"And I'm telling you, the Council is not going to allow you to dictate terms on this issue," said the turian to the female before him. The woman, her brown hair does in two large curls at her side, just seemed to growl back at him, rubbing the sides of her head to try and alleviate the pain inside it. She sorely wished that she was able to bring Shepard up the tower to these negotiations, at least as someone to talk to, but then just sighed as she looked behind her at the floating ball that was a camera.
Far below, Shepard stood at attention, staring into a large projection that showed what the camera was seeing. This had been something she'd insisted on after what had happened with Exedore, some way to observe Hayes even if she couldn't be by her side. Again, she'd said the Zentraedi could handle himself, a fact which seemed to flatter the older man, though he did allow himself a half a dozen and one guards as he wandered the station on business.
One week had passed since they'd arrived. Six days of negotiations had hammered out trade agreements, such as the price of eezo for the Federation, an absurd amount, but still only slightly above market average. More importantly, Terran goods would soon find their way into galactic markets, with some place called Illuim already trying to work some backdoor deals with Hayes when she would take lunch in a cafe on the Presidium.
Most of the worst arguments tended to come with the turian. The Terrans were, in his own words, 'primitives who didn't understand the delicate nature of galactic society'. When Hayes had proposed using Terran ships as relief vessels in a crisis that was apparently taking place on an Elcor world, reminding them that their drives were able to literally leap across space, he'd not only told her flat out no, but then sent at least five times the amount of aid than was being requested, as if to show up the younger species.
Not that the other two didn't have their own shouting matches. The salarian especially sometimes made unreasonable demands, including surrendering one of the Protoculture Matrices that were the heart of Terran culture. Of course, Hayes refused, and that had set the lizard woman off on a rant about how they were sharing their technology with the Terrans, pointing out Exedore's purchasing history, which was more detailed than Hayes thought it should be.
The asari tended more towards cool head and more importantly, a condescending heart. She wanted peace, but on her terms. Twice now she'd actually asked Hayes to consider mothballing parts of the Terran fleet, a proposal Hayes had simply shot down the first time, and just ignored the second. Apparently, the turian had been privately pushing for his own people to begin pumping out more dreadnaughts, to try and catch up with the Terrans in numbers, which would be a major drain on the galactic economy.
Still, shouting matches aside, things had been going well. Trade routes would open by the end of the month, and tourism was set to start shortly there after. She'd even secured the rights to send a few officers to various military bases controlled by the Council races, in exchange for the Council's own agents, the Specters, being given limited autonomy within Terran space. Not full access, of course, not like they enjoyed in Council Space itself, but still, more so than they would have had otherwise.
All in all, the process of hammering out a peace accord was going well, and that was the cue for the other shoe to drop. As Hayes mentally prepared a rebuttal on the current issue, her omnitool interrupted her. A series of low beeps, and a few flashing lights said the matter was urgent, and so she asked the Council's indulgence as she pressed a button and caused a holo to appear in front of her, a flat image of a man sitting at a comm station somewhere aboard the Agamemnon.
"Ma'am, we have an issue. Shanxi just contacted us on an emergency channel. They're apparently being ordered to surrender to a turian fleet," said the young man, and Hayes face went a little white, as the situation began to unfold in front of her, and the Council.
OoOoO
"How's the arm, Ashley?" asked the old man of his granddaughter as she walked into the meeting room. Her arm was no longer in the medical cast it had been, and she demonstrated it worked fine for him by moving the thing around, rotating it a full circle at her side, before taking her seat behind him. Around the table were a few farmers and colony administrators, most of whom smiled at the young woman, who smiled back at them, though gaining a dark expression as she turned to another girl standing with her father and brother to the side of the room.
"Good, good. Now then, Adam, you said you had a proposal?" asked the old man, motioning towards the young man with two children behind him.
"Yes, Governor Williams. We know that this system is the closest to the Citadel Races' territory. While we will likely be sending goods out via Fold Drive, I have little doubt they'll trust their own tech more, and that means physically moving them through real space, and that means we could become a lucrative center for trade with just a few more docks like the one we built for the Talons," he said this, and pressed a button on a station before him, causing the tabletop to display a map of the colony and the surrounding countryside.
A few button presses later and several large structures were added to the colony's infrastructure. Some appeared to be more of the landing facilities, while others were warehouses. Shepard then began to lay out his plans for how they would distribute goods, and more importantly to everyone assembled, profits. Most had been making a living with their harvests, but this would bring an almost unprecedented level of wealth to the colony. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and just as he was laying out how to vet biological goods like foodstuffs or animals, an alarm sounded, and the display changed.
Suddenly it was a picture of the planet Shanxi, hanging there in space. The view made the planet look a little barren, with several patches of brown streaked with blue, but to every man, woman, and child present, it was a beautiful jewel in the heavens. Above that jewel there appeared to be several wire frame arrowheads in space, pointing straight at the planet, jostling among each other for position. Soon, even more shapes joined the first group, larger ones too, until finally, three that dwarfed their compatriots came into focus.
"What in the?" asked Williams as he turned knobs, pushed buttons, resolving the wire frames with details from the ground based cameras, eventually revealing that those shapes were almost the exact same as the turian vessel from a week earlier.
"How many?" asked Williams instantly, and the table chimed a few times, before a face appeared on it.
"I count at least two hundred of the smaller vessels, thirty six of the mid sized, and as you can plainly see three of the largest," said a male voice, the display soon showing each class of ship with the numbers beside them.
"Advanced trade fleet?" asked one of the farmers, her voice sounding just the slightest bit shaken. Obviously, she didn't believe it herself, and several of the Terrans in the room looked at each other and found visible worry on every brow.
"Open a channel, now!" shouted Williams, ignoring everyone else in the room, watching the display for several quiet, desperate minutes, until finally, the display shifted to an image of a face much like the turians that had overnighted in his home a week ago.
"Is this blasted thing receiving? Are you there?" asked a masculine tinted voice, and Williams waited as a small camera whirred at him, recording his own face as he gazed down into the turians, finally getting the red light that told him he was on.
"This is Alexander Williams, Governor of the Shanxi agricultural colony of the Terran Federation. To whom am I speaking?" responded the old man, the face in front of him recoiling slightly, but then recovering and standing strong.
"Are you the leader of those living in the warehouses on the planet?" asked the turian after a moment, either ignoring or just not caring about the question being asked of him.
"If you're asking if you're speaking to someone in authority, the answer is yes, now I demand an explanation to what your fleet is doing above my world," said the Terran, an undercurrent of anger in his voice.
"I am General Sparatus. Your colony has been found to be in violation of both Citadel space, and of Council law in regards to the activation of dormant relays. As per the Citadel Conventions, I will be conducting an inspection of the colony to see that no other violations are taking place," said the stone faced alien, smug superiority just dripping from his voice. The declaration seemed to catch everyone in the meeting room off guard, as no one could find voice for almost a full minute, before Williams finally coughed, and leaned forward, a very false smile on his lips.
"Now that's going to be a problem. This planet, and the system it inhabits are territory claimed by the Terran Federation. Currently, we have diplomats of a much higher level than myself meeting your leaders on the Citadel itself. Until such time as an agreement is reached, I feel it would behoove you to recognize us as a sovereign state, rather than territory of the Citadel," said Williams simply and directly, this time seemingly catching the turian off guard, as he took a few seconds to collect himself.
"That is for the politicians to play with, and decide exactly why you're allowed to flaunt our laws. Here and now though, we have the right on our side, and we will make sure you are properly brought to account for your violations. You will surrender your colony to my inspection, or I will be forced to take drastic measures. You have one hour to decide how easy this is for your people," said the turian, and then cut the connection, his face vanishing, to be instantly replaced by half a dozen AI faces, all clamoring for attention.
"What a pleasant alien," said Adam, getting a few rather horrified looks at how glib he could be in regards to their current situation. Williams smiled at the comment though, as he let his mind tumble around the events of the last few minutes.
"I say we fight. They're micronians, one good stomp and even if they're wearing armor they'll be crushed flat," said one of the farmers.
"Are you crazy? We have to submit. The Phoenix is at the Citadel, that means we have no way of fighting ships in orbit. We'll lodge a formal protest later at this treatment, but until then, we don't have a choice," responded another, with a few voices coming in support of either side, at least until Alexander slammed his hand onto the table, silencing everyone in the room.
"This is an emergency situation, as such, I'm invoking my authority as governor to demand you all follow my orders without question. All citizens are hereby ordered to evacuate to the shelters on the south side, including those here. I will remain behind and contact Mrs. Hayes, advising her of our situation," he declared, and everyone stood up instantly. The rights of the governor were well understood by his people, and none would question them. As they began to leave, Williams set his hand on Shepard's shoulder.
"Please make sure Ashley stays in the shelters, won't you?" he asked of the other man, who looked between his own children, and the governor's granddaughter, nodding as he quickly began to rush the young ones out the door, leaving the older man behind, who began the process of contacting his leaders, and passing this problem up to a higher authority.
OoOoO
"That's the situation, ma'am," said the flat, floating image of the governor of Shanxi to Hayes, as she projected it so everyone in the Council Chamber could hear. Whispers echoed loudly in the silence that followed, as the various hangers on wondered aloud to each other just what this would mean for the negotiations.
"Thank you for contacting me, Mr. Williams. If you'll hang on a moment, I'll get straight to the bottom of this," said Hayes, before turning her wrist so the face was to the side, while she stared straight at the Council. The salarian looked impassive about this, as if the situation itself was something common, while the turian seemed to be trying to stare her down, like she should have expected this. Only the asari seemed truly shocked, but her expression was one of pity, as one might have for a child being punished, rather than a sovereign head of state whose nation you were threatening, if indirectly.
"Councilors, in the name of these negotiations, I must protest, and demand you order General Sparatus to remove his fleet from over Shanxi," she told them at last, when none of them volunteered anything.
"I'm afraid that action is impossible. We have no hypernet beacons in the system, and as such cannot send orders quicker than the speed of another ship, which wouldn't get there for days at this point. Your best course of action would be to simply submit for now. So long as the population is cooperative, the General will have no reason to harm anyone," responded the turian Councilor, and a few heads in the room nodded, with murmurs of agreement, at least until they looked at Hayes.
At first, it appeared she was frozen, in either indecision or shock, but if one looked closer, they could see her free hand at her side, clenched into a fist, and shaking slightly. She lowered her head, and one could actually hear her breathing through clenched teeth, first once, then twice, and finally a third time, before raising her eyes to the Council. Used to softness from her, willing to compromise or at least discuss things in the name of peace, the three beings were shocked to see a sudden icy chill of steel in her gaze, one that might cut them down.
"I will not give that order, and you are quite fortunate that I want these talks to succeed, otherwise I would...regardless. I have been open to the idea that in order to join the galactic community peacefully, we would be required to submit to a few changes in our laws and ourselves, but this situation is intolerable," she said this with a passion bordering on fire, as if each slight against her over the course of the negotiations had been saved up for this.
"You would never order one of your colonies to submit to an invader, and know that I would never do that to my people either. If it's a communication line you're worried about, we obviously have one with the governor, and I'm sure it could be routed to your own ship given a bit of effort," as she spoke, her eyes turned to the image of Williams, who nodded as he began to follow through on her request.
OoOoO
Sparatus gazed at the planet below with disgust. The place was barely habitable by turian standards, far too cold, with too thick an atmosphere. Most of the Local Clusters planets were like that. No one wanted this space other than the batarians, and even they just wanted it because it would be a useful staging are for raids. All in all, he would have said to just let the primitives take the planet, and any other they might want in this part of the galaxy.
However, they had fired on vessels under his command, carrying out orders he had given. Worse, they'd fired on them after the captain of those vessels had demanded they surrender to his legitimate authority. Such flaunting of the law needed to be punished, and not in the way a politician would have it done, with sanctions and a few words. No, that sort of infraction needed to be put down hard, otherwise it would encourage others to similar behavior.
The volus with their demands for equality when they certainly weren't, the quarians with their demands for respect, when all their problems were their own fault, and the krogan, always those scaly bastard krogan. If he had his way there wouldn't be any of those barbarians left. They weren't needed, and only served to remind others of the folly of rebellion against authority, an example that would be best served when the last of them died off.
Lost in thought, the General barely noticed when one of the cadets in front of him began moving, and then almost started when the image of that primitive on the planet below suddenly appeared before him again. The man had looked at least slightly panicked before, but now appeared calm and collected. That was either a very good, or a very bad sign, and Sparatus was willing to bet the latter rather than the former. All too often you needed to slap down races like this, who believed themselves masters, just because they made it into space.
"You're early, Governor Alexander Williams. You had a whole two minutes left to decide, though I would remind you that this decision will affect everyone on this planet, so make sure it's a carefully considered one," he told the face in front of him.
"I made my decision very carefully, and as such, I decided to contact my leaders for their opinion on the subject. As I said, some of my leaders were meeting with some of yours', and that resulted in a solution best for all parties I believe," and with that, he reached forward in the image, and instantly several new shapes bloomed beside the flat image, these in three dimensions. He recognized one instantly, of course, as the turian Councilor, the other two were dressed such that he quickly assumed they were the asari Tevos, and the salarian Dalatress who currently took those seats on the Council.
"General Sparatus, we have just been informed that you are violating the territory of the Terran Federation. Would you care to explain yourself?" asked the Dalatress, her cold stare boring into the general. The sight of the three startled Sparatus for several seconds, as he just stared at them, wondering if this was some sort of trick or manipulation. After collecting his scattered thoughts, he quickly decided it didn't matter in the slightest, and stood proudly before the politicians at an attention rest stance.
"I was retrieving property belonging to the Hierarchy that was left in this system after an unjust attack by the people here. As is the duty of any line officer, I brought my fleet to investigate the nearby colony and confirm if they are guilty of anymore wrong doing," he explained in his calmest voice, which was just below a hiss. It was obvious from his tone that he did not like being questioned at all on his activities.
"And have you retrieved the ships?" asked the asari Councilor.
"They were loaded into the bays of my the my fleet group just a few minutes ago," he told her simply.
"Such dedication to your duty is a commendable trait in a leader of men, but seeing as you were able to retrieve the property in question, I would advise you to vacate the system. We are in the midst of delicate negotiations with the people who's colony you are currently hovering over, and they do not like being threatened," she said in that diplomatic tone an asari could get when they were talking down to you. Sparatus looked her right in the eye though, and shook his head.
"This system is currently still under the protection of the Hierarchy, as are all unclaimed planets of this galaxy. As this situation arose due to the locals...negligence to inform the proper authority of their settlement, it must be vetted, to discover if they are harboring raiders or pirates. Once that is done, we'll gladly leave, but until such time I will not back down," he said, and then, before anyone else could say anything, he cut the channel, banishing the floating images, and beginning to relay orders.
OoOoO
"Well, that couldn't have gone much worse," said the Dalatress turning to the turian, who had stayed silent during the entire conversation. In front of them, beside the face of the Terran on Shanxi was a model of the planet itself, with several turian vessels hanging in the sky. As they watched, a few of these were beginning to break away from the rest of the fleet, angling towards the surface of the world below.
"He is well within his rights as a commander in the field to do as he's doing. It would be best if they simply allowed the inspection. If they have nothing to hide, then what would be the problem?" asked the turian, before turning towards Hayes, about to say something more, but he found her eyes were lit up like fire, a slight green glow behind them. The sight caught him off guard, and so he didn't say anything, merely watched as she pushed several keys on her omnitool.
"I will not stand for this violation of Terran territory, as I said, Councilor. If communications can be restored, I expect you to order Sparatus to stand down, otherwise, this will get messy," she said, this as another window popped up, this one without a face in it, just a set of letters and numbers at the bottom. SDF-4, The Sword of the Southern Cross.
"This Amanda Hayes, Representative of the Senate on the Conclave. By my authority, I order this command to Shanxi to defend the colony. All steps to preserve the life of the invaders are to be taken, but they are not to set foot on the surface of the world, understood?" said the woman, and several people were taken aback by the harsh tone.
"This is Southern Cross. Please state command code," came a heavily modulated, electronic voice.
"Code is X3A, fly true, strike hard," she said, and a series of beeps could be heard, before the window suddenly closed, and Hayes stared at the planet floating in front of her, several of the onlookers turning to each other, and then activating cameras in their own omnitools, sure not to miss a single angle on the actions playing out before them.