Relay 314 Incident/War of Citadel Aggression
"This just in, it appears a Turian patrol fleet has encountered a new species of aliens attempting to activate Relay 314. The commander of the fleet assures me they will have the situation dealt with swiftly. More on this as it breaks." Asari news anchor, start of the War.
On April 23rd 2576 the seventh expeditionary fleet, heading from Shanxi towards a new system, encountered a new alien species. The encounter was breif and extremely hostile, ending in the complete destruction of the Confederate fleet and the beginning of the War of Citadel Aggression. The Aliens, later known as Turians, traced the confederate fleets vectors towards Shanxi and, following Citadel Law regarding activation of mass relays, launched a strike. Arriving at Shanxi, the Turians found not some backwater new alien species to be taken into the hierarchy, like had happened a few times before already, but rather they found a galactic powerhouse, fully capable of rivaling the Citadel Races. Forced into retreat the Turians called for reinforcements, the Confederates launching a counterstrike of their own. More and more fleets from both sides got involved. The confederates, having enjoyed almost two hundred years of peace since the Cast Uprising, swiftly put their production towards military matters. The Turians and the rest of the Citadel, having lived in general peace for thousands of years, were much slower to respond. Initially thinking the confederates were just some backwater species they failed to take the situation seriously, giving the confederates several early victories. One such victory, the Second battle of Relay 314, resulted in a complete rout of the Citadel fleet sent to "Contain the Upstarts" as the words went amongst the council races. Soon, however, the confederate advance stalled, military losses became harder to replace with each victory. The citadel faced a similar situation, and soon a stalemate occurred. This stalemate was broken by the Turian attack on Carida, a system of great strategic importance recently taken by Confederate forces. While the confederate fleet in orbit was defeated swiftly, the ground forces held out much longer. Finding their ground based foe dug in and waiting for them the Turians and their Auxiliary forces were hard pressed, indeed fighting on Carida would last for much of the war until the Treaty of the Citadel finally brought peace. Afterwards saying "I Was on Carida" would be a bad ass boast on both sides. As the front line rolled back and forth in the open, another type of war was waged behind the curtains, Confederate Special Intelligence Service against Citadel Spectres and Salarian STG operatives. Eventually CSIS gained a vital breakthrough, enabling a direct strike against the very heart of their tenacious Foes: The Citadel Itself. The Citadel Strike was masked by several other feints and strikes all along the front, drawing forces away from the Citadel itself, culminating in the Ninth Confederate Fleet, led by Admiral Zorah, launching an all out strike. Amidst the panic of finding a large enemy fleet right on their doorstep C-Sec failed to noticed the small strike crafts, until it was too late. While fighting valiantly, and let it never be said that C-Sec are cowards, lack of proper military hardware and fighting foes the felt no pain, able to hack their cyber hardware, and able to transform into horrendous beasts C-Sec soon found itself beaten back. Although local Spectres were able to regain some ground the enemy forces were simply too numerous. Thus were the Councillors forced to the negotiation table, the peace which would be signed one week after the Battle for the Citadel, would not be in favor for the Council. It had been the Councillors hope to force a favorable truce, perhaps even bring the newcomers as the latest citadel race. All of these hopes were dashed, the Confederate ambassadors having little to no interest in joining.
Jane Sheppard surveyed her essay with a critical eye and a frown. Perhaps choosing the War of Citadel Aggression as her project hadn't been all that good... Finding unbiased information that didn't blame either side had been stupidly hard. Her mother had said it was the fault of several. The Turians were at fault for not warning about the breach of Citadel Law in the first place. The Asari were guilty of wanting to force a favorable outcome that would strengthen all council races. The Salarians were more interested in obtaining Tech rather than fighting the foe, though granted the war was already well underway before their fighting style could be properly utilized. Meanwhile the confederates were guilty of greatly overstepping its boundaries, though lately it was called a Show of Force, telling the rest of the Galaxy not to mess with them... The resultant Cold War had made a lot of people unhappy, resentment running high on both sides. Every now and then there would be a news report about some border skirmish, lately Batarian pirates had taken to raiding Confederate space... And the Citadel refused to take action. Using the pirate raids to weaken the confederacy some said. Yawning Jane decided to look for more information tomorrow, now it was time to sleep.
AN: Maybe not very good, but its the best I could make. Then again, this is meant to be taken as a sort of In-Universe document written by The Sheppard at a young age, its also meant to show some of her thoughts, for example her desire to be as unbiased as possible in regards to the war and stuff... Sorry, Rambling. As always, PM if you want something added to the Cold War Universe, or don't.
