March 9th, 2175
09:23
Citadel, Widow-System
A Warehouse in the Zakera-Ward
The light inside the warehouse was dim and barely enough to make out the crates standing around.
Nevertheless, it was the perfect place for a deal unseen by the many eyes that could follow one on the Citadel.
A mixed group of one Asari and two Turians waited in the center of the warehouse for their contact.
They didn't have to wait for long before two humans stepped out of the shadow and approached them slowly, showing that their hands were empty except for a case in one of the human's hands.
"You're late," said one of the Turians.
"And where is your boss? I thought we would be meeting him," added the Asari.
Instead of answering, one of the humans pulled a ball from his side and threw it lightly into the air before him.
As the ball lit up in a blue light, the Turians tensed, and their hands went to the guns at their sides while a slight biotic shine surrounded the Asari.
Yet, they relaxed when nothing dangerous happened, and the blue light stretched around the ball to form a holographic likeness of their contact.
To be precise, it was an image of myself.
"I am sorry for the slight delay. My people wanted to make sure that the venue was safe from prying eyes and other dangerous elements."
"And is it?" the Asari questioned, to which I replied: "It is now," keeping the specifics to myself.
In truth, there had been nothing around the warehouse besides a handful of workers, a few junkies who thought this was a calm place, and two crooks who believed this to be a good place for deals, too.
Yet my opposites didn't have to know that. It would keep them on their toes if they reached the wrong conclusions.
"Furthermore, I apologize that I can't be here in person, but it seems like there are some eyes on me from parties who do not wish that movements like yours, or the Anti-Slavery Movement, get more support to accomplish their noble goals. Or perhaps they do not wish for them to gain power here on the Citadel. Or it could simply be that they are keeping an eye on me for the simple fact of who I am."
"And who is watching you?" asked one of the Turians.
"From what we managed to find out? At least one Specter is always prowling around in my near vicinity for two days."
And I hoped it had only been for two days.
I have personally met various people before, and if the Council knew about them, it could have been difficult to help Anita prepare for the aftermath of the Alliance's attack on Torfan.
"A Spectre?" yelped the other Turian, his head nervously swiveling around.
"Don't worry," I reassured. "As I said, my people made sure that we would be safe. And the Specter is observing my movements, which is the reason why I am meeting you this way." I gestured down my holographic body. "I wouldn't want to bring unnecessary danger to you."
"It's much appreciated," replied the Asari. But why would the Council want to move against us?"
"Until my species appeared on the galactic stage, the power structure has been a constant for hundreds of years. The galaxy, despite having its own share of problems, was a quiet place. And now? We humans are shaking things up, and the previous status quo is breaking apart at the seams. You see it with the Batarians. They are losing power, and I believe it won't be long before they leave the Citadel. You have to know it, too. Else, why would you protest in such a magnitude not seen since the great slavery raid of Itokia?"
My question put them in a contemplating quiet. Despite seeing them only through the drone cameras, I saw the understanding in the Asari's eyes.
She closed them for a moment before opening them again and saying: "While a debate on the hows and whys with you would be very interesting, I have to ask: Do you have the donation?"
Instead of giving her a verbal answer, I gestured to my agent with the case, who immediately understood what was wanted from him. He walked forward with the case before putting it on the ground and opening it.
With a quick turn of the case, the opening was presented to the Asari, and I said: "250.000 Credits in 5.000 partitions. Of course, they're untraceable. This is a security measure for you and me. While I am a great proponent of your cause, I would rather stay in the background. I don't want your movements accused of being my pawns or other such things that could devalue your work."
Of course, while what I said was the truth from a certain point of view, I was also doing the thing I was denying.
Those movements were my pawns. I was using them to create a mood on the Citadel against slavery and the greatest proponent of the practice, the Batarians. All so that the Alliance wouldn't lose its reputation after the counterattack.
Was I feeling bad about it?
Perhaps a bit.
But not enough so that I would lose a single minute of sleep because of it.
Doing the right things for the wrong reasons still made the galaxy a better place.
"Wasn't the agreed amount 200.000?" asked the Asari.
"It was, but I thought you could use some additional funds. And as an apology for not being here in person," I replied, giving them a light smile.
Furthermore, 50.000 Credits were nothing to me.
Even if most of my wealth was bound to my company and not freely available to me to do as I please, the amount of Credits that my company generated daily was staggering.
After all, they generated 25 Credits per second of personal wealth for me, and don't get me started on the Credits per second of Ad Astra.
Something between 100.000 and 120.000, I believe, at the last count.
It seemed a lot, but in the end, one had to remind oneself that Ad Astra had its fingers in dozens of highly lucrative enterprises that were essential for the Alliance's colonization and militaristic expansion efforts.
Furthermore, those were simply the largest divisions one had to add the different branches that dealt with cultural and luxury goods from the Alliance territory that we exported into the greater galaxy, too.
In short, the 250.000 Credit donation I gifted them would be recouped in less than a day.
"If there is nothing else, I think we are done here," I said, and without waiting for an answer, I cut the connection to the drone and watched how the 360° screen lowered itself around me.
Without waiting for the room to power itself down completely, I went over to the door, punched in my code, and entered my office which was adjacent to the private, secure communications room.
"What's next on my agenda?" I asked Catherine, my secretary. "And what is our new observer doing? Is she still watching us from the building next door?"
"Yes, sir," answered Catherine. "She is still observing the entrance to the building and has enough equipment directed toward this office to make any AIS agent jealous."
"While I can accept the thought of having operatives that work without being restricted by the law, it is still disconcerting when they are being used against you."
"By the way, Mr. Denebren. We got a message from Ambassador Goyle concerning the Spectre."
"And how did the Council respond to Anita's inquiry?"
"The official stand is that the Council got credible information about a threat to your life and a possible terrorist attack on the building. The Spectre is here for your "protection" and, until the danger has passed, will keep an eye on you. Of course, the Council declined to reveal their source. Furthermore, they wanted to order the same "protection detail" for Ambassador Goyle. As a precaution."
I barely refrained from wincing after hearing Catherine's comment and the cold tone she adopted when talking about it.
While I doubted that the Council would ever consider making it an order, it was probably a strongly worded suggestion. A suggestion hiding a threat and an insult at the same time. They basically implied that the Alliance was incapable of preventing danger to their ambassador even with prior warning without the Council's help. Furthermore, having a Spectre looking over the shoulder of the Alliance's official representative was a huge intrusion into the rights of the Alliance as Spectres were agents of the Council first and foremost.
Anita didn't have any other choice, and she personally wouldn't even contemplate one, but to decline their "offer of protection." Otherwise, she would be declaring to the whole galaxy that the Alliance was unable to protect one of their own.
If the Council was callous enough, they would order the Spectre, the one they wanted to assign to her protection first, to assassinate her.
It would set a precedent that could allow the Council to assign every ambassador a Spectre as protection while ignoring any protests. After all, the Council knew "better" what was needed.
Yet, that would be a stupid move on their side, and the Council was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.
The AIS had already proven that they could sniff out Spectres within the Alliance's territory and around persons of interest to the Alliance, and there was no guarantee that they wouldn't find a Spectre assassin, too, even in a place like the Citadel.
The Council could disavow their agent as much as they wanted if credible evidence was placed before them, the end result would stay the same.
Rumors that the Council used their agents to eliminate political headaches would turn from the quiet whispers they were right now into accepted "truths," and the rights and freedoms of the Spectres would be restricted harshly. It was also possible that a neutral committee would be created to review the actions of Spectres and decide if they were appropriate concerning the threat they dealt with.
All those were things the Council never wanted to happen, as such, they would stay far away from the idea of taking Anita out of the picture.
As for me? Well, Anita's protests would probably show an effect in a week, but I had no official role within the Alliance's government, for now, which could be used to shield me from Spectre observation. The Council could spin a story of well-meaning action as they knew my worth for the Alliance and speak of how they simply wanted an asset of the Alliance, one of their fellow Citadel members, safe.
A load of Varren-dung, but not easily disproved.
For now, I would have to accept the Spectre following my every step.
Yet, that didn't mean they had to hear the words I said or what I did with my hands. It wouldn't be easy to trick the Spectre into not seeing the things I was doing correctly, but not impossible either.
Misdirection, misunderstanding, and plain hiding would be my modus operandi for the coming days.
In short, I would be doing my usual paperwork that came with running a multi-system spanning company while trusted operatives would further my plans.
"I will leave the matter in Anita's capable hands," I commented, and from the look in Catherine's eyes, she understood that I couldn't act against the Council's wishes as a "civilian." "Now, what is my next meeting, and do we have time to visit that small café we found at the edge of the Presidium?"
Catherine gave a small smile and said: "I think we can make a short stop for some coffee-to-go on our way to the board meeting."
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March 16th, 2175
12:43
Lesh'ka-System
Behind the moon of Toka V
500.000 klicks away from Torfan
SSV Observer
Captain Dewi stared out of the cockpit's window, right at the moon where one of the greatest battles of the Alliance would begin this very day.
Yet, it would be a battle he and his crew wouldn't participate in.
At least not directly.
Their objective was to observe and prevent any messages from leaving the system until the battle was over.
Firstly, to prevent any calls for reinforcements for the slaver scum, and secondly, that no information about the Alliance's capabilities fell into enemy hands, especially information about the DR drives tactical abilities.
He was sure that the existence of DR drives was an open secret, or at least almost one, but Dewi knew that not everyone knew about them.
Furthermore, the Alliance had never used them in any large-scale offensive until now, and as such, nobody knew their tactical and strategic value.
Something that would change for the fleet in the orbit of Torfan in a few minutes before they took that secret with them to the grave.
"Do we have a stable connection to the fleet?" asked Captain Dewi without turning his head away from where he knew the enemy fleet was even if he couldn't see it from this distance without the help of scanners.
"Yes, sir," answered his communications officer, her voice calm and collected like the rest of the bridge's crew. "Thanks to the relay satellites we dropped, we have minimal interference from the nebula surrounding the system. Furthermore, checks confirm that our channels are still hidden from enemy scanners."
"Good. As long as the enemy doesn't actively scan in our direction, the readings of the gas giant should hide our signature from their passive scanners." His eyes flitted to the right, eyeing the gas giant that reminded him of Saturn for a moment before they returned to looking straight forward. "Do we have any word from SSV Manchester? Are they finished?"
"No, sir. They haven't reported in."
"Give me an update the moment the confirmation hits the network," Captain Dewi ordered.
Perhaps he was a bit impatient, but there was probably nobody on the bridge, or even the fleet, who wasn't slightly impatient for the mission to begin.
It had been difficult for Captain Dewi to hold himself back since he was first told about the counterattack, but his iron discipline and training helped, yet his temper had been on a hair trigger for some time now.
He even snapped a few times at minor mistakes made by his crew but apologized shortly after.
They were quite understanding. After all, some of them had also lost relatives during the Great Raid, as some called it.
Captain Dewi had lost his uncle and his family, who thought they were safe on one of the more developed colonies. He hoped the troops who would participate in the ground assault could find them and bring them home, especially his two teenage cousins.
That was a thought shared by many, and not just those part of the fleet. There were thousands back in the heart of the Alliance who wanted the people taken from their homes back safely.
It didn't matter if they lost someone dear to them or not this wish was shared by everyone despite all the differences that plagued them every day.
Right now, humanity was united in their wishes.
And in what they were going to do.
Something that the Batarians and the pirates and slavers, they had on their payroll, had a long time coming.
The only thing they waited for was for the SSV Manchester to finish planting the scrambler satellites around the system to make sure that no signal could leave the system without Dewi's say-so.
After all, his ship, the SSV Observer, was specially outfitted with advanced scanning and communication systems.
Usually, they were part of the expedition flotillas that explored systems beyond the Mass-Relays reach where there were no easy ways to communicate with Alliance command.
Yet, they had been placed under the command of Admiral Hackett when he asked for a ship that could feed the fleet accurate data about their opposition from far enough that the enemy wouldn't be able to find them.
That was also the reason why Captain Dewi and his crew wouldn't participate in the attack and stay in their role as observers.
While the crew was trained in ship-to-ship combat, they hadn't done so excessively like the ones assigned to defensive fleets.
They could defend themselves against the various dangers in the galaxy, but a battle like the one about to happen needed a certain amount of experience to synchronize with other ships.
Experience that was either gained through active engagements or wargames. Something Dewi's crew hadn't participated in much.
"Sir!" came the sudden exclamation from the comms officer, ripping Dewi from his thoughts. "The SSV Manchester just reported. Their task is complete, and we got the order from Admiral Hackett to forward the coordinates."
"Sensors, get me the current positions and composition of the enemy fleet in the orbit of Torfan!" ordered Dewi even before the comms officer finished talking.
"One sec, sir! Getting the data from our passive scanners. Running the data through our memory banks. Got it."
"Comms, forward it to the Admiral, and tell them: Good Hunting!"
"Sir, yes, sir," replied the comms officer, and with a few gestures, the data was sent.
It would take a few minutes before the information got disseminated among all the ships of the fleet, and every ship was ready to initiate the jump. Besides, even if the jump was only a short distance from just beyond the system's border, it still took some time.
From the moment they got the confirmation from the admiral that the DR drives were ready to jump, it would take approximately three minutes from their jump point to right under the enemy fleet.
Two minutes after the confirmation, one of the two tasks of the SSV Observer would begin. The crew would take control of the satellites the SSV Manchester placed and make sure no information got out of the system.
The second task was to gather the battle data for the After-Action-Report and to analyze their effectiveness and efficiency.
After the fifth fleet finished with the enemy fleet in orbit, Captain Dewi would order the crew to steer the ship closer to Torfan and direct all their scanning and recording devices toward the surface to capture as much of the battle as possible.
They wouldn't be able to record the whole battle since the first strike of the ground invasion would happen the moment the fleet appeared in the orbit of the moon.
After all, surprise and shock were essential to catch the enemy off guard and create a few beachheads more easily to land more troops and armor in the second phase of the ground invasion.
"Sir, the admiral just gave the green light for the jump."
"Alright, start the countdown, two minutes. Prepare to scramble all outgoing communication when the timer hits zero," directed Dewi, and three people replied that they were on the job.
It was a tense two minutes, but it got even more tense the moment the timer hit zero.
"Timer is zero!" announced the crew member who set it, and one of the two who prepared the scrambler replied: "Scrambler is working. No signal is going out of the system without your permission."
"Wonderful," said Captain Dewi. "Prepare the scanners. I want them to go active when the first rifts open close to the enemy fleet. We may not take part in the battle itself, but I want no one to be able to say that we didn't do the task given to us as best as we can."
For the first time since entering the bridge more than half an hour ago, Captain Dewi turned fully around to look at the crew members in the back half of the bridge. His eyes wandered from one person to the next without skipping anyone. He got a determined nod back from everyone he looked at, just as he expected.
None of them may be combatants at the frontline, but they were still members of the Alliance, and as all members of the Alliance, they did their tasks and duties with pride, competence, and prudence.
Just as he turned back forward, someone to his right said: "Sir, it's beginning."
"Start the recording. I want every shot and hit taken on tape. Furthermore, put up a screen with a picture of the magnification telescope. I would like to watch the battle, and I think the pictures will go well with those back home who couldn't be here today and be a part of this."
Besides, he was asked by an AIS agent to record the battle for propaganda. While the tapes would reach the troops first, they would get to the public at some point. It would show actual footage of the Alliance's stance against piracy and, most importantly, restore faith in the Alliance after everyone got to see what they would do for their people.
The screen appeared slightly before the bridge's window right as the first ship fully exited the swirling hole of the dimensional rift. The ship didn't stay alone for long before half a dozen joined it, with more to follow.
The pirate ships apparently didn't know what to do as they simply floated in the void without doing something, but after a dreadnought appeared in their midst, and the frigates and cruiser, which appeared first, fired a few shots at their ships, they got their act together quite fast and returned fire.
A few clicks away from the main battle, the carrier assigned appeared, and the fighters on the carrier left the ship like a swarm of angry beetles, rushing into the heat of battle.
Yet, his eyes focused on the rift that opened behind the enemy fleet, between it and Torfan. Out came a single cruiser joined by a dozen smaller ships.
Captain Dewi couldn't see it on the screen, but he knew the smaller ships would fire drop-pods at three different locations to create the beachheads the rest of the invasion force would use to create forward operating bases.
It didn't take long before the cruiser opened another rift to facilitate their retreat.
After that, Dewi returned his focus to the battle in the void.
It was going as he expected. The fleet of slavers, pirates, and "not" Batarians was slowly taken apart by the Alliance's forces. The Alliance's frigates and cruisers coordinated their shots, targeting one ship after another, quickly overwhelming their shields and then piercing its armor.
The dreadnought had a slower rate of fire than either of its smaller companions, but that was because it concentrated most of its energy on its shields since the dreadnought was the obvious threat, drawing attention to it. This made it easier for the others to focus on their offense.
Meanwhile, the fighters chased down their opposite, and thanks to the superior training of the pilots, and their more advanced crafts, it was a one-sided slaughter. After establishing fighter superiority, they would go on to harass the bigger ships.
A small and quiet smile appeared on Dewi's face as he watched one enemy ship after another ripped into pieces by the might of the Alliance fleet. The battle wasn't even going on for ten minutes, and already two-fifths of the enemy floated through the void.
It wouldn't take much longer until the rest was destroyed, too.
"Helm, I believe we can slowly approach the operations area. By the time we arrive, the mop-up should be over."
"Sir, yes, sir," responded the pilot with a certain enthusiasm in his voice.
The battle in space seemed like an easy victory for the Alliance, and Dewi hoped it would go similarly on the ground, too.
Yet, something in his gut said that it would be a different beast.
A beast that would show its very sharp and deadly teeth to the Alliance troops.