Interesting Times

March 3, 2160

21:49 SET

Citadel, Presidium

The texture of the fish I was eating held a certain crunchiness that was different from what I was used to but not necessarily bad, just like the flavored water I had, which tasted a bit like lemons.

While taking a sip of my water, I let my view wander over the other people in the room. Twenty people were in the main room of the residence we had rented, me included. Around half of them were like me, members of the Alliance government. The rest were soldiers here to protect us. This time there were only two N7 soldiers. One of them would act as my bodyguard while the other coordinated the rest of the marines.

It had been decided that sending enough N7 to guard all officials and the residence would be a waste of resources, and while there were plans to create a division inside the AIS responsible for all kinds of personal security, they were still in the planning phase.

But it wasn't the soldiers who held my attention, my focus was on the other officials.

Six men and women, each with their own aide or secretary, were sent with me to the Citadel. Everyone had their own task, and as far as I knew, they were doing their jobs well. Be it the acquiring of goods like standard Omni-tools, the gathering of information, or the negotiation of minor deals, everyone gave their best effort to support and strengthen the Alliance.

The most surprising, at least to me, was how they all looked to me for advice and leadership. For example, Denice Treadwock asked me how to best approach the talks concerning access to the extranet and connecting our communications network with that of the Citadel.

I had advised her to concentrate on the fact that a stable communication network between the Alliance and the rest of the Citadel would work in favor of both sides. Furthermore, she should decline any premade communication beacons and instead get the blueprints since we could not be sure if they had additional functions or not. The temptation to spy on our communication could be too great to resist. Even the blueprints would end up more as a reference than an instruction. Our comm-buoys were like those of the Citadel based on Prothean tech, so upgrading them to Citadel standard would not be difficult.

Denice Treadwock wasn't the only one that came to me for advice. Over the course of the week, I had given tips or discussed topics with the others as well.

At first, I didn't understand why and thought it was because I had been to the Citadel before, but that hadn't been the reason.

Those that hadn't been long with the Alliance came to me because I was, as they said, a member of the first hour, something that wasn't completely correct since I joined the Alliance almost two years after its founding, but it sounded good, so I let it stand.

The other officials had a different reason.

They had been part of the Alliance almost as long as I had been, or, in the case of Terrance Rocksen, even longer. Their reason to discuss their tasks with me was that I was part of the inner circle of the Alliance, as they called it. I thought it a fitting name for the group Micheal had assembled around him, and I felt proud to belong to such a selected group.

Nonetheless, I did my best to help each of them, finding it no more difficult than managing my businesses.

Just as Anita had said during our last visit to the Citadel, the worlds of politics and business were more alike than most people thought, only the stakes were higher. The lives of billions depended on our decisions, and the more information we had, the easier it would be to make the right choices.

And thinking about gathering information made me call out for Terrance's attention.

"Terrance," I called, and the older gentleman of sixty years turned his head towards me.

His face showed the signs of hard work and age, and the grey in his hair and beard did not make him seem younger, but his blue eyes ave their best to dissuade anybody from thinking him frail. They shined with a youthful light, knowledge, and intelligence apparent in them.

He was a man who came from simple circumstances and had worked hard to get to where he was now. His ambition was like a fire, driving him to do his best, but never to the detriment of others. While some would use their ambition to claw their way to the top, no matter the cost, Terrance used his to the advantage of his fellows. He told me once that his goal had been no more than to get a good job and to have a family, and when he achieved it, he just looked for a new one.

I've had seen many of the no-matter-the-cost people, destroyed a few of them as well, so I knew that Terrance wasn't one of them. That was the reason I had asked him to gather information on possible trade deals for the Alliance.

"Yes, Mr. Denebren, how can I help you?" he asked, his voice deep and a bit grating from his smoking habit.

"Did everything go well with the last transaction?"

Terrance nodded and said:" Yes, everything went well. I sold the eezo, and everyone who requires funds can access them. Interestingly, the Volus I dealt with was more open to haggling than the Turian from the last time, so the deal we got was better than before. Still, I had to promise him to recommend his company to people inside the Alliance."

"That doesn't surprise me. The Volus are seen as shrewd businessmen. He has probably seen the advantage of a favorable first impression on a new species and wants his name known before anyone else. Wouldn't have done anything differently," I commented.

The eezo Terrance spoke of was something we had brought to the Citadel as a means to pay for our lodging, food, and the goods we wanted to ship back to Alliance territory.

One thing that made me curious though was the fact that Terrance said that the Volus merchant had been more open to negotiations about the price for the eezo than the Turian one. It didn't mean that the Turian merchant did not negotiate -he had, in fact- just that the Volus did so more readily.

Over the last week, I used my access to the extranet to research everything that could become helpful in tomorrow's negotiations, and there was one thing that I took note of. Namely, everyone showed characteristics of their species, no matter their birthplace. An Asari born on Thessia was different from one born on Illium, yet both showed similar characteristics. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case with one born out in the Terminus systems, as well.

Until Terrance remembered me of it, I had banished it from my mind.

I called for my personal aide with a quick gesture, and he was by my side almost instantly.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Denebren?" asked Mike Barns respectfully.

Mike Barns was a young man of twenty-five years with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. He hadn't been in my employment for more than three months but proved himself to be invaluable already.

Naturally, he had been checked by the AIS for any inconsistencies.

It didn't matter which task I gave him, he always got them done quickly and efficiently with nothing to complain about.

Sometimes I felt like he was more like a butler with the tasks I gave him than the aide or secretary he was, but when I told him so, he had laughed and said that I paid enough that he didn't mind.

"Please get into contact with Director Clark when we get back to Alliance space," I said, and I could already see how Mike had his PDA in his hand, ready to write down the message.

"I would like an AIS analyst to compile a list of professors and doctors in the field of history, art, sociology, anything that has even distantly to do with culture. That's all."

"Of course, Mr. Denebren. I will get into contact with Director Clark's secretary as soon as possible."

While it was no secret that Andrew and I met occasionally, we had decided to keep our friendship to ourselves, else there would be people who would become nervous, and that was something that had to be prevented.

"If I may ask, why are you asking for that list, Mr. Denebren?" asked Denice Treadwock.

She was one of the rather new members of the Alliance. She had been part of the infrastructure branch of the Alliance for only a year but had been promoted to head the communications division due to her prior work in the private sector, her doctorate in telecommunications helped with that.

"I want to know how the individual societies of the Citadel came to be. If we know their origins, it will help us understand how they think," I answered.

"And why are professors of art included in that list?" she asked further while playing with a strand of her brown hair that came free of her strict hairdo.

"Art is an expression of oneself," I answered with a smile. "If we look, for example, at how the Asari expressed themselves a thousand years ago and put it into contrast with how they do today, that can give us a clue on how they think."

"Mr. Denebren is right, Ms. Treadwock," said Terrance. He had followed our short exchange with interest and had nodded in agreement to what I had said. "To know one's origin and their life until now is the first step in predicting how someone would react. And it works for individuals, too. But perhaps, Mr. Denebren, you should include religious experts as well. Faith and belief have played an important role in the development of human society, and as far as I know, the other species, the Asari and Turians especially, have religions as well. It could be interesting to see how much they influenced their thinking."

Terrance was making a good point I hadn't considered. With a side glance, I could see how Mike put his PDA away, and he gave me a nod when he noticed me looking at him, signaling that he had added religious experts to the list already.

When I turned my attention back to Terrance and Denice, I saw them engaged in a discussion about how culture influenced people and decided to participate in it.

While I would have loved to discuss the topic some more with them, a look at my watch showed me that it was already time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow's negotiations were quite early for Citadel standards, and they were not something I wanted to attend even a bit tired. Depending on the terms negotiated, our economy could either crash for a time or be allowed to grow strong enough to not get swept away by the other galactic powers.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to excuse myself, Ms. Treadwock, Mr. Rocksen. I need my sleep. Tomorrow will be an exhausting day," I said.

Terrance just waved my apology off and said:" It's no problem, Mr. Denebren. We will have enough opportunities to continue our discussion in the next few days. After all, we'll stay on the Citadel for another week."

I just smiled at his words and proceeded to wish the people remaining in the room a good night.

The way to my room was thankfully short, and after I finished undressing and washing, I fell into my bed and slept like a stone in minutes.

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March 4, 2160

9:47 SET

Citadel, Presidium

While I appeared outwardly calm, the inside was a whole other story. I had known from the beginning that my negotiation partner could be arrogant and look down on my species for being relatively young, but this was getting ridiculous.

A powerplay was something I had expected. I would have done the same if I had been in their position, after all, it was the Alliance that would gain more in the long run from joining the galactic economy.

Nonetheless, I had also expected more subtlety from them. Coming late to a meeting was fine, so long it wasn't more than ten minutes, but to keep someone waiting for more than half an hour, well, saying to my face that I was nothing more than a primate would have worked just as well.

I took a deep breath and focused my mind on the information I had gathered via the extranet.

There was no doubt that the STG monitored all extranet activities of our delegation, but I had instructed everyone to limit their research via the extranet to history, music, laws, and so on. To the STG it would seem like we were trying to learn more about the galaxy, which wasn't wrong per se, but everything we learned about them could help us in myriad ways.

For me, it had been the fact that the economy of the Elcor crashed the moment their market opened to foreign interests.

When I read about the details, I couldn't help but laugh. One day they were two markets, the next, they were one. No limitations to foreign investors, no time to let the markets adapt to each other, was it any surprise that most of their companies were bought up by foreign investors in the blink of an eye? The disparity between the financial power between the two markets had been as big as the technological difference between the Neanderthals and the Reapers!

Alright, that was an extreme example, but it made clear what I was trying to say.

In the economic circles, they called it the Crash of the Courts.

There were many papers written about it, discussing what went wrong and what could have been done better, and I had done my best to read as many as possible before today to perhaps use them in the negotiations.

Asari, Turian, Salarian, hell, I've even read one from a Batarian about it.

Still, the more I read about the Crash of the Courts, the more I was convinced that there had been a plan behind it. Nobody would have been that much of an idiot to let that happen. The markets of the Citadel didn't come out of it unscathed either, stocks falling through the whole of Citadel space. The repercussions had been felt for another hundred years, and only then had the stocks risen to the level from before the Crash.

In the end, I found the answer when I looked at who owned most of the businesses that were in Elcor space.

79% of all companies had Asari shareholders, and 32% even had Asari as majority shareholders.

If I had looked deeper, I would have probably found that they were all connected to an Asari matriarch, and those matriarchs probably knew each other as well.

Is there a better way to control someone than to hold their economy hostage?

For that reason alone, I had to make sure that our economy could grow strong enough fast so that when the inevitable crash came, and it would come, there was no doubt, it would just become a minor inconvenience.

Just as I had finished organizing my thoughts and calmed down enough to not let my anger get the better of me, the door to the meeting room opened, and an Asari in a flowing dress entered with a Volus just a step behind her.

She smiled as she saw me, and I had to stop myself from cringing. If she thought her smile looked genuine, then she was quite the fool. While the smile itself looked almost sincere, the look in her eyes destroyed the picture, revealing the fakeness and contempt in them.

The Volus, on the other hand, revealed nothing, his enviro-suit helping him in this regard.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Denebren. Another matter needed our attention," the Asari said sweetly and raised her hand with a movement that was supposed to look elegant, but to me, it looked desperate for attention.

I took her and shook it, a sincere smile on my face, and hopefully, it didn't seem as faked as hers.

Whenever I had to deal with people like her, I thought back to the time when I went camping with my father. The happiness of the memory helped me to hide the contempt I had for people like her.

"I understand," I answered, trying to not let the rest of my anger at her influence my tone. "It is good to meet you, miss."

"Avil, Lenor Avil, Mr. Denebren. And that is Val Dosck" she gestured to the Volus beside her, her tone changing a bit when she mentioned him.

I had, of course, tried to find out who would lead the negotiations concerning the opening of markets, but the best I could do was narrow them down to one of the three Council species. That a Volus would lead the talks concerning the currency issue was a given, every time a new species joined the Citadel, it had been them that would do so.

"Greeting, Earth-clan," said Dosck, the typical sound of his rebreathers accompanied his words.

"To you as well, Mr. Dosck," I answered and took the offered hand.

"Perhaps we should sit and start the meeting, enough time has already been wasted," said Avil as if it hadn't been her fault.

I went back to the place I had been sitting in while I waited, taking a moment to remember what I had found out about Lenor Avil.

Born on Thessia, Matron, her mother, a matriarch, died seventy years ago, got her job shortly after her mother became one, rose slowly through the ranks but hasn't been promoted since her mother died.

It spoke of a woman that got to her position thanks to nepotism but was clever enough to hold it without help.

There wasn't much more that I could find, just a few rumors in online forums, speaking of her as an Asari-Sevja.

It had taken me a few hours to find out what Sevja meant. Apparently, it was a word from an old Thessian dialect that meant something like 'superior' or 'above the others'.

Today it was a label for Asari that thought of their species as above the other galactic civilizations. In other words, she was a racist, or better said, a speciest.

While I never believed rumors that I read about online, the way she acted towards Dosck gave credit to them. It would certainly explain why she stretched the waiting period out so much, wanting to show the 'lesser species' who was on top.

When everyone was sitting at the conference table, Avil nodded once and started to talk.

"As far as I understand, the Alliance wishes to open their markets to Citadel investors?"

"That is true, Ms. Avil," I replied.

"Many people of the Citadel wish the same, Mr. Denebren. That's why I'm here today. Val Dosck will just be an observer during our talks, and when we are finished, he will talk with you about the process to replace your currency with the galactic Credit."

I tried to keep any emotion off my face when she talked. Her voice may have sounded pleasant if it wasn't for the undertones that almost dripped with arrogance.

The fact that she talked with such surety about replacing our currency as if it was a foregone conclusion rankled me.

"The necessary contracts have been sent to you if I'm correct?" she continued without giving me a chance to reply.

"That is correct, too."

"Then the only thing that is needed is your signature as a representative of your government." With that, she slid a datapad across the table, and I took it to read it over.

The contract was the same as the one I acquired almost a year ago during the last time I visited the Citadel.

The Citadel had a lot more experience with opening two completely different economies to each other than humanity, so it would have been stupid to ignore it.

Most of the things written in the contract were pretty standard, nothing that would be out of place if it had been two nations on earth instead.

The only problem was that the financial power of the other species would overpower us in a matter of months if they were given leave to invest in our economy unchecked.

I sighed dramatically and put the datapad back down on the table. My eyes found those of Avil, and I tried my best to look apologetic when I said: "I'm sorry, Ms. Avil, but my government can't accept the contract as it is."

The smile she constantly wore on her face froze for a moment before she asked: "And what point exactly does your government have to reject the contract?"

"Paragraph 37, section 3b, the opening of the stock market to foreign investors. As far as we know, it was this that led to the Crush of the Courts as you call it, didn't it?"

"The Crash was unpreventable, the economy of the Elcor was growing too slow. Even if we had waited for a hundred years, it would have still happened," Avil answered, the bite in her tone concealed but not well enough.

"That's true, Dr. Welk wrote the same in his book, but he also said that if the Elcor had been given thirty to forty years, the repercussions on the Elcor and the Citadel wouldn't have been that great. Have you read his work?"

"Of course, the Salarian makes some good points, but there are also enough works that disprove his position."

"I didn't have enough time to read them all, but I do understand your point. Still, I think the idea of regulated investment would be more practical than other means, Matriarch Lyvara writes about that possibility in her follow-up work to Dr. Welk's thesis. As far as I know, she's currently teaching at Serrice University."

The moment I mentioned the Matriarch, I knew I would get what I want. Avil's eyes widened faintly at the Matriarch's name and her position.

It was one thing to dismiss the paper of a Salarian, but something completely different to do the same to an Asari Matriarch.

Especially with Val Dosck as a witness, if it got back to the Matriarch that a Matron dismissed her paper, there would be probably hell to pay.

"If you want, I can show you her thesis. I believe I have it on my datapad," I said, hammering it home that she had a choice to make.

With a quick side glance, I checked if Val Dosck wanted to add something to the discussion, but he just sat there, patiently waiting for his turn to come. Due to his enviro-suit, I couldn't gauge any reaction from him. He was like a statue.

"What is your counteroffer?" asked Avil finally, coming to a decision.

I could feel my smile becoming more genuine as I slid my own datapad across the table and said: "For a time period of twenty years, the maximum of stocks available for foreign investors is ten percent of any company open to the stock market."

With that opening, the discussions began.

It took almost two hours to come to an agreement and change the contents of the contract accordingly, but in the end, I got what I wanted as a minimum.

The data, I prepared beforehand, to show that anything under ten years of controlled investment could lead to devastating results for the human economy, proved itself invaluable. To go below that would suggest that the Citadel and the Council had an interest in crippling the economy of a species, something that their own citizens wouldn't take well. Especially with the picture of galactic cooperation and peace the Council wanted to show.

In the end, the agreement was that for the next twelve years, the maximum of stocks that could be sold to investors outside of Alliance territory was restricted to 18%.

The moment Avil and I signed the updated contract, she bid farewell to Dosck and me and practically stormed out of the conference room.

I was about to relax in my chair, pleased with my work so far, when Dosck spoke.

"Well played, Earth-clan."

For a moment, I was surprised that the Volus was still in the room. He had been quiet the whole time during my negotiation with Avil, and I had completely forgotten that he was there as well.

"What do you mean, Mr. Dosck?" I asked, trying to sound innocent. If it affected the Volus in any way, I couldn't say, the enviro-suit masking all emotions he may have had. It wouldn't surprise me if they were part of the reason why Volus were such good businessmen.

"I know of the paper that Matriarch Lyvara wrote. It's quite old, I believe she wrote it at the beginning of her Matron phase, still more Maiden than Matron back then. And ever since she entered the later years of her Matron phase, she never lost any word about it again."

"I didn't know that, Vol-clan" I answered with a smile that was as fake as the one Avil had on her face.

I must have done something right because Dosck suddenly sat a bit straighter on his chair and nodded at me.

"It doesn't matter anyway anymore. The contract is signed, and as Miss Avil said to me before the meeting, this was her responsibility, and I should concentrate on mine. And I also think the stability that comes with this deal is better. My people were quite annoyed during and after the Crush. Still, I believe there will be an open position in the future, especially when it is noticed that she made a beginner mistake."

"And what mistake are you speaking of?"

"That she didn't check what kind of years you spoke of."

Dosck's comment brought a smile back to my face. He was right, she didn't ask what kind of year I was talking about, too absorbed in her belief that everything was adjusted to the Citadel standard and thus the Asari standard.

She didn't take into account that a standard Citadel year was around 1.2 years on Earth, the time measurement I was talking about.

That meant the twelve years in the contract were equivalent to 14.4 years on Earth, four more years than we needed to strengthen our economy against the worst repercussions.

"Well," said Dosck, "concerning the exchange rate between your currency and the galactic credit, I think we should use eezo as the base, don't you think?"

"Do you have any data on the supply and demand in Citadel space? It would do us no good if the numbers are too different."

"Of course," he said and put a datapad on the table. "I also took the liberty to compare our units of weight to each other. There are only minor differences, but they could be important later."

I hummed, pleased at Dosck's forethought. "We should also take other precious minerals into account. Gold and platin, for example."

"A good idea, Earth-clan," said Dosck.