Interesting Times - Chapter 57

December 9th, 2173

19:52 

Illium, Tesale-System

Nos Astra 

I stepped out of the shuttle behind two of my guards, who had jumped out before the shuttle even landed to secure the landing pad.

The sun was getting lower, and to prevent it from blinding me, I held up my left hand to protect my eyes from its rays.

Three pairs of heavy footsteps followed me out of the shuttle, and I didn't have to turn around to know that Commander Abebe was walking a few steps behind my right shoulder and two more guards were following us.

A simple nod from one of the two guards who had jumped out of the shuttle was enough to convey that it was safe to proceed out of the protection the closeness to the shuttle gave us.

With an unseen and unheard command, Commander Abebe directed the other guards to form a loose square around us.

I wasn't prone to feeling nervous in dangerous situations since I had lived through too much for that, but I appreciated their protective behavior nonetheless. And considering that I was about to walk into the lion's den, their protection would probably be dearly needed for me to get out of there without a scratch.

There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I would walk out of there alive.

Some may call it arrogance, others foolishness, but I called it confidence.

I knew what I would walk into and had planned accordingly.

Furthermore, the guards I took with me, aside from Commander Abebe, who was a force of nature in battle in her own right, were the best of the best among my forces here on Illium and could measure up to any N3 graduate.

Besides, they weren't the only ones close by.

A little bit longer than a week ago, I got an invitation from Ayala Nessara to a Circle meeting where she wanted to mediate between me and Cicerio. At first, I had scoffed at the idea. There would be no mediation between me and Cicerio as long as the Arbiter pulled his strings and Cicerio was confident in his success.

Yet, something within me had hesitated at dismissing the invitation out of hand. Perhaps there would be an opportunity.

Or there was more going on than I realized.

Somehow, I felt it was a mixture of both.

Taking a leap of faith, I decided to accept the invitation and come to the meeting Nessara was organizing on a neutral ground.

Nonetheless, I wanted to go into the meeting with as many advantages as I could get, so I relayed the message that I would need Eclipse out of the picture as soon as possible. 

And the AIS delivered. As they always do.

I would have to send Andrew a gift basket for sending someone so competent in his chosen profession. It was always nice to work with people who knew what they were doing and worked fast to boot.

It was almost enough to do away with the irritation I felt at the question he had asked me on behalf of the wonderful Madam President.

Just thinking about it slowly started to raise my temper.

I put more into the Alliance than almost everyone else, and now they're acting like I am a dog that they can whistle back whenever I do something they don't like?

And the worst part will be that I can't go against their wishes exactly. If I want to become the ambassador, I can't show them the bird and expect to be welcomed with open arms when I start to make a serious bid for the position.

Furthermore, I had already planned to spend some time within the Alliance territory to concentrate on projects closer to home before relocating to the Citadel after a year. I had already ordered some of my people to organize my timetable for the next year, and everything was in place for it. Now, even if I chose to ignore the Alliance's leadership "suggestion," I would still look like I was obeying them.

The only reason I wasn't considering ignoring and showing them what a bad idea it was to think that I could be ordered around like an army grunt was that it had been Andrew who conveyed the wishes of the Alliance government. He did make a good case in their favor and had taken my initial outburst at their audacity with a grace that not many could boast about.

Well, I hadn't completely let myself go. After all, Andrew was one of my best friends and didn't deserve to bear the full brunt of my anger.

Only a little bit, since he decided to go with their suggestion.

In the end, the only reasonable action I could take in response to them was to show them my displeasure and to make certain that they would never be able to put me on a leash if I didn't want them to.

Of course, that would have to happen behind closed doors.

It wasn't difficult to see and understand that the Alliance didn't have any other option.

At least, I saw it after calming down and thinking about the situation and possible responses logically.

If I ignored them, the Alliance would have to react more drastically, something neither of us wanted, or they would show that one of their citizens could do whatever he wanted without censure. I would have to take my "house arrest" without question if I didn't want the Alliance to lose face within the galactic community, and that was something I wanted to prevent as our reputation hadn't cemented itself enough in the heads of the other political entities and society to not take a hit that would take years to mend.

Nonetheless, it annoyed me, and I would hold a grudge, even if it was petty since they had no other choice.

I forced the annoyance back down and cleared my mind to focus on what was before me. I could think about how to get back at them later when I was safely inside the Alliance territory.

The walk to the door was short, and around halfway, I could lower my hand as I didn't have to shield my eyes from the sun anymore, which had disappeared behind another skyscraper.

Like most doors, it opened with a near-silent hiss and went sideways into the wall, and the two guards in front of me entered the building first before giving me a nod that it was safe to proceed.

The moment I entered the building, a shiver went down my back, and my eyes flitted from side to side to find the source of my discomfort. I couldn't find anything, not that I expected to find something if my guards signaled that it was safe, but the feeling refused to go away.

"Is something wrong, sir?" asked Commander Abebe, who noticed the tension in my shoulders.

I threw her a look that conveyed my wariness and said: "I don't know what it is, but something is wrong. Stay on your guard, but don't start anything. We don't want to appear as the aggressors."

All five straightened their postures at my order and replied with a simultaneous "Yes, sir!" And with a nod from me, we continued toward the elevator, which would bring us to the level where the Circle would meet.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the elevator to arrive after we found it, and while it was a tight fit for six people, especially since five of them wore armor and carried weapons that were good enough for a special operations team, it wasn't too uncomfortable.

Hopefully, nobody manipulated the elevator so its brakes wouldn't engage after someone triggered its downfall.

That reminded me I wanted to update the general safety measures in the branches I visited the most. Illium was akin to a fortress for the moment with the whole extra platoon of guards and security officers, but the other three, Earth, Terra Nova, and the Citadel, hadn't enjoyed the same attention, a lapse to be addressed sooner than later.

With a simple ding, the elevator arrived at the right level, and its doors opened slowly. 

Two guards exited the elevator and froze for a moment before signaling Commander Abebe to join them.

Her eyes narrowed, and her right hand instinctively went toward the pistol on her hip, clenching its grip tightly, ready to draw it at the slightest provocation.

Understanding that I would be in the way if I exited right now, I took a few steps behind the two remaining guards, who positioned themselves between me and the exit to shield me in case a firefight started.

Just like their commander, they tightened their grip on their rifles, and if they didn't wear armored gloves, I'm sure I would have seen their knuckles turn white.

"What's the problem?" I heard Commander Abebe asking with a barely loud enough voice as she went to the two tense guards outside the elevator. Instead of answering their commander, one of the guards just nodded in the direction in front of him, and I could see how every emotion on Commander Abebe's face disappeared, and nothing but a stone-cold mask remained.

I could see how a soft blue flicker washed over her body that could be mistaken for a fluctuation of her kinetic shield, yet wasn't. She had activated a shield booster that would give her barriers additional power for a few minutes before needing to recharge. It would give her enough time to get behind cover if she came under fire in the open.

While I could only see half of the stand-off, I could metaphorically see the tension coming from them in waves. It took almost a whole minute before Commander Abebe relaxed her posture marginally and gave the signal that we could come out.

The two in front of me hesitated for a second but walked out of the elevator with their rifles held in their hands, and I followed them close behind, with only enough space between us to not hinder their or my movements.

I could feel my heart beating quicker as we stepped out, but I tried my best not to let anything show on my face other than calm and confidence. No matter what was waiting outside, I had to project an image of strength, not just for myself and the people accompanying me who looked to me for guidance but for everyone watching, too.

Nervousness, apprehension, and alarm were emotions one should do their best to push down and not show even the slightest hint of them as they were points one's opponent could exploit if one wasn't careful. The reverse could be said, too. If one showed calmness and confidence even if the situation wasn't in one's favor, it could unsettle one's opponent and make it easier to gain the advantage.

It was a lesson I learned through experience and served me well throughout the years.

Sometimes, I felt like an actor in a play. A play with far-reaching consequences if I didn't play my role to perfection.

When I joined Commander Abebe, I finally saw what had them so on edge.

The hallway was filled with soldiers standing guard, their armor identifying them as mostly Nessara's private troops, but I could see those belonging to Cicerio among them too. It didn't take me long to understand that my guards were outnumbered even if one were to count only Cicerio's troops, who were the most obvious enemy arrayed against us. And that was only those we could see.

Nobody knew how many were waiting on another floor.

Yet, the same could be said about our side.

I wasn't naive enough to not have the surrounding area teeming with my people in case of an emergency.

For example, a shuttle was waiting on the landing platform of a nearby skyscraper with a running engine and a full intervention team and could be there in less than a minute.

The rest, with one exception, would take longer, but not by far.

My hand landed on Commander Abebe's shoulder and squeezed. She couldn't feel it through her armor, but the look she sent me told me she understood what I wanted her to know. She answered me with a nod before she started to walk toward the meeting room, leading our group.

The remaining four fell back into formation around me, shielding me from every side, never giving the soldiers standing in the hallway the chance to attack me unimpeded. They stood a bit closer to me than when we entered the building.

Perhaps it was because the hallway was more narrow, and the other soldiers didn't help in giving us enough space, or maybe my people felt more protective than before and wanted to pull me out of the way in case anyone even thought about lifting their weapon in my direction.

During our walk, I noticed something about the soldiers we passed.

When I first met the Circle, there had been guards from every species with an existing military, even a few Batarians, despite their reputation among the population of the other species. Even humans had been among their numbers, and humanity wasn't so widespread yet that this was an ordinary occurrence. And I still could remember the respectful nods they gave me when I passed them.

But now, I couldn't see a single human, not even among those I identified as Nessara's troops.

Not a single one.

It wasn't like the sudden insight stopped me in my tracks, but there was a feeling in my gut that couldn't mean anything good. There had to be a reason I wasn't seeing any humans, and that reason couldn't be anything good.

Of course, it could be that the humans had been in the employ of Nisco Ron, and they left after his death. Yet, I didn't think that this was it.

Either I hadn't suppressed my reaction as well as I thought, or Commander Abebe knew me well enough to notice even the slightest changes. If I had to guess -and hope- I would say it was the latter.

She turned her head barely enough to see my face from the corner of her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows. In return, I scratched the left side of my chin with my right hand. A signal we had agreed on that I would give if I noticed something that could potentially be dangerous for us. 

Sadly, I wouldn't be able to communicate what I had noticed, but a warning was better than nothing.

Commander Abebe nodded almost unnoticed, and if I hadn't looked for it, I wouldn't have seen it.

Finally, we arrived at the meeting room, and thankfully, there weren't more guards outside than in the hallway toward it.

"Two outside, the rest with me," I ordered.

"Lepisky, Cheklo, that's your job. Stay on guard."

The two guards, chosen by Commander Abebe, saluted and went to stand opposite the door to have a free field of view of the Turian and Salarian standing at the sides of the door.

"Let's go," I said, opened the door, and entered the room with confident and self-assured steps.

My eyes slowly observed the room while the remaining two guards took their positions beside the door, and Commander Abebe stood to my right.

The meeting room was spacious. The wall on the other side was made out of glass, and while I couldn't see any other doors into the room other than the one I entered through, there could be hidden doorways for soldiers to enter the room.

Not that there would be any need since there were enough troops inside the room for us to be outnumbered almost three to one.

Finally, my eyes locked on the two people sitting at the table in the middle of the room. 

At the head of the table sat the Asari Ayala Nessara, and to her right, the Turian Quintinius Cicerio.

They were sitting closer to each other than one would expect for a meeting with the declared goal of mediation, as it would imply that there was already an understanding between one of the parties and the mediator.

The correct answer to something like that would be to take the seat on Nessara's other side and the position opposite Cicerio.

Yet, I took the chair directly in front of me, at the other end of the table, where I sat in direct opposition to Nessara.

And if that wasn't a statement, I didn't know what would even count as one.

"Nessara, Cicerio," I greeted with a polite nod at each of them. "Do we wait for De'Tiyovi or begin without her?" 

"The purpose of this meeting is to mediate between you and Quintinius. I do not think Mirala's presence is needed or beneficial for this. She's close to you, and you have worked together on a few projects. I don't think it would be fair to Quintinius if you have an ally and he doesn't."

"And the Arbiter isn't an ally?" I countered while raising my eyebrow.

Cicerio scoffed at my reply. "But she isn't here, is she? Not that I can hold it against her. After all, you wouldn't hesitate to try and kill her. I'm surprised that you didn't try it with me."

"First of all," I replied, "I'm civilized. Starting a fight when someone asks for a peaceful meeting is the opposite of that. Secondly, I wasn't the one who started the fight, but I will be the one to end it. And on my terms at that."

"So, you're here to dictate your terms to me and the Arbiter? Quite arrogant of you."

"Arrogance has nothing to do with it. It is simply a fact that my position is much better than yours, and it is only a matter of time until you have no other chance but to surrender."

Cicerio threw me a scathing look that promised me a painful death, but I sent a smile in his direction in response. His promises didn't intimidate me in the slightest, and there was no lie in my words. It was only a matter of time until there would be nothing the Arbiter and her loyal dog could do against me.

Yet, one could call me impatient, but I didn't want to wait until my enemies died a slow death, and I was sure that the Arbiter and Cicerio were preparing for a last desperate strike before their strength and means waned into nothing.

"Peace, my friends," said Nessara placatingly. "We're here to find a solution that ends the hostility between your two groups in a way that, while maybe not perfect, everyone can live with."

At her words, Cicerio's mandibles flared, and he exhaled a trilling breath while his hands, which lay on the table, clenched into fists before relaxing again.

"While I have my reservations, the Arbiter concurs with Ms. Nessara. It would be for the best to end this."

I didn't even try to hide that I was rolling my eyes at his statement. He knew very well that Nessara's mediation would be the only way how he would come out of this alive. The only reason why he was angry was that it hurt his pride. Everything could have been avoided if he and the Arbiter had looked farther than my species, and they would have seen the amount of resources and people I could call on beforehand.

"And you, Oscar? I can't imagine that this conflict is very helpful when you have to deal with Eclipse all over the galaxy. I mean, the portion of Eclipse here on Illium is leaving after their commander's death, but the rest of the mercenary organization is still your enemy, right?"

I snorted at the unsubtle reminder from Nessara that I had started a fight with one of the oldest and biggest mercenary groups currently existing in the galaxy.

"Don't worry about that," I answered, waving my hand in a contemptuous gesture. "The hostilities between me and Eclipse have ended."

"Since when?!" shot out Cicerio, unable to hide his shock and disbelief.

"Since yesterday evening," I replied with a sneer. "Not that the details concern you or anybody. Sederis and I came to an understanding."

Well, to call it an understanding would be going too far.

It was more that thanks to my upcoming "house arrest," I had to finish up the small-time war with Eclipse, and I wanted to do it on my terms instead of letting it simply stop when I couldn't act anymore.

Right after I got the confirmation that Eclipse's local leader, Kalara Ayori, was eliminated, I got in contact with one of the Shadow Broker's known intermediaries to facilitate a call with Jona Sederis.

I disliked dealing with the Shadow Broker, but there wasn't anyone who could do this as fast as I wanted this to happen.

After I paid a considerable sum in advance, to not give them any idea of alternative payment methods, I got a date, a time, and a number.

The call itself didn't take long, and most of the time, Sederis and I were exchanging threats to see who was the bigger and more dangerous dog.

Thankfully, we managed to strike a deal between the threats, which broke down to her and her organization staying out of Alliance territory while I stayed out of the innermost Asari space where the core of her power was located. Furthermore, we agreed to stop killing each other anywhere else.

Not the most elaborate agreement, but it was enough.

Of course, I knew it wouldn't hold more for long, but I guessed I would have some peace for a few years before Sederis became brave again and forgot that I dominated our conflict.

Well, that would be her future problem, not mine.

I would just end it.

Again.

"That is great news for you," said Nessara, and gave me a radiant smile.

A smile that was as brittle as it was fake.

"Yeah, it is," I agreed, leaned back in my chair, and put my hands in my lap. "And I would like to put this conflict here between the Arbiter and myself to rest as well."

"That's great to hear. In that case, we should..." started Nessara before I interrupted her by raising my hand.

"There is just one thing that hinders me from going forward with this. I may be nitpicking about it since it's only a matter of formality, but it annoys me nonetheless."

"Please tell. Maybe we can sort it out," Nessara said while Cicerio tried to kill me with his stare. It was obvious that he didn't expect the "peace" I brokered with Eclipse, and if he and the Arbiter truly wanted to negotiate, it would put them into an even worse situation than the simple mass exodus of Eclipse troops here on Illium.

"It is something you said, Nessara."

"Something I said?" she questioned, and the confusion was plain to see in her eyes.

"Yes," I replied. "You said we're here to find a solution between "your" groups. It should have been "ours" instead."

"What do you mean?"

"Please don't insult me by keeping this charade going on any longer, Madame Arbiter."

The second I called her Arbiter, Nessara's whole demeanor changed. It was like she was growing older right before my eyes.

No, she wasn't growing older, but it was like growing more mature in seconds.

In truth, she simply let any pretense and mask she showed me since I met her for the first time fall and showed me her true face.

Cicerio, on the other hand, seemed more nervous and fidgety than before. His eyes flitted back and forth between me and Nessara, yet he calmed down a bit after Nessara put a hand on his shoulder.

"Congratulations, you found out the truth. But I don't think it will help you much. How would you humans say? You're the fly in the spider's web."

"We will see," I responded to the obvious threat and smiled confidently.