Chapter 278 - 20: Imperial Renegades

Arcturus Stream is a cluster of stars that formed a literal stream of stars millions of years ago when young stars collided with much older ones, creating two types of systems in the cluster.

The majority of the Imperial Core Worlds are situated around these young stars that are sister stars to Sol. Young orange and yellow stars that are easier to work with.

Like Benning, which is basically a lottery winner of a system that is similar to Earth.

But on the other side of the spectrum, there is a system by the name Bal, also known as the Arcturus Trade System.

Situation at the edge of the Arcturus system. Three Mass Relays were brought over to this system.

A star system with a blue star. It's one of the older stars in the Arcturus Stream. This world had multiple barren worlds and a Gas Giant.

Before being designated as a Trade System, this place was left for mining.

But now, it has a green world. Powerful anti-radiation barriers protect the planet Carthage.

The Mass Relays that are circling the outer layers of this system lead to Serpent Nebula, Hades Gamma and Kite's Nest.

A link to Attican Traverse for Eezo-based civilisation.

However, the system is slowly becoming something more for the aliens who started to pour into this place from the Citadel, as there was a direct link to this place.

Marcus connected two worlds and turned it into something that the aliens never considered. It's like two cities that are close to each other, making trading extremely easy.

But it was just a small part of it. What truly attracted them was superior technology and Imperial Engineering.

Out of three orbital elevators, one is fully functioning, and the other two are rapidly being constructed. Segments of the orbital ring that will encase Carthage are being assembled right next to the planet, giving the Aliens who arrived to do trade a reason to consider buying a house or a flat in this place just for the awe of what they are looking at.

At the same time, the Imperials who had a chance to see aliens realised something as well.

That these guys were bums!

~~~~~~Arcturus Stream, Bal System, Carthage~~~~~~

Third world from the sun, Bal, is a recently terraformed Garden world that has a singular purpose: to work as a trade hub and something of a melting pot for cultures, where Imperials can be seen next to Citadel Species.

However, the difference between Unity and Carthage, even though Mass Relays connect the two systems, is that in Carthage one follows Imperial laws.

However, these laws are a bit relaxed, and that 'relaxed' part is what made criminal wannabes become criminals.

A certain aspect allowed Imperials who are natural with Quantum Brainwaves and possess superior senses to start abusing their abilities.

"Hey!" A Salarian who was shopping realised that someone touched him. Confused, he looked around, realising that no one was there. He shrugged and went back to window shopping, but when it was time to buy, he realised that his chip was not on him anymore.

"What the…!"

The guy started looking around.

"Someone stole my chip!"

As the Salarian made a commotion, a slender, black-clad girl shimmered into existence some distance away.

This was Kasumi Goto, a young girl with an addiction, and it's called Kleptomania.

Ever since she was young, she developed an urge to take things, especially shiny things. Her parents, who are from Yamato, a system that is under the direct rule of Empress Kallen, were appalled that their child developed something like that.

At the same time, they were embarrassed to send the girl for addiction treatment. So, they kept her 'contained' until she was old enough to live by herself. Of course, the girl tried to 'bury' the addiction with studying and overcome it herself.

That was until the first contact. War with Batarians showed her the sheer stupidity of aliens. Batarians allowed slavery!

Seriously? And there are pirates! What is this… age of exploration? Where are the wooden boats?

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that aliens are dumb. Their laws are ridiculous.

A high-trust society only works when strict rules are in place. That is how she grew up; containing her addiction taught her that Imperials won't be nice to her.

Her fingers 'burn' many times until she realised that she needed a distraction. But no more. Stealing is something that gives her a thrill, and now she had access to the wilderness that is Trade World of Carthage.

'Oopsie'

She pulled back and watched a Trade World Security sky car rush over from where she had just walked away. Those guys are the police of the Trade World.

'Joint species police force. How cute; sadly for them, they don't use sound-based recording systems. Too invasive.'

Kasumi internally giggled. The Empire needed to dumb down a bunch of their security systems in this world.

Something that she is exploiting with her self-made camouflage device. It hides her from all light-based spectrum recording, but not sound. Sound is Imperial tech, and it's a closely guarded secret. If she wanted to access that, she needs a spotless resume and no criminal record, which is impossible.

On top of that, she needs to rise on the meritocracy ladder, something that she considers a waste of time now that she can steal whatever she wants from these clueless aliens.

After walking around a bit and boarding a train, for free, of course, as there is no need to pay if she can become invisible.

The girl eventually arrived at her hideout in one of the recently built high-rise flat complexes.

She strolled in, greeting her new roommate, an Asari girl who arrived here to study the Imperials.

"You guys are a hilarious bunch," Kasumi said as she became visible. In her hand, she held a pile of chips she'd stolen from an array of aliens.

"Is that so?" The Asari started to realise that Imperials were starting to look down on them.

"Yes, who in their right mind uses this credit system? You mean to say that I can buy a house, a car, weapons, and all sorts of things with it?" The girl dropped the chips on the table, making the Asari realise what these were.

"...Yes, that's right." Kasumi's roommate slowly nodded.

"Then you are crazy; why would you give so much freedom? What if I am a criminal? Like right now? I could just use these credits to buy a ticket and just disappear to another planet that has different laws and government." Kasumi pointed out.

The thief girl realised how incredibly easy it would be for her to become filthy rich.

"You can't just buy everything. Things are regulated." The Asari replied.

*Snort*

"You do realise the simple fact that you could mean that some will.

That's the difference: a currency should have limits. But it does not. From what I studied so far, I could just go to Ilium and buy whatever I want.

It boggles my mind how you all allow this." Kasumi was starting to think that they were intellectually retarded. But that is fine; she will exploit them all.

"We don't. There are rules and laws in place to limit it." The Asari tried to reason, but it only made the teen girl smile as she walked over and patted her head.

"You sweet, sweet child."

"H-Hey! I am over a hundred and fifty years old!" The Asari tried to fight back her embarrassment.

"Yet, you are more naive than an Imperial child." Kasumi removed her hand as she smiled.

"You all have created a literal system that everyone wants to exploit, and there is no secondary system that can compensate for the shortcomings of the first one." The thief girl explained in a tone that reminded me of a mother explaining how the world works to a child.

"In the Empire, you can't buy a house, and you can buy a sky car, and you can't definitely buy a spaceship, because the Empire doesn't trust you until you prove yourself.

It's as simple as that. Yet, in your system, I can buy a license, illegally if need be, to drive one of the cars, or get a license for this and that. It's hilarious; in the end, these credits can get me anything.

If you try anything like this in the Empire, trying to fake documents, you will be sent to a labour camp, and you will slowly but surely die there.

No one cheats the system; the Empire made sure of that. But now…" Kasumi returned to her pile of chips, which held a variety of credits.

"You guys appeared. Making things far easier than ever before. The Empire needed to dumb several things down, as you guys are just slow."

Bit by bit, the Asari realised that she was in the presence of a mentally unstable and dangerous girl.

Funny enough, Kasumi sensed that and before the Asari could report this woman, she was already gone.

Oh, and there was one more thing.

"S-She stole my access!" The Asari realised that her Government access was stolen! And that was bad! Very bad!

Before long, a menace had been released to the Council Space.

The thief girl decided that others should enjoy the life she had as well! Sharing is caring! She started selling hard light-based camouflage devices that allow Imperials to hide as Turians, Asari or Salarians as they pass the shuttle into the Citadel system, the new capital and then into Citadel Space.

And sure enough, the business boomed; like-minded people started to gather in Carthage, and they soon discovered Kasumi, who was waiting for them with a smile on her lips.

The consequences of this business soon started to rear their ugly heads for the Citadel species, as notorious ex-soldiers, disgracefully discharged ones, and mentally unstable ones who were hiding their natures started to pop up in Carthage.

Then they found Kasumi, who got them a ticket to Citadel Space.

Before long, a mercenary gang by the name Blue Suns was born.

The difference between them and the Eclipse that is dominating fringe Asari space is that these Blue Suns are ex-Imperial soldiers who use Quantum Brainwaves. They have genetic implants that allow them to fight longer and harder with more intensity.

Imperial implants are different from the rest of the galaxy, as they use mutagenic substances.

Making these ex-soldiers as disciplined as Turians, as strong as Krogan, and as easy to coordinate as Salarians; oh, and they can basically operate like Asari Commandos in small groups.

The end result of that was a bloodbath.

The only saving grace is that these people had no access to Imperial technology.

But even then, knock-off variants inspired by Imperial weapons were created, like Blue Suns Beam rifles that utilise eezo to mitigate the lack of Sakuradite tech.

That means the weapon has no cartridge, but it overheats quickly.

In a matter of a few short weeks, Blue Suns became a menace to Asari because of… well, they are Asari and Turians because they make good minions for the Imperial renegades.

~~~~~~Athena Nebula, Ialessa System, Sanves~~~~~~

A garden world in Asari heartland became Blue Suns' first target. After gathering enough minions, raiding weapons stash and experimenting on some of the Turian technology, the unhinged mercenary gang made its first move.

And they went right for one of the biggest and well-defended Asari colonies.

For the Blue Suns, it didn't mean anything; to them, the Asari are basically a race of women, and that is about it.

The Blue Suns' vessels, ships stolen from multiple Turian and Asari ports, moved toward Sanves, a densely populated world with over 975 million people.

It's a tourist destination with huge swaths of uninhabited land. Sadly for Asari, they never considered that a world designed to be enjoyed by people would become a target for the very same reason.

A tourist destination means easy pickings, at least for Blue Suns.

The ships and AA guns are easy to deal with for ex-military of the Empire. Many of them are experts not only in holding a gun but in an array of other proficiencies.

Some are snipers, hand-to-hand experts, and others- well, they are good with tech.

"Boss, they want us to stop and identify ourselves." One of the Blue Suns said to the commander.

"Fuck them. Send the virus, trigger the systems. Let's get that alien pussy!" The Commander, Vido Santiago, barked his orders, making his men get hyped up.

"Uh-ha!"

"Uh-ha!"

With that said, they worked harder than ever. The virus temporarily reset the shields and weapons of Asari warships that tried to lock in the Imperial Renegades.

But they opened fire instead, shredding through the cruisers and frigates.

However, it was not the end, as a sleek Asari Dreadnought moved to intercept them as well, but this is where the virus was reused, and once more the renegades opened fire, hammering the Dreadnought with Mass Accelerated weapons.

Before long, the dreadnought exploded, and the blue suns moved to the planet below.

The AA guns were targeted first as shuttles carrying the troopers landed. By this point, citywide alarms blared as holidaymakers dashed to bunkers to hide, and the police officers and military moved in to intercept them.

"Teach these raiders a thing or two about attacking the Asari—" the Asari officer tried to rile up her girls, but she grabbed her head.

"Aghhh!!!"

"Sweetheart, stop playing around and come with me~" A voice said as a guy in blue and white armour walked over; the Asari were clenching their heads.

"Look at you all. No wonder the entire galaxy wants to get a piece of you." The guy removed his helmet and showed his face.

"Y-You are…" The struggling Asari were in disbelief to see one of THEM so far away from Imperial Space.

"Just another loser that got discarded by the cruel Empire~ don't mind me." The Imperial Renegade said with a cruel smile as lightning flashed in his eyes, showing active use of quantum brainwaves.

"But this is just hilarious. I am average when it comes to Quantum Brainwaves manipulation, but it would seem it's enough to have you on your knees." Vido laughed. He found it so hilarious. It would seem the rest of the galaxy is on easy mode!

"You will be coming with me~" As he said that, the Asari officers started to move. They realised that something or someone was controlling them.

They tried to use biotics to counter.

"Ah-ah-ha, no space magic, sweetheart." The Commander of Blue Suns made the struggling Asari struggle even more.

Before long, they all lost consciousness, and the Turian minions swiftly collected them.

"Boss! They deployed the garrison; what should we do?" One of the Imperial Commandos approached Vido.

"Let's kill them all. It has been ages since I had this much… fun." The Commander pulled out his eezo-powered beam rifle as a bloodthirsty smirk appeared on his face.

"After that, we can have our fun; we will celebrate our victory with our new toys." Vido looked at the Asari they had collected.

With that said, the Blue Suns went to intercept the deployed garrison.

Sad to say, that day the Asari learned that diplomacy is not always the best solution. Especially when government styles don't match, when the other side sees you as weak and easily exploitable, and that is what happened.

More and more Imperials learn that the rest of the galaxy is easy pickings. While it's only a small amount, less than 1% of the total Imperial population, it's more than enough to terrify the shit out of the rest of the galaxy.

~~~

Asari Councillor Tevos was pacing back and forth as she learned the horrors of what is happening in Asari space.

She had significantly calmed down when she learned that Prince Scipio got satiated after getting his Aria.

Which is more than fine for her. Since Aria is not even part of the Republics, a renegade is a renegade; it's as simple as that.

But what came next took the wind out of her sails. Everyone is preparing for the conflict with the Reapers. Yet, something else has happened.

And that is Imperial criminals. She never imagined what the Imperials could do without their technology; she thought that they would be just like any other species, easy to handle once you remove fancy suits and beam rifles.

But the Asari were wrong.

A mere few hundred bandits overran an Asari world, took hundreds of slaves as toys, and killed thousands of soldiers.

It was a literal bloodbath.

The worst part of this is that it's not the end. The Asari government systems were compromised. These criminals took government buildings, hacked into their systems and downloaded vital data related to Asari territory, space charts and military deployments.

That attack has crippled them!

"Councillor Tevos, what can I do for you?" Daphne, who had just entered her office, looked confused for a bit. She saw the Asari almost have a panic attack.

"My apologies, Princess, but there was a situation in the Asari-controlled world of Sanves." Tevos took a deep breath as she calmed down a bit before explaining.

"It was a raid… Sanves is a world with almost a billion people, and it was one of our most secure planets in the whole Asari Republics."

"Sad to hear that such a thing happened. Is there something I can help you with?" Daphne asked the councillor; what she heard was sad. While it could never happen in the Empire, as they keep their worlds secure, the same can't be said about other species.

"Yes, I would like to ask for your help to identify the attackers."

"...Umm…excuse me?"

"These attackers were Imperial-led." Tevos dropped a bombshell so big that Daphne's brain, for a second, stopped functioning.

"They were wearing blue armours with a white sun emblem; they used stolen Turian and Asari ships, and cyberwarfare technology unfamiliar to us."

As the Asari kept mentioning, Daphne raised her hand to stop her.

"One thing at a time. Do you have pictures of these Imperials?"

The Councillor nodded as she pulled out a thumb drive and handed it over to her.

The Imperial Princess took the drive, walked to her office desk, turned on her terminal and inserted the thumb drive into a slot.

Before long, she was checking pictures of Imperials using primitive tech to fight the Asari garrison.

They were using some sort of Eezo-based beam technology.

"Unity, can you access Central Command and compare these with what we have in our databanks?"

A female synthetic voice replied.

[One moment, building a secure network…

Network established, accessing databanks.

Accessing Imperial Databanks.]

Daphne stared at the people who had embarrassed her. To think that something like this has happened, and so soon!

[I have a match. The leader of the attack was Vido Santiago, a third-generation soldier; he was dishonourably discharged from the Standing Army of Rio Grande. No medals.]

"Why was he discharged?" Daphne curiously asked.

[The record shows he tried to assault a fifth-generation female officer sexually. Instead of succeeding, the woman broke his nose, both arms and several ribs.

Instead of pursuing the matter further on behalf of the female officer, the garrison dishonourably discharged him from the military. Ever since then, Vido Santiago worked as a logistics supervisor in El Nino, the moon of the Rio Grande logistics hub.]

The Imperial Councillor grimaced when she heard that.

'As someone who was destined to be a soldier and get reduced to a logistics supervising job. That is hell of a demotion.'

Positions like logistics supervisor are nothing more than glorified factory work where one watches machines do things. These positions exist for people to climb the meritocracy ladder; one stays there to understand how logistics work, the whole process of goods delivery from A to Z.

But there is no promotion waiting for Vido.

[The latest records of his ID being used were booking a ticket to El Masse, the Transportation Hub, and then taking a shuttle to Carthage.]

"Huh, well there are no direct trains to Carthage, only shuttles," Daphne commented as she looked at the patiently listening Asari Councillor.

"So he went to Carthage and then disappeared." The Asari commented on what she heard.

"Well, it would seem so; the trail went cold. All I can find is booking a room and having a meal, then just poof." The Princess did an animated firework motion. "Gone."

"What about others?"

The pinkette did more database digging and found a similar situation with others.

"Similar situation." The Imperial Ambassador showed ID holograms. "Ex-military; some of them even had decent work after getting discharged. But they went to Carthage. I guess the wonder of aliens? Or they heard rumours of weaker laws there." Daphne reasoned from what she saw.

"...In other words…"

"They found weaknesses in your transportation systems that operate from Carthage and take to Unity.

That allows them to abuse Citadel Space." Daphne explained seriously, looking like she was ready to throw down with these disgraced soldiers who brought nothing but embarrassment to her family's Empire and its name!

"My Empire is more than ready to assist your republics to hunt these fools down." The Princess looked at the Asari.

Tevos sharply shook her head in denial.

"No, this is more than enough. All I request is that you forward all the data that you have on these people to the Asari." The Asari Councillor requested.

"Consider it done," Daphne replied with a nod. Moments later, all of the Imperial profiles were sent to Tevos.

"You have my thanks, Councillor Anaheim." With that said, the Asari left the office. The moment she did, Daphne's eyes turned cold as she spoke to her AI.

"Unity, contact mother."

[Locating Empress Euphemia.]

…

…

…

There was lag! Meaning she is far away!

[One moment.]

The pinkette puffed when she realised that mother was not even in her world!

"Where is Peacebringer?" The Princess asked with growing annoyance.

[Last known location of the Flagship of the Empress of Diplomacy is that it docked with Avalon.]

"Then where is Avalon?"

'Should be in Rannoch. By this point, a stable connection should exist. Don't tell me she is with father.' Daphne internally groaned.

[Avalon has left Rannoch and is on its way to Pangaea Expanse. According to Central Command, Avalon will be used to build the Emperor's next estate in the world of Ilos.]

"..." Daphne puffed even more as she felt jealous. She read the reports that Scipio posted. Well, calling them reports is a stretch, as they were more like a bragging notebook.

'I did this, and I did that' kind of report.

[Connection established. Connecting with long-range comm unit aboard Avalon.]

"Nice work, Unity!" The pinkette praised her virtual assistant.

[I aim to please, Princess.]

Moments later, Daphne saw her mother dressed in leisure clothes; clearly, she was off and doing something else.

"What is the urgency that you are calling me like that, Daphne?" Euphemia commented, sounding a bit annoyed.

'Hmph! I see, so that's how it is!'

"We have an embarrassing issue. First Imperial Criminals are on the loose in Asari space."

"..."

The pinkette on the other side of the hologram massaged her temples; she looked even more annoyed, to say the least.

"Do we have the details?"

Daphne nodded as she forwarded the intel that she had just acquired from Tevos.

Instead of checking the pictures, Euphemia went for the videos that made the Princess hear them, too.

"Let's go, boys! Time to get that alien pussy! These primitives have no idea how to fight! Hahahaha." Bragging Vido's voice came out of the video. Something that Daphne didn't watch, so she was just as shocked as her mother.

"So uncivilised. Did Asari let us pursue these? I assume we can enter their space and start the hunt." The Empress of Diplomacy commented as she began to inspect the profile; all she saw was mediocre and trash. None of these ex-soldiers is any real threat in the Empire.

In fact, they were good boys and did what they were told. But the moment they are off the leash and free, they get drunk on 'power' and start embarrassing the Empire.

"That is why I am calling you mother." Daphne showed her dissatisfaction with a pout, making Euphemia roll her eyes at her daughter's antics.

"They did not request assistance. They only requested intel on them, which I provided."

"Is that so? From what I have seen. These idiots are just grunts. None of them even got a long service medal or were promoted to the navy or one of the retinues.

If they are struggling with our rejects…" Euphemia didn't finish her train of thought. It's very simple. When an Imperial is in the army, which is the most diverse field of work in the Empire. The longer you serve, the better you are.

Field expeditions, training, specialised training, conditioning, weaponry training and on-field innovation.

What these grunts developed are basic skills, and that is about it.

"I understand…"

"Let them be. If they destabilise the Asari, then it's fine. It will be easier for us to add them to the Empire." With that said, the call ended, making Daphne pout once more.

When it's related to Marcus, Euphemia forgets everything else and doesn't care about the details, like now.

After giving instructions, the call ended! She didn't even ask how Daphne was doing!

"Ugh! You are not a teenager, damn it, mother!" The Pinkette complained, and of course was sulking in jealousy; she wanted to see Ilos!

A 'mythical' world mentioned in prothean ruins, a lost planet, untouched by the Reapers. There is no other place like that in the whole of the galaxy!

Not long after, as she was about to leave her office table, her communications hologram began to blink.

[Empress Marrybell is calling you.] Unity told Princess who was calling her before she even asked.

"Finally, someone who can help us with this embarrassment," Daphne mumbled under her breath as she accepted the call.

"Daphne, Euphemia has forwarded me some interesting data." Marrybell, who was in her Empress persona, looked at the data that she got.

"It appears the weak link is, as we suspect, the Imperial Trade World of Carthage."

"The treaties we signed forbid the use of sound-based surveillance."

In a sense, it is understandable, as the sound emitters and readers work similarly to cellular signals; it comes from a certain area, and anything in that area can be heard, including the heartbeat.

Then, of course, there is gravity-based surveillance, making people who use camouflage be seen regardless of one's tech. It basically 'sprinkles' particles through the very fabric of reality, and everything in reality leaves a trail.

Security and surveillance are something the Empire is well versed in, but for Citadel species, specifically Asari, it's too invasive.

"We aware of that, but most of the laws are still in place. All we need is a link, and then we can move out."

Marrybell replied as she was pondering how to deal with this situation.

"...Could we install a governor, with a retinue?" All of a sudden, Daphne suggested as she looked at her bodyguards standing at the doors.

She is the only individual who has such a thing in the citadel at this moment.

No other councillor or politician has an active military acting as bodyguards. Sure, there is C-Sec, but that's a police force. Not a heavily armed military like her new retinue.

"That is a possibility, and I have an idea who would fit that role." Marrybell smiled as she had a specific Princess in mind.

A business lady for a business world. Plus, she inherited her mother's and father's sadism and ruthless nature when it was needed. Such a person will fit well for a population that is actively trying to exploit the system they live in.

"Then we should sign a petition; it shouldn't take long for the approval." Daphne nodded; she didn't care which brother or sister would get it. As long as they cut the issue at its source, plug the leakage, as they say.

"Yue Anaheim is who I am thinking about."

"Oh, Mother's Mei's…"

One of the 'exotic' mothers that her father brought from another reality.

"Indeed. She already knows the species and the trade deals that were signed with her at the helm. As one would say, she already has half of the work done." Marrybell explained, or more like reminded, as Daphne was there. Well, she was with her father, trying to calm him down and keep him from verbally abusing the alien representatives.

"Yes, that is true. Besides, she wants a world of her own." The Pinkette Councillor said with certainty, even though she never asked Yue if she wanted a world. Everyone wants a world of their own.

"Regardless, I signed the petition, and you should put your signature there as well; that should raise it in the list for the husband to see." Marrybell, with a hand motion, sent over a hologram of the petition that was in front of the Princess, who swiftly placed her signature.

"It should be higher than anything Claudia places here," Daphne commented in an amused tone. She saw a couple of weird requests, like conquest of Turians, which was declined on the basis that it's not on the Empire's current alibi, then conquest of Rannoch, which again was ignored until Quarians themselves arrived on their doorstep.

Though other majority requests get done, as they are resource requests which are forwarded to Leila, or FTL highway construction or expansion.

Things like these end up in the petitions in Central Command. There are Princes like Anna's 2nd child, Prince Theseus, who is basically an errant boy with his Retinue going around and assisting with Imperial development or giving extra support militarily in the new expansion zones where the Empire is purging the pirates.

Some say it's errant work, but it pays in respect, resources and merit points, which makes the Prince have a retinue of a bigger size even though the Prince is merely the 7th one. The higher the number, the younger the royal and the less time he or she had to develop their retinue.

"Don't remind me; she almost caused an accident with the Turians. You can't just experiment on sapient lifeforms like that." Marrybell massaged her forehead; just remembering that made her frustrated.

"Hehehe, I know. The Turians complained to me." Daphne giggled; she found it amusing.

"Not funny; I am the one who is supposed to punish her." The brown-haired Empress complained; she was, after all, the head of the Imperial Justice Department.

~~~

More Chapters (Book Three Chapter 30 [50k words] is up!)

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