*Pained Groan*
The Salarian Commando groaned as he was about to open his eyes, but he swiftly pretended to sleep as he heard people speaking.
"What are these ones?" This one sounded similar to a Turian.
"Huh? You don't know them?"
There was a short silence.
"Well, the Citadel Codex describes them as Salarians from Surkesh from Anno Basin Cluster close to the Galactic Core."
"Surkesh, you say, huh, so they evolved, I recall their livers used to be a delicacy in our time." The Turian-sounding voice said with a bit of desire.
"Agh!!!" The commando snapped his eyes wide "D-Don't eat me! I-I-I will speak!" He was terrified shitless!
~~~
Marcus looked at the panicking Salarian dressed in black commando armour. The guy paled as his black eyes were darting from left to right.
"It would seem you scared this one quite a bit." The Emperor commented to Javik, who snorted back.
"I am genuinely surprised that these species reached space. They used to lick their eyeballs with their long tongues." The Prothean commented with a shrug.
"Huh, is that right? Well, life is full of surprises." He shrugged back at such a comment. What could he possibly say? Accelerated evolution? Or something, not that he cared.
At that moment, Marcus lifted his hand and red energy gathered in his palm, and he shot it at Salarian, causing the Amphibian to stop in his tracks for a second. Red rings appeared in its eyes for just a second before it snapped out and looked confused.
"What just happened?" The Commando was confused.
"Your team is getting caught, that's what happened, Salarian." Marcus lowered his hand as he replied with a drool tone.
"...Oh…" He faced the Emperor and…
"...Is that a Prothean? No, it can't be, they are extinct, we only found a few records of how they look, it can't be." The Commando sounded like a hyperactive kid high on sugar.
"They talk too much," Javik commented as well.
"My exact thoughts." The Emperor nodded; he was thinking the same thing.
"I am Marcus Justinian Anaheim, you might have heard of me." Marcus introduced himself.
"...Oh…that's not good." Salarian turned pale when he heard that name!
"Indeed. I have an extensive file of your race entering my Imperial Space. These are sightings of Salarian ships in my Arcturus Stream, Exodus Cluster and Petra Nebula. All of these are in star systems that were properly claimed by my Empire.
And now you try to follow me, directly." The Emperor dropped holographic pictures with the evidence.
"..."
"I have more than enough reason to declare war on your Salarian Union, Salarian."
"...Umm… can we negotiate?" The Salarian looked very uncomfortable, as if they got caught in the middle of an act. It's something they are not used to.
"You could send him away with a warning. You know that having any sort of war at the moment is not good." Javik hinted at a big machine race that was 'breathing' on the back of their necks.
"True. After all, I have some research to do. I don't have time for that." Marcus replied as he pondered.
"Is it related to that huge wreckage of a starship? We can provide whatever details we have. We found similar wreckage on Dis System in Hades Gamma.
But Batarians were the first ones to get there. We tried to get the council involved, but the Hegemony denied even knowing anything about it."
"You know only half of it, Salarian. That ship is a race of Sentient Machines that harvest life in cycles. The last cycle was 50 thousand years ago, when they wiped out my race." Javik said to the commando.
"..."
"Indeed, and I was preparing for their arrival for the past 200 years when I found Prothean ruins on one of my worlds.
I found it strange and suspicious that an advanced race left no bodies behind, especially in a world that had no biological life. The bodies could not decompose in a world that had no bacteria." Marcus said with a small smile.
"That means that something happened to them. So we treated everything related to them with suspicion.
So, the mass relay in our solar system, or the technology that they left behind, we didn't need any of them. That is why we devised our own FTL drives.
And we were right, there was a massive galactic war that wiped out the Protheans." Marcus smiled as he looked at Javik a bit, then looked at the Salarian.
"T-This is huge! I-I need to contact Dalatrass!" The Commando panicked; he looked terrified.
"Don't worry, I tell your Councillor, my Empire is fair. We will warn them. The rest is on you guys."
"Wait! Let me tell you all we did! Please! You must assist the Galaxy in its survival!"
Marcus smirked a bit. It would seem he broke this guy without even trying.
'I guess Javik wanting to eat this guy's liver helped.'
The Emperor chuckled. It appears that having a sapient carnivorous friend has its perks.
"Speak."
"Well, we are from STG—"
The guy behind the bars explained everything in detail, from protocol to his mission.
Eventually, the pair of them left the cells, and the Prothean Commander looked surprised.
"It appears your mothership has terrified the Salarians."
"You think? I think it's your comment on his liver that helped." Marcus replied. He wasn't sure Avalon played such a huge part.
"I could say the same thing."
Though the reaper threat could have played a huge part.
~~~
Marcus stayed in Khar'Shen for a few days. He checked out some of the historic records on how Batarians came to be, their technological progress, and the unification of their race.
And how big a factor it played in advancing from simple iron and steel weapons like swords to computer-guided rifles in merely two hundred years.
Though he was more interested in Khar'Shan itself, the world is a beautiful paradise that is wasted on Batarians, especially with a barely controlled population and pollution that they can't get rid of.
With that in mind, the Emperor set several things in motion. One of them is the rapid takeover of Kite's Nest.
"The Council has invited us to the Citadel; honestly, it was expected." Euphemia and Leila walked over as they looked where Marcus was looking.
They were at his favourite spot, and it was his throne room/observation deck. However, it was a realistic projection, not a literal window.
What he was looking at was the sun. And the sun was getting a tower.
The pair noticed logistics ships setting up a comms tower for the whole Solar system.
"..."
"...I thought we were keeping the growth of the Empire at a decent pace, not rapid." Leila immediately realised what this tower means.
"I am turning Batarians into a satellite state. I realised that if I wanted to contain the plague, I needed to strike where it hurts, and that is getting Batarians under my foot." He clarified to them.
"This is for the greater good of the whole Galaxy."
"Dumbledore? Seriously?" Leila rolled her eyes.
"More like the T'au, but beside the point. The Harsa system is close to the north side of the Kite's Nest. We are close to the border, and Petra is less than 70 light-years away. We can build a comms tower here and get a decent connection." He explained to both of them.
"Along the way, jumping over more than ten solar systems, but yes, I can see it working.
However, this is not a simple colonisation job; there are around 15 billion Batarians and millions of other species that live in this cluster.
We would need a strong presence to subdue the population to transition to our Imperial Rule." Leila commented that her tone was serious, she didn't like these species, they rub her the wrong way, and because of that, she is not giving an inch.
"I know that is why I am creating an occupation fleet with someone specific in mind at the helm of it." Marcus nodded at his wife's comments; he fully agreed with her, and that is why he is bringing in some serious help.
"Oh? That could work." Leila nodded back, calming down considerably.
"Who is going to run the fleet?" Euphemia curiously asked him.
"You will see soon, dear." The Emperor simply smiled at her question.
"You have a considerable number of sons who could do it." Leila tried to help Euphemia find out, but their husband is more than aware of how these ladies work.
But he simply smiled at them, not saying a thing.
"Regardless, let's see if the tower is online." He summoned his command console. All he could see was an offline status.
"Well, you will need to wait for a bit longer. Why don't we discuss the embassy in Citadel?" Euphemia looked at his console, then at her husband.
"Embassy?"
"Indeed, it would help to coordinate with the council, more specifically with our citizens who get 'lost' in Citadel space." The Empress of Diplomacy specifically mentioned 'lost'; it's more like people who realised how ripe space outside Imperial control is for crime.
"Hmm, that is a good point, Hadrian said the same thing." Marcus nodded as he considered that angle.
"And for that, I think Daphne will be a good choice."
"You want our eldest to be an ambassador?" The Emperor was a bit surprised that she proposed their own daughter for such a position. Away from Imperial space and rules. Surrounded by aliens…
"Not alone, don't be ridiculous, we can assist by making a retinue for her. Several battleships and carriers. These could join the Citadel defence effort when needed be."
Marcus' gears began to spin as he realised where his wife's thoughts were moving towards.
The Empress was thinking of using Imperial Majesty to awe the aliens. They already made them fear the Empire, with Avalon above a homeworld connected to their extranet. There is no doubt that the entire galaxy is aware of the might of the Emperor's retinue.
Now it was time to show that even the Princess who works as an Ambassador has a literal army following her.
"Sure thing. I can make some of them now. We are in a good position to do it."
Marcus's fingers skimmed through the consoles as he ordered construction of a typical set of one Battleship and three carriers, alongside its logistics support.
And of course, the creation of the personnel who will run those.
Euphemia smiled when she saw that the construction of those had begun. She immediately got into his hands as she began to snuggle. Leila deadpanned at what she saw.
The Pink Empress is close to 230 years old, but she still acts like a little girl the moment Marcus does something 'cool'.
Though she is no different.
"Ahem, you are not alone, you know?"
"Then come over." Marcus motioned to come over and cuddle as well.
"Not what I meant, but… whatever." With that said, the blonde ended up in his hands as well.
~~~~~~A bit Later, in Imperial Estate, Aboard Avalon~~~~~~
"Whaaa? I am getting a retinue!?" Daphne gawked at her mother and father sitting opposite them.
"Yes, and you will have a massive mission for our Empire, daughter." Marcus took a sip of his tea. Moments later, Euphemia, smiling, was feeding him biscuits.
Calypso, who was sitting on a side couch, rolled her eyes. Her parents are so cheesy to the young Princess.
"You mean… mother said embassy… but we won't have Imperials living there… I mean… I can see Scipio buying a mansion in every single capital of citadel races…
But regular people?"
"You will be our middleman, dear." Euphemia continued to smile, then looked at her husband.
"And besides, your father needs access to the council for his schemes. You saw his new toy in his workshop?"
"...Toy… that thing is a carcass of civilisation ending machine…" Calipso blurred, speechless, when her mother called that reaper a toy.
"It is a toy for your father. More than 180 years ago, he stopped an alien invasion in Marina's reality: a living metal colony the size of Earth's moon. Back then, we only lived on a single world." Euphemia mentioned that little incident.
The young princess was baffled for a second.
"Living metal? You mean that ability when we use power armours? It came from aliens from another reality?" She was a bit surprised, but now that she mentioned it, it made sense… It's unique to say the least.
"Indeed."
"Yeah, that was so long ago that by this point it's a natural part of the Empire." Marcus chipped in, getting the conversation back on track.
"But most importantly, my dear daughter, you will be there to make sure that citizens who run away from the Empire return and face Imperial justice. I have read the codex, the worst that can happen is imprisonment for many years, which is a waste of time and resources in my opinion."
Calypso snorted when she heard that, while Daphne was speechless.
"That is a waste of resources. I do not doubt that once people hear about that, they will flood the Citadel Space." The 3rd Princess commented, but then got an idea.
"We could suppress that information."
"Already doing it. But I doubt it will last for long." Marcus sighed. Suppression is never an option, as people are naturally curious, and once they smell something wrong, they immediately start digging in.
So, in the end, it's just a delay tactic.
"Very well, then you can leave it to me, father! I won't disappoint you." She showed him a dead serious look, reminding him of Euphemia when she gets a serious assignment.
"Good, then I leave that to you."
~~~~~~Meanwhile, The Citadel~~~~~~
"Are you mad? STG tried to infiltrate Imperial Space and Khar'Shan!?" Turian Councillor was pissed!
"At such a critical point, you send STG, we should have waited until all the treaties are signed! Now we could end up on their list of conquest instead of them going East!" He began to pace back and forth.
"We had to. There are many technologies that we need to figure out, and other things that simply don't make sense!
The Empire is only 211 years old! Their colonies are 92% worlds that were barren planets not long ago! Their population growth makes no sense! It's like people simply appeared in some of these colonies!
Then, the particle manipulation that they can do! Such technology takes hundreds of years to develop!"
The Salarian Councillor is a smart one; he immediately realised all of the oddities in the Empire. From how fast they are building enormous constructs, AI or not, it's simply absurd, or how new colonies have millions of people magically appear.
Then of course, the Particle technology they utilise is very specific, and something like that takes decades, if not centuries, to develop.
This race has far too many secrets… And Salarians with secrets don't mix.
"Even so, you are playing with fire, my friend. We need to wait. Patience is important, battlefield or not, you need to accept that."
"He is right. We need to wait. Especially, if this is true…" Asari Councillor looked at a picture of an enormous V-shaped spaceship above Khar'Shan. It's bigger than the citadel, and that is the Emperor's flagship…
"Very well… though…" Salarian looked nervous. He started fiddling with his fingers.
"What?" The Turian Councillor had a bad feeling about this.
"...Well, the ground team… we lost contact with them the moment they landed…"
"..."
"..."
"I need to contact my Primarch." The Turian turned around and began to walk away. He looked pale.
"I need to contact the republics and make them know about the possibility of a war with the Empire; they won't be happy to hear that." The Asari promptly did the same, and she was in no better state than the Turian Councillor.
They need to begin preparing for a possible conflict with the Empire.
Seeing both Councillors like that made the Salarian sigh, they were right, but it's Salarian nature! It's hard to resist a new race and their secrets! After all, Salarians did all of this with Asari and Turians, and other races.
The Salarians infiltrated all of them, and the Salarians know their secrets. That's what espionage is, and now there's an Empire they can't infiltrate, and that is driving the leaders mad!
"We will see in a couple of days what the Empire will do." Salarian Councillor mumbled under his breath as he left the room last. He needs to make his preparations as well.
Thankfully, Marcus was not planning war with the Citadel. Neither did he plan to wage war against the Batarians. It just happened, his family is big, and they all have a considerable amount of independence.
~~~
Once the tower was operational, Marcus went to his long-distance comms room to speak to someone over 1,000 light-years away. Even to this day, the Emperor marvels at the technological progress to be able to do that.
"Connect me with brother Schneizel in the New Maldives, Legion."
[One moment, building a stable link.]
~~~
New Maldives is one of the resort and retirement worlds that Empire has built for its soldiers and nobles. The world was a barren wasteland of a world, and even the solar system wasn't that special. The only thing special was the three worlds that were close to each other. So it gave the person a feeling that the world had two big moons.
And so, without any sort of industrial or tactical use, Marcus built a resort world. Thankfully, the asteroid belt was made mostly out of frozen water, so the planet swiftly went through terraforming, becoming something of a chain island resort.
Marcus named the planet the New Maldives, the world of a million bridges.
Though it became successful as a resort and retirement home.
And so, on a white sand beach, a blonde man was enjoying the sunshine of a yellow sun; it was perfect, 28 celsius with a cool breeze, never too hot or cold, just perfect to enjoy the beach.
"My Prince, the Emperor requests a meeting with you." The waitress walked over to the relaxing Prince and notified him with a respectful tone.
"Hmm? Now? Strange, I thought there was nothing lined up for me for the next ten years, minimum." The Prince looked surprised.
Schneizel's life has been something else since the Empire went to the stars. He worked as a temporary governor, logistics manager, operations overseer, and Temporary Prime Minister. The amount of varied work he did and the experience he gained are on a different level.
However, as Marcus' family grew, he began to get more and more days off. In fact, those days turned into weeks and weeks into months and now years.
And so he curiously walked back into a tropical-style lodge made of wood; the whole resort district is mostly wood-based to evoke a tropical holiday destination.
Inside the hotel building, the Prince strolled to the cooms room. Over there, he saw his brother waiting for him.
"Schneizel, that's quite the tan you got there." Marcus joked, seeing his usually pale brother have a healthy tan.
"The resort is treating me well." The Prince smiled for a second, but then he asked the important stuff.
"So why did you call me, Your Majesty?"
"I require your specific set of skills; you are one of the few who have experience in setting up a new government in a conquered land."
When he heard that, he looked a bit surprised.
"Is it related to the Batarian conflict I see on the news? All I see is that Empire crushed them."
Of course, what else would the news say? It was quite the surprise, as it's usually colonial news or some new species discovered on Benning, Elysium, or Eden Prime.
The new type of soil they found in Eden Prime got everyone curious and sparked another massive wave of colonists eager to try agriculture…
"Yes, the war is over, and we need to establish a puppet state. That is where you come in, because you have had such an experience before.
I am assigning a portion of the standing army to you; the ships should be arriving to pick you up soon."
"...Very well, orders understood, Your Majesty." Schneizel can tell that it's important. Important enough that they are ignoring the usual Imperial doctrine and are accelerating the expansion.
"Good, then I will see you soon." With that said, the call has ended, and the Prince signed for a second. He was starting to enjoy the life here.
In fact, he was thinking of buying an island or two.
With that said, he left the hotel. He was about to return to his beach sun chair, but he saw holiday goers pointing at the sky and talking about something exciting.
The Prince's gaze went up… what he saw were warships.
'Five battleships, ten carriers and twenty support corvettes… that's a small armada…' Schneizel realised that this was not a simple assignment.
That's a considerable amount of firepower.
Moments later, a military shuttle flew over and landed before the Prince.
The side doors opened, and Marines came out.
"My Prince. We came here to pick you up." The Marines looked eager to serve under a Prince.
*Sigh*
"Very well, let me collect my belongings." The blonde prince sighed. They didn't even give him a day to prepare. That's so typical of Marcus.
~~~
A couple of days later, Avalon, with its retinue, arrived at the Citadel. The pinkish nebula was quite something to look at. The station was not situated in any sort of solar system.
Soon enough, the people aboard Avalon could see the citadel as it floated forward from the Mass Relay.
"It looks fragile, the shape is weird as well." Calypso offhandedly commented, as she expected a literal castle in space, but nope… is it that hard to ask?
"It's in the middle of nowhere space. There are no planets or solar systems within a ten-light-year radius." Hadrian, who was at the navigation consoles, checked out where this place was.
"Figures, but we are surrounded by relays." Calypso noticed several Relays in all directions.
"A perfect spot for a capital. That is what my people thought. But it's a trap, the citadel is a massive Mass Relay that links to the dark space." Javik commented as he stared at the Citadel for the first time in his life.
"Doesn't look like one. But then again, the eezo core could be in the middle of that. I can see it becoming a relay." Hadrian commented as he observed the Citadel.
He looked at the 'ring' connecting to the citadel arms. The hole in the middle could become a core for the mass relay…
"Precisely, Reapers are the ones who designed these things. They know what they were doing." Javik begrudgingly accepted the fact that Reapers are smart and demand at least a small amount of respect from him, even if he hates it. As a soldier and warrior, he accepts that those sentient machines are good at harvesting civilisations.
"Indeed, that is why we will give the Citadel Council the info we have on the reapers," Marcus said with a smile as he looked at the Citadel before him. There is a certain amount of fascination in his gaze. After all, he waited for nearly two hundred years to see it.
Ever since he found the Prothean Ruins on Mars, seeing the Citadel was something he wanted to see. It took him centuries, but he was finally here.
"Javik, you will be our surprise guest. I will bring the council aboard Avalon and show them the dead reaper, while you will tell them the story of your people." The Emperor explained his little plan.
"Understood, leave that to me." The Prothean agreed, with a dead reaper corpse behind him, they should listen.
"Good, then kids get ready, I expect you all in your best behaviour." All of a sudden, Marcus got serious, and his younger kids straightened up. Calypso felt a chill pass down her spine when her father looked at her.
"U-Understood Father, I— We will behave." The pink-haired princess said with a bit of stutter.
"I will hold you to that. Now go and change to something more presentable."
The pair rushed off the command bridge as Marcus' gaze went to the Citadel before him.
He could see the Citadel Fleet come out to greet them.
"This is Emperor's Flagship, Avalon. We are here by the request of the Citadel Council."
"This Citadel's Tower. You have our thanks for coming here, Avalon. However, your ship is simply too big for docking."
"It won't be an issue; we have smaller vessels." The comms officer looked at the Emperor, who nodded at him.
"We will take one of the corvettes; it should be enough to make a decent fanfare. Load it with Knightmares." Marcus instructed with a casual wave of his hand.
"Understood. Sending orders to the hangars."
With that said, they will have a decent demonstration. Using his regiment of Unicorn Corp is one thing, but something bigger? He wanted to have several Gundams, but a Corvette can only carry four of them.
Old-school Knightmares will do; those are good for city controls. He left a bunch in Khar'Shan for Schneizel.
"Good, then I leave the bridge to you, captain." Marcus smiled as he looked at his captain.
There is only one person whom he would give his Avalon to, and that is no other but Leesa Kujo, the ex-member of Celestial Being and Captain of Ptolemaos.
Sadly, she has been ignoring his advances for decades, but he is a patient man.
"Good luck, Your Majesty." She nodded at him, wishing him good luck with the aliens.
"I don't need luck, Captain, I have you, and a big army." The Emperor smirked before leaving the brown-haired tactician; her gaze went to the Citadel with a purple nebula in the background.
The woman sighed; she never imagined she would live this long.
She looked at her hand, not a single wrinkle; she has stayed looking in her twenties for two centuries now, and there is no sign that she is getting older.
Leesa considered accepting the Emperor's advances several times, but each time she remembered how big his harem was. Oh, and the kids, it's close to thirty, still not as many as his father, but he is getting there.
Though being an Empress is not bad, she has seen all sorts of Empresses with different backgrounds, from the military to science, and even Marcus's old schoolmate.
The selection is a big one.
*Sigh*
"Keep the watch, make sure no one appears behind us. There are multiple relay points in this area." Leesa instructed the bridge of the massive Avalon.
"Understood, Captain!"
The crew was on high alert, even though they were in non-hostile territory. This station is the Citadel, a Mass Relay to dark space, and they had several contingency plans in place.
Just in case.
One of them is that the Imperials are dressed in power suits. In the worst case, they will leave the citadel behind and swiftly retreat without the need of a spaceship; the suits are more than enough for the vacuum of space.
But that's the worst case.
Assuming that reapers can return to their original plan, as Marcus knows what Protheans did in Ilos, it was their final fuck you to Reapers, they altered the signal, meaning that a Reaper can't open the relay from outside but only from the inside, as the Keepers, small alien creatures that maintain the citadel, have been altered by the Protheans.
The way they could do it is that Ilos was a special Prothean world that worked on Mass Relay technology. They unlocked its secrets before the invasion, so the scientist went into cryo sleep for thousands of years, waiting for the reapers to leave. Once they left, the remaining Protheans used their relay to enter the citadel and tamper with the signal.
That is the plot of Mass Effect one. But the difference for Marcus is that his Empire is not the System Alliance; he is an Emperor of close to fifty worlds, and the population he rules is close to a hundred billion people.
Sol system alone has 35 billion people, and Alpha Centauri is reaching that amount as well.
The number of soldiers and warships he has could fight the whole galaxy…
And of course his trump cards…
The Solar Cannons, Colossus and of course the Yeagers, he is as ready as he could be to fight the reapers.
Now the question is: is the rest of the Galaxy on the same page as he is?
~~~
"They said it's a smaller ship, but that's a damn Cruiser…" Turian Councillor swore under his breath, that thing can barely dock in the Presidium!
"They don't follow our standards for ships; maybe for them it's a smaller ship?" The Asari Councillor tried to calm the Turian.
"From what I understand, this is classified as a Corvette, a fast-moving vessel meant to intercept and disrupt formations and take out missiles." The Salarian Councillor read through the Imperial Codex. The biggest ship in the codex is the Camelot Class; he was sceptical that something like that even exists.
But that ship is right now outside their Citadel, dwarfing their capital with its presence.
So he now believes pretty much everything that is in the Imperial Codex.
Sure enough, as the Cruiser docked, the first ones to leave were white-armoured marines, standing three metres tall. These were Marcus' Unicorn Division, and after them were the knightmares, which rolled out at absurd speed, followed by royal guards carrying Marcus' retinue banner and the Imperial Flag.
It was a small parade…
Something that Turians could appreciate, if not for the fact that they were jealous of what the Empire could do.
Once the Marines and knightmares lined up, Marcus and a portion of his family strolled out to greet the Councillors in person.
"Well, meet, Council of Citadel, I am Marcus Justinian Anaheim, the Emperor of my people." Marcus greeted them, and the councillors, to many of the outlookers' surprise, slightly bowed to him.
Such action has surprised people all over the Council Space, as it was a live broadcast across the whole Galaxy; even the pirates on the other side of the Galaxy were watching with bated breath as they saw Imperial ships and their military.
It's safe to say that Galaxy is moving towards massive change, and they have no idea how right they were.
~~~
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