Chapter One Hundred And Forty

The Enduring Triumph. Tasale System.

I was annoyed by the fact that the Systems Alliance had involved the other Citadel races in our talks resulting in me having to travel to Illium in order to meet with a whole party of delegates who weren't willing to properly enter the Terminus Systems. Yet I had to come here because the Systems Alliance was withholding payment for the purchasing of heavy laser weapons such as I'd sold to Shepard.

Well that wasn't totally true, my payment was waiting for me on Illium along with a bonus as an apology for making me come all this way with excuses about not wanting to move my payment through the dangerous Terminus Systems. Which to be fair was a valid concern, what with all the mercs, pirates and slavers but it was still bait for a type of trap in some sense.

I had to wonder what the other Citadel races had done for humanity or threatened them with to get the human leaders in this galaxy to risk annoying such a powerful trading partner by luring me into a meeting on an alien world.

These aliens weren't to be trusted. Turians were conquerors, Salarians were sneaky fucks and while Asari were nice to look at, but they had mental powers of some kind and I'd read fan theories that stated that the blue girls got inside the heads of others to make themselves seem like attractive mates.

There had been a time when I only paid lip service to the idea that all aliens were evil creatures bent on wiping out mankind or making us their slaves, but I couldn't help thinking that the humans of this universe who went to join the like of Cerberus had a point about the aliens holding mankind back or at least limiting us.

Perhaps the Imperials were just rubbing off on me, yet I would remain cautious when dealing with aliens as it's never foolish to be careful when dealing with people who want what you have.

I was a little annoyed about not having been time to finsih messing the mind of Ashley Williams so that she'd be my agent, but she was rather annoying and not that attractive in my view so not getting to add her to my collection of women didn't bother me too much.

"The Council is used to being the big fish around here" I said as I sat with Dany and Miranda around a dining table and went over reports gathered on the Citadel races "The fact that I won't take them seriously is going to shock everyone".

We were planning our tactics for the meetings to come which would take place on the planet. I didn't want aliens on my cruiser and if I met on one of their ships it would be very easy for them to abduct me. They could use me as a hostage if I was on the planet, and try to make demands, but I'd taken steps to make that harder.

I would have my ship keep its gun pointed at the planet so that any attempt to harm me would result in losing a city or two. I'd also have a large honour guard with me including the Deathwatch Kill Team as the Inquisitor was coming along. The aliens would regret messing with Space Marines if the talks went sour.

While there were risks in coming here and letting the Council dictate my moves there were also advantages. By leaving the Terminus Systems and coming to this system a lot of people would get a good look at my ship and they would stop doubting its existence. This could open up some interesting business opportunities for me.

Also from Illium it would be easy for me to acquire some human made technologies that I'd been meaning to get my hands as well as raw materials. Having those supplies and techs brought to Illuim would be safer than having them transported through the Terminus Systems.

"They will try to barter for your laser weapons so they can be sold to all the Citadel races, maintaining the balance of power, and I figure that they will try to throw some weight around if you refuse to simply sell to them" said Miranda, my new wife who I'd married in an Imperial chapel as unlike a lot of other women she wasn't interested in a fancy wedding "They won't believe that your ship is as powerful as it really is. They will think that they can bully you, they'll just be subtle about it".

So it should prove to be amusing when I tell the Council that they are welcome to try using force.

"If it weren't for the fact that I needed the supplies that the System Alliance are holding I wouldn't even be bothering with this" I said, and not for the first time "I wonder if they'll try to come at me via any proxies".

I was surprised that no Terminus System warlord hadn't come after one of the worlds under my protection, perhaps no one could unify a large enough force. However that might not stop someone from Citadel space from trying to hire pirates and slavers, having them strike at me.

"Lord-Captain Thrax to the bridge" was a sudden message.

Since we were still a day away at least from Illium I was surprised that my presence was required. My second officer needed no help from me handling the vessel as it moved through a system. The locals had wisely kept their distance upon seeing my cruiser enter the system. Had someone gotten bold?

"We've encountered a small fleet of vessels who claim to be from the Batarian government" I was informed as I took my seat on the command throne "They've made no effort to confirm this they just want to talk.

I knew that the batarians were for the most part a disreputable species that chose to isolate itself from the rest of the galaxy. The Terminus Systems are infested with batarian pirate gangs and slaving rings, fueling the stereotype of the batarian thug. It should be noted that these criminals do not represent average citizens, who are forbidden to leave batarian space by their rather paranoid government.

In that last part they weren't so different from the Imperium. I'd even sent missionaries and such in the Terminus systems just as the xenos sent scum to infect those worlds.

In the early 2160s, when humans began to colonize the Skyllian Verge, a region the batarians were already actively settling. The batarians asked the Citadel Council to intervene and declare the Verge an area of "batarian interest". When the Council refused, the batarians closed their Citadel embassy and then severed diplomatic as well as economic relations, becoming an inward-looking rogue state, at least in the eyes of the Council.

Money and weapons funneled from the batarian government to criminal organizations led to many brutal raids on human colonies in the Verge, such as Mindoir, culminating in the Skyllian Blitz of 2176, an attack on the human capital of Elysium by batarian-funded pirates and slavers.

In 2178, the Alliance retaliated with a crushing assault on the moon of Torfan, long used as a staging base by batarian-backed criminals. In the aftermath, the batarians retreated into their own systems, and are now rarely seen in Citadel space unless you're in the Terminus Systems.

"How many enemy vessels are we dealing with?" I wanted to know.

I soon read the displays and saw that the Batarians had sent what they amusingly called warships around here, a cruiser with an escort of two destroyers and four frightes, with a couple of freighters tagging along, not a threat to my ship and not much of a show of force either. I got the impression that they were actually here on a diplomatic mission, not that this altered my opinion on them being my enemies.

"Lord-Captain they claim to have goods we will be interested in," I was told.

They could have a small supply of ezzo, other resources I wanted, or even a few hundred slaves if they packed people onboard if they did have slaves that they were trying to sell me they could be humans so I'd rather not simply blow them all up. Not if they had value as serfs as I needed more of those.

"Shall we prepare to fire?" asked my First Officer.

We'd had our point defences active as soon as the alien fleet started moving towards us and normally they wouldn't matter much unless we were dealing with incoming missiles and very small enemy craft such as bombers, however the ships that were still coming towards us had their barriers down and their weapons offline. Since these were pirate and slaver ships they would be much easier prey then an enemy military fleet.

"These xenos have a strict caste system" I was now saying "So their leaders will be on that cruiser so we'll let it dock with us and I'll go to meet with them. Launch a wing of fighters as an escort for the alien vessel".

But not to talk. I was going to go and play space pirate as I wanted to while visiting this universe.

"If I give the signal I want you to destroy this puny fleet with our point defence" I went on to say "They won't want to risk their leaders and will be slow to respond as you launch more fighters, so I might be able to get them to withdraw and leave those freighters behind".

Or at least this felt like the right course of action and an attempt to see into the future made it seem as if things would work out for the best. The aliens might not surrender and given how they treated their slaves it wouldn't be so bad if I blew them all up.

"What will you do with the ship?" asked the Inquisitor "You should at least be able to seize the cruiser".

She had a habit of simply turning up so I wasn't shocked by her sudden appearance on the bridge.

"I'll sell it to someone on Illium," I said. "The aliens in this galaxy all have the same tech, more or less and a single cruiser won't make a difference. In exchange I can obtain some badly needed raw materials for our ship building operations on Thrax II".

While I didn't need her approval it was good that she seemed to approve my actions.

"I hope that you'll give me a chance to poke around first in case I find anything interesting" she requested.

This was fine with me.

"These batarians might retaliate" warned the Inquisitor "You may wish to make an example of one of their worlds so as to make it clear that they would be wise to avoid Imperial attention".

The four eyed aliens were arrogent but they weren't stupid if I went and demolish one of their bigger settlements they'd get the message I didn't wish to destroy their empire because that would take time and effort, and the Reapers would crush it anyway, so best to make it clear to the xenos that they should stay out of my way. If they did come after me than I'd have to do something very ruthless.

"I assume that you have a target in mind," I said.

She nodded.

"Just say the world and I'll have my people make an example out of a colony" she offered "The Inquisition has it one means of making examples".

We'd see how things played out.