Mass Effect is the property of Bioware. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien/Predator franchise.

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

Geneva, earth

"Absolutely not, general. The democratic process cannot be hastened or cut short. That would rob it of its very purpose. I'm astonished that you would even suggest such a thing. Do I need to remind you that the United Systems Military has no vote in the Assembly? This is a civilian matter, not a military one."

Spears' anger was near the boiling point. Five days! It had taken five days before Hammerstein had finally deigned to speak with him; and what had he been waiting for? The same load of mealy-mouthed sanctimonious crap. Still, it had not been a complete waste of time. Spears had used the delay to speak quietly with several of the colonial delegates in a faint hope that Harper might have been lying. Unfortunately, it turned out that the man was on the level, at least in that respect. Two of the delegates confirmed that they had been approached with offers of military protection for their planets, offers that had seemed to be conditional on certain 'minor' political and economic concessions. A third delegate had denied receiving such an offer, but something about the man's behaviour had roused Spears' suspicion and a quiet word with one of the representative's aides had confirmed that there had been several unscheduled, and unexplained, visits from other Assembly members. In a way, this was actually more worrisome, because the representatives' vehement denials seemed to indicate that not only had he been approached, but he might already have accepted such a deal.

"No, madam chairwoman. You don't need to remind me. I have had ample time to study the constitutional process, while you wasted weeks of precious time. However, I doubt that the constitution was intended as a suicide pact. This situation calls for immediate action. Not endless debate."

"Are we then to set aside our democratic principles, general? No, all opinions must be heard and be taken into consideration, before such a momentous decision can be taken."

"And in the mean-time we lose Shanxi, and with it all strategic advantage."

"So you say, general, but frankly, I see no evidence of an immediate invasion. These aliens are looking for us, certainly, just as I'm sure the United Systems Military is looking for them. Does that mean that you intend to invade them? I certainly hope not."

"With all due respect, ms. Hammerstein, that is pure wishful thinking. We cannot simply sit back and hope for the best."

"And with all due respect, general, it is exactly that kind of thinking that has put us in this situation. If your officers had been a bit less inclined to assume the worst-"

"Are you suggesting," Spears snarled. "that the navy is somehow to blame for the blatantly unprovoked attack on Auriga and her escorts?"

"Not at all, general. Not at all." Hammerstein seemed to realize that she had pushed the general too far. "However, I AM suggesting, that the military seems rather over-inclined to interpret every move these aliens make as proof of hostile intent. Perhaps, general it would behove you to sit back and look over the events of the past weeks again. You might find yourself looking at a picture that is less dark and gloomy than you think."

It was all Spears could do to stop himself from reaching across the desk and ripping Hammerstein's throat out. The temptation was terrible. Although he wasn't getting any younger, Spears had kept himself in good shape and he had no doubt that he could take the civilian down without too much effort; almost certainly before security could enter the room and stop him. Unfortunately, it wouldn't serve any purpose other than temporary personal gratification. Harper had been right about that. Simply getting rid of Hammerstein would not be enough.

"I hope you're right, ms. Hammerstein," he said as he rose from his chair. "I sincerely hope so. For if you're wrong, all of humanity will pay the price."

Without another word, he stalked from the office.

-o-o-o-

Spears was still fuming on the way home. Politicians; ALWAYS politicians. First, they hand the government over to the corporations because they're too busy posturing for the cameras to do their jobs. We give control back to them on a silver platter and what do they do? Now they're going to hand it over to a bunch of aliens! We lost thousands of soldiers and countless civilians the last time. How many will it cost to regain our freedom if we lose it again? That was not going to happen, not on his watch. He reached for his communicator and typed in a long string of numbers.

"This is Spears. I wish to speak to Mr. Harper."

-o-o-o-

This time they met in a small park. Spears has changed into civilian clothes for the occasion and Harper was as anonymous as always in his brown and grey suit. The two men blended perfectly in with the mass of local people on lunch break.

"Alright, Harper. Let's assume for the moment that I believe you about Hammerstein. You implied that you had a way to fix this. Let's hear it"

Harper smiled briefly. "You're very direct, general. Well, I suppose it saves time. Unfortunately, I have only half the solution. Yes, I can deal with Hammerstein, but simply removing her from office, or exposing her little game won't be enough. First of all, she needs to go down hard. So hard, that there can be no recovery for her, or any of her cronies. Second, we need someone to take over; to fill the power vacuum she leaves behind. The last thing we need is the sort of chaos that follows a breakdown in government. Now, I can do the first thing, but I cannot achieve the second. That requires a public figure, a leader; Someone strong, respected. Someone who can give the people the confidence they need to face an alien invasion. Someone like you."

Spears hesitated. Harper was right, of course, but to put something like this into words... Still, things couldn't go on as they had.

"Keep talking."

"For this to work, I need three things, general."

"Name them."

"First, I need money. We cannot use her actual motive to expose her. Too many people here on earth would agree with her goals, if not her methods. We need something simple, something that everybody can understand, and that everybody would be horrified about. Greed is such a motive, but for that to work, there has to be actual money that we can point to and say: ' that is why she did it'. Can you get your hands on a sum of money?"

Spears nodded. "There are some discretionary funds I can tap. I would have to do it carefully, to make sure there is no paper trail, but it can be done. What else?"

Second, I need you to speak up, to denounce Hammerstein and her cronies, so that you will be well positioned to take over once she is gone. And third, I need you to draw Hammerstein out. Get her to make a public statement, no matter how mild, that supports the current delays."

"What?!" Spears hadn't thought anything would shock him by now, but this... "Are you out of your mind? The moment I speak out publicly again Hammerstein I'll be history. The USM commander in chief serves at the pleasure of the Assembly. Hammerstein will have me fired and replaced by someone more tractable."

"Not that easily, general." Harper seemed unperturbed by Spears' outburst. "She'd need a two-third majority to have you fired. That would take time to arrange, even for her, especially since firing the commander in chief in the middle of a military crisis would be a very stupid idea. Besides, once I take care of Hammerstein, she won't be firing anybody."

"You mean: IF you take care of her."

"Oh, you can trust me on that, general. As I told you before, I'm very good at my job."

Spears knew he was being backed into a corner and didn't like it one bit. If this plan was put into motion he would be in the spotlight, taking the full brunt of a political shitstorm, while Harper stayed in the shadows. And if Harper failed to deliver, Spears' career would be over and nothing would be gained.
He would never know what his decision would have been if his communicator had not chosen that moment to start buzzing. One look at the screen told him enough and made the decision, perhaps the most momentous of his life for him.

"It seems, Mr. Harper, that events have overtaken us."

"Is that so general?"

Spears nodded. "This is a priority message from Arcturus. An alien fleet has just come through the newly discovered relay and is moving toward Shanxi."

USM Ark Royal, Arcturus

From the bridge of her flagship, admiral Drescher watched as wave after wave of fighters surged forward, swarming out to envelope the enemy formation. Half a dozen destroyers, screened by an equal number of frigates awaited the onslaught. Simulated point defence lasers lashed out at the fighter squadrons, scoring simulated hits that resulted in simulated kills. It was not enough. Although nearly a score of the attacking fighters was ruled destroyed and had to abandon the exercise, the remainder closed in, their combined ECM overwhelming the hostile defences. The first wave, comprised exclusively of SA-23 Starfuries closed to knife range, using their mass accelerators to strafe the hulls of their targets, destroying sensors and point defence emplacements. They were followed by a second wave, half Starfuries, half F-302 strike fighters. The Starfuries followed the example of their predecessors, closing to within effective range of their onboard weapons. The F-302s stood off at a distance and launched a massive volley of missiles into targets whose point defence had been severely compromised. Within seconds the engagement was over, with most of the destroyers dead in space.

Admiral Drescher turned toward her chief of staff. "It worked."

"Yes, admiral, though, if I may say so-"

"It wasn't a very realistic exercise. I know. No hostile fighters and a small number of targets. That wasn't the point. The point defence came as close to emulating the alien weapons and targeting systems as we can make based on admiral van Buren's reports. Now the pilots know that their ECM can defeat it. God knows they needed the moral boost."

By now the victorious fighter squadrons were on their way back. Soon, Ark Royal would commence the recovery operation. Nearby her fellow carriers Enterprise and Yamato would do the same. There should have been a fourth carrier, but Constellation had been exempted from the exercise in order to allow her pilots, many of whom had only had their reserve status activated a few days before, to practice launch and recovery operations.

"Next, we'll put some of the Arcturus base fighters aboard an auxiliary carrier. Give the destroyers some extra cover and add a new element to the exercise."

Second Fleet had reason to be proud. Despite the fact that nearly half its strength had been in reserve, as little as three weeks earlier, it was shaping up well. Unfortunately, that wouldn't matter as long as they were stuck at Arcturus.

USM Osawa, Shanxi

All six destroyers of the local defence force were concentrated once again at Shanxi. Although admiral van Buren would have preferred engaging the enemy in an uninhabited system, that was no longer an option. The alien fleet was too strong for his ships to attack them alone. He would need every bit of extra firepower that Shanxi could provide him.
Van Buren smiled grimly as he thought about the situation. The local navy detachment had performed a small miracle, getting the fighter squadron in fighting condition and deploying the new orbital defences. The latter were still not fully operational and from a bridge window aboard his flagship van Buren could see half a dozen shuttle manoeuvring in orbit to deploy one of the last pieces. The whole thing was completely improvised and had been dreamed up by junior officers during his absence. Never too proud to borrow a good idea, van Buren had set out to improve on the original concept and had taken it from a dubious, if well meant, scheme to something truly vicious.
Unfortunately, the reality was that nothing in Shanxi could stop the armada that was coming for them. This was all the more galling because everyone knew that the full might of second fleet was waiting at Arcturus, just one relay jump away. It seemed utterly ridiculous that the understrength forces at Shanxi would be called upon to fight and die, in a vain effort to stop an overwhelming enemy force, while plenty of reinforcements were within striking distance, held back only by political stonewalling. Still, at least they could make sure the aliens paid a steep price for their attack, if he could put his own defence plan into action.

HNV Righteous Fury, between Relay 288 and Shanxi

Daraya Sandis watched from the observation lounge of the turian flagship as one ship after another discharged its drive core in a local gas giant. It was a spectacular sight and normally she would have been thrilled to be able to observe it. After all, it was not every day that an asari liaison was asked to accompany the turian fleet.
However, Daraya was far from happy with the way things had gone. As one of several asari working at the Aephus shipyard she had been quite excited about facilitating the turian efforts to communicate with their prisoners. Initiating communications with a new species had been a fascinating challenge and her success had made her the logical team leader for the group that had set out to create the required translation software that the turians would need in order to open diplomatic relations. This, in turn, had led general Desolas Arterius to request her presence aboard his flagship as he set out on what he called: `an effort to defuse the current tensions and initiate peaceful negotiations'. It wasn't until she came aboard the Righteous Fury that she realized that she had, in fact, been drafted into an invasion force.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Daraya turned around. General Arterius had entered the observation lounge and was watching the progress of his fleet with obvious appreciation.

"Impressive, yes, general. However, I cannot help but worry about the KIND of impression that this display of firepower is going to make on the humans."

"One of strength and resolve, I would think. At least, I sincerely hope so, for that would mean that we can end this tragic misunderstanding without the need for additional violence."

"And if the humans decide that they need to show an equal amount of uhm, strength and resolve?"

The generals facial plates twitched in the turian equivalent of a smile. "Unlikely. Our scouts have observed their colony for a while now and all agree that they lack the necessary firepower."

Daraya didn't consider that news to be very comforting. "But that is only one colony, isn't it, general? Wouldn't it have been better to wait until you had a more complete picture of their strength?"

"Perhaps," general Arterius conceded. "but time is of the essence here. Already there have been several engagements between our forces and the humans. Each encounter costs additional lives. Besides, the latest developments are most worrying. The humans released a number of uncrewed craft through Relay 288 into citadel space. When we combine that data with the reports of possible A.I. use by human warships, we're looking at a potential disaster."

This was a rather sore point for Dayala. Ever since she had started working on the communication project the turians had been pressing her to interrogate the human prisoners about the use of artificial intelligence. She had tried to do so and the result had been rather embarrassing.

"As I have stated before, general, there is no evidence whatsoever to support this 'A.I.-threat' you keep bringing up. In fact, when I questioned the humans on that subject they didn't even understand me at first; and when they did, they thought I was making a joke; and when they realized I was sincere, they just thought I was insane."

"Perhaps. But then again, the prisoners were of insufficient rank and may not have been fully aware of the scope of the technology used in such devices. Or perhaps, they were simply under orders to keep it secret. Either way, I'm sure you would agree that even the chance of A.I.-controlled drones flying around citadel space is not something to be taken lightly. We need to know for sure, sooner rather than later. That is why we are here. To open communications, so that we can get the answers we need and put the matter to rest, one way or another."

"I see. I hope you'll forgive me for saying so, general Arterius, but does one truly need three dreadnoughts, more than twenty cruisers -not to mention a similar number of smaller ships- and forty-thousand soldiers to 'open communications'?"

"Perhaps not," the general conceded. "That really depends on the kind of response these humans make to our presence. Still, in my personal experience, it is always preferable to bring too much, rather than not enough firepower."

With a final look through the observation window, the general left the room, leaving Daraya to contemplate the future.

-o-o-o-

As the turian fleet discharged its drive cores and made ready to leave the system for the final part of its journey, two ships observed it from a respectful distance. One of these was well known to the turians. It was small frigate of salarian design and had followed the turians ever since they had departed from the Aephus shipyard. The turians had so far ignored the small vessel and the salarian crew had been quite happy to be ignored. No turian officer enjoyed having observers from the salarian STG along for the ride, but they tended to see it as a necessary evil. If they asked the salarians to depart, the small vessel would undoubtedly leave, only to be replaced by a ship that the turians had not spotted, and most turians would agree that an STG team that you could see was always to be preferred over one that you could not.

The second ship was of a different sort altogether and neither the turians nor the crew of the STG vessel were aware of its presence. Cloaked in a stealth field that none of the citadel races could hope to penetrate, it had been lying in wait for the turian fleet that had been expected to pass through the system sooner or later. Aboard this vessel other beings studied the turian fleet with cold, calculating eyes.

"So, they're finally making their move."

"Yes, and rather heavy handed, as usual."

The first speaker laughed, a rattling sound that echoed through the cavernous control room of the ship. "Turians are not exactly known for their subtlety."

"No, still, their methods are fairly successful. It will be interesting to see what they plan to do, once they reach the human colony. From the presence of the troop transports it would seem that they plan to land on the planet. Watching the hierarchy's regiments take on the human marines should be quite amusing."

"Quite so. Besides, it may give us the opportunity we have been looking for. In the chaos of an invasion we may be able to penetrate the research facility undetected. We'll follow the turians to their destination. If we're fortunate we'll be able to put a hunting party planetside and retrieve what we want. If not, well, as you said, at the very least it should be entertaining to watch."

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

Regarding ships' names: I'm messing around a bit with the turian ships. After all, it's an alien language so anything I name them will be a translation, and we don't know how such names would actually work out in turian language. For human ships I'm trying to be consistent, so right now all frigates are named after hand-to-hand weapons, the Rapid Deployment Vessels's after real amphibious operations, and the destroyers after famous naval officers. For the carriers it's a little different. I'm giving them the names of famous historical warships, irrespective of the kind of ship that they were originally named for, so their names will be a bit of a mixed bag.