In Orbit of Planet New Berlin
New Berlin System
Aela had most certainly not expected fighting like that.
She had not expected a pirate attack like that at all.
Pirates back… home would try and board their targeted ships, often crippling them first then towing them to wherever it is they brought their loot. Then they either took you hostage or turned you into a slave. If you were lucky. Sometimes they preferred to just put a bullet in your head.
Here… she was no expert, but it looked like they were outright aiming to destroy the transport, then haul off whatever was left over. She was no stranger to pirate attacks. Any expedition in the Terminus systems could encounter one and she had to be prepared for it, but for the life of her she could not imagine pirates back in the Citadel acting like this.
Still, now she was getting a taste of Rhineland, as they sat in orbit of the planet they were to land on.
New Berlin. From the looks of it, a planet that was incredibly cold, near Noveria levels according to their instruments. Perkins had also given her access to their version of the Extranet, and she had found a few interesting facts about Rhinelands' capital.
Extra slow planetary rotation, nearly yearlong winters and summers. Winter was a perpetual night for a year. Summer, on the other hand, lead to a slightly more pleasant slightly above freezing. Rather harsh conditions for living here. Most food on planet was grown in underground hydroponic farms, and buildings are specially designed to deal with the extreme cold.
Certainly a place for a culture of excellent engineers to thrive, thought Aela. They'd have to be to select this planet as their first. Aela thought it made sense, especially since the nearby Stuttgart had too much Oxygen to perform any sort of heavy industry.
Still, Aela couldn't help but start to think about what she'd seen of these Rhinelanders so far, as they slowly crawled forward into the docking ring. She'd seen their engineering marvel, The Ring, and it was certainly something to be proud of. It was also the largest station in the Sirius Sector, something she could quite easily believe. A Refinery/Manufacturing/Assembly plant, all in one station, truly remarkable.
Aela could also start to get a feel of just how… different her encounter with these Rhinelanders would be. Just from the designs of the ships she encountered. The Massive RM Westfalen, while certainly quite menacing, and likely the equal of the HMS Stirling she got to know, was certainly different.
A fortress with engines is how she would describe it. Massive gun emplacements on each side, each, in her head at least, quite capable of gutting a Cruiser from any of the Citadel navies in one blow. It was most definitely designed not to look pretty, but to get the job done as efficiently as possible.
Then there were the smaller Rhineland vessels she spotted.
The military ones, the Valkyries, were very different from the Crusader she was in now. According to Perkins, "Bloody things are so well designed, only Liberty's newest fighters even come close to them." It had a humpbacked rear and stubby wings, once again marking itself very different from Bretonnian designs. Sturdy, even by Human standards along with an excellent power plant, allowing for more liberal use of weaponry, meant that this was one of the finest fighters in the Sirius Sector. Even with the major recession, Rhineland had managed to design and manufacture these marvels of engineering.
The police ones, and she shuddered at just what kind of damage a police vehicle could do to a military Citadel vessel, were the much smaller Banshees. Similar design, with diagonally pointed wings rather than the flat ones of the Valkyrie. The Banshee was still one machine that she really would not like to see the business end of. She was pretty sure it alone could take on a Turian frigate and win.
All of this pointed to a faction that had such different design philosophies clearly indicated to Aela that Rhinelanders would be very different from the Bretonnians she met so far.
Still, as they landed onto the landing pad, she was quite surprised to see one sign with two languages on it, with one clearly not English. She didn't expect them to be that different.
"Perkins," she asked her ever present guide/bodyguard. "What does that sign say?" she said, as she pointed out the offending sign.
"That?" Perkins asked confusedly. "I thought you could read English?"
"I can, but I'm not asking about that."
"Then what are you- ohhh… I get it." said Perkins, a look of realization hitting him. "It's Willkommen. It's German for 'Welcome', I think."
"German?" she asked. These Humans had more than one language in use even now? That would likely help in understanding them a little better. It wasn't uncommon for Asari to know more than one language. There were quite a few languages on Thessia, even today, though there was one language that everyone generally knew how to speak.
"You see," Perkins explained as they headed towards one building Perkins assured her would be a good place to rest. "English is the sort of unofficial language of the colonies, what with half of the Houses, Bretonia and Liberty, have it as their mother tongue. Kusari and Rhineland won't admit it though, because they have their own language, German and Japanese, and Kusari even has their own complicated little letters. Thing is, nearly everyone speaks a little English, normally enough to conduct trade. Now, I'm sure your translator isn't geared toward German, but don't worry. Where we're going, everyone speaks English. Just asks me if his accent is too thick for your translator to pick it up." he finished with a smile, as they approached one building emitting some rather… loud music. It rather reminded her of some of her more… questionable maiden days.
Sure enough when they entered, she was looking at a place that many a young Asari maiden would go to for their excitement.
"Welcome to New Berlin" said the bartender over the roar of the music. "Drinks are on the house for the first alien here!"
Goddess. If it weren't for the hair and the odd colouring, not to mention the male Humans, Aela would've sworn it was just like her maiden days on Omega…
The music, the drinking and oh goddess, the dancing. It could've been straight out of a scene from Eternity, the club on Omega where she may have spent a year or two performing some Asari art. Though the dancers could most certainly stand to learn a thing or two from the Asari.
Still, as Aela approached the bar with Perkins, she was immediately handed a huge mug of an amber coloured drink by the smiling bartender.
"For something like this, I think that we all need some good beer first!" he roared over the music as he and other fellow bartenders quickly started filling mugs with more of this 'beer' and handing it out to the patrons.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! To the first alien in Rhineland! Prost!" he roared as he moved his mug forward, while somehow still managing to keep eye contact with her.
"Prost!" roared the rest of the club/bar as they all clanked their mugs towards each other, then started drinking the beer quickly.
Aela mimicked their actions as best as she could, and feeling the center of attention all being on her, she started to drink her own, presumably alcoholic, beer. It had a pleasantly bitter taste with a hint of earthiness that somehow just made it a better.
Still, there was no way she could down that whole mug of beer in the first go, and so, having drunk a little, tried to look for Perkins. She had lost sight of him in the mass of people moving towards her, and now he couldn't see him.
"Could you come with me please Frau," said one feminine, almost Asari, voice beside her. She quickly turned around and came face to face with a female Human. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, and her features were sharp, giving stark contrast to her very Asari-like blue eyes. "We have much to discuss."
Aela figured these must be some of the local security forces. Perhaps Perkins missed a check-in with them, and thus were with them already? Thinking that, she quickly followed them, toward a more quiet portion of the club. Here, she wouldn't need to shout just to be heard.
"Thank you for coming with me Frau...?', the woman asked
Aela guessed that Frau was some sort of title like Miss or Doctor so she figured the woman was asking for her name. "Aela D'Avo," she replied. "And you are?'
'"Marie Bauman." she quickly replied. "I represent a group that would like to send you a message."
Aela immediately grew suspicious. This woman was clearly not part of a security detail. "I should go," she said as she stood up, but Marie quickly grabbed her arm.
"This is a quick message only, and it is one that paints the plight of some of the people in Rhineland." she said.
That made her stop and think a bit. This could be useful information for the negotiating team that will come. So she stayed and listened.
"I represent the Landwirtrechtbewegung, Unioners and the Bundschu."
"What." Aela replied. That definitely did not translate.
"The Farmer's Right's Movement, or more commonly known as the LWB, a… smaller group of the WVS, the Farmer's Union. We three groups have decided to send a collective message to you, the Alien who represents a wind of change here in Rhineland." she said, a hint of hope in her voice.
"Rhineland was once a proud nation. One full of hope and promise. Now… now we are a people broken, forced to pay for the mistakes of a few mad people in power. Promises were made before by our government. Promises that were broken, hence our… disagreements with them. Understand that while the current government calls us terrorists and criminals, we merely fight for the rights of the common man. The LWB fights for the small farmer, as they are oppressed by the machinations of SynthPaste. The Unioners fight for the rights of the shipyard workers, for humane conditions at the very least. The Bundschu fight ultimately, for a change in the government. A government that cares for the volk, not the old elite few. A government that will not be bought, and so easily sell the lives of its people. We all fight for the people of Rhineland. We hope that your leaders can somehow influence our government. Force them to treaties promising better rights. That is all we wanted to say." she said as she stood up.
"Enjoy your stay here in Rhineland, Frau D'AVo. Know that you are under our protection while you are here. No one will try to harm you or Herr Perkins, save perhaps the Corsairs. We see you as possibly the hope of Rhineland. The Corporations see you as an opportunity. Tread lightly from here on, Frau. Not everyone likes change." she said with finality, before disappearing into the mass of the club.
That was… strange. It was certainly not something she expected to happen to her while she was here.
"There you are!" shouted the now familiar voice of Perkins from behind Aela. "Where were you? I lost you during that toast everyone was giving to you,"
"I met an… interesting woman." Aela said. This sounded like something she needed to keep to herself and her reports to the Council.
"I do hope you remembered to say no to any drugs offered right?" Perkins said worriedly.
"Yes. It was exactly why she left." Aela quickly replied. "I wasn't being… cooperative in that sense."
"Good on you." Perkins cheerily replied. "Cardamine does bad things to Humans as is. I'd be worried to see what it would do to an alien."
Aela could only nod at that, as Perkins brought her to the bar once more for another round of drinks and oh Goddess that woman could certainly use a lesson from her.
Another one of these beers couldn't hurt now right? She thought to herself as another mug of the amber liquid was put in front of her and she drank it down.
Aela woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar room.
The first thing that came to mind was where was she?
Then came the question of what happened last night?
Then came the question of where is Perkins?
Then came the realization that she had no clothes on. With that last one, she quickly started putting on her scattered pieces of clothing.
Just what had happened last night? It was like she was a Maiden again! She was supposed to have danced-
"I see you're awake now," said the familiar voice of Perkins. Aela turned around and sure enough, there he was by the door, with his back towards her. "Go on, get dressed," he said playfully. "I'm sure that after last night's festivities you must be rather hungry."
She was rather hungry. After a night of drinking, she always was, "I'd love that. You can also turn around now."
"Good. I've taken the liberty of ordering us some room service. A nice and hearty Rhinelander brekkie for us." he said cheerily as he walked towards her. "I've always wanted to try one."
Aela saw this time waiting as an opportunity. "Perkins. What happened last night?"
"You don't remember?" he said a little disbelievingly at first. Then he relaxed a bit. "I guess you aliens aren't too different. I'm guessing you don't remember much if you drink a lot?"
"Not everyone reacts the same way to alcohol, though there are definitely similarities across species." she explained.
"Fair enough. Though what you did last night was amazing." Perkins said, mischievously.
Aela had a little feeling in her gut that she knew what exactly she did last night. "Did I happen to… go onstage?"
"Yes you did," Perkins said as he continued to keep up that devilish smile of his.
"Oh Goddess…. " he said into her hand. She promised herself she wouldn't make Asari look bad. She must have danced horribly!
"Let me just say this. If you, an Archaeologist, can dance like that, then I can confidently tell you that there is going to be a lot of cultural 'tourism' towards your space. Heck, I can see a lot of the nobs, and Liberty elite paying a fortune for what you pulled up there!"
Huh. She knew that Asari tended to attract other species, but she didn't really expect what she considered is her horribly off beat dancing to be good. Maybe she had inadvertently just created a good image for the Asari?
Yay her?
"Excuse me Herr Perkins, Frau D'Avo." interrupted a voice from a speaker. Likely a steward from the... hotel they were in. "I have your breakfast as ordered."
Perkins walked towards the door and let the man in. He had with him a cart with what looked like some sort of sausages, some very dark looking bread, and oh Goddess, two very tall pitchers of the amber liquid called Beer. "Guten appetit," the steward said before leaving the room.
While she welcomed the bread and the sausages, she wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of having alcohol this early in the day. Perkins though, looked to be quite excited and had started to sip his beer.
"Don't worry," he said after a sip of his beer. "It's rather light, more refreshing than the one we had last night."
Deciding to trust Perkins on this, she grabbed her glass of beer, and took a little sip. True enough, compared to last night, this drink had a much lighter, refreshing tone of flavor. The dark thick bread she had also seemed to work well with it, and she was enjoying the flavors of the sausages.
"This is quite good," she said as she prepared to take another bite out of the bread.
"It is." Perkins replied as he sipped his beer. "Quite different from a Bretonnian one. We don't normally have beer with our breakfast for one thing." he said the last bit with a slight chuckle.
"You know, I didn't expect the Rhinelanders to be like this." Aela said. "I rather expected a more formal and quiet first meeting."
"Like I said." Perkins replied with a slight shrug. "People are people. Not everyone acts the same. Could be that the few Rhinelanders I met were like that. Sure they have a reputation throughout the Sirius sector for being quite… cold, but here, on New Berlin, I see they're people like me. A little different sure, I find it weird at the amount of beer they drink here, but still people."
That made sense, Aela thought. Back home, not every Asari was alike. Some loved the thrills of Merc work too much to abandon the lifestyle. Some liked the arts, some were practically Turian in mindset.
Really, Aela thought that these Humans weren't too different. She could really see the Humans eventually going to be well liked among the Citadel races.
"Well," Perkin said, as he finished off his beer. "You better get dressed. We're scheduled to meet with the Chancellor soon. I expect he'll give you a better overview of Rhineland than I can." With that, Perkins got up and left the room, likely to go freshen up before the meeting.
Aela quickly finished her meal, and prepared to clean up a bit. Really, she needed to look her best when meeting heads of state.
Der Reichstag
New Berlin, New Berlin system
Aela had, after breakfast, managed to get herself into a presentable state in her white dress. Perkins had also somehow managed to look immaculate once more in his own dress uniform. And now, they were sitting in an aircar, as they slowly approached the center of the Rhineland government, 'Der Reichstag.'
It was certainly something quite grand. A huge building that certainly shared some similarities with the Bretonnian Museum. She could see some aspects of the Roman architecture, now that she knew what to look for, the pillars in the front, the flight of stairs leading to the entrance, the slight overhang over the entrance. The building was meant to present the image of power, and what better way than with what has obviously been ingrained into the minds of the people as what a temple should look like?
Still, there were some differences in design as well. She noted the huge metallic dome in the center of the building, the greenish statues on top of the building, the huge arched windows on the sides, all of which something the Rhinelanders obviously added to make Die Reichstag their own.
She once again prepared herself for her meeting with the Chancellor. The head of state of one of the four Houses of Sirius. A man who governed the lives of billions of people.
She tried to remember what it was like when she met King Alexander, what she did to make herself calm. It was a similar situation after all, right?
A few minutes later, after a brief security check at the front, Aela soon found herself in front of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Rhineland: Erik Reinhardt.
He certainly cut a very imposing figure, what with the way he literally towered over her, and his golden hair framed his hawkish features. Looking into his eyes, she got the feeling like she was talking to some Turian veteran.
"Guten Tag, Herr Perkins, und Frau...?" the man said, his accent both sharp and cultured.
"Aela D'Avo." she courteously replied.
"Frau D'Avo. A pleasure to meet you." he continued in English, with hardly any trace of an accent. "I'm Chancellor Erik Reinhardt, and I would like to officially welcome you to Rhineland." he finished with a smile.
"It is indeed a pleasure," Aela in turn replied. "Thank you for the greetings into Rhineland."
"Come now. Let's head to my office. It would certainly be a more pleasant place to conduct our talks." Chancellor Reinhardt continued.
Aela simply nodded and followed the man and his entourage, taking note of the appearance of the interior. Certainly she could still see some of the Greek and Roman influences, and yet here and there she would see something else. Most dominant of them would be a stylized version of what she imagined to be a predatory bird.
"I do hope you'll stay long enough to see Emperor Pausebeck's Day." the Chancellor continued, as they walked toward his office. "It's bound to be a most amusing experience for you."
"I'm sorry?" Aela asked. He was likely referring a holiday of sorts, but a holiday of what?
"I know this story, everyone in the Colonies has heard of it," Perkins replied cheerily. "Isn't this to celebrate the day Emperor Pausebeck accidentally destroyed a city?"
"Exactly, Herr Perkins." the Chancellor continued. "Emperor Pausebeck outfitted the Ring with a huge array of terraforming mirrors, in an attempt to warm up the dark side of New Berlin. When the mirrors converged the energy of the sun into a single location, the unfortunate city of Muleheim, well… it simply ceased to be. He had inadvertently created the largest laser ever seen in the colonies. Every year since then, we do something a little foolish that day, in memory of what he did."
That was… certainly a little disturbing. She hadn't expected a race of superb engineers to accidentally create a superlaser. While rumor had it that the Batarians had a similar system, they had constructed that on purpose. Even her own people had a planet-encircling supercollider in the design phase, but to design something like this by accident?
What if they wanted to build one on purpose?
"Here we are." said the Chancellor, as they entered what was presumably his office.
It was certainly a rather simple one, with a sturdy looking metallic desk and a few comfortable-looking chairs. A flag hung in the corner, bearing green background with a black cross covering it, likely the flag of Rhineland.
"Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions about Rhineland. Please, take a seat and feel free to ask any question that comes to mind."
"Well…" Aela cautiously advanced. "I'm rather curious as to well… Rhineland's plans for removing itself from the recession that I've heard you are in."
Chancellor Reinhardt, at that, calmly steepled his fingers, and took a good long look at her. Aela found it quite disconcerting at how he looked at her, as if she was put under a spotlight.
"Frau D'Avo, what Rhineland is experiencing now is merely a result of… the mistakes of our Imperial predecessors. It is my goal and duty to try and fix their many, many mistakes. Which I can assure you is no small feat." he replied, his tone cold, calm and matter-of-fact.
"In order to finance their foolish war, the old Emperors made a deal with Liberty, asking for extraordinary amount of credits to fund the war effort. They were so sure that victory would mean that they could easily pay off whatever debt they had to Liberty, thanks to their essential material independence. They didn't even think to consider what would happen if they lost. Or if they could even pay it back if they won."
"When Rhineland eventually lost the 80-year war, we were a crippled nation. Battered and beaten, with much of our fleet lost to the GMG, Liberty came in calling for what we owed them. Conditions just worsened from there on, and soon, as I'm sure you've heard, the Popular Revolution happened. A new Republic as born, and now I, the current Chancellor, have the unenviable position of fixing this mess."
"We've done what we could, really." he said, his voice remaining neutral. "I've personally negotiated better terms to Liberty in exchange for letting them have de-facto control of Stuttgart. We've had to, sadly, go back on some of the promises we made. Better working conditions, a through investigation of the old families and the megacorporations. Let more than a few of the companies that we suspect helped push for the war get away without any proper investigation. This has… angered more than a few people. I´m afraid a few of the… original revolutionaries didn´t agree with our policy and have as such gone back to their old ways, harassing us wherever they feel it´s necessary, often targeting the companies that they feel are responsible for the war, both Daumann and Kruger."
"I will be frank with you Frau D'Avo, our situation here is not good. We're forced to sell surplus military equipment to anyone , so long as they have both the credits and the… necessary reputation... to help gather funds to stimulate our economy. It is simply that bad. We do what we must for our people, but with the increasing problem of piracy, and our diminishing economy, it is a most difficult enterprise."
"Which is where I hope your people will be able to help us, Frau D'Avo." he said. "Rhineland has much to offer, we have some of the finest engineers in the Sirius sector, and I'm sure our… technology will be of much interest to your people. I'm sure that Bretonia has made similar offers, and I'm sure that the other Houses will, but know that each of the Houses have a different… specialization."
He suddenly stood up, and turned to face that flag in his room. "I know that the times are changing, Frau D'Avo. The Emperors tried to change the balance of things here in the Sirius Sector, and came off the worse. Now… I am sure that Liberty will lose it's position as the most powerful House of Sirius. Who knows, maybe Rhineland can thrive here, where I foresee Liberty will flounder." he ended.
That was certainly an… interesting viewpoint. For one thing, to blatantly admit that people in good standing, civilians, could purchase a Rhineland military grade fighter, certainly spoke volumes about what dire straits they were in. Aela had no doubt that these people were marvelous engineers, the Ring was proof enough of that. She was sure that they could greatly benefit the Citadel, and their economy could also likely be a point that the Matriarchs could aid in, in exchange for technology of course.
Still, Rhineland was most certainly in an interesting position that the Matriarchs could take advantage of in the coming negotiations. She could see them being approached by the Turians for their engineering skills, and the Salarians for their technology. Things could improve in Rhineland given some Citadel intervention, and the Citadel would in turn benefit.
"Now, I have some of my own questions for you Frau D'Avo." Chancellor Reinhardt said, breaking her line of thought. "Please, do tell me about your own people."
Aela, once again, began her long explanation of the Asari Republics. She was sure this wouldn't be the last time she would be talking about it.