AGAIN, ANONYMOUS, NON-LOGGED IN REVIEWS WILL BE DELETED.

Now, next message: I'll start being nice when you stop being stupid. Since I don't see that happening any time soon, put up or shut up. Thanks to everyone else who left creative and supportive reviews though, they were greatly appreciated.

And the last one: You know I really thought I was getting through to people with the declining number of stupid reviews but rdde you have proved me wrong with your review!

There is some truth to your analogy of comparing what's happened in Iraq to what I'm doing except a you didn't think through my stuff very well or the UNSC's very well. The Spartans are probably carrying AI's which can simply remove any trace of them from Citadel Computer systems. They have cloaking systems millennia ahead of the Council's, and if they were compromised, they would detonate the reactors in their armor, removing any sign of their presence other than trace molecules. There's never been much talk about what Sangeheili infiltrators are equipped with but after pairing with the UNSC I could seeing them being similarly equipped. Also for exfiltration, a prowler could easily get them out without ever being seen, heard, or detected in any fashion while providing full tactical and strategic support and relaying everything back to HIGHCOM.

Also rdde, it's possible to secure things on isolated networks or on hard copies like paper necessitating direct retrieval by a person, and there's a great deal one can learn from direct observation that they can't learn in a report, so first hand experience is invaluable.

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As the representitives of human and Sangeheili races left the station, Tevos took the opportunity to bury her face in her hands and prop her elbows on the table as she finally let her nervousness show, as she spoke up to say, "Everyone else please leave, the Councilors and I need to speak privately."

There was a rustle and a series of looks between the guess before they nodded and filed out of the room without a noise. Once the door was closed and Tevos was certain of their privacy, she finally began to speak as she said, "We really don't have a choice do we?"

"Of course we have a choice Tevos," Sparatus shot, "We can always fight and resist them. There's no certainty they could defeat the entirety of our combined navy!"

"Sparatus, tell me, have you been hit on the head?"

Instantly every remaining pair of eyes in the room was looking to Gelor who had asked what was quite frankly an insulting question, especially given the implications of it.

"Gelor...explain quickly please," Tevos supplied evenly as she attempted to halt the suddenly rising tensions.

"I was merely asking if Councilor Sparatus had incurred any recent brain damage that might be accounting for his suddenly scuicidal behavior. Two-thirds of his species's navy has been completely annihilated and the Asari and Salarian navies combined would barely recoup such a loss in a major conflict if pulled from their stations. As such I can hardly see there being any worthwhile point to resistance other then to leave a line in history that says not to oppose them lest you suffer the same fate," Gelor replied calmly, even surprisingly slowly for a Salarian.

"The Hierarchy will not stand for surrendering like they demand, Gelor! We fought our way back from when the Krogan were ready to bombard our home world to get where we are!" Sparatus ground out.

"The Krogan did not possesses nearly the level of technology sophistication and firepower these aliens do, Sparatus!" Tevos finally shouted as she stood and and rounded on the Turian.

For a moment both of her fellow Councilors were shocked into silence by Tevos's outburst before the Asari suddenly set her hands on the table hung her head as she declared, "Sparatus, if you do not surrender, all Asari financial interests will be pulled out of the Turian economy and we will also with hold all military aid. We just can't risk a fight them, I'm sorry."

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"Matriarch Tevos has withdrawn the Asari's military support?" The hologram asked in confirmation.

"Yes Primarch Fedorian, if we do not surrender the Asari refuse to provide us with any military support if we renter into conflict with these new races and they also threaten to pull all economic interested out as well," Sparatus confirmed grimly.

"Executor, what is your opinion of what we should do?" The Primarch asked.

There was a brief pause before Sparatus spoke as he said, "Logic and tactics would dictate we surrender sir. Even if we pull all of our reserves and even our mothballed ships I don't think we stand a chance, even against the smallest fleet they have deployed above our planets."

"What about allies? Gelor didn't say anything about the Salarians abandoning us and there are other groups we could work with to make up the necessary hulls and bodies in a fight," Fedorian asked.

"The batarians and mercenaries? Maybe but I doubt they'd amount to much in a real fight, and we'd probably lose so many that we wouldn't be able to even have a chance of winning a second time Primarch," Sparatus replied tiredly as he rubbed his eyes tiredly before continuing, "We may be able to fight them on the ground but I honestly can't say if we could or not for sure. If their soldiers have shields like their ships, their honestly isn't anything we can do."

As the Council broke up to continue working their own ideas, a very different scene was playing out in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

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Television screens across Human, Sangeheili, Unggoy, Lekgolo, Kig-Yar, and a small myriad of other species sovereign space paused mid broadcast as a sudden alert indicating an emergency message flashed across the screen before changing to a scene showing a tall, pale man with a well weathered complexion and a thin scar running from mid-way across his forehead to his left temple and into his silver-gray hair that was neatly trimmed. His mouth was set into a grim line before he started to speak and cold, almost black, brown eyes looked out from where they sat under his brow. The subtitles of the screen announced who it was, but nearly every sentient being knew who it was speaking from behind the podium on the broadcast.

President of the UEG, Chairman of the United Beings Council, and the one who led the assembledge of species in all political matters: Andrew R. Strauss.

As people across various planets began to turn up the volume on their sets, or turn turn it down as they watched the subtitles begin to scroll across the screen.

"My fellow people. Less then a day ago while exploring a piece of technology left behind by a long forgotten race, our fellow citizens were set upon by a hostile group of beings who proceeded to attack and destroy their ship; killing all fifty-three aboard after refusing all attempts at communication," Strauss began his voice hard, but schooled with clear emotion.

"The ships that had been in the immediate area responded and repulsed the alien attackers, destroying all but one of their ships before they fled. In response to this, the entirety of the Seventh Fleet was mobilized and arrived in time to completely destroy a second offensive by these aliens consisting of over a hundred ships. During this battle, one of the alien ships was captured and we learned that this race we are engaged with are named the Turian Hierarchy."

There was a brief pause as suddenly dozens of flashes from cameras went off before the President raised and hand for silence as he began to continue speaking. "We have utterly destroyed over two-thirds of the Turian Heirarchy's navy. However, we have learned that they are part of a greater collective of races, three of which, including the Turians, dominate a large number of others. We have found the capital of this collective of species and even now we are in diplomatic talks with them, demanding nothing less then the unconditional surrender of the Turian Hierarchy and the righting of the near genocide they have wrought on several species."

As President Strauss paused for a moment there were audible gasps of surprise at the idea that the collective they had encountered had brought about genocide or attempted to. Many members of the press still had memories of the Great War so the idea was something truly horrifying to them.

"I wish to reassure the people of these United Systems that the full measure of our power shall be brought to bear should it be required to make right what has been left wrong and to bring justice to those left abandoned," the President finished before he turned and left the podium.

OoOoO

Two hours after the diplomatic session between Hood, the Arbiter, and the Council had broken up, a quartet of camouflaged being skulked through the keeper tunnels of the Citadel as they made their way towards the Archives located deep within the station. As they went, there were occasional chuckles of amusement over their heavily encrypted comm lines as they listened to the news broadcasts about the massive fleet sitting around the station.

Half the fleet had vanished into Slip Space a half hour ago but the largest ships had all remained on station while the rest had gone off to take up position in orbit over other Turian colonies. Meanwhile the stealth cruiser Beyond Oblivion had moved in and more or less gravitomically attached itself to the side of one of the Citadel's arms and was siphoning tremendous amounts of data directly out of the station's systems. All the while she and her crew were calmly waited for the four stealthed team members to need extraction.

Which they might, but given how easy it was to slip by the security on the station it seemed unlikely.

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And another chapter all done, more character expansion will happen for the stealth team later, but not for now.