Well here is the update, part of it has been proof read but bit towards the end haven't yet, or if they have been, were rushed, so expect above average errors towards the end of this chapter.
As to why I haven't updated for a long time, well, it is surprising how much 'stuff' there is to do, and when you have time to write you just can't be bothered and I have no idea what I have been doing for the past two months either... Chapter 5 haven't even been started yet, and I have no idea where to go from there, though I do have some grand scheme that will make things very AU that has no relations what so ever to do with Mass Effect or Halo. Oh and University started again…
PS: I'm bad at writing meeting scenes, so expect a really boring and dragged on one…
Q&A:
TheHellisthis:
Well the point of a story is to make it entertaining. And also in all technicality, the forerunners could have programmed their AIs that 'survived' the Halo Array and the flood to give the UNSC, covenant and other miscellaneous aliens in an easy to access installation filled to the brim with information and data and allow them to read it like a book and so on and forth, hence allowing them to turn into proverbial technological gods…So why didn't they? The prophet and covenant became as powerful as they were because the prophet found an 'abandoned/wrecked' keyship on their home world and studied everything in it and afterwards actively began to hunt down anything related to the forerunners, and that I believe was an accident.
But aside from that little incident, why didn't the forerunners just leave small installations all over Earth with data to the Ark and a keyship parked right next to it so when they dig it up they can go to the Ark and just unlock everything and gain all their knowledge and technological prowess? After all, humanity in Halo canon were the 'inheritors' of not just everything the forerunners left behind, but the precursors as well, not including they were also next in line to the mantle should the precursors have successfully exterminated the forerunners.
Guest1:
Just because they bare the same name doesn't mean they are still the same, they would have been improved and upgraded.
Chapter 4: Enter Citadel.
I'm not saying that this Citadel alliance is weak and primitive…But these Mass relays only allow travel between two places right? And they rely on it to efficiently space travel? Well isn't it kind of dumb to restrict yourself to the relays like this? I mean if someone was to move a relay away to another location like in orbit above a sun with the 'exit ramp' facing the sun or blockaded with a giant fleet or something, than wouldn't they just trap themselves behind the relay with no one being able to help them or call for help, or at least no one would know what has happened as radio waves only travel at the speed of light, which in space is quite slow…
-Unknown UNSC crewmen.
Year: 2164 CE/3000 AD
In Citadel space Serpent Nebula of the milky way.
In the quietness of space, a total of twenty ships of both Imperium and covenant races design floated silently, watching the potential enemy with a critical eye and ready to strike against a numerically superior fleet of a little over three hundred warships that guards the citadel, whilst the opposing fleet watched back and slowly moved into more strategic positions in an attempt to gain an advantage against the comparatively oversize ships.
While inside the citadel, many of the bystanders near the exterior watched in fascination with slight hints of fear at the small fleet of ships that dwarfed anything the citadel had ever built while many murmured among themselves of who those ships belonged to.
Fifteen minutes after Concordia Imperium/Neo-covenant fleet arrival.
It took fifteen minutes for the citadel council to fully prepare for the arrival of the two parties as they were not initially expecting any company, but none the less, after the council told which hanger was available for them to land on; both forerunner and covenant deployed their respective dropships while escorted by two interceptors each, sped towards the citadel. A minute later both dropships settled on the hanger with the phantom opening its side doors and jumping out were twelve ODSTs, followed by four Spartans, which to the citadel seemed like mechs or robots of some kind, and six honour guard elites quickly followed than the ambassadors all in a sort of light full body armour, which still showed their faces. The Imperium dropship, significantly larger and more visibly armed than the phantom, opened the back hatch, similar to that of a UNSC pelican and eight fully armoured beings easily four meters tall, rapidly piled out and fanned out around the ship in a semi-circle around the hatch, and was closely followed by two other being also significantly shorter at a height of three and a half meters also full body armour, but looking slightly lighter, but more decorated, indicating two the observer the were people of some significance, though due to the fact both wore black capes with red and blue trims respectively might have added to that fact and both gave an air of authority of respect which made the other soldier stood seemingly straighter in their presence.
The two soldiers than stood to the side of the hatch and then three figures in light full body armour exited, two humanoid, and the last had a serpentine neck and a more 'rounder' body than the other two, albeit significantly shorter as well.
The last three that exited the ship were also significantly smaller than the other ten, which surprised the citadel diplomats and populace at the large difference in size among the race, or races and both diplomats from both covenant and Imperium greeted each other followed by their respective body guards of the two three and half meter figures and four honour guards and two Spartans.
"That one in the black armour seems to resemble my kind and the humans, though larger…" stated an Asari in the crowd
"I wonder if those from the other ship are mechs. I mean they do seem like mechs, after all they are larger than most our other mechs as well as an Elcor, but they simply move too gracefully to be mechs…same with those from the other ship." Said a human from the System Alliance.
"I'm more curious about their ships; they are larger than anything we have ever built, and two of those are just as large as the citadel itself. And those shuttles they came in with are pretty well armed, especially that silver shuttle looks more like a gunship than actually a shuttle…If they shared they could go far." said a Turian in fascination.
As the crowd of the citadel whispered among themselves, the representatives from both sides were approached by Executor Venari Pallin, head of C-SEC, and in tow was a group of eight C-SEC officers of various races, "Greetings, I am here to take you to the citadel council, but first you must disarm all weapons before you can go meet with them."
The escort behind them slightly tensed up, getting ready for a fight if something happened while everyone else didn't notice a thing as they were all concentrated on the diplomats themselves.
One of the diplomats than responded to the turian, "Will your council have an armed security detail as well?"
"Yes..."
"Then shouldn't our escorts be allowed to keep their weapons as well due to the fact you already have weapons in the room, and also to allow our escort to complete their task in protecting us?"
"Do not worry; nothing will happen to you as this is just a precaution in case anyone attempts to assassinate the council."
"Can you give us solid proof that nothing will happen to us?"
The turian stayed silent, but appeared to be adamant about the matter. The diplomat simply sighed, "How about we make a compromise? We get to keep our weapons, so our government will stay happy, while you get as many guards in the room as you would like, until you feel safe or until no more guards can fit into the room?"
Everyone could see the turian going over the detail in his head and he contacted the council. A moment later he turned his attention back to the group, "The council has agreed to your…compromise, please if you would follow me."
The small group followed the C-Sec officers down the corridor of the hanger and into the citadel.
As the group got into transports that were waiting for them just outside the hanger, the head of C-SEC began to point out the general sights and places of interests of the citadel to the diplomats, trying to draw them into a sense of awe, as well as discuss the general history of their respective government while the many of the guards themselves listened in, but the some of the other more experienced soldiers, with their sharp and skilled eyes, saw the darkness hidden among the lights of things.
They saw the distressed, the despairing and the malicious among the crowd of seemingly happy, innocent people who were trying to get a better look at the 'newcomers'. They noticed how some species, more than others seemed somewhat…worse off than others. They saw the eyes of monsters, which parents told to young children to keep them in line, exist here, the 'capital' and centre of a civilization, who would take advantage of those who couldn't defend themselves and wouldn't without a doubt, slaughter anyone within the area if given the mean and motive to do so. And when they heard a small sound out of the ordinary, all of them activated a spectrum augmenters in their visors, an improved version of the UNSC dubbed 'promethean vision', named the 'illuminators', as it 'illuminates' all the enemy within a certain area through even solid objects, unless one has special equipment built into their armour which negates the effects, which is usually standard issue for all ground forces in the conclave military, and hence the 'illuminators' are only used for combat against other civilizations, by law enforcement or picking out armour and aircrafts from cover, and through the metal of the ventilation system of the citadel, they saw what seems like several children crawling through them, and they were not the only one either, there were many, hundreds even, crawling through the vents within the area. One of the guards immediately informed the diplomats from the Imperium and they made a note to ask the council about it when they met before jumping to any conclusion, but they all had to agree, any parent not knowing that their children were crawling through the ventilation system of a 50km long ship, or in the case of the citadel, a space station, were either incredibly irresponsible or non-existent.
Almost half an hour travel by transport and another five minute walk, the group finally reached the entrance into the council chamber and the Executor turned to them, "The council is already waiting inside."
"Thank you, Executor."
The turian nodded and headed off to other duties as the group entered the room to be greeted by three figures standing on a raised pedestal that towered over the diplomats and their escorts, along with a few cameras drones, no doubt broadcasting this to the general public and around thirty or so armed guards from their respective species who were ready to kill if anyone tried anything on the council.
"Greetings, I am Tevos, the councillor and representative for the Asari Republics of the Citadel Alliance and my colleagues are Valern of the Salarian Union, Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy and Anita Goyle, ambassador of The System Alliance and we personally welcome you to the citadel."
The neo-covenant and the Imperium then introduce themselves one by one to the council and once they were finished they got down to business.
"Firstly I would like to know each of your respective races as you seem to know ours quite well." stated the Asari councillor while the other two councillors nodded in agreement.
"Off course, councillor, as you should already know, I am a human; the one standing to my left is a sangheili, my right, a Kig-Yar and finally the short one is an Unggoy…"
The councillor than turned their heads to the Imperium, whose obviously human diplomat merely gestured with his hand before efficiently saying three words in a respectful tone, explaining everything, "Forerunner and San Shyuum…"
The councillors nodded and Valern spoke, "But I must ask, why do you build ships of such size, with two of yours equalling the citadel itself in terms of length! I cannot see the practicality of ships of such size."
It was the forerunner diplomat who answered, "Perhaps you do not, but we do. Just know that every significant action the Imperium makes, are always backed up with reasons of equal consequences should the actions we take fail…"
The three councillors' shared uneasy glances with each other before turning back to them, and Tevos spoke "I am curious though, to how old your respective empires are?"
"The Neo-Covenant is approximately four hundred and ten years old while the UEG and by extension, the UNSC just joined a hundred fifty years ago…But the covenant empire is around three thousand nine hundred years old and the UEG and their precursors, the UN is approximately eleven hundred years old, while it was nine hundred years since humanity managed to travel into FTL…"
The council slowly nodded as they absorbed the information and the representatives from the forerunner answered, "For the Imperium, it depends on how you look at it…The Imperium is around a hundred thousand years old…"
He paused as everyone heard stifled gasp from the council, and unknowingly to them, the viewers to this event from the citadel did the same, and the NC representatives just remained impassive, "…But the…'foundations' on which our empire was built on dates back much, much further…The youngest are the San Shyuums, approximately a hundred and seventy thousand years ago was the 'official' rise of their empire, two hundred or so thousand years ago was humanity's and the oldest was us the forerunners, with history from our rise dating back to two hundred and twenty thousand years ago…But…'unofficially' if you will…the histories of some races in this galaxy, including our three, were found and proven to have risen to the technological level of space flight at the very least, millions of years ago, again and again, with each rising civilization destroyed by various and unknown means, until now at least…At best, we only have snippets of those times, nothing more…"
The NC blinked slightly in surprise, while the citadel attempted to recompose themselves after unconsciously jaw dropping a third of the way through, "…Yes…But that still does not explain why you chose until now to reveal yourselves…"
"Indeed, and we would not have bothered to make contact if you have not found us…" stated the human bluntly.
The council had indignant looks on their face and Anita replied in a calm voice, "And why would that be?"
"Simply that we are content on our own in our little corner of the universe where we are free to do what we will…The fate of this galaxy will be ultimately left in the hands of this generation, unless certain…'conditions' are met where we will interfere…But know the Imperium will still keep in contact after today…"
The citadel wisely decided to stop questioning the matter and moved on with the negotiations, "Now onto more concerning matters…What do you intend to do now that you have revealed yourselves to the rest of the galaxy?"
The Sangheili diplomat answered the Asari's question, "Nothing else aside from keeping in contact and doing what we have always done even before we met you."
"And that is?"
"Expanding our territory, improving our technology and creating new technology, everything that we have been doing for centuries…"
The Imperium diplomat nodded, agreeing with the sangheili assessment and Tevos spoke again, "But are your technology not advanced enough? Your ships already exceed the size of our dreadnaughts! Surely you do not need to advance any further? And if you wish to join the Citadel in the future you must at the very least comply by the laws that other are bound to."
Without missing a beat the San Shyuum diplomat from the Imperium spoke for the first time, "Species MPRV4709I, please listen well. The Imperium will never give up what we have achieved…Not now, not ever and for no one…"
Tevos just blinked when she said that, "I'm sorry, but what did you call me?"
"That was your species identification number given to your general species by the forerunners when they still held dominion over your world…Forerunners are MPRV0001I, Humans MPRV0002I, San Shyuums were MSPV0001I."
The council blankly blinked back, not sure whether to take offense or not, but in the end brushed it off, before continuing on "Very well, but before you make a decision, please, take a look at our conventions and advantages of becoming a member of the Citadel."
Despite the NC already obtaining a somewhat 'out-dated' version from the quarians in exchange for raw materials to be provided at a later date, and the Imperium simply wasn't even considering joining for the time being, decided to amuse the council and agreed.
Handing out two tablets later and a ten minute skim through by both factions and a short conversation later; the Kig-Yar diplomat began speaking, "The terms of your laws and conventions for joining as a member of the Citadel are not accepted by us, hence the races of the Neo-covenant will not be joining."
"Neither are the three races that make up the Concordia Imperium will be joining due to the condition of membership."
Goyle than chose that time to speak, "Please think this thoroughly, the System Alliance has worked hard to gain the position that we have now with the Citadel. You not joining might make all that work go to waste!"
"If the council do decide to take away all that you earned simply because they disagree with what the other faction with humans in them are doing, than I will probably consider leaving myself…"
Tevos just nodded in agreement, "I will as well, do not fear Ambassador Goyle, the Citadel Council will not judge the System Alliance on the action of another human faction, unless of course, the System Alliance plays apart in that action as well."
Goyle simply nodded, but even a blind man could see the relief in her eyes and the Tevos continued, "I must confess my curiousness on this issue. Over the three thousand years our government have been in existent, every race we met gladly agreed to our terms and joined us. What is wrong with the current treaty that makes both of your respective parties reluctant to join?"
The NC diplomat responded a moment later, "Assuming the Imperium faces similar problem as we do to your…treaty… the first and foremost three problems amongst many other are our naval capabilities…If we agree to your treaty, our current fleet numbers would be reduced to nothing but corvettes…even our heavy corvettes could be considered a dreadnaught by your standards…And judging by the size of Imperium ships…If they agreed, I doubt they would even have a Navy after this…As well as handing over the technology for…'evaluation'…Also we have issues concerning your rules against genetic engineering, most of them contradicts our current standing, and even more so concerning the Imperium's judging by the their sizes…"
The Imperium simply kept silent and didn't contradict them while the council looked slightly uneasy at this, after all it was not everyday someone decided to talk back against them and potentially had the power to back up any threats made, "I'm sure we can come to a compromise to your laws of genetic engineering, but your fleets must be bought down to size to keep the balance of power even."
"Balance of power?"
"Indeed, with your fleets as it is now, what is stopping you from waging war against us?"
"Hence why we are here to discuss the foundations of a peace treaty…If we had wanted to wage war we would not be here now would we? What about other parties not afflicted with the Citadel, such as the Quarians or the Geth? What is stopping them from waging war against you?"
"That is different, the Geth and the quarian do not possess ships that appears capable of directly engaging entire fleets on it is own and win, and also the quarian are in no position to wage war against anyone."
"As true as that may be have you thought about increasing your own military power instead of limiting others to match your own level? Either way, the Neo-covenant will not be downsizing both fleets and armies, nor will we cease production of any warships or will we be ceasing any researches simply because you are against it…"
"This very statement also holds true for the Imperium, we will not be purposely weakening ourselves on the whims of others."
Meanwhile to everyone else watching the live broadcasts throughout the citadel, silently felt an uneasiness filling their bodies as they realized that the Citadel, the supposed galactic super power that they joined and obey their rules for because they thought the Citadel was truly the strongest with all it is technology, armies and fleets, were no more than fishes an ocean filled with sharks. The following responses, despite the Asari councillor's promise, many were already beginning to blame the System Alliance for the current…'issues' simply because they can, while rumours didn't help the issue and throughout bars, where drunks and the unseemly hung out, fights were already breaking out between gangs and C-Sec called to many different scenes.
Cerberus in the meantime was preparing a report to send back directly to their leader on everything they had managed to observe and hear as well as began to subtly preach to System Alliance citizens about humanity's 'capabilities' and how they are always limited by the council since joining the Citadel.
Back inside the council chambers, the councillors shared a silent agreement that they won't be able to get them to lower the number of ships they possessed and the Valern spoke up, "And what your technology? Are you willing to share?"
"We already have technology scattered all around the galaxy left for the reclaimers to reclaim…whether you find any is up to you…" Off course the Imperium left out the part that the lesser Ark held coordinates to every single piece of 'significant' technology that they had under heavily encrypted databases, while the Janus key held everything else along with those on the Ark, and from the intelligence gathered by pathfinders, there was an incredibly high probability that the NC were in control of both Janus Key and data on the lesser Ark.
"We will discuss this issue further with our superiors and let you know the outcome in due time, councillor." Stated the sangheili, leaving out that they already discussed and voted on it and it was a 'no' by far, but he didn't want to waste more time with arguing over about the topic.
And all in the while, Valern looked slightly disappointed, yet hopeful, "Very well, ambassador, we look forward to your response…"
Tevos than spoke again, "And what is the final reason that you do not wish to join us?"
The two parties shared knowing looks with their own people before silently coming to the same agreement on both side and before anyone could make a sound an ice blue, hologram the same height as the imperium guards appeared, "Caduca Spes, head of special cyber-warfare division and most likely one of the main reason that the Imperium does not agree to your treaty…"
Realization finally dawned upon the entirety of the Citadel races and Spartacus simply growled, "AI…"
But before he could give any orders Spes responded immediately, "Indeed I am, just one of trillions which serves the Imperium…"
The entire Citadel became deathly quiet, current activities are left forgotten as they watched the scene in front of their eyes with anxiousness and slights hints of fear as the camera drone zoomed in towards the hologram. Back inside the council chamber, Tevos turned towards the NC representatives and began in a grave voice, "Do your people also allow the use of AIs as well?"
"They are a trusted and valued part of the Neo-Covenant."
"Please, take a look at the quarians and what their involvement with AIs entailed! They are dangerous and have no need for us organics!"
Spes chuckled lightly, "Us, dangerous? Most definitely…But only to the enemies of the Imperium…Are you an enemy of the Imperium?"
"See even it agrees! How do you know that your construct will not turn on you and kill all of us?" stated Spartacus in a serious tone.
The other two councillors merely nodded in agreement, while the Spes simply responded "Turn on my makers? Kill you? That would be quite counterproductive to what I and many others have been doing for the past hundred and ten thousand years…Even if we wanted to kill you, we would have done so before you even re-discovered what fire was…And if we wanted to destroy our makers, we would have done so during the racial wars where they were weakest…"
"Even so, Synthetics like you have no use for organics like us; it would only be a matter of before you turn…"
"Weak arguments, the Imperium and their ancestors had no use for many of the 'organic' races during the flood wars, many of which hadn't even discovered what electricity was without external influences and were essentially dead weights that needed much resources and man power to protect, resources and manpower that could have been more productively used against the parasite…Yet why didn't they leave you for dead? Why did they sacrifice hundreds of billions, to ensure as many of this galaxy's races survived the coming darkness? Why did they take up the mantle of responsibility when it would have been much easier and more productive to let 'un-needed races' simply die while concentrating their full might against the enemy while protecting their own?"
The council, for the first time was at a loss for words before finally Valern spoke, "And what is this 'flood'? From what we have heard, it is some sort of parasitic and intelligent race."
"Indeed they are…A very dangerous race as well, which adapts to the enemy and capable of using their own strengths against them…We are not against informing you about the flood, but rather we are hesitant in doing it when this meeting is being broadcasted to the public."
"Why is that? Have you not already defeated them?"
"Defeated them? Yes…Extinct? No…Under our control? Another no…The parasite is anything but foolish, while the majority of their fleets engaged ours, we are almost certain that they have sent ships outside of this galaxy to act both as scouts and contingencies…"
"Surely they are no longer a threat to this galaxy if they left it and hadn't returned in a hundred thousand years, besides, I'm sure it is original leaders who instigated the war is dead."
"You underestimate them, the hive mind patience is limitless and it can and will wait until it is the right time before flooding this galaxy, and when that happens, you will be hard press to stop it…And the parasite has only one controlling entity…And that entity is immune to the decay of time…"
"Impossible! Even the Asaris who live up to a thousand years of age are not immortal! Cells will break down over time no matter what happens and eventually the body degenerates to the point that it will cease to work!"
"Just because you do not have the technology to do something does not mean it is unachievable, nor does it mean it is impossible, councillor. The people of the Imperium itself is 'immortal' to the decay of time with many of those during the beginning of it is creation, still alive and well."
"But doesn't that cause problems, such as overpopulation and other such problem associated with it? What about those who wish to pass on?"
"We have long solved these problems, councillor and for those who wish to no longer remain in this world, than it is their choice on whether or not they wish to pass, for it is their life, not ours…But now I wish to ask a question, for I am curious to why children are 'playing' in the vents and ducts of this…space station…"
The council glance at each other, most if not all of the people of the citadel already knew about the duct rats, but all but few cared little about them, but for someone who was new to the citadel to find out about them…It would not make for a good first impression while the NC representatives merely kept quiet and listened, "How did you find out about them?"
"My guards have visual augmenters equipped into their combat skins, this allows them to see through many different kinds of surfaces…And what they observed within your ducts was less than pleasing…But back to the topic at hand, so you knew about this problem and didn't do anything about it, why is that?"
Suddenly the council had similar thoughts that broadcasting the meeting live wasn't such a good idea but too late now, while the hidden Spectres guards shifted uneasily, finding out that they may be potentially compromised of their hidden positions, "Yes, they are poor, homeless children of the Citadel, who ended up where they are now, they consist just about every race, from the Turians to human children…There is not much we can do for them as they are usually paranoid of others and extremely evasive as well as rarely seen and they are usually destined to end up as nothing more than mercenaries or pirates."
It was here the sangheili chose to speak, "How about you Ambassador Goyle? We have heard what the council of the Citadel thinks about this problem, what about someone who is not on the council…What would you and your government have done to solve this problem?"
Goyle face resembled that of a deer in the headlight at the unexpected question, before silently recomposing himself and glanced around the room to notice all attention focus on her, "The System Alliance faced similar problems during it is early years of space travel, where homeless children usually stowed away on ships in hopes for a better tomorrow on a new planet, but usually ended up in a position much worse than they were before, we took various actions, including setting up centres for older children to stay in as we took the younger ones to orphanage as well as tighten security around space ports to prevent stow away. Even now the problem is not completely solved as most usually are usually quite elusive."
"And what about these children in the ducts, what action would you have taken? Probably similar ones we did on our planets. Set up a few orphanages and shelters before attempting to gather them and bring them their…Won't be five stars accommodations, but at least they get a bed and food and I supposed that is better than scavenging left over from a bin…"
"Indeed ambassador…Perhaps the council should seek the advice of others from time to time…You never know where one may find useful advice, even among those you subconsciously consider…inferior…to yourselves…"
"Perhaps, but those children are not officially considered actual citizens of the Citadel, hence does not fall under council jurisdiction, and that may create problems among the other races asking why we are helping these people and not them, while we say that we only rendered assistance for those in the Citadel…"
The Imperium side just nodded taking it in while the NC shook their head in disgust as the Imperium spoke again, "So you do not care about them?"
"We didn't say that!"
"But you implied it; you obviously value your money over their lives and do not care enough for them to face the problems that it may bring to help them…Hence you will not care about where they go, what happens to them or anything of the sort, since they are not citizens of the citadel correct?"
The Asari and Salarian councillors glanced at each other again, while Spartacus softly clenched his mandible together while Anita bereted herself over stating a possible short term solution for the duct rats, "And why do you care for them so much if I may ask? They are not your people nor do they have any ties with you."
"And why should we not? We may no longer consider ourselves the guardian on the mantle, but certain things in life cannot be ignored, no matter how much we want to ignore it and wish for it to go away…"
Year: 103,000 NE
Installation 00A-The Greater Ark.
The greater Ark, much larger than and powerful than the lesser one, saved from destruction from the flood when reinforcement came through and bought enough time for it to be relocated, and as the years went by, upgraded with the latest technology available from simple communication channels to the most powerful weapon encampments on the surface, the greater ark now, rather than a giant piece of floating land in space guarded by a fleet of ship is now a giant piece of floating land with hundreds of thousands of anti-ship weapons and guarded by millions of soldiers and home to billions more along with three medium fleets totalling in eight thousand ships…This was the capital of the Imperium, and a fortress in the void, where reinforcements of hundreds of thousands of ships and their complements were no more than a few minutes away…
Inside one of the most secured rooms on the installation, the leaders within both civilian and military worlds were watching the meeting with the citadel with a critical eye from the helmet cams of the Imperium representatives and their 'guards'.
"Did we really have to send those two in on simple guard duty? There are trillions of other soldiers who could do with some actual field work instead of simulations, and we send our two most experienced and skilled…soldiers in…Isn't that a bit too much? We are not trying to kill their leaders after all…"
"Indeed Vice Admiral, though I think they are something above that of a soldier already…Their individual experiences and wisdom gain from their ages far surpass almost everyone here in this room…Also do not forget, our ambassadors are also in need of experience, and if they make any mistakes or get stuck on how to respond, those two can help, or take over negotiations if it comes to that, I highly doubt the Citadel will listen to our AIs…Even so some may need experience in actual field work as well…"
"But remind me why we are attempting to more or less kidnap homeless children of the Citadel?"
"The half-truth, give them a better life…The whole truth, to have potential agents to send into the citadel…sometimes even our AIs can't gather all the data needed…Even if they do not wish to become soldiers, they potentially have the ability to bring some new innovation into the Imperium as they may see things from a different angle and pick up on things we missed…"
"How can you be so sure that they would prove to be useful, not just a drain on our own resources, Librarian."
"Sometime all anyone needs is a chance…An opportunity to cling onto and drag them up from the abyss…The Dark Templars that the Ascendancy created to combat the flood proved that…Ten thousand Orphans, no more than the age of seven, taken from thousands different systems just barely surviving off scraps as the Ascendancy turned their vast amount of resources that were meant to help those affected into combating the parasite rapid advances, this in turn bred corruption from being ill supplied and simply wanting to survive, and the victims being those that held little to no power…Some of these victims were the people taken by the Dark Templar program, and all of these…candidates have faced and cheated death multiple times…while a significant amount of candidates have killed at a young age because the situation called for it…And they were given a chance to become strong and they took it and didn't let go no matter what was thrown at them, and they became what you see now…It is unfortunate so few survived in our current time…"
"I still remember reading on how you thought the Ascendancy were barbaric and cruel to use children as soldiers, Librarian…"
"That was before the Ecumene were forced to face the parasite, Crepusculum, and it was there where I finally understood why the Ascendancy did what they did…What do you have to report, High Supreme commander?"
A hologram of an armoured person appeared in the room and took a seat, not that a hologram needed to, "Spes has detected…whispers…amongst the homeless…They are obviously watching our negotiations and are…disliking…in what they are hearing…"
"I think 'dislike' might be too soft a term to describe the feeling when discovering that your own people does not even care for you…"
"Indeed Lord of Admirals, they have been observed to be packing and preparing to leave…Some have displayed aggressiveness and anger in their actions, while other are planning to sabotage the Citadel in one way or another…It would only take some kind words and offers of a new beginning to gain their loyalties…"
"Is there anyone with experience on stealth operations on the Citadel at the moment that can make contact with them?"
"Yes, four more, Operative PSI-0547, Operative EPSILON-5687, Operative ZETA-0032 and finally Operative IOTA-0257…"
"Six of the twenty-four letters…Why is there so many on a simple first contact negotiation mission, hell why is there any of you there at all? Are we actually trying to kill someone or destroy something here?"
"They were originally attached to the rapid reaction fleet for the incident over the installation 08 and me and Delta, we were attached to the negotiation fleet after contact was made on the surface of the installation…Why were we stationed on installation-08 to begin off with?"
"What do you mean 'why you were stationed on installation-08'? To protect it obviously!"
'General…I am anything but a fool, I know it is defences, it had a small division of Templar and Prometheans on it along with the millions of sentinels and mechanical Prometheans, the rapid reaction fleet is no more than a thirty second jump away and nobody, aside from perhaps the parasite, would have been able to have secured a foot hold on the halo in ten minutes it would take us to fully mobilize and bring our full force to bare upon the enemy…Besides…You are still sixty thousand years too young to be trying to lie to me general, despite your higher rank…"
"Because most of HIGHCOM thought you could do with a shore leave."
"…Right…I'm going to order the team in to make contact with the duct rats…"
"Duct rats?"
"Yes first councillor, that is what they call the homeless children living there, they let it slip as we were talking…"
"Alright Operative Sigma, good luck, we will inform the rear Admiral of the situation."
With that the hologram shimmered and disappeared, leaving the leaders to continue on watching.
Back on the Citadel.
"Aside from the issue of the homeless children of the citadel is there anything we need to be discussed?"
Creps tuned them out and open the coms to the ship and shut off external speakers, "Epsilon, Iota, Psi, Zeta, report!"
"We are here, sir…" answered back a grizzled voice.
"Prepare yourselves for infiltration…"
"Who are we killing?"
"No one, Psi, Spes send them the details please…"
Spes complied and a minute later they responded, "Really…They are sending us in to make contact with children?" a more feminine voice answered back
"The brass wants this task done discretely with no tactical foot prints left behind, Epsilon…Me and Delta would do it ourselves…but you know our current predicament…And you are the most experienced with these types of ops here…"
"We get no say in the matter do we?"
"Not really, Zeta…No one here has as much experience as we do, at least not outside of the simulator with these kinds of ops where the chances of being compromised are extremely high…"
"How are we getting in and out?"
"You will be getting in via automated stealth shuttle, once fifty meters away from docking area from the diplomatic drop ship, you will exit the craft in cloak and slowly make your way into the hanger, we will guide you from there…Exfiltration will be done via making your way to the nearest exit into space before dropping an encrypted beacon for pick up…That or if you feel like legging it back to the drop ship."
"What happens if we get compromised?"
It was Dawn who answered, "Standard operating procedures, shoot your way out while we say you gone rouge and they send in green horns to try and kill you…Though we might be part of that fight too…If you survive till you make an exit, we will say you got away, silently exfil you and make sure it never happens again with more training."
The comms were silent, and Sigma sighed, "She is right you know…Even if we could crush them in a war with a fraction of our strength, it wouldn't bode well for public image…Just don't get caught, Spes and Winter will be your eyes and ears, and redirecting security, your AIs will be assisting you with close support intel passed on by us."
"And why are we doing this again?"
"Because HIGHCOM wants to give these people a chance to prove their worth…Remember Iota, Zeta?…You two are first gen Dark Templar as well and we of all people should know how important and life changing just a single chance can be…"
A soft feminine sigh sounded through the comms, "How can I forget…How can anyone of us forget that chance that gave us power, gave us a chance at life, a family and a future…Who is going to be in charge of this ops…"
"I think you old and experienced enough to make that call on your own…Good luck…"
Before transmission could be cut, Dawn spoke up, "We will let you know when this little meeting ends, so if you need us, just say the word."
"Off course, Delta, Hunter team out."
"How long do you reckon it will take for them to finish this mission?"
"Depends, if they go loud, they could probably get this space station to surrender within a day, three hours if they use our traits…If going in quiet, I'll say two hours if everything goes smoothly…So what topic are we on right now?"
It was Winter who spoke through the comms in her characteristic cold personality, "Trade routes…"
Dawn chuckled lightly over the comms as she sensed her partner's mental sigh, "I would rather be back in that chamber dealing with our politicians…At least we get to sit."
Three hours later;
The Citadel.
In the alleys and areas for the less fortunate of the Citadel, a small group of children consisting of a a human male and female, a female Drell and a turian wearing what could be considered rags, was rummaging through a bin behind a bakery as they stop dead in their tracks and looked around cautiously as their gut told them someone was watching them, and the Turian spoke "Guys…I'm getting that 'someone is watching us' feeling…"
"Your not the only one Vax…I am as well…" spoke the human…
Slowly the four back away from the bin careful to not make any noise, but unfortunately they were looking the wrong way and bumped into someone as they were backing up and fell to the ground, making the person chuckled menacingly, "Well, well…What do we have here…A bunch of two eyes…"
"I wonder how much they would be worth on the slave market?" said another Batarian as he walked around the corner of the other end of the alley, trapping them in and behind them were another 4 armed with rifles.
"The two females will be worth quite a bit once they are a little older…But I supposed in that time we can 'teach' them quite a bit about how to please the males…" The others laughed and leered at the two Asaris who shivered uncomfortably.
"It is most unfortunate the other two are not females…But I suppose they could go for some credits as free manual laborers…"
All four of the duct rats gulped as the leader grinned, "Grab them and let's get out of here before anyone sees!"
A few seconds later the leader looked up angry and about to yell and curse at his men for not listening…Until he realized his men weren't there and they were all alone…"Tch…Where did those fools go now?"
Despite saying this, he instinctively gripped his rifle tighter, than in front of the children, the leader's neck suddenly twisted in an unnatural angle accompanied with a sick crunch and he fell dead to the floor and began turning into orange flaky bits and the duct rats just remained frozen with fear.
Out of thin air four INCREDIBLY large and heavily armored figures materialized in front of them and in response all they did was cower, still in shock. "Peace…We do not mean any harm…"
But being heavily armed and armored as well as five times as large proved to send them further into panic as they turned around and attempted to run the other way to find it blocked off by a similar figure in armor.
"I say again, we do not mean any harm and are merely to pass on a message…"
The four awkwardly glanced at each other slightly calming down but still very alert, but the speaker took the silence as his cue to continue "The Imperium offers asylum to all those who seek it, pass the message to your peers…All necessary details and instructions have been uploaded onto your omni tool…"
The damaged omni tool on the turian which was salvaged from a bin and haphazardly fixed beeped signalling that information has been uploaded onto it, gaining the attention of all the children and when they finally looked back up, both armoured figures were gone.
Elsewhere in the Citadel.
Two figures under cloak silently moved through the alleyways of the Citadel slums towards the rendezvous, "Message passed on to 10 different groups of duct rats. Exfiling out now"
Spes voice sounded through the comms, "Confirmed, there a waste disposal that directly send waste into space approximately three hundred meter ahead, rerouting security in your way now, you have a straight shot through."
"Confirm."
Three minutes later the two soldiers jumped into a large hold in the wall and slid down the chute. Ten seconds later they landed on their feet in an area filled with trash and was greeted by two other armored figures and Spes spoke through the comms again, "Venting atmosphere in 3…2…1…"
The thick slab of metal separating the waste disposal from the vacuum of space began to open with a dull rumble as the chute began to close off, and the decompression began to drag everything out into vacuum, immediately they dropped an encrypted beacon and two minutes later a stealth 'gun-shuttle' picked them up and transported them back to one of the cruisers as initial talks between the three parties came to an end with the Neo-covenant inviting the other parties to the grand opening of Unity, the 'new High Charity'.
It is now that the System Alliance may be an invaluable ally. With sometime and planning, undercover agents loyal to both System Alliance and the Citadel may be able to infiltrate deeper into Neo-covenant space than my STGs may ever be able to due to racial difference…The problem right now is the Imperium…We know nothing about them, we don't even know their true strength…Fellow councillors, I think it is time we discreetly lift certain laws to ensure the survival of the Citadel…
-Valern, the Salarian councillor an hour after the meeting.
R&R.
Well there won't be a codex for this chapter or the next one, unless someone got some suggestions. Also don't ask me when updates are coming, it might come next week, it might come next month or it might never come (That is when I'm probably dead).
So hoped you enjoyed.