on the grounds of that, even so, I will treat with Cerberus as an equal-but bear in mind that is my consideration for my fellow humans."
"Oh, we haven't... nobody who's heard what we have about you could dare think otherwise. Still, Moff Pryl... for this galaxy, we're a lot more than you think."
Her lips curled into a malicious grin. "We should bring Tali'Zorah to the wardroom at some point, though. Whatever else you say about Quarians, they're hilarious when they're drunk."
And yet somewhere inside, she actually thought: Sorry, Tali.
"Hah, my officers might well want to see that!"
As Tanda left to go to her own quarters, she now had a very clear idea of what she was doing: She was saving her own skin. The ISB wasn't going to coup her if she was still reliable enough to meet the Illusive Man without guards: It meant she had nothing to fear from human interests, and was still supportive of the human cause. But at the same time... She was not going to let some trumped up businessman order about the Empire. She was going to assert her ownleadership over Cerberus.
The ship's officers were... polite, professional sorts of people. A lot of veterans, but a lot... joined up to stand for what was right, which they didn't see the Alliance as doing. Under her command, they would be excellent personnel. Joining her aides' quarters, Tanda forced herself to talk about logistics. Then she started to write, on paper no less, and quickly found herself with a problem.
This is me. I have a plan. Be ready. She was assuming they were being constantly monitored, at any rate.
But Kesea... did not look well, and mumbled; "... My biotics aren't working." Then, trembling, she wrote: I can barely even lift a stylus.
I will try to investigate that.
I'll be as ready as I can, Moff... but I'm not sure what good I'll be.
Inside, Tanda cursed herself. She'd thought it was the perfect plan. With biotics backup, easy enough for someone with a lightsabre to kill the Illusive Man. But now she had no biotics support, and... Her words had set her aides up to be murdered by her guests. With her honour on the line, she had gone from a quick improvised plan to end the threat of the ISB to her, in the space of a few heartbeats, to facing a pivot between bringing that threat to fruition and letting women she had commissioned herself into the Navy be killed before her eyes. So much for being better than a Jedi... Could I take the Illusive Man by myself? The whispers seemed to say yes, but she was trapped in indecision.
