Sayran, Conglomerate Space
Pers'Av's ship would deorbit, enter the atmosphere of Sayran and followed the escorts towards the Board Complex, the capital building of Sayran. As his ship touched down on a nearby landing pad, Pers'Av would order his guards to remain on the ship, as he did not expect to be harmed during this meeting (though if he needed them, he would contact them). He was armed with a laser pistol for personal protection. As he exited the ship, Pers'Av saw several Lyrvirks step forward, who appeared to look exactly like Cho'Dosans. Pers'Av knew that this was a Conglomerate formality, but it made him rather uncomfortable; he preferred to see them for who they really were. One of the Lyrvirks stepped forward and spoke in fluid Cho'Dosan (which also disturbed him), and he took the transceiver that was offered.
Surrounded by guards, they entered the Complex and walked to the Grand Room, where many Conglomerate officials were seated. At the end of the table was a large holoscreen, where the eleven Directors of the Conglomerate appeared. As usual, they were silhouetted and their voices were distorted.
"Before we begin, you are aware of our upcoming war with the Galactic Alliance, correct?" Pers'Av asked. "The Reformer Administration believes that you could...benefit greatly from this war."
Iso'ko had been locked up in a pitch black cell for days. He had been unconscious for some time, even after the Maug-Lai stopped his bleeding; when he woke up, he did not know where he was, what time of day it was, or even the current date. He could not walk due to the paralysis in the lower half of his body, and he could only crawl by using the strength in both of his arms. There was something soft on the bottom of the cell, but he couldn't identify what it was. He only knew for certain that he was locked up when the Maug-Lai occasionally came to give him food. The food was rather bland, but the admiral was so hungry that he didn't care and ate it eagerly. He noticed that his armor, weapons, and comlink had been confiscated, but he noticed that they left his universal translator, presumably so that he would be able to understand them.
Eventually, two figures, a Tagali male and a Taani female entered the room. A drone lit up the room, allowing the admiral to see them. The Tagali man introduced himself as Operative Saeed and his colleague as Yiima. As Saeed rambled on, suddenly, Yiima used her psionic powers to lift the admiral up off of the ground. His left arm extended out and began to twist. The sound of his bones twisting was amplified in his mind by Yiima's powers. She then dropped him back to the ground. The admiral did not appear to even be phased by it- sure it hurt, but the admiral was a tough man, and was certainly not easy to intimidate. He simply snapped his arm back into place, knowing that it would heal eventually. Even his spine would heal on its own eventually, but it would of course take much longer.
The admiral simply chuckled in laughed face. "You people are comical, I promise," he said while still laughing. "You view yourselves as high and mighty because of your 'democratic' and 'free' principles, yet your military is more than willing to torture and kill POW's. How your pathetic nation manages to keep itself together is beyond me."
Iso'ko would raise up against the cell wall. "You can blame your incompetent government as the reason I am here. We deal regularly with pirates crossing into the frontier of Cho'Dosan space and raiding merchant vessels and even settlements, killing thousands in the process. We have tried diplomacy, but that appears to have been a waste of time. So, having been fed up with these raids, we decided to lend you a helping hand by taking out these damned pirates. And of course, it escalated from there."
"Covenant High Command has been twiddling its thumbs regarding this issue, but now that you have defeated an entire Covenant fleet, it will almost certainly result in war. Whatever the Maug-Lai do to me and my subordinates will only give the Reformers even more of a reason to go to war with you, and the Maug-Lai will especially be dealt with...harshly. Relations between our two nations are already cold, but now, I would advise you to prepare for the coming storm."
News of the surrender of Iso'ko's fleet and the admiral himself shocked the public. Surrender was viewed as dishonorable in Cho'Dosan culture, and as a result, the reputations of Iso'ko and everyone under his command had been tarnished. Furthermore, the admiral had invaded Maug-Lai space against High Command's orders. Overlord Asir was seething with rage upon being informed of the news; the Covenant had been building up its military for a future war against the Galactic Alliance, and the recent battle essentially threw a monkey wrench in Asir's plans. He had no current desire to engage the Federation, but he knew that if he backed down, it would only be a further embarrassment for the Covenant, and he would be viewed as weak by the people.
The day after the battle, Asir called for an emergency meeting with the Reformed Council. Asir did not address the nation himself about the issue and did not even declare war on the Federation. Instead, his plan was to keep the conflict limited to a border war, so that in the eventual peace negotiations, the Covenant would be equals with the Federation. Covenant High Command activated the Rapid Response Protocol, a policy that had been in place since the end of the Zorgon Invasion; it allowed the military to quickly respond to an invasion, a rebellion, or other serious incidents without formal approval of the central government. High Command authorized a full armada (20 fleets or 2,400 warships) to be sent into the Chal system in retaliation for the destruction of the fleet. The armada, under the command of High Admiral Lum'ya Temarch, made use of the gate system to move rapidly to the frontier of Covenant space before departing to the Chal system.
Meanwhile, Asir and the Council addressed another incident. chancellor Vestus of the Galactic Alliance had called for war against the Greater Krasitkan Union, and the Alliance Senate voted in agreement. This was the perfect situation for the Covenant; the GKU was too weak to directly confront the Alliance, and was likely to resort to guerrilla warfare in order to bog down the Alliance Military. To further hamper the Alliance war effort, Asir planned to provide war material and funding to the GKU, so that they would at least be technologically on par with the Alliance forces.
Asir would send an encrypted message to the GKU regarding the issue.
From the Office of the Overlord
To: Ereanas Sxhtra, Supreme Leader of the Greater Krasitkan Union
Maximum Level of Encryption
Greetings Supreme Leader,
I am contacting you regarding the current war between the Galactic Alliance and the GKU. The Covenant wishes to supply your nation with war material (ranging from ground weaponry to naval warships, as well as other supplies such as food) and funding for this war. While the Covenant will not send in its own forces due to the current situation with the Tagali Federation, we nevertheless wish to assist your nation against this unjust war that the Alliance has started.
Overlord Asir Av'Lya, head of state of the Reformed Covenant