Batarians are not the smartest bunch, well, they lean towards being cunning rather than smart.
As a race with multiple colonies, they have several sets of raiding fleets that want 'revenge' on what happened on Kher'Shan.
Instead of rushing to liberate the capital city from invaders, the slavers rushed towards Imperial-controlled space.
Looking to find their colonies and get the first slaves.
However, they soon realised several issues with this plan.
For one, there are no Mass Relays; FTL was fine for them. But the next issue was, where are the colonies?
"Is there no news on the black market?" The Batarian slaver commented as he and his boys were ready to raid.
In their eyes, it was simple, really; new colonies mean minimal protection. Who in their right mind would station an active fleet above a fresh colony? Food, fuel and all that stuff are costly, that is why they wanted to find a fresh colony and just raid before disappearing into the Terminus systems.
But the moment they began to explore Petra Nebula…
"What is that above the sun?" Instead of replying to the question, another Batarian pointed at the area above the sun.
There was some sort of tower above the sun. It was a random system with a bunch of Gas Giants, no proper rocky worlds. It was basically a solar system treated as a resource-harvesting system.
However, their curiousity swiftly ended when warships dropped right above them.
~~~
Aurelian Anaheim was the 6th Prince of the Empire. Son of Leila and Marcus Anaheim. He inherited his mother's logistic and tactical prowess. Because of that, he was the obvious choice to station him as one of the Admirals of Expeditionary Fleet.
He was guarding the south, one of the most rapidly expanding fronts.
"It was expected that they would come; slavers are selfish and greedy people, regardless of the world of their origin," Aurelian said with a smooth tone. He was annoying and boring in Scipio's opinion. But in truth, he was that 'super talented younger brother type', which pissed off Scipio, as he is annoyed with those smart types.
Not only that, but women flock to Aurelian just for being himself, as he inherited his mother's looks.
"Yes, my Prince." His second-in-command was a young lady named Eva, whom he stationed himself, something he had inherited from his father. If you are going to be on the bridge of the ship for a long time, then you might as well have something nice to look at.
And she was quite beautiful, short blonde hair, blue eyes, and nice proportions, but most importantly, she had a great mind and was an incredible assistant, another reason why Scipio disliked his younger brother.
"Send Damian's battleship and his escort to deal with them." Aurelian motioned towards the bugs that had just entered their borders.
"Calculate the trajectory and figure out their point of origin. They can't use their Mass relays here; FTL travel is far easier to figure out. Use the Batarian data we acquired as a reference." The Prince instructed in quick succession.
"It will be done, my Prince."
With that said, more slavers entered their territory; however, Aurelian had more than enough vessels to deal with these. Considering Elysium was a considerable distance away from whatever these guys were planning, he had a lot of breathing space to play cat and mouse with them.
One by one, Battleships with their escort left the South Front line to chase the slavers.
~~~
"W-Where did they come from!?" Batarian Slavers were speechless to see literal Dreadnoughts drop from FTL right above them!
"Evasive manoeuvres! Let's bail!" The slaver ships ignored the calls and tried to run, but then beams from Battleship turrets came and shredded through their kinetic barriers and hulls, making them blow up in a matter of moments.
One after another, the ships went down, slowly ending the threat of Batarian slavers.
Bit by bit, Aurelian got the idea of where these guys came from: Legion AI would hack their systems and fill up the nav points the Empire needed.
"It's the same cluster." The Prince stroked his chin as he looked at the map of the cluster and the points of origin he acquired just a moment ago.
"The Kite's Nest, it's the Batarian Home Cluster. What should we do? We know their centres of operations." The Prince's assistant, with a tablet in hand, markets everything while asking him.
"I can't do much; my job is to guard the south. The Empire will conquer the Kite's Nest once Petra Nebula is ours." In Aurelian's opinion, all of those worlds will be theirs anyway,
"But they could try the same thing again in the meantime…" The Second-in-Command frowned, as Eva was annoyed that they had to endure their attacks without them going after these slavers. After all, it will take years to reach Kite's Nest.
"I know."
"I can help you with that." At that moment, Leila's hologram manifested on the bridge.
"Mother."
"E-Empress!" The girl scrambled to bow while Aurelian slightly nodded at the arrival of his mother.
"What can I do for you?" The blonde Prince asked with a small smile.
"I am going to assist Kallen. Her silly outburst left her in a strange situation. Your father already came up with an idea for a great PR stunt, not just back in Core Worlds but with the Citadel Species." Leila began to speak about why she was here.
"Of course he did. That's my father we are talking about." The 6th Prince snorted; his father is well known for abusing situations to his advantage.
"Yes. Regardless, I am going to Kite's Nest, more specifically to Khar'Shan; there are at least three other solar systems that are important to Batarians.
Our military doctrine is simple: an eye for an eye. They entered our territory several times, in fact. That is why you can now counterattack, with the ships that went to pursue, your father allows it."
When Aurelian heard that, his smile deepened.
"This is good news." He then looked at his second in command. "Send the word to the ships. Tell them the great news."
"Yes, of course." Eva summoned a hologram and began to issue orders.
As this was happening, the Prince looked at his mother.
"Stay safe, mother."
The Empress smiled back. "You should say that to the Batarians. I am taking my whole retinue for this."
With that said, the blonde woman's hologram disappeared.
*Sigh*
"Our luck is quite shit if the first thing we meet is some four-eyed skinless freaks who behave like they are in the Iron Age." The Prince snorted as he looked at the map of this sector.
"My Prince. We have no idea how they evolved, for them it could be normal." His Assistant commented as she ended with commands and returned to his side.
"Doesn't matter, now they will need to deal with three Imperial Anaheim Retinues." Aurelian sighed as he recalled that his mother had one of the biggest Retinues in the Empire.
It's no joke to say that she has enough firepower to level an entire civilisation.
"Indeed. Empress Leila is something else, my Prince." Eva said with a bit of awe and respect, The Empresses are literal role models. There is one for basically all positions in the Empire.
And Leila is one of the top ones, as she is responsible for the logistics of the empire that is growing by the day.
"You don't know half of it." Aurelian slightly smiled; his smile was strange. One thing is for sure: his mother might be a role model for many girls in the Empire, but at home?
When she has one of those jealousy moments and does unreasonable stuff, it's a complete 180-degree change, which leaves Aurelian, who is driven by logic and tactical prowess, confused as hell… and concerned.
It's one of the reasons why he keeps away from women, even when he is more than 150 years old; they are strange beings.
~~~~~~Khar'Shan, Harsa System, Kite's Nest~~~~~~
Situated north of Kite's Nest is the system of Harsa, a solar system with five planets. The capital of Batarians is the third world from the sun.
Over a day has passed since the invasion, and the situation in the Batarian world is strange. It has been close to a thousand years since Batarians last saw any conflict on their homeworld.
More than a hundred generations ago. Because of the deep caste system, a lot of Batarians are basically useless when it comes to conflicts. So a lot of confusion appeared when the capital and the ruling class simply disappeared in a day.
That leads cities to operate independently. But because it's Batarians and their second nature was greed, power grabs began.
"I am confused as hell. What is going on?" Kallen, who was back on her battleship, was looking at a map of the world. She could see riots and infighting in other cities.
"Without a ruling class, the warrior class and nobles are bickering among themselves?" Her second in command, Takashirou Toudou, replied, more like questioned himself, as this is how he saw the whole thing.
The red-haired Empress massaged her temples when she heard that.
"So instead of uniting against us, they are fighting for scraps? What is wrong with these people!?" She exclaimed in annoyance.
"Empress, we can assume that for them it's not that important? I mean… they could believe that they can simply return to their homeworld afterwards. After all, they most likely already realised that we don't have the numbers to keep their world."
Kallen stopped and pondered for a second.
"You are right. That could be the case, well, let's give them a scare or two. I want one of my battleships to pass through these cities, let them realise what they are fighting." The red-haired woman grinned for a second.
"Won't such a demonstration unite them?" Takashirou frowned; he was not sure that it was a great idea.
"Or break them even more. Regardless, send the word I want them frightened!"
"As you wish, My Empress."
~~~
Moments later, one of the kilometre-and-a-half-long warships began atmospheric entry right above the capital.
People in the streets stared in horror, having never seen anything like it before! It is well known that to do something like this, very powerful eezo cores are needed to enable massive ships to enter the atmosphere.
Especially of THAT size.
Sure enough, the warship cast a massive shadow over the capital as it began to fly towards the next city slowly.
"They are going to kill us all!" One of the Batarian snapped, causing a chain reaction, as a stampede began.
'Damn it! They have lost it.' Marine by the name David Anderson grimaced as he looked around for any sort of weapon or soldier with the assistance of his power armour.
The marines and regulars swiftly realised that because of the caste system, these people practise majority of the are practically useless. But in a stampede…
"Anderson, we need to protect the regs! These people will crush them!"
His captain snapped the marine out, and moments later, the marines flew back to the temporary control posts where the regulars are stationed.
"Hold these lines until these morons snap out. Unbelievable. Haven't they seen ships in the atmosphere before?"
The Marines and soldiers were baffled by their behaviour. In a sense, this was a cultural shock for both species.
"What should we do? Should we switch to electric bullets? We could knock them out." One of the soldiers asked.
"Wait for orders, soldier." The marine replied as the squad of four spread out to protect the four entry points of the temporary post in the middle of a street.
However, the issue with this is the skyscrapers. They could be easy pickings for snipers and such, but once again, the Batarian caste system.
The soldiers and rulers are dead; what is left is basically just a useless mob.
And so the army and the marines waited out, the civilians ended up running into buildings, houses, and apartments, leaving the streets full of corpses of people who were stamped to their deaths.
"These Batarians… they are crazy…" One of the soldiers commented as he saw piles of bodies on the streets.
Not just that, but their flying cars smashed into buildings, or simply got left behind, or people rolled them over; it was pure chaos.
"My Lord, what should we do with the bodies?" One of them eventually commented on the elephant in the room.
"I am asking the Command." The Marine Squad Leader replied.
"They are sending the legion in."
Sure enough, more pods began to land in the city. This time, it was the mechanised support, the Legion bots.
~~~
"This ridiculous…" Kallen was speechless at the sight.
"Still struggling with commanding duties?" Leila's voice reached the fellow Empress as the Empress's armada left jump space and arrived before them.
Twelve battleships, thirty carriers, forty corvettes and sixty transporters, the entire retinue of the Logistics Empress.
"Great… It's you." The red-haired Empress complained as she looked at the new arrival.
"Good, I am here to clean up your mess." The blonde Empress declared, at that moment, the 1st Prince appeared next to Leila's hologram.
"...Mother, fancy meeting you in this part of the Galaxy."
Instead of saying anything, she just stared at him.
"...What?"
"I read the message. Seriously?"
"What? It was a good message!" Trajan defended his message to Scipio.
"You two can solve it later; we need to fix this damn planet!" Kallen puffed.
"Fine. I am sending the troops and mobile suits down."
With that said, carriers and transporters began to descend into the planet below.
It was quite a sight, even for the Anaheim family, who rarely have this many warships enter a planet.
For Batarians, it was ten times worse as their opinion swiftly changed. At first, in their greedy minds, they thought it was a raid. Merely 24 thousand troops for a world that has 12+ billion souls? Now it was different.
60 transporter ships were carrying over six hundred thousand soldiers… but that's not a fancy enough number, as Leila brought over thousand five hundred mobile suits.
It won't take long for the whole planet to get overrun.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, Exodus Cluster, newly named Utopia system~~~~~~
In a solar system with five planets, there was one green world, a true garden world. The most striking sight in this world is that it has no huge oceans; instead, lakes dot the whole world.
It was a truly unique sight. The Imperials swarmed to this world the moment they found it.
Marcus, on purpose, went east the moment he secured Arcturus Stream. Exodus Cluster is, by all means, the backyard of the Empire.
And it just turns out that this cluster has two true Garden Worlds. One of them is even more special, thus it was named Eden Prime.
A fancy world that was a literal Lake District on steroids.
But it was not just that, as the initial scans found ruins dotting the world.
A simple check later revealed Prothean ruins in several places on the planet.
And just like that. Anna's retinue joined Marcus's retinue to research the ruins, but then they checked the soil, and just like that, Claudia's retinue was the third one to join, as the soil was special!
Research vessels, colonisation efforts, and the sky was full of ships. Most importantly, there were two motherships in the sky.
It was Benning all over again.
"What a sight, it's hard to believe that it was over a hundred years since we colonised Benning. Now it has over a billion people living on it." Marcus commented as he looked at the Coloniser mothership in the distance from his Avalon. He recalled this moment well.
"I think this is worse; there are more research vessels that are coming in," Lacus replied as she was standing next to him.
"Shamna will be coming soon." Marcus chuckled as he said that.
"Who won't? We found Prothean ruins, and not just a simple observation post on Mars." The Empress sighed.
"Indeed…"
Marcus thought of something. This was a proper Prothean Colony…
Could he…
"...That prolonged silence. Did that naughty mind of yours think of something?" Lacus narrowed her eyes at him. Over 170 years together, the pinkette can read him like a book.
"Maybe. We will have years to play, I am thinking if that bunker we found holds the key to Protheans."
"Key in what way?" She furrowed her eyebrows.
"The initial scans show that the bunker is to hold the population in a cryostasis. While the power supply failed, the samples should be viable for harvesting." The Emperor explained, staring down at the planet below.
"...In other words, you want to bring them back?" Her eyes widened, he wants to bring back alien species!?
"I do. Not because I fancy them or anything. They are species of hunters that developed on a hostile world and became apex predators of their world, at least that is what the initial samples we got tell us."
"...You want an army."
"You already have your hybrids, is it not enough?" The pinkette asked; she is a bit concerned, as she has noticed her husband has been on edge recently, especially since the discovery of Eden Prime.
"Lacus, you should already have noticed the writing on the wall." Marcus all of a sudden said in a dead serious tone.
"A cryo stasis bunker? For what? Why? And why did it fail? It's clear that Protheans were waging war, but against what? I have some idea.
And the question is, will they come back? Hmm? Why do you think our core worlds have massive cannons?"
"I see, well, I suppose that answers that uneasy feeling I have from time to time." The Pinkette Empress frowned as she looked at the world below as well.
But then, their silence got interrupted.
"Father…Mother." A male voice made the pair turn around.
A black-haired man with blue eyes got their attention.
It was the 5th Prince, Hadrian Anaheim, the son of Lacus and Marcus. The child that the beauty worked hard to get!
"What is it, Hadrian?" The pinkette smiled while looking at him.
"The explorers have returned from the bunker; they say it's urgent." The Prince reported to two of them.
"Is that so? Well then, let them in."
The Emperor nodded; he was curious to hear what they got.
"Of course."
With that said, the Prince slightly bowed before leaving the observation deck. Well, it was not just an observation deck. The motherships are massive. They are literal cities that can move.
Over 60 kilometres in length and around 20 kilometres wide, it has factories, manufacturing facilities, dry docks, parks, lakes, and, of course, powerful recycling capabilities to process asteroids of all types. It was literally a small Kingdom on the move.
Marcus' Avalon, especially, is multipurpose as it's his Seat of Power.
His entire Retinue has lived in Avalon for several generations now. Many even call themselves Avalonians, as in 'Emperor's Chosen'.
Though Marcus rolls his eyes at them, he understands, as they spend their whole lives here serving him and his whims, so it's natural for them to develop such a mentality.
With that said, the doors on the other hall opened, and two middle-aged men dressed in exploration armours walked in.
Once they were close, they dropped to one knee.
"Your Majesty, we have returned, we have urgent news." The first one to speak was Alec Rider, one of his two best explorers.
"You found something in there?" Marcus motioned for them to stand up.
"Indeed. One of the pods is still functioning, and the Prothean inside of it is still alive." The other one, Jon Grissom, is another explorer. Both are the best at what they do.
The Emperor 'collected' these the moment he spotted their names in the register. After all, he loves talent.
"That's… incredible!" Lacus was speechless.
"Indeed. That is good news. We will recover that pod. What about the bunker?" Marcus was far more curious about the tech and the bunker itself. To him, Protheans is something that he can remake; what he is more interested in is ancient technology to add to his collection.
Jon summoned a hologram, and Alec began to explain.
"From what we understood, it was some sort of survival deep sleep bunker. The outer areas have caved in, but there are buried pods that we can excavate.
However, the way it's segmented, we can assume that it's either a caste system like the Batarians have, like labour workers, warriors and so on. The last pod that is still alive should be their leader." As Alec explained, Jon highlighted the areas.
"Indeed. What we know about these Protheans is that they are an Empire, just like ours. Then we can assume that the leader is either a noble or a great warrior." Marcus stroked his chin, pleased with how much his explorers had uncovered; they were right.
"Great job, you two, take a day or two off. There is more stuff to uncover in this world. I can assume the Bunker is ready for Anna's teams?"
"Yes, the inner areas are structurally stable; it's built to last," Alec replied.
"Good, then you two can go."
With that said, the pair left the throne/observation room.
"Unbelievable! We discovered a living Prothean!" The Empress was speechless about the discovery.
"Indeed. We can begin preparations for its revival." Marcus slightly smiled; his darling wife looked excited.
Though their giddy moment didn't last for long, as a familiar battleship entered the orbit and Legion notified him.
[Your Majesty, Peace Bringer entered the orbit. Empress Euphemia has arrived. She requests docking aboard Avalon.]
"I see, let her dock and we should go meet her." Marcus smiled a bit. He wants to hear how the diplomatic meeting with the Asari went.
"Indeed, I am curious how she did. This is, after all, the first diplomatic meeting between proper aliens and us." Lacus smiled back as the pair began to walk towards the doors.
Soon after, they were joined by two pinkettes, both dressed as maids. One of them was a carbon copy of Lacus, only that she had shorter hair.
This woman was, in fact, Lacus, the same one that Empress Lacus claimed all those years ago. Now, more than 170 years later, this woman was identical in almost all physical ways, which is why there were some 'incidents' that led to the birth of the girl next to the maid.
This maid is the 5th Princess, and her name is Meer Anaheim. When Marcus heard that name, he was a bit speechless, having let the maid, Lacus, name her. After all, it's the very same name for the fake Lacus from Seed Destiny.
But the maid simply replied that she took that name because it means 'lake' just like hers.
Regardless, Marcus commented that his daughter was the princess, but… the maid Lacus was stubborn, and his daughter inherited not only stubbornness but his pride.
So it was pointless to persuade her; if she wants to be a maid, then it's her choice.
In fact, Marcus has several kids who are 'weird' in his opinion.
'Most likely it's the mothers.' He sagely nodded to himself. As he did so, his wife hugged his hand more tightly, making him realise that he was once more thinking something 'bad' about the women in his family.
"Let's go. Euphemia brought some news about the diplomatic mission." Empress Lacus said to him as she began to drag him towards the lift that would take them down to the city level.
"Sure." Midway, one of his sons, joined. Hadrian was another example of uniqueness, as he was especially polite and respectful toward him, which became especially evident when the Prince learned that Marcus was the one who made his mother.
"What will be our stance with the Citadel Council?" Lacus asked as she watched the lift rush down through a translucent tube; the city revealed itself before them. There are skyscrapers that come out from the top and bottom, giving a sense of a sci-fi city. After all, such a city is possible as the central area is hollowed out and gravity can flow how they want, so it's possible to build from both sides.
"Stance? Well, Euphemia forwarded some of the key details."
"Of course…" Lacus rolled her eyes. That Empress only forwarded small bits, as the pinkette wants to say the rest in person.
"Among them, they want open borders, and the possibility to immigrate into our world."
"...Ridiculous…" Hadrian commented from the side.
"Indeed. Core Worlds are meant for Imperials." Marcus nodded at his son's comment.
"But, you do want some of them… I mean… Scipio will flip." Empress Lacus recalled how eager the 2nd Prince was to get some alien girls.
"Of course. There will be immigration, but it will be limited and controlled. Don't forget our people were promised the very stars. They have to accept that some aliens should exist.
I want some as well." Marcus shrugged, he wants Turians, they are cool and good military assets, as well as Asari, they are good diplomats, and their art is something he found interesting.
"I see, so there will be limited. I suppose it makes sense if they can accept our rules and traditions." Lacus concluded.
"Indeed, as long as they accept, then it's possible, but I doubt many will want. Our rules are strict." The Emperor smiled as he mentally compared the Imperial doctrine and how soft but paperwork-heavy the Citadel is.
Half of the stuff they want to push won't work in the Empire. Especially the justice system, people can't wiggle in the Empire.
After all, just a few days ago, they had literal slavers in their space. While legally you can't have slaves, there are 'contracts', something like that won't work in the Empire, after all, they have robotic workers to do basic tasks.
Slavery is primitive and outdated.
"True, father, is it true that if you murder in Citadel Space, they will simply lock up the killer for twenty or so years, and that's it?" Hadrian asked his father, who was a bit confused about what he had read.
"If this is true… then a lot of Imperials with questionable… desires will leave our territories." The Prince realised midway what this would mean.
"Indeed, thanks for pointing that out. I will suppose I will tell this to the Council once I meet them." Marcus grimaced a bit. He doesn't like the fact that there will be Imperials who drag the Empire's name through the dirt.
'I need to contact Mei and Marrybell, they will need to watch the borders for small vessels. Those could be especially potent once trade starts between the Council and us.'
At the same time, he will be relieved, as crime is already low in the Empire, simply because of the justice system.
One can't completely remove it. He removed the need for crime, as people are not poor, but some people simply choose crime, the feeling of thrill, or are mentally unstable and hide it well.
Marcus has invested heavily in his social systems and education; regardless of what people do, they won't be poor, but they will have limited access to certain things.
But the higher you go in the Imperial ladder, the more access to technology you get. For example, a common Imperial won't have a spaceship.
Instead, they have access to enormous public transport systems that are constantly growing. There are linear trains throughout the core worlds that travel back and forth.
The Emperor could easily take a public train in his old Capital of Constantinople, and the same day… well, around 8 hours later, he could arrive in Benning, which is around 125 light-years away.
That's how efficient his empire is for a regular man; anyone could do it for measly 8 pounds. That's what people call a steal of a deal.
Of course, if you are a scientist, or a high-ranking soldier, or even a real noble who earned their position, then you could have yachts, private ships, and travel anywhere in Imperial space.
Now leaving Imperial space with Imperial tech? That's a different matter; that is why there are hundreds of warships at the borders in all four directions.
"It's my pleasure, Father. It would seem we have arrived at the city level." As Hadrian said, the lift doors opened, and the group walked out.
Their next destination is the docking area.
~~~
As Peace Bringer docked, the trio of Pinkettes disembarked as they left the Empress Flagship; Marcus and his group greeted them.
The Empress immediately went to hug her husband to 'recharge'.
At the same time, the siblings greeted each other.
"Meer, you are still wearing a maid uniform?" Calypso rolled her eyes. She hasn't seen her in months, but the 5th princess is weird.
Instead of saying anything, the Princess rolled her eyes; it was nearly identical to their father's.
"You do realise that it's her choice." Daphne chipped in, making Calypso shrug. Well, it's her choice. Meer is much older than her, so she knows what she is doing.
'Hmm, wait… because she is a maid, she can stick around Father all the time!!!'
That realisation hit her like a hammer! Lacus is basically Marcus's constant companion, and, in turn, the maid variant and her daughter are with them. If she is to choose another field and pursue it, that would lead to leaving Avalon, as Avalon is very specific; the whole mothership's job is to assist the Emperor in his pursuits.
Same with Hadrian, Hadrian is like errant boy, well, a very powerful and dangerous errant boy.
'Damn them! No wonder mother is so pissed!' Calypso frowned as she felt like someone had gut-punched her.
"Yes… her choice." The 13th princess deadpanned after realising the scheme.
Eventually, they began to walk towards the monorail that would take them back to the city.
The Empress was extremely bubbly when she described speaking with aliens for the first time.
"Their skin is like deep blue! I wonder how it even works? How would something like that evolve! Space is full of wonders!" Euphemia retold her meeting and her interactions with them.
"Yes, it is fascinating. I want to see their homeworld, Thessia." Lacus nodded, same with Marcus, Asari were a space-faring civilisation, the longest of all the species.
"Yes! Indeed! We should have some sort of friendly relationship with them!" Euphemia's eyes sparkled, making the Emperor roll his eyes. He is well aware of what is going on; it's the initial fascination, once it wears off… well, he will see.
~~~
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