Battlefield: Wars of the Systems Alliance

by GreaterGoodIreland

Humanity is no stranger to war. For thousands of years, human fought human, and once we reached for the stars, it was no different. Attacked by aliens, threatened from within by separatists, menaced by an ancient enemy, we fought and triumphed. A documentary following the conflicts of humanity after discovery of the mass effect. ME with the background of Battlefield 2142, BF2183 AU

4. MINDOIR: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

Major-General Francesa de Santos, Commanding Officer, 737th Infantry Divsion (SAF), XXXVI Legion, Mindoir Garrison

Born in Chile, de Santos first served in combat during the 2139-45 Cold War as a lieutenant in the Army of the South American Federation. Her combat record in that war includes the only successful boarding action against an American titan, where her platoon successfully breached the titan's interior and destroyed its reactor core before escaping. She was captured soon after, and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in the United States. Upon release at the war's end, she discovered that she was something of a minor celebrity for her actions, and was promoted to Captain. With the formation of the Alliance military, she was transferred to the combined military hierarchy of humanity as one of South America's contributions to the officer corps.

By the outbreak of the First Contact War, De Santos had reached the rank of Major and was commanding a company of paratroopers from her native Chile. The infantry division to which it was attached was one of those selected for the assault to liberate Shan'xi, and her company was assigned to guard the flank of the famous Task Force Wizna during its main push against turian forces. Her performance during this conflict was followed in the post-war years with several actions against pirates, for which she was repeatedly promoted. With a reputation for cunning as well as a healthy regard for air and space assets, she was well regarded in the Alliance military from all quarters.

It was this reputation that brought De Santos to Mindoir. While entirely unaware about exactly what was about to happen, the Alliance's intelligence networks had picked up all the signs of a major batarian offensive. Mindoir's defences were in the worst shape of all those designated as vulnerable to attack, and De Santos, now a Major-General, was given command of the 737th Infantry Division of the South American Federation. Assigned to get the garrison and militia forces into shape, she worked with her customary energy, firing incompetent colonial officials, optimising deployments of both her own forces and those of the militia, and insuring that every position in the garrison could hold out against attack until relieved either by her own troops or Alliance reinforcements. It was these foresighted preparations that would help to save approximately a quarter of Mindoir's population from slavery, the only silver lining the Alliance were to grasp in the aftermath of the battle.

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General Khasvan Gadnalak, Chief Commander, 3rd Corps, Batarian External Forces

Not much is known about the origins and life of the man who led the attack on Mindoir. This is largely due extensive damage inflicted on the batarian worlds during the Reaper War, when significant amounts of records were lost and not backed up. Furthermore, every person that knew him is dead and the man himself remains missing to this day. It is presumed that he died in 2184, though this presumption remains impossible to prove.

What is known is largely derived from propaganda and scraps of records recovered from refugees. Gadnalak was a hardliner loyalist who shared Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra's view that batarians should be dominant in the Verge and throughout the Traverse, and was the organiser of many of the raids designed to test Alliance defences. Given his rank and the unit he commanded, it can be safely assumed that he had spent a great deal of his career on infiltration and combat missions in the Terminus Systems. It is also said that he was born into a lower caste than many batarian commanders, but was raised higher due to his competence in intelligence gathering and in combat.

For the battle of Mindoir, a truly remarkable story circulates to this day in batarian rebel circles. It is said that on the eve of the attack on the colony, Gadnalak visited it under a false name and personally walked the streets of its capital, New Omaha. While this seems absurd at first glance, surviving colonial registration records for the spaceport on Mindoir do confirm that a single batarian visited and left only days before the assault. If the story is true, it demonstrates the General's remarkable nerve, a trait that would serve him well during the battle. His ultimate fate no one will ever know for certain, but his actions on Mindoir will continue to make him one of the most notorious figures in galactic history for many years to come.