Chapter One Hundred And Fifty-One

Council Chamber. The Citadel.

Bam Rok'kakan was the first Batarian diplomat to be received by the Council in quite some time, which made sense given the the Batarians had closed their embassy and withdrawn themselves from Citadel space. This might seem as if it would have been a bad thing for the Council but in truth the Batarians had always been trouble than they were worth and they'd butted heads with Humans ever since humanity had been brought into the larger galactic community.

The Council had known that in the end they would need to back one race over the other, and for all of humanity's fault their government was at least easier to manage and their population overall caused far less trouble. Sure their criminal elements migrated to the Terminus System and got into all sorts of trouble, but so did the scum of other races.

At least the Systems Alliance took a stance against slavery and their business were open to idea of foreign investors than Batarian corperations, as were the colonies springing up all over the known galaxy. It would surprise many to learn just how many already wealthy Asari had heavily invested in human colonies that they believed would prosper and make them a reason profit sometime in the next hundred years.

Humanity had proven not to be as controllable as hoped by the Salarian and Asari councillor as the Humans had pushed much harder than expected for a greater say in how the galaxy was run, and the galaxy simply wasn't prepared for that. If not for the madness of Saren there wouldn't have even been a human Spectre by this point never mind a human with a place on the Council.

Alas Saren had turned on them and a human fleet had acted to save the Citadel as well as the Council, resulting in the apes advancing far more than they should have, but at least they were better than the Batarians who wouldn't have lifted a finger to save the Council.

At least Udina proved to be easier to keep in line than Anderson would have been and it was good that no one in the Alliance had heard that the admiral had Shepard's backing back when so many people would have listened to her.

Shepard was another pain their necks. When she'd gone missing on a mission against the geth it seemed like something of a blessing since she wasn't around any longer to keep blathering on about Reapers. At when she'd stopped things had start to settle down again. Now she was back and she'd somehow managed to get involved with something that gave the Council more headaches.

The blasted Imperials, who despite never having even left the Terminus Systems had managed to cause so much chaos within Citadel space. The latest bit of drama involved a Batarian fleet having foolishly attacked the Imperials, and as expected the four-eyed fools had been blind to the danger resulting in them losing nearly an entire fleet.

"Ambassador Rok'kakan, affairs within the Terminus Systems are not our concern" said the Asari Councillor "This incident took place far outside of our jurisdiction".

The diplomat had not come here to complain about the Imperials or to demand some form of compenstation, if he had he would haven been much easier to ignore him, rather he'd come to ask for help, to plead for the Council to join forces with the Batarians to destroy the Imperials before the Imperials came for them.

"And frankly neither is anything that happens to your people" insisted the Salarian Councillor "You saw to that when you closed your embassy here on the Citadel".

Not that the Council had listened to them much when the Batarians had been here.

"We can not help you" said the Human Councillor "We all have peace treaties with Lord Thrax. As long as he stays in the Terminus Systems we will take no hostile action against him".

Rok'kakan glared at Udina and to his credit the human did not shy away.

"We know you must be supporting this Lord Thrax" he accused "There's no way a human captain working alone could operate that superdreadnought".

The Council races many intelligence agencies had worked to find proof of such dealings, yet aside from the legal and well known trade deals that the Alliance had made with Thrax, there was no movement of resources or funding of any kind going on.

"If Lord Thrax answered to the Systems Alliance then why would be paying so much for the technology he is supplying us with?" asked the Human member of the Council "If we had found some ancient warship for an advanced race we wouldn't need to purchase anything from Thrax as we'd already have that technology and much more".

This was true and it was all to elaborate to be a deception by the Alliance. No this Thrax might be human, but as far anyone could tell he'd never be a citizen of the Systems Alliance. He had some unknown way of keeping his superdreadnought up and running, maybe he'd found an entire shipyard built by the same race that was automated. It would explain how he had more than one ship, although it didn't explain where the tens of thousands of people who crewed those ships had come from.

"We have to act now" stated Rok'kakan "This Thrax could just be the vanguard of an invasion by the Imperium of Man that he claims to be from".

A chilling prospect that thankfully wasn't possible. Although not for the reasons the Council belived.

"Ah yes 'The Imperium of Man' a vast human empire in another universe" said the Turian Councillor "We have dismissed these claims. There are no Imperials because there is no empire, it's just something Thrax's people call themselves to make everyone think they are far more important than they actually are".

To be fair there was no real proof. The Rogue Trader could have fabricated the entire thing to make it seem as if he had some major backing. Not that he really needed it as the technology at the command of the strange humans really spoke for itself.

"Imperium or not we can't have these humans going around doing what they please" said Rok'kakan "What if they target a Batarian world next?".

The Council did not seem concerned by this.

"As we mentioned we have all signed treaties with Lord-Captain Thrax" reminded the Asari Councillor in a gentle tone of voice than her peers "We will not violate these agreements as long as the Imperials honour theirs by staying in the Terminus Systems".

The ambassador wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"But what if the Imperials attack targets in Batarian space?" he asked.

The Council members exchanged looks. They knew that if the Imperials could take on the Batarians in their home space then they might be willing to attack their colony worlds. Plus the Batarians homeworld and major colonies were not in the Terminus systems.

"If Lord Thrax breaks the terms of the treaty will convene and decide on a course of action" stated the Asari Councillor.

Which didn't mean they'd actually do anything about it.

"But we will not interfere as long as this conflict remains confined to the Terminus System" warned the Salarian Councillor.

Even then the Humans might not support any action taken against Thrax as they were profiting from their trade agreements.

After a lot of debate it was agreed that humanity would remain in control the production of laser weapons within Citadel Space as long as the other Council races could buy licences to purchase such weapons at a reasonable rate from the Systems Alliance or buy the weapons directly until they were ready to start making their own.

They'd need to pay more for the right to produce their own versions of Alliance manufactured weapons, but it would be far more costly to anger Lord Thrax by trying to steal from them, as while the Council felt that their combined might should be enough to destroy the Imperials it would extremely costly in terms of lives and materials. Thrax wouldn't sell directly to aliens, however he had hinted that he wouldn't stop others from doing so.

Given that conflict in the Terminus Systems might spill out into Citadel controlled space it would be a good thing that this agreement had been made and that human corporations were working to produce laser weapons on mass. It would also be wise not to weaken their own military might by supporting Batarian foolishness. If anything an increase in military spending seemed like a good idea and they could use this increase in Batarian aggression as an excuse.

"Very well" said Rok'kakan "I can see that you won't be convinced".

With that he left intending to warn his people that they were on their own and that they should prepare for the worse.