The Reaper War was a decades long conflict fought between the various civilizations of the Milky Way galaxy against the eponymous Reapers, biomechanical constructs that sought to harvest all of the spacefaring species utilizing the mass relay network at the time of their incursion. While the Grand Alliance ultimately triumphed over this seemingly implacable foe the cost in blood, wealth, and even dignity and honor, forever changed the face of the galaxy. Many of the old power structures that underpinned galactic society were rent asunder with one of the biggest casualties being the Citadel Council.

While it might be considered crass to put it in such terms, one of the greatest beneficiaries of the conflict was undoubtedly the Imperium Terranum, more commonly referred to as the Terran Empire. A relatively young polity compared to the likes of the Asari Republic, the Salarian Union, or the Turian Hierarchy, the Empire never embraced the necessity of surrendered sovereignty in exchange for greater integration with the galactic community. As such it never joined the Citadel Council and was in fact the largest major power of the unaligned polities. Ultimately however it was this very distance that spurred the galaxy to take steps that better prepared it for the conflict with the Reapers, even if unintentionally.

- Ashes of Empire: The Reaper War

Prologue: Semper Liber

"Status."

Even as he asked the question Vice Admiral Jon Grissom clasped his hands behind his back. The motion gave the impression of a contemplative, thoughtful flag officer, just the sort of image that his crew needed to help bolster their own morale and confidence. It was a part Grissom had played countless of times before, though few occasions rivaled the present.

"Readings nominal admiral," came the response. "The relay is active, but still no indications of transit."

That was curious, to say the least. When a relay spun up to receive an incoming transit there were telltale signs, signs that they had been seeing intermittently for the past couple of hours. Nothing had yet to come through however, not even a probe, and nerves were starting to fray even with the shifting of watches to give the officers and ratings time to rest.

"Admiral, you have been awake for over 14 hours. Perhaps you should surrender the watch and get some rest."

Grissom grimaced with good humor at the chiding. "Thank you Athena, but I think I can manage for a bit longer."

In truth Grissom really should take the advice, but an indelible something told the admiral he would be needed soon.

The alien incursion that had first destroyed out of hand a survey taskforce and then moved on to occupy Shanxi had been repulsed, but there was little concrete intel as to the extent of their enemy's forces. From the examination of captured equipment it was evident that their opponent's basic technological level was not that much different than the Empire's. That was good, that meant the Empire was not looking at a massive tactical disadvantage right off the bat, barring any surprises the other side might spring. Conversely there was no reason to believe that another power with an equivalent tech base would be in possession of territory lesser than the Empire itself. That could be very bad, since that would mean the enemy would also be able to marshal resources for a potentially long war. Despite being a military man, Grissom had no real desire to see the men and women under his command return home in body bags, if there was anything to return at all. If these aliens were at all amenable to a diplomatic resolution, then he would be happy to accept any that were reasonable. If they proved to be unreasonable however, he would see his oath to sovereign and empire fulfilled.

"Sir! Activity from relay is spiking!"

Grissom learned against his command console. "All ships confirm weapons hold. Do not open fire unless fired upon."

That might well be a fatal tactical error, the aliens had not exactly demonstrated a willingness to talk when contact was first made. Still Grissom suspected, and his superiors agreed, that the flickering of the relay was intended as a message of sorts. An advance notification that someone was coming in the hope that with said notification whatever was on the other side would not immediately attack when they emerged. Still, it was not as if they were taking such risks blindly. The two dreadnaughts of his division, Fuji and his own flagship Elbrus, were positioned to quickly zero in on anything that might emerge from the relay with their main gun. His screen of frigates and cruisers provided another layer of defense, and if need be offense, and the rest of Second Fleet was parked just far enough away to avoid getting caught in the immediate wake of a hostile transit but close enough to respond with emphatic force if Grissom's division found itself in trouble. And then there were the other fleets being marshaled at Arcturus.

There was no sound in space, but being sensory creatures humans appreciated having some auditory cues for things they see. As such when the flash of light erupted on the display so too did a distinctive thunk sound.

"Incoming transit!" an officer announced. "Lone ship, visual profile does not match any previously sighted."

Grissom's eyes narrowed. He had reviewed in detail the imagery taken by Second Fleet during the liberation of Shanxi. Those ships were possessed of a certain boxy aesthetic, straight lines mixed with a few angled struts and the like. This one however was of a more fluid style, its hull oval in shape with fins gracefully rising above and below. Grooves running along the hull shone, providing a slight glow to the purple sheen of the hull. Either the aliens possessed multiple design philosophies for their ships, or this was the product of an entirely different species than the ones that had assaulted Shanxi. That was either promising, or portended unpleasant developments indeed.

"Athena, what can you tell me?"

"Spectroscopic readings do not match that of the alien vessels previously encountered," the disembodied voice sounded, "nor that of the prothean ruins on Mars."

"So these people might well be another race entirely, whoever they are."

"Whomever," Athena corrected, "and yes, the statistical probability of that is climbing."

Grissom allowed himself a single dry chuckle before his face resumed its stoic composure.

"Admiral, the alien contact is broadcasting on an open channel."

"Put it up."

Gone was the purple tinted oval ship and in its place, was a bluish-skinned humanoid face. Bald, from the looks of it, though those tendril like things snaking back could count as some sort of hair analog. And distinctly feminine, assuming such aesthetics were even applicable to an alien race. The general softness of the expression, and if Grissom's eyes were not deceiving him, breasts. And back on Earth humans stood out as one of the few exceptions for having breasts as mammary glands. The alien smiled. Or at least Grissom hoped it was a smile. And when she spoke, it was with a melodic, soothing tone. Definitely feminine, at least from a human perspective. It was also complete and utter gibberish to human ears. When she finished speaking however Grissom reciprocated. While they might not yet understand each other, these aliens were at least trying to talk instead of coming in guns blazing.

"I am Vice Admiral Jon Grissom, commanding officer of the 1st Division, Second Fleet, Imperial Terran Navy. You have entered imperial space. If you come in peace, we are willing to extend the hand of friendship. If you bring with you war, know that our people have a long history in its practice."

The alien remained attentive as Grissom spoke but after he was done glanced at something out of view.

"Admiral, we're getting another transmission, this one seems to be raw data. In fact, it looks like a numerical sequence. Prime numbers."

It looked like they were getting somewhere. Trying to find a common point of reference to build upon.

"Respond in kind, attach linguistic payload with it."

"Yes sir."

That should hopefully getting the ball running. If they were patient, the barriers that kept them from understanding each other would fall quickly. Once it did, they could find out what sort of future lay in wait for the Empire, and for mankind as a whole.

"Let me get this straight," Grissom said as he faced the alien, the asari, across one of Elbrus' conference tables. "These, turians, in order to enforce an edict that we've never heard of, offered no warning, made no attempts at contact, and furthermore ignored our own attempts at communication, and just opened fire upon coming across our reconnaissance flotilla?"

Grissom was not quite yelling. He was however standing instead of being seated, which might have given off an aggressive impression to his guest. That was not entirely unintentional. Similarly receiving the asari envoy aboard his flagship was another calculated risk, if only because it would allow the alien to get a firsthand look at human technology. Limited as a cursory view might be, it was amazing just how much intelligence one could glean with the naked eye. Of course having the asari shuttle docked in Elbrus' hanger did allow the ship's crew to run discrete albeit extensive scans in the name of security. The envoy was also tactful enough not to bring up those scans, so long as the crew did not attempt too active methods.

"The Hierarchy has long been charged with enforcing Citadel regulations," the translation matrix began once the asari had time to listen to Grissom's statement and formulate a response for it to work on. "Regrettably in this case their habitual, thoroughness, saw them act precipitously."

"It is indeed regrettable," Grissom said with just an edge to his tone.

Whether the translation matrix, not yet capable of real time conversion, was able to convey that edge Grissom could not be sure. It was possible that humans and asari shared enough similarities that such verbal cues could be picked up naturally.

"I assure you, the Council is aware of the extenuating circumstances and the Hierarchy has already been issued a very stern admonition. The Hierarchy's leadership has agreed to suspend their mobilization and an apology and reparations are a possibility pending the conclusion of successful negotiations to, defuse this unfortunate turn of events."

Grissom allowed himself to visibly relax a bit. This was good. From the Empire's perspective they had been subjected to an unprovoked act of aggression. If the other side was prepared to admit its mistake, that would go some ways to soothing the anger and fear. The admiral nodded.

"The Empire has no desire for war, if the matter can be settled diplomatically we would welcome it."

"I am glad to hear this," the envoy said. "The Citadel is committed to peaceful coexistence of all the races of this galaxy, and while our initial contact has seen lives lost on both sides we would sincerely regret any permanent rupture in relations before they could even be established."

Grissom regarded the envoy curiously. "The, Citadel?"

"Indeed. As I mentioned earlier, I am an envoy for the Citadel Council, a multi-species alliance that seeks to promote peaceful collaboration amongst its members. We provide a central forum for the mediation of disputes, enforcement of commonly agreed laws and regulations, and in times of tribulation the first line of defense."

"And it was in enforcement of one of these, regulations, that prompted the turians to fire upon our ships?"

Grissom tried to keep his tone neutral, again in the off-chance that the asari could infer at least some of his body language.

"Regrettably so. The edict on not activating any dormant mass relays to which the destinations are not known is very strictly enforced in Citadel space. Past instances where explorers attempted such reckless expansion resulted in centuries of conflict. To avoid a repeat of such tragedies extremely stringent measures were instituted, including the one that resulted in the current regrettable misunderstanding."

There was a lot of subtext in those words, some that were more than a bit troubling. And odd. Based on the available intelligence it was evident that these, Citadel races did not possess technology drastically more advanced than humanity. Certainly there were areas of greater efficiency or a few tweaks that had yet to occur to human engineers, but fundamentally the distance would likely be surmounted in a few short decades. At the same time these races had obviously possessed interstellar travel for centuries at a minimum, assuming the envoy's remark about the conflict was literal. Did that indicate a certain level of stagnation on the galactic stage? Or something else?

That the historians and analysts could chew over later. There was a more pressing and immediate point that Grissom needed to deal with.

"The relay that our survey flotilla was examining," he began. "That, was considered part of Citadel space?"

The asari's complexion did not change, suggesting a masterful control on her part. Perhaps not surprising if, she, was a career diplomat. Nonetheless there was something in her eyes, something faintly familiar, that made clear this was a most delicate point.

"Relay 314 is not in territory claimed by any of the Citadel races," the envoy finally responded. "It does however border turian space, hence why their patrols often frequent the area."

Grissom let a silence hang for several seconds. "Am I to understand then, that this, Citadel, considers its laws applicable even outside of its official borders?"

"That would be somewhat inaccurate," the envoy said. "As I stated previously, this region of space, was, officially unclaimed, but does border turian space. As a consequence the turians feel some responsibility in providing at least a semblance of law enforcement, in this case enforcement of Citadel laws, even if they have not formally expanded into the region. It is highly unfortunate that in this instance their sense of responsibility resulted in a less than peaceable first contact."

That was a very roundabout way of answering, and Grissom noted that the envoy did not outright confirm or deny whether the Citadel considered its laws applicable outside its formal borders. That was interesting by itself, and potentially problematic.

"Am I to presume then that the Citadel would, require, the Empire to adhere to these same laws in exchange for diplomatic relations?"

"That is one of the conditions for admittance into the Citadel," the envoy said, likely trying to sound nonchalant about this. "There are numerous benefits to Citadel membership however, ranging from commerce to security. Ultimately the Citadel Council exists to promote the advancement and prosperity of all its members, and it is only fair that those members contribute back via various means."

Grissom's posture was back to being pensive and a little bit tense.

"If the Empire, does not demonstrate any indication to want to, participate, in this Citadel Council," he said, "am I to infer then that this Council will decline to mediate between us and the turians?"

"Not, as such," the envoy said with that same deliberate care. "However, as the turians are formal members of the Citadel, the Council is obliged to act on their behalf in certain matters of external diplomacy. If the Empire elects to remain, aloof, of the Council's invitation, then the mediation would inevitably see the Council be granted a, deeper, understanding of the turian perspective without a, terran, one to act as a counterbalance."

By this point Grissom had no need to wait for the asari's translation matrix to repeat in English what the envoy was saying, Athena had fully deciphered the linguistic patterns of the alien language and so he was hearing the asari's words in real time. He had yet to tip his hand on that however, instead timing his reactions to the matrix's speech. Nonetheless the time gained allowed him to consider his options, and select from amongst them.

Straightening away from the table, Grissom maneuvered towards the viewport. The asari looked at him with what appeared to be a quizzical expression.

"Apologies envoy, but I wanted to make sure that you understand there is no cause for concern for what is about to happen next."

"Oh?"

Grissom turned to look out the viewport and tilted his head, inviting the envoy to join him. Fortunately that gesture was understood and the asari stepped over next to him.

"Am I to witness something, admiral?"

Grissom did not bother to make an immediate response. The reason why became clear as flashes of light flickered against the starry backdrop of space. From this distance they were mere specks, but it was evident that there were a great many of those specks.

"You said that the, Hierarchy has agreed to suspend mobilization," Grissom said. "That is laudable and the Empire is fully prepared to reciprocate. At the same time our own mobilization was well in advance and these ships were already in transit. I did not want their arrival to unduly alarm you."

"I, see," the envoy said, and if Grissom was not mistaken her tone made clear she understood exactly what Grissom was insinuating. "It is perhaps, fortunate, then, that I was able to arrive before further misunderstandings could occur. That does seem to be a rather impressive number of ships."

"Our Third Fleet," Grissom said. "Athena, if you would be so kind as to magnify?"

"Of course admiral."

The viewport window lit up slightly as a display was overlaid with it and the imagery enhanced to allow a clearer view of the ships so far away. Pride of place was given to the six capital ships that made up Third Fleet's First Squadron, a quartet of dreadnaughts with a pair of carriers right behind. The envoy's expression quivered. It was evident that she understood just what those vessels were, and what it meant for humanity to have so many.

"This is your, Third Fleet," the envoy said.

It was a prompt, to try to get Grissom to reveal just how many such fleets the Empire possessed. The admiral was not about to do that, but he was prepared to drop a few more breadcrumbs.

"Indeed. All of our fleets are composed of a core of capital ships, Second Fleet included."

Thus insinuating to the asari that humanity possessed at least eighteen capital ships while still not revealing the actual total.

The envoy whispered a word, one that the translator was not able to process and which the asari's own matrix offered none of its own. There was a notable A sound to the annunciation though. Grissom glanced over at her.

"Is there a problem, envoy?"

The asari took a visible breath. "I sincerely hope not, admiral. For the sake of all our peoples."

End of Prologue

I don't know when I'll get back to this story. I needed to get this prologue out of my head so that I could go back and work on my other stories. I actually started playing Andromeda recently and enjoyed it enough that the itch to get this out got really bad. For all its flaws it's not a bad game and there are a couple of things that I'll obviously borrow from it.

The basic premise of this story basically has the Systems Alliance replaced by a Terran Empire, a constitutional monarchy that actually leads a united Earth and its colonies. I'm sure I'm not the first to write such a story, and I'm not even going to claim mine will be one of the better ones. ME seems to attract a class of writers that pay more attention to things like detail and spelling than some of the other fandoms I've dabbled in, though that may just be due to the higher numbers in general of writers participating. Still, I'm taking a shot. (That being said I haven't actually read any ME fanfics, so even if you find similarities and bring them up, I'm not likely to know what you are referencing). Ultimately what is going to distinguish me from other writers is how well I can portray the nuances of my scenes, not which scenes I actually elect to use. I'm sure there have been enough writers in the ME fandom that close to every variation has been tread so I am certainly not going to make any claim to originality (though I somehow managed to come up with an original Peggy Sue Evangelion fic about two years back, so who knows).

That being said, the overall conclusion to this story is already spoiled in the opening snippet. But I'd like to think that it's not the ending that makes the journey worthwhile, but the journey itself. Hopefully I am more convincing in my attempt at that than a certain other conclusion. We'll see.

More of the background will be revealed as we go on, in both the opening snippets, in the story itself, and of course in my author notes. For now though I'll mention a few basic points. This story is intended to follow in general the plot of ME1 and Shepherd's story, but I'm obviously not going to completely mimic things. There are also tweaks to technology, timing, and a few background events. Nothing overtly drastic per se, but enough so that the geopolitical dynamics are different beyond just the replacement of the Alliance with the Empire. Some notable changes are already evident in the prologue, specifically Grissom's rank/position and the presence of Athena. I'm sure most of you can infer at least some of the kerfuffle that will result in.

As another note, while I may borrow concepts and ideas and the like from other series, this story is emphatically NOT a crossover. I will fill gaps with things that will sound distinctly familiar, but these things are not intended to suggest any sort of shared universe with their inspirations.

And no, I know I did not provide any details on which Shephard I'll be using in this story. That is also intentional.