Augustus dropped to one knee as he entered the massive throne room aboard Avalon; his grandfather was sitting there and looking at him.
'Ugh, his presence alone sends chills down my spine.'
"I can assume that you are here to cover my wayward son's butt?" Marcus asked with a resigned sigh.
"Y-You could say so, Your Majesty." Augustus didn't deny that. He is well aware of what his father is doing.
"I see. So what you got for me?"
"Well, we discovered multiple Type 2 and even Type 1 worlds." Augustus swiftly pulled out a holographic display and showed the charts.
"Argus Rho, Shadow Sea, Styx Theta, Hawking Eta and… we re-discovered Pangaea Expanse."
"Hoh?" Marcus looked intrigued by that little bit of information.
"Pangaea Expanse, you say… You mean to say that you found Ilos?" The Emperor asked with an intrigued tone.
"Yes! We used Hawking Eta as a staging area before moving towards Pangaea Expanse.
The route is fully mapped, and the planet is habitable; it's a medium Tier-1 world that requires a bit of work, but it holds the ruins of two civilisations.
The Protheans and Inusannon." Augustus showed images of the planet; it was a rusty-looking world with wildfires visible on its dark side.
"I see. That is wonderful news."
"...Yes, my father insisted that he wants to hand this world over to you. At the moment, he left a token of forces for asset protection. The world houses a massive Prothean cryo bunker and their research facility that the Reapers did not touch."
"I see… I do love such discoveries~" With a hand motion, all of the holograms floated over to Marcus as he inspected them.
"I can assume there is a reason why my son is handing over to me such a world instead of keeping it for himself?"
'Thankfully, he accepted the gift…' The Emperor's grandson sighed in relief.
Augustus wasn't sure. He has nothing against Ilos, but Antioch is far more valuable to him than a world with wildfire problems, an atmosphere that gets hotter by the year, sprawling Inusannon and Prothean ruins, and extinct life.
"In Shadow Sea Cluster we discovered a high Tier 1 world that he named Antioch; my father wants that world as his seat of power," Augustus explained as he waited for an answer. For a moment Marcus simply stayed quiet before laughing.
"Hahaha, cheeky brat. So he wants to exchange Ilos for a good world. I suppose I can accept that; I assume he didn't take anything from Ilos?"
"I-I have Prothean VI; it was in bad shape, we swiftly recovered the unit before it experienced a critical power shortage."
"Good, everything on that world belongs to me if he wants his Antioch."
Marcus commented as he checked the space charts.
He then pressed a couple of buttons mentally, and a hologram of a blonde lady appeared before him.
"Monica, I am sending space charts to you; you are to organise an expedition and cooperate with Imperial Logistics in these areas.
I want these worlds to be treated as fortress worlds before they are added to the Imperial Hold."
The Emperor highlighted several systems in the star charts.
"Understood, for now I am diverting from exploring Petra."
"Leave a token of exploration units for Petra; there is not much left, and we will leave Kite's Nest for Schneizel and his client state. I am baffled that Batarians didn't fully colonise their own cluster." Marcus mentioned that with a baffled tone. He checked Batarian Star Charts, and he was dissapointed how much they lacked.
They explored more of outside clusters than their own.
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
With a nod, the Head of Imperial Exploration Division ended the call.
The Mothership Explorer will now divert towards Antioch and then Ilos, creating a permanent route across most of the Easter side of the Galaxy.
"Anything else, Augustus?" Marcus asked, looking at his grandson.
"Some extra knowledge about the reapers. You should talk with the VI and decide for yourself, Your Majesty; apart from that, we have collected some artefacts related to Krogan and their Rebellion from a thousand years ago." Augustus explained whatever else he had.
"I see, then transfer those artefacts, and you are free to go. From what I have gathered, your father already conquered Omega.
That alone is commendable. Omega was a pirate haven." Marcus dismissed the holograms as he got up from his throne.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Prince nodded as he got up and then summoned the Prothean VI, motioning the blob of redish holograms to fly towards the Emperor.
Marcus then collected the VI.
His suit and AI began to scan the content.
"You may rest for a day or two before you leave."
"Yes, I will do that. I will visit my mother in Trappist. I doubt my father needs me, as far as I know he should be returning after achieving his goals in Omega."
"Hah. Is that so?" Marcus hummed as he mentally summoned his Console interface, checking on something.
More specifically, what Scipio is doing in Omega- he has a hunch, but he needs proof.
'My witch is going to have a meltdown when she finds out that her son is gathering pirate Asari…'
With a sigh, he motioned for Augustus to leave; he has things to do.
~~~
Not long after the meeting with his grandson, Marcus called the Citadel Council. The trio of representatives swiftly arrived to see him as they were in their temporary quarters aboard the Avalon.
"It's a good thing that you three didn't leave for the Citadel, as I have new intel for you all," Marcus said without even looking at the trio; instead, his gaze was on the garden world that still doesn't have a name.
According to the Council, they are still deciding on it. They already named the system the 'Citadel system', but what is the name of the Capital world? Well, that takes time.
The Emperor looked at the planet for a bit more before turning around and walking to the side room.
"Follow me; we have things to talk about. My wayward son achieved something impressive.
He has found Ilos."
For a second, the councillors hoped that this wouldn't be a conversation about 'how great my children are', but then they heard the mythical name of Ilos, the lost Prothean world!
"Are you sure it's Ilos?" The Salarian wasn't that sure…
"He found Pangaea Expanse; there are not that many star clusters that have extensive, not destroyed Prothean ruins or even older race ruins beneath them.
Or the fact that the Prothean VI itself called that world Ilos." Marcus deadpanned at the amphibian.
Sparatus and Tevos just stared at the Salarian Councillor.
"Stop embarrassing yourself by the spirits. You are well aware that His Majesty wouldn't call us here for information that is not checked." Turian Councillor groaned.
"Indeed." Tevos agreed before looking at the Emperor.
"What can you tell us? Another VI is a gold mine of information."
Marcus motioned to enter the leisure room, which had couches and tables.
The Inventor Emperor took his seat, and so did the Councillors.
Moments later, a pink-haired maid who looked like Empress Lacus walked over.
"Bring us some refreshments."
"As you wish."
Once she left, the Ruler focused on his guests.
"Ilos was a research facility that was developing a Mass Relay. The Reapers attacked the Protheans on the eve of the discovery of Relay secrets.
Because the Citadel was their seat of power overnight, the entire empire went silent.
We all know that.
But Ilos was a top research facility, meaning all data regarding Ilos was automatically erased upon the Reaper invasion.
That world was spared." Marcus gave them a summary.
"Then…"
"You can ask yourself."
With a hand motion, a red hologram manifested next to Marcus; it took the form of a translucent Prothean, only this time around it was not a soldier but a scientist.
"This is Vigil. The VI of the facility; I took the liberty of fixing its crumbling hologram frame."
[You have my thanks, Emperor of Sol.]
"Don't mention it. Now why don't you explain yourself about the ending of your cycle and the Reapers in more detail?" Marcus said as the trio of Councillors waited patiently.
[Very well.] The hologram looked at the representatives of three Council Races.
[I am Vigil, a non-organic analysis system with personality imprints of Ksad Ishan, the Chief Overseer of the Mass Relay Project 'Conduit'.
On the eve of the breakthrough of the secrets of the Mass Relays, the Prothean Empire went silent. Not long after that, we discovered what was happening.
The Empire suffered a surprise invasion; sentient machines poured through the Citadel that became a massive Mass Relay.]
The Councillors were hearing this story for the second time, but the sheer chill they felt didn't lessen at all!
[Thankfully, Ilos was a top-secret research facility; all information regarding its location was deleted the moment the invasion happened.
Soon enough, we realised we would lose, so we went into cryo sleep, but the reapers persisted in staying in the galaxy.
In fact, I do believe it's one of their methods to find stragglers. They are machines, and they can stay centuries, if not for thousands of years. Such a time is enough to repopulate a planet or two. But for reapers it's nothing.]
"...So they stay for thousands of years… that's a lot of time."
[Yes. I do believe it took them at least two thousand years to wipe out my people.
They are meticulous and extremely persistent.]
"...*Sigh*."
"Thankfully, we are preparing for their return. Primarch ordered an increase in military size, construction of new warships, multiple dreadnoughts, and we are investing in mobile suit creation that will be our trump card." Sparatus said with a sigh; the constant dread he feels just from talking about these machines makes him depressed, to say the least.
"We are the same. The Republics are heavily investing in the military. We are diverting an enormous amount of credits into our military complex." Tevos said to the VI.
"Same with the Union." The Salarian nodded, hoping it was not as bad, but now he had two sources saying the same thing, plus the massive Reaper carcass in the Emperor's vault…
[Good, then this cycle is prepared. Now let me explain the last gift that my people left for you.
The Citadel is the key to the Reaper invasion. The twelve scientists that awaken from Cryo sleep realised that. So they used the conduit to travel to the Citadel and reprogram the keepers, who, by that point, as organics, had evolved away from Reaper's initial design.
The keepers only answer the call from the Citadel itself. So the scientists altered the Citadel; it no longer accepts the signals from the outside.
The Vanguard Reaper that should be in the galaxy can't remotely activate the Mass Relay to dark space.]
"The Reaper would need to attack the Citadel! That means we know its next move!" Sparatus nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard this good news!
By this point, the maid had already brought some snacks and refreshments, and Marcus was simply listening while enjoying his tea. He was the only one who was doing that.
The rest of them were on the edge.
[Precisely. The reaper should be awakened by this point and figuring out what is happening. You should be on guard and look for signs of reaper activity.
By my understanding, it could be working in the shadows and using proxies to hinder the development of your civilisations.
The Empire's existence will cause them to act sooner, as your civilisation has derailed from their set path.] Vigil looked at Marcus, who was eating biscuits by this point.
"I am well aware of that. My Empire is harder to navigate. We live in almost every single solar system in the Arcturus Stream; similarly, in Petra and Exodus.
As I said before, my civilisation since the very beginning had a mission, and I call it destiny; we have an objective to fulfil, that alone gives us an edge." The Emperor said to the Prothean VI.
His comment sent a chill down the trio of Councillors' spines. They were thankful that the Imperial gaze was not on them.
Maybe in the distant future, but not now.
[Good, then you are not in Reaper net. They will have a harder time fighting you. However, do remember that they are machines and they won't stop for hundreds of years.
They won't sign a peace treaty or take a break, as organic lifeforms do. They are relentless in their objectives.]
"I know; that is why one needs to break the machine or make it incapable of working.
The moment you remove indoctrination, it becomes easier." Marcus commented with a smile as he had assigned a portion of G-Force and A.S.P to develop sound and vibration-based technology to destroy Reaper's main weapon.
"I do hope we can develop something together when it comes to indoctrination." Sparatus, the Turian Councillor, hopefully commented.
"Hmm, I suppose we could. So far, the development of the Capital is moving smoothly; we could think of something.
I have heard that Trajan is moving to Palaven; you could persuade him to share some of the insights we have discovered related to Reapers." Marcus commented on his family's recent move.
Asari and Salarian looked at the proud Turian Councillor. The militaristic race is having the best luck when it comes to interaction with the Empire.
"We should prepare against the Reaper threat together."
"And we are. The issue is that I am more concerned with how technology could leak outside. That is why I leave these things to my children, or I am slowly helping you to learn how to develop these methods yourself."
"Technology leaking is inevitable," The Salarian commented with an eye roll.
"Says who? I have been successful in keeping what is mine for the past 200 years. Technology, just like growth, can be contained and controlled if you know what you are doing."
Once again Marcus began to berate the Salarian councillor.
The issue is that Salarians are short-lived, top 40 years or so. One can't have ample experience when they are so short-lived. Sometimes the Emperor feels as if he is speaking with a child…
~~~
After the meeting, the Emperor was relaxing in his palace, enjoying some tea and looking down at the planet through an observation projector.
He finally got his long-awaited break, as dealing with Salarians was starting to feel like a chore. While they are smart and fast learners, they suffer a false sense of superiority.
Salarians have inborn Eidetic Memory, so they swiftly develop that knowing-more-than-everyone mentality.
But that stuff doesn't help when you lack experience to utilise that perk.
Their curiosity and sense of superiority were what unleashed the Krogan upon the galaxy a thousand years ago.
The amphibians thought that Krogan would be just like them and behave, but no, when you remove an apex predator from its natural environment and place it in a place where it doesn't have natural enemies, what happens then?
The answer is simple: the Krogan population went out of control. A single family would have hundreds of children in a matter of years.
That's because they evolved in a world where even flowers can eat them, so one of their survival mechanisms was breeding and numbers.
Krogans are literally built for toxic worlds; they have sets of secondary organs, like two hearts, and they adapt rapidly. Not only that, but they are muscular and physically strong, with sharp teeth and claws.
On top of that… if you give one a shotgun… well…
'And how did Salarians think it was a great idea to uplift the guys that nuked themselves to the dark ages?'
Marcus shook his head as he took a sip of his tea.
That explains their inexperience, as you simply can't learn it.
"Why so serious?"
"Hmm?"
The Emperor turned to the side and saw one of his wife's holograms: Mei, looking at him curiously.
"My, what can I do for the Department of Imperial Intelligence?" Marcus chuckled as he looked at one of his darling wives.
"Nothing much. I am just here to announce that Scipio finished his conquest of Omega, killed around two hundred thousand civilians and took the Pirate Queen as a possible future wives." Mei dropped some juicy information.
"Thought as much. Asari can be… dangerous."
"Indeed. What are you going to do if she starts influencing him and his massive retinue?"
The Emperor pondered a bit.
"I doubt she will be able to achieve that. Scipio lost Expeditionary Fleet and is no longer Grand Admiral; he would guard the rest of his assets like a dragon his gold."
"Oh."
For a second, she looked surprised, but then she giggled.
"I see, so you made Aurelian Grand Admiral."
"Precisely. You don't stay Grand Admiral when you are thousands of light-years away from said navy." Marcus replied as he continued to sip his tea and look at the world below.
"I shall continue to observe. Another thing is that my network is spreading; I have ships observing Turians, Asari, Salarians, Volus, Hanar, Drell and Elcor.
And we are getting into position for pirates and known locations of independent colonies.
Oh, and I have some juicy intel: it would seem the Quarians are on the move, according to STG.
They could be approaching Imperial territory soon."
For a couple of moments, the Emperor didn't say a thing as he was processing the rapid growth of his intelligence gathering; it was only over a month since they joined the galactic stage and Mei already got him quite a network.
But that's what happens when cloaking technology is that advanced.
They could have literally entire space stations in 'friendly' space, and those guys wouldn't even notice.
Sensors that are based on Eezo emission or heat are extremely primitive; GN technology doesn't heat up. So the surface of these stations will be 'cold' as space itself.
"Quarians… I suppose they want our expertise in AI… Geth… this could be important. We could get close to Reaper Vanguard. There is a higher chance of encountering him when we are close to the Geth."
"That is a possibility. From what I have gathered about Reapers, they should use other AI as pawns in harvesting advanced civilisations.
I am going to watch that place closely; stay tuned, darling!"
With that said, Mei's hologram disappeared.
Marcus sighed as his hunch about Scipio's preference was right.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"This whole Imperial thing is not bad." Aria walked around the hangar of one of the Arondight-Class Carriers.
Rows and rows of machines, neatly stored and ready for war, made her authoritarian heart feel at ease.
"You know most of the Asari have… what you call it… right, democracy in your language."
"There was a nation with those values on Terra; my Father conquered them in a day. He used to tell me that this particular nation had only one valuable thing.
And that it was one of the women who is currently the Empress of Logistics.
He butchered that nation, made their top general betray his homeland for a chance to be a noble in the Empire." Scipio explained to the ex-Pirate Queen as he was giving her a tour of a carrier.
The Asari laughed when she heard that.
"It's one of the reasons why I never bothered with the Republics; I had to answer to some politicians. In Omega I did whatever I wanted." She explained to him.
"The only one that I am answerable to is my father, who is the Emperor; even then, he only cares if we improve our Empire, as long as it's beneficial to us… the rest doesn't matter."
"Oh, so how is it beneficial to the glorious empire that you destroyed my Empire? I was on the other side of the damn galaxy." She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's the thing, it's not. Why do you think it took me a month to get here? I even found Ilos for my father."
Scipio pulled out a trinket and kept it as a pendant. It was Prothean… the guy was carrying a Prothean artefact of some sort around his neck… that thing should be priceless on the market!
"...Huh… this could be interesting…"
Aria realised that not only can these guys do as they want… they can wiggle around with the top dog.
"Ilos, huh. I thought it was a bedtime story, but it's true?"
"Very, a rusty world with ruins built on ruins. My father finds those interesting; all I needed to do was find them and give them to him. Once I have it with some star charts, he won't mind that I was here and on top of that, the Empire will build a world for me to rule."
"Hmm…"
Aria pondered; such a simple system, no extra layers of paperwork…
"How about we have some fun…" She looked at one of the Cataphract.
"Fun? You have my ears." He looked curious at her.
"Half of my fleet never showed up to the battle against you. If you want me to be less annoyed that you took me away from Omega, then you need to remove those stranglers.
It's not hard for you, is it?" She said with a cruel grin.
Scipio laughed a bit when he heard her request.
"Quite cruel of you. But yes, dealing with pirates… I can get behind it." He smiled, blowing up some ships before going home? Like fireworks at the end of events or games.
"Good. I want them to know the price of betrayal." She smirked at him.
"Besides, there is a garden world in all of this. From what you told me, your empire loves those, no?"
"Hoh, you had my curiosity; now you have my attention."
Now that piqued his interest!
"There used to be an independent Asari colony that Batarians conquered. In typical Citadel Council fashion, there was a minor diplomatic incident as it was outside their space.
Now that world is ruled by slavers, and all sorts of vile creatures besides; it is part of the Batarian Hegemony. Last time I checked, the Empire conquered them."
Scipio patiently listened to her, stroking his chin.
"I see. Officially, we only rule their home cluster, not the entire Hegemony; from what I understand, they still have some colonies outside it.
The most obvious one is in the Viper Nebula; according to my father, it has a direct route to Kite's Nest and the Arcturus Stream.
A world at the edge of a galaxy. My uncle should be close to taking over it soon. Though I doubt he will be going there before taking over the whole Kite's Nest." The Imperial Prince said after recalling the Galaxy map.
"There are more worlds that are under Hegemony control that are outside their home Cluster.
Mass Relays make expansion like that easy; your Batarian Conquest is far from over. But with your military might, it's like a game; you take one over, another one appears.
Regardless, I do not care about colonies; what I want is specific people to die for their betrayal; after that, we can leave." Aria crossed her arms as she mentally recalled her hit list.
"Is that so? Well, then… then I should give you what you want." He said while shaking his head.
"Follow me; you can kill them yourself, leave the capturing to me."
"Wonderful." The Asari Ex-Pirate Queen smirked.
~~~
Lorek is a world in the Omega Cluster, not far from Omega itself. It's a rare example of a Garden World circling a red dwarf star. Originally, this world was an independent Asari colony called Esan, but the Batarians took it over close to three hundred years ago.
What happened to the Asari who lived here, not many know; that's what happens when one takes a risk and leaves the safety of a major power.
Now, this world is inhabited by close to five million souls; the majority of them are Batarians. Something like that in Terminus Systems is rare; only some rare examples of Elcor who enjoy strong gravity or Volus that live in Ammonia-based biochemistry can live in Terminus Systems with little to no regard for pirates and slavers, as it's hard for them to operate in such worlds.
So a Batarian Garden World in Terminus is quite a gem.
And now, this place is on Aria's shit list. As Batarians have double-crossed her, whatever support she got has left her before the battle, and she is ready to exact revenge.
"By now you probably have gathered some idea what we can do," Scipio commented as he ended up standing next to the Ex-Pirate Queen.
"I do have some idea, yes." The Matriarch got some idea of how powerful this family is, ruling these species.
"My old man has been working for centuries to put our family on the pedestal. You see, nobility only works when there is inequality; some are better than others… and then, on top of that, you add technology…
"That's the idea." She nodded at him.
"Precisely that is why Gundams can only be piloted by Anaheim and our closest followers."
"Oh, and what would happen if… for example, a thief sneaks into one of those?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You think my paranoid old man didn't think of that? He spent centuries building AI, developing technology that only we can wield. It's tied to our blood and genes, and trust me, Gundams are not our trump cards, neither is the navy or the army.
These things are here to deal with minor inconveniences."
Aria slowly undid her crossed hands and looked at him.
"...What are you hinting at?"
"Let me show you why we will rule the Cosmos, Aria." He turned around and looked at the bridge crew of his flagship 'Rubicon'. Named after the infamous river which Caesar crossed and declared the beginning of his Dictatorship.
"How is the connection with World of Anaheim?"
"...One moment, Your Highness." The comms officers went through the settings.
"We can connect it via comm buoys; a temporary signal booster could do it."
"Huh, well, then do it. I will use Vulcan to destroy this little world's defensive installations." With that said, he started walking towards the bridge's doors.
"...Vulcan? What is that?" The Asari recalled reading the Imperial Codex. There is extensive explanation on the Imperial family in the codex; it's for the simple fact that other races wouldn't fuck up and do something that would cost them and their species thousands of lives.
The best example is Batarians attacking Julian Anaheim. It was the spark that caused the Batarians to lose their home Cluster.
"His Highness Yeager."
"...Is it another mobile suit?" Aria was curious, from what she had seen so far. These people love their mechanical suits…
"You could say that…" The officers looked strange; the Asari was not wrong or right in that classification.
"..."
The Asari didn't comment, intead she just watched the world. The Batarian fleet is assembling to protect the planet.
'It's exactly as I said. Only that I am the one punishing, instead of the Imperials.'
It was exactly as Aria said to her men before the fateful battle. Once she is gone, there will be mop-up battles to eliminate the stranglers.
Funny enough, it was her who proposed the mop-up…
~~~
Scipio stood at the edge of the hangar as he was looking at the curvature of the planet. He was somewhat impressed to find himself in a Tier 1 World like this.
Well, it was on a lower Tier 1, as it was tidally locked and the core was made from soft metals. It would require some serious work to make this world a decent pick for the Empire.
Regardless, it was impressive, but then again it was an Asari world before being conquered by the Batarians; his opinion of the four-eyes is not the highest, so it makes sense that they could have such a world; the only way they could have it is by stealing it.
As he was waiting for a signal, a light lit up on his HUD.
[Connected to World of Anaheim, Armoury is available.] Legion's voice ringed in Scipio's ears.
"Good! Then let's start the party!" With that said, he kicked off and jumped out from his Flagship Rubicon.
He burst forward to make as much space as possible.
Floating forward towards the planetary defensive fleet of a ragtag of ships and pirates.
"Send me Vulcan, Legion."
[ETA 30 seconds.]
~~~
"He is in the void…" Aria was confused; was he trying to die? Wait, he can't die… so what is he doing?
"Vulcan is too big for regular hangars; motherships could hold them, but they are beamed down from the Armoury because of that, these units can be deployed anywhere." The Flagship's Captain said with an excited tone. He hasn't seen Vulcan in the flesh. No one did. The only ones that saw Yeagers are people from Avalon and the residents of Anaheim World.
So they will be seeing the Titan in person for the first time as well.
Moments later, a beam of bright light slammed into the spot where Scipio was. It was extremely bright and massive; in fact, it was large enough to illuminate the section of space.
But then the light settled down; what the bridge saw was a huge mech that looked as if it was made from magma and gold. It was massive even from the distance they were at.
"...Goddess… what is that thing?" The Pirate Queen lost her composure for a second.
"That is a Yeager. The Imperial Family's trump card. When a Prince or Princess doesn't have access to a fleet or soldiers, then they can beam down a Yeager." The captain said, wide-eyed; he had been around for over a hundred years, serving the Prince, but this was the first time he had seen the mythical Yeager.
It was far more amazing than finding some sort of mythical alien lost world like Ilos. For the Navy and the Retinue, mobile suits like these… it was like a Divine Intervention.
Because of what these things can do, they are like gods that descended to crush their enemies.
'...That is a trump card? If that thing descended to a city, it could trample them to dust. What the hell are these people… how can they build them this size?'
One could say the Pirate Queen was humbled.
~~~
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