After Action Report: Luna Base

Top Secret

Commander Shepard
Commission of Public Security

To: STAVKA, Politburo Defence Commission

Comrades, I am sending this message as a report on the events of last week on the "Florian Geyer" Lunar Combined Arms Training Facility. This mission was given to me directly by Fleet Group Commander Hackett due to its sensitivity, and I was despatched to the Local cluster to deal with the problem. As an attachment, we were joined by elements of an Army special operations force whose name is not at my discretion to mention. The reason for this mission was that a VI had gone rogue and developed full self-awareness on the base, and attacked troops training there. As you know, the base is used to train all armed branches in the intricacies of low-gravity warfare, and as such is equipped with a large amount of live ammunition and training mechs for live-fire rehearsals. The VI had killed half a company of troops after going haywire.

The entire grid of the base was blacked out when we arrived. Unfortunately, due to an emergency fission engine underground the VI would be capable of indefinite operations unless manually deactivated. Because it had control over now-armed training mechs and guided missile drones, an infantry frontal was out of the question. After completing a combat brief and battle procedure in the political instruction chamber of the Dzerzhinsky, I lead the attack. Bourgeois team was placed in a modified Swordfish IFV that would make entry from the base's gate. I deployed with Apex team for low-level drop operations from a Jacobin fightercraft on the east approach. The intent behind this maneuver was to drive the mechs into the walled-off western training area, where they would then be neutralized with fly-by fire from the Dzerzhinsky.

The operation was executed some 30 minutes later at approximately 1841 GMT. Bourgeois team at once ran into trouble when one of their tracks was blown out and their advance stalled. SC Williams and I dropped into combat followed by our alien allies while PC Alenko biotically maneuvered the fightercraft while acting as a supporting door gunner. The suppressed mechs were forced to retreat, while comrade Wrex disabled the alien turret team. Then comrades Garrus and Tali indicated to the Army team, who had formed a proper line of attack, that the inside of the compound was secure, and they remounted into the Swordfish and exhausted its mass effect fields to put it between us and the mechs. The mechs were then bombed in a textbook maneuver by Sr Pilot Moreau. With the base secured and any hostiles in the buildings, the two teams regrouped and did a sweeping maneuver to the VI's core.

There the defences again stiffened- this VI was aware that we had defeated its forces outside and was scrambling to react. Comrade Tali, the quarian, was WIA after being hit by shrapnel from a Plumba missile and given medevac. This complicated the mission as she was our technical expert to disable the rogue VI. Once the building was cleared at another two casualties, but no fatalities, this problem manifested itself more clearly. Detonating the fission drive would cause massive damage to the integrity of the moon, while Tali had been our best bet at disabling the VI through hacking. Comrade Garrus stepped when this became clear, and working in conjunction with the Army team's technician he managed force the VI to reboot. As it did this, we managed to force the system to shutdown. Therefore the hardware is still intact for Brotherhood use. I also recommend the VI's code at once be handed over to the Commission for assessment and study.

The operation was a success, but could have been avoided by paying closer attention to technological security. I would also like to take this moment to commend the following people:

Comrade Garrus Vakarian
Comrade Tali'Zorah nam Rayya vas Neema
Sr Vol [name redacted]

All the above names went above and beyond the call of duty.

Signed,
Battalion Commander Shepard, Order of the Red Banner
Commission of Public Security