A Just Measure 2 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Mace Shepherd

A Just Measure

Chapter 2

-VB-

General Charles William

Shanxi

AR 2111.11.18

The battle lasted a single day, and to his surprise, the aliens hadn’t been … harsh.

Sure, they were still invaders, but they didn’t behave horribly. 

He knew pirates who’d done worse. 

It made this easier. 

Taking care of the prisoners, that was. That and interrogation. 

“Are the translators working yet?” he asked the lead scientist and linguist currently in his office. His real office, not the digital office he used to talk to soldiers on the base or politicians. 

After beating them on the ground two days ago, which was also when the reinforcement from nearby systems came in droves to scare the aliens out of the Shanxi System, everyone’s been working pretty hard. 

Laborers helped set up the prison camp. 

Mechanics performed repairs on the city. 

Military engineers pulled part alien tech.

Soldiers kept watch over the prisoners and helped the mechanics and engineers pull the alien tech apart. 

Civilians helped remove rubbles.

Everyone was busy.

The tiny humans looked up at him.

“Yes, general. We have the initial version of it that we believe can be used for translation,” the linguist replied. “Unfortunately, it seems that we are missing a lot of context for their languages, so it won’t be accurate, merely understandable.”

Charles hummed. “That is good enough for me and my soldiers. If you can, then keep improving it. Otherwise, you can wash your hands of the project. But do hand over some copies to my soldiers, please. We are trying to get information out of the aliens because the top brass wants information, but that’s kind of hard when we can’t even talk to them.”

“Understood. Do you know how the software teams are doing?”

He snorted. “Worse off than you lot. At the very least, you guys are all doing well enough to produce something. The software guys? They just found out that the aliens run their software and hardware on nearly incompatible and unknown causes. Who would have thought, right?”

They chuckled before they left the room.

With a sigh, he pulled out a den-den mushi, the snail that let him communicate across vast distances. There were better machines out there for communication, of course, but this one was a special one.

Not only was it (somehow) capable of FTL communication, it was also linked directly to high command back at the home world. 

The only problem for Charles was the fact that despite literal thousands of years that these things have been around, none of them ever got big enough for a giant to use it comfortably, never mind those with ancient giant lineage like himself. So he did the next best thing. 

Pressing a button on his four story high desk, he booted up a robot to make the call for him. 

The robot, a spindly humanoid thing, pushed itself out of its casket, walked over to where the den den mushi was and picked it up to make the call. Once it did, the robot carried it over to a stereo system where it would be safe from the loud volumes the system would be making so that it would be easier for him to hear. 

“General Williams,” the speaker rang out with the voice of the President of the Blue Planet Confederacy, Madam Strawberry Nixon.

Her alluring voice was the same as ever. It was still unbelievable to Charles that the popular seahorse mermaid idol ended up becoming the president of the BPC. But then again, better her than anyone else that had been running for the presidency at the time. He could still imagine how she looked when he first met her for some of his proposals. Gods, she was … beautiful. He didn’t need to be a fishmen or mermaid to appreciate that kind of beauty.

“I’m just calling to report to you that my boys and girls managed to get their hands on a rudimentary translator. Interrogation will begin now, but I don’t expect to get anything except the most basic information for some time.”

“I see,” she hummed. “And their computers?”

“Runs on a completely different programming language on top of a different coding philosophy, ma’am. If getting a proper translation is hard, then getting access to their computers without their cooperation would be even harder especially since we have no basis for it and no one that can help us.”

“I see. Understood. Try to get it when you can. If you can’t, then focus on the regular methods of information acquisition.”

“Yes, madam president.”

“Good. Now, tell me how you feel about our current situation.”

“Yes, ma’am. As I’ve reported before, the alien’s ground forces are no match for ours if we do the proper thing and integrate all skill levels of our force evenly across each battle group.”

“Like you have been advocating.”

“Yes, madam. And we now have proof of it.”

“Hmm, continue.”

“While our ground force can and will overcome anything they throw at us, the same cannot be said of our space force.”

“The navy.”

“Yes, madam. The enemy’s naval assets are, frankly speaking, far more advanced than ours in specific fields: kinetic barriers, armor, and design. Their spinal cannons, in particular, can take down our energy barriers that can withstand hours of concentrated laser fire. On the other hand, they cannot withstand laser barrage for long. However, due to the short to medium range of our lasers compared to their long range kinetic spinal cannons and higher speed, we are at a critical disadvantage. We can try to close distance but they are faster than us. That is the report I have received from my people.”

“Do we have any other advantage?”

“We do. We have access to a civilian model electronic we found on the enemy’s transport ship. On it, we found a map of the enemy’s star network.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, madam. Our advantage is that we seem to possess significantly more stars and colonies than they do.”

The president sighed. “That is not an advantage, general.”

“No, madam, not on the surface.”

“On the surface?”

“It can be used during negotiations to make the enemy believe that we are far larger - and capable of bringing that might around - to fight them if need be. It is one thing to fight an equal, madam president, but it is something else entirely when they see that we are much larger than them.”

He heard her hum.

“How much larger is the confederacy compared to them?”

“It seems that they only use the mass effect relays.”

A pause.

“Ridiculous. That would mean -!” 

“They are limited to worlds on and close to the relay network, yes, ma’am.”

“And relay network systems only make up five percent of our total…” she muttered. “Are you suggesting that we may be as big as twenty times their size?!”

“Twenty times would be pushing it, madam. But ten times? Even five times? Very much so.”

And that held meaning. 

Even with only twenty percent of all colonies offering their support for the war effort, they would easily match these aliens in manpower and industrial might.

“You realize that this changes the calculus of war quite a bit.”

“I do.”

“Yet you did not send this information ahead.”

“It is a map we cannot read, madam. We see the stars and colonies but not what the words indicating those stars and colonies are. For all we know, the map doesn’t include any colony and space station that does not reach a certain threshold. I thought it prudent that I keep the information for now until I could verify it.”

“And with the new translator?”

“We will begin the verification.”

“... Good. I want you to focus on that, general.”

“Of course, madam president. Is there anything else I can answer?”

A pause. “No, not for now. But you’ve given me enough to think about. Good day and good luck, General Williams.” Another pause. “Oh, but before I go. The federal government is sending an ambassador just in case they reach out for peace.”

“... 

-VB-

Kringal (Admiral) Dakkan Edruius

HFS Might of Palavan 

NX-0254C System, the other side of Shanxi-Theta Relay

CC 2157.05.14

Ever since their retreat from the alien “Shanxi” system, he and his fleet continued to hold their position in the NX-0254C System while waiting for reinforcement and sending what knew information they obtained about the enemy aliens. 

Including from the wrecked salvage and survivors of the first clash right here in this system.

It was to his shock and dismay that he learned exactly what happened once they managed to build a translator. 

For one, he wasn’t up against a single race but a coalition of them… that apparently originated from a single world. 

Two, he wasn’t up against a race new to the scene but one that has been around for as long as some of the associate races of the Citadel Council. In fact, they have been in space for about as long as the Turians have been part of the Citadel Council if the interviews with the civilians were to be believed. 

Which led to the real problem at hand. 

Shooting a civilian ship was what led to the battles. 

Because said civilian ship made a stupid move, which most of the survivors of the first battle agreed was a stupid move. 

In fact, more than a few were very furious with their own people for making such a stupid move and began apologizing, though they were very few in number. Most were still angry with them.

Which led to the second problem at hand. 

The coalition of these races weren’t divided along racial lines but along political lines. According to “Doctor Samuel Carter,” one of the alien survivors he and the rest of the Turian hierarchy managed to save via saving escape pods, the “Blue Planet Confederacy” was a legitimate confederate government where each planet and system was a member of the government and there were no racial representation in the federal government. Each planet acted like their own… nation-state, almost. The only things they gave up to the federal government was 

It sounded like how Turians were like before the Unification War. 

Which led to the third problem. 

Shanxi, the planet they attacked, wasn’t even a particularly well defended world; it was considered a “rimworld,” a barely accepted member of the confederation which just got out of the initial colonization period. 

There was a beep on the door.

“Come in.”

An officer walked in. “Kringal (Admiral), we’ve detected mass relay activation from the Beta relay. The following FTL signature matches known asari ship signatures.”

Dakkan sighed. 

Good. 

The asari diplomat was here to unfuck the situation at hand. 

“Is she in range for comms?” 

“Yes, kringal.”

“Good. I’ll be up at the bridge soon.”

Hopefully, the intervention of a third party will keep the conflict from boiling over into a war. 

---

“I see,” Matriarch Zolanna said out loud even as she sighed internally. 

She had always advocated for asari representatives or liaisons being aboard any Council patrols near or in systems with unopened mass relays because she saw border skirmishes like this breaking out.

And now, she had one in her hands.

Did the Council send her because she was the one who had suggested it? 

Was it something like ‘Since you were so obviously into this kind of situation, solve it and maybe we can talk about it further’ kind of situation?

She wasn’t sure. 

But from what she heard, this was … a very volatile situation. 

And thankfully, she even had a map to go off of. 

She looked at the still image map of this “Blue Planet Confederacy.” It was a map recovered from a dying hard drive from within one of the destroyed civilian ships. And … and it was massive. She could tell from the map that these worlds were a tightly packed network of systems. These aliens used the Mass Relay Network, yes, but the pattern of colonization also suggested that they invested heavily into colonizing worlds off of it. 

She didn’t know why they would have done something so prohibitively expensive but it must have paid out dividends considering the fact that some of the “big” colonies were off the Mass Relay Network, clearly marked out by the circles and lines that connected far away systems. 

If the translation so far proved to be correct, then the Citadel Council may have just encountered a peer civilization at the very least. 

Zolanna let out a shuddering breath. This was … probably the worst case scenario for her and her people. 

It was one thing to attempt to enforce regulations and rules on a lesser civilization or even a barely spaceflight capable one. It was another thing to do so to a peer; wars have broken out for less as the turians themselves knew well thanks to their Unification War. 

Then her guideline for conduct was rather simple: she needed to be firm yet deferential to the BPC on matters regarding their sovereignty but give no promises and assurances when it came to future diplomacy.

“How long until we are aligned with the Hierarchy fleet?” she asked, not looking up from the map. 

“Just five minutes, ma’am.”

“Very well.”

-VB-

General Charles William

Shanxi

AR 2111.11.21

“General, Shanxi-Theta activated again! The Confederate fleet has raised the alarms to maximum!” 

Once again, he was in his office. There was no point going outside because it would actually limit his ability to coordinate the troops, even though he would rather be outside throwing rocks and fists. 

Within seconds of getting the alert, he made a call to the admiral in orbit with his den-den mushi. 

“Tell me what you see, admiral,” he said as soon as the call went through. 

“They brought more ships than before, that’s for sure,” the admiral, a young man, reported with a grunt. “I see … 4 capital-class ships, 33 cruisers, and 56 frigates.”

That was the quick summary, even Charles could tell. 

On their side, they had 10 capital-class ships (2 carriers and 2 battleships), 25 cruisers, and 40 frigates. The battle was not going to be in their favor. 

“... We’re getting signals on the radio and … a den-den mushi?” the admiral repeated something someone else on his ship said. “The aliens must have cracked our communication methods through salvage. That is blisteringly fast.”

“Or any of the survivors could have helped, if there were survivors on the other side.”

The admiral was silent. 

“Answer the call,” Charles insisted. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”

“... to all Blue Planet Confederacy elements within the system. I am Matriarch Eina Zolanna of the Asari Republics. I am here as a representative of the Citadel Council, which the Turian Hierarchy is a part of, to negotiate a truce on behalf of the Turian Hierarchy. What happened here and in the next door system is a terrible tragedy that should not have taken place. Please, I implore you to send an envoy if you wish or to allow me onto your world for negotiations. If you send an envoy, we shall respect them to the fullest extent of intergalactic laws.”

After that, the message repeated itself a few more times. 

Charles sat dumbfounded. “What the fuck?” he muttered out loud. 

“... Should we be glad that we won’t have to throw any more of our soldiers onto the frontline or pissed that these people think it’ll be this easy to get over the fact that they attacked us without provocation?” the admiral asked. 

Charles groaned. “Who’s the highest ranking person?”

“You.”

“No! I mean… the person who can negotiate this.”

“You.”

“... Seriously?” 

“I’m a rear admiral. You’re the four-star general. Ergo, you are the highest ranked individual, even if we are two separate branches of the military”

“I have to play politics?”

“You didn’t?” the admiral sounded surprised.

“No! That’s why I’m out here in the periphery!” 

“... Guess politics catches up to us all no matter where we are.”

Charles wanted to throw something. 

But then he realized that the first and last battle he participated in during this war had been the only chance for him to throw something big at something else that was big and get away with it. 

He groaned in dismay. 

“What about the governor?” he tried. 

“General, you know as much as I do that planetary governors or planetary rulers are not allowed to partake in foreign relations.”

Charles let his head drop onto the table, making the building-sized desk rumble and shake from the impact.

“Goddamnit.”

“Good luck, general.”

-VB-

Matriarch Eina Zolanna

Shanxi, “Shanxi” System

CC 2157.05.16

Zolanna stared up at the giant. 

Because there was no other way to describe what - who - she was looking at without using the word “giant” in everything. 

She had spotted the giant as her ship had entered the planet’s atmosphere, courtesy of the general in charge. As it had been explained to her, there was no trained diplomat or envoy on site and due to legalities, the local planetary politicians could not represent the “Blue Planet Confederacy.”

As her ship had flown down, she thought the giant had been a statue.

But then the “statue” turned its head to look at her ship and raised an eyebrow.

And now, she’d come out of her ship and stood at the feet of the giant with her very clearly disturbed bodyguards. 

The giant was supposedly their general and also the one who had led his soldiers to battle in the one and only ground battle of the border skirmish so far. For that, he had the Turians’ respect because they saw in him someone like themselves: an honorable leader who led from the front. 

But Zolanna could only think about how quickly she’ll die if the giant turned out to be deceptive and this was just his way of gaining a new pet. 

Because from where she stood? 

It wouldn’t be too farfetched to think that the giant might have a glass jar terrarium somewhere to drop her into and force her into becoming a pet. 

Hell, would her biotics even be enough for her to defend herself? 

“You are an asari?” the general spoke up. But instead of him speaking directly to her, she found herself talking to a mollusc of some kind that sat on top of a platform held up by a much smaller and asari-sized “human.” She knew that this one was human because that was the “baseline” of their species. And despite the size difference (a normal asari to a small skyscraper), both wore the same uniform. “You nothing like bird people. Turian?”

It was expected of a military leader to be … more blunt. 

“Yes,” she replied. “I am an asari. My name is Eina Zolanna, a matriarchal envoy of the Asari Republics. It is a pleasure to meet you, General William.”

“... I ponder it is a pleasantly thing to know that our words can halt this fight from digging on,” he replied through some sort of a translator software. “Well met.”

… Well, that sounded like this was going to go well! 

She hoped. 

Their people’s ability to create translation software so quickly, however, alarmed her. The reason why the asari were at the forefront of diplomacy was because of their ability to gain new languages through melding. It smoothed over first contacts and gave them a leverage over primitive species. The translation software negated that leverage, regardless of how rough the translation was.

At the same time, a race dedicated to linguistics generally tended to be cooperative to a decree. Turians, Salarians, and Asari were all like that. Batarians, however, weren’t, and it showed to this day that their race, governments, and nations continued to be passively hostile to the Citadel Council and its associate races. 

“... Is tranlator-person not work?” 

“Ah. Yes. But it is … very rough.”

“Hmm. Understood. But can agree to ceasefire still, no?” 

“Yes, we can,” she nodded. 

“Good. We return your people. You return people mine. Stop hostility. No one but envoys pass through relay. Your people and me people talk later more closely, but we stop fight now. Can agree?”

… It was the best case scenario as far as she was concerned. 

“Agreed,” she said. She moved to shake hands before stopping. “Does your people shake hands to seal deals?”

“Very much. But me big, you small. Handshake hard. My Regos small. Can shake her hand.”

And that’s how Eina was introduced to Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter. Brilliant green eyes, bob cut blonde hair, and a mind that could figure out the most difficult puzzles. 

And though she stood on the other side of the battlefield, Eina fell in love. She would laugh about it later, falling in love so quickly like a maiden, but it was not a love that she ever regretted. 

-VB-

President Strawberry Nixon

Arcturus Station

AR 2111.11.21

“Peace?” she asked, flabbergasted by what was being said from the other side of the den-den mushi. And it showed in how her seahorse mermaid tail flicked while she sat on her chair. If it hadn’t been for the anti-grav modules, she would be on the floor and not the chair, but the module made moving in the air almost like swimming in the ocean. 

“Yes, ma’am,” General Charles William replied from Shanxi, some eight thousand light years away on the frontier of the confederacy space. 

She had met him before, and knew him to be a no-nonsense man who fought more for his soldiers than anyone else. He didn’t dabble in politics, which was why he lost out on more lucrative posts closer to the Core and ended up in the periphery.

He was not someone who she would personally ally with, but the fame of being the general who defended a member planet against an honest-to-gods alien invasion would be useful in the short term. 

Especially once the public learned about how he negotiated a ceasefire so quickly as well without giving up anything… though detractors and haters will criticize him for not getting anything out of the deal. 

Those fools didn’t care that the general had no legal right or means to do that; that job and right belonged solely to the federal government. 

“How soon can we get a diplomat out there?” she asked as she looked around the table. 

“The closest thing we have to a diplomat would be any number of interstellar negotiators we deploy to settle planet-to-planet issues,” the Minister of Internal Relations, Chosui Montegomery (a white skinned human), replied from his seat three seats down from her left. 

She looked around. “And you think,” she asked without looking at him. “That a mere interplanetary negotiator will fulfill the needs of the confederation right now?” 

He opened his mouth but someone elbowed him and he shut up.

“Right now, the federal government has been given the chance to prove to the wider confederation that they were right to have joined the confederation. We’ve done that partially so far in how quickly our fleet responded to the invasion. Now, we must do so on the diplomatic battlefield. And you suggest instead that we should use a mere negotiator instead of a trained diplomat?” 

“... My apologies, ma’am.”

She took a deep breath in and let it out. “I want this to be perfect,” she demanded coldly. “If there is a war, then it will be because we are the righteous defenders. If there is peace, then it is because we are the generous and magnanimous defenders. And nobody is going to interfere in this, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Since I don’t trust anyone else to lead this negotiation, I will be sending my protege. She will be the one to head the diplomatic party.” 

Eyes widened around the room.

She “stood” up from her chair, prompting everyone else to do the same. 

“Dismissed.”

Everyone in the room left. 

“Madam president…”

It was General William.

“Yes?” she answered. 

“Is it wise?” 

She glanced at the den-den mushi.

“Anita Goyle is my protege. More than that, she has the achievements to back up her assignment. Or would you like to dispute how she was able to keep the Harkon Trade Union and the Seven Star Coalition from going to war?” 

“That is not what I am speaking of and you know it. Why everyone else looked uneasy.”

She stared at the mushi and then snorted. “You truly do not have a lick of political finesse in your bones, do you, general?”

“My job and purpose is to keep people trained, alive, and protecting others. As long as it doesn’t interfere with that, then I do not mind. But sending someone of her stature…”

“Are you a racist, general?”

“Racist?” he barked out a laugh after. “No. If I was a racist, then I would not be able to see just how useful everyone is, regardless of their appearance. No, I am a pragmatist, and though I may not be a politician, I am keenly aware of what first impressions are like. The people who she will talk to are the ones I fought and talked with today. They will be like you, madam president, and all they will see is her.”

“... I will take your recommendation under advisement, and yet, this does not change my decision.”

“Very well, madam president. Good luck.”

And then the connection severed. 

The mushi quieted down, leaving Strawberry alone in her office. 

Her longer fingers ra-ta-tapped on the plasteel table in the presidential office. 

She didn’t like it. Didn’t like how everyone in the room had questioned her decision. 

She will simply have to make it clear to her protege that failure was not an option, not when they were still questioning her. 

Instead of using the den-den mushi, her fingers rose up and drifted over to one of the tablets nearby. With a few flicks of her fingers, a call rang out. 

And picked up almost immediately. 

“Teacher?”

“Anita. I want you in my office. I have an assignment for you.”

-VB-

General Charles William

Shanxi

AR 2111.11.27

It took almost a full week for the designated ambassador to arrive.

This showed the lengths the president was willing to go to.

‘First off, the speed at which the federal government responded to the situation itself was notable. By doing this, the president told the confederation that this was a matter of dire consequence. Regardless of the result of the negotiations, the president would be seen as someone who gave a situation the attention it deserved.

‘Second, most shuttles and warships did not travel that quickly. By using such a powerful FTL capable ship, she showed off the federal government's reach, technological prowess, and potential - a warning to all of the worlds and planetary coalitions gibbering day and night about independence and sovereignty. The federal government will never initiate violence, but if the “freedom fighters” initiate violence, then the federal navy and army will respond so quickly that most will not be able to put up a meaningful resistance.’

He watched the shuttle come down the atmosphere smoothly. Even more smoothly than the “asari” and their ship, which flew smoother than the Turian ships.

‘And if they do, then it was treason from start to finish, and the world will become a “ward of the federal government,” effectively ending the world’s participation in the confederation and reduced to a mere territory.

‘And three, this was a power play.’

The shuttle, a long and narrow golden thing engraved with even rarer metals and minerals landed on its four landing gears. A door opened up on its previously remarkably smooth and indistinguishable surface, and a floating staircase gracefully extended down.

But Charles knew that there was no need for that. 

Two people walked out, both dressed in the red and black of the confederate presidential guard.

And finally. 

The president’s protege walked out. 

Or well, floated out. 

---

Eina Zolanna

She watched the opulent ship landed not too far from her and the general’s position. 

She glanced at the giant general and then at his retinue. 

The ship was about the same size as the one that she came on, so it had to be for someone close to the baseline human, right? 

When she initially heard that an ambassador would be coming to negotiate for the entire “Blue Planet Confederacy,” she had been worried. While she didn’t see or hear about any racial discrimination among the elites of the confederation from any of the prisoners the Turians held, she had postulated that there was a chance the giants might be the leaders of the confederation. 

The size of the ship has so far dissuaded her of that notion, however. 

Instead, she watched two normal humans walk out, quickly followed by a third. All three wore the same uniform, and carried themselves like most ceremonial guards did. 

Then the ship’s door closed behind them?

She watched as the three humans approached them and finally noticed that the third human had a tray in his hands. 

And as they got closer, her eyebrows rose up slowly. 

Because as the party of three drew closer, she realized that it was not a party of three but a party of four.

Because on that tray held by the third human was a tiny being.

The party of four came to a stop with a synchronized clicks of their boots. 

“Presenting the Ambassador of the Blue Planet Confederation, Anita Goyle of Green Dressrosa!” 

And Zolanna finally saw her. 

A human-like being with a large fluffy tail and a sharp nose. It almost looked like a cartoonishly small version of baseline humans (sans the tail).

“Greetings, ambassador,” she spoke, her training kicking in. “I am Matriarch Eina Zolanna of the Asari Republics.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Ambassador Goyle replied with a curtsy. When she straightened back up, she smiled. “It must be a surprise to see someone like myself, yes?”

“Y-Yes.”

Goyle smiled. “It is normal. Most peoples of the confederacy do not meet a dwarf in their lifetime, despite how much we have been becoming more involved in the confederation’s daily lives.” Then her smile became fixed as she turned to look at the general. “General William. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine, ambassador.”

“Thank you for accompanying the diplomat, but I’ll take it from here.”

It was a dismissal, Zolanna realized. 

The general squinted down at them. “Very well. I wish you good luck.”

And he left without a fight. To her surprise. Most Turians would have been upset at such a public and decisive dismissal.

“Now, shall we get inside somewhere?” the “dwarf” asked. 

“... Yes,” Zolanna responded because she had no other words to say. If the BPC wanted to show their internal politics to her, then that was just something she’ll report, not something she’ll intervene in.