Chapter One Hundred And Twenty-Eight

Imperial Fortress. Freedom's Progress.

I would have expected the diplomats from the Systems Alliance to want to meet on my cruiser instead they requested a site within the colony so I chose the fortress that the Ad-Mech had built to defend the colony so as to show off Imperial might and because it was well guarded by the militia who had laser weapons. No harm in showing off the merchandise.

"Productive and yet boring" I commented as the Alliance people left to go report back to their superiors "I don't think I'll ever get used to these kinds of meetings".

That had taken far too long. My wife must have the patience of a real saint to have been dealing with those people while I'd been away. They'd wanted to go over every detail of the treaty between the Imperial Expedition and System Alliance which included an exclusive contract to buy the AER12 model of laser rifle which was the successor to the AER9 model that I would sell to human civilians. Later I would offer up the AER14, but that could wait.

At least the System Alliance had purchased the laser weapons in the thousands for a good price and they even handed over a decent down payment much to my delight.

"When I was young I sat with my father when he was having a few meetings like this" Miranda Lawson let me know "I remember once when my father had someone use symbolic logic to analyze a recording of a two hour long meeting only to discover that everything of importance was handled in a few hundred words and everything else was meaningless"

Thinking about it, I very dimly recalled in one of the books by Issac Asimov there was a character, some kind of diplomat, who speaks endlessly during a visit. Only after recording and analysing his speech some experts come to the conclusion that the envoy never said anything of real substance. He was a master at speaking without actually saying anything of worth thus his entire visit was meaningless. The Alliance diplomates weren't quite that bad.

I didn't need symbolic logic to know that the Alliance diplomates could have discussed everything that mattered with me in a matter of moments. They'd just wanted assurances that I wouldn't attack them without provocation, which I wouldn't since I had no desire to slaughter my own kind. They also cared about having the best laser weapons, not that they did have those, but they were welcome to try to improve on what I had given them, and to buy the better models later on.

"The Council will send their own diplomats" Miranda warned "They will be even worse".

I liked having Miss Lawson around. She'd been easy to bring into my service, she had a need for approval that stemmed from her unsupportive and overly controlling father, it was easy to tap into those feelings. Aside from approval she also wanted to achieve things on her own merit so I offered to make her part of my personal staff and to have her take part in the talks that would affect the entire galaxy.

Dany would have been here only if she'd not already spent time dealing with the diplomats. She had returned to the cruiser so as to care for our children. I didn't plan to prevent her from taking part in future talks; she just needed some family time.

"I have no intentions of meeting with any aliens if I can help it" I said "The quarians sure, but the Council is of no importance to me unless they become hostile".

As such I planned to make excuses not to talk to them, letting them know I was busy elsewhere. It would annoy and only delay matters, however the Council was slow to react and wouldn't want to cause trouble in the Terminus Systems so that left me free to react. Perhaps Dany could help distract them.

"Why did you trade directly for Kowloon Class freighters and raw materials?" asked Miranda Lawson "Why not just take the money offered".

Those vessels are basic freighter starships originally designed (and mostly used) by humans so the Ad-Mech should have trouble blessing them and putting them into service so that goods and people could be transported by Imperials without needing them to tag along with my cruiser.

Each class of what ship was built on a standard design, likely for easy mass production. They generally carry a large cargo bay with smaller compartments for additional passenger haulage, but their design means these compartments can be swapped or exchanged to customize the ship. According to the date I had access to, Kowloon-class ships are hardy but carry no armaments and only a standard engine core, they were nothing to write home about.

Unfortunately this makes them easy prey for privateers or mercenary bands looking for a quick score, but since I intended them to travel between Freedom's Progress and Thrax II that wouldn't be much of an issue as that route was rarely travelled and defences could be added to the ships. Besides, they would be easy to replace. Those trips would also take a lot of time, but I needed my cruiser to be elsewhere.

"Because my dear I have goods that need moving and so I would have ended up buying those ships anyway" said "I might have gotten more for my money if I'd gone to the dealers, I just don't have time for that".

I planned to leave the freighters in the care of others.

"My lord don't forget you're due to meet with Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay" Miranda reminded me "She's an alien".

Yes but the Inquisition didn't mind me allying with the quarians so as to take down the geth and while I had a special permission slip that allowed me to met with xenos to advance Imperial interests outside the Imperium I was just using Imperial xenophobia as an excuse not to have to go to more meetings.

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay was a member of the quarian Admiralty Board. She is an old friend of Tali'Zorah's father, having known the Zorah family long enough that Tali considered the woman to be her aunt.

When Tali'Zorah vas Neema is accused of treason against the quarian people in the game, Admiral Raan is seen presiding over her hearing, but had to recuse herself from taking part due to her relationship with the Zorah family. She instead acts as the moderator and the spokesman for the trial so it made sense that Tali took my offer to Admiral Shala'Raan.

"She's asked to meet with you on board your cruiser" Miranda let me know.

I was distracted for a moment by the tight all black body suit that the biotic kept wearing. She'd removed the Cerberus symbols and replaced them with the Imperial aquila as well as the symbol of House Thrax very quickly. I had to wonder if she'd ever really been loyal to Cerberus or if she'd just gone to them for protection from her father which I could offer more of along with a use for her talents. I'd happily have her father shot on sight if Miranda requested me to or send Black Widow to deal with him.

"No aliens on my ship" I said "She can meet us here".

I had no issues with quarians even though they did make the geth as they were decent enough people on the whole but I had Sister of Battle on my ship and other fanatics. I didn't want the admiral getting purged when she was supposed to be meeting with me. Besides I wouldn't put it past the quarians to learn a lot about Imperial tech just by looking at some of it and hearing more than they should.

"Let's get some lunch" I decided "You can brief me on the admiral while we eat".

This wasn't what I'd imagined myself doing. I'd wanted to be the pirate-king of the Terminus System, not whatever I was now. So I spent a few moments reminding myself that I would be able to get back out there soon enough once my dues were paid.