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She approached Yang's mechanical avatar, which was squatting on a couch as it waited patiently for the 108 to finish its own scans of the crime scene. Elsa thought this a bit strange: why did a remote-controlled robot need to be comfortable? "Yang?" she said, getting his attention."Yes?" he replied, his voice metallic. "I'm glad you've decided to cooperate with me, regardless of our affiliations."Elsa crossed her arms. "I actually haven't agreed to anything.""Please don't be difficult about this...""I'm not!" she said, almost coyly, as she took out a cigarette from her silver jacket's inner pocket. "What's that American saying? United we stand, divided we fall?""Appropriated by the Americans, actually. The saying actually originated from ancient Greece. One of Aesop's fables, more precisely.""Aaah... I didn't know that." she lit her cigarette, and breathed the smoke in, then out, letting an aura of smoke surround her. "I take it your history class curriculum was more thorough than mine?""Very thorough. Our children know the history of the Coalition — from its inception to its present — by heart. Anything else, however... well, let's just say I should have been taken to a re-education camp just for mentioning Aesop." Elsa just let her cigarette burn at that last part. Imprisoned and brainwashed for knowing about Aesop? "That's... awful.""...I know."There was a story there, but Elsa knew better not to pry. "...So, you said earlier that you met Adam Jensen.""Yes, I have.""When?""Days ago, here on the Citadel." The Georgie nodded at the crime scene. "A day after the incident here. I had... gotten lost in the city and wandered about until I found my way on the Silversun strip. During that time, Ambassador Cherdenko was trying to convince Jensen to work for me. He thought that tracking me down would be a good test of his abilities. It had only taken him an hour to find me on at the arcade... why are you smiling?""And now, your task is to track him down to become Spectre.""...Ah, yes, irony. I see it now. In any case, I was playing a game of Kepesh-Yakshi..."~[h+]~ Polgara T'suzsa, for all intents and purposes, had won. And honestly, what chance did this rube of a human had against her? He had played poorly, reinforcing his flanks and weakening his center, and had left his flagship open to attack. Thus she had gone for the center, and smiled as the flagship's battle group gave more and more space."Don't feel too bad," said T'suzsa as she planned her manoeuvres for the next activation phase. All she had to do now was focus on the center and take down her opponent's flagship, and inflict morale damage on every single ship in his fleet, after which the planet would be ripe for conquest... "Kepesh-Yakshi is an ancient game, based on strategies refined through thousands of years of interstellar warfare hundreds of battles. It's an easy enough game to learn, but it take centuries to master..."Her opponent, who had been silent until then, finally spoke."The Asari have not won a single war in the past thousand years..." said Yang. "...at least not by proxy. I find it difficult to believe they could refine any stratagem based on that track record."That irked T'suzsa quite a great deal. How dare this ape squatting no his chair criticize the Asari? "And how would you know?" she asked, her tone venomous. "Asari culture has been exploring the stars while you were using stone-tipped spear. What would you know of a hundred millenia of our history?""Iron," he replied coolly. "What?""580 BC was the Iron Age for both Europe and China. Our spears were tipped with iron.""I don't care what you savages used to kill one another. Just play.""...As you wish."They executed their manoeuvres, and T'suzsa was not surprised in the least to see that Yang attempted a pincer movement with his frigates... which of course, her cruisers, with their enhanced lateral firepower, could easily push away."Interesting you should mention your space age," said Yang. "How long did it take for the Asari to create a ship capable of breaking away from Thessia's gravity?"T'suzsa smiled, as this was point of pride for every Asari. "The history behind the flight of the Osiria is long and filled with—""—assassinations and sabotage. In fact, part of the reason why it took two hundred years of effort for the Asari to reach space was because the rivalries between the city-states over the space race got so vicious and bitter that the Second War of Assassins was declared... which nobody won, I might add.""Oh, and I suppose you humans didn't fight bitterly over the honour of being the first ones in space?""The USA and USSR certainly tried to one up each other. If they had kept things friendly, humanity would have reached within five years, maybe. I suppose a couple of decades isn't so bad, wouldn't you say?""...Just play.""As you wish. Combat Phase begins..." declared Yang. Then, as if it were made of pure filth, Yang carefully pinched one of his holographic cards and revealed his Fleet Admiral. "I exhaust Tarsus. Any ship within range one of his flagship may reroll its defense...""That's his passive," patronized the Asari strategist."...I know, but exhausting him allows his entire fleet to brace for impact at the cost of their attack.""Ha! You delay the inevitable!""Maybe. Or maybe, if you had any inkling of respect for human history, you'd know it would be wise to forfeit this game.""Don't be ridiculous. Your force has been halved. Your Flagship is as good as mine!""...Tell me, have you ever heard of the battle of Cannae?"