For the Republic

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Roman Saying

If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference', you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes

Premier Catherine on Roman delegates before outbreak of Second World War

You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.

Al Capone, Steelport Chief of Police 1930

The 5th Fleet followed the aliens for the next couple of days. Using hyperspace they could have jump to and from the station a dozen times already. The reason they didn't was that the aliens haven't given them the coordinates for this Capital station of theirs. Which was understandable because for all the aliens knew we were going to just blow it up which Hackett was fairly ashamed to admit was an option. The other reason was these aliens seemed to be completely dependent on these prothean gates for travel. If that was true then if it did come to war then all they needed to do was destroy a few of them and the aliens would be effectively stranded. Though such a move would no doubt annoy the scientific community. Scientists from all nations were simply ecstatic over these gates. Hyperdrive was fast but these gates were near instantaneous. If they could replicate the speed humanity would be near the absolute pinnacle of FTL development. Extragalactic travel might then be possible.

"Sir we are coming out the gate in 5" said an ensign.

'About time' Hackett thought. 'Now things will get interesting.'

They exited the gate in a flash of blue into this purple nebula. Through the nebula they could see this capital station of theirs. Hackett had to admit it. He was impressed. The station had to be at least 40 KM in length. The largest space station humanity had built was Arcturus which serves as the headquarters for the United Nations and United Nations Space Force. The station was 15 KM in length and took all of the nations over 20 years of non-stop construction. This thing must have taken these aliens over a century to build.

Inside the station's arms were thousands of ships of different types. Most were freighters and what appeared to be the odd passenger ships. The others were obviously warships. The majority were of the same design that attacked Vietnam, predatory and with many sharp angles. The other two designs were less… aggressive looking. The first design was pure white and with low profiles and curves. The other design was also curved but focused more or cross-like shapes. The largest ship in the fleet which was half the size of his Venator and looked more like a work of art than a warship. Hackett wondered what it could do. Well there was an easy way to find out besides letting it shoot him.

"Kia."

Kia the ship's Head AI materialized in front of him. Her avatar was that of a black haired young woman wearing a World War 2 era naval uniform.

"Yes sir." She said giving him a crisp salute.

"Run a scan on that heavy cruiser sized ship. We need to know what we'll be getting into if this comes to blows. Be discreet." Said Hackett

"Yes Sir." She said before entering what could be described as a trance-like state. After a few moments she came back. "Done.'

"That fast?!" said Hackett.

"Yes sir. Roman AIs could give me a harder time than what these aliens are using. They're using a computer program though advanced can be best described as stupid. It was a simple matter to sneak past it."

"What did you learn?"

"The gun on that ship is impressive though simple. It is a scaled up version of the alien firearms we recovered. It uses this strange element to fire a large slug at relativistic speeds. Our shields could survive a few shots but after that it is up to our armor."

"In a one on one battle who would come out on top?"

"We would by a long shot but not without damage. Our energy weaponry can easily get through their shields which only protects from kinetic weaponry however a few shots from that heavy cruisers can destroy our shields then we'd have to rely on our armor. We'd win but we'd sustain enough damage to guarantee us at least six months in drydock for repairs."

"I sure hope they don't have anything bigger" said Hackett

"Goddess! That ship is bigger than anything we have!" yelled out one panic Asari

Councilor Tevos through the halls at a very brisk pace. An emergency Council session had been called up to address…THAT. What she meant by that was the large fleet parked outside the Citadel. They had come out of the relay being led by what many were starting to call the 'lost fleet'. This caused conspiracy theorists to panic saying the day that the Turians will overthrow the Council has come and they've been building up this fleet in secret. Tevos didn't believe a word of this since these were the same people that believed she and other matriarchs possessed mind control powers and were using them to control the galaxy.

The turian cruiser Conqueror docked near the Tower and C-Sec promptly escorted its captain to the Council Chambers. The captain had pre-prepared a report for them. General Arterius attacked unknown species for opening mass relay. Despite the action being illegal under council law most will agree that this is a special case and required a light touch. In his haste to defend one law Desolas broke many others. The irony would be funny if the situation wasn't so serious. If the report was to be believed this species was many times more advanced than the Council. Power Armor and huge ships are what they've seen so far and who knows what else they might have. If war broke out who knows how long it would go on? All 3 Councilors voted to make peace with this species. Tevos out of avoiding war, Salarian Councilor Molana wanted to study their tech, and Turian Councilor Sparatus wanted to save his own ass. Once word got out on a turian fleet botching a first contact heads were going to roll. The turians that recommended Desolas for the position were suddenly going to find themselves out of a job…Sparatus happened to be one of the turians who recommended Desolas command a fleet and by turian law he was in danger of losing his position.

Asari Diplomat Rari T'Mori would be traveling to the alien dreadnought with 4 Commandos as guards. An Asari was sent for three very good reasons. One was because the Asari are known for their diplomacy and that an experienced Asari diplomat could convince a starving person to give up their food. Two was to show these aliens the Turians had allies. Three was that thanks to General Desolas the standard diplomatic procedures would have to be thrown out the airlock. First Contact would normally be something that would take many months of preparation before a meld was even attempted. Rari was to perform a meld at the best possible moment as to smooth this disastrous situation over.

The shuttle approached the alien superdreadnought in as non-threatening a way as possible. The pilot began looking around the ship's hull for a docking bay when suddenly the top of the ship opened up. Inside were rows of hangers protected by an energy shield. One of the hangers stood out because of the flashing lights around it. It was evident this is where the aliens wanted them to go. Flying inside the shuttle's occupants go a good view of the many fighters, bombers, and landing craft inside the various hangers. The shuttle landed in the designated hanger and its occupants were treated to a pleasant surprise. A red carpet was laid out in front of them and alien soldiers at full attention lined the way. The display reminded Rari of turian diplomatic ceremonies. These aliens and the turians might not be so different. The aliens were very Asari like in their appearance. They seemed to have both males and females since half the aliens lacked breasts and were slightly more muscular

At the end of the carpet an alien in an ornate blue uniform. He reached his hand out and held it there with an expectant look on his face. Rari repeated the gesture and was a bit surprised when he took her hand into his and shook it in an up and do motion. The alien unclasped her hand and motioned for her to follow him. Rari and her guards followed the alien throughout the ship. The alien had 4 of his own guards each wearing a gas mask and a coat. Rari and her guards were led into what appeared to be a conference room judging from the table, chairs, and vid screen on the wall. Another alien was already there who bowed when they entered. The alien in the ornate uniform invited her to sit and not thinking of a better time Rari initiated a meld.

Once again Rari marveled at the similarities between her species and theirs. This alien's mind was similar in structure to an Asari. It wasn't the same but familiar enough that Rari could find her way around. She knew she didn't have much time so she got as much info on their language as she could. Suddenly a jolt ran through her head. She knew that was the sign of a meld being interrupted from the outside. If she was a young maiden such an action would have killed them both but Rari was experienced enough that the most she and the alien would have is a mild headache.

Looking around Rari was surprised to see all of her commandos had been disarmed and restrained. One of the alien soldiers came in and put a gun to her face. Rari ransacked her brain for the right words and cried out "Wait!"

The alien froze and turned to ornately dressed human and said "I'm not the only one that heard that right?"

The ornately dressed alien walked forward and looked her in the eyes. "You can speak our language? Then can you kindly explain what the hell you just did…"

Rari tried to find the correct words to explain it. "I…meld. Learn to speak. Meld…unfinished. Want peace. To be friend"

Hackett didn't fully trust her so a young ensign was used for her to finish this 'meld'. Once that was done the 'Asari' introduced herself. They then talked to each other about their respective species. The 1000 year lifespan was a bit impressive but it was nothing compared to the world leaders. When that was over they got to business. This 'Rari T'Mori' was both surprised and upset to learn that Hackett was not here to negotiate. He informed her that he and Anita Goyle were to just lay the groundwork until their leaders arrived and with a much bigger fleet! Hackett wanted this to be over but it would be a several days at most until the UN Fleet arrived. The commandos T'Mori brought as her guards were…interesting to say the least. From what Rari said they were among the best soldiers of her entire species. From what he could tell half of them were pissed at having been disarmed by the Rangers and the other half were harder to place but if he had to guess it was admiration. Despite there being no actual negotiations there was still a lot to do. Translators had to be built and preparations made. He and Goyle were going to have their work cut out for them.

AN: Sorry this chapter took so long. I got caught up in the holidays and on top of that this chapter just refused to write itself. If it looks weak in some areas then that's why. I wasn't even half way through and I already wanted this chapter to be over. The next one should come a bit sooner or at least I'll have it out before February is over.