"This is Captain Artetora of the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission; you are in violation of Council laws by entering the Krogan Demilitarized Zone with a military vessel vessel. You are instructed to leave this area, failure to do so will be considered a hostile act, and we will be forced to respond accordingly." Artetora's voice was transmitted to all Ascendency ships above Tuchunka.
The Ascendency battlegroup dubbed Omega-9 consisted of 3 ships that were sent in response of that attack on the research base. One Super Carrier as the command ship with an escort of two Cruisers. The Commander of the battlegroup was Vice Admiral Greer, a seasoned officer who proved himself during the late stages of the Human-Covenant war.
Having heard the demands from Captain Artetora, he replied over the open channel. "This is Vice Admiral Greer of the Imperial Ascendency," he declared. "We are here in direct response to an unprovoked attack on a research facility under our jurisdiction. We're here to ensure that such attacks do not happen again."
While Artetora knew the reason for the Ascendency sending ships into the DMZ, she also knew the ramifications of simply allowing the Ascendency to do whatever they wanted in Council space. Plus, it was their fault for establishing a research base on another race's world located in Council space. If anything, they were at fault for not taking such a thing into consideration.
"While I understand your reasons Vice Admiral, you are still breaking Council laws. The Ascendency has no jurisdiction in this zone. Your presence here is a violation and must cease immediately."
Greer sighed hearing this response. Ever since they entered this new galaxy, they have been constantly pestered by the Citadel Council over violations of Council Laws which were sometimes unreasonable laws that made no sense, or they were just too restrictive.
Luckily, they came to this galaxy to make friends and discover other races, if not then he could imagine that the Citadel Council wouldn't even exist right now.
"Captain Artetora," Greer began. "While I respect your adherence to the Council's laws, I must remind you that there is a bigger picture here. A research facility under our jurisdiction has been attacked. Lives are at stake including that of the Empress who is down there. The Ascendency will not stand idle. I say this with the utmost respect to you and your fleet, we will not move our ships from this position until those who have attacked us are dead, so you can attempt to take aggressive actions, but in doing so you invite the downfall of the Council."
While he said with utmost respect, Artetora still heard the threats in the Vice Admiral's statement. She took a moment and contacted the Council as she didn't want to be the cause of a galactic war.
At the same time, Vice Admiral Greer had just received a report from the surface that all the Mercenaries were defeated with some being taken alive for interrogation. As this report came in, he also received new orders.
Various targets of interests that had some sort of hand in planning, organizing, or funding the attack were discovered and he was tasked with heading into the Terminus systems to conduct intelligence operations against these targets.
On Captain Artetora end, the tension in her meeting the the council was something that she had rarely seen before. The Turians and Salarians demanded aggressive actions be taken for violating council laws while the Asari Councilor argued for a more diplomatic approach to things.
The Turian Councilor wanted a conflict to start so the research facility could be taken out, while the Salarian Councilor was more worried about the repercussions this violation would cause within the region. The Krogan could start to become more aggressive and courage after finding out that the Ascendency was allowed to violate council laws without any kick back from the Council.
However, during the meeting, Vice Admiral Greer had came back on the open channel. "Captain Artetora, I will be taking my leave now as other matters require my attention, the military forces on the ground will be returned to my ship and you won't have to make a stupid decision that could escalate into a war." With that, he cut off the communication channel, leaving Artetora in silence.
She wondered why all of sudden he was leaving after what he said a few minutes ago. Still, she reported what the Vice Admiral said to the council and the meeting had ended.
About half an hour later as said, Vice Admiral Greer had left the orbit of Tuchunka after his ground forces had returned. Artetora breathed a sigh of relief as she didn't have to do order her fleet to start a galactic war.
———
Within the Terminus systems, various Ascendency ships were assigned to a certain region and tasked with conducting operations to gather more intelligence against the long list of individuals that had a hand in organizing the attack on the Empress.
Numerous elite Special forces, and recon squads were deployed within these regions and assigned targets to gather evidence of their involvement and eventually find the true mastermind behind the plan.
Meanwhile, back in the Ascendency's home galaxy, a massive wormhole had been discovered near the edge of the galaxy. Where the wormhole leads were a mystery as the readings it was giving off were off the charts, to say the least. Already a research team had gone through the wormhole but contact with them was lost. They were instructed to return should they lose communications, but they never did.
As a result, the wormhole was considered off limits until they learned where it led and what happened to the team that they sent through it.
On the other side of the wormhole, the research ship found themselves drifting in space for a few minutes as the power to their ship was deactivated for a few minutes before it turned back on. Luckily the backup power kicked on to preserve the oxygen, if not then they might have died during the minutes that the power was out.
Once the power came back, they started doing damage assessments and trying to figure out what knocked the power out. They also tried to go back through the wormhole, but for some reason it wasn't their anymore.
The Wormhole was only a one-way route which they could never have known without going through it. Normally they would panic since they were now cut off from their galaxy, but they signed up for this task and knew the dangers when they took it. For now, all they could do was learn where they were at.