Do not own Mass Effect. Did not write Mass Effect.

Warning: this narrative will make you Rage. If you succumb to elaborate revenge fantasies, genocidal proclamations, or lose vision in a blood red haze of blood lust, this story may not be good for you.

Edit: Removed awful typos. Disappointed no one noticed the name puns.

Renegade Reinterpretations

Cerberus Daily News (1/?)

01/12/2011 - Undocumented Human Colony Found in Alpha Centauri System

"Alliance headquarters on Arcturus Station is buzzing about an unusual incident tonight. Information is still sketchy, but it appears asari explorers have alerted Alliance leadership to a previously unknown colony of humans in the Alpha Centauri system. The asari were monitoring a primitive alien species on a planet in the region when they were ambushed by what sensors indicated as a human party, who took at least one Asari scientist prisoner. Rather than intervene and potentially inflame the situation, the asari contacted Alliance leadership to maintain peace. But as one Alliance source confided, that's easier said than done. The source explained: "The thing is, we can't find any record of these people. None. Even our data on the sector only suggests uninhabitable planets So what are they doing out there?" Further details will follow as the situation develops."

01/13/2011 - Alliance Links Lost Colony with First Contact War

"Surprising details have emerged about recently-discovered human colonists in the Alpha Centauri system who captured an asari scientist. Alliance ships performed a reconnaissance overflight of the planet in question and gathered details about technology used by the Humans involved to develop a clearer picture. An Alliance source explained: "These people are literally a lost colony in every sense of the word. We're 95% certain these are the descendants of a Vault colony, from the First Contact War." A human extranet check reveals that the Vault project was an emergency Human colonization project managed between the Alliance and the Human-Survival group Task Force Cerberus during the First Contact War, in case Earth was ever discovered and conquered by the Batarian Hegemony: intended not as tools of the war effort but as last refuge in the face of defeat, Vault colonies relied on secrecy by subterranean development and strict bans on any form of external communication. Even more notable with the Vaults was not only the lack of external transmitters, but also the absence of the easily-detectable sort of receivers that could detect galactic transmissions or even radio waves from Earth, less than a dozen lightyears away. While the Alliance reclaimed and declared its Vault colonies after the Armistice in response to STG discovery of the original program, alien observers had always questioned whether all Vault colonies had been acknowledged, a charge Human representatives had always denied… until today, if Alliance suspicions prove true."

01/14/2011 - Alliance to Attempt Contact with Alpha Centauri Colony

"An effort is underway today in the Alpha Centauri system as Alliance specialists work to establish contact with a Vault colony from the Human First Contact War which took an Asari scientist prisoner. Mission Commander Jon Hayes said: "As near as we can tell, these people slipped through the cracks. Even the classified data on them was most likely lost during the Terran Blitz, if it wasn't deleted during the near-defeat during the First Battle of Acturius as part of some contingency protocol. As Vault colonies were designed for maximum secrecy, including the lack of any large-scale receivers that could be detected from orbit, it's entirely possible they have no idea what's happened in the galaxy for the last 110 years. Add on that they may have been instructed to view any subsequent Human contact as that of coerced slaves of the Hegemony, and we're treating it as a first contact situation." Accompanying the military will be experts from a variety of fields, including sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, psychologists, geneticists, and a host of supporting medical personnel. One such specialist commented "The thing every Vault colonists is stressed above all else is that they may well be the last bastion of Humanity, and that any outside Humans might well be Batarian slaves claiming not to be. It's impossible to tell what mindset these people have, or even at what period in the War they went silent: it's like a time capsule, with no way of knowing when it was sealed until you open it up."

01/15/2011 - Alpha Centauri Colony Mission Begins in Violence, Crash

"The mission to establish contact with a Vault human colony from the Human First Contact War bore bitter fruit this week. According to Commander Jon Hayes, an Alliance ship landing far from a suspected colony entrance was crippled by previously undetected defenses."We didn't want a whole armada of ships descending from the sky to spook these people, and so chose to send a single ship first." Nevertheless, the colonists feared an attack, and opened fire with an anti-aircraft laser. "As a direct-energy weapon, kinetic barriers provided no defense, and the engines of the ship were crippled to the point that an emergency landing was required. With five members of the crew suffering considerable injuries, the ranking officer chose to surrender himself to the colonists in order to clear misunderstandings." Orbital surveillance observed armored figures taking the officer into custody, and eventually returning to take the ship's crew as well. One military expert suggested that the selection of weaponry indicated that the colony came from an earlier phase of the war: "Laser weapons, while impractical compared to conventional mass effect technology, were a colony defense of choice during the early phases of the war due to their ability to bypass kinetic barriers. Due to energy costs they were strictly ground-based, but were later phased out during the AC 60's when ground-based e-zero anti-air MACs became more effective at simply overpowering kinetic barriers then ground-lasers were at damaging the hulls. This suggests on older colony, possibly ordered to go silent during the piracy era.""

01/16/2011 – Information Released as Vault Colonists Communicate with Alliance

"More news today out of the Alpha Centauri system, where an Alliance mission to make contact with a lost Vault colony from the First Contact War has been taken prisoner alongside the Asari scientists they were sent to assist. According to mission Commander Jon Hayes, tentative contact between the Colony and the Alliance has been made through the captured Alliance soldiers. "Our men and women report that they have been treated well, if cautiously, and that the Colonists have provided medical treatment to the wounded. They also report that the Asari scientists in question is alive, if shaken." When asked about the attitude of the colonists, "They are extremely cautious, and rightfully so: from what we understand, they received their total-silence orders during the First Battle of Acturius. They are more than a little skeptical about our history since, and have repeatedly made clear that any further approaches will be met with violence, Human or not." When asked what the Alliance was doing in response, "We are taking this very slowly and cautiously. We are currently investigating to see if anyone related to the colonists, anyone still living who even knows about this colony and might be still alive, could step forward as a reliable advocate. Otherwise, we're offering the Colonists as much information as we can. One thing that we have going for ourselves is that now that the Colonists know they are found, they can't continue to hide: if we were hostile, they would fight to the last, but because we aren't they are far more willing to talk.""

01/18/2011 - Asari Prisoner Released as Vault Colonists Cooperate with Alliance

"Good news from Alpha Centari, where a Human Vault colony has been engaged in a tense standoff with Alliance negotiators. In a surprising development, Alliance officials reported the release of the Asari scientist and captive Alliance soldiers by the colony which had cut off all contact and reception with the galaxy since AC 39. "To say these people are in a state of shock would be an understatement," said Commander Jon Hayes. "Nearly 120 years of history has passed them by, and for every one of them they've feared the First Contact War was lost. When they received their last orders from Earth, Acturius Station was nearly in Batarian hands and Earth exposed to the Hegemony. The colonists' asari prisoner has been released, and is stable condition. "They were understandably spooked by the Asari. Who wouldn't be, seeing an alien which looks like a blue human woman for the first time? In fact, I want to personally thank the asari for her restraint in this matter. Trying to fight her way out would have been obvious and understandable, but once she understood the situation these people were in, she was patient and let the Alliance resolve the situation. I'd also like to congratulate and honor the brave Alliance servicemen and women who also kept their cool despite coming under hostile fire: their composure and willingness to enter dialogue saved the lives of many of their fellow humans." With the colonists now permitting Alliance experts to descend and enter the subterranean colony, sociologists are now working with the colonists to determine the best course of action for the future."

01/19/2011 – Alpha Centari Colony 'a Cloning Mega-Colony', Accounts Witnesses

"Closure seems to evade the Vault Colony of Alpha Centari, as reports continue to flow out of the Human Vault colony that cut off all contact with the galaxy in the face of a looming Human defeat in the First Contact War. According to one official who declined to be named, the Vault colony dwarfed all expectations in terms of size and content. "When we arrived, we thought we were looking at a colony of five, maybe six digit population figures. Enough to provide a breeding population, but small enough for a small underground shelter colony and the industry to sustain it, to remain hidden for an indefinite period. Then we flew into an artificial cavern the size of the Citadel and saw the cloning facilities. There are more colonists down there than there are Quarians in the galaxy, and they had the military of a small Terminus state."According to Nupa Sisht, a Batarian analyst serving in the Alliance military, "While the scale is surprising, the discovery is not. As far as Vault colonies go, Alpha Centari is a poor selection for location: it would only be a matter of time until a victorious Hegemony would explore such a nearby system and looked at the planet. What it would make, however, is an acceptable staging ground for a retribution campaign well after the war was thought to be over, but before likely Batarian colonization. Even a technologically weak Human fleet would still be a problem to an unprepared Hegemony, while the presence of an undiscovered bastion might motivate Human slaves to rise up and resist. The Alpha Centari colony was less a Vault to preserve Humanity, and more of an Armory to continue the war… but this also begs a bigger question. How many other Armory colonies has the Alliance 'lost'?""

01/22/2011 – Alliance Faces Questions From Citadel Over 'Armory' Colonies

As the scale of the Alpha Centari colony continues to be revealed, the Alliance faces increasing questions about the nature and scope of its so-called 'Armory' colony project, Vault colonies that cutoff all contact with the wider galaxy as they built up military forces to resume the war decades or even centuries later. In a rare showing of universal public rebuke, Salarian, Turian, and Asari diplomats issued a joint statement: "While we are relieved at the peaceful resolution to the Alpha Centari incident, and are mindful of the contexts facing the Alliance at the time, the development of hidden cloning facilities capable of generating war potential at such scale is deeply troubling. Even more irresponsible was the intent these colonies were created with: to blindly restart and continue a war without regards to context or developed history, and in this case against a long-vanquished enemy. What preparations or precautions did the Alliance take in regards to the Khar'shan Conflict? Is the galaxy at risk of a new Traverse Campaign from Humans who have been blocked from hearing about the peace? We strongly urge the Alliance to investigate into these colonies, and warn that any deliberate deception to perpetuate such colonies will be unacceptable." Despite the strong words, Volus analyst Ekoj Daba was not impressed. "It's doubtful the Alliance is deliberately covering up such colonies, especially after the STG and the Shadow Broker penetrated the original Vault program so thoroughly. And it's also unlikely that the Council fears the a Human fleet will show up at the Citadel in a repeat of the 5th Fleet Campaign: by the time Humans were in contact with the wider galaxy, the Alliance already had developed basic Quantum-Entanglement Communication and would have almost certainly installed such a undetectable means of communication between the Alliance and even its most secret colonies. No, what they truly fear is why neither they or the Alliance were aware of any Armory colonies despite the prior infiltration of the Vault project. That suggests a Cerberus parallel project that wasn't discovered: with war industry hidden underground and cloning facilities to supply numbers, and with the availability of QEC to maintain contact without risk of interception or detection, an organization like Cerberus could support a hidden empire of secret colonies and military bases across the galaxy, constantly building up even as they wait for the order to deploy. That's a scenario that would keep the STG or anyone else up at night.""