Note: Welcome back to the land of the Mass Effect! This is the sixth chapter that focuses on the Batarian Hegemony. The current run for this set is about (update: 20210624) seven chapters. We are starting to see some of the original plans of Humanity come to fruition, why fight your enemy when they could simply be poked and prodded from afar with a proverbial stick? (Yes ... the chapter numbers keep increasing, but I think seven is final, ... fingers crossed.)
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Total War
Councillor Tevos was surprised by the vehemence she saw in the Turian Councillor's eyes.
It had all made so much sense to her when Irissa arrived as the political representative from Thessia to announce the proposal of incorporating the Batarian Hegemony as the fourth Council Race. The Asari diplomatic mission to the Hegemony had been a smashing success, one of the girls (read: matriarch) from the more established Republics had turned a little space station over Khar'shan (since foreigners were not allowed on the planet itself) into one of the season's most trendy places to be. And this had slowly won over the Hegemony leadership, persuading them to put aside their backing of piracy in the Attican Traverse to focus on a common enemy.
The girls on Thessia, in consultation with herself, had seen this as a grand diplomatic breakthrough, putting aside a generation's worth of enmity to face a common enemy. That the Hegemony should be invited back into Citadel space, and be giving a say based solely on their greater military and industrial power was obvious. Left unsaid was that this would also be an attempt to counter the diplomatic strength displayed by the new, more assertive Salarian Union. Tevos hoped that, with the Batarians under the guidance of the Asari, it would swing the diplomatic game decisively in their favour. After all, it is not everyday that a cold war, lasting entire generations, was stopped without any bloodshed.
Though in hindsight, she should, perhaps, not have been surprised by the Turian response.
Due to the nature of the Asari republics functioning as independent planetary, or even sub-planetary city states, the final decision to invite the Batarian Hegemony back into the good graces was hotly debated in a large filled extranet forum full of Matriarchs from all types of city states, each of which was governed and developed in subtly different values. In this instance, many of the younger states had expressed not only disagreement with the invitation to the Hegemony, but also put forward motions to extend a separate invitation to Humanity.
Because of this fundamental disagreement, the virtual forum descended into a quagmire of politicking, with both sides of the issue entrenching into their talking points. In the end, it was Matriarch Aethyta who finally convinced the assembled group into making a swift decision, knowing that left to their own devices, these types of things can descend into decades of snippy editorials and cold shoulders. Perhaps unfortunately for Aethyta, who only wanted to focus on external diplomacy, the Council of Elder Matriarchs on Thessia then simply forced through, without quorum or consultation, the decision to re-integrate the Batarian Hegemony.
Tevos could certainly understand why they did, she was herself part of that Council of Elders, after all. The Asari had become disillusioned with the abilities of the Turian Hierarchy, though she did regret that the latter never got as much Asari fleet support as they should have. But already, there was one faction within the Elders that thought the more belligerent, and greedy Batarians could be more easily guided (read: controlled), which would stand between the Asari themselves, and this new threat.
In the end, it was an unfortunate combination of Aethyta's encouragement to be decisive, and the Elder Council's bias towards not fighting that cause the rift within Asari society. Immediately after the decision had been forced through, a small group of those city states that were opposed to the integration of the Hegemony, led by Illium, declared their intent to secede from Asari, and therefore Citadel space. While this would normally be taken with good grace, errant states almost always returned to Citadel space after a few centuries of isolation, it proved to be a big problem in this once instance.
The cluster of breakaway states, especially Illium, sat on the gateway between Asari space and the Terminus systems, and was the home of almost all prime Asari research and development companies as well as its biggest production hub of advanced weaponry. In addition, it was the first port of call for returning commando groups, and also hosted clandestine bases for almost all the major matriarchs. Thus the declaration was carefully shielded from society itself as the two factions started serious negotiations.
In the end, the desire to hold on to Illium proved too strong. The new "Independent Asari CityStates" would be allowed to conduct their own foreign policy so long as it was kept hidden from the rest of the Galaxy, and Illium itself remained open to all Asari regardless of nationality. In return, the oldest, most developed republics, mostly on Thessia, would subsidize the new breakaway state to the tune of seventy-five basis points (0.75%) of the formers' annual government revenue. While this would be a noticeable drain on these republics, the Elders were certain that a future threat, in a few centuries, to withhold this subsidy would bring the Independent CityStates back into line.
But this did not help Tevos now, she did not expect the vehemence, nor the hints of rage that she was witnessing in the Turian Councillor. She imagined that the Turians would greet the newly negotiated ceasefire with celebrations, seeing that they had been involved in that low-intensity border skirmish for a millennium. She had, unfortunately, expected that now familiar scoff of derision from the Salarian Councillor, even as she initially misinterpreted the look of disbelief from her Turian counterpart as one of shocked joy.
It was only when his face started moving again that she saw the tell-tale signs of distress, and anger. It certainly did not help that at that moment representative Irissa, in an attempt to justify their own actions, spoke up to complain about the Turian's inability to enforce peace in the Traverse. Before Tevos could stop her, the Asari representative moved on to complain that the Turians themselves were complicit in collaborations with the Hegemony, pointing to the disgraced Primarch Meirix and his full Batarian fleet.
To the Turian Councillor, already furious from being presented a fait accompli, this combination was the final insult. Without another word, he simply shut off the line back to Palaven, where the high-level representative of the Hierarchy was still stuck speechless by the Asari action. With an air of finality, he turned away from the two Asari, nodded to the Salarian Councillor who had remained gleefully above the conversation, and left the room.