8th February 2156

Citadel

Desolas Arterius really hated himself right now. His whole patrol fleet eradicated in a few minutes by inferior numbers with him being forced to retreat or die. A bad day for the Council and even worse for turian kind. But, it was his duty to report this this calamity, to warn against further aggressive actions. Anything to spare more pointless losses against a clearly superior and undoubtedly hostile new race.

"Admiral Arterius, the meeting already started. " An asari ushered him to the council chambers.

He was in front of the 3 most powerful politicians in the galaxy. He was supposed to be in awe. But he felt nothing.

"Councillors, I'm sure you want to learn what happened regarding the relay 314."

Desolas said, his voice heavy and neutral.

"Just tell us what happened admiral Arterius." Councillor Tevos ordered as gently as possible.

A dark, humorless laugh escaped his throat:

"What happened? Complete and utter destruction is what happened. 39 ship destroyed in less than 3 minutes. They left me alive to spread the message."

Desolas finished.

""What are you talking about? What message?" Turian councillor Quilio asked.

"A new species with highly advanced technology. They only had 10 ships but managed to annihilate our patrol almost completely. There were also 3 batarian ships that managed to make nice with these humans."

"What kind of technology? Tell us!"

The salarian councillor Zerok demanded.

"I have footage of the massacre. You can see for yourselves." Desolas said and opened his omnitool.

The footage of the relay 314 incident was truly a horrific sight to see. The councillors saw the spectrum cannons, plasma launchers, these terrible tesla rods and the

glowing red protective surface on the human ships. The most disturbing thing however was the apparent stealth capabilities of the human frigates, which destroyed 4 ships in a few short seconds. Such technology even the salarians weren't close at developing with all the backing of the Council and the humans did it alone. The councillors saw the catastrophe, Tevos with horror, Zerok with interest and Quilio with rage. When the footage was over, Desolas said:

"And do you want to know what happened shortly before the footage? The humans gave me a chance to retreat. I didn't take it and many paid for it."

"While the death of so many Hierarchy soldiers and sailors is regrettable, there was no way you could predict what happened. The real problem is what happens now." Tevos tried to bring the clearly distressed admiral.

"What happens now is that these humans must succumb to the might of the turian Hierarchy! No one kills our soldiers and gets away with it!" Quilio said, his voice angry and vengeful.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Tevos nearly screamed at his proposition. "The humans can possibly be more dangerous than the rachni! They showed that they are willing to negotiate. Attacking them could be the most foolish move."

"Actually, it would be better to collect more intel about the humans first. We also have to look into their connection with the batarian hegemony. If it is true that they are allies, it could be problematic." Zerok recommended.

"Is the STG up to the task?" Quilio asked.

Zerok smiled and said: "Always."

All 3 councillors casted their votes and the final decision was:

"Until further information is gathered about this new species, their capabilities, government and their strength, we decide to use STG task forces to achieve this end. Under no circumstances anyone else is allowed to use the relay 314 until further

notice. The meeting is adjourned." Tevos announced.

Arcturus station, Terran coalition headquarters, LOCATION REDACTED

"Governor Grothan Pazness. What can you tell us about the STG?" Asked supreme admiral Steven Hackett of the Terran coalition.

"The STG, also known as the salarian special tasks group, is the intelligence agency of the Citadel. While they work for the salarian union, their services are used at a daily basis by the Council. They are very accomplished infiltrators and saboteurs, almost as dangerous as the specters. " he said.

"Thank you for the information governor. Now what do the other governors say about a potential alliance between humanity and the batarian Hegemony?" Director Yuriko Omega asked.

Somehow, Yuriko Omega succeeded at stopping her ageing, thanks to an unknown medical process and her psychic powers. Due to her experience and power, she was asked to become one of the five directors of the Terran coalition.

Every director is focused to a different department: Civilian, Colonisation, Armed forces, Intelligence and in Yuriko's case, Science. When an event that could affect all these departments occurs, in this case first contact and possible infiltration, the directors came together to Arcturus station in order to resolve the situation. In this case, their purpose was two fold. Create a working relationship with the batarian Hegemony and dissuade the Council from launching further offensives.

"The vote is unanimous for seeking an alliance with the batarian Hegemony. Governor Pazness, what decision do you and the other governors stand for?"

asked Mary DeWalt, director of the civilian

department and spokesperson of the coalition.

Grothan received the answer from his omni-tool and answered:

"The governors agree that an alliance would be beneficial, but they believe that something must be exchanged for all the information we provided you with."

"I propose an exchange of terraforming and medical technology. It is too early to offer more, but I believe turning uninhabitable rock planets into garden worlds is a very good deal, no?"

the director of colonization, Andrei Ivanov

proposed.

"You have such technology?" Grothan asked in disbelief, as the other batarian governors who heard through the holoprojector.

Andrei replied by showing him images of terraforming spires, also explaining how they work and other characteristics.

The batarian governors went into hushed conservations about this. They ignored the fact that Yuriko was a psychic and could hear through Grothan what they said. A smile formed on her lips, something that didn't go undetected by Gigiermo Espinoza, the director of intelligence:

"Let me guess, they will accept?" he asked like he already knew the answer.

Yuriko nodded, not bothering using her powers because she knew Gigiermo was so paranoid he always wore an anti mind control headset. Yuriko and a few other powerful psychics could actually overpower these headsets, but: "Why make him more paranoid?" she thought.

Finally, the batarians ended their discussion and Grothan announced:

"All the governors agree to an alliance, if you are capable of delivering your promises, we can part with more information about the Council, star charts and military support if needed."

"We agree to your terms. I hope to the long and fruitful cooperation between our species." Mary DeWalt said, shaking her hand with governor Pazness.

Director Wallace MacLeod of the armed forces, who was waiting until the resolution of the alliance, brought back the other important issue:

"Alright. Now that we are done can we go back to the hostile aliens situation? My boys had to see action since the Colonial Conflicts."

The Colonial Conflicts of 2142 lasted since 2145 and were the result of a triad of warlords who wanted independence

from Earth. While the goal seemed noble, these warlords started raids across other colonies to expand their power base, forcing the coalition to take action. The casualties were about 68 million people, 11 million sentient AI's and the bombardment of 7 habitable planets and moons. MacLeod was a commander for the Terran Armed forces that time. He successfully led 2 regiments of SMACC troopers into covertly building a military base right in the last stronghold of the 3 warlords and then built his forces undetected, until the thanatonauts came. The combined force managed to secure the major cities and capture the warlords in only 4 hours after the assault with minimal casualties. This earned him the position as director of the armed forces and war hero. Only problem, he was a bit war happy and had a notoriously itchy trigger finger. Combat was his life no matter what.

"Director MacLeod, while your enthusiasm is appreciated, attacking blindly is not the most wise move. We need to stop their infiltration attempts first and only attack if we are attacked. " Yuriko said.

MacLeod huffed and slightly raised his hands in surrender:

"I am not saying we attack now. I just say that my boys need to blow off some steam. All these news of likely alien invasion will send them to a frenzy. That's what I am saying."

"CISP will make sure that the infiltators are all rounded up, tied, gagged and send to the Citadel in a shipping container. Rest assured, thanks to the science director, the new and improved psychic radar won't let anyone pass undetected.We will then send our own to monitor them and install spying software to the Citadel, their houses, their leaders and their planets."

Director Espinoza assured.

"It's all settled then. All issues have been dealt with. Let's get back to work now."

said director DeWalt.

Everyone agreed and in 30 seconds the meeting room was empty. Only Yuriko remained, thinking about this whole situation.

"We are going to need a hero. Both for humanity and alienkind." she monologued and left the room.

AN

Next chapter: STG vs CISP, place your bets to the winner. Tip: The CISP