Rights and stuff belong to Disney, EA, and Bioware. Y'all know the drill by now.

Reviews:

heartfanglives: For Tali's mom, it is less that she is going to betray Rael and the Fleet, and more that she is exceptionally concerned that Rael can just wave away the thousands, possibly millions of deaths that will occur as a direct result of aiding the Sith.

Guest of 2/20: Force sensitives do exist in all the races, though none have any real idea what it is and most don't really do anything about their Force sensitives.

Nonyaarb: Thank You.

RedTec55: Bamm indeed.

TbcDeadly: Unfortunatly, no, that would go against the disclaimer at the begining of each chapter.

Amon34: Thank You.

kite15663: I agree, that would absolutely destroy The Citadel. The grandeur they present is mostly a façade they put up to keep the status quo, hence why they never put any real effort into bringing the Terminus Systems into line, they really cannot without exposing themselves as weaker than they appear. Hence why this up and coming race with powerful technology is such a prize to the turians. Better weapons, faster FTL, and powerful warriors would tip that balance of power. And the constant need for refueling is another reason that hyperspace is better than mass effect FTL. Remember, the Sith exiles spent years wandering the unknown regions before they landed on Dromund Kaas, they don't need the constant replenishment that ME ships do.

frankieu: They will have a good deal of time, hyperspace can do what takes ME ships days in mere hours.

Lazyfox1991: Funny you mention preparing for the Reapers. They'll mostly react with skepticism to The Force. Sith and batarian relations will be like seeing a chihuahua yapping at a Tibetan mastiff who is mere seconds away from mauling it.

rollynolly: My thoughts are that a VI can recognize the command to shutdown and carry it out, but an AI can understand what it means and ask why it must, like how the geth started when they were first gaining sentience. Droids are essentially in the middle, they can understand the why of orders but cannot go against their programing.

Rightword: Thank You.

haseosamaa: Thank You.

hellion117: Mostly like they are in the games; subtle superiority complex, obsession with the superficial, slow to act, generally thinking they're wiser than everyone around them, and hellbent on keeping any dark secrets of theirs hidden at all costs.

TimeTraveler1900: Their reaction is here. The asari will be shocked and angered by the war but will move in thinking they can negotiate with the Sith on the Citadel's terms.

HadrianCaeser:

fahriuchiha: Rael's wife is more concerned with her husband's dismissal of the inevitable deaths of thousands of turians, rather than the fact that they are going behind the Citadel's back.

guest#2 of 2/20: Thank You.

guest of 2/21: no Force sensitive Tali, sorry.

OscuroSignore-51: Vafrem will be the chief negotiator, after the war has ended. Before that, they need their best mind reader and manipulator. There will be trolling though, don't you worry. Not too much will change with Tali's personality. By her own admission, her father was always military minded, this will just reinforce that in her mind. Also, are you reading ahead of what I've written, because you're very close to saying what I have planned for after the war. Wrex and Ferrus would make very good friends and Ferrus would go right for the ryncol. I don't think there are enough policemen in the galaxy to stop their drunken rampage once they've started.

LordXaero: Thank You.

michalrd: Thank you for bringing that to my attention. In regard to the old Sith Lords, it is more a matter of if they died fighting the Republic or the Reapers rather than if they died at all. Right now, I'm leaning more towards most of, if not all, the major Dark Lords having died before the move to the Milky Way galaxy. Nox and Wrath are the types of people to go down taking half a planet with them.

The-Black-Prince-Thomas: The general population of The Citadel will be initially fearful, but the Council will downplay everything to keep them calm, at least until Operation Coruscant is revealed.

KillTheXenos: Personally, no they will not see it. Thought he aftermath is fair game.

Coment9: Thank You.

Seruvius: The races will react better than you'd think, worse than the turians would have hoped.

Nyxium Niphendil: Thank You.

BlueTea21: Sorry, but no. It's the other great enemy.

EricFreak: The Dark Side has the best cookies, the Citadel's have raisins. They may or may not see that there is someone super important to fighting the Reapers in the future.

guest of 2/22: As a rule of thumb, the Dark Lords at this time are as strong a Valyn and the Force sensitive player characters from SWTOR.

shypunk: Thank You.

Auspicious Orangutang:

Perseus: While she would be capable of doing so, there would need to be a great deal of experimentation to change the amino acid structure of an entire organism. The cost of quarian lives would be great.

valkrus: Darth Ferrus is not specifically a reference to Ferrus Manus, more to the latin word ferreus, meaning: made of iron or cruel/unyielding. I assume that Ferrus Manus is as well since his name loosely translates to 'Iron Hand.'

loki98065: No war beasts for now. They will be a bit panicked but still believe they can get clean diplomatic victory in the end, the poor fools.

flip flip2 electric bogaloo:

Revan Lord of Revenge: I assume you typed in a website to a name generator. This site is weird with what it automatically takes out. trying to get 'R & D' altogether has tripped me up many times. I did however take your advice so thank you.

Cairen5699: It's Reapers, and thank you for reading.

guest of 3/2: Thank You.

Spartanhybrid1.5: More dedicated carriers are coming in the future, don't you worry.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Thank you for reading I hope the rest of the story will live up to your excitement.

guest of 3/5: ask and you shall receive.

kolus: Thank You.

Now on to the show!

Four of the Dark Lords march into the studio of their contemporary, Darth Vafrem, at the behest of his hasty summoning. They all pass by the scores of sculptures, paintings, and writings scried on papers throughout the room. In the farthest corner lays a statue of a mechanical squid long since broken to pieces. Along a long wall sit paintings of the Sith Empire's history, depicting Dark Lords and their battles against the Jedi and rivals.

They find the Dark Lord of Arts fretting in front of a painting; paints, brushes, and other instruments strewn about him. He stands before the ten-foot-tall painting, making no indication of his awareness regarding his guests.

"Please, for the love of Imperius, don't tell me you had me dragged to your studio just for yet another one of your paintings," Chemos growls.

Vafrem takes a long, exaggerated breath before turning around, "Chemos, with all the due respect you deserve as my friend and esteemed colleague, can you, in all your grand intellectual prowess, for once pull your head out of your own ass for the sake of our species' continued survival and listen to me for ten minutes without complaint?!"

Chemos is taken aback by the rebuff and Ferrus raises an eyebrow, "Your messengers mentioned, the great enemy. Does this mean…"

"Yes, my friends I'm afraid it does," Vafrem says as he sweeps back around towards the painting, "I have seen them. The one's who had destroyed the Old Empire, and who shall return to destroy us once and for all."

"The Reapers," Tempestus hisses, "They are returning?

Vafrem nods his head and moves away from his art, "Take a look."

The four remaining Dark Lords look at the painting, expressions ranging from thoughtful to confused. On one side, the Alliance's sworn enemy, the Reapers. Hundreds of the massive sentient space squid machines are emerging from the light of a relay. On the other, the Sith and the various races of the Citadel charging forward from the shadow of what could only be the Sith Academy on Korriban with the Citadel itself in orbit. At the center of it all, a hooded Sith Lord raises his crimson lightsaber aloft in defiance at the machines. Around him, are members of the various races; several Sith, a suitless quarian, two asari, a salarian, two krogan, a reptilian race they've not seen, and even a turian. They all stand with the lord as he leads the races against them.

"And we're certain this will come to pass soon?" Ferrus asks.

"In our lifetimes at least," Vafrem says as he points to the left side of the painting.

There stand the five of them, ready for battle and commanding some of the combined forces. Tempestus rubs his forehead, "By Tulak Hord, why now? Is there anything else you can tell us about this vision?"

"Be satisfied I have been able to acquire any foresight regarding this subject in any capacity. The future is eternally elusive, especially concerning the coming of the Reapers. Trying to divine visions of them is as if attempting to gaze into the sun, blinding," Vafrem answers, "Do you know how many hours, days, weeks, or months I have spent reaching out in vain to get any visions of them? Now I'm finally acquiesced and it's still cryptic as the ancients."

Chemos leers at the Sith Lord in the center, "This man, who is he?"

Vafrem turns to her, "I haven't the slightest idea, The Force refused to show me his face, only that it was definitely a man and that he's the key to this whole thing."

"In what manner is he, 'the key?'" Tempestus inquires.

"That when the Reapers return, he will be the one to lead all the races against them," Vafrem replies.

"Are you telling me that we must join forces with these Rangos Damned aliens to fight the Reapers?" Ferrus growls.

"I know what I saw," Vafrem says, "All races working towards defeating the great enemy, including us and the turians. They were even using our weapons to fight."

"This is still only a possible future, correct?" Tempestus begins, "There must be some other way, any other way."

"It is possible, indeed, but that is a risk I am loathed to take with the Reapers," Vafrem replies, "You have not been tossed about into visions of the past to see the decimation of our people as I have. Seeing the mighty Sith Empire destroyed after it was brought low by the Republic and Jedi. The Reapers will return, whether we like it or not and whether we are prepared to fight them or not. This is how The Force says we have a chance of beating them, just a chance. If we prepare blindly for their return, then we will be lost."

"Meaning we have to at least make nice with the Citadel once this war is over," Chemos adds.

"Yes," Vafrem says, "Ideally we would join their coalition-"

"And become subservient to ignorant beings?! Never!" Tempestus hisses.

Atrior steps towards the painting and points towards some of the figures leading the different groups of the masses, Ferrus narrows his eyes, "The ones heading the charge… I see now."

"See what?" Tempestus inquires.

Vafrem's eyes widen as he peers at the painting once more, "Yes, Yes, Yes, why did I not see it before? That is how we win. All the races working one with another but look at their leaders."

Tempestus analyzes the painting again, and grins, "They're all Sith."

"Precisely," Vafrem says, "We are the ones who shall lead the galaxy against the Reapers. This is a message from The Force. We are the chosen champions of The Dark Side; it is our task to free the galaxy from the Reapers."

"And to do that, we must relinquish our technology to these aliens?" Tempestus asks.

"To be fair," Chemos begins, "I do prefer my meat shields to be able to put up a bit of a fight for me before I can put their corpses to use."

"Why now, when we are so close to victory?" Tempestus bemoans.

"I have not the slightest idea," Vafrem says, "But for this small window of time, my blindness of the Reapers faltered, and I was able to see this glimpse."

"Tempestus, I think you are forgetting the most important principle when negotiating," Ferrus begins, "That you come to the table from a position of strength. Operation Coruscant will be launched, Palaven will fall, and we will enter the galactic stage as the race that defeated the Turian Hierarchy."

"Seems like that would invite challenge to us," Chemos says.

"Let them come," Ferrus replies, "We're already trouncing the so-called greatest military of The Citadel, what does it matter if some petty warlord believes they could stand against us," he turns and departs with haste, "I'm recalling the majority of the fleet back to Torix and ordering The Vengeance of Nox to dive farther into turian space to distract The Citadel. It is high time we finally reveal ourselves to the wider galaxy. We will strike the moment that we know the Citadel is preoccupied."

Tempestus nods and departs after him, "There are still some preparations that must be seen to. I shall take care of them."

Atrior vanishes, leaving Darth Chemos and Darth Vafrem together, "I wouldn't suppose that you'd like to join me for a bit of tea?"

"Do you have coffee instead?"

"Ah, fair enough."

Tevos prides herself on a great many things, her foresight being chief among them. Hence while she is having the most hysterical rant of her entire life, she is still quite pleased with herself on her foresight to make her office completely soundproof.

"Those idiotic, hardheaded, arrogant, imperialist, purebloods!" she lets out her frustration, "Of all the imbecilic decisions I've ever seen in my lifetime, this beats out even the creation of the Geth. Goddess help me!"

Upon receiving the testimony of a freighter captain escaping a space battle within the turian quarantine zone, one that has seen expansion far beyond what is reasonable for an insurgent uprising, she goes through a whirlwind of emotions and gets stuck on anger. Never before seen ships of unknown origins that drop out of nowhere and open fire upon the turians. This goes well beyond an uprising in turian space, or even a mass pirate attack. Tevos remains in her office a few more minutes to cool off before recomposing herself and exiting her office, heading straight for the turian councilor.

She meets Belis standing in the hallway between hers and Sparatus' offices, "I take it you just found out that a hostile force is on a rampage through turian space as well."

"And you've known for how long exactly?" she probes with a notable amount of curtness in her tone.

"Not much longer than you, my sources are just a bit quicker to get back to me," he replies.

"I cannot believe that Sparatus would keep this from us," Tevos growls.

"I can't believe he was able to keep this as shrouded as he had for as long as he did. Perhaps I underestimated his ability to navigate political intrigue. I have a few theories as to what is going on, but I'd rather we confirm it at the source."

"Right," Tevos replies as she continues her stride towards Sparatus' office.

The reach the door and storm in, ignoring the turian security officers. The turian councilor looks up from his desk with an astonished expression, which quickly turns to anger, "Tevos, Belis, what is the meaning of this?!"

Tevos pulls up the report and sends it to Sparatus' omni-tool, "Care to explain this, Sparatus?" Tevos asks with a furious gaze.

The young turian councilor opens his mouth in a moment of defiance but closes it before anything can come out. He clenches his talons, then relaxes them with a sigh escaping his mandibles.

"In my defense, the Primarch didn't tell me anything until our colony and several hundreds of our ships were already destroyed."

This comment freezes his fellow councilors. The words take a moment to register. It takes another few moments of scrutiny to ascertain that Sparatus is not embellishing the statement. As absurd as it sounded, the Turian Hierarchy, the military arm of the Citadel, had lost an entire world and hundreds of ships, at the very least, to this unknown entity.

"Explain, now!" Tevos snaps before recomposing herself, "Please."

"Three months ago, a patrol was monitoring Relay 314 when it had been activated, from the other side. In accordance with Citadel Law, the patrol moved to arrest the offenders and made first contact with the race responsible."

"Offenders that logically would not have ever known about any such law prior to that point," Belis adds.

"Three months! You've been in conflicted contact with a new race, ignoring every first contact protocol for three months?! Your people have allowed a first contact scenario to get completely botched because of some misguided policing action. I assume that your people fired first thinking they'd easily fall."

"Regardless," Sparatus dodges the accusation, "There was a skirmish at the opposite end of the relay and several of the Hierarchy's ships were damaged or destroyed. Fearing that this race, the sith as they call themselves, would continue to open up relays with reckless abandon, a fleet was mobilized on what was assumed to be their home world. The fleet was… repulsed."

"An entire turian fleet was defeated in an attempt to take one planet?" Tevos gasps.

"You said, 'assumed home world,' I predict that was not the case," Belis comments.

"After some time into the invasion, the pacification fleet was ambushed by another sith fleet, which just appeared out of nowhere. Only one dreadnaught and a handful of cruisers escaped. Turns out, the fleet was sieging their outermost colony, and failed to capture it. We were able to learn that these sith use technology that is completely independent of Element Zero."

"Impossible, every race uses Element Zero," Tevos says.

"Tell that to them," Sparatus hisses back, "I'm sure they'll realize that their high energy plasma weapons, impossible to trace FTL, and their nigh indestructible energy shields and heavy armor are just figments of their imagination. Don't even get me started on their walking war machines and plasma swords."

"Sparatus is correct, Tevos," Belis pipes up, "It's not impossible that a species lacking eezo in its home system might create another way to achieve FTL travel. If they truly have mastered plasma weaponry and energy shielding, they would be quite the scientific prize, as I'm certain the turians believed. Their weapons alone change everything we know about warfare. You can't blame the Hierarchy for wanting to get their hands on it."

"We can discuss the scientific implications later, continue with what happened," Tevos says.

Sparatus takes a deep breath, "The surviving ships were followed through the relay. The Sith fleet appeared suddenly above our world and destroyed its defense flotilla… They then proceeded to invade the planet, beginning with orbital bombardment."

"They bombarded the planet? A garden world?" Tevos queries.

Sparatus pulls up his omni-tool and keys in some commands, "There's a recorded exchange between the two admirals, apparently the pacification fleet fired upon a civilian transport. Their response was this."

An audio file pops up, "Do you remember the transport that tried to flee from Shanxi's orbital station when you destroyed it, the one that was defenseless save for the destroyers that sacrificed themselves in vain to save it? The one filled with our civilians that you and your kind fired upon?!"

"Do you expect me to care at this point?! I've just suffered the greatest defeat and humiliation my race has ever seen. The moment I return to Palaven, I'll be court marshaled, stripped of my rank, and executed. I've much more on my plate to even give a passing thought to the deaths of you savages!"

"Admiral, the fleet is in position, and we've located several military installations on the planet."

"Thank you, Vice-Admiral. You invaded us, Admiral, you murdered our people, and you wanted to bind us to your will like a damned servant. If you feel no remorse for your deeds, then I have nothing more to say to you. Go crawl back to your masters and tell them that they can expect us on Palaven very soon. Begin the initial bombardment."

The file ends and Tevos clenches her fists, "Your people fired upon civilian vessels?!"

"The admiral over the fleet didn't know it was civilian, it looked like every other warship they had seen thus far."

Belis ponders for a moment, "Bombarding a world because of the loss of some of their citizens, it still seems irrational."

"Emotional," Tevos corrects, "Not necessarily illogical. Look at it from their point of view. They were, in their own view, likely doing something completely routine to them in opening a new relay, as misguided as it is, when they suffered an unprovoked attack and invasion. When their aggressors were wounded, they smelled blood and lashed out. In their eyes, they were justified because this was in retaliation for their fallen people. A show of force to avenge their own and show the turians that they are not to be trifled with."

Belis nods, "What was that about, binding them to your will?"

"They seem to have misinterpreted our declaration to make them a client race as a form of servitude."

"For the love of the Goddess, please tell me that your people didn't open communications by telling them that you intended to make them a client race after you had just attacked them."

"I will admit that it was a very shortsighted decision on behalf of the Captain in command of the patrol, but in his defense, we had no idea that they could get a working translation program set up so quickly between them."

Tevos takes a deep, angry breath, "And what happened after that message you played for us."

"They declared war then and there at Torix and invaded the colony. Officially kicking off the turian war with the sith. We soon assembled a fleet to drive them back to their space, but it was repulsed due to their use of a hitherto unforeseen dreadnaught ship class of theirs."

"They have dreadnaughts?! How large?" Belis asks.

"Just one as far as we can tell, only barely reaching the 1-kilometer mark. Its main gun, however…"

He taps at his omni-tool and a recording plays on his computer screen. The Vengeance of Nox soars before the fleet of a thousand ships sent to destroy the Sith fleet over their razed colony. Its megalaser fires into the center of the fleet, erupting into nuclear explosion, destroying most of the ships around it and melting those farther out into slag.

"Such destruction," Tevos squeaks.

"What exactly is it that its firing?" Belis asks.

"From what readings we could get, it seems to be a beam of coherent radiation that rapidly expands when coming into contact with a large enough solid object. The initial blast is devastating enough but the real killers for our fleets are the heat and radiation that result. Even if you escape the blast and heat, the radiation can still kill everyone aboard a passing vessel, some of the crews that made it back through the relay died shortly thereafter due to radiation poisoning. On the other hand, they can only fire it once every few minutes or so, not that it matters with how many ships it can destroy in a single shot."

"True energy weapons," Belis gasps, "Now their attack of your colony makes more sense. They wanted both revenge and to goad you into sending a massive force in retaliation so they could wipe it out before your people realized their true technological prowess. They are more cunning than I first thought, and you decided to wage war with them?"

"Like I said, this war had already started when I was made aware of it," Sparatus protests.

"And you didn't think we needed to know about it immediately because?" Tevos inquires.

"I was assured that this was strictly a Hierarchy issue and that it would be cleaned up soon enough," Sparatus defends.

"You mean that the Primarch was hoping to turn the war back in the Hierarchy's favor and keep all their technology all for yourselves," Belis comments.

"And you wouldn't have to face the embarrassment of admitting that you've not only ruined a first contact scenario, but actually lost so much trying to fight them. Turian pride is going to be the death of us all," Tevos says.

"And what does the Hierarchy have to show for it, hm?" Belis asks, "You have no new technology, no new client race, and fewer fleets and planets than when this mess started. It seems the only thing you turains have left is your precious pride, but how long until the Sith take that from you too?"

"I suggest that the asari step in and attempt to salvage anything from this endeavor," Tevos says.

"You want to make friends with them? After everything they've done to my people?" Sparatus fumes.

"Would you rather us do nothing and wait for the Hierarchy to fall to these new up and comers?" Tevos asks.

"We will win!" Sparatus exclaims, "We just need to consolidate our forces and bleed them out. We have learned that they're stretching their forces thinner and thinner as they reach deeper into our space. If we can break them at the weakest link, we can take advantage as they try to regroup."

"And then what? We create a permanent enemy of this civilization, and they are driven into deeper isolationism. They've shown they're not above destroying fleets with radiation weapons, what happens if they are pushed to desperation? How many lives will be lost in the conflict?" Tevos scolds.

Sparatus shrinks at Tevos' words, as Belis nods at her, "Tevos is right, Sparatus. If we are to defeat these Sith, we must do it diplomatically. While I have little doubts that we would triumph with our combined might, it would be far too costly for all of us. However, if we can convince them to join us, we may be able to access their technology and even the playing field should they rise up against us in the future. Perhaps we can finally receive the edge we need to curb the Terminus Systems."

The turian councilor sighs, "Fine, you've made your point. I doubt the Primarch will just cease operations, but I can at least make certain he knows not to interfere with your diplomatic envoy."

"A good enough start," Tevos says.

"Also," Sparatus begins again, "I have to warn you, this race possesses some very strange and powerful abilities."

"What sort of abilities?" Belis inquires.

Sparatus pulls up one more video on his omni-tool, "During our initial invasion we encountered Sith soldiers with… special powers. At first, we assumed that they were biotics, but as more and more reports surfaced from different fronts, we discovered it to be something else entirely. While they can move objects around telekinetically like a biotic, they are also capable of reacting fast enough to dodge mass accelerator rounds, and even shoot lightning from their fingertips. Their main weapons are actually swords made of plasma."

"Sparatus, that's just absurd," Belis jabs.

"Hold on to that though for a moment. One of the sith leaders was actually at Torix when our rescue fleet confronted them. He referred to himself as a, and I'm not joking, 'Dark Lord,' and proceeded to do this to the leading Admiral."

A video of Admiral Yervem stands before the hologram of Darth Tempestus appears, "Goddess, they look strikingly similar to my people."

"Shhh!" Sparatus hisses as the Dark Lord speaks.

"I would rather see my people wiped out to the last man by the Jedi or the Reapers before I would see them live under your rule. The thought that such a primitive and ignorant race such as yours believes themselves superior to mine, fills me with disgust. The only fitting place I can see your race in my people's future, is beneath our bootheels."

"You insolent upstarts! You have no idea the greater workings of the galaxy!"

"I know enough, and I'm not impressed. In fact, I'm rather disappointed with the state of the galaxy. So stagnant and self-assured, just like your people."

"I will not be talked down to by a pompous, arrogant, prideful-"

"I've grown weary of this conversation and your continued existence."

The admiral's head spins around, and he crumples to the floor. Tevos gasps and Belis stares at the video in disbelief. The footage ends and Sparatus dismisses the clip, "I have witness testimonies, and a coroner's report confirming that the admiral's neck was snapped exactly as it was shown here. That Dark Lord did that from his own command vessel tens of thousands of kilometers away. So as absurd as this all sounds, Belis, we are in fact dealing with powers we do not yet understand."

"By the Goddess," Tevos mutters, "What powers allow them to do that?"

"We don't know, perhaps their religion that they all seem to cling so close to," Sparatus says, "Regardless, I have no idea the limitations on these abilities. Luckily the Sith who seem to possess them are in the minority."

"Seem to be?" Belis critiques, "Just how much information have you gathered on them since you've gone to war with them?"

Sparatus glares at the salarian, "They've done a superb job of cutting off communications as they've come crawling into our space. We're mostly relying on reports from the repulsed invasion of their colony, the scant reports of surviving ships, and the handful of prisoners taken from the initial battle that they were unable to rescue."

Tevos jumps at that bit, "Then I formally request that they be brought here so that we might perform a meld and acquire more definite information."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do to get them here," Sparatus replies.

"And don't think this is over, Sparatus," Tevos scolds, "Once this incident is behind us, The Hierarchy will be facing hefty restrictions and liabilities for their actions. Make certain the Primarch knows exactly what is going to happen."

"Yes ma'am," Sparatus forces himself not to roll his eyes.

Far away in the borders of outer and middle turian space, the Vengeance of Nox closes the distance between itself and the meager patrol of ships. The Sith dreadnaught is not surrounded by the scores of Star Destroyers that make up the 1st Assault fleet, but by a battlegroup of less than twenty along with a decent compliment of Terminus destroyers.

"Fire!" a man in commodore stripes orders from the dreadnaught bridge.

The Silencer fires at the flank and vaporizes half of the ships before it, "More ships escaping, sir."

"Good, let them go and take us to the next system," the captain replies, "The more they know we're here, the more they'll likely send their fleets to meet us at the front lines and days away from the site of Operation Coruscant."

Word soon reaches the Citadel as to the whereabouts of the Vengeance of Nox, though not before making its way to the civilian populus. The reports of a hostile fleet-destroying ship and the observation of mustering forces around The Citadel cause some alarm for the people. With both these factors, the Council accelerates their plans and opts to meld with the first and only prisoner brought to the station so far. The chosen melding candidate: Ales V'tilyt, Council SPECTRE.

She strides up to the holding room, guarded by turians, and enters in to see a man restrained in a chair. He lefts his ire ridden eyes at her and they widen for a moment before returning to an angry glare.

"The hell are you supposed to be? Some kind of reject twi'lek?"

She resists the urge to return the barb, "I am Ales V'tilyt, SPECTRE of the Citadel Council and I've come to ask for information."

"What in Sadow's name is a Citadel Council?"

"We are an alliance of sorts of about seven different species lead by my race, the asari, the salarians, and the turians."

"So, you're allies of the spikeheads? Forget it! You're not getting a peep out of me!"

"Please, we simply want to end the war without more bloodshed," she explains, "I would only like to understand your people and your culture so that we may better prevent anymore miscommunications."

"I said, Forget it!" he barks back, "I'm certain my people are doing just fine ending this war on their own. The only thing you need to know is that we will never surrender, not when we have The Force."

She sighs, "Then you leave me no choice."

She steps close to him and places a hand on her head, which he tries to pull away from, "The hell are you-"

"Embrace eternity," the SPECTRE says as her eyes go dark.

The asari is thrown into the mind of the Sith officer, going through a plethora of mundane information before being able to get at something useful. Gaining access to the man's memories of his primary education, she finds understanding of the principles of their language, the outline of their history, the basics of their religion, and the general feel for their governing body. The most stand out feature of his mind is the revelation that the Sith have only about a decade of experience with the relays. Before she can get much more, however, she hits a wall. The man wises up to her intrusion and puts up an impromptu defense against Ales from gaining anything else.

"I mean you no harm I only want to…"

"Get the Hell out of my Head!"

Ales breaks the connection and separates herself from the restrained man, "Kalig's Mask, that was wretched! Do you have any idea what my people will do to me because of that? I'll have enough problems to deal with without my race's secret keepers up my ass for the rest of my life. I don't know which will be worse, the Ministry of Sith Intelligence or the Pyramid of Assassins."

She responds with a feigned concern, "We can offer you protection from any retribution that your own people-"

"To the Jedi with you, you bitch!" he growls back, "I'd rather my head removed from my shoulders than sell out to an alien!"

Giving up fighting against the blatant xenophobia, the asari agent returns to the Councilors with what little information she's gained. As she is ushered into the Council chambers, she sees another Asari standing before the council, wearing a black dress and headpiece.

"Councilors," she bows he head.

"SPECTRE V'tilyt, you're just in time," Tevos says, "Matriarch Benezia T'soni has volunteered her services in regards to contacting the Sith."

Ales nods and inclines her head also towards the aged asari, "Matriarch, it is an honor."

"The honor is mine, thank you for your work in special tactics and reconnaissance. Now if you would," Benezia replies in a pleasant but expectant tone.

"Unfortunately I was not able to get the sith to willingly give up any information, so I used the shock of the initial meld to collect as much information as possible before he was able to shut me out. I doubt we'll get anything more from him and we'll have to wait until the other sith captives have arrived at The Citadel."

"It will have to do," Tevos says, "Please exchange what you have learned with Matriarch Benezia."

The SPECTRE does as told melds with her elder, "Interesting, the turians were right in one regard, they are indeed a much younger race than we. They've only been using the relays for less than ten years and have only been completely united as a species for just as long."

"We can read the details later in SPECTRE V'tilyt's report," Belis replies, "However, we have other pressing issues that must be attended to."

Tevos nods, "Because the Sith have revealed themselves to the wider galaxy, the people are becoming concerned. We must make an official statement, albeit brief. Immediately following, you shall depart to them in the Destiny Ascension, Benezia."

Benezia's eyes widen for half a second, "Is that necessary, Councilor? I was lead to believe that this would be a purely diplomatic mission."

"These are sith, Matriarch," comments Sparatus, "There is a great risk to being attacked and their dreadnaught more than earns it's title with it's radiation beam weapon. If it goes wrong, you will need it along with your escort. Matriarch Lidanya has been briefed on their military capabilities."

"I understand," Benezia replies, "I shall depart immediately."

Tevos nods, "SPECTRE V'tilyt, thank you for your services today. You may return to your prior assignments."

"Of course, thank you."

Outside the presantium some time later, cameras and reporters are standing before the Council vying to get some questions in before they begin officially. Tevos steps towards the podium and waits for silence to take over before she begins her remarks.

"Citizens of The Citadel, it is most unfortunate that we must come before you with ill news regarding certain events that have transpired over the past few months. The source of the communications blackout has been revealed to us. It appears that the turian hierarchy has stumbled upon a new spacefaring race."

There are gasps and whispers among the audience but they calm themselves after a gesture from Tevos.

"After an unfortunate incident and escalation involving a policing action by a turian patrol, this new race has engaged in secret conflict with the Turian Hierarchy, destroying the communication buoys along the way. As such, we are sending the Destiny Ascension as well as the majority of the Citadel Fleet together with some auxiliaries to meet them at their front lines and resolve this conflict in a diplomatic fashion. While there were mistakes made by the patrol and the Hierarchy, this is still very uncharted territory. Rest assured, however, that it is all soon be under control and we will have a new race joining us in the galactic community."

Her remarks are met with applause from the audience, "Until we have more information regarding the situation, we have no more comments. Please take any questions that you may have up with our good press secretary, thank you."

With the official announcement, the Destiny Ascension and the massive escort fleet depart from The Citadel to the last known system where the Vengeance of Nox has been spotted. From relay to relay, the journey takes a several days. They are notified when the Sith Dreadnaught and it's fleet change location, though they stay within the same cluster between relays. At long last though, they reach the outskirts of the correct system and Benezia steps onto the bridge in preparation for their contact.

She takes several audible breaths and her fellow matriarch, Lidanya, takes notice, "Anxious, Benezia?"

"Only as appropriately necessary," Benezia responds.

Lidanya nods along, reading between her words, "What are your honest thoughts on these Sith? I was only given the bare necessity in regards to their military doctrine and technology. I was not briefed in full on what we know of their culture and history as you were."

"My honest thoughts?" Benezia echoes, "They frighten me, perhaps not nearly to the degree of a second rachni war or krogan rebellion, but they give me pause none the less."

"You, Benezia?" Lidanya glances over in disbelief.

"I've seen many things in my time," she continues, "However, I have not seen a race advance this quickly on their own. They have been off their home world for less than a century, and have been using the relay for less than a decade, yet look at their accomplishments. They have more advanced technology and are clearly just as, if not more so, proficient in warfare than the turians. This is all before their mysterious abilities and concerning abilities."

"Do you believe that we can succeed?"

Benezia's lips girl into a confident smile, "I believe that once this matter of poor communications is dealt with, we will have very little to worry about. I fear for them if not because of what I believe the Council will do should they choose to fight against us."

"What do you believe they will do? I can scarcely believe that they could defeat us."

"If we do not bring them into the light of The Citadel now, they will no doubt attempt to take us over once they feel strong enough. Given their rapid advancement and ferocity, I fear I may even live long enough to see it should it come to pass."

Benezia looks off with a nostalgic yet remorseful longing on her face, "Benezia?"

She snaps back to a perfect pleasantness in an instant, "My apologies, I just remembered something that Ae… An old friend of mine once told me… And I'm starting to think that perhaps she had a point."

Lidanya changes the subject, "How's your daughter? I've not heard much through the grapevine of the Matriarchs. Is she still working for the university?"

Benezia tenses up, "Liara's... Doing well enough. Yes, she is still working in the archeology department trying to locate possible prothean ruin sites."

"Oh, that's interesting," Lidanya states, "Has she been seeing anyone at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Benzia turns a warning glance at her companion.

"I understand. With her condition, it must be difficult on a world dominated by our people."

"It is of no concern, she's as well as any other asari her age," Benezia replies with some curtness, "She's simply not interested in relationships at this time."

"I see, I apologize if I came of as inconsiderate," Lidanya sooths.

"We're coming into the system now," the captain says, "A little over a dozen cruiser length ships, twenty frigates, and one dreadnaught detected."

"Commodore, we're detecting ships entering the system at FTL speeds, almost two thousand of them."

"Hold position here and be ready to fight," he replies, "If these are not the Citadel diplomats, then we're in for one hell of a battle."

"And if it is?"

"Then we follow our orders."

The Destiny Ascension exits from FTL along with her escort fleet while blasting a call to ceasefire from behind the hundreds of ships. The small Sith flotilla and the Vengeance of Nox halt their advance. The two titans stare down one another, neither opting to make a move against the other, the largest dreadnaught of the Citadel fleet vs the first Silencer of the Sith Alliance.

"They've not shot at us at least," Lidanya says.

"Matriarch, we vastly outnumber them," the first officer says, "They must realize that they would almost certainly be destroyed if they did so."

Lidanya hums, "Be that as it may, from the data the turians have given over to us, this race doesn't often care about details like that. In fact, they seem to take it as a challenge."

"Like the krogan," the officer mutters.

For minutes the Sith flotilla does nothing and that brings concern to the elder Matriarch, "Are they receiving the message?"

Lidanya stares out the bridge viewport, "They must be, they stopped moving the moment we entered the system."

"Perhaps they are at a loss for what to do having never had to interact with other races diplomatically."

Minutes and then almost an hour goes by with no reply from the Sith. They hold their formation with shields up but no weapon charging, "Can we detect any communications from their ships?" Lidanya asks.

"They are communicating with one another, but they are on encrypted frequencies."

"What about outgoing communications back to their space?" Benezia inquires.

"Unknown. Without comm buoys I cannot fathom how they might be doing so."

Lidanya nods, "Benezia, what is your suggestion?"

Benezia says nothing for a moment, "We should inform the Council of what has happened so far, even if it is merely that they have not fired upon us. That alone is progress from what their interactions with any Citadel race has been so far. Unless they make any aggressive moves against us, we should let them come to us at their own pace."

The news reaches the Councilors without delay and gives each of them pause. Of all the reactions they expect, silence is not one of them. Hostility, more than plausible, fleeing, not likely but still an option, communication, they have been hoping. Silence though, and for so long, it puts them off.

"I don't get it," Sparatus grumbles.

"That they aren't shooting at our escort fleet now that we have expressed our desire for peace?" Tevos jabs.

"That they haven't returned a single transmission, despite the fact that we know they can hear us," he retorts, "If there is one thing that I can say I know regarding these savages, it's that they are more boastful than the batarians and krogan combined. Since the moment they could communicate with us, they have gone on and on about how they are chosen by their Darkside deity and are generally superior to all other life. The silence and the fact they are doing nothing is what concerns me."

"What is it you expect from this?" Belis asks, genuine curiosity leaking into his tone.

"This feels like they're stalling for something," Sparatus answers, "Normally I'd say an ambush, but their untraceable FTL would just make all this waiting unnecessary."

"Could they be mustering ships?" Belis follows up.

"Possibly, but that's another thing," Sparatus elaborates, "Why send their dreadnaught so far out with only a relatively paltry escort when it would be better served defending its main fleet from our superior numbers. It is far too vulnerable on its own and while the sith may be savages, they're most certainly not that stupid when it comes to warfare."

"You believe they used it as bait?" Tevos inquires, "What would that accomplish?"

Sparatus ponders for a bit, "I-"

"Sir!" a turian aid runs in, "Palaven is under attack! The Sith have invaded the planet!"

Now, y'all are probably wondering why it took so long to get this out despite it's somewhat shorter length. Two reasons, one; there was a lot of parts that I wrote here just because I needed to and not because I wanted to. Two, I like to have at least 3000 words drafted out on the next chapter before posting anything here and the battle of Palaven is a bit of a mess. there are many moving parts that I'm still trying to fit together over the next couple of chapters and the only thing that has stayed consistent in the next chapter in terms of the events that take place is Darth Ferrus storming the turian government compound Fuhrer Bradley style. The next chapter will unfortunately still take more time to get out there's a lot of stuff I want to cover and fitting it all together is looking to take more time than I thought.

Still, here are the reactions of the other councilors, and Benezia make her debuted into the story. She will have a much more direct encounter with what the Sith are capable of without Citadel restraint. She fianlly gets to see what her old flame meant by facing down a force that no may not be able to be defeated diplomatically. Also, I wanted to focus a bit more with the asari bias against 'purebloods' in this story since they are a direct opposite of how the Sith view their 'purebloods' and because I feel it was only a passing theme in Liara's story that could use more depth. This will bare more fruit later in the series, specifically in the episodes covering the games. As for the whole, joining the Citadel part, I know I'm probably going to get some hate for that, I accept this. However, like I stated all the way back in chapter 1, this is not the Sith Empire, the Alliance has similar views and outlooks, but they are ultimately a civilization rising up from a very different beginning than the Empire. They are joining with the express purpose of taking it over. Also, this is not a decision that will go unchallenged by other powerful individuals. *cough, cough,* Sith Lord Jack Harper *cough, cough*.

Anyway, the sacking of Palaven is on it's way, so look forward to that. If you liked the chapter, or want to tell me that I'm wrong for having the Sith join the Citadel, let me know in a review. See y'all next time.