If you recognize it, I probably don't own it. Mass effect belongs to BioWare and Microsoft.

here are some important stuff.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

~"AI"~

*Sound Effects*

POV/Location/Time Change.

Tedious Discussions

1100 hours, July 3, 2300 ES

SoCon Parliament, New Eden City, Earth

"So Miss Goyle, if you would kindly summarize the terms and stipulations of our agreement with this Citadel for all present." The Speaker.

"Yes, Madam Speaker, Honored Senators and Representatives, I'll begin the presentation shortly." Anita says.

"The citadel council as you have no doubt been briefed are, to put it mildly, quite primitive yet widespread compared to humanity. Yet for some reason their military, especially their Interstellar Navy, which is tiny in comparison to what their projected numbers should be At this moment, our existing active fleet outnumbers theirs by more than 10 to one. Even their population numbers fall far short of what they should be after having such a long time to expand across the stars. Humanity in comparison saw a massive increase in birth rates when we achieved FTL capabilities. We skyrocketed from a population of barely 7 billion after WW3 to more than a trillion in just 200 years."

"And the Citadel has had Millenia to grow their population. Even after we consider their population loss from their many devastating conflicts like the Rachni and the Krogan, Their population still seems too low. This has let us to believe that they don't see the typical boom in birth rates after large disasters/wars as is seen in his man populations."

"In terms of industry, their resources and infrastructure amount up to barely 10% of ours, and that's pure because of their size and the amount of area they cover. And yes we are including the Batarians and Quarians."

"So, what you're saying is that they're inferior to us in pretty much everything except the amount of area they cover? Has this been confirmed and checked? How can we be sure that this data is true?" The minister for health asks skeptically.

"Yes sir. That is correct. This has been taken directly from the data we took from their networks during my visit to their Citadel. They are nowhere close to the level of technology that one would expect from a society that has been spacefaring for so long. Our experts place their technology level at 1.2 on the Kardashev Scale compared to our 2.3 rating." Anita explains.

"This data was mined by the Light of Sol from the entirety of their public networks connected to their Citadel and even government records. Their cyber security is almost non-existent compared to ours. It took our AI mere minuites to break through everything bit of security, firewall or encryption the citadel Species had barring their most classified data, which we didn't access so as to not take too many overt risks. To put into perspective, how weak their digital systems are, they even lack the understanding of the creation of data shards, and still rely on silicon based chip Systems to store data." Anita finishes sussinctly.

Someone then says "You must be joking! There's no way they're that backwards! We have had the theoretical understanding of data shards even in the early 2020s!"

"The information I have provided is absolutely true and verified by our intelligence agencies Senator. However I do have a theoretical explanation as to why the citadel species seem so backwards and bereft of a standard technological progress path. May I request Madam Speaker to be allowed to present my theory?"

"Permission granted. You may proceed."

"Imagine a hypothetical scenario, if you will where the Prothean cache was located not on Mars but on Earth itself. Not only would that mean that we would discover the cache much earlier in our history, but it would mean that we would be catapulted centuries ahead into the Interstellar age in an instant. But it would also mean that we would never develop our own unique understanding of the universe. No Einsteins, and Stephen Hawkings. No Newton's or Babbages. Our entire scientific understanding would be based upon and revolve around what we learned from the cache. And we will be rendered incapable of inventing anything beyond what the Protheans had already mastered. Trying us to a framework of technology that is fraught with dangerous issues and limitations as you no doubt know. Because without the technical know-how and a decent stable technology base on the surface level, why would such a hypothetical civilization try to innovate on a large scale? Why waste time inventing new things if you can just open a cache and get the exact same things but ten times better? This is the exact situation that I believe happened to most if not all the Citadel Species. This would not only explain the massive technological gaps in the Citadel but also why they seem so stagnant at first view. And if… the history we collected from the Council Extranet is accurate, then it is exactly what happened to them."

"So it's been confirmed that all of these species achieved Interstellar travel by essentially scavenging on the scraps of the long-dead Prothean Empire?" President Bose asked.

"Yes, that is correct Madam President. Almost every species in the citadel either had a prothean cache on their cradle world or their moon." Anita confirms.

"That… is a concerning thought… this can't just be sheer coincidence… So many different species in different corners of the galaxy, all having access to some sort of prothean cache in their home system? It almost seems … planned…" the President remarks.

"That possibility cannot be ignored. The External hostile theory may need to be reviewed. Because if this is truly pre-planned, then it has all the makings of the perfect technological trap." The Director of Education says.

"Let that be what it is. I think we get back to Miss Goyle's Presentation." The Speaker says.

Anita nods and displays a map of the galaxy on the screen.

"This is currently the best map of the galaxy we have. The region highlighted in Blue is the region controlled by the Citadel. The region in red is the Lawless Terminus systems, populated by pirated and general criminals. It also has some citadel-unaffiliated planets. The Small sphere of green is our current territory. The Region in gold is what the Citadel calls the Attican Traverse, the region that has been gifted to us. Notice how it is sandwiched right between the citadel and the Terminus? It is our belief that the Citadel wants us to act as a wall against incursions and raids from the terminus pirates, thus stretching ourselves too thin and taking the brunt of the damage."

"So a poisoned Apple?" The Lord Commander Hadrian Artrarus comments.

"Correctly surmised Lord Commander. It has also been discovered that the Batarian Hegemony, the Yellow squid-faced Aliens we encountered alongside the Quarians, have laid claim to that exact region for decades now. The Citadel thinks that we would tire each other out or get destroyed so that they could then swoop in and take everything for themselves." Anita says.

"The sheer hubris of these primitives!" someone exclaims.

"They have no idea what they just handed us…more than a million star systems, ripe for the taking… All ours. This would sustain our civilization for millennia." Lord Hadrian remarks with a dangerous smirk, then continues " So shall we start planning on how to take the Batarians out of the picture Madam President? My boys are itching to spill blood after they heard about the slavery part."

"Yes, Madam President! You must take action on these heinous savages! Their continued slavery and crimes against sentience are an affront to our constitutional tenets! The public would want blood when we break the news!" The Minister of Energy Pleads with multiple similar declarations all over the parliament chambers.

"I understand your concerns, ministers, and Senators! But we need a plausible cause to declare war! If we attack without proper cause we may be labeled as warmongers! And as such Cerberus is trying its best to find one! I assure and promise all of you that humanity WILL deal with the Batarian Menace! And render it harmless for the sake of the future of ALL species! Lord Commander Hadrian, Lord Admiral Sky, you are to begin slowly preparing for a possible full-scale conflict. I am hereby authorizing the 6th and 7th fleets to secure every Mass Relay in the Attican Traverse." President Bose announces.

Both Lords nod and sit back down.

The discussions continued till late at night, with many points and detailed discussions of the direction The Sol Confederation would now take.

~~~~~~~~XXXXX~~~~~~~~XXXXX~~~~~~~

1500 hours, July 5, 2300

Cerberus Headquarters, Location Unknown

I was twirling my pen between my fingers in my office while reading the report my agents had sent. Who am I you ask? I'm the Illusive Man. Man… the irony, a position called the Illusive Man, filled by a woman for most of its operational history… of the Four Illusive Men, including dear old me, there has only ever been One man to hold the job. But then again, I guess no one expects the "Illusive Man" to be a woman.

Now let's be done with this stupid report.

'How is this even real? How lazy are these people? They haven't even reached the technological level of the Protheans!? ' No idea of carrier operations? Basing their entire fleet around one single ship type.' What is this? The golden age of Piracy?

'And they fire… grains of sand from their guns.' Why not use actual bullets? All that speed and the output is barely twice that of a normal bullet?! Any decent body Armor would stop it! Wait, don't tell me… They use the same firing mechanism as the Protheans!? That's so damn inefficient? Do they even understand their own technology? Their shield emitters are RIGHT THERE!

Almost No body-Armor. Why?! Am I reading some bad sci-fi plot? This doesn't make sense. How can multiple civilizations be so collectively stupid?! Even at similar technology levels, we would blow these fools out of the void! This is Absurd!

'National Prizes for making 10.8% increase in shield efficiency' I'm at a loss for words… are you guys reading this? These Citadel Guns are stupid! Hell, they shouldn't work! That small of a mass no matter how much you accelerate it is NEVER going to penetrate anything! It would vaporize on contact with the target and turn into slag. Drastically lowering its damage potential. Not to mention all the fancy complex nick-naks to make the grain go in the direction you're firing and not deviate would be so easy to get damaged! All those electronics in it are basically screaming Hack me!

Even if we excuse/ignore all of that the output is barely twice that of a 5.56 NATO round from the 1990s… The only advantage is the near-unlimited ammunition!

I'm going to need something strong after reading this report. By God the incompetence of these people…

No stellar construction of note. I doubt they even know what a space habitat is… no DEWs as expected… huh… that's interesting… 2720 Salarian scientists make ship shielding 10% more efficient. The same year an Asari company released a new model that's 10.8% more efficient. Again in 2703 turians made a better gun only for the Asari to release a better gun in a matter of months… Research papers too… Whenever someone makes a major stride, the Asari seem to release the same thing just a tiny bit better… This just smells wrong… Could it be possible… yes. Yes. That would make so much sense. Unnatural lifespans and abilities. A one-of-a-kind planet. Prothean tech Cache on their homeworld… Complete dissociation from every other species on their cradle world… it reeks of external intervention… Now the question is, who? And more importantly why?

Protheans seem the most Plausible… they left a cache on Thessia so they have been there for sure. What if… the Asari don't have a cache… but a beacon? A fully functional beacon… that would explain so much…

We need to investigate this. This would change everything. If we can access that beacon, then we could use it to repair the one on Mars…

Now the Fun begins…

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July 11, 2300 ES

Citadel, Serpent Nebula

A SoCon flotilla of 12 cruisers and a Battleship hung in the beautiful tapestry of pink and purple clouds of the Serpent Nebula just outside the Citadel. This was the Escort Fleet the humans had sent to taxi the Citadel Councilors to the memorial service being held on Shanxi.

Tevos stared in wonder at the Diplomatic shuttle the humans had sent. It was so… beautiful! Her plan to protest about not being able to use her own shuttle died in her throat. The oceanic blue and Silver curves looked so amazing! And the seats, by the goddess the seats! They were so soft and comfortable, that she felt like she was lounging on a cloud! A CX-310-O Luxury Shuttle was it? She had to get one for herself as soon as she returned from this ceremony! As she was thinking this she heard her assistant squeal from the side. "This wine tastes so divine!" Tevos turned towards the offending assistant ready to reprimand her, but her eye caught the lovely painting on the wall. And then one of her guards handed her a glass of wine. This glass working was so perfect, that she didn't even feel the tip of when she brought the glass to her lips. She tasted the wine… and it took all her mental fortitude and experience in politics to stop herself from squealing with joy herself!

"By the Goddess! How do these humans make their things? All of this is…. So good! This is better than anything I've drank, Even your secret stash of Illum whiskey! Oops!" Tevos's Assistant said giddy with joy, before she realized what she had just admitted.

This time there was no distracting Tevos, and she turned towards her assistant with a scowl on her face. "You dare!?"

"I-uh" the assistant stuttered.

"We will have words about you taking my things after we get better be on your best behavior for the duration of this tour if you don't want that conversation to be about your continued employment," Tevos says with a glare.

While this was going on, Brahacus and Bemort were sitting in their own corner. Brahacus was tasting the dextro-protein based wine the humans had provided and even though it tasted quite good, he was slightly miffed about the excessive luxury all around him. Bemort, meanwhile was admiring the science required for everything in the shuttle and analyzing every little detail.

"This wine-glass not made of glass, material composition more similar to diamond! We are basically drinking from cups made of diamonds!" Bemort began.

"These seats! They appear to be form of adjustable smart matter! See how they change to the most comfortable form based on our muscle movement? I think these seats are also giving a sort of massage using soft vibrations!" He continues.

"Huh, my back does feel slightly better." Brahacus remarks. "I wonder how they got enough medical data to know what would feel comfortable for us?"

"Quite simple answer my friend. The Extranet! There's lots of medical knowledge on there, quite easy to take and use that data. With the level of computing power they have shown, It might have taken them only a few hours to make the necessary adjustments to the shuttle!" Bemort explains with a smile.

"Good point." Brahacus murmurs, his mind now moving to the military implications of this. 'Diamond-like material used for minor objects. Luxury to the point of excess on what is not even a custom shuttle. Are they that decadent or is their economy so large that they can just afford this type of luxury without bothering about costs?' He wondered.

The 2 Turian guards were also sitting and enjoying the comforts provided, though maintaining a state of alertness. The Salarian agents were scanning everything with their omnitools.

A few minutes later an announcement was made over the speakers in a soft feminine voice, too smooth to be wholly organic in origin.

"Dear councilors and other guests, we have landed in the shuttle bay of the Ambassadorial Class Luxury Liner SSV Lucia. You may now exit the shuttle. We hope you enjoyed our journey with us."

The door of the shuttle opens, and Brahacus walks out first followed by all the guards, and then Tevos and Bemort come out. Greeting them from the front are 17 people. The one in the middle, a middle-aged man in a navy uniform of some sort walks a step forward and greets. "I am Captain Samson, the captain of this ship for the duration of this journey. The men and women behind me will be responsible for your care, and as such at least one person will be around to assist at all times. Feel free to enjoy everything provided." After shaking hands with all of them, most of the crew returned to their duties.

'Quite an expert move. Attaching a tail to all of us in the form of personal Butlers. They want to show off but don't want us gleaming anything that might be of strategic value.' Brahacus and Bemort scoff internally, sharing a knowing look with each other.

The ship takes a day and a half to make the trip to planet Valhalla. By this time even the turian guards have started slacking off. They look at the planet out of the viewport on the ship. It's a mix of beautiful greens and blues with white ice at the poles. They also notice a myriad of large and small space stations in orbit and strewn around the system. Most peculiarly, however, the station closest to the planet seemed to be connected to the planet with a massive chord-like structure of some sort. Before they can ask what it is, the speakers announce: "We have arrived at our destination. In front of you is the Planet Valhalla and the Ysmir spaceport and space elevator".

The ship docks with the space station and the councilors are escorted to the space elevator. Planetside they are greeted by a short man in a white suit. "I am Kellogg Hawthorne, and I will be your guide, any questions you may have, you can ask at your leisure." He introduces himself with a smile.

Not wishing to waste the opportunity Bemort asks "That is quite a large space station, and that space elevator, how many such structures do you have? Are they commonplace?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to tell the exact numbers but I can tell you that every human world has at least one space elevator," Kellogg answers.

"How many people live on this world?" Bemort asks without missing a beat.

"At this moment? A bit over a billion people. Please follow me" Kellogg says as he leads them into a sky car. When the councilors entered the sky car and took their seats, the car started moving towards the venue zooming over the cityscape. The councilors saw the spires of glass and steel with wreaths of plants interwoven into them. The building they were heading towards was like a crystal shard rising out of the cityscape, it's windows gleaming with aquamarine hues. Throughout the ride, Bemort continued asking questions.

When the councilors were finally shown their accommodations and their guide left, that's when their fatigue started to set in. Tevos could not help but think that for once, she may need to be on the defensive. Brahacus was slightly stressed for the event the next day. Bemort and his agents had immediately begun scouring through everything they could access on the Human internet using the data pads they had been provided.

~~~~~~~~XXXXX~~~~~~~~XXXXX~~~~~~~

The Next Day

The Councillors had been given a tour of the city. Brahacus had taken a particular interest in the war museum, while Tevos had been entranced by the Sculptures and paintings in the Art galleries. Bemort had wanted a visit to the University but could not manage due to time constraints and hence was in a bit of a foul mood. "Brahacus my friend, why must you waste time looking at old chemical projectile weapons when we could have learned so much from a visit to their university?" He grumbled

"Yes, we could have spent more time looking at the sculptures if you had not spent hours looking at swords and spears of all things! You Turians really have no respect for art and culture." Tevos Huffed.

Brahacus chose to ignore everything and focus on his speech for the event. He had to look humble without showing weakness and stand with pride without coming off as overtly arrogant. And why shouldn't he have spent time looking at old weapons? You can tell a lot about culture from the way they fight their wars. Brutal, aggressive, and unrestrained combat? The culture most probably originated in a harsh land where survival mattered most. Highly defense-focused, almost ignoring offense? Most probably had to fight off invaders who were much stronger and larger than them for a long time.

His musings came to an end when they reached the venue. They stepped out of their vehicle and were escorted to the VIP area. They could see that quite a large crowd had gathered for the ceremony. Suddenly the large doors swung open.

The man who came in, was almost seven feet tall, he had short silver-gray hair, piercing blue eyes, and pale skin. His uniform was black with red and gold accents, complete with epaulets, and many gleaming medals on his chest. He held a commanding presence and aura rivaling the most experienced and weathered veteran Commanders Brahacus had ever known. The kind of presence that makes one feel the need to either kneel or Salute in respect. This was clearly an officer of a very high Rank, this Brahacus knew for sure.

Their guide then led them toward the man and then began introducing him. "Respected Councilors, let me introduce to you Sir Hadrian Artrarus, Lord Commander of the Military forces of the Sol Confederation."

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A/N I am back! This is half of the original chapter I had planned. The other half is coming soon. I just really want to be done with this boring part and begin the Skyllian Blitz but I keep getting Ideas that feel necessary to add now.