Hi everyone, back with another chapter. Apologies its taken so long but ive started a new job recently so I havent had time to work on this.
I also dont really know where im going with this so just give me time to get back on track.
Im working on edits to previous chapters where im going to add a codex about the current state of the UEG and other entities in my AU
Thanks for being patient and I really hope you enjoy!
HSV Wrath of Aratoht
Lenal System
October 4th, 2229 C.E.
Captain Prathan Krak'Gork sat on his throne gazing around the bridge of his cruiser. It was an old pre-war model, fine for the kind of activities he was conducting, praying on innocent independent colonies out in the Terminus and he was content with it. There were no Citadel patrols he had to worry about out here, no advanced warships that would certainly intervene if they had the chance to.
His bridge crew were a mixture of former Hegemony sailors and slaves, equally untrustworthy in his beady eyes. With the fall of the Hegemony during the Reaper war and the rise of the Free Batarian Nation in its direct aftermath many of the sailors serving the interests of the Hegemony had either defected to the FBN or fled to the Terminus in order to seek riches. Prathan, however, was not like his crew. He, along with a few select others were operating in the Terminus in order to gain resources to facilitate the Hegemony's glorious return. So far, the plan was working, over the last 30 years he and his compatriots had set up a slaving operation that was yielding fabulous results, the 500 slaves in his cargo holds were testament to that, waiting to be put to work in one grotesque way or another.
He was on top of a very perverted food chain, but he always would be, Batarian's were better than the other races of the galaxy, born to rule over the lesser species. He made it known to his property as often as possible, he was not a kind master in any sense, but then again what Batarian was. The other races were beneath them, were beneath him. It was these thoughts that caused his mind to flash with anger as his Asari navigator raised her hand meekly to speak.
"Master, there is something unusual appearing on the scanners, I am not able to make sense of it." The Asari said as she submissively bowed her head as Prathan approached her.
"Of course you wouldn't pitiful Asari." Prathan sneered. "Remove yourself from the chair, I will check, and you will receive lashes for your incompetence."
Prathan savoured the abject fear in the Asari's eyes as he turned towards to the sensor console, the sadistic glee he got from mistreating his property was fresh in his mind.
He studied the readouts the sensors were indicating and was himself confused also, there was an object not 200km of his port bow that wasn't there before. How had it got there?
As he pondered this as he ordered his navigator to train the external cameras on the coordinates indicated by the sensors, convinced it was just a sensor malfunction. The Wrath was over 60 years old and was definitely showing its age, he would have to invest in some upgrades.
He waited impatiently for the navigator to do as ordered and that was when he saw it. The sleek black ship was hovering nearby, although his cruiser was larger it mattered not. The vessel screamed menace, its weapons emplacements clearly visible and Prathan had no doubt that this vessel was designed for a singular purpose, war.
He was about to call for general quarters when a blue portal wreathed in white appeared in the centre of the bridge. The crew was stunned, watching the portal in awe as 5 metal behemoths casually stepped out of it. They wore blue angular armour, their massive boots clanging on the floor of his bridge, he had never seen anything like it but strangely, it looked Human. The shape was unknown to him, but it looked advanced enough for him to know this was something none of his bridge crew had ever seen before. The Behemoths armour bore no curves, purely sharp in nature it reminded Prathan of the cut gems found on the Homeworld. Their visors were crimson, the helmets angled in a downward V shape that gave rise to the hypothesis that these creatures only possessed two eyes, if they were even organic at all. He had never seen a creature so large before, these things dwarfed even the largest Krogan. What was even stranger than the nature of these Behemoths was that parts of their armour floated above their bodies, as if held there by some kind of gravitic force. Above the shoulders, on their upper arms and above their upper legs their armour constantly shifted in a dance of blue light, it would have been mesmerizing if he weren't so terrified of the situation. He almost yelped when one of the things spoke in a gravelly voice.
"You will surrender this ship effective immediately. Tell your crew to make their way to the docking bay."
His translator registered it as Earth standard English. Human, of course this thing was Human, that made Prathan's blood boil. Of all the things in the galaxy he despised, Humans were at the top of his list. Their arrogance was unfounded, brash and weak he particularly enjoyed enslaving their kind, in fact his holds were filled to the brim with them.
"Human." Prathan spat with venom. "If you think were going to surrender to your dirt- "
His tirade was abruptly cut short as a crimson beam erupted from one of their weapons. He barely had time to register what remained of his navigator. Where once stood a Batarian now lay a pile of ashes, Prathan gulped, he had never seen such a weapon before. The Behemoth who had done the deed lowered their weapon and delegated to what was supposedly their superior.
"You misunderstand me, this is not a request, it is a demand." The Behemoth boomed. "If you do not acquiesce to this demand your deaths will be long and painful, something I'm sure my comrades would be hoping to fulfil instead of the of the quick and painless deaths scum like your kind aren't deserving of. You will surrender this ship now or we will vent it in its entirety, filth."
Prathan saw red, no matter the size of these Humans nor their strange and notably advanced technology he was not going to be spoken down to by what he considered to be a plague on the galaxy.
"The glorious Hegemony will never surrender to your kind Human." Acid in his tone. "If you give up now, I will be benevolent and only use the females for pleasure."
The 5 Human's tensed as he spoke, they whipped their heads around towards him, their non-existent stares boring into his skull. The visors were intimidating enough. For 5 seconds nothing happened, until alarms began blaring throughout the ship, until 1 by 1 every section of the ship was depressurized and vented. Prathan barely had time to register what was going on before he was hit with the emptiness of the void, he and his entire crew was unable to breathe. They struggled while the Humans stood stoically watching their handiwork come to fruition. In 60 seconds the entire crew of the Wrath was dead, their lifeless corpses floating in the vacuum of space.
The 5 Spartan's took in the sight before them. They hadn't killed an Alien in over 400 years and were extremely satisfied with their proficiency. It was made even better due to the nature of these vile beings, enslavers of Humans, subjecting their kin to acts that made their blood boil. The only shame they felt was that they didn't have the chance to play with their prey before the kill, their tight schedule necessitating a quick execution of their objectives.
"Artemis, repressurize the ship and direct us to the slave pens, we have Humans to rescue."
Amanda Winslow was in a lot of pain, that's all she could really feel at the moment. Her leg was definitely broken, and half her face felt like a pulped raw steak. She could only see out of one eye and half the fingers in her right hand were bent in an odd shape. Only 3 days ago she was with her family on Sanctum eking a meagre living on the frozen world, but at least she had her family. Now she didn't know where they were, and they had no idea if she was even still alive. She had been caught by the Batarian slavers as she left the Planetary capitol of Vulpes in order to trade some of her agricultural goods in the town of Cespa.
She cursed her bad luck at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If she had remained in the capital, she would have been fine, the entire city was protected by a vast array of defences due to the colony's location in the Terminus systems. The small habitation of Cespa had no such defences and was thus easy prey for pirates and slavers in the Terminus. So here she was, in the pens of a Batarian cruiser, on her way to live a slow and painful death.
She was so lost in her reverie that she paid no attention to the commotion outside the room she and 400 of her fellow Humans were being held. That was until agitation swept through the pens, murmuring of her fellow captives slowly rising in volume as the frantic voices of the slaver crew could be heard through the thick blast door.
Even the four guards assigned to the slave pens left the room to check out what was going on. She was surprised, they had not been without oversight since she had arrived on the ship and deduced that the situation must have been a dire one. That was about a minute before the alarms started, it was also when the voices stopped. In fact any noise was completely cut off, the silence was oppressive as the entire room collectively held their breath. She looked around at the slaves she shared her cage with, they were terrified, the cage reeked of piss and fear, whatever had done that to the Batarians was either a god send or an even worse omen than being enslaved by them.
A tense few minutes passed by as the entire room awaited their fate, the muffled sobs from the children being held was all that could be heard.
They needn't waited long however, as the door to the pens opened with its signature swish. That was when Amanda became truly afraid, because as the Behemoths ducked in through the door she was lost for words. They towered over everything in the room as they silently gazed at the sight before them, for a tense minute nothing happened, but it was easy to tell that the intruders were on edge. She just hoped that they were here to rescue them, not take them away to another hell altogether.
"My name is Spartan David X-196, we are here for the Humans, xenos are to stay where they are, if that directive is not followed you will be eliminated with extreme prejudice. Humans to the front of the cages now, if someone cannot walk support them, we don't have time to coddle you."
The gruff voice surprised Amanda, but she knew the language and without their translators she knew the other races probably hadn't, she needed to inform what she hoped were her rescuers.
"Excuse me." She flinched as the giants directed their attention towards her. "We don't have translators, so the other races most likely didn't understand what you just said, if you can give me a few minutes I will be able to make them understand."
Tense minutes followed; it was clear to Amanda that the giants were communicating with each other over internal comms as gestures were made towards them every so often.
"Very well." The foremost giant nodded in affirmation. "But be quick about it, we don't have much time before this system has another ship in it."
She turned towards the terrified Asari imprisoned with her in the overcrowded cell and took a deep breath. It was clear they were not in for a good ride when the Spartan specified them as xenos, a frankly racist term for aliens. The requirement for only Humans was also worrisome, but she had a job to do and it meant some of them being rescued she was going to comply.
"They are here for the Humans" She spoke in perfect Thessia Standard. "They have specified that you are to move to the back of the cages so that the Humans can leave, to what end I do not know."
That prompted pained cries of outrage from the Asari confined with her, although she knew it wasn't going to calm them down, she had to detail the other part of the Spartan's message.
"They have also said that if you do not comply with this order you will be eliminated with extreme prejudice, so I would do as they say."
That caused a certain Asari's expression to darken, as well as more cries of outrage. She flinched when one of them was surrounded by a blue hue.
"You tell them." She said in a rage induced tone. "That we are not being left here by a bunch of Cerberus sympathisers of whatever these racists are calling themsel- "
She didn't get to finish whatever what about to come out of her mouth, much to the horror of those surrounding her. The red beam that had seemingly come from of the Spartan's weapons disintegrated her on impact, apparently bypassing her biotic barrier.
The cages attention swung to the Spartan as he began to bark orders towards them.
"We don't have time for this, Humans are to move immediately, you are being brought to one of our outposts and will receive food, water and medical treatment for your injuries. Move towards the bridge, now."
This prompted the mass of dirty dishevelled and injured Humans to begin making their way towards the bridge, directed by one of the giants. Many gazed at the lifeless corpses of the Batarian crew along the way, some of them spitting on their former captors, the giant at the head of the group turned, outwards body language signifying approval.
Amanda was one of the last to leave the slave pens, her broken leg requiring the support of a middle-aged man who had escaped the raid relatively unscathed. Before she left the room, she turned towards the Spartan at the head of the group.
"What is going to happen to them?" As she pointed at the Asari captured with them.
The Spartan didn't even turn to acknowledge her. But simply stated. "The xenos will be executed, we have no need for them, and we certainly don't care about them. It seemed preferable to a life of slavery, given their lifespan. Now move."
Normally she would have objected, but after days in the hold of a slaver cruiser she was tired and angry at the Batarian's, this was compounded by the pain her body was currently experiencing. She gave the Asari one last mournful gaze and made her way out of the room, shuddering at what was about to take place.
Omega Station
Omega Nebula
10th October 2229 C.E.
Justicar Yara Kandaris moved in shadow. Making her way above the grime covered streets of Omega in search of her quarry. Her prey had eluded her once again, the game of cat and mouse she was playing was becoming worrisome, she had never known any being as competent in the arts of stealth as the one, or ones she was following yet she pursued them nonetheless. She had never seen them, but she felt their presence, she had detected it the moment they entered the station, even in this hive of scum and villainy their presence screamed malevolence, people skilled in the arts of killing. She had never detected such death in the presence of another being before and knew that whatever she was hunting was extremely dangerous.
Her hunt had led her all over the station, her quarry had no discernible pattern of movement and was relentless in their traversing of the station, almost as if they knew they were being followed. A troublesome thought. She was currently in the Kenzo district, a wise choice for someone trying to evade detection. The Blood Pack had reasserted their control over the district following the expulsion of Cerberus and thus the district was distinctly depopulated, its streets mainly deserted aside from the occasional Blood Pack patrols over their dominion.
She had last detected the presence in an old disused warehouse near Afterlife and made her way towards the building. Seeking to keep her existence as nondescript as possible she clambered quietly into a second story window, careful to mask any sound she was making. The room she entered was barren and lifeless, a testament to Omega she thought. She gazed around, content that she had not set off any sort of alarm mechanism and made her way towards the main hall of the warehouse. The minimal lighting was troublesome but not entirely a problem, she could feel if objects were blocking her path as she stalked further into the belly of the warehouse. As she rounded the corner the led to the main room, she detected a light and faint, low voices.
Keeping her presence masked she stalked towards the edge of the railing overlooking the central room. When she glanced over the railing, she was certainly surprised by what she found. There were 4 humans in the centre of the room, hunched over a holographic table that was impossible to make out. It wasn't the hologram that surprised her, it was the unusual appearance and size of these Humans. Even from this distance she could tell that their proportions were wildly different to the few Humans she had come across. She thought to garner this information, however, it was of little consequence, she needed information on these Humans, and listened into their conversation.
"When is the ONI agent expected to arrive? We have been here almost a week and have scouted almost the entire station, I've had Artemis construct it into a viable floorplan and we know that were only 2 kilometres from our target. She has also gone about obtaining access codes for this Asari's private chambers. Everything is a go on our end."
That interested Yara to no end. They spoke of a target that was certainly an Asari, as mentioned. It was clear to Yara who the target was, there was only 1 Asari that could draw the ire of what were presumably highly trained killers.
"He will be arriving tomorrow with his own contingent of Spartans; I don't know why we need 10 Spartans on hand for this but its what Osman has requested. She wants this to go flawlessly and 10 Spartans will be enough to deal with the Eclipse mercenaries once we've finished removing T'Loak from power and installed the agent as head of Omega."
Yara was not easily shocked, but that did it for her. Aria T'Loak had kept meticulous control over Omega for over 3 centuries, and barring the chaos that the Reaper War created, her position was immovable and yet here were 10 people hoping to do exactly that with the help of Eclipse.
"That's all well and good but what of the one following us? I don't know how she is detecting us, but it is unnerving to think that we are being hunted. No one should be able to see through our stealth tech but the Justicar has appeared far too regularly for it to be mere coincidence."
Yara stilled as she heard that, she knew it was probable that these Humans had known she was following them, but for them to know she was a Justicar of the order was worrisome, these Humans were remarkably well informed. She was glad she had not underestimated them at all.
It was at this moment when one of the Humans glanced towards her hidden position that caused anxiety to course through Yara's veins, there was no way she had been detected, it must have been a coincidence.
"Ah yes our little hunter. Her quest is of little concern, we have tracked her every movement from the moment she caught our scent, it is only a matter of time before she makes a mistake- "
Yara felt a cold metal gauntlet clamp around her neck as she was hoisted into the air by her invisible assailant, her eyes still on the Human looking at her position. His gaze was now firmly on her, his lips curled at the edges into a cruel smile as he spoke to her directly.
"Isn't that right Justicar? I have so enjoyed our little game of cat and mouse. But alas, I'm afraid it must come to an abrupt end."
Fear coursed through Yara's body as she was held aloft for the Humans to look at her. She had sorely underestimated these Humans and would now pay the price, the valuable information she had just learnt would be lost and Omega would fall prey to whatever machinations they had in store for it.
"Ajax you know what to do."
The Human turned away from her in a dismissive gesture as the pressure on her neck began to increase, she knew this was the end as her vision began to black out, this was the end for Justicar Yara Kandaris, after 700 years of loyal service to the order, she would die a rather lacklustre death in the bowels of Omega, forgotten to the errands of history.
The Human, Ajax, looked directly at her as her vision began to fade, she saw the sadistic smile that graced his face, clearly enjoying what was taking place. He left her with a cruel parting gift, a whisper, almost incomprehensible in her current state.
"Seek solace in the embrace of the goddess."
With the snap of her neck, her life was ended, with her fate to be decided by the goddess.
Omega Station, Aria T'Loak's Penthouse, above Afterlife
Omega Nebula
11th October 2229 C.E.
Aria T'Loak let out a great sigh as she retired from her daily life dealing with the ingrates and lowlifes she lorded over. Her personal apartment above Afterlife would have been classed as luxurious even by Citadel standards and it was the one true place, she felt comfortable in all of Omega, all of the Milky Way for that fact. Her state-of-the-art security granting no one entry lest she specifically requested and promised an early death for any who tried to breach it.
The bottle of Armali Fire Wine sat on her drinks trolly was just what she needed after a long day, a small pleasure in her life as Queen of Omega, something to be savoured and cherished, even though she was able to procure as much of it as she wanted.
She gazed around her Penthouse, it wasn't ostentatious, nor was it sparse, it was just hers, her own space, an escape if you will, a place that she could retire to without the machinations of her daily life getting in the way. The view was nothing special, her floor to ceiling windows would have been something spectacular on the Citadel or Thessia but gazing out at the scum covered districts of her dominion did not give her pleasure. She did not have to worry about the vulnerability the windows inherently represented, the mass effect fields covering the glass were cruiser grade, the only thing able to penetrate in one shot was a direct mass rail shot from a dreadnought grade starship, something very unlikely to be housed in the middle of Omega.
She finished her drink as she strode to the bathroom, intent on washing todays filth off her marked, indigo skin. The bathroom, a sea of imported marble and granite from the mines of Earth was something special to her. She appreciated how Humans designed their homes, especially before their contact with the Council races, it was beautiful, confident in its own simplicity and elegance. Humanities contact with the wider galaxy had led to integration, Humans adopting Asari styling in many facets of their society, much like the rest of the galaxy. She thought it was a shame, each species had been drawn in by the Asari, slowly over time, it just seemed that Humans were far more impressionable that the Turians or Salarians. The waterfall shower she had was impressive, the torrents of water cascading down drowned out all sound, allowing her to be alone with her raging thoughts. Which is why she didn't hear the contingent of soldiers entering her Penthouse and making themselves comfortable in her living space.
As she cut the shower, she turned her thoughts to the current situation in the galaxy. Idly drying herself while imagining the state of eezo shipments towards Council space she made her way back towards her bedroom, intent on changing into something more comfortable than a skin-tight outfit. The clearing of a throat stopped her in her tracks.
"Ah, good evening Miss T'Loak. Or should I say good morning? It's impossible to tell on this filth ridden station."
Despite the initial shock of finding a Human male lazily making himself comfortable on her sofa she recovered quickly. She began to glow blue, eyes narrowed, lips curled into a cruel sneer.
"I don't know who you think you are, or how you even got in here for that matter, but I suggest you leave before I smear your body over the windows."
The Human had the gall to smirk at that, smirk.
"I really don't think that will be necessary Miss T'Loak. You see, my name is Viktor Ivanov, and I have come here today to implore you to understand the futility of your position."
Aria's mind was calculating at a mile a minute. There were several scenarios, only few made sense and only 1 was probable. Either Ivanov was extremely stupid and didn't know where or who she was and was still somehow able to break her advanced security. Or he knew something that she didn't, and likely held all the cards.
"And what, pray tell, is the futility of my position?"
The smug smirk on the man's face didn't disappear, in fact it grew in size. It made her want to send a flare to wipe it off his ridiculous face. But she relented, she didn't get to where she was by acting like a brash fool, she would see how this would play out before she killed the man who dared to invade her private space.
"Why I believe that to be fairly simple. You see, in approximately." The man checked his wristwatch. "27 minutes, 80 Kodiak transports filled with Eclipse mercenaries are going to breach your stations defences. This will be the opening salvo in my organisations take over of your pitiful empire. I am giving you one chance to leave, and never come back. It would be wise to take it while you still can."
Aria was fairly shocked by that. Eclipse had never been an organisation to go after such a risky venture, their pay must have been substantial. However, 80 Kodiaks was still less than 1000 troops, something that could easily be beaten off if she could contact Bray in time and alert her mercenary forces station wide. However, luck wasn't on her side. Ivanov sensed her thoughts and gave her a cruel smile.
"Tsk tsk Miss T'Loak, can I call you Aria?" The glare she gave him was indeed a negative on that front, but he continued his drawling without pause. "I think I'll call you Aria."
"Well Aria I imagine you're already figuring out ways to contact your esteemed legions of subservient cattle but alas I'm afraid that's not possible." The mock sincerity in his voice was grating. "You see, my friend Achilles and I have already covertly disabled your stations outer defences, along with their internal communications. As well as all communications leaving this room, which includes your omni-tool. Go on, try it, I'm sure you can see for yourself. 25 minutes Aria, clocks ticking."
Aria really did not want to give this bastard of a man the satisfaction of checking her omni-tool, but she had to see if he were bluffing, if there was any chance for her to counter the invasion before it began, she would make sure it failed.
The human addressed her; eyebrow raised in question. "I must say, I am surprised you actually checked. You are nothing if not thorough Aria, perhaps that is why you've kept control of this station for so long. But as I have said that time is at an end. You can either die here or be exiled."
Aria pondered as quickly as she could, she had been exiled before and with the help of Shepard had regained the station during the chaos of the Reaper war, it would be possible for her to reclaim control once again, but the hit to her prestige would make her position untenable. She had to stall for time.
"You don't know history very, well do you?" The man's expression betrayed nothing. She was trying to get a reaction out of him and failing. "I have lost this station to Humans before, a very well organised and very well-funded paramilitary group, you are giving me the option to leave, as General Petrovsky did once before. You're either stupid or far too confident in your abilities, your hubris will be the end of you."
The mans face remained flat as he began to speak.
"You're talking about Cerberus aren't you Aria?" Aria nodded. "Ah I see why you would think that you'd be able to reclaim the station from us after you beat that second-rate organisation. They couldn't even control the one thing in this galaxy that saved you. But alas you wont be reclaiming this station, ever. You will spend the rest of your miserable life away from here, always scheming, always plotting to take it back and you will fail, time and time and time again. Though, I guess your attempts would make good target practice, some members of our armed forces haven't had the chance to kill anything in such a long time, you know how it is. Itchy trigger fingers and all."
Aria latched onto the phrase 'Armed-forces' a moniker only used to describe the official fighting force of a legitimate nation state, not any organisation, usually at least. She needed information.
"Who do you work for?" She didn't bother to mask the acid in her tone.
Ivanov's eyebrows hit the roof of his head. He threw his head back and let out a hearty chuckle.
"My my Aria, we've been talking for 5 minutes and you've just now thought about asking that? I was led to believe you were much sharper than this, what a shame indeed."
Aria bristled at his snide tone. "I don't care, tell me who you work for."
Ivanov pondered the question, well demand, for far too long in Aria's eyes, clearly buying time, seeking to agitate her. But relented with a sigh.
"Very well, seeing as I have come to a decision about your fate, I believe I'll do you the pleasure of telling you everything. But first, some precautions. You're going to regret snubbing my obscenely kind nature Aria. Spartans if you would be so kind?"
Aria was confused, but only for a short time. Death had materialised in front of her. They moved with unimaginable speed and before she knew it, she was pinned to the wall opposite the sofa where Ivanov sat. She tried to wiggle her way free but before long a biotic inhibitor was placed around her neck, locking off access to the eezo nodes in her body. She had to painfully watch Ivanov drag a chair across the vast space to take his place in front of her.
"Very well Aria, you have my undivided attention. What is it you want to know? Remember, we are short on time, the fireworks are about to begin".
"Again, who do you work for." Pinned beneath the wall of metal currently holding her, it was hard to speak at all.
Ivanov contemplated how to answer this before speaking. "I work for the Office of Naval Intelligence. The Intelligence branch of The United Nations Space Command. The UNSC for short, is the military, scientific and exploratory body of the Unified Earth Government."
The confusion in Aria's face was understandable. "Unified Earth Government? The only government of Earth and of Humanity is the Systems Alliance. I have never heard of this UNSC or of ONI before."
Ivanov regarded her with a cold assessing gaze. She was staring into the face of a cold-blooded killer, but that wasn't what phased her. She had killed countless times during her tenure as Queen of Omega, what scared her was the intelligence of the grey eyes opposite her, she had met men like him before. Ruthless, uncompromising and completely sociopathic, it was par for the course when dealing with the denizens of Omega. She would know, she was one such individual, she just hadn't had the displeasure of being at the mercy of one.
"Yes Aria, you're correct in that fact. The Systems Alliance is the only governing body of Humanity in this galaxy."
At that statement Aria failed to supress a bark of laughter. The humour on her face was evident. "I'm sorry, but you really expect me to believe that you're Humans from another galaxy? How much Red Sand have you taken?"
"Considering you only have minutes to live Aria, do you really think it wise to spend your remaining time acting like I am in a remotely cajoling mood?" The sneer in his words was evident. "Achilles please make yourself known, the xeno needs convincing before her trip to the Afterlife."
"Who's Achill-" Aria couldn't finish before a hologram appeared before her. A hologram of what she believed to be an ancient warrior from Earth, going by their attire and body stature.
"Hello Aria." The hologram took the time to consider her, the voice sounded artificial but that could mean anything. "My name is Achilles AHC 9673-23, I am a 10th generation UNSC Smart A.I., cerebral partner of Colonel Viktor Ivanov. Do you have an inquiry for me today?"
Ivanov let out a huff of laughter. "There's no need to be so formal Achilles, she's only a xeno and we are on a bit of a tight schedule, so please show her the necessary information regarding our galaxy and theirs." He turned to Aria. "I assure you it will be quite enlightening."
The room was illuminated by the projection of two galaxies, she knew she was looking at her home galaxy, and the nearest major galaxy in the galactic cluster.
"Achilles please highlight all the home planets of the Council species in Andromeda, include Omega if you would. Then show her the approximate location of the Orion arm in our galaxy, leaving out Earths location of course."
"Certainly, Viktor." The words of affirmation had barely been spoken before a series of points were impressed upon the holograms, Aria recognised the locations as fairly accurate, though she had no way to gauge it.
"So if you're from another galaxy and you claim to be able to subjugate ours in a decade when the Reapers couldn't do so, I take it your nation is the dominant power?" It was a sensible question, the man in front of her was making fairly large and wild claims, she needed to gather as much information as possible.
The stoic expression returned to the man's face. "You could say that. I will make this short and sweet for you as we are pressed for time. Around 600 years ago we encountered a Xeno coalition consisting of 8 sentient species." Aria's eyes bulged out at that, she watched as the man's expression turned grim. "They tried to exterminate us. The war lasted 27 years and resulted in the deaths of nearly 25 billion people. However, they failed at their objective. We turned the tide of the war in its last year, months after they attacked and almost destroyed Earth. Earth was attacked, resulting in the deaths of at least 6 billion people, half the population at the time. After that we counter attacked with all our might, and with the help of some of our greatest warriors we caused a schism to appear in our enemy. The ensuing civil war left them devastated. We pressed the advantage, with newly constructed starships and fresh recruitment after the Battle of Earth we turned the tide. In turn, we did to them what they did to us. We exterminated the ruling caste and the majority of their warrior castes, we destroyed their worlds and sterilised their peoples, the majority of the species that set out to destroy us are now nothing, nothing but a hate filled memory in the majority of Humans, where they will remain, till the end of us. I remember being present at the Battle of Meridian, watching the planet being glassed by the Covenant, millions crying out to be saved, with no help coming. I will never forget what xenos have done to us, and nor will the UEG. There is a particularly nice bible quote I like to use for our revenge. 'For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality'."
Aria didn't know what to say, that was the most extraordinary story she had ever heard, the figures mentioned were staggering. No one knew how many had truly died during the reaper war, but the figure must have been something similar, considering the amount of planets hit. But they were only one species, one species attacked by many, and they still managed to hold out without the use of a galactic superweapon. She was impressed.
"Ok I understand that, but it doesn't tell me why youre here or what you plan to do with the station. Surely if your society hates aliens so much it would be better to just leave us alone?"
"Normally I would say you're correct." Ivanov sighed, rubbing a gloved hand over his face. "After the war we retreated back towards our borders, allowed ourselves time to grow back to strength, in 600 years we haven't expanded our borders much, the UEG roughly covers a 1000 LY area, with thousands of habitable planets still ripe for colonization. Our leaders determined it would be wise not to expand while we were weak due to the fear the Covenant caused and the fact it wasn't necessary. That is why we haven't met any new species. However, new information came to light when multiple discoveries were made, and our military has deemed us strong enough to ensure that war never comes to our borders again."
Aria nodded. "And what new information is that?" As she asked the question, she watched the fire return to Ivanov's eyes.
"You see Aria, approximately 4 years ago our society found an intergalactic mass relay, a significant find, it has allowed us to easily transport our fleets and industrial capacity to yours, where we intend to subjugate your xeno friends and absorb the Alliance into our nation. In approximately a decade we will do what the reapers failed to do 50 years ago, an exciting prospect no? The capture of this station is merely a piece of the puzzle." Aria could see the glee in the man's eyes.
"Why are you telling me this, to gloat?" She'd had enough of Ivanov and his attitude.
"Precisely Aria, I am here to gloat, you don't know how frustrating it can be to keep a secret such as this bottled up for such a long time, so it's been nice to just unwind and tell it to someone's face without fear of reprisal or persecution." The man's steely façade was breaking, the smug grin returning as he leaned forward. "In approximately 16 minutes you are going to die, your security forces will be in chaos as Eclipse mercenaries storm this awful place, Achilles has already made sure your entire security apparatus is in complete meltdown. I believe I deserve a little respite and a pat on the back for a job well done don't you think?"
He had pride in his work, she had to give him that. "The one thing I don't understand is why there are two factions of Humanity in completely separate galaxies?"
Ivanov sighed, "That is not something even we fully understand yet, just that our precursor species seeded this galaxy in a vain attempt at ensuring the legacy of their successors, us."
"I see…" Aria continued. The conversation had been taken down a path she would have never expected. "So why exactly are you telling me this? You could have just killed me and got on with your plans, it's certainly what I would have done. There's no need for this posturing."
"Well you see I have been given, certain, operational freedoms regarding the acquisition of this station, and I would like to propose something to you." Ivanov sat back in contemplation, hand sifting through the black beard that adorned his face. "My superior wants complete control of this station to do as she pleases when the time is right, how this is achieved is irrelevant to her, as long as it is done in complete and utter secrecy. We cant have our plans being discovered by those blithering fools in Council space, can we?"
"Do go on Mr Ivanov." Aria said, knowing where this was going.
"Well you see the first and most desirable option in regard to secrecy was to just kill you and take your place, but my superior has recognised the logistical nightmare that would propose. So she has allowed me to offer you a position in our organisation, you can keep your position as Queen of Omega with very little having to change. You may even be allowed to keep it once we start of subjugation of your galaxy, in fact doing so would make sense. Let me make one thing clear, you are a xeno, you are not important to us in any way, in fact a lot of our population would prefer me to kill you than have you aid us in anyway, so think of this as the opportunity of a lifetime Aria."
"Surely there are a multitude of conditions and stipulations. It cant be as simple as that." Aria huffed.
Ivanov smirked. "You would be right in that respect Aria. You would retain control of this station but only on the surface. We wouldn't interfere in your daily business, but you would under our thumb, and do as we say, when we say." Aria grimaced at that. "There's no need for that face Aria, we wouldn't demand much. Just know that in the near future we will need to you cut eezo exports to the rest of Council space, soften them up for us a bit. I will stay on this station to make sure you're behaving, but for the majority of the time it will be as if nothing has changed, a fair agreement wouldn't you say?"
"Its certainly preferable to death or exile that's for sure." Aria didn't mean to sound so petulant, but this is not how she was expecting tonight to go.
"So you agree Aria?"
"Yes, I will be the front for your people, as long as you don't interfere in my businesses in anyway."
Ivanov's lips curled into a cruel smile; Aria didn't like it. "Perfect then Aria, just so you know now, all your communications will be monitored, you will be shadowed by two of my lovely Spartans at all times, this is not only to make sure you keep our little secret but also for your protection. They are very good at their job I can assure you. I will warn you though Aria, ONI has placed a lot of trust in me to make this deal. If you betray us, you will live the rest of your existence wishing for the sweet release of death. That much I promise you."
Aria nodded; it was all she could do. "So we have a deal?"
Ivanov smirked. "That we do Aria, welcome to ONI."