Code Golden: Gundam War

Scipio chuckled when he heard his father's comment—calling him wayward? It's not like he disappeared somewhere! He had his retinue with him the whole time! They can be tracked!

"Come now. It's not like I disappeared somewhere…" the 2nd Prince tried to wiggle around.

"You didn't? But, for some reason, I only heard about you after a month you went off the grid." Marcus commented; there was a smirk on his lips. He looked at the Asari, who looked like she was nailed to that particular spot.

"And you got yourself an Asari."

"R-Right. This is Aria T'loak." Scipio introduced the Ex-Pirate Queen.

"If my memory serves me right, she was the ruler of Omega." Claudia from the table commented.

"And Omega is a pirate haven. Did you get heatstroke in Ilios?" The 1st Princess said with an eye roll.

Aria narrowed her eyes; it would seem the 1st Princess is on her case.

"Hey! I like ladies with character!" Scipio defended his choice.

"...I don't mind character, but there is a reason why outlawers like her exist. They don't like rules, and in the Empire we have a considerable amount of them." Claudia pointed that out.

"I am not insane enough to oppose the Empire's laws." Aria sighed, feeling that she needed to explain herself.

"And Scipio beat me fair and square; I have no reason to oppose that."

"Is that so? Hmm, then we will see." Claudia didn't feel any deceit from this Pirate Queen. It would seem this Asari has a code, or set of rules that she follows.

"Indeed, after all, anything she will do will be on Scipio's head." Lacus slightly smiled as she looked at the 2nd Prince.

'Oh, shit… she is right…' Unlike his previous women, who were like vases, Aria is different. She used to have a faction, and she could establish something if he were not cautious.

"Thanks for reminding me that." He walked over and took a seat. There were extra chairs, which told him that they predicted his arrival.

"I won't. I saw enough." The Asari sighed as she realised that this would be an uphill battle, which she expected.

"Come now. No need to be antagonistic; we all know Scipio." Marcus chipped in. "You did tell her that you have several wives already, son?" The Emperor reminded him.

"I did." The 2nd Prince rolled his eyes at his father.

"And what does Aria think?" The ruler asked as he went over and collected the marinated meat.

"..." The Pirate Queen looked at the Emperor, for a second wondering how to respond.

The Ruler was clearly testing her.

'And I don't like that. I used to be the one to do that.' Internally, she complained to herself.

"...I don't mind. I suppose it's the simple fact that I don't have the capital to do that." Aria tried to play a diplomat.

"My, so authoritarian, I suppose you will fit well." Lacus smiled a bit before she looked at Scipio, who looked so hopeful that Aria would be on his side.

"That reminds me." Marcus's tone made Scipio twitch. "Vulcan, how did it perform?"

The black-haired Prince started laughing; it was a nervous laugh.

"Well? You think you can access the armoury without me learning about it? Hmm?" The Emperor asked; he didn't even look at him as he placed skewers on the grill. He didn't need to look at his son, and that alone made the Prince's nervousness grow by several stages.

"It did…well?"

"Of course it did well. I am asking what you tried out. Those machines were supposed to be our ace in the hole against the Reapers, but now they know.

It's probably the reason why Geth are gone from this system. I will now need to accelerate the buildup of deep space scanners for those things. Especially since they will most likely mine in Attican Traverse, space that will be ours, son."

"...Umm…umm… then I will make it my objective to locate Geth." Scipio tried to wiggle his way out.

"Your fleet is literally built for rapid war deployment, not exploration missions." Marcus pointed that out.

"You will station yourself with the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet. Cagalli will need your help, since her fleet will be spread out; to compensate for that, your Retinue will chip in."

"Understood." The 2nd Prince sharply nodded.

"You better. These things will target our Empire and our borders. You will attack with extreme prejudice, are we clear?" Marcus slightly turned to the side and looked at his son, who stiffly nodded.

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

The Prince is well aware of the difference between talking with his father and talking to the ruler of the Empire.

It's like the difference between being off duty and on duty.

"Good to hear that we are on the same page, son." Marcus slightly smiled before returning to his cooking. Scipio, in the meantime, took a deep breath as sweat dripped from his forehead.

Aria looked at their interaction closely; she needed to understand the dynamics between the Emperor and his children.

"So, why are you here, Claudia?" Scipio wanted to change the subject, as he felt he had suffered enough!

"..." The Princess raised her eyebrow for a second.

"Research, what else? I spent weeks in Palaven, but I had to suffer literal red tape for trying to study dextro lifeforms there."

"Oh, right, Turians and Quarians are different from us."

"They are different from most; one in five or more garden worlds have dextro-based lifeforms. Those are extremely rare." Aria commented as she joined the conversation; she realised that she needed to save the prince's butt.

"Yes, I noticed that. However, they are not that different. Evolutionary paths are very similar. I suppose in simple terms the way you would understand Scipio is that Dextro lifeforms are like different OS that work on the same platform."

"...That actually makes so much sense." The Prince nodded a couple of times. She made so much sense. It's still life that everyone understands; it just operates different software. Still familiar but distinctive enough.

"That is a good way of putting it. Most of their food is similar to what we eat. It's a well-used method to take out people in Omega." Aria commented. It was a well-known method for taking people out.

"Wait, you use dextro food and vice versa to poison people?" Claudia looked baffled; she never considered that. Well, she never bothered with something like poisoning people. It's beneath her, but it's an interesting perspective to have.

"Of course, you spike drinks, or give some red sand; they get high and won't notice that they consumed the wrong food. Food that their digestive system can't break down." Aria spoke with a certain tone; it sounded like something from deep experience.

"My, so cunning. It sounds like a plot from a movie." Lacus sounded fascinated. In her world, stuff like that doesn't exist. After all, they have warships, mobile suits, superior technology and society in general.

"...I don't think it's that impressive; it's been quite a common method for many years now. Drugs and poison can be removed or banned, but this is turian food."

"Not Quarian?" Claudia asked, curious a bit. They are in Rannoch after all.

"No. Quarians are not a common race you can meet. You won't find them that often in Omega or even Citadel; they stick to their ships and the flotilla. Though… I doubt that will last for long. Now they have their world back…" She looked around for a bit.

It has been three hundred years since the Morning War; she recalled the birth of the migrant fleet, and now she saw them get the world back. Not that it matters much to the Ex-Pirate Queen. She is more interested in how politics will change at the galactic scale.

But even that doesn't matter, since the Empire just joined the galactic community and they are already suppressing everything around them.

"Maybe, first they need to improve their immune systems to interact more with other races," Claudia commented as she then looked at her father.

"Papa, could we do something about it? Like… I don't know… conquer them. I am to run some tests on these Quarians; they have potential."

Aria's eyebrows twitched. What she just heard was wild, to say the least—randomly asking to conquer a race!

"Really? Still calling father papa when you want something? How old are you?" Scipio snorted in amusement. It was hilarious.

"Shut up! It's not fair that you already experienced what the galaxy has to offer! I was busy building up ecologies for our colonies, so I deserve something!" The 1st princess puffed a bit.

"Then allocate your resources to the fleet instead of playing around with genes." Scipio nonchalantly shrugged at her.

All of them getting allowance, and that allowance isn't going anywhere; with over 200 years, all of the Princes and Princesses developed a considerable amount of assets.

The warships they have don't change much over the centuries, and the personnel that follows them only keeps on growing. Someone like Claudia, who is the oldest child of the Emperor, has the most wealth of them all, yet her fleet is insignificant when it's compared to Scipio's Aquilla Legion.

Most of her resources went to gene studies, ecology, mutation, improvements in food growth and soil.

And of course, her bad sense of resource management. She pays extra for things to be done as soon as possible instead of waiting for support from the Coloniser when working in a new world.

It's the typical: 'why wait two days when I can have it now' mentality.

Wasting limited resources on something that you will get in a day or two.

"Hey!" Claudia looked offended, but then Marcus intervened as he was listening to all of them talk.

"I do believe you need an assistant that can manage assets for you." The Emperor said after pondering a bit.

"...Hah… but."

"No buts. I have noticed how bad it is. Sadly, your mother is no better, but we have Leila to balance it out. Of course we have Mei and Yue who have good sense when it comes to wealth management." Marcus commented.

He realised that he had people from both sides of the coin: the spenders and the savers.

"Moh! Fine! Then who will be the one who will manage my stuff!?" Claudia puffed as she crossed her arms and looked away.

"We will see. I will compile a list." The Emperor shrugged. He had no idea, but he would figure it out.

~~~

The retake of Rannoch was a major thing for Quarians; it wasn't that major a citadel species, for a simple reason: how far away they were.

Not that they had time to bother, as everyone was scrambling to bolster their defences; the news that Geth were gone, and that it was the Reaper Vanguard, caused quite a stir.

A stir in several ways…

Desolas Arterius is a Turian general serving the Turian Hierarchy. When the Empire made first contact, he was at the front of it. The Primarchs immediately ordered the Hierarchy to be strengthened—more ships, more weapons, more manpower.

And most importantly, advanced technology…

He was assigned to recover an artefact from one of the dig sites in Attican Traverse. And Turians needed to do it quickly, as Attican Traverse is slowly becoming the Empire's backyard. In Argus Rho, they have an array of sensors, and what they picked up is around a 200% increase in space travel activity. While Imperial vessels don't emit heat or Eezo, they do emit something: their particles. The sensors pick up their green and blue lights.

With that as a reference, they found that Argus Rho is the next cluster the Empire will occupy.

The Turians swiftly scrambled to leave this cluster; after all, the Empire would claim it, and staying would lead to diplomatic incidents.

Something that Desolus was pissed about. He felt that the Hierarchy was becoming a pushover.

'Not anymore.'

He looked at the bluish-black artefact that was emitting strange energy.

"...What is this thing, general?" One of the Turians asked, but then he got close enough, and he got mesmerised by it.

Desolus was about to stop him, but the Turian soldier touched the artefact and screamed; soon enough… the Turian changed.

The skin and scales turned white, streaks of blue lines appeared on their bodies, and their eyes turned blue and glowing.

The Turian General narrowed his eyes.

"Soldier! What happened to you?" He asked, but there was no response.

Instead, the artefact glowed brighter and enveloped everyone who was in the cargo bay of the cruiser.

Before long… the ship and its whole crew got consumed by this thing that brainwashed and altered the Turians.

When Desolus recovered, he was different, stronger, faster, more durable, and he had a new 'objective'.

To evolve all of the Turians so they could be strong enough to defeat the Empire!

~~~

The situation swiftly got out of control as Desolas ended up being indoctrinated. Normally, the Reaper Vanguard would leave it be as the cycle hadn't started yet.

But the situation changed. So, the Reaper used the artefact to control the Turians.

The cruiser that was flying towards Turian space turned around and moved towards Attican Traverse to join Reaper Vanguard forces.

While this was happening in the newly named Citadel Capital of Unity, the Spectres were working tirelessly to get control of the areas outside the city's perimeter. For the first time in Citadel's history, living space was not an issue.

But that opened a new set of problems: black market, illegal trading; the Empire didn't track any of that. While sure, they could, but they were here to build, not keep track of illegal trading.

'C-Sec is useless.' Saren complained as he felt that he was chasing wind.

The Spectre didn't mind dirty work; blowing people is his profession, but he needs to get to them.

Ever since Avalon left and was replaced by the formation of heavy-duty manufacturing ships, the criminals became far more reckless. It's like the fear they had for the Empire diminished; the massive mothership had that effect, especially since the criminals realised that the Empire is not here to keep them in check.

"How is the situation, Nihlus?" The Spectre asked his trainee.

"We got a red sand problem in the southern hemisphere. The new mining village that Citadel placed reported trade in red sand happening in the newly established club." The turian replied.

"Again… we just dealt with that."

"I can assume there was a transition. C-Sec is still adjusting to the fact that they have to maintain a whole planet, not just a station." Nihlus said as he crossed his arms.

"It has been months," Saren mumbled.

'We have the Empire that is breathing down our backs and then the damn sentient machines that are returning.

And yet, we can't deal with some illegal trade!'

As the pair worked to track down the illegal trade ring, some of the C-Sec turned pale.

"Sirs! A mobile suit just landed not far from our headquarters!"

"...?"

"!"

"Is it the reinforcement we were requesting?" Nihlus commented.

"I asked for logistics support. Not literal military support." The paler turian replied as he walked out from the new HQ and saw a green and white machine with a huge sniper rifle.

"That's the supposed Gundam, no?" Nihlus looked at the towering machine.

"Looks like it." Saren narrowed his eyes at the machine.

"Emperor's special forces, I am with Knights of G-Force, Lockon Stratos, at your service!" The mech dropped to one knee, the cockpit opened, and the Gundam assisted the knight out.

Dressed in a green pilot suit, the guy got out. Moments later, his clothes shifted as he ended up dressed in a black-and-purple military uniform and green cloak.

The C-Sec in blue uniforms approached the guy, but he fished out a holographic device and showed it to them. It was some sort of document signed by the councillors.

"It looks legit. Welcome, sir, to Unity and the C-Sec. It's an honour to have one of you." The Turian C-Sec said with a small nod; there was a smile on his lips.

"The honour is mine. It's nice to be out of Core Worlds and see what the galaxy has to offer." Lockon looked around; a smirk was on his lips.

As the brown-haired Gundam pilot was talking with the guards, Saren and Nihlus approached him.

"My fellow members of special forces." The guy slightly nodded and then addressed them. "It's good to meet the spectres finally."

"Likewise." The lighter-looking Turian looked at Gundam, then at Lockon.

"I am wondering what you can do; the planet has barely any sort of sensors to track the illegal trade. The ships can do their runs before we can catch them.

The Citadel Fleet has a minor force here." Nihlus looked at him and commented.

"My, you should be more positive, Mister Spectre; I am not alone here." The Knight said while shaking his head.

"While I don't have a retinue, I do have support."

He showed the same holographic device, mentally went through options, and showed them something.

"I have requested deployment of sensory satellites around the whole planet.

They are based on Imperial tech; the sensors will pick up shipments that are coming in from outside the planet.

While I can't help with what is on the planet, I can help with new shipments."

"That's a good start than any. The council were dragging their feet with their treaties and trade deals. I am honestly baffled they have time for it."

When it was just Citadel it was containment, it was not that hard, but now they have to deal with a planet that is hundreds of times bigger. They need to deploy satellites for info and intel, but to do that they need to decide which race will place those satellites, same with scanners, defence installations and all that stuff.

Especially with the Empire, which works ten times faster, they already have the main city built, and the Council Tower is already in use.

But the protection and details were still in negotiations.

So the black market people were using that to do their trading.

"I heard about it. It reminds me of my youth when I had to experience that nonsense. Thank the Emperor I am out of that mess. The Empire gets whatever you need. Honestly, I can ask to install the initial sensors before the council decides on anything." Lockon suggested, already thinking of solutions to the current situation.

Saren and Nihlus looked at each other for seconds.

"I think we can do that. As spectres, we can do that." Nihlus nodded.

"Yes, we can do it. If the council doesn't like it, it's their problem." Saren sharply nodded.

"Good, then we can start with it."

~~~

A couple of days later, the two Spectres had a chance to see what a G-Force member can do.

'Let's see one of these Gundams in action.'

The two Turians watched the green machine point its massive sniper rifle into the sky.

After a bit of targeting, a whistling sound erupted as the mech's legs sank into the ground; the recoil was absurd as the pink-and-blue beam, like a streak of light, rushed into orbit and clipped a sneaky spaceship.

Moments later, the ship began to descend and crash-land not far from their location.

Their goal was not to destroy but to get as much information as possible from black market traders. As spectres, they can use whatever methods they want, including using a mobile suit and nailing them out of orbit.

"Impressive, if we all had one of these our lives would be much easier," Nihlus commented as he was using binoculars and watched a frigate-sized spaceship tumble out of orbit and crash land on the planet's surface.

"I agree on that." Saren nodded with crossed arms. Thankfully, Turians are developing one of these at the moment, with the help of Imperial Prince no less.

Not that he liked the idea of having to bring in newcomers to assist them in the development. Turians are a far older spacefaring civilisation than the Imperials.

Once the ship crash-landed, groups of C-Sec officers rushed to intercept. The spaceship wasn't that heavily damaged, after all; Lockon's aim is borderline supernatural as he nails the ship right in the sweet spot, disabling the cruising engines, but other systems survive, making the ship simply slide on the planet's surface and then land.

"Raise your hands! Get away from the ship!" Turians, Asari and Salarian officers rushed towards the crash-landed black market ship.

Several Turians and Volus tried to scramble and leave the ship. Still, the C-Sec officers intercepted them with their sky cars and several Kodiak-class shuttles that were carrying more heavily armed officers.

Then the Gundam landed and looked down at the ship. The black market members looked at the mech with open mouths; that is something they didn't expect to see!

"Now that is what I call bullseye." The mech spoke through a loudspeaker as moments later the machine dropped on a knee and let the pilot out.

The brown-haired Knight leisurely strolled over to the downed ship. This was the first time he saw a proper Eezo-powered ship. It was unique, to say the least, to someone who had been using GN tech for centuries.

"Many thanks for your assistance, sir Knight." The Asari commander thanked him with a smile.

"Don't mention it." The guy simply smiled back at her. Making the Asari slighly flustered.

'Still got it. Even on an alien girl.' The guy puffed internally as he looked at the ship. The two Spectres walked over to his side.

"Well done. That was a clean shot. The beam technology is something else." Nihlus nodded; he was quite impressed by the raw power. The shot cleanly cut through the kinetic barriers and then punched through the engines. The explosion was controlled thanks to how cleanly the shot passed through!

"Technically it's a mixture of two compressed particles, but that's just semantics," Lockon explained before reminding them why they were here. "We should check their cargo."

"Commander, open the ship; let's see if we got the right ship."

"Right! Open the cargo bay!" The Asari commander motioned for her subordinates to get into the ship.

Moments later, the Spectres and the Knight strolled in and saw a pile of crates; some were open and held red sand of some sort.

"...Is that it?"

"Yes. The red sand is a drug that influences one's biotics and is a well-known drug throughout the Galaxy." Nihlus explained as he got down and rubbed it between his fingers.

"Decent quality as well."

"Not just that. Look over there." Saren motioned towards other crates on the side. Some of the contents are sticking out.

"Guns… we got quite a shipment." The other Turian Spectre commented.

"These are the guns you guys use?" Lockon walked over and inspected without touching them.

"Not quite. From the looks of it, these are Elkoss Combine, a Volus manufacturing brand that operates from Terminus systems.

They operate in the grey area in Citadel Space. They sell luxurious goods legally, but on the side they make weapons and even build military ships." Nihlus explained to the knight.

"...That's a versatile company; if they were in Imperial Space they would have long since been destroyed for playing with the rules," Lockon commented as he looked around. He noticed Saren doing something.

"There is more…" Saren said in a serious tone as he pulled a rifle from what looked like a safe.

"..." Lockon's eyes widened as he swiftly walked over.

"That's a beam rifle."

"Yours, I presume?" The Spectre inspected it. There was a certain amount of curiosity in his eyes as he looked from one side to the other, pointing at the wall for a second, checking the balance.

"Let me see."

The turian handed it over to the knight. The suit reacted, and the weapon turned on. Several LED-like lights turned on the rifle's frame.

With the other hand, he summoned a holographic console and began to read through the weapon's files.

"Right, it's a civilian-grade rifle. Issued to garrison and peacekeeping troops. Similar to your C-Sec…" Lockon read through the files.

"Does the data say the origin?" Saren asked as he was listening to the explanation patiently.

"It does." He summoned the galaxy map and pointed to the southern regions of space.

"Of course its there… it should be obvious…" The Spectre shook his head as he knew this cluster quite well.

"Kite's Nest. The occupied space of Batarians. But the logs show multiple tempering in different locations." Lockon pointed out several logs.

"It knows when it's moved?" Nihlus walked over as he looked at what the knight was doing.

"In a way? It knows when it's used in Imperial space and when it's not." The brown-haired knight highlighted specific logs.

"You might have noticed, but the Empire has towers in each and every single solar system that is under our control. These towers envelop the whole system as the sun's magnetic fields boost it.

We use these towers for traffic, for comms and so on. Among those things is this." Lockon pointed at a specific log.

"It shows that the weapon was messed with outside Imperial Space where there is no signal."

"I see… so we can use this and cross-reference the navigational charts."

"That would be for the best. Since it's no longer just a Citadel Council issue anymore." The Knight dismissed the hologram and looked at the two turian Spectres.

"Will the Empire intervene?" Saren asked, curious what kind of response there would be from this civilisation.

"There are two Imperial Departments that will respond. The Intelligence and Justice Departments. Two departments with considerable infamy in the Empire.

They are similar to your Spectres and STG all bundled together, and then on top of that they have no limits to their budgets."

"...Is that so…"

Saren nodded; he looked away and sighed internally. His Turian side was jealous of what he was hearing.

"So we can expect some sort of support?" Nihlus said with a pondering tone.

"Yes, we should. Now let's get the nav data."

The trio walked to the cockpit and began to check the files.

A quick check later, they found that the ship came from Viper Nebula, Bahak system.

"The Batarian Enclave of Aratoht, as expected," Nihlus said with crossed arms.

"It's the only system in this part of the Galaxy that has Batarian Independent rule. It appears the Batarians in Kite Nest still interact with Batarians in Aratoht."

"Then we have a lead." Lockon turned to the side and pulled out a holographic device.

"Dynames, boost the signal and contact the Empire."

With that said, the gundam outside moved. The mech stood up and flew up.

Thankfully, the newly colonised Citadel system has partial imperial infrastructure, so connecting to Core Worlds is not that hard.

"I want you to connect to the Department of Imperial Intelligence; the Empress Mei has to hear what I found."

Moments later, a well-developed beauty picked up the call.

"Lockon, it has been a while. What can I do for you?"

The Turians not far from the brown-haired pilot listened with interest; from the looks of it, the knight wants to make this an interspecies issue, which is fine with them. They need to know how the Empire deals with these kinds of incidents.

"Sadly, it's not a simple call. I am with Citadel's Spectres working on a black market case. We downed a ship and found typical drugs, but there was more. I found this." Lockon showed her the beam rifle he was holding.

"Looks like standard issue garrison beam rifle." Mei looked at the weapon in his hands.

"Yes, checked the data of the weapon; it's from Kite's Nest."

"I see. I thought as much, and we have been predicting that it will come from occupied territories where our technology will start spreading." Mei commented with a knowing tone. From the looks of it, she was expecting this and was waiting for when it would happen.

"Let me guess, His Majesty predicted this." Lockon sighed.

"Not just my husband, but our forecasters and so on. That is why there are failsafes in the weapons. Regardless, since we have proof, we can start moving."

"Good, then I have a lead. Viper Cluster, Bahak System."

Mei checked the galaxy map and found where this was.

"My, a Batarian-controlled space. Those still exist? Well, not for long." After checking it, Empress Mei looked at the Knight.

"I will arrange a fleet to conquer this little colony. They live in Low Tier 1 Garden World, and it's a border cluster just south of Arcturus Stream. We need to have it under control."

'If only the Citadel Council were this direct.' Nihlus sighed to himself; he was jealous of how quickly and ruthlessly these people move.

Funny how a simple black market ship led the Empire to the last remaining Batarian Independent colony to its doom.

"Do you need help?"

"Just do your thing. I have more than enough troops to deal with them."

Lockon didn't realise, but this Viper Cluster is at the edge of the galaxy; it's a perfect spot to build fortifications, and eventually a fortress world. Plus, it's a natural garden world that she will take for herself.

"As you wish." The knight nodded before looking at the Turians.

"I do hope we can coordinate with the Spectres, as they want to deal with the black markets that are getting more and more annoying." He explained as his gaze returned to the hologram.

"I will forward whatever data we get. After all, we owe the Spectres a favour."

"You have our thanks, Empress of Sol." Nihlus nodded, satisfied that they were getting such help.

Not only that, they will remove the source of the issue altogether!

"Think nothing of it. It's my job." The Empress looked to the Turian, nodded at him before she looked at Lockon.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, that would be all." The Gundam pilot shook his head.

"Good, then I will proceed to deal with the issue." With a smile, she ended the call.

"...I wasn't expecting her to be that eager to get a Garden world." Lockon was a bit baffled, but then again, women can be like that. The current 'thing' is garden worlds.

Instead of dresses, purses, or high heels, now the Empresses want unique worlds.

And it just turns out there is one not far from Arcturus Stream.

~~~

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