A/N After an impressive social media campaign, I still do not own either Dragon Ball or Mass Effect
Merry Christmas and season's greetings to everyone! I hope that everyone is safe and sound and that you have a great time. Seems like everyone enjoyed the last update. Hopefully this one gets you more amped up for the next.
Comments:
Lord Anime, random123games, frankieu, LordXaero, Mobydicks, drdeth2000, dloold87, Rakaan, WarFlower, ShortyMcCoy, .549, Fokusas, Hyper xRecon, Jinx TheBlueHairedLunatic, EntertainmentChampion, HOREB 15, KasumiKeiko, victor0606, Sage Rikudo, Guest, dlowe265, Marcelo Muniz, MB80, Sir Cookie – thank you all. Every review is appreciated. It's good to know you are enjoying it.
fieryfoxpaws – there is no plan for the acrosians to be in the milky way but that doesn't mean that the councillors won't meet them somehow.
Necromancy94 – yeah I hadn't ever seen it before either and it confused me that no one else had ever really used that point. It seemed rather obvious in hindsight, even if it took me a while to realise that myself.
3687014 – yeah, going from powerful to powerless in less than a minute is likely going to be hard for them to handle. Pointing out hypocrisy will continue in the negotiations but not everything will be there. More will come out in later chapters. Teaching quarians to use ki is not guaranteed right now but helping the quarian immune systems isn't out of the question. Ki issue will likely change once I figure out the right way to do it. Ha, the Biotic God is always good for a chuckle. Don't think he is really going to be part of the story though. I am going to try and blend the two as evenly as possible but as that is highly unlikely I think it yes it will mostly be Dragon Ball but expanded to include the Citadel. And it wouldn't be Dragon Ball without over the top action.
AdamZeeper, GatsuBerk – good to be back. Don't worry, I don't plan to give up on it. I may take breaks but I don't like leaving things unfinished.
EchoSentient – Rating is T and will stay that way. Furries will exist as they do in Dragon Ball but they are only a very minor part and don't really have anything to do with the story line.
On with the story! Enjoy!
…
CHAPTER 8 – INTIMIDATION TACTICS
Councillor Valern looked through the reports one more time as the hour of the meeting with the aliens… humans and saiyans, feeling a mix of excited, dubious and apprehensive.
On their own, the humans might have been manageable. They obviously used element zero based technology for their ships, though they also seemed to use powerful gravity based missiles and at least a version of direct energy based weapons in their small arms and larger weapons platforms. That was technology. It was something he could deal with, preferably through the use of the STG in attempts to… acquire it for the salarians own use. For the moment, they were mostly a known quantity. Their ships were powerful enough that even with a ratio of two to one, the odds would be in their favour in combat. As it was, the salarian researchers were attempting to discover how to use gravity as a weapon in the same way but early reports said that their best scientists were stumped at how this was accomplished without the use of eezo. So they had beyond genius level intelligence and a fascinating amount of creativity to have come up with such technology. It set his own scientific curiosity on fire as he considered the ramifications of such equipment.
So yes, the humans were advanced, strong, but manageable. Their technology was something that could be measured and adaptations made to account for it.
The problem was these saiyans.
Had Valern not met the asari ambassador, Matriarch Irissa, he would have immediately dismissed her report of meeting with the saiyans as a work of pure fiction. Something to entertain children in one of those animated small-vid series before they went to school. However, the ambassador was not a woman taken to flights of fancy. It led to her reports having the weight of credibility that couldn't be ignored.
Still, it was difficult to accept that a sentient being had the ability to transform, survive in the vacuum of space or teleport without the aid of technology. He strongly suspected the talk about gods to be made up; an attempt from these aliens to obfuscate the real reason they were able to learn their languages. He suspected that it was more likely that they had been spying on the Citadel species for a long time. It was the only logical explanation that he could come up with. There had been no asari or salarian soldiers in the turian fleet that had attacked the human planet so there was no possibility of them being interrogated and giving knowledge of their languages that way.
The biggest thing to frustrate him was the lack of discernible data. Valern was a scientist; he trusted tests and numbers more than hearsay given by unknown aliens. Yet there was nothing that he could use to find out the secrets held by these saiyans and their obviously overwhelming technological advancements. Advancements he would love to get his hands on.
The door hissed open and he looked up to see Councillor Tevos walking into his office, her serene mask back on. He privately wondered if he was going to be treated to another show of the matriarch losing her self-control. Twice in a week would set new records and would be highly amusing.
"Tevos," he greeted politely. "What brings you to my office?"
"Valern," she responded. "Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?"
He blinked then gestured to the chair opposite him. He pushed his terminal to the side but didn't close it. Tevos would already have had access to everything the report said anyway.
"So which part of the report do you wish to discuss?" Valern asked. "The abilities of the saiyans, the technology of the humans…"
"How about the words of the ambassadors?" Tevos interrupted. Valern blinked again. It was strictly out of character for Tevos to interrupt him in conversation unless there was either a good reason to or she was highly emotional.
"Indeed," he said simply. "What about them?"
She huffed a sigh and relaxed her formal demeanour. "I think you know," she said curtly. "The fact that the humans and saiyans are blaming the fiasco on the entire Council and not just the turians. That is going to haunt us when we meet with them. We need to be able to deflect the blame."
"At the cost of appearing unified to the new species?" Valern asked curiously. It was standard practice that every time a new race met on the Citadel that all member races appeared together to show that the races were a united coalition. It was a way of showing that they were willing to support each other on all levels.
On a more sinister level, it showed that the might of those races would be willing to stand together against the new races should they think of attacking. Though Valern wasn't sure that it would be enough in this case.
"I know, the ramifications," Tevos reluctantly conceded. "But this is a first, even for me. We haven't had a First Contact go so badly ever. Not even with the rachni did problems start before we started talking to them."
"Yes," Valern agreed absently, looking back at the terminal in thought. "Concerning."
"I mean, I know that we must appear united but I just don't know what we can do to appease these humans and saiyans after bombing their planet like the saiyans did," Tevos lamented.
"Don't believe that I see a problem, "Valern interrupted. "Losses for humans were comparatively minor. Deaths estimated to be less than five thousand, depending on crew levels for their ships. Damage to the planet was negligible, due to the timely intervention of the saiyans who somehow prevented the planet being bombed from orbit." Valern was still unsure how to explain that. The planet itself was real enough but how did the saiyans and humans managed to prevent the damage that should have been present from more than one hundred ships firing at the planet at the same time? He couldn't think of a satisfactory answer that went outside the laughable idea of supernatural abilities. "Saiyan losses are predicted to be limited. Less than ten. Cost for reparations should reflect this."
Tevos seemed to wilt in her chair. "Perhaps you're right," she said, sounding hopeful for the first time. Her face hardened again. "But that means we are on to our second major concern from their words."
He looked at her, his mind racing to think what it could be. There was only one logical answer. "Sparatus."
She nodded. "Sparatus. We need to find a way to contain his wounded pride."
"It won't be easy," Valern tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nearly a hundred thousand turians lost their lives there on that fool errand. Not to mention the fact that a coalition of two races managed to defeat one and a half turian fleets. This hasn't happened since the Krogan Rebellions. The primarchs and Sparatus have been making a lot of noise. It clearly offended their pride more than losing their soldiers did."
The calm veneer that had returned to Tevos' face twisted into a sneer. "I know. I had to tell him to stop the primarchs from assembling their forces in preparation to invade the human and saiyan worlds. I informed him that if the turians wish to invade the new races then they would do so alone and he was happy to do it. It wasn't until I threatened to evict the turians from the Citadel Council if they continued to act like krogan that he finally agreed to wait. Now he is going to be pushing for an excuse to go to war to reclaim whatever imaginary pride they believe they lost."
"Yes, the primarchs still seem to be assembling ships and supplies for a long, drawn out campaign, according to STG reports," Valern offered. "I have likewise informed Sparatus that the Salarian Union will not support a war if the aliens do not start one. He seemed very put out. I also worry that he will be unnecessarily antagonistic."
"Then I shall need your help to curb his attempts at justifying vengeance," Tevos said firmly. "We are looking for peace, not war. If war is unavoidable then so be it but the Council shall not be the antagonists of such a conflict."
Valern agreed and returned to his work. What he hadn't said was what the dalatrass had already proposed. After all, the genophage had already worked once…
…
Ambassador Anita Goyle stared around the bridge of the dreadnought with a feeling of mild curiosity. She had thought that it would have been busier for most of the journey to the Citadel. Instead, it was mostly people staring at different screen and pushing holographic displays. There was very little talking and it was mostly just whispered conversation by the bridge staff when they thought the captain wasn't paying attention to them.
The door behind her hissed open and a voice from someone to her left yelled out. "Admiral on deck!" all the bridge officers immediately jumped into stiff poses of attention. Those that were seated leapt to their feet and without exception, they all stared forward into space. None of them actually looked in the Admiral's direction.
"As you were," Admiral Drescher called out and the bridge crew returned to whatever their duties had been before the interruption. The admiral moved forward and stood beside Anita.
"Are you ready for this?" Drescher asked bluntly, looking straight ahead at the viewport on the far side of the bridge. The blue glow of the relay was barely visible in the distance, but it was slowly growing as the cruiser approached.
Anita couldn't help shrugging. "Of course. It's my job, after all. Are you?" she looked at the admiral.
Drescher was visible unimpressed to have been sent on this mission. As a fleet admiral it wouldn't be considered too unexpected for her to attend the meeting with the alien council. What was unusual was that she was only the fleet admiral of the Rapid Response Fleet, made up of available components of the 2nd Fleet. Normally it would be the fleet admiral of the 1st Fleet instead. However, Alliance Command had ordered Admiral Drescher to attend as the stand in military leader due to the fact she was actually able to speak the alien languages. That had taken a little explaining. Eventually Anita had interjected that it was only possible because of their saiyan allies, which Command accepted. The Admiral of the Navy in charge, Admiral Jinao, had even asked if it were possible for the saiyans to give more people the alien languages to better facilitate communication. Anita interjected and said that it wasn't the saiyans themselves that did it, but one of their allies. Moreover, their ally had said that it was a one-time deal. Jinao wasn't happy but he had no choice but to accept.
Drescher gave a grunt. "Not like I have a choice at this stage," she said. "I need to be ready. We threw the gauntlet at them during the meeting with that asari woman and I don't like to hand over my jobs to other people half done."
Anita nodded. She could appreciate that. She never liked starting a project, or negotiations, and passing them on to someone else before they were finished.
"Any word from the saiyans?" Dresher asked.
Anita nodded. "King Vegeta said that he and three others will be appearing at this meeting with the alien Council. Goku and Vegeta will be coming again and this time Prince Trunks will be joining them. He said he wanted his son to get a first-hand lesson on politics, the same way that his own father had taught him."
"Are they bringing a ship or… you know what, stupid question," Drescher muttered.
Anita couldn't help chuckling. "Yes, they are going to wait until we are on the Citadel then teleport to us directly," she confirmed.
"Admiral, approaching relay for final jump to the Widow system," a random officer called out. "ETA to transition, thirty seconds."
"Roger that," Drescher replied. "Send out the call, all hands prepare for relay transit. Take us through."
Anita watched as the relay started to spin faster. Then a blue streak of lightning shot out and impacted with the dreadnought. A moment later, it was all over.
"Admiral, confirmed arrival in Widow system," the officer called out again.
"Admiral, we have positive location on the space station," another called. "It's… wow. Uh, I am reading it as nearly fifty kilometres long and about twenty at the widest dispersion on the arms."
Anita felt her stomach flicker with anticipation. The information on the OSD that had been provided by the asari had claimed that their Citadel was that big, though she had held out a small amount of scepticism that they might have been exaggerating. Clearly not.
"Admiral!" the second officer barked out again. "I am reading combat ships on our approach vector. Same IFF as the turians that attacks Shanxi, the asari and unknowns. Total amount, estimate four thousand three hundred and twenty-eight combat vessels, judging by sensor reading of weapon emplacements, two thousand others of expected non-com variety."
Anita felt her heart tighten. More than three thousand combat vessels? That didn't sound like the arrangement of a peace treaty.
"Classifications?" Drescher barked.
"Reading twenty dreadnought class, including a big one that measures at two-point-five klicks, a thousand cruisers of various makes and the remainder frigates and corvettes. Maybe five hundred fighter craft, sir!"
Anita stared at the admiral who looked deep in thought.
"All ships, full stop!" Drescher ordered. A moment later Anita felt the deck shudder ever so slightly as the forward momentum of the dreadnought stopped dead. Someone yelled out that the escorting cruisers had followed the order and halted.
"Any response from the alien vessels?" Drescher demanded. Anita stayed quiet and moved back out of the way. This was a part of the show that she had nothing to contribute to. Didn't mean she couldn't watch from the sidelines.
"No Admiral," someone called out. "All alien vessels are at station keeping. Weapons charges at half power and staying steady without increase. Kinetic barriers are offline
Drescher nodded. "Keep weapons cold, bring barriers up to fifty percent. They know we are here. Now we play the waiting game. See who blinks first."
"Admiral! Receiving an incoming transmission from that closest dreadnought. Language appears to be turian, sir!"
Anita saw the admiral's mouth quirk a little in annoyance. "Didn't take long," she muttered softly. "Patch it through."
"Attention unidentified ship," an odd voice came through the speaker in the turian language. It sounded very different to the voice of the ambassador that had Anita had met with above Shanxi and was undoubtedly a little hostile. "You are in Council space. Please state your intentions and purpose."
"This is Admiral Kastanie Drescher aboard the Human Systems Alliance dreadnought SSV Fuji. We are coming in response to the invitation that was passed on by the Citadel Council Ambassador Irissa. I have with me Anita Goyle, Human Systems Alliance ambassador. Are we going to be received peacefully or should we turn back to our space and just assume that we are at war?"
Anita couldn't help but wince a little at the blunt words the admiral used. Surely such a high-ranking officer should have at least a little political decorum. She was the only one to feel that way though, she noticed as she looked around and saw the blank stares of the bridge crew. It took her a moment to realise that the admiral had replied in the turian language, which was unknown to the rest of the crew. In fact, only Anita would have understood what had been said.
"Human dreadnought," the alien voice came back, "your arrival was expected. You and your escorts may approach the Citadel where a shuttle may take your party to the designated landing zone."
"Thank you but we shall not be approaching the Citadel until you power down weapons in your obvious attempt to intimidate us," Drescher said to Anita's shock. "We do not need to be here, and such immature and antagonistic actions are not convincing me to stay in system."
"What are you doing?" Anita hissed in English. It had taken a few hours of practicing switching back and forth between the languages, but she had managed to be able to do so with relative ease.
Drescher just waved her off and for a long tense moment nothing happened. Anita could only assume that there were some very heated words being exchanged between the asari and turians and whoever was in charge.
"Human vessel, we acknowledge your request," the strange voice bit out like she was forcing herself to stay somewhat civil, "however, we do have a policy of not allowing warships from foreign powers too close to the Citadel without having our systems ready to respond."
Drescher had a sneer on her aged face. "Turian, you have more than four thousand warships in system while we have five," Drescher countered. "You can easily tell that we do not have our own weapon systems charged. We have come in good faith to negotiate peace between our peoples and yet you have met us here with weapons drawn. As such, I cannot in good conscience remain in system when the other side, being yourselves, is so openly hostile. I bid you good day and shall meet you on the battlefield. Pray to whatever gods you wish on that day because you shall need it."
"Helm, turnabout to the relay," the admiral ordered in English. "We are going home."
"Aye, sir!"
The ship started its turn and Anita found herself feeling at a loss. "Why are we leaving?" she demanded. "We were invited for peace talks to prevent a war!"
Admiral Drescher raised a stiff eyebrow. "I will not allow the conversation of peace to be conducted while there is a pistol at my head," she growled softly enough so that only Anita could hear her. "This was a deliberately antagonistic attempt to get us to do something foolish."
"We are doing something foolish," Anita bit out quietly. "We leave now and there will be a war. Even with the saiyan's help it is not something that we want to find ourselves in. If the saiyans choose not to fight with us then we face the loss of many thousands of lives."
"It won't come to that," the admiral said smoothly. "In fact, any second now…"
"Admiral!" a voice called out somewhere behind Anita. "All alien ship's weapons are powering down. Another transmission incoming, this time from the big dreadnought in the centre."
A tiny sly smile came over the admiral's lips. "See," she said softly. "You negotiate with politicians, I negotiate with military."
"Patch it through," she called out firmly, leaving Anita feeling flat footed. She hadn't felt that out of it since she was a trainee diplomat. She didn't like it at all!
"Admiral Drescher, this is Matriarch Lidanya of the Destiny Ascension," a smooth asari voice spoke up. "On behalf of the Citadel Council, I apologise for the apparent slight that you have been offered today. I assure you that you do not need to leave the system. You are able to approach the Citadel without fear of further inconvenience."
"No, Matriarch," Admiral Drescher ground out harshly. "We shall not approach until the turian fleets have left the vicinity of your Citadel. A failed invasion of our space was bad enough, but this is the second time that they have sought conflict. While we will allow discourse between our people and the turian representatives it shall not happen while the weapons that are owned and aimed by the turian military are held over our heads in a vain attempt to show their supposed superiority. That is an insult too far."
A long pause came down the line. "The turian fleets are here by Council invitation," the asari eventually protested.
"Then they can leave by Council direction," Drescher rebutted. "We were given certain assurances of peaceful negotiations. If your politicians are as fair minded as they claim to be then they will know that no lasting peace treaties ever happen when they are compelled by arms. Send the turians home, or we will leave in a state of open war."
A short pause then the matriarch finally replied. "Please stand by, SSV Fuji." The line went dead again.
Anita imagined that there must be some rather furious discussion in the background as politicians butted heads with military personnel in an attempt to show who was really in power.
Finally, after about ten minutes, a different voice called out over the speaker. "Attention all ships of the Turian Hierarchy," a different but still suspiciously asari voice said. "By order of the Citadel Council you are to vacate the system and return to your regular duties. The Citadel Defence Fleet will be sufficient to ensure the safety of the Citadel. You are all commended for your diligent efforts in protecting the Citadel and our interests and people, but you are to depart the Widow system immediately."
Anita blinked and looked over at the admiral who had a visibly triumphant smile on her face.
"You see, Ambassador," Drescher said smugly. "You deal with politicians, I deal with military."
Anita nodded and turned to look at the holographic display that showed that ships were leaving by the dozen, heading to mass relays scattered on the far side of the system.
Maybe she had underestimated the admiral after all.
…
A/N As always, please Review and Follow/Favourite the story as you please.
I know, a little evil here. So many people hoping that the Citadel would meet the saiyans here and this had nothing to do with them other than references. Well, I felt like the humans needed a chapter to show that they were not pushovers but strong in their own right. Also, this chapter was going to be longer and actually include the meeting but I am having problems writing it in a way that I am happy with so I cut it in half so that you could have a Christmas present. Negotiations will definitely happen next chapter so stay tuned! Saiyans meet the Citadel, next time on Dragon Ball Super/Mass Effect!