Someone just PM me that I'm an egg, never have I been so personally attacked.
Sorry for being late, it's a short chapter. I'm trying to enter university.
…..
Feared Reverance
ARV Keeper of Fire, 1 week after the retreat of Shanxi
The ARV Keeper of Fire exited the relay, a frigate custom-made for diplomatic missions, one of the most advanced ships in the entire galaxy, a twin dual-core mass effect engine, top-of-the-line communication equipment, newly made weapons that could even destroy cruisers with ease, shield generator that could withstand a shot from a dreadnought Mass accelerators, and is crewed by the best of the Asari navy to carry their best diplomat. Despite all of that advancement, Asari's achievement still makes Matriarch Benezia nervous.
The Council has appointed her as the ambassador for all of Citadel Space, granting her the title of First Consul, a mostly honorary title that carries great prestige in the political scene of the Citadel.
In a more peaceful time, such an honor would make her one of the most envied women in the whole galaxy, trying to take her down and making them her replacement. Now, she's hard-pressed to find people that want her position. In the past, you would get this position if you were granted by the council after a great deed that benefited the Citadel space as a whole, an office that is mostly held one year before a replacement is due, but most of the time replacements are rare as a deed that warranted for such title doesn't happen every few decades, as a result, the office sat mostly empty. Because of how short the term is for the first consulship, there is only one effective task the consul has that can be effectively and reasonably wielded. And right now she is
conducting that task.
Serving as a diplomatic bridge between the Citadel and newly encountered species. A barbaric one, one that values strength and martial abilities to the extreme even for Turians and Krogans standards.
Goddess help her.
How did this happen? She was just minding her own business, relaxing at her mansion, drinking wine from Illium, and basking in the Thesian sun. Being a matriarch has its benefits, rich, powerful and you can access any sort of goodies. Her daughter, Liara, is just about to enter university, her little genius entering university at a young age of 80 years old. Everything was alright until that damnable message from the Council ruined her day
Well, to be fair to them, it was the Turian hierarchy's fault for not being able to control their officers in line. But, she's being spiteful; the ones who are at fault don't matter to her. She could pin the blame on the new species she was tasked to make peace with, but she knew that was dumb, they haven't met yet. You can't just expect them to know the rules you've set up and be angry with them, oh, wait, that's exactly what happened. Damn Turians, so she could place the blame on someone, that's good. How is that good again?
"Ma'am, in 10 minutes we will exit the relay," her second-in-command informed her, an Asari who had been handpicked by Benezia for her competency.
All the other bridge crew members looked at her expectantly, waiting for orders that would change the galaxy. From the outside view, it was a majestic scene, a woman of high standing directly appointed by the council themselves to represent the civilized galaxy as a herald of peace. It was a historic moment that would be recorded in all history books from now on and the end of civilization as she knew it.
Inside Benezia's mind, however, 'Goddess, why!!!! I'm 1000 years old. I just want to live in peace! Is that too hard to ask!!!' Her mind was breaking.
Despite this, regardless of how ignorant the crew was of her predicament (thankfully), she would do it, she had a job to do, and damn it if there was one thing she didn't like, it was being ineffective! She hadn't survived until her matriarchal years from the deadly game of politics and being an Asari military commando, without being competent, and if there was one thing competent people always did, whether they wanted to or not, is to get the job done.
While Benezia is musing(panicking) in her head, the rest of the crew grow to chatter, talks of possible ambush and violence that awaits them for they've heard rumors of these humans they are about to meet. After all, everyone has heard the rumor and seen the vid of Turian soldiers being dragged into the forest consumed by it and to be found burning while hanged. Everyone has seen the news of the great Turian warships destroyed one by one by a beam made out of pure light, sending terrors to all that have seen it. All of them thought of the same thing: They were marching to their doom.
"We're all going to die," wailed a bridged officer.
"These people are barbarians and the council expects us to use diplomacy?!!" One of the younger diplomats said in despair.
The chatter grew and grew until the feeling of absolute terror was permeating one by one the heart of everyone on board.
Benezia, noticing the changing atmosphere, decided to act. Despair is not a good starter for such a historic moment. "Alright, settle down, settle down lass," she used her commanding authority voice, cultivated by 1000 years of experience being a politician, soldier, and leader. However, all of that experience doesn't mean she could just think through a plan of what to do. So, she decided to just wing it.
And immediately regrets her decision.
Benezia manages to get the rest of the crew's attention "You know what we can expect from these barbarians," well that's a good opening diplomatic move, she thought ironically.
"They are a race of rabid bastards who will fight us tooth and nail!" Her poor choice of words surprised the rest of the crew, not expecting her to curse. But they chose to momentarily ignore it. What the matriarch is saying is true, these humans are not a low-level species they usually met, but a force that could havoc the whole galaxy with their barbarous way.
"But they don't know what they are up against," Benezia paused trying to think of words to continue her impromptu speech. "The citadel is civilization!" Yeah, that could work.
"The citadel is order," at this point, she's just saying what's the first thing on her mind.
"The citadel is power!" Unknown to Benezia however, it worked. Many downcast defeated gaze by her fellow Asari was now filled with fiery determination, not afraid of anything the human will throw at them.
"And out here, WE ARE THE CITADEL!!!"
The cheers are deafening chants of victory and her name was thrown with feverish respect.
"Benezia!!!"
"Benezia!!"
The last thing she expected, but not unwelcome. A small smile formed on her lips; the rest of the crew was filled with determination to continue their work and cast aside their faltering hearts. She patted herself on the back mentally for thinking such a great impromptu speech, she was quite proud of it. Made her also confident facing these barbarians.
"Uhm, ma'am," her signal officer said with a gulp.
And immediately that confidence was destroyed into a thousand pieces, burned, eviscerated, and shattered with no hope of recovering.
Waiting for her beyond the relay is a field of a hundred-plus warships, escorting 2 massive ships if added are half the size of the citadel, an achievement for any species to make. Surrounding this majestic fleet is a graveyard of Turian military power and pride, remains of destroyed destroyers to dreadnought littered the frigate viewing glass and dead bodies floating who knows for how long. Taunting everyone that sees it with the promise of doom.
'Well, fuck,' Thought Benezia.
…….
(Unrelated note: coffee is a God-given drink to humanity.)
…….
The ship in front of Minato is strange, a radically different design from the Turian ship he had destroyed, this one is sleeker and classier, that oozed arrogance that is clear to see, while the Turian ships are more rugged and militarized this one is just one massive finely constructed flying building.
"They haven't learned a lesson," Admiral Yamamoto said dismissively. "Lt. Retno, destroy that ship."
The Lt. nodded and was about to relay the orders to fire control only for Minato to stop him. "Hold that order. That is not Turian."
"I don't care, Minato," Said Yamamoto. "Our order is to destroy our enemies. And in front of our fleet is our enemy."
"Their ship design says otherwise." Minato's rebuttal did not convince the Admiral. "Look, I know that it's suspicious that another species is using the same technological base as our enemies, there's a chance that they're are allies with the Turian, but for all we know these newcomers could be attempting to hold negotiations in the stead of the Turians or best yet they're another enemy that seek an alliance with us."
"Whatever you say, sir," his dissatisfaction was not missed by Minato which made him only shake his head.
"Sir, there's a strange pulse of energy that was emitted by the alien ship," informed Lt. Retno. "It's the same pattern as the Turian distress signals on their " Read'ya"," interesting.
"What kind of pattern are we talking about, Lt?" Minato asked him.
"Strange pulses, sir," answered the Lieutenant. "Electric pulses."
As Minato heard the lieutenant's description, a certain ancient device came to mind. 'isn't there an old invention that is similar to when the ancestor lived what's it called again rada? Rado… Radio!!' Thank the gods he was forced to read ancient history by his father. The radio never caught on because it's easy to intercept and chakra provides a far better alternative.
"Move aside lieutenant," ordered Minato as he approached the young officer's console. The young man heeded his order and Minato slammed his hand at the moving seals. "Fuin: Rearrange." The seals swirled, forming a new symbol.
"Ini adalah kapal perjalinan damai Asy'ari, kami mencari perdamaian," a foreign language non in the bridge ever heard. Despite this, the tone of the voice conveyed the message clearly. A voice seeking diplomacy.
"That's certainly not Turian," he said playfully, making Admiral Yamamoto roll his eyes at his obvious jab toward him. "Do we have any way to translate what they are trying to communicate?"
"Uhm, sir, about that…" He said bashfully, making Minato and the Admiral groan knowing the implication.
"Didn't I order our fleet intelligence unit to decipher their language?!!" Admiral Yamamoto rubbed his eyes in stress.
"They said it's hard trying to understand a language that is like a bird whistling," he gulped, realizing that he is out of bounds, "sir." The admiral glares balefully at the young lieutenant.
"This is a disaster," Minato let out a tired sigh.
……
"They want peace?!" rage swells inside Yusuke, after all that destruction, all that comical amount of bloodshed, now they want to stop the conflict after it is clear to them that they're losing. Cowards!!! A peace that is maintained for hundreds of years; the first peace in human history, broken by these Xenos bastards, and they seek peace as easily as they destroyed the previous one!!! No, Yusuke would not let their transgression be left unpunished.
"Yes, sir," the Anbu agent knelt, lowering his gaze as the aura Yusuke leaked out screaming murderous intent. "The transmission from your nephew Lord Minato arrived just yesterday. They also gave additional information on how their government works," raising both of his arms the Anbu presented to him a metal cartridge filled with ink. Taking the cartridge from the anbu hand Yusuke pulled out his data pad and inserted the cartridge, ink rearranged itself to give Yusuke the images and information he needed.
A galactic-spanning civilization with tens of thousands of worlds under its banner and fleets of warships that could overwhelm all of humanity's fleets no matter how many victories they could achieve. This revelation shocked Yusuke, the size of their empire and holdings is simply astounding. The fleet that humanity sent to Shanxi is their best, most powerful, accounting for more than half of their fleet and having the most modern of their warships, even with all of that power the losses they sustained would need years to replenish without a war economy. Fifty ships in a defensive position for the enemy to lose 160 ships, not an ideal percentage knowing the economic might their enemy possess, to put it simply they would be outproduced, winning the battle but not the war.
"We have no chance of winning," Yusuke mutters bitterly. He grabbed the holo pad tightly. No matter how much he hated this peace proposal, they will have no choice: it's either petty pride or survival. Peace can be rebuilt, but humanity- humanity could only be destroyed.
"Lord Minato also says that they think the fleets we send to fight off the Turians are our rapid response fleet because of how fast we reacted to their military operation's transgression. He's currently trying to keep up that ruse as long as he can."
A smirk forms on Yusuke's lips. 'Minato you sly fox,' his nephew is quite cunning. He caught on quickly that if the Citadel knows of our weakness, destruction will befall human civilization.
This Asari from the previous report he was given is allied with Turian, part of a Galactic-spanning civilization where all their members are represented in some sort of embassy. They claimed that all of their members have equal footing with each other, but only three of the race, The Asari, Turian, and Salarian that is inside some sort of higher council, he wants to laugh at the obvious discrepancy in power but he doesn't have the right knowing the same thing is happening in the Kages assembly.
Mayhaps he could use this discrepancy to his advantage, destroying them from within, not outside. That would mean he needs to activate a long-dead program that would be considered heresy if found out. If he is found out to even entertain the idea the Uzumaki name would be destroyed, he needs a partner, a partner who isn't as dogmatic, but powerful, a smile crept up on him. Luckily he has a candidate.
"Besides my brother, does anyone know of this information?" Before he could start his plan he needed to confirm something. As he needs to control the narrative to influence her.
"No, sir. We've followed protocol that the Uzumaki clan head would be first to know of the information and the Hokage. As usual, the rest of the Kage would receive the information after you," the Anbu member answered.
"Refrain from giving the info to the Raikage, I'll tell her myself," ordered Yusuke. "You're dismissed Gecko," Yusuke told him.
"HAI!!" The Anbu disappeared in a blur.
'I need ramen.' an idea formed inside Yusuke's mind. "That could work." he tapped the contact logo in his datapad to call a certain person.
"What is it?" came a tired female voice. "You know I'm busy at this hour."
"Yeah, yeah I know, do you have any free time today?"
……
Y'all know where this is heading.
Sorry that this is a short chapter. I'm really busy trying to enter university.