Chapter 79
"Your continued failure is becoming an issue, Saren. I don't like issues." the distorted figure of a Salarian said in what he had hoped was a menacing sounding voice. It in fact was not very menacing at all.
"Well you keep giving me shit resources, what do you expect? I thought you were pulling the Dalatrasses' strings." Saren replied, growling.
"Biiiiide your tiiiiiime... His death will be exquisite..." the voice in Saren's brain said.
"Your next assignment will arrive soon. Do not disappoint again." The Salarian said. Saren put his fist through the view screen a moment before the communication had been severed, he barely registered the broken bone in his hand as he withdrew it from the ruined machinery. He'd have to comfort himself with the knowledge, given to him by his new vessel, that the blasted Salarian and his entire race were nearing the end of their usefulness to the plan.
Saren never out right registered the shifting of his loyalties from the unnamed Salarian benefactor that had been paying him ungodly sums of citadel credits to the malevolent force whose whispers appeared after receiving an unidentifiable orb to safeguard and became stronger upon his assumption of command over the bizarrely shaped Sovereign dreadnought, to him it as though he had always considered the mighty black beast his master.
"Shiala, make for Turian space, I can no longer tolerate the stink of this place." Saren said, sitting upon his throne in the center of the bridge overlooking dozens of former mercernaries who were unaware that they were slowly becoming slaves.
"Yes, Mas... Saren." Shiala said, pausing to shake her head at he slip-up. Had she meant to actually call him master? She cleared her mind and continued executing the Turian's orders, bringing the ship about so that it could travel back behind the Turian border.
"We should really do this more often." Hannah Shepard said to her colleagues standing in the bridge of the Liberator, an older Alliance dreadnought. Only David Anderson and Shala Raan were present in person, the remainder of the leadership appeared via QEC hologram telepresence.
"You look better, Hannah." Bakara said.
"Yeah, thanks. I took some advice from a good friend and stepped away from things for a couple of days." Hannah said, sending a grateful glance to Xen who nodded in silent acknowledgment.
"How are the kids, Bakara?" Hannah asked, changing the subject.
"Numerous, and ornery." Wrex answered for her, earning himself a smack on the back of his head. He grinned in response.
"Little Jane is living up to her namesake's ferocity. She's testing the limits of Wrex's regenerative capabilities..." She said, trailing off with an accusatory glance at Wrex. He barked in laughter in response.
"As long as she doesn't bite off my liver, I think that's about the only thing that ever stopped healing itself." He said, Uvenk grinned knowingly. Their banter was interrupted by reports of the arrival of several large and one gigantic ship. Hannah looked at her wristwatch.
"Never fails. Jane always arrives where she's meant to be precisely on time, never before or after." Hannah said, smiling.
"Incoming communication from the Tyrannicide." A helmsman said.
"Onscreen." Raan said.
"Captain Shepard reporting ma'am." Jane said.
"At ease, Captain. I assume your battle group is prepared?" Raan asked.
"Of course Admiral. We diverted to Arcturus to drop off prisoners from Eden Prime. They're currently in the care of some of our Turian friends over in interrogation." Shepard said grinning.
"Good, let's get on with it. Helmsman, if you please, make for the Widow sector, let's not bother with stealth, they're expecting us." Raan said
"Aye aye ma'am. " The helmsman said and the customary vibration of the deck plates began as the enormous vessel jumped to light speed. It was a short distance for alliance FTL technology, the outpost they had staged the operation at was well outside of Citadel sensor range but close enough it would have never merited the placement of a relay.
Aboard the Tyrannicide, Shepard was seated at her captain's chair, checking several readouts that appeared on her tactical display showing all departments were in the green. She would never feel at home commanding such a massive capital ship but she did marvel at the efficiency and talent with which the behemoth had been engineered.
"Fifteen seconds until we reach Widow ma'am." A helmsman reported.
"Acknowledged, prepare to slow to sub-light." She said.
The entire task force came to a halt well back from the Citadel, but close enough to be seen on scanners. Hannah instructed the helmsman on her ship to open a channel to the council.
"Prime Minister Shepard, I believe we made it clear that we wanted you to bring a small group of..." Tevos started but was rudely interrupted
"Lovely, thank you how have you been?" Hannah asked with a shit-eating grin. Tevos' jaw snapped shut and she glowered at the screen. Muffled snickers could be heard from behind her. Tevos took a second to compose herself before she continued.
"We invited you here today to have a civilized conversation in hopes of averting... consequences... related to your recent activities." She said
"Oh do please elaborate." Hannah said.
"Plainly speaking, Prime Minister, your warmongering against the Batarians in their own space as well as your corrupting influence on the Asari and Turian governments leave me little option but to consider economic sanctions against the Alliance and refusal for consideration in ever establishing an Alliance embassy on the Citadel." Tevos said, trying desperately to project an air of authority.
"I beg your pardon..." Hannah said incredulously.
"We are prepared to impose economic sanctions against the Alliance, and deny your people access to the potential for a future diplomatic presence on the citadel." Tevos reiterated. Hannah looked over at the gobsmacked faces of her fellow Alliance leaders, both those in attendance directly as well as those attending via hologram.
"Is this bitch serious?" Hannah asked. The snickers burst into full-blown laughter.
"WHAT DID YOU..." Tevos started before Hannah muted her.
"I am at a loss, Hannah. Truly." Raan said.
"This'll be good..." Wrex said, nudging Uvenk in the side.
"Shh, I don't want to miss this." Bakara chided.
"So let me get this straight. If we don't stop freeing the slaves your council resources were recently deemed to valuable to free, and our simply speaking with and happily coexisting in friendship and peace with two of the three Council races, you're not gonna let us party on your little citadel?" Hannah asked.
"I don't think you understand the severity of this, Shepard. The citadel is the center of galactic civilization, furthermore as members of the Council the Asari Republics and Turian Hierarchy will be joining us in placing sanctions against you." Tevos responded.
"Oh is that so. Helmsman, would you please contact our friends on Thessia and Palaven for me?" Hannah asked.
"Right away ma'am." The helmsman responded and within minutes four more holograms joined them aboard the Liberator, Matriarchs Benezia T'Soni and Kela Duruunen of the Asari Republics, and Ambassador Vakarian as well as Primarch Fedorian of the Turian Hierarchy.
"Greetings all. Matriarch Kela Duruunen has been elected interim head of the Asari Republics pending the rebuilding of our government." Benezia said, introducing a short, thin Asari with deep blue skin.
"And I'd like to introduce Primarch Fedorian, leader of the Turian and Volus people, he was very interested to find out that we were going to be levying sanctions against our new friends in the Alliance." Castis said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Tevos paled visibly.
"We were also quite interested in this new promise that was made on our behalf..." Duruunen said, her voice surprisingly deep and commanding.
"Matriarchs, Primarch, I..." Tevos said
"Silence girl. Councilor Tevos is hereby recalled from her position of Councilor and the Asari Republics are withdrawing from the citadel council. Effective immediately. Benezia, please contact the Destiny Ascension and direct them to lead our assets within the Citdeal Defense fleet back to Asari space." Duruunen said
"At once, Matriarch." Benezia said, grinning, and turning to her left to manipulate a console that could not be seen via hologram.
"Spartaus as well, will be recalled to Palaven and an investigation will commence on his activities during his tenure. We will also be withdrawing from the citadel council as well as reclaiming our military assets effective immediately." Primarch Fedorian said.
"This is an outrage!" Councilor Valern said, Spartaus remained silent and stoic whereas Tevos looked lost and was quietly weeping.
"I very much agree with that sentiment, Councilor Valern, but for probably different reasons. The three of you have at best shown yourselves to be grossly incompetent and at worst seemingly megalomaniacal and malicious. Goddess knows what's going on in those tiny brains of yours but our complacence has come to an end." Duruunen said.
"Unbelievable! Unacceptable!" Valern shouted, and punched in several commands into a console on his desk. At once a group of Salarian dreadnoughts with various smaller ships jumped into the sector and began powering their weapons.
"Admiral, Enemy ships have jumped into the sector, they're targeting us!" A helmsman aboard the Liberator stated.
"SHIELDS!" Raan yelled, milliseconds before the bright flashes of weapons fire illuminated the space between them. Raan was about to order the crew to brace for impact when a giant white blur materialized, obscuring their view of the enemy ships. Bright blue flashes of light erupted as enemy tungsten splashed harmlessly against the colossal shields of the Destiny Ascension.
During the exchange, Hannah Shepard's expression had gone from amused to terrifyingly neutral. Her glare never left the gaze of the Salarian councilor, even while the bridge crew around her scrambled to react in time. Thankfully this proved unneeded, as the opening volley of the outdated Salarian warships was no match for the titanic shield capacitors of the Asari dreadnought.
"Valern..." Hannah said.
"What?" He asked bitterly.
"You fucked up." She said.
"Oh real..." Valern began to say but was rudely interrupted by the security mech behind him grabbing him by the shoulder, spinning him around and kicking him between the legs. Valern went down squealing, and clutching his rapidly bruising groin while the security mech began dancing a disturbingly familiar jig.
"Thank you, Rothschild." Shepard said. The mech paused, and responded by tipping its imaginary hat, since there were no vocal processors on that particular model. It then gleefully went back to dancing, kicking the suffering Salarian every once in a while. Matriarch Duruunen was laughing unabashedly while Castis and the Primarch were struggling not to join them. Hannah basked in the wonderful, warm glow of schadenfreude for a moment before getting back to work.
She asked the Turians and Asari to secure the Citadel and assume the administration of the station as she felt it would be inappropriate for the Alliance to do so, they did in fact come to engage in dialog, not conquest. The Primarch and Matriarchs were surprised at first but pleased to agree with it. For the first time in centuries, the Citadel saw competent leadership.
The Alliance fleet returned back to their space but not before agreeing to send an Ambassador to the citadel now that it made sense to do so. With that complication out of the way, they were free to prepare for their impending decapitation of the Batarian Hegemony.
Hours after the confrontation out of the citadel, Hannah stepped out of her shower and began towel drying her slowly graying hair off. After dressing and putting on a warm bathrobe, she started towards her bed when she noticed a red light flashing on her communication console. She groaned in exasperation, she'd been hoping to get to bed early that night, but the life of a head of state was as she well knew, a busy one.
She brought up the log and noted that the flashing light indicated three attempted calls from Jane onboard the Tyrannicide. She initiated communication and immediately regretted it as her daughter connected, still dressed in her uniform, her balled up fists resting on her hips.
"Mother, what did I tell you about toppling galactic governments?" Jane said.
"Uh... Not to?" Hannah said, unable to stop the smile forming on her face.