As Quarians are getting introduced to Imperial mode of transportation, the situation on Lorek is not the best for the Batarians. The four-eyed natives of Khar'Shan didn't expect that the 2nd Prince would just attack them like that.
For one, they doubted that they were Prince's goal. After all, Lorek is not that big or important on a grand scale of things.
And they were right. Scipio didn't give a flying fuck about them. He didn't even know the planet existed in the first place.
But that's where Aria T'Loak comes to play. The Asari Ex-Pirate Queen has a bone to pick with an array of Pirates who betrayed her at a crucial point.
The best part of it is that Scipio doesn't mind lending his soldiers to her.
And that's what leads to the current situation. The governor of Lorek was a well-known pirate and slaver in Terminus Systems.
However, just like many before him, he wanted to take Aria's place. So he had his chance when Imperials arrived in Omega. The moment he heard that the Prince wanted Aria, he felt that he had his chance to usurp her throne.
He pulled his forces and left the system, going back home and bunking down to wait out the storm.
What he didn't expect was for the Imperials to arrive at his doorstep, and —
"Surprise, asshole." Biotic force slammed into the Batarian that was about to leave through the doors with a huge bag of stuff.
The force slammed the pirate boss into a wall; the contents of the bag spilt through the whole room.
"My oh my. That's quite a bit of stuff you got there." Aria crouched down and picked up a piece of green stone-like material.
"That's Prothean; you could easily buy a ship or two from Quarians or some Turian renegades with this." The Ex-Pirate Queen said with a smirk.
"You were thinking of running away and starting again." She got up and walked to the struggling Batarian. The guy was not only in pain, but he was terrified shitless!
"A-Aria…what the f—" A kick to his side made the pirate wheeze out as it took the wind out of his sails. It was not a simple smack but a biotic-empowered one.
"Who gave you permission to speak, trash?" With that said, she strolled over and began to skim through a collection of wine bottles.
"You know, while I don't mind your Imperial stuff. It has nothing on Hanar. Those jellyfishes are experts in alcohol making." She waved a bottle of wine to her guards.
"You don't mind if I take your stuff, right, Lohrak?" She cruelly smirked as she motioned for one of the Aquilla Legion Preatorian Guards to pick up the bottles; she was picking one after another.
"...N-No *Wheeze* I d-don't mind…" The Batarian was holding his side as he felt that a couple of bones most likely broke from that kick.
"Good."
"H-How did you survive that attack?" He asked while enduring the pain.
"Does it matter? All you need to know is that you are going to die today." She walked over and picked one of the pistols stored in a weapon rack.
Aria inspected it before pointing at the Batarian's leg and shooting.
*BANG*
"Agh! Fuck! You crazy bitch!"
*BANG*
The Asari took out another leg.
"AGH!!!"
"That's not how you speak to someone who holds your life. Don't you know that you should beg, Lohrak?" She smiled while inspecting the gun.
"Ugh!!!" The Batarian twitched as he grimaced from pain.
"Hmph. Boring."
*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG*
*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*
The pistol overhead as sections opened and hot air rushed out.
*Snort*
The Asari threw the weapon over her shoulder and looked at her silent bodyguards and… jailers.
The Pirate Queen was well aware that she couldn't take these guys out. She saw their training aboard the Rubicon.
Not only are they Commandos, but their armours is immune to biotics. Their armours is full of particles that ignore gravitational forces, making her Biotics useless against these guys.
"Don't you want anything? Some of these things are worth a fortune." She tried her luck.
"Wealth like this is pointless to us, Lady Aria."
"..."
'Right, the only thing they care about is standing in the Empire.'
"You could take these to your Prince."
"You clearly lack understanding of what is important to us."
"I am trying to understand. It was far easier when we only needed to bother with credits." The Asari sighed. It would seem that building up her power base in the Empire is going to take a while.
"What we desire is to raise His Highness's standing in the Emperor's eyes. That is all we care about."
The Ex-Pirate Queen rolled her eyes. Right, how is she supposed to do that?
But then she recalled Scipio telling her about finding Ilos and a bunch of worlds worth terraforming and colonial candidates.
'In other words, if I am to assist the Empire in its expansion, I will automatically get followers, ships, mobile suits…'
All she ever wanted was authority and power, and she had it, but now… as she was in another system, a system that only cared about achievements…
"In other words… if we are to take Lorek, and gift it to… "Aria was about to say 'Your Emperor', which was a big red flag to these men… "...Our Emperor… then we could boost Scipio's standing, no?" She suggested, starting to speak in their language.
"What is it you wish us to do?"
Aria smirked a bit. It was not hard. Though such manipulations work in specific scenarios, it won't work in her power base building, as she is tied to Scipio.
'Hmm, I shouldn't think that way. My only link is my dashing Prince.' She smirked to herself.
"We dealt with the Governor; now we should take over key areas, like space ports or government-related areas.
Prince Scipio took out military installations; all that is left for us are stranglers in the streets." The Ex-Pirate Queen laid out her basic plan, which she came up with just now.
"Understood." The Praetorian Guard didn't question her plan.
With that said, half of them left; the rest stayed to watch over her.
*Sigh*
'I won't be going anywhere.' Internally, she sighed. Only a suicidal being would think of running away after seeing what she had seen.
"Let's go… and do take that wine back to Rubicon. I don't want to lose such good alcohol." Aria said to the guard holding her bottles.
"Very well."
~~~
As Aria left the estate, she was treated to a front-row seat to what Praetorian Guard can do on foot. They pulled out these strange rifles that punched holes the size of a fist through enemy bodies.
Kinetic barriers, biotic barriers, all of those didn't do shit.
Not only that, but these guys were elites in tactics and positioning. There was nothing she needed to do to assist; she simply followed them.
Once the streets were cleaned, the regulars swooped in and began to fortify; pods from orbit landed with robotic labour and began building up defensive positions and checking up borders.
Everything was done like a well-oiled machine. Taking planets for these guys is another Tuesday from the looks of it.
'I do believe this is it…' Aria looked around the space port. It has been centuries since she did anything like this.
Honestly, Asari doesn't do conquest, so it's refreshing to see an elite military force establish dominance in a Batarian world. Yes, in her eyes this is a Batarian world, even if Asari built some of the infrastructure, but it's centuries apart by this point.
"You know, I thought that we were here to take out pirates, but somehow we ended up conquering the whole thing." Scipio strolled over, looking where the Aria was looking.
"Your mech did the most. I thought, why not just take over the whole thing."
'If I can't rule it, then damn sure Batarians won't either.' The Asari can hold a grudge for centuries.
"The issue is what we are going to do with it." He massaged his forehead.
"Add it to your Empire?" The Ex-Pirate Queen shrugged.
"Not that easy, Aria. We have protocol in place. My previous catches, like Ilos or Antioch, are habitable worlds ready for colonisation or some light terraforming.
We don't inhabit places like this…" He spread his hands. "This place is not ready for Imperial colonisation. My father has very high standards.
In several places in fact." Scipio hinted at something more than just the planets themselves…
"This world will have to go through a terraforming process, yet we have several millions of people already inhabiting this place."
"Huh, if I didn't know any better, then I call your kind spoiled." Aria shook her head.
"It's called principle. We started colonising worlds only after we mastered the technology; before that, many lived in space station habitats. In fact, many still do simply because the view is better in those."
"Makes sense, since your kind doesn't understand the value of credits." Aria grimaced. Building space habitats… those are expensive.
"Could be." He shrugged before looking at his guards.
"I want you guys to prepare a communicator. I want to speak with Aunt Monica. By this point, Father should have arranged her Explorer to move towards the route that I have created in Argus Rho."
"Understood."
As two of them left, Scipio looked at the Asari.
"We might get a boost in defence for this place." He said with a small smile.
"I assume you don't want to leave ships?"
"Who would? I already left ships in Ilos and Antioch." He said with annoyance.
"You know that it's better than anything Asari or Turian could do? A military vessel like yours takes an absurd amount of resources to keep them running.
Food or water, but you left them in worlds that don't have logistics."
"Like I said, Aria, principle. My father created something called logistics ships."
"...The ones that stay at the back?" She recalled a considerable-sized ship that is always some distance away from the main fleet.
"Indeed, those are ships that maintain food and robotic labour for us. I have ordered the repurposing of extra for this trip." He explained, but then he stroked his chin as he realised something.
"Oh, I can show the innovation to father later on. He always loves that stuff."
"We visited Ilos without Mass Relay or knowing its exact location, so we used a FTL Booster that self-destructed after being used.
That stuff could be useful in travel towards clusters that are not discovered." He explained as he realised that he could use this to boost his standings.
It could work…
'I did summon Vulcan; father could be pissed. I can bargain with this world and the innovations I did in my explorations.'
"I see…" The ex-Pirate Queen was impressed by the sheer preparations these people had when it came to space.
~~~
The Quarians looked with wide eyes at an enormous space station-sized thing orbiting a garden world.
"That's Camelot-Class Mothership Avalon. My grandfather's seat of power."
"...It's bigger than the Citadel, isn't it?" Shala'Raan, the Admiral of Patrol Fleet, commented as she had this feeling that this thing was bigger than the Citadel.
"From what I read… I guess it is?" Jane said with a shrug.
"The mothership holds over a million people; they are my grandpa's direct followers and have been for several generations."
"...That big and only a million people?" For Quarians, that's a waste of space, as people who live in spaceships maximise space everywhere they could for their people.
Jane simply looked at them, not understanding their problem.
"It's not just a living space. It's a factory, manufacturing hub, recycling centre, research facility and all of that in one place.
One of these is all that is needed to terraform a planet. Our Empire has three more of them that have specific objectives that they need to do." The girl simply explained the extras and why it's like that.
"...four of these…"
The Quarians realised that these things could hold their entire race.
"I can assume that you built these with the help of the AI?" Daro'Xen said with realisation. As someone who develops technology for her people, she is more than aware of how these things work. To build something of that scale, one needs a lot of resources, more specifically manpower.
"...I guess? I was already born when these were around. My gramps built his over 150 years ago." Jane shrugged; 150 years is a lot for a 16-year-old girl.
"150-year-old ship… and it still looks like a brand new…"
The more Jane talked about them, the more she baffled the nomad race.
"Anyway, inform the traffic control that we wish to board." The red-haired girl asked the comms officer.
"Yes, my Lady."
Moments later, the Battleship docked in one of the many hangars aboard the Avalon.
Once the ship was docked, they could leave the vessel; waiting outside was a small group of people.
When Jane saw them, she sighed in relief.
'Thank my lucky stars that Grandma Milly is not here or Aunt Celia…'
Celia Anaheim is the 11th Princess and daughter of Milly; it makes her Jane's aunt. The issue she finds with these two blondes is that they are over-the-top affectionate and make her embarrassed beyond reason.
Still… her Grandfather is not far in that regard.
"Oh my gosh, Jane, you have grown so much~" Marcus ignored the Quarians, like they didn't exist for him; instead, he went right to his favourite granddaughter.
"Ugh, grandfather… we have guests!" She tried to complain, but he pulled her into a crushing hug anyway.
After a hug, he pulled back and then ruffled her hair.
"My~ I do believe your apprenticeship is finishing soon, no? We can throw a massive celebration~ maybe a bank holiday for the whole empire?" The Emperor was getting excited for a whole family gathering.
"Umm, can we not waste resources for something as mundane as that?" The red-haired girl grimaced as she was feeling self-conscious about the whole situation.
"If this is what you want~. But we will have a party at the next family gathering." The Emperor wasn't budging on the party, but did agree not to make it a whole national holiday thing.
"Anyway! You have guests!" The teenage girl turned her head to the side where a small group of Quarians were patiently waiting.
"Ah yes. I was expecting you. I was wondering who would it be first. Quarians or Geth."
"You were expecting… Geth?" Daro'Xen said with a shocked tone.
"I did. After all, they want to solve their issue with your kind." Marcus explained as he finally let go of his favourite granddaughter and moved towards them.
"...You assume that… on what intel?" The science Admiral asked, confused as hell.
The Emperor simply smirked at them.
"He is Emperor for a reason. Sometimes I don't understand half of the things he says, but believe me, he knows far more than anyone alive in the Galaxy." Jane chipped in, making Marcus smile at her.
"That is one way of putting it."
"I have brought them to you, grandfather; I should go back to mother." The red-haired girl tried to run away.
"Nonsense, you will stay for at least two days. We need to catch up, isn't it right, Lacus?" Marcus stopped her in her tracks.
"Of course~ I am going to cook a storm for you."
"Ugh… fine, but don't try to give away Gundams before I earn them!" She complained with a huff! The girl is pissed! She wants to EARN her mobile suit and maybe a retinue at some point! But not given away just because her mother is one of the Princesses and an Admiral of the Expeditionary Fleet! It just pisses her off!
"Fine, fine. I can wait for a couple of years." The Emperor shook his head. Dissapointed and happy at the same time. He could see Kallen's stubbornness in Jane.
"Good! Then I will stay." The granddaughter nodded in satisfaction.
"Wonderful~. Then come in. We have things to discuss; I am right?" Marcus, with a smile, motioned to follow him.
The Quarians realised that the situation was in their favour.
'It appears Admiral Julia knew what she was doing by sending her daughter as the guide; the Emperor is in a far greater mood.' Shala'Raan realised what just happened here.
~~~
The Quarians looked around the city inside the mothership; they were still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that something like that was built by a race that had been spacefaring for only 200 years.
For now, they watched Marcus talking to his granddaughter, who was telling him about her time as an apprentice to her mother.
From what they understood, this was after initial studying. Is it similar to their pilgrimage?
After the transporter arrived at the central building, Marcus took them to a lift that took them to levels above the city that looked like a palace-like complex.
'Furniture made from wood… carpets… and classic paintings… I haven't seen anything like that in a very long time.' The Admiral of Patrol Fleet looked around.
Though they noticed… that the paintings were mostly war-related or of mobile suits, or both… mostly both.
"Welcome to the Imperial Palace. According to the Codex that I got from the Council, your people are like Turians and eat dextro food; am I right?" Marcus needed to be sure.
"Yes, we can consume Turian cuisine." The diplomatic Quarian Admiral replied with a nod.
"Then we can prepare those. Sparatus visits me quite often.
We do some target shooting. We are even planning a hunting trip soon." Marcus bragged that he is all buddy-buddy with a Turian Councillor.
Lacus, next to him, rolled her eyes; she realised that Turians love guns and they match quite well to her husband's nature and his hobbies.
"..."
"Anyway, it's close; we can take one of the meeting rooms." The Emperor motioned to follow them a bit more.
Sure enough, they got into a considerably sized room which made Quarians internally grimace at just how wasteful the Imperials are with their space…
Not that they commented on that, but sadly for them, their thoughts have been picked up by Imperial Innovator's passive abilities.
"Well then. We should start. I can assume you want a bit of help when it comes to your Geth?"
"Yes, well, we don't require extensive help; even a small amount, some insights could be enough." Shala'Raan tried to sound like they didn't need much help.
Especially since she has learned that Imperials have an interest in their homeworld of Rannoch.
"I see…" Marcus stroked his chin, pondering what to do.
"Well, in this kind of situation you should consider trying to establish a dialogue with your creations."
"We have considered that many times before, centuries before; some young Quarians thought that they were smart and went right into the Perseus Veil. Just because they were not armed, it didn't mean the Geth wouldn't attack." Daro'Xen said with a matter-of-fact tone.
Before Marcus could continue, Legion interrupted him.
[Your Majesty, Princess Claudia is calling you.]
"...Speaking of…" He smiled as he motioned toward the table, and moments later a hologram of his eldest daughter appeared on it.
"Papa!" Marcus immediately rolled his eyes when he heard her call him like that.
"I have heard that Quarian went to see you."
"They are here, Claudia." He replied to her.
"Right. Then you are considering doing something about it, right?" The black-haired princess smiled a bit.
"Doing something? You mean you petition?" The Emperor sighed while asking.
'So that's her, the one that wants our homeworld…' The Quarians finally put a name to a face.
"Yes! I would like a request that we conquer that world. Deal with the Geth, and let me study the ecology of Rannoch in peace.
Because, honestly put, my time in Palaven is not the best. There are many regulations, many endangered species, and so on.
These Turians have no idea how to preserve their native species and deal with genetic bottlenecks. Honestly, it mindboggles me." Claudia began to rant, though her father listened to her patiently.
"I do believe there is technology; Salarians have extensive genetic research done. Though I do believe it's more of a cultural thing than a lack of technology."
"...Right. It doesn't change the fact that my research on Dextro lifeforms has gaping holes the size of planets.
It would be for the best if I could get another point of reference. Like lifeforms of another planet." The Princess smiled as she hinted at what she wanted.
"I see. So you want me to arrange a fleet for you? You do realise that is why I gave you all the right to have a retinue. It's not my fault that the resources which you get are diverted somewhere else." Marcus reminded her of that.
"Why don't you ask the Quarians for their help? If you take their fleet and combine with your assets, you should have a decent chance of winning the whole thing." The Emperor suggested to her, making the Princess puff.
"IF, I can do my research unopposed, and there are no politicians droning around my ears, then I am willing to consider such an arrangement," Claudia said to her father while the Emperor looked at his guests.
"As long as the research won't endanger the species found on the planet, I don't see why not." Shala'Raan tried to be as diplomatic as possible, as it was clear to her that this Princess was far more of a researcher and scientist, similar to Daro'Xen than a typical royalty she envisioned to encounter.
"Don't insult my competence. I am the one who created close to a hundred ecosystems in the Empire.
The issue is that these politicians and so-called experts pretend to know better than I when I am the one who brought back to life long-dead species of my homeworld.
I am well aware of what is what. The only issue is that there are gatekeepers.
Rannoch is no one's world; I will get it there one way or another.
Worst case, I will simply flood the system with my xenomorphs."
"Relax, Claudia." Marcus slightly raised his tone, making the Princess lose her steam and slightly nod.
"I am sure you are aware that my guests only want their world back."
The Quarians immediately nodded; they felt a chill pass through their spines when they heard the Emperor raise his voice just a little bit. It was like the pressure in the room increased slightly, like someone was pressing on their shoulders.
"Yes, of course, I am sure we can think of something when we take Rannoch from the Geth," Shala'Raan said from the side.
Claudia turned around and looked at the Quarian for the first time.
"I will keep you to that. You don't want to know what happens when someone double-crosses me." With that said, the call ended, making Marcus shake his head.
"I can safely say that Turians have pissed her off." The Emperor concluded after seeing his eldest daughter like that.
"It would seem like it. It has been decades since she was annoyed like that." Lacus commented from the side.
"I do apologise. As we are an Empire, politicians and their nonsense is beneath the Royal family. However, that doesn't apply when we visit other worlds." Marcus slightly apologised to his guests.
"It's fine; we are used to such treatment." Shala'Raan waved the apology aside; her people are used to the mistreatment, as Quarians do not have the best reputation in the galaxy thanks to their creation of Rogue AI.
"Though, grandfather. I thought that Turians are a militaristic society. They have politics?" The quiet Jane finally spoke up, as she was a bit confused.
"Of course they do. There are politics in the Empire as well. The moment you descend to the Senate, you can experience it in full swing. That is, if you want to bother with policy making.
I usually veto the majority of them." The Emperor shrugged.
"You see, there is a saying: 'don't reinvent the wheel'. If the policy works, there is no need to change it. Some smart-ass people want to change something because one person died or something like that.
But I am more than well aware that these people only want some clout." Marcus explained to his granddaughter about the boring side of being the Emperor.
"...Ugh… no, I prefer to stay in the army, thank you very much." Jane shook her head. No, it sounds boring and annoying!
"We do have similar things in Flotila. However, for us it's the survival of the species that is at stake." The Admiral of Patrol Fleet chipped in, making Marcus look at her.
"I am curious why you never built manufacturing ships and then used those ships to build habitats.
There is a considerable amount of systems in Attican Traverse or Terminus Systems that you could call home with a considerable amount of resources." The Emperor suggested.
"At some point we considered that, but logistical undertaking…"
"Hmm, so you don't have the experience in making it." Marcus stroked his chin, thinking of something.
He then flicked his hand, and the hologram on the table came online.
"What can I do for you, Your Majesty?" Jeremiah's delighted voice spread through the room as the Leader of his G-Force knights looked at him.
"My daughter is thinking of waging war on rogue AI in Terminus Systems. I need you to arrange one or two knights that could support her effort and relegate some of the ships just for this."
"Consider it done!"
"Good, and I require…" Marcus, for a second, did some rough math in his head. "Three super-duty logistic ships. We might need to build space colonies for our new friends." The Emperor looked at his guests.
"That won't be necessary, Your Majesty." Quarians panicked when they heard that.
"It is. After all, you will use them to kickstart your economy. Space is essential for proper logistics.
Oh, I know. Jane, why don't you show them?" The Emperor suggested, but then he changed his mind.
"In fact, why don't I show you instead?" He got up from his seat.
"I will take you to Big Blue."
"...Big Blue?"
"It's Grandfather's Domain. Think of it as his territory." Jane explained as she looked at him.
"I am surprised… Grandpa. It's a Core World. No–" She was about to call their guests aliens. "...Outsiders are allowed there."
"Just for this, I want to show what a sentient race can build without being on a solid rock. Besides, we will pick up ships there for Claudia. She needs all that she can get." Marcus said with a smile as he looked at the Commander of G-Force Knights still on the call.
"I suppose I will have a bigger selection of Knights once I am back home."
"Yes, as you wish, Your Majesty."
With that, the Emperor began to make his preparations. He left his Avalon and took Jane's battleship; they flew to Arcturus Stream.
~~~
'Big Blue' is a Gas Giant in the Anaheim System. It's where World of Anaheim is a moon of said blue gas Giant. That is where Marcus's family calls this world 'Big Blue'; in fact, Jane gave its name, as when she was a baby girl she would point her finger at the big blue blob in the sky and call it 'Big Blue'
Ever since then, everyone calls this Gas Giant 'Big Blue'.
"...Umm…what is this that you want to show?"
"Infrastructure of a Core World of an Empire. You said that you don't need habitats, and all that; instead, you just want to focus on regaining Rannoch.
I call it stupidity, because for success, you need to have logistics. I have read Codex and some intel on your Migrant Fleet.
Your people only want to survive instead of trying to flourish; because of that, I want to show you that it's possible to flourish anywhere." Marcus explained to the Admiral and her companions.
"...It's not—"
"Just watch… we are arriving soon." The Emperor felt that she was about to give him a speech about Quarian biology and all that stuff, how it's difficult for them to adjust.
The trip didn't even last 30 minutes as the Citadel System had a booster to the Arcturus Stream; once they were in their home cluster, travelling to Marcus' home was a short trip.
"Existing Space Jump in 3…2…1 trans-am over!" The officer declared as the ship slowed down as they were moving towards a Blue Gas Giant.
"...Big Blue…" The Quarians realised why they were calling this planet Big Blue… because it is big blue…
Though what got their immediate attention was an enormous metal ring around the whole Gas Giant.
"...Is that…"
"Emperor's Arsenal." Jane clarified what they were looking at.
"It's Drydocks that can build ships in a matter of days when it's at maximum working capacity, though it takes around two to three months to start it in earnest."
"..."
"..."
The Quarians were speechless, to say the least, as Daro'Xen internally crunched numbers to calculate how many ships this thing can produce!
"That's what I want to show you. Of course, this is not all; take us close to the World of Anaheim." Marcus said as he then instructed the helmsman to take them to the habitable world.
Sure enough, they saw the green and blue world rotating around the Gas Giant.
It had 3 orbital elevators with an orbital ring connecting them all.
There are space ships and linear trains that are in different states of being loaded with goods.
"This is the key for functioning space society, something that we haven't seen yet outside the Empire.
Each and every single world Core World has orbital elevators and rings that allow rapid people and product movement.
Though what you are looking at is considered a minor world, as this is my domain and the only thing that we are manufacturing in this place is cotton and silk.
Materials that are used for cloaks, banners and leisure clothes."
"What my husband wants to say is that this world manufactures his branded clothes for export; the rest of the planet is animal breeding and his zoo," Lacus explained to them.
"Right…I need to satisfy my fans with custom clothes." Marcus shrugged. Well, his t-shirts sell well.
~~~
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