Chapter 5 - A Passionate Intensity
"Are we really going to do this?"
"Why not? It's not like anybody can stop us."
-votsr-
BATARIAN HEGEMONY ANNEXES CITADEL, ENSLAVES POPULATION
VolusTech News Network - The Batarian Hegemony has taken advantage of the anarchy engulfing the galaxy to claim the Citadel by right of conquest, announcing today that the Serpent Nebula is now considered Hegemony Territory and should be treated as such. Additionally, an estimated 10 million surviving residents were immediately enslaved upon their arrival, and are currently believed to be working under extremely harsh conditions...
-votsr-
The shadows were Teyi T'Sera's friend.
She had been lucky. She was hiding in a maintenance shaft when the Hegemony came and had managed to escape their notice. And fortunately, the Citadel was HUGE and the Batarians were more interested in working people to death than exploring all of it. If those scumbags thought that they could put a collar on her, they had no idea of the woman the last two weeks had forced her to become.
She killed in the shadows. She had developed a reputation: "The Blue Bitch". She smiled whenever she heard it. She wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to accomplish beyond survival and perhaps revenge, but it still felt good. To hurt the Hegemony and make sure all the Batarians living on this station saw her in their nightmares.
She would NEVER let them make her a fucking slave.
Never.
-votsr-
Nara'Ven vas Shellen felt triumphant. Not just at the delightful events of the last two weeks - which, incidentally, had basically allowed the Migrant Fleet to plunder any world they wanted to - but at the information he had just received.
It had not been easy. Getting this many names from the Shadow Broker cost him a fortune - a fortune that he didn't have and had to creatively steal from bank accounts across the entire galaxy. But it was here.
Finally.
It was time to send the Admirals the message.
-votsr-
Admirals,
I will make this plain to you: I am the Death God, and I am a quarian in the Migrant Fleet. Do not attempt to identify me, or else you're all dead.
Exactly two weeks after you read this message, almost every turian in the Trebia system will immediately drop dead. You will be there to conquer their home system and make it our own. Any surviving turians we can enslave. You don't have to worry about defense, either - I will personally kill any who attempt to intrude.
Save me your moral outrage. You are doing this, because this is the moment we have been waiting for for 300 years.
-votsr-
The Admiralty Board stared at the message in shock. They wanted to dismiss it all as an elaborate prank, but you did not get this far in the Migrant Fleet without good instincts. This message was screaming the truth at them.
"...what do we do?" Shala'Raan finally managed to get out. She had NO idea how to feel about this.
"What do you think we do?" Han'Gerrel replied. "We conquer the Trebia system."
"The Council will-" Zaal'Koris began before stopping himself.
"Exactly. Absolutely nobody can stop us, including the Hegemony."
"THIS IS HORRIBLE!" Shala'Raan suddenly screamed. "BILLIONS WILL DIE!"
"Don't you think I know that?" Han'Gerrel snapped. "There isn't anything we can do to stop it. You heard them - if we try to find out who they are, they will kill us. And I don't think they will hesitate."
"But...enslavement?" Rael'Zorah was still in shock. "We can't do that. No matter how horrible the turians are, nobody deserves to be enslaved."
"We can modify that plan," Han'Gerrel replied. "Set aside a ship or two in order to let any surviving turians leave the Trebia system, with the understanding that they will never return on pain of death!"
"I can't believe we're doing this!" Shala'Raan was horrified. "The galaxy will despise us for all eternity once they know the Death God is a quarian!"
"Who cares?"
The statement stunned everyone. Daro'Xen had been silent until now.
"In case you haven't noticed, they're a little bit too worried about a galaxy-wide genocide. Let them hate us. Trebia should be ours by right of conquest. As distasteful as I find the Death God's methods, I agree with the point they are making."
The Admiralty Board was silent. This was the dictionary definition of a hard truth. There really was no way around it.
"Well," Rael'Zorah sighed, "I guess we're going to conquer Palaven."
-votsr-
Yeah, I know you need a face and a name for the Death Note. But the Admiralty Board doesn't ;)
Review please!