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Councilor Tevos looked over the reports with well hidden frustration. The Matriarchs had been adamant that she do everything possible to get them an invitation to Asgard, or failing that, getting the Asgardians to visit them.
The problem was the Asgardians had no interest whatsoever in talking with them, let alone meeting them.
After Primarch Fados had returned from the peace summit the Asgardians stayed for only three more days to clear the worst of the rubble on Palavan, then they left. Depriving the Republics of their chance to make a proper introduction.
It didn't help that the humanity's fleet had blockaded the planet completely from all interstellar travel during the attack and for the duration of their brief occupation. So the diplomats meant to initiate the first contact protocols had been stuck on their ship the entire time the two new species were on Palaven.
The Republics and the Union had finally gotten a chance to initiate diplomacy when they were invited to accompany the Hierarchy in retrieving the prisoners and the fallen from Shanxi.
Unfortunately, the Asgardians weren't on that planet either. Only the humans had been there to greet them when the diplomats arrived.
Not an ideal situation, but they had managed to arrange formal introductions with the Alliance and invite them to the citadel.
The Alliance had declined membership, which wasn't an unheard of event. The Elcor waited 29 years after first contact to join the Citadel and the humans had only meet the galactic community at large only a little more than a galactic year ago.
Most citizens, especially the asari, thought it was just a matter of time before the humans decided to join the galactic community.
But Tevos and several other groups in the collective governments weren't so sure.
The biggest benefit given to new species in joining the citadel was protection. From pirates to posturing nations, the idea of fighting off the turian, asari and salarian fleets kept most of the galaxy at peace and prevented most conflicts from lasting long or escalating.
The humans, however, already had that protection in the form of Asgard. The enigmatic civilization had proven to be more than a match for the largest navy and ground force in the known galaxy. Not only defeating them in the field, but taking their home world as well. Something the Krogan Clans hadn't been able to do at the height of their power.
On top of that the humans had proven to be more than competent when it can to waging war. The fleet used at Palavan had matched most council ships in tonnages and fire power. Their numbers also suggested they were already had a vast fleet at their disposal.
The benefit of shared technology was a dead end as well. The humans and Asgardians didn't rely on the relay system to travel the stars. The Asgardians had their Bifrost, which had sparked several heated debates at all levels of Salarian society. Rumors said that STG had created an entirely new division for the sole purpose of studying the concept of it.
Then the Humans had their jump points, which were an advancement over the relays since they could establish new jump points while the relay system was still unable to be expanded beyond discover of new relays. They had not divulged any hints on how the jump point system worked, other than to say they utilize wormholes. She knew for a fact that the Republics and the Union had both formed task forces intended for espionage to find more information on this FTL method. Asgard may be a force to be feared, but the humans were the same as every other species. They had holes in their security, greedy individuals, sloppy guards, all factors that a talented agent could exploit.
Then Humans had already discovered element zero and utilized it in a few sectors of technology and science. However it was not in major demand. So they couldn't even entice them with the promise of resources or an expanded market.
In summary they had nothing to leverage them into joining the citadel. It didn't help that the Hierarchy had already buried their differences. She had tried to get the Turian councilor, Rupia Varinian, to have the Hierarchy press Asgard for formal introductions to the citadel, but she told Tevos the Asgardians had not left them with any means of communication except through the humans.
Varinian had also made it clear that the hierarchy would have no part in any espionage committed against Asgard and only passive observation of the Alliance.
Tevos had thought it odd that they would be so adamant about no espionage against the Alliance, while they had proven tenacious they were surely not as big a threat as the Asgardians.
But the reports she was looking at made her realize why the hierarchy had become weary of the Alliance. STG agents had gotten their hands on after action reports from Shanxi and Palavan and they proved enlightening.
The reports had covered several encounters with humans displaying a wide variety of abilities. These abilities ranged from a human directing fire like a biotic, the ability to pass through walls, there was even one instance of a human flipping a tank with no noticeable use of biotics or enhancing technology.
She wouldn't believe them if it weren't for the fact that the hierarchy tried to bury the reports and keep the video footage from becoming general knowledge.
She looked up from the reports to Commando who had brought them to her.
"You have sent copies of these to the Matriarchs?"
"Yes councilor."
"What do you make of them?"
The commando shrugged indifferently, "They have a few unique characters in their species, but they are the exception, not the norm. And even with their unique talents they nearly lost the fight on their colony. I doubt they will be a major threat, I honestly feel the Turians overreacted to them due to the shock of losing the way they did."
"That could be it." muttered Tevos as she stored the files away. "Thank you for bringing these to my attention."
The commando nodded then left.
Tevos then called her salarian counterpart, Councilor Aetoln Dohei, his face appeared on the screen in front of her almost instantly.
"Tevos, I take it you have seen the reports?"
"I have, I find it odd that the Hierarchy hid them. It is not like their whole species has these abilities."
"I thought so at first when I learned of them, but when compared in conjunction with reports coming from our listening probes I have reevaluated this prognosis."
"What did you find?"
"STG had deployed a drone with the ambassadorial ship to earth. It was able to hack a media satellite briefly before a network security was altered and extracted a selection of history books from it.
These unique humans called mutants or inhumans, have played a large role in their history. With several detailed accounts of how they shaped events and supposedly saved their species from extinction.
Not only that, but we have learned the Jump FTL they use is not of their own invention. They reverse engineered it from an extraterrestrial invasion force they defeated while still limited to their home world."
"You mean they had been invaded before? By who?!"
"Be a force not native to our galaxy."
"..." Tevos blinked several times. "Excuse me for asking, but are you sure this is from a history book and not some fictional writing?"
"Of course we are certain the story is authentic," Dohei tilted her head, "Did you really think we would mistaken fiction for history?"
"It was more of a hope, this humanity has so many unknowns i don't know where to start."
"Have the Matriarchs continued pressuring you on finding a means to entice their joining the citadel?"
"Almost as much as they want to meet the Asgardians."
"Humans are a likely a easier target. Even Asgard's ambassador on Earth lacks any interest in talking to us despite our efforts."
"Seems they only show their hand when there is a threat to the humans." Tevos paused as an idea came to her. "When do the humans begin trading with the Turians?"
"The first ships are scheduled to arrive towards the end of 2165." Replied Dohei , "Why?"
"Well, the Asgardians only showed their hands because the humans were attacked. What if they were attacked again?"
"Say a targeted attack on their soon to be coming trade vessels?"
"Precisely. An unwarranted attack on civilians occurring on a Hierarchy planet might even be interpreted as a hostile action from the Hierarchy."
"We have a number of spectres who have reliable mercenaries under their employment. As long as they take care of any evidence of contacting us it should be feasible approach. I would of course recommend waiting until the trade vessels become a normal occurrence."
"So the security would be more lax?"
"Correct. I also know of a few STG sites that could be used to study a ship outside of Citadel space."
"I will check for the spectres most suited for the task and have them start preparations." Tevos pulled up the Spectre roaster as she asked "Have the you spoken with Dalatrasses about the Asgard situation?"
"They have expressed, disappointment." Dohei's face briefly grimaced. "Obviously they are anxious to conduct a technology exchange, our lack of progress on this has brought me under serious scrutiny. I have anticipated a high possibility of me being replaced as soon as two years if no progress is made."
Tevos honestly thought that two years was hardly noteworthy but she had the advantage of living longer than 20 generations of Salarians, so she kept quiet.
"I suppose we best get to work."
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2164, embassies established on palavan and earth. Alliance introduction to citadel.
2165, reparations being paid, first human trade visits.
2167, Pontac incident. The Silk Road Caravan 5, a super freighter, docks in the port over the planet Pontac. While the crew unloaded the shipping containers a group of fifty Eclipse mercenaries sneaked past security and boarded the ship.
They almost reached the bridge before being the crew was able to initiate a lockdown of the ship.
The port security was alerted and a Blackwatch platoon, which were secretly placed on station every time the humans arrived, responded immediately.
They quickly killed all but five of the mercenaries before signaling the Alliance and a frigate was sent to oversee the freighter's journey home from citadel space.
The Hierarchy also gave the Eclipse mercenaries over to the Alliance for prosecution as an apology for the failure of their security.
The Alliance tried the mercenaries and sentenced them each 50 years maximum security. Four get killed in a prison riot and the last is placed in solitary for her protection.
The Alliance begins orchestrating military strikes on Eclipse bases in the Terminus and the Skyllian Verge. They occupied the worlds once purged of Eclipse presence and start a new wave of colonialism.
2168 Batarians angered over Humanities's encroachment into their claimed territories begin funding slave raids on their new colonies.
2170 Blue Suns expand out of the human space with mass effect ships taken in the Eclipse purges.
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From her throne on Omega Aria read the report on the newcomers to the station, the group calling itself the Blue Suns. She had paid for the history of the organization and it proved an interesting read. The original organization had formed it as a professional mercenary force, eventually it was reformed into a full blown crime syndicate, running drugs, weapons, preforming hits and smuggling anything for the right price.
The fifteen years of system spanning criminal activities had made them one of the more notorious human groups in their society.
And now they had moved into Omega. She had considered throwing them out at first, but they had become very useful in keeping the other gangs in check, they were also very reliable once hired and made sure to not interfere with her business, which was something she always enjoyed.
Now she just needed to get them to sell her one of these jump drives and she could make her self a fortune selling it to the citadel governments. The hard part would be getting the funds necessary. She knew the drives were already expensive in the humans economy, but their government had enforced a strict ban on the technology that promised ruin on anyone who sold it to the citadel.
As Aria mused over how to entice someone to sell her a jump drive. A simple transport ship had connected to one the lower docking stations.
Their passenger departed and the crew immediately left the station as fast as they could.
The passenger walked pass what could have been a welcome desk at one point in time, instead of the stall selling a variety of shoddy pistols, and walked deeper into the station.
He could feel the eyes of those he passed taking the measure of him. Trying to figure out where he sat on the food chain. The experienced ones saw him for what he was and quickly moved out of his way.
One turian was apparently not as smart as the others and started to tail him. The man growled in annoyance as he turned into an alley. The turian followed him into it while unfolding his pistol and a few seconds later the man walked back out wiping blue blood from his knuckles.
Continuing on his way till he found a his destination. Walking inside the bar he saw a group of five blue suns at a table in the corner.
He walled up to them, two batarians, a turian and two humans, all five looked up at the new arrival in annoyance. One of the humans however had the annoyance melt into fear. Jumping back from the table to his feet his face going pale.
"You're dead. I saw Vigo do it, he shot you in the fething head!"
"Well he should have shot twice," replied Zaeed Massani "that goddamn idiot always had a bad habit of not following through."
The man reached for his rifle but Massani was faster and snatched the closest bottle and throw it at his head. The four other blue suns leaped to their feet and tried to swarm the old mercenary as the bottle shattered and knocked the man to the floor.
The first batarian swung at him with a steel platter, Zaeed ducked it and punched the batarian in the throat making him clench his crushed throat.
He then side stepped a wild swing from the turian and broke his leg with a vicious kick to the side of the knee.
The second human drew his pistol and accidentally shoot the choking batarian when Massani pulled him between the shooter and himself as a shield.
Massani then heaved the now bleeding batarian at the shooter and the pair thudded to the floor.
The second batarian grabbed his bar stool and cocked back to swing it just as Massani flipped the table into him. The table drove the wind from his lungs and temporarily pinned him to the floor as he struggled to get it off of him.
Massani stomped down on the struggling batarian's neck, killing him as he charged the human trying to pull his pistol from under his dying comrade. He got the gun free only for Masaani to kick him in the teeth so hard he felt his front teeth shatter before blacking out from the pain.
Massani then grabbed the Blue sun that had recognized him by the collar and pulled him eye level.
The man held his hands up to the side as he blinked the blood running from the cut on his head out of his eyes.
"Massani, I understand that you would want to get even, but think about it! Most the old crew are retired or dead, Vigo has the loyalty of all the heavy hitters. You don't stand a chance against him on your own!"
"Oh I've always had a chance, a slim one but it was there.
But now!?
Now I know he is mine! I was betrayed and left for dead by people I had considered my comrades!"
Massani's pupils began to glow with a fire that filled his old comrade with a fear he had never felt before. As he watched the old mercenary's eyeballs burned away and the fire spread outwards, the flesh burnt away to display a sight all criminals feared to look upon in the flesh.
The ghost rider stared the terrified man in the eye and spoke with an ancient voice that promised no respite.
"Every one of you will learn the true meaning of HELL!"
Hello every, I apologize for the delay in posting. Work and life took a few odd turns. I hope you enjoy the new chapter I know its short, but I plan on a lengthy one next to make up for that. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and criticism in the comments. Your feed back is a big help in figuring out where to go with the story.
- L3G1ON