A/N Standard disclaimer of ownership
WOW! The response to that last chapter was awesome! I am glad that so many of you enjoyed it. And yes, for those that mentioned it, I tried to keep Vegeta's reaction and rant about as real to his character as I think he would be. Unless I specifically say, I try and keep the characters as close to their original selves, personality-wise, as possible. After all, they are the characters that we grew attached to, enjoy, love and laugh with/at.
Thank you to all those who reviewed the chapter. 67 reviews since I last updated! That is a record for me. Obviously I am not going to be able to reply to everyone in the AN but thank you to all of you. I am glad you liked it so much. I really enjoyed writing it.
Comments:
Everyone who commented, thank you so much. I read and appreciate every review, even the ones who don't particularly like parts of the story. It lets me know where I stand.
Mteran305 – I'm a man. Thanks for the sentiment.
Guest – Goten, Pan, a couple of others like Jiren will feature in the story but not sure to what extent.
ShortyMcCoy – there will be at least one, yes.
On with the story!
…
CHAPTER 10 – NEGOTIATIONS
Valern was concerned.
This whole meeting had not gone any near as well as he had, admittedly rather optimistically in hindsight, hoped it would. They had already lost the chance to gain an ally to the Citadel, thanks to the outright stupidity and stubborn pride that Sparatus had forced down their throats. The man was so utterly convinced in the superiority of the turian navy that he refused to see what was directly in front of his face. And it had made the turian change his trousers in the intermission.
The saiyans were far more dangerous than anything they had yet seen.
Valern wished it wasn't true. He wished that he could disbelieve what the data and his eyes showed him. He couldn't though. It wasn't in his nature to hold to false hopes that way. His time in the STG as a science officer wouldn't allow it. The implications of what these saiyans could do was staggering.
He had initially thought it might be nothing more than a clever hoax. That was, until the STG sent a report on to him discretely about whatever that light ball was that caused the explosion. He had thought it might just be a light trick out to a pre-set explosive device. The STG report contradicted this completely. Though they were unable to fully explain what the energy was that they had seen, the conclusion was that the same form of energy was also registered in the light itself and that it was sufficient enough to cause the explosion.
And King Vegeta had fired that little ball of light out of his hand.
So either the saiyans were extremely advanced artificial constructs, or they were aliens with talents and power that far surpassed anything the Citadel Council had ever seen. And now Sparatus had gone and insulted them.
The turians would be pushing for war after this, he knew. Regardless of the outcome of the talks with the humans the turians would want to pacify the saiyans and force them into submission. Regardless of the outcome of the talks, which were now in dire need of stabilising, he realised as Councillor Tevos was ordering all responding fleet and security forces to stand down, while Sparatus was glaring unhappily at the saiyans that remained, the turians would want a war. If for nothing else than to prove their superiority.
Valern wouldn't be supporting it on behalf of the Union, he knew. There were far too many unknown variables in this to be able to think of having a war with the saiyans. The STG would be doing what it could in the meantime to get information but there was obviously not going to be too much if the saiyan king had declared that there was not going to be any treaty signed between their people and the Citadel. There was a multitude of other, less likely, scenarios that could be considered but none really seemed likely. Even if this teleporting thing that the saiyans were doing was technological, which he was not sure of any more after that little energy ball display, there was no physical evidence that he had seen that was visible to be scanned by anyone who might have been able to get an omni-tool close enough to try. And if the teleporting was due to their abilities and not technology… there was no known way to stop them from going wherever they went. It was a security headache of massive proportions. It also was a reason that he was rethinking another 'solution'.
The genophage.
With the krogan, the genophage had been simple. Sabotage the Shroud on Tuchanka and spread it that way. Doing the same to the saiyans would be an issue on how to disperse it. But even if they could manage it, there was the problem of retaliation. There had been no way or the krogan to attack a turian or salarian world without being able to force their way through the defences and that would have led to heavy losses. If the saiyans could just teleport to a new planet and start destroying everything in sight, there was no way to prevent their wrath being rained down on them. That was something that the salarians would not be happy with. The dalatrass would take some convincing, but Valern knew that staying neutral towards the saiyans was within the best interests of the Union at this time. That may change later but for now, there was no harm in extending a frond of mutual peace.
As long as Sparatus didn't mess it up again.
…
Gohan stood behind Ambassador Goyle, staring around the small room. To the ambassador's left was the admiral, Drescher, who was glaring at the three Council aliens as they shuffled around doing things and ordering a full retreat of all Citadel Security forces that had been making their way to the Tower. It had taken half an hour of ordering and growling back and forward between the councillors as the turian was determined to have them all considered a terrorist threat because of what Vegeta had done, which was classic Vegeta behaviour, Gohan though ruefully. The asari was far more concerned with keeping what little peace that was salvageable as best as she could and the salarian was standing there just watching. Going by the information that he had gained from the turian prisoners over at Shanxi, that didn't seem out of character. The consensus that they had received was that the salarians never ran in head first. They always waited until they had enough information to go on. The information that they had received about the genophage was worrisome though. He didn't fancy a disease that would be able to effectively neuter an entire species. Something like that with the numbers the saiyans currently had would be a death sentence to them.
Thankfully, if the salarians were ever either brave, desperate or stupid enough to try and do that to the saiyans, they could just use the dragon balls to remove it. The question then is how many worlds would Vegeta destroy before he was satisfied with the vengeance that he would crave. It was entirely possible that he would seek the eradication of the entire salarian species. Hmmm, he thought to himself. I should probably say something at this meeting. Just so they don't think themselves too clever and try and unleash that on Mindoir.
He looked at his human contemporaries. Ambassador Goyle was calm and slightly smug as she stared at the councillors, waiting for them to be ready. Admiral Drescher had a hard, serious look on her face. She had argued quietly with the ambassador that they should retreat and have any further discussions on a human ship in neutral space. Goyle had argued that leaving now would guarantee war and the only way to prevent future hostilities was to finish this here, so long as the Council races stopped their security forces. Vegeta sending that ki blast had really done a number on the aliens and trust was currently in short supply. As a result, after a quick mental conversation, his dad had gone back to the human spaceships to protect them if necessary. They had agreed that Goku should do it because of all Goku's many talents, diplomacy was not one of them.
That's what Gohan was for.
Not that he expected there to be any need for him to be particularly diplomatic today. Vegeta had already decreed that there was going to be no alliance between the Council races at least until after a massive apology from the turian councillor and Gohan didn't find that likely any time soon. The man had oozed arrogance on a level with Frieza. The only difference was that Frieza could back up his arrogance with power. Or, he had been able to before his death nearly fifty years before. The old warlord had finally succumbed to old age and died of natural causes in a galaxy far, far away after a truce had been settled between the saiyans and Frieza after that first Tournament of Power. As a result, no races went extinct and Frieza didn't have to worry about Goku turning up to stop him.
A small cough from the salarian councillor brought Gohan's focus back to the table. The asari was sitting with a tight expression, obviously desperate to avoid any further conflict. The salarian just looked blank. Gohan was having a hard time reading his face. The turian was obviously not very happy. His arms were folded tight against his chest and the mandibles on his face were clenched.
"Now that we are all here and ready," the salarian, Valern, began, "allow me to say that on behalf of the Council and our associated races that we are glad that the Human Systems Alliance was willing to stay for further negotiations. We, I believe, are all anxious to avoid further bloodshed."
Anita gave a small sly smile. "Yes, I imagine that we all wish to avoid future conflict. As such, on behalf of the Alliance, I thank you for calling off your security forces so expeditiously so that we could continue these negotiations."
"Of course," Tevos said, speaking from her place in the middle. "Now, shall we first begin with…"
"Reparations for loss of life and material suffered by the Alliance at the hands of the Council forces," Drescher cut in harshly.
The purple alien looked a little put out for a moment before she nodded. "Indeed. Would you happen to have an estimate of what you are looking for in terms…?" She stopped as her wrist computer pinged. She brought out the file and let it display at the terminal on the table.
"This figure… will be hard to meet," Tevos continued haltingly. The unassuming number three was not the issue. It was the twelve zeros that followed it directly afterwards, without a decimal point to break it up.
"Then you should have thought about that before you illegally invaded human space and took human lives," Drescher growled. "You are asking us how much a life is worth. Well, we look at the pain and suffering of each member of the families who will wake up each day knowing that their loved ones are not coming home because some tyrant butcher with the authority of your Council decided to make a grab for territory. This is the number that we have come to as a satisfactory recompense."
The turian grumbled a little but didn't speak out. Gohan assumed that he had basically been censured by his allies and was on a short leash. It made sense to him. Gohan wisely chose not to say that the humans that had died would be brought back to life once they used the dragon balls. After the behaviour and attitude of the turians, Vegeta had sent a mind message that demanded that the turians that had died basically stayed dead.
"Still, this is indeed a very large number," the salarian said. "Three trillion credits is enough to bankrupt several of our smaller client races."
"Then isn't it lucky that you can spread it among so many races," Goyle spoke up. "But only if half of that sum comes directly from the turian government. After all, we can all accept that they were the largest culprits in this massacre."
Gohan thought it was rather clever. Using a variety harsh words to emphasise again and again how bad the other side screwed up. He wouldn't be surprised if Goyle and Drescher worked as a team more often.
"That is too high a sum for us to pay!" the turian, Sparatus objected. "We lost far more soldiers and ships than you did at, allegedly, this saiyan's hands…" He gestured towards Gohan with his claw.
"And you can only blame yourself for attacking us in the first place!" Drescher snapped back. "We didn't attack you, we didn't send our troops to your world. We didn't fire on you without even sending a message declaring our intentions. We didn't order hundreds of space ships to invade your planets. And when you fled, we didn't chase you down, as your ships did to ours. We let your people escape with their lives! So yes, you will pay that sum and be damned grateful that the saiyans were there to stop the orbital bombardment of a garden world, which is a direct violation of your own laws! Otherwise, we would be demanding much more."
"Yes, I wonder how your own peoples would react if they knew that the turians were willing to act to save face," Goyle stepped in, her voice calm and slick. "How many of the asari, the volus, the batarians would protest the continued placement of the turians as your peak military body if they had to fear such bombardment. You need to realise that you are not only repaying lives. You are buying silence."
The asari looked stricken at those words. The salarian sat up straighter, if it was possible, while the turian became even more clenched up at that. Gohan was impressed with how the human representatives were doing so far.
A small sigh escaped the lips of the asari woman. "Very well," she conceded. "The number is acceptable. Three trillion credits paid in full, half of which will be paid directly from the Turian Hierarchy."
"Now wait just a minute," Sparatus squawked.
"No Sparatus!" Valern snapped back. "This number is acceptable. Maybe it will teach the turian people to think first before they act."
Sparatus grumbled and sat back in his chair.
The meeting continued for another ten minutes on a number of other grievances that were hashed out. Gohan stopped paying any real attention and let his mind wander to the training regime he needed to get the new super saiyans on. The first thing was to help them control the new arrogant attitudes that came with the transformations. Let them find a way to get their minds back to normal. Otherwise, it would cause issues as these powerful fighters believed they were the top dogs and went about trying to prove it. That was one of the reasons that Gohan was the trainer for the super saiyans. He had needed to give a few some rather painful reminders that they were still far below their leaders. It was a lesson in humility that got beaten into them quickly.
"And now we will go to territory," Goyle announced, bringing Gohan out of his thoughts. A holographic map of the galaxy was brought up by the admiral. There were only three colours on it, grey was the largest part, covering most of the galaxy. A small but significant area was covered in blue. A much smaller area was turned red.
"The blue colour marks the human territory that we claim within our borders," Goyle continued. "The red are the systems that fall within the saiyan's territory." There were more systems than Gohan expected to see there. He would have to make sure that Vegeta knew about it later.
Valern fiddle with his own wrist computer and another map filled joined the first on the table. A few more taps and the new map filled with colours too. "These areas represent the current locations claimed by the members of the Citadel, with the exception of this area." He highlighted a small area in brown. "This is a race known as the yagh. Their world is declared off-limits and there is an active quarantine zone around the planet."
"Why?" Gohan asked, speaking up for the first time.
Valern and the asari both looked at him for a long moment, though only the surprise on Tevos's face was noticeable. "We met with their world during a routine exploration," Valern replied. "A peaceful contact, or so we thought. We sent down a peaceful delegation to begin communications with them. None survived."
"What happened?" Goyle asked.
Valern looked at her for a long moment. "The peace envoy were eaten."
Gohan couldn't help a small grimace. Yeah, he wouldn't mention that one to Vegeta. Or maybe he would. It could be a good training run for the kids that were being trained by Pan.
"I see," Goyle said, her tone one of forced calm. She looked a little sick.
"I do see an issue here," Tevos spoke up, staring at the two maps. "The Alliance is claiming territory that the batarians are also claiming in the Attican Traverse. There is significant space here that the batarians have claimed exploration rights to that the Council granted them nearly a century ago."
"I see," Goyle said, thoughtfully. "Could you overlap the areas that would be contested on our map?"
Valern fiddled with his wrist and a new yellow section came up covering nearly half of the existing blue space on the human's map.
Gohan didn't fail to notice that the entire red area that indicated the saiyan territory was swallowed up by this new yellow area.
The human representatives shared a look, significant look. "We already have significant investments and actual planets in this area," Ambassador Goyle said slowly. "We will not be willing to give them up if you didn't have the foresight to think that this area of space may have already been claimed by a third party, such as us."
"No, no," Valern said. "All exploration contracts do indeed contain clauses that show that give a full retraction of rights if another race is found to be living in the area. The problem is that after nearly a hundred years, the batarians will have already expended significant cost to explore and assign mining leases."
"Well, this area now belongs to both the human and saiyan races," Goyle said firmly. "If you wish to avoid conflict, I would encourage you to impress that upon them."
"That may be more difficult than you would like," Sparatus spoke up for the first time since his initial outburst. "Batarians are stubborn. They will likely ignore us and attack your assets in the Traverse in order to encourage you to leave it to them."
Gohan frowned at that. It would definitely be information to pass to Vegeta.
"And you won't be able to stop them?" Drescher asked, her tone sceptical.
The turian grunted. "Contrary to what you seem to think, the Council does not run a dictatorship here. We do not force compliance. We do expect our member species to have a mite of honour. The batarians are the exception but they are smart enough to get around the treaties by hiring mercenaries and slavers to do the job for them. They do it in such a way that tracking the attacks back to the Hegemony is… difficult."
"Councillor Sparatus speaks the truth," Tevos said. "Many times our own colonies and envoys have been attacked and our people taken but we have no definitive way to prove that the batarians are behind the attacks. So, while we will tell the Hegemony that the exploration licences are revoked due to there being two races living in the proposed area, they will likely attempt to drive you out regardless."
Gohan exchanged a quick look with the admiral and gave her a tiny nod. Her frown lessened slightly as she turned back to the Council aliens. "They are welcome to try," she declared. "But they may not like the consequences."
The negotiations continued on for another hour and Gohan was well and truly bored now. He cleared his mind and went through his meditation techniques to prevent himself from focussing on the boredom but with Vegeta's declaration there wasn't much for him to do other than stand here listening to the Alliance representatives talking. They refused a trade on military technology. Domestic technologies would be decided on a case-by-case situation. None of it was of interest to Gohan. He was almost tempted to have a mind reading conversation with the other guards to ask them how they were coping but he didn't. He had the feeling that the guards probably wouldn't be interested in having a mind chat, in case they had a few secrets they wanted to keep, he had learned that from Videl after watching a few spy movies together on date night, and Gohan wasn't the type of person to use his telepathy just to snoop around.
Things finally seemed to be wrapping up. The humans had agreed to a non-aggression treaty with the Citadel but they would not be joining their galactic community at this stage. They did agree to it being a possibility in the future but that currently the situation was not one that the human government would consider.
"Before we conclude this meeting," the purple asari alien said, "there are a couple of points that we have heard but we were hoping that you could clarify."
The admiral and the ambassador looked at each other for a moment. "Ask and we will consider answering," Drescher finally said. "The worst that will happen is that we will say no, I suppose."
The asari councillor nodded. "The first one is actually for you, Son Gohan," she said, looking straight at him. Gohan stared back, raising an eyebrow in a gesture of polite curiosity. "We have heard reports of the saiyan people transforming from ambassador Irissa. Can you tell us what that means?"
It seemed like an easy question to Gohan, and they had mentioned it when they first met the asari above Shanxi. "Sure," he replied. "When a saiyan has enough power and they are preparing for battle they are able to break through their normal level slightly and our bodies transform to allow access to a greater amount of our ki energy. We can build up our energy so much in this form, which is my lowest form, but at some point it will reach a level that my body won't be able to go beyond. Once I transform, I can go beyond my base form limit."
"Would you mind if we ask to see this transformation?" the lizard Valern asked eagerly.
Gohan looked around the room. It was quite large. While smaller than the meeting chamber it was still larger than the docking bay had been. It looked like it was fairly sturdy as well. He shrugged. "Sure. Though I would recommend that every stand back. As none of you have built up your ki reserves, if you are too close you may find yourself being pushed aside a little. As we told the Ambassador Irissa, anytime we transform, a small amount of energy is released. I wouldn't want for anyone to be hurt by accident."
After a short moment when everyone moved to the other side of the table and Gohan backed away to give himself a bit more space. Then he built up his ki and transformed to super saiyan. The golden glow of aura surrounded him as his hair shot upright and turned golden yellow and his eyes turned a shade of turquoise.
"This is a super saiyan transformation," he said to the mostly stunned group. Tevos in particular looked astonished and her jaw had dropped wide open. "In this form I can use significantly more energy than in my base form. The next transformation is this."
He charged up his energy further and went to SS2. His hair stood up straighter and looked sharper. His visible muscles actually became leaner and the golden aura was now crackling with electricity. The energy release at this transformation actually knocked over the chairs on his side of the table and pushed the table back half a metre.
"Outwardly, this form doesn't look all that different to the first level of super saiyan but it still let me use a lot more energy than the first transformation does by a long way," he explained to his dumbfounded audience. He noticed that only the admiral was not staring in avid fascination. She was looking far more calculating in her expression. Tevos on the other hand was staring at him like a dehydrated woman at an oasis. It was kind of freaking him out a little.
"There is another level beyond this for regular ki but I won't show that here. The energy release might be too much. But there is another transformation that I will show you and that uses a different form of ki: god ki. It's the same energy that the kais have access to and allows the saiyans that can use it to transform to a level called super saiyan god."
With that he charged up the ki and immediately his hair and aura turned a bright blue colour. He noticed that the turian and the salarian's faces lit up in recognition. Clearly they had heard about it from his attack on the turian fleet at Shanxi. Tevos was staring at him with eyes wide and glittering.
"This is a level that we call super saiyan blue. It is actually the second level of transformation using god ki. It doesn't look too different from the other transformations, but it is far more powerful than the normal ki and has a few interesting side effects that we didn't realise when we reached this level. For instance, we heal much faster and can survive far more damage. We also seem to have either stopped aging or age so slowly that it is nearly impossible to determine how long we will live."
With that he powered down back to his base level. "I can also survive in space as long as I can hold my breath while in that form… as the survivors from the turian fleet can attest."
The turian councillor growled viciously. "How dare you!" he bellowed.
"Sparatus!" both the asari and salarian councillor's barked together. "Stop taking false offence to cover your lost pride," Valern continued in a biting tone. "Comport yourself with the dignity required by a member of the Citadel Council or you will be asked to depart! He said nothing offensive, only offering witnesses to prove that he is capable of doing what he said. You have heard far worse from the batarians now stop being foolish, or do you need a reminder of what King Vegeta showed us?"
At that statement the turian visibly flinched and shrank back for a second before composing himself. It was enough though for Gohan to see that the alien had been more affected by what Vegeta had done to him than he was probably wanting people to see. It was the same look of fear that Gohan had seen on the faces of many of the turians prisoners on Shanxi when he had interviewed them.
A long silence filled the room as everyone started moving back to their seats. The seats on the human side needed to be picked up and the human soldiers did that, making a show of dusting them off for the admiral and ambassador before the humans took sat down.
"Now," Ambassador Goyle said, breaking the awkward silence. "You said that you had another question?"
The three councillors looked at each other for a moment without saying anything. Eventually, the asari nodded to the other two.
"Yes," she said, looking back to the humans. "We have heard from King Vegeta and yourselves that you have referred to the Citadel as a tomb or a mausoleum several times. What do you mean by that?"
Gohan watched as the admiral and the ambassador exchanged an incredulous look. Gohan knew he felt the same. Once the Mars Archives had been decrypted it had been no secret to the humans or the saiyans what the Citadel really was.
"Are you telling us that your people have been using the Citadel for more than two thousand years in the case of at least two of your races, and a thousand years in the case of the turians, and you still haven't learned anything about the history of the protheans?" Goyle asked sceptically.
"We have learned many things from the artefacts that the protheans left behind," Valern spoke up. "However, we do admit that much of their history is still a complete mystery to us. We do not even have a complete language guide to them yet. What little we have comes from engravings, the odd sign and the extremely rare pieces of working prothean tech. however, those rare pieces do not contain full uses of the prothean language and our translations have sometimes been found to be incorrect later."
"And none of you wondered why it is that you have been unable to find any working prothean technology, despite the OCD you gave us said that the protheans had a large empire and claimed that they created the Citadel and the relays," Admiral Drescher continued dubiously. "And no one thought to ask why there was no other working space stations, satellites or other computer systems?"
Another look was exchanged between the three councillors. This time, they clearly looked uncertain, going by what Gohan could read from Tevos's face. He had a hard time reading the salarian and he was still learning the more subtle expressions on the turian's face.
"There have been theories," Tevos admitted. "But at this time there is nothing definitive. We cannot say for sure what happened to the protheans and where they went."
Drescher snorted. "Well, then, let us clear that up for you. The protheans are all dead."
The aliens gawked at her for a long moment. "You are certain?" Sparatus finally asked.
"Oh yes," Drescher replied. "And to further correct your mistakes and misconceptions: no they didn't build the mass relays or the Citadel."
The three aliens looked like someone had hit them over the head with a mallet. "Then who did?" Valern asked eventually.
"The same people that killed them," Drescher stated simply. "A machine race the protheans called the reapers."
"The reapers?" Tevos repeated. "None of our records have ever mentioned them. Who were they?"
"You mean, who are they?" Goyle cut in. "They are a race of sentient machines that come into the galaxy every fifty thousand years and wipe out the species that are living here. They spend a few decades doing that until everyone is dead, then they clean up the Citadel and disappear. The protheans were quite clear on that from the evidence they found of the main race that ruled the galaxy in the cycle before them, a people called the inusannon. The Citadel is a trap that is left behind at the end of each cycle and in no instance has a race failed to fall for it. The protheans had their government here. They were all killed here along with their emperor before the reapers moved on and took them world by world until they were extinct."
"I have a hard time believing that you are speaking the full truth," Sparatus spoke up. "This sounds like a fanciful story that is used to explain one of many possible reasons why the protheans are no longer around."
"Councillor Sparatus does make a good point," Valern said. "This does seem like an unlikely story. Where is the evidence of these so-called reapers?"
"The fully functioning prothean beacon that we have in our archives is quite clear on this matter," Drescher said drily. "We consider it highly unlikely that you would have no proof existing of the genocide against the protheans. Why would we try deceive you?"
"Maybe you want us to abandon the Citadel and keep it for yourselves," Sparatus grunted.
Gohan exchanged a quick look with the two human representatives. He mentally reached out to them. What do you think? he asked. Indoctrinated?
It's a possibility, Drescher said. Certainly towards the turian. His behaviour, if it wasn't for the fact that many of the living officers of the turians that we have in prison, would immediately stand out as such. Either way, I don't want to mention it until we know more.
Agreed, Goyle chipped in. We will need to see what happens later on. No need to act until we know more. The turians could just be unpleasant people or afraid that they are no longer on top of the food chain.
Gohan agreed. Vegeta had been rather put out when he heard about the indoctrination. It reminded him a little of the day that he had been taken over by Babidi. Granted, he had willingly given in to the short wizards control so that he could defeat Goku, but he hadn't liked having a voice in his head causing him pain like it had and was firmly of the belief that forcing some one's mind through indoctrination was a tool only used by 'worthless lesser races'. The mindless slaves that worked for the short alien had been enough to prove his point. Gohan knew that Vegeta would back him on any decision regarding indoctrinated people if needed.
"We have no interest in taking control of this place." Drescher finally said flatly. "Honestly, if the saiyans wanted to take it, do you think that they would need you to leave voluntarily, going by what you know of their powers?"
Gohan didn't miss the asari alien staring intensely at him for a moment. The turian just threw him another dirty glare.
"A valid point," the salarian responded. "Your information will require much debate. I don't suppose that you would be willing to share such information with us regarding this?"
Drescher raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Would you trust anything we gave you?" she asked, her tone flat.
To Gohan's lack of surprise, Goyle went the diplomatic route. "We can give you a copy of the warning that the protheans left for us at the Mars archives, with a copy of a prothean translation matrix, as a sign of good faith," she said. "It will be available once we have a diplomatic building here on the Citadel."
The aliens looked at each other briefly. "It is not typically standard for us to grant an embassy to a new race for at least a century," the salarian said. "Even less so when you are not becoming a signatory."
"Really?" asked Goyle. "And how do you maintain contact with the races and their political leaders in the meantime if you don't grant them an embassy?"
"We do allow them to establish a diplomatic outpost but it is not a formal embassy," Tevos clarified. "It is a simple office but it is not located with the other embassies."
Drescher looked disgruntled. "Yet another sign of your false superiority," she grumbled. "Very well, so long as our representative is allowed their own guards, then it doesn't matter what you call them."
"Agreed," Goyle said. "Let's get a few details ironed out first."
Gohan let out a resigned small sigh and leaned back. Maybe he should have let his dad stay here instead.
Actually, that would have been a horrible idea.
…
A/N Review/Favourite/Follow as you like
So yeah, this is not my favourite chapter. At the same time, I feel like any follow up chapter from the previous one would have been hard to live up to. But I wanted to get this out seeing as I had managed to finish it for now. Not the best, but at least the Council has an idea about the saiyans and their power. Will that be enough to convince the galaxy to leave them alone? Follow along next time on Saiyan Effect!
Also, frond of peace was deliberate from Valern. Lizard people and such.