Chapter 13

Tyranus was on Xion again along with the Governor who was going about setting an embassy for the Turian Hierarchy.

The Turian Embassy was going to be a large multi-kilometre space station, which would orbit Xion itself, which the Governor was going to build for them once the engineers gave him the required specifics and settle on a concrete blueprint.

It was not like they had not already created some rough blueprints of the space station, but after seeing just how much resources and technological expertise the Governor was willing to provide, the scientists and engineers scraped their original blueprint and began going about asking questions on what they could add and what they could not to create a final blueprint.

While it was totally possible to create a space station larger than the Citadel itself, due to the very nature of the secrecy of the relationship of the Hierarchy with the Grigori meant that it would just be a gross allocation of resources.

From what Tyranus could see the scientists were going for a pentagonal shape space station creating massive tunnels at the points for the space traffic which could not only refuel and repair ships but could also be used to create new ships too.

The outer hull of space station was going to be massively thick in nature with a powerful super-dense material which would be capable of shrugging both kinetic and energy base weaponry, while being further reinforced by multi-layered super-charged kinetic barriers.

As for its defensive weaponries, it was going to house several mass accelerators batteries on its sides, with each cannon being equal to a dreadnaught mass spinal cannon, along with several guardian-lasers and anti-aircraft weaponry, with some torpedo launchers as well.

It was also going to be designed in such a way that all corridors would lead to massive killzones and chokepoints to buy time to set up some more defensive positions, which would be like old styled forts making it a must for boarding parties to have siege weapons to crack them open, that is if they were able to reach them in the first place, due to the maze like corridors and the secret tunnels and vents one had to use to reach certain sections of the space station.

This setup gave the defenders immense amount of advantage in terms of sheer level of time they got to prepare their defensive positions which would even allow them to turn some of the more non-defensible corridors into a killing field with traps and other fortifications.

To top it all off it was going to have a full time manufacturing capability from a gun to ships with its massive shipyards and a full time military factory which could create tanks, mechs, artillery, aircrafts and other assorted military items, while having a contingent of small mining vessels to harvest the necessary materials.

For another layer of support it was going to have some parts of its sections solely dedicated to agriculture and food manufacturing capability which the Governor promised would be able to produce food for 5 million people at an average and 300 million if they pushed the facilities to their utmost limits.

All in all, the embassy was almost self-sustaining in nature and could take on entire fleet by itself. On top of that it would even be able to support multiple armies and fleets in entire sectors of war.

'And to think that this embassy would be built with only the current technology available to the Hierarchy.' Tyranus thought, a bit dumbfounded by the fact at the sheer level of military engineering marvel that the embassy represented.

Looking at the Governor Tyranus saw that he was looking at the designs with a bored expression though the gleam in his eyes told him that the Governor wanted to tinker with the designs himself and add some of his own technology into the mix but was refraining himself from doing so.

"Ne, Tyranus how long are the scientists going to tinker with the blueprints? The more I look at the designs the more it seems that they want to build a military outpost and not an embassy." The Governor asked him with a whine, though there was a hint of curiosity in his voice too.

"To be honest I have no idea too." Tyranus admitted, seeing how the scientist seemed to be dragging out the process of designing the embassy. "I am certain that half of the blueprints are going to be sent back to the Hierarchy, while the other half blueprints are merely the starting concepts for the other blueprints."

"As for the sheer level of armour and weaponry on board the embassy and its overall capabilities, well," Tyranus shrugged, "you can't blame the Hierarchy for trying to create an embassy that could also act as a fortress in case things turn sour between our races. The embassy with such defensive capabilities would at least be able to alert the Hierarchy and evacuate some of its personnel before getting destroyed."

Honestly even with the ridiculously thick armour and the insane amount of firepower the Embassy boasted, it was the fact that it was the pinnacle of Turian technological marvel that was its greatest strength and shortcoming.

Tyranus was sure that just one of the Governor's Frigates would be able to make short work of it, while if no amount of level of inner defensive fortifications would be enough to stop a true boarding action initiated by the Governor's ground forces, who would easily blast through all layers of the fortifications in mere hours.

After all having the ability to teleport and create portals capable of transporting a large number of troops at any given time would be enough to bypass most of the station defences, due to the lack of the required technology needed to shut down such abilities, which while the Governor had it with him. Tyranus doubted he would be willing to share them with the Hierarchy.

"Well anyways, I'll let your scientist have free reign with the designs for now, but I am only willing to do so for another day or so. I have other matters that I want to discuss with your leaders and their representatives and I am nearing the end of my patient." The Governor said and Tyranus could see that the Governor was a bit annoyed with the scientists and engineers. "It's just going to be an embassy not a strategy-class super-weapon."

While the Governor was a bit unreasonable with his request as Tyranus knew that projects of such a magnitude took years to prepare with several months being spent on just the blueprints of the prototype much less finalise the designs of the real thing. Not to mention the entire planning of the logistics involved in it which would take several more months and the transportation of the needed materials and the entire building process taking months on ends to fully complete.

All in all, this was a project that was sure to take at least two years at the least up to five to ten years at the most conservative estimate.

Though with the Governor's help and the input of his own experts, the overall time of the project was at the most estimated to be five days, with almost 75% of that time was simply going to be spent on the blueprints of the embassy. The entire building process was going to take a mere hour with the remaining time being spent on checking the systems and decorating the station's interiors.

And today was the eight day of the project. So yes Tyranus could also understand why the Governor was more than a bit annoyed.

"So what is this urgent news that you want to talk about?" Tyranus asked trying to change the topic before the Governor decided that he was going to have a 'Talk' with the scientist and engineers.

"Hmm, oh that!" the Governor exclaimed, "It is something to do with your race's potential to wield the spiritual arts. I must say you Turians really do have a very high affinity with spirits."

It was due to the sheer casual manner with which the Governor had said those words that Tyranus almost did not get the implications of it at first, which left him gaping at the fact.

"You…you mean to say…that we Turians can use magic?!" Tyranus shouted, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

"Not magic, spiritual arts Tyranus." The Governor rebuked him, "There is a distinct difference between the two and you would offend master magicians and spiritualist alike if you term it as such. Though even I also think that sometimes there is little to no difference between the two sometimes."

"Anyways due to one of my many abilities I was able to see that your race had quite the hidden potential for the spiritual arts and each and every Turian that I have met so far seemed to have a very high affinity for the spiritual arts." The Governor continued on ignoring his gaping expression and the surprised looks of the scientists and engineers.

"You guys have such a consistently high affinity that I felt that it would be a great loss to not nurture such potential. But I wanted to talk with your leaders about it first and arrange something more concrete that would benefit everyone involved, and I really want to get started with the talks too as it would really help me know more about your people and allow the Grigori to better help the Hierarchy in the long run." The governor explained.

Tyranus was stunned at what the Governor was saying and the implications of his words were more than enough to send him reeling in fear and excitement. The Governor for all intent and purpose was saying that the Grigori would be sponsoring the Heirarchy and helping them with their problems which for all intents and purpose, was all but declaring that the Hierarchy was going to become a client race of the Grigori.

"Don't be too exited Tyranus and don't fear much for the Hierarchy and your race as a whole. I am not too interested in making them a client race of the Grigori and I am going to keep it that way." The Governor said as if reading his mind, which he could damn well be doing. "But…"

"But?"

"But…I am not averse to forming a working alliance with the Hierarchy," The Governor said and Tyranus could not believe that what he heard.

"An alliance?!" he all but shouted. An alliance with the Grigori would prove to be an immense boost to the Hierarchy, in fact Tyranus dared to say that it would perhaps prove to be even better than their Alliance with the other Citadel races.

It was a simple a spirit blessed opportunity that he would be a fool to refuse.

Tyranus shook in excitement, almost looking like he was about to jump in glee right then and there, but the words that the Governor spoke next took the wind right out of his sails, freezing him in place.

"After all the Hierarchy are the only link that the Grigori has to the Citadel Council. So I find it reasonable to cultivate a good working relationship with the Hierarchy." The Governor said, sporting an innocent knowing smile on his face. "I do hope the reasons for my offer is clear now, Tyranus. I would be quite upset if you failed to mention this to your superiors."

Tyranus simply nodded in affirmative, understanding that from day one the Governor had not only ripped out the knowledge of their language from their minds but had probably taken more than simple basic knowledge too.

It was clear to him that under the pretence of friendliness and innocence the Governor was playing games that he could not understand with goals that were unknown to him as were his origins. Yet the Governor knew more than what they had imagined and even now could be gathering more and more information from them.

It was clear from day one that their minds were not safe from the reach of the Governor and his forces. So the question now was, just how far had the Governor infiltrated their minds and just how much did he know.

Were the tours simply just a way to show off the technological superiority of his forces or was it was subtle way of gathering intimate information? Shocking them with advanced technology while subtlety ripping out their most intimate secrets from their minds, how far did the mechanisation of the Governor went? Was the Governor accepting ambassadors simply because it gave him more access to the secrets of the Hierarchy or had he simply know about them all along and was simply playing a long, long game?

"You really have a great imagination, Tyranus." The Governor said, giving his usual innocent smile, which seemed far more sinister and scarier than the skeletal grin of a Swarmlord now. "But do try not to broadcast your thoughts too much, after all you are in the presence of a race of telepathic hiveminded race and you would not believe just how easy it is for us to pick up the thoughts of all those around us."

Yep, it was official. The Governor was far scarier than all the forces he commanded.

"Anyways, I'll let the scientists do their thing and I suggest that you inform your superiors of this meeting and my requests. I want to meet the as soon as possible, i really want to start teaching you about the ways of the spirits after all." The governor said and bid him goodbye.

Tyranus really was unsure how he was going to report this to his superiors as the relationship between the Hierarchy and the Grigori were irrevocably changed with the revelation.

'Or perhaps it was us who were not seeing just how the Grigori viewed the Hierarchy.' Even now he was really unsure just how did the Grigori saw the Hierarchy? Were it as pawns? Allies of convenience or something else entirely?

'Well, one thing I can tell for sure, things would never be dull with the Grigori.

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AN: Coming out from a long break for this fic and man, did this chapter simply write itself. I am not even sure where things went at the end but damn it, if it will not result in the Hierarchy becoming more paranoid than ever.

They know that the Grigori curbstomps them in open warfare but they have yet to realise the sheer amount of subtle manoeuvring that the Grigori is capable of and when I say subtle I mean getting a nat 20 on stealth each and every time, and a crit on each and every backstab they do while getting a stun lock on top of it too. so yes, subtlety to the max.

Also on the other side of things, the next chapter would go back to Halkeginia while the Turians figure out how to mass produce their 'Embassy'