Chapter 113

Arriving within range of the patrol fleet, Commander Xaries M'kyala boarded a shuttle and exited the shuttle bay of her ship. Once in the void of space, she was guided to the hanger of Captain Telos's ship by two Sentinels.

Every ship within the Ascendency was equipped with Sentinels controlled by the ship's onboard AI to perform a variety of roles from patrolling outside the craft to performing maintenance on the ship.

Once inside the hangar, she was greeted by Captain Telos himself, who was accompanied by a group of security guards. He was a surprising sight to the Asari considering his height was far taller than theirs.

"Welcome aboard, Commander M'kyala," he greeted her as his voice was translated into High Thessian. She was slightly taken aback at the flawless pronunciation and comprehension of her language, but she hid it well behind a polite smile and nod.

"Thank you for receiving us, Captain Telos," she said graciously. "Your ships are impressive and have a unique look to them."

"A testament to the Imperial Ascendancy's dedication to unity and exploration," he replied. Guiding her to their conference room, he added, "If you please."

As they walked through the corridors of the ship filled with diverse species working harmoniously, another surprise for Commander M'kyala as Telos initiated small talk about mundane space travel topics.

Their conversation continued as they entered the conference room, where a large table was sitting in the center of the room. Seating himself at one end, Telos invited M'kyala to take the seat opposite to him.

"I must admit," she began, her eyes still taking in the advanced technology that surrounded her, "I did not expect to encounter such an advanced civilization out here."

Telos was silent for a moment before answering, "It is the vision of our Emperor and the people to find unity through our diversity, that is how we have found our strength and learned to work as one."

As he spoke, Phoenix projected a hologram of a few of the Ascendency's cities back in their Galaxy, as well as various technology, races, and ships.

"Naturally, I cannot say much about how big or small our Empire is, as we have just met, but I do hope that we can establish diplomatic relations with each other and in the future become closer as allies." Telos paused, his gaze steady on M'kyala. "We are always open to establishing peaceful relations with other civilizations."

"I agree, Captain Telos," she said finally after a moment of silence. "The Asari Republics are also striving for unity and peace among all races in the universe. I believe our civilizations share common goals and values." She glanced at Telos before adding, "I will bring this news back to the Citadel, which is where the Citadel Council resides, I'm sure that they will send a proper delegation to invite the Ascendency to join the Citadel alongside the other races"

Hearing this, Telos was interested in what this Citadel Council was and what role they played within the Galaxy, "If you don't mind me asking Commander, who are the Citadel Council?"

"The Citadel Council," began M'kyala, her voice taking on a more formal tone, "is the governing body of the Citadel space and beyond. It is an executive committee composed of representatives from the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy and the Salarian Union. They are responsible for maintaining law and order throughout the galaxy, promoting peaceful cooperation among races, and ensuring stability among the galactic community."

As she spoke, Phoenix was processing this new information and cross-referencing it with its existing knowledge base and information collected from the Asari ship. Within milliseconds, it had gathered enough data to present a rough outline of the Citadel Council's structure and functions to Captain Telos.

"Interesting," murmured Telos. "Well Commander, this meeting has been beneficial to both our governments, and I will relay this information to the emperor and await the Citadel Council's delegation."

Commander M'kyala nodded in agreement, "I am glad to hear this, Captain Telos. Our civilizations have much to offer each other, and I am excited to see the benefits of this union."

With that, their meeting concluded. As they exited the conference room and strolled down the corridors leading to the hangar bay, Commander M'kyala couldn't help but stare at the various species that she had seen and how different they looked.

Captain Telos led her back to her shuttle, shaking hands and exchanging final pleasantries before she returned to her ship. As her ship left the patrol fleet's position they departed the system.

Captain Telos had sent Axel a finalized report on the meeting and its outcome while continuing his mission of patrolling the system.

Meanwhile, elsewhere within the Galaxy on a planet named Shanxi, an invasion was going on between two sides. The Turian Hierarchy on one side was the invading force which had discovered the Systems Alliance reactivating an inactive Relay which was forbidden under under the Citadel regulations after the Rachni Wars.

Instead of negotiating with them, the Turian's had instead opened fire. At the end of the conflict, one ship had managed to escape and warn the Alliance about the attack.

After finding out about the attack, the Systems Alliance sent a fleet and retaliated against the Turian vessels, turning the situation into a war.

Now the Turian's had managed to take Shanxi after they defeated several scouts and patrol fleets. Now they had settled in for a protracted orbital siege of the planet.

The situation on Shanxi was dire. The Systems Alliance had been forced to pull back their defenses, leaving the planet largely unprotected as the Turian fleet established a siege perimeter, effectively cutting off all supply lines and communication channels.

As the orbital bombardment continued, Governor Yin Lee looked out at his ravaged city from his makeshift command center in what was once Shanxi's government building. He could barely recognize the once lively streets, now reduced to rubble and ash.

All over the planet, the Alliance soldiers continued to fight off the invading forces, despite being in a weak position. The Turian's had a fleet above the planet which they could use to kill any Alliance soldiers from above, because of this the Shanxi defenders began to starve, unable to get food or supplies without risking civilian lives.

Back on Nova, Axel had started to send out scout ships to survey the surrounding systems and search for a place to start building the dimensional slipspace gate. They would need a place that that they can restrict access to, as he didn't want the rest of the Galaxy to know about them being from another galaxy just yet.