Standard disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor any other content that you recognise. Some characters and systems are original creations. I am receiving no money for my work.
My thanks to HTM for sorting through my spelling and grammar.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.03.02
The Cabinet returned from lunch and took their places around the table. Simultaniously, the First Space Lord and the First Sky Marshal took two of the seats kept in place for non-cabinet minister attendees.
Prime Minister Tharoor took out his notepad and nodded at the two military officers, signalling them to begin the briefing.
"We will begin with the Marine Corps," Field Marshal Khatri began.
"The marine's general structure and hierarchy requires no reforms, just expansion. Indeed, they served with distinction on Shanxi, and the garrison would not have survived without them. The problem was getting them to the battlefield. Currently they are equipped mainly for shipboard security and boarding enemy vessels, they were not equipped for planetary battles and especially not for insertion from space into hostile controlled ground territory."
"However, given the army's dismal failure to create a secure beachhead, we feel that this capturing and securing of a beachhead area in the opening of a planetary assault, an operation critical to the invasion's success is a role that should be transferred away from the army and given to the marines."
The Field Marshal's voice almost broke at the near disaster her beloved army had caused with its landing on Shanxi. They had faced a battered and almost broken turian force, barely functioning, nearly out of supplies, and advancing under constant air attack. But the turians had still managed to almost sweep away the army's defenders and overrun the beachhead before the rest of the army could land in force. If not for the bravery of Colonel Albricci and her Italian scout tank regiment, they would have done.
Taking a moment to gather herself, she continued.
"With this new planetary assault role in addition to their shipboard security and boarding roles, the marines need new equipment. Specifically, they need vehicles, but space is at a premium on the navy's warships. Our warships, especially the frigates and cruisers, simply don't have the space for the logistics required to give the marines a large fleet of vehicles, nor can they hold the traditional dropships to deliver them to the surface. As such we recommend commissioning a general purpose 6 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle that can be airdropped directly onto the battlefield."
"This will mean that the entire marine corps vehicle pool will use a single chassis and that, even when the more specialised variants of the vehicle are able to be carried on the marine assault ships that we also recommend be designed to support this role, this single chassis type will give huge benefits in ease of maintenance and logistics over our enemies. In addition, our frigates especially will benefit from being able to deploy infantry fighting vehicles to any ground-based problems they encounter on patrol, rather than having to land and send marines on foot or wait for army support. It will be a huge benefit to the navy in both peacetime and wartime."
The Minister of Defence nodded, approving of the plan.
"It does little good to have perfect specialised vehicles if you can't carry many of them, either because of the massive amounts of different spare parts, or because you can't get them onto the battlefield because they have broken down."
"The ability of the navy and marines to quickly deal with any ground-based issue short of a full planetary invasion will massively increase our flexibility and response time as well. Smuggler bases aren't generally prepared for marine IFVs being dropped directly on top of them. Do you have any designs in progress?"
"We are working on our own as well as putting it out to tender, at the moment we only have the design challenge name: Mako," Field Marshal Khatri replied.
"Mako?" Heath looked bewildered.
"It's a species of shark," the Minister of Environment responded happily, pleased that the marines would be enjoying new prominence and prestige as well as new equipment, they had family in the corps.
Fleet Admiral Carmichael took over the briefing. "Moving on to the navy, the naval command structure itself worked well. But we needed far more coordination between our forces when in battle. As such we need to increase the amount of flag officers assigned to each fleet, especially as our fleets get larger. Other than that, there were no issues with our naval personnel."
"Our order of battle performed to expectations as well, though that will need major changes given that we now expect to be able to produce viable strike craft, both fighters and torpedo bombers, in large numbers. With the reintroduction of the escort carrier and the fleet carrier to our navy and our naval doctrine, we will have to completely re-evaluate how we organise our combat groups, since our current ones are designed around an entirely big gun navy. I suspect this was something that all of you saw coming."
The Cabinet looked pleased for a moment before the First Space Lord continued speaking. "The main problem for the Alliance Navy comes from our wartime R&D, specifically the new ship designs," Thomas Carmichael spoke derisively as the holographic emitter erupted to show a slowly rotating grey delta shaped cruiser. In another life, this design would have been the most recognisable human warship across citadel space.
"And what's wrong with it?" The Minister of Industry asked defensively, having ties to both Lockheed-Martin and BAE systems they had seen the design before.
"Everything," Fleet Admiral Carmichael replied flatly. "It's the perfect point about why civilians shouldn't design warships. The official recommendation of the Space Lords is that all of the navy's warships should be designed by the Admiralty."
"We are fully supportive of the outsourcing of both component and system design, and that of smaller equipment pieces. I think our support of the Mako design challenge going out to private tender shows that. But civilians just don't understand naval warfare well enough to produce a good ship, and this is the perfect example. It meets all of the specified design criteria, but it's just a knock-off of a turian cruiser. It will make us a second-rate power."
Industry turned an amazing shade of red as Defence, and the Chancellor looked decidedly unhappy.
"We will discuss whether responsibility for warship design should be given to the Admiralty only at a later date," Rajendra Tharoor stated mildly, distracted by the delta cruiser design, looking sleek and powerful as it rotated above the cabinet table.
He was trying to see the problems that were so obvious to the First Space Lord, but could still see only grace and power in the beautiful grey hulled ship. "Perhaps you should break down the four biggest problems with this design for us, as none of us are naval officers."
The First Space Lord was happy to comply. "First, the delta wings. They attach only at the rear quarter of the ship. Not only does this severely limit the ability of the ship to perform high g-force manoeuvres without ripping them off – as they are anchored on such a small proportion of their length – it means in any form of crisis anyone in the wings has to run virtually the entire length of the ship before crossing over into the main hull, and then running back along virtually the entire length of the ship to their destination. That is if enemy fire hasn't destroyed the very limited number of connecting passages, isolating huge numbers of the crew from where they need to be."
"Turian warships have wings," Industry spoke up mutinously.
"And they connect to the main hull along one hundred percent of their in-line length to avoid exactly these problems," Field Marshal Khatri spoke up in defence of her colleague as he continued on.
"Second, the main gun is ridiculously exposed to broadside fire. When most citadel warships close with each other and can no longer use their main guns, they use smaller broadside guns scattered along the length of the ship to engage each other. The sole exception is the asari, who design their ships to be able to use their main guns against an enemy's broadside. This only makes the design flaws effects worse."
"Now, just look at how thin the main hull is, and how the delta wings fall away beneath it at the mid-way point, leaving the entire front half unprotected. A couple of good hits will damage the main mass accelerator's tracks, distorting them badly enough that the ship will be virtually guaranteed to lose the ability to fire its main gun within the first few hits to breach its kinetic barrier."
Most of the Cabinet had looks of shock on their faces, appalled that what looked to be such a strong and inspiring design was so utterly flawed.
"Third, the engines are far too exposed, sacrificing virtually all armour to be able to move and change position quickly. While that manoeuvrability is an ideal goal, it is often impractical due the fact that it leaves your engines exposed, and it is of little use if it gets your engines get destroyed. While the engine placement of this design does give very high manoeuvrability, it also leaves the engines monstrously vulnerable to torpedo bomber strikes."
"If this were a design for a ship not intended for knock down, drag out fleet battles, a stealth cruiser for instance, then the trade off protection for maneuverability would most likely be worth it. But in a fleet battle this engine design is a total liability, If the enemy navy has any serious carrier or strike craft capability, this ship would be dead in the water after the first successful bombing run. This is a problem that the other races should be having, not the race that is actually introducing the carrier and torpedo bomber to the battlefield."
The Minister of Industry looked apocalyptic at the shredding of their company backer's designs, but the death glares being sent their way by the Minister of Defence were enough to keep them quiet.
"And finally, the entire ship is designed to be as efficient as possible."
"And that's a bad thing?" the Minister of the Environment spoke up questioningly
"It means that there is almost no room to strip out and replace systems as technology advances. There's no spare power for newer, more effective, but more power-hungry systems. There's no space to add new systems or increase the crew complement if needed. There's minimal redundancy, so a small amount of battle damage has the potential to cripple the entire ship. Indeed, the ship is designed to be so thin at all points that a single large penetrating warhead could cause catastrophic damage in more than three quarters of the possible impact areas, then there is…"
"I think we've heard enough," The Chancellor of the Treasury spoke up harshly, sending death glares at the Minister of Industry along with most of the Cabinet. "I think we can agree that, barring any truly earth-shattering information appearing when we debate it, warship design should be solely the responsibility of the Admiralty. But that is a debate for another day as the Prime Minister said. For now, we have to focus on the problem in front of us. Admiral, do you have an alternative?"
"We are still working on designs for most roles. It's generally a bad idea to have the same ship silhouette for your entire fleet due to the varied roles they need to fulfil. What is the benefit to one ship class will most likely be a detriment to another. That's another thing that the delta design gets wrong - though to be fair, the turians, quarians and most of the Citadel associate races make that exact trade-off to increase the speed and decrease the price of construction." Fleet Admiral Carmichael waved at the holographic emitter and the view changed to show a rotating image of a UNSC Athens class carrier from the Halo computer game.
The Ministers of Culture, Transport and Industry snorted derisively.
"I take it this is one of those moments when we should reflect on the irony that a ship silhouette, thought up for a game whose characters use large mass accelerator cannons as their main armament, is actually a good design for a warship that uses a large mass accelerator cannon as its main armament?" the Minister of Education spoke up, amused.
"Exactly," the First Space Lord replied. "As Commodore Hansa said, never eliminate something that might be of use to you, just because it came from the mind of a game designer or an author rather than a more traditional source. With the amount of fiction and games out there, there is a wealth of resources to draw on if we don't let blind prejudice reject it out of hand."
Several ministers' expressions turned from angry to thoughtful as the First Space Lord continued.
"Now, this is just the silhouette, we aren't making a blind copy, not least because most game warships make no logical sense when you see what the artists and writers have crammed inside their hulls. But you can see how this silhouette immediately solves the four largest problems with the delta design that our defence contractors have come up with."
The First Space Lord gestured towards the hologram. "There is a single main hull, allowing us to place non-essential systems around the outside and protect the essential systems at the ship's core. See here at the stern how the engines are much more protected, the main gun is not only sheltered by the hull but also by these angled stubby protrusions which should deflect broadside shots rather than absorb them, giving them a much higher damage absorption rating. I expect this ship to be utterly destroyed before it loses its main gun to incoming broadside fire – which is absolutely essential for a dreadnought – and the best part is, we can build this now."
"Admiral," the Minister of Defence snapped out harshly as the Chancellor's expression hardened. "We are not building a ship that may be obsolete in a handful of years. You will have to wait until we have a proper design, we expect to have to rebuild the fleet only twice over before we are up to modern standards, not five or six."
Thomas Carmichael grinned and waved his hand again and the display changed to show what was basically a box frame of the ship that had been there before. "Ministers, this is the building style that will allow us to start construction tomorrow on a ship that will eventually be the equal of Citadel designs."
There was a stunned silence around the cabinet table before Prime Minister Tharoor broke it. Speaking slowly and deliberately, implying without effort that Admiral Carmichael would be Mr. Carmichael by the morning if he didn't deliver on that extraordinary statement. "We are listening intently, Admiral."
"The one area where we are equal to the Citadel races is armour. No one armours shit like we do except the krogan, and they haven't built anything since the rebellions. This framework allows armour sections to attach directly to the box style framework, rather than the traditional method of bolting it on to a fully completed hull that gets its strength from a central keel design. Unlike the inner hull and keel design, using this box design we can essentially create a hollow ship shaped box out of armour."
"And why is that useful?" Education spoke up curiously.
"Because it allows the entire ship to be modular," the First Space Lord replied as the view changed to show variously sized boxes containing equipment attaching to the inside of the hollow shell's framework, power conduits and control lines began to form, running between the boxes in what began to resemble between deck crawlspaces. When it was complete, a thin sheet of metal wrapped around the lego brick style internal construction, making it airtight.
"When we come up with a new reactor design, we can simply remove the armour from that part of the shell, pull out the reactor module, and stick in a new one. The same is true with the main gun module, the crew quarters module, the engines, the main computer core, and so on and so forth. It allows us to start building ship frames that will still be flying a hundred years from now, tomorrow."
"The innards of the ship, everything but the armour, will be swapped out and replaced as our technology advances. But that is considerably easier than rebuilding the entire fleet three times as technology makes an entire generation of warships so obsolete that we just can't upgrade them anymore."
"Doesn't that removable module design make them far more vulnerable to damage when the armour is breached?" Defence asked quietly, intrigued by the proposal.
"Yes," Admiral Carmichael admitted. "While our ships would be far more heavily armoured than any other races in existence, once that armour is breached, the modular structure would make them incredibly vulnerable to damage. Nothing is perfect, there are always trade-offs. We can try to minimise those trade-offs, and we have done that by making the armour so thick. This design's armour is nearly three times thicker than the armour on turian warships, and our armour is slightly stronger than turian armour as well, but the ship will be slower, less manoeuvrable, and more vulnerable to damage than any other races if the armour is breached."
"The decision to make is if that vulnerability is worth the increased ease and speed of upgrades and refitting. In the opinion of the Admiralty, it is. We don't know what tech is out there in the galaxy, we don't even know what tech will come out of our own labs in a decade's time. We need the ability to completely refit the fleet quickly and easily, or we risk a Virginia situation."
"A Virginia Situation?" the Home Secretary asked, confused at the reference.
"In 1862 CE the CSS Virginia, an ironclad with a broadside of 4 cannons, engaged the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress, wooden sailing ships with broadsides of 22 and 24 cannons respectively. Both sailing ships were sunk, by a warship that had only 2% of their combined armament."
"To add insult to injury, the CSS Virginia suffered only minor damage in the process. That morning the British Royal Navy had over 100 ships of the line, ready to sail anywhere and defend the British Empire from any threat, in the evening they only had 2. Because only their ironclad warships, HMS Warrior and her sister HMS Black Prince, would be able to defeat that tiny confederate riverboat." Thomas Carmichael explained succinctly.
The Cabinet was silent at the thought of the panic that must have engulfed the British Admiralty at the news from the United States' civil war. To suddenly have 99% of your defence force rendered obsolete was a terror none of them wanted to experience. Ministers began to shift uncomfortably at the thought of it being caused by the discovery of a new race, with a fully operational fleet, rather than by an experiment between two sides already locked in a civil war.
"The ability to refit the fleet swiftly is of paramount importance, Admiral. Adopt the armoured shell design as the basis of all of our warship designs, immediately." The iron determination in Rajendra Tharoor's voice left none in the Cabinet willing to voice an objection. Not that they had any, none of them wished to be left vulnerable if they encountered a Virginia situation, which given that the turians had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and barrelled in, causing a mild form of it only months ago, was a far more realistic prospect than they were comfortable with.
"Were there other issues with the navy?" the Foreign Secretary asked mildly
"The other large area is the reserves. We propose that to make best use of the naval reserve personnel, and the naval budget, while replacement parts and supplies should continue to be supplied by private companies, our peacetime actual warship production should be built in state-owned shipyards manned by navy personnel."
"WHAT?!"
Pushed to breaking point already by the slaughtering of their corporate backer's ship design, the Minister of Industry exploded. "Absolutely not! This is not the Soviet Union! I will not hear any more of this travesty-"
"Are you quite done?" Rajendra Tharoor interrupted calmly, the contrast with the Minister of Industry could not have been more drastic. But no one in the room was in any doubt as to which of them was the deadlier politician.
The Minister of Industry looked mutinous as Prime Minister Tharoor turned back to his First Space Lord. "Why would this be of benefit to the Systems Alliance Admiral?"
"You can't actually be considering this!"
"I will consider whatever the fuck I like!" Rajendra Tharoor snapped back, a rattlesnake that had finally decided to strike. "It's a perk of being Prime Minister."
Industry swallowed, suddenly seeing their career going down in flames and decided that being silent was the better option, for now.
"The main bottleneck for naval production is large dockyard slips, and more importantly, trained shipyard personnel." Thomas Carmichael answered. "Unlike the army, where we propose only 10% of peacetime production to be carried out in state owned factories – mainly to keep the private sector contractors honest by proving what the at-cost figure of production is before they bid – the navy is much more vulnerable to the whims of the markets."
The Admiral continued, "Building tanks and vehicles is not that different from trucks and cars, production can be switched easily in existing factories in wartime, and there is always a trained workforce to be found. Shipbuilding is different. There is nothing like it. We cannot afford to have a critical shortage of trained shipbuilders and dockyard slips because we've just come out of a recession and private companies have cut their workforce and facilities to the bone, right when we need to ramp up production because of a new crisis."
"We also can't afford to limit the number of capital class dockyard slips to the numbers that a private company would find economically viable to maintain. There simply isn't enough demand for civilian ships of capital ship size, or even heavy cruiser size, to make private companies willing to build a significant number of large dockyard slips, and then keep them open but unused most of the time, but we need them ready in case we need a crash shipbuilding programme. In that sort of crisis, we just can't afford the time needed to train the personnel and build the dockyard slips before we can even lay down the first hulls of our emergency building programme."
"And how would we keep those slips busy when there is a lull in the requirement for new ships? You eluded to it yourself Admiral, even peacetime requirements fluctuate. Are taxpayers to pay for empty dockyard slips and idle workers?" the Chancellor spoke up with great reservations.
"This is the third part of the naval reforms," the First Space Lord replied. "We propose the construction of two anchorages to store mothballed ships. Though these ships would take a year to activate from mothballs and make combat ready, this could all be completed by on board teams and by minor repair yards. We wouldn't have to be reliant only on our shipyard capacity, which is a major advantage in any unexpected war. The spare peacetime production capacity would be used to produce ships for these anchorages rather than wasted."
"Using part time workers for this spare capacity, we would build the ships at a fraction of the normal speed, preventing an unusable number overwhelming the anchorages, and we would also be able to keep shipyard workers who require reduced hours for whatever reason, usually starting a family. Militarily, we would have an actual reserve of ships to bolster our fleet within a relatively short time, should we find ourselves in an unexpected war. This would allow our shipyards to focus on replacing combat losses and producing new ships for the freshly training crew in the event that the war becomes so serious that conscription is enacted."
"It would also boost the economy during recessions to have the construction continue unchanged, and it will be of great benefit to those areas with high unemployment," the Minister of Work and Pensions observed. "The shipbuilders will be military personnel, we can control where they are recruited from. We can launch recruitment drives for dockyard workers in any location that ends up in a depravation spiral, just as its local major employer goes bust, stopping the problem from getting worse. It would be a fantastic emergency response tool for unemployment."
With the more interventionist side of his Cabinet clearly already onside, Prime Minister Tharoor looked over questioningly at his Chancellor of the Treasury, ignoring the still cowed Minister of Industry.
"If we have guarantees that the state-owned shipyards will not produce any civilian ships under any circumstances, that the navy's replacement parts and supplies will continue to be purchased on the free market, and that the army's proposed maximum 10% procurement from state owned production is not changed, I would be willing to discuss it," the Chancellor answered the non-verbal question.
"I would argue strongly for all naval support ships to be built in private yards as well, only having combat warships built in military shipyards. But that is a debate for later, the state produced civilian ship is my absolute red line. I can understand state intervention in military production, but I will not serve in any government that distorts the free market so badly as to use state owned military dockyards to produce civilian ships for sale."
"Thank you, Chancellor," Prime Minister Tharoor stated with genuine warmth. "I recognise that this is a difficult proposition for you, and several others around this table to consider. We will consider your suggestions carefully while we table this proposal for another day. And in the meantime, we will commission reports to look into how precisely such a production arrangement will affect the markets and see if the economic implications are worth the military benefits. I assure you, we will not countenance blind intervention into the free market. Any proposal will be thoroughly researched before even being brought before the Cabinet."
The tension drained from several of the more free market members of the Cabinet as the Chancellor nodded their thanks.
The First Space Lord and the First Sky Marshal looked ready to continue the briefing, but the Prime Minister held up his hand to stop them, looking at his watch.
"Admiral, Field Marshal. While I'm sure the report on the performance of the army is detailed and wide-ranging, I am afraid that there is something that we have to witness first."
Shanxi – Centauri Veil
2113.03.02
Saren Arterius stood, lock-jawed, watching the post that had been hammered into the open planes of Shanxi.
There was nothing for miles around in any direction. The human government had, at least, recognised that creating a spot of pilgrimage for those who wished to celebrate the execution of a turian admiral wasn't a good idea.
The turian soldier struggled to keep himself under control. First his elder brother Desolas, his hero, was killed in an incident that the blackwatch refused to give him any information on – save that it involved an artefact looted from the spaceport here on Shanxi in the initial assault, before Desolas took it back to Palaven.
An artefact that had been guarded by a team of human mercenaries lead by Jack Harper. Saren had already committed the name and face to memory. The human would die if he ever crossed Saren's path.
The humans had, mercifully, not informed his father of his elder son's death. As far as Macen Arterius was concerned, Desolas was still on Palaven, guarding the artefact he and General Sparatus had ordered him to escort to a blackwatch research facility there. He had simply refused the invitation all direct family had to an execution of one of their own who had disgraced the Hierarchy so thoroughly.
Saren's muscles tensed as the fear for his father fought with the sheer burning hatred of the primitives surrounding him. How dare they pass judgement on a turian of any rank? Let alone one as accomplished and competent as his father, a paragon of turian duty. Even in death, he was doing his duty as a turian officer, taking a punishment that the primitives had no right to impose in order to sate their barbaric bloodlust.
The portable comms screen lit up, showing a table with a group of humans around it. Saren recognised many of the faces, but he only had eyes for the person at its head, the instantly recognisable face that made any decent turian furious. Saren wanted to claw the perfect brown skin to shreds and leave the human's face marred by their hyperactive scar tissue.
"The Cabinet is ready to bear witness," Rajendra Tharoor stated calmly, his voice resonating over the open plains as Tiran Sparatus placed a warning hand on his friend's shoulder.
The fury didn't abate, but Saren held himself in check and banished the more ridiculous revenge fantasies from his mind. He was glad of the support from his new friend. Tiran Sparatus was the mayor of one of the major city on Aephus, and had been tipped to become planetary governor in the near future, with a shot at Primarch of Aepus's cluster a real possibility someday. Some had even whispered he might be the future Primarch of the Turian Hierarchy – That was all gone now.
Tiran's mother, General Vetra Sparatus, had posthumously been found guilty of misusing Hierarchy military assets and deliberately misinterpreting orders by the human tribunal. The stain of that decision had blotted what was supposed to be a meteoric rise, which is how the two of them had bonded. Both of were filled with hate at the injustice done to their parents and burned for revenge.
Saren had already decided to follow in his brother's footsteps and apply for the blackwatch. He hoped from there he could gain recognition and get selected for the SPECTRE program, where he could properly counter the primitives foul influence.
Tiran had decided to leave his tainted civilian governor career and apply for the diplomatic service, where he hoped to be able to stop the other civilised races being taken in by the bloodthirsty scum. It would leave the humans isolated and under Citadel control. Exactly where they belonged.
The doors on the APC parked close by had been closed since its arrival. Now they opened with a piercing shriek, and Macen Arterius was led out. He saw Saren and shook his head sadly, as if wishing that his son wasn't there to see this. Wearing the uniform of a simple turian sailor, he was led towards the stake hammered into the ground.
General Williams was waiting for him. "Will the ropes and blindfold be necessary?" the former Shanxi garrison commander whispered, too faintly to be picked up by the recorders.
Jack Williams was facing his own court martial after he had discharged this duty, for being the only human general ever to surrender to an alien race they were going to find something to throw at him. But even the deaths of his soldiers and the end of his career couldn't extinguish the respect he had for the former turian admiral for owning his mistakes. He didn't want that decision marred by Macen trying to flee at the last moment, despite there being nowhere to flee to. The will to survive was strong in all living things. It could break even the strongest people when they were faced with certain death.
"Thank you, but I'm confident my will is strong enough," Macen whispered back.
General Williams nodded and stepped back, turning to the recorders and the witnesses.
"Macen Arterius, please stand with your back against the post. I have decided that bindings are not necessary, and you have previously refused the offer of a blindfold," General Williams announced for the official record.
He continued as the former admiral took up the position as instructed without flinching. "Macen Arterius. You have been found guilty of disobeying orders and the misuse of Hierarchy fleet assets. For these crimes the sentence of death by firing squad has been imposed, to be carried out today, the second of March twenty-one thirteen Common Era. Do you have any last words?"
"I'm sorry." Straight backed and showing no fear, Arterius ignored the firing squad and stared directly at Saren as he spoke.
"So noted," General Williams replied. "Firing detail, stand ready."
His pretty face scarred and melted by the napalm from his own grenades, Second Lieutenant Marcel Styles raised his weapon along with the rest of the detail.
"Take aim."
Saren Arterius clenched his hands hard enough to draw blood, wanting nothing more than to start throwing warps everywhere and somehow save his father.
"Fire!"
Macen Arterius joined thousands of his fellow turians in death on the open plains of Shanxi.
Vancouver – Earth
2113.03.02
"Well. At least it's finally over," the Minister of Sapient Rights stated angrily as the comms screen deactivated.
The Foreign Secretary simply ignored their death glare. Sapient Rights was always going to be against the death penalty as it was their job to enforce and defend the Declaration of Universal Sapient Rights, which formed the basis of Alliance law and explicitly outlawed the death penalty.
Unfortunately, turian law had left them no wiggle room. "Perhaps we should continue with the briefing, Prime Minister?" they suggested calmly.
"Indeed," Rajendra Tharoor nodded in agreement. "Field Marshal, you were going to brief us on the performance of the army?"
The First Sky Marshal nodded and stood up to continue the briefing. "Defensively, our army could not have performed better. As you are all aware, when the last line of the Prothean log entries was released to the public they – as all of our nation's leaders had been – were finally aware of our conclusion that the Protheans had been wiped out by a hostile force. The arguments over whether that force was external or internal were immaterial to both the public and the military. What both of us focused on was we didn't know if that force, or if a more militarized and revenge driven remnant of the Protheans, were still around. More importantly, we didn't know what their reaction to us might be. The public demanded protection for the new colonies."
The Fleet Admiral interjected, "However, as I'm sure the Chancellor can attest, protection is expensive. The nation states of the Alliance simply weren't willing to fund a fleet or an army large enough to provide the level of protection demanded. This was the reason for the development of the defence in depth tactics and the endurance strategy. The most expensive part of any military is its people. Their training, their day-to-day needs, their health, their post service benefits and pensions. Often we can afford far more ships and tanks than we can soldiers to crew them."
"As such, the Maginot Line defences were designed as force multipliers," Field Marshal Khatri took over again. "Allowing only one division to be equipped with armour and the other two to rely on the weapons and protection of the fixed defences drastically reduced their equipment costs, as well as allowing a single corps to effectively defend a city from an entire attacking army."
"With the increased ease of mining, making the excavation of the required caverns fast and cheap, and the reduced labour costs required for construction due to increasing automation, the construction of the Maginot Lines and civilian shelter systems, both one-time expenses, was considered more economically viable than constantly maintaining an army of the size required to meet the public's demand for protection year after year."
"I can happily report that those decisions were vindicated. Outnumbered, outgunned, facing an unknown attacker with a high technological advantage with only a few days warning while at a third complete strength, the Shanxi garrison held the line. It was a magnificent vindication of our army's structure."
The Cabinet exploded into applause, but Prime Minister Tharoor had noted the discrepancy almost immediately. "Field Marshal, you don't seem appropriately happy for such a glowing endorsement of the army's structure, nor the bravery and determination of the Shanxi Garrison. This analysis doesn't match up with your recommendation to strip the army of its role in planetary assaults."
As the other Ministers calmed, Anaya Khatri took a shaky breath and elaborated. "Offensively, our army was a near disaster. We had orbital support, air superiority, and numbers, yet our beachhead was almost overrun by a nearly destroyed turian legion, a legion that advanced under constant air attack while suffering the levels of damage you would expect from having been engaged in constant combat operations for over a month without support. In short only the bravery of Colonels Albricci and Muller prevented disaster. We have learned that leg infantry divisions and even APCs are completely useless offensively on the Citadel era battlefield. The very benefits of the army's structure for defence leaves it crippled on the offence where its leg infantry divisions don't have the force multipliers of fixed defences."
She cleared her throat. "APCs became little more than mobile coffins. The only place they have on the modern battlefield is far in the rear acting as transport across captured and pacified territory. All infantry engaged in offensive operations must be equipped with Infantry Fighting Vehicles as their transport or else they will not be effective when engaging the enemy. Our command structure worked perfectly when operating with the benefit of fixed defences and comms systems, allowing the officers to command their much larger-than-traditional units. In the field, it broke down, and only the skill of our non-coms saved the beachhead."
The Cabinet sat, stunned at how badly the army that had defied all odds on the defensive had performed when asked to take the fight to the enemy.
"I take it you have a plan that will address these issues, Field Marshal?" Rajendra Tharoor asked, his voice hardening. "If humans are to push for a place at the top table, we cannot be hobbled by an army that can only fight defensively."
"We recognise this, Prime Minister," Anaya Khatri responded respectfully. "As such we recommend creating a fourth branch of the military. We wish to convert our current army into the Colonial Guard."
Several Cabinet Minister's eyebrows disappeared into their foreheads.
"The Colonial Guard would be separate to the army, each cluster's force would be under the control of its Cluster Assembly rather than the Ministry of Defence, and they, rather than the Federal Government, would be responsible for recruitment and financing, though we would suggest a system of subsidy for those clusters whose economies are too weak to support the required garrisons. We have modelled it on the National Guard system of the United States. This would allow both the low cost and relatively small size versus the value of objectives protected, and our proven defensive doctrine, to be maintained and defend our colonies against attack using the strategies that proved so effective on Shanxi."
"This would effectively leave us with no army," the Minister of Defence observed calmly. "Which I assume means you are proposing a major change of doctrine."
"The change would be a large expansion of the navy's frigate and cruiser forces," Fleet Admiral Carmichael explained. "With these ships we would blockade enemy worlds, rather than invade them. Deploying the army to invade and capture only the enemy's most vital worlds, and not even the entire world at that if we can help it."
"The new army would thus be much smaller, and we would be able to spend much of the money saved from that reduced manpower on fully mechanizing it," Anaya Khatri took over again. "All infantry would be transported to the front in IFVs. The entire army would be built around three division types. The vast majority would be a standard mixed armoured and mechanised infantry division, limited numbers of heavy divisions with an increased armoured component would be available to punch through enemy strongpoints, and limited numbers of light divisions with an increased infantry component would be available for occupational duty."
"The new divisions will be far smaller than our current ones, which will become the Colonial Guard, and are proposed to contain a more traditional 24,576 soldiers. The new corps will still be larger than traditional, containing 98,304 soldiers spread over 4 divisions. To this end, we have put out to tender a design challenge codenamed 'Megalodon'. An 8 wheeled IFV that, while not capable of being airdropped like the Mako, is larger, better armed, armoured, and has a larger troop-carrying capacity. Almost all army vehicles will use this chassis. From its standard IFV configuration to the self-propelled artillery, combat engineers, and mobile medical configurations among others. For lighter roles, the army will use marine Makos, especially the drone equipped scouting variants, and for its tanks, also referred to as heavy armour, an 8 wheeled tank design challenge codenamed 'Mosasaurus' has been put out to tender. A more detailed proposal of the new army structure will be submitted if you give these reforms the go ahead."
"Sticking with the shark theme, I see," Environment commented, oddly gleeful.
"That does seem to solve the drastically different requirements that an army in the Citadel era has with defending our cities against invading enemy territory," the Home Secretary spoke up cautiously.
"But all of these reforms seem very manpower intensive. Can we do this without having to implement conscription? The people will never stand for it outside of wartime, to even attempt to propose it would bring down the government," the minister of Work and Pensions spoke up.
"And what of the cost?" the Chancellor interrupted. "All of this is fine in principle, but it seems to be very costly. We cannot have a military budget so high that it strangles the civilian economy. That has been the mistake of far too many governments and it has never ended well."
"And I warn you that we will not authorise crippling military expenditure, or conscription," Prime Minister Tharoor supported his Cabinet Ministers. "Not only is our economy in a very delicate state as we go through the Citadel ascension process, but even with the turian invasion, the political will is not there to sustain such high expenditure long term."
Both military officers looked at each other before deciding to lead with the less controversial topic.
"With regards to manpower," Field Marshal Khatri began. "We have used the leading Alliance states as a base along with the USA and China, which range from 0.3% to 0.7%. As our reforms begin, we will require only 0.3% of the population to volunteer for military service to make this viable. Obviously, this will increase over time as we build up our military and the colonies expand, requiring more colonial guard soldiers."
"If current colonisation and population growth continues, we predict that the military will hit 0.5% of the Alliance population, active and reserve, at around 2200; nearly a century in the future. As such, our plans call for us to gradually increase our military size, aiming to complete our military plans by 2180, giving the Cabinet 20 years to review our military policy and make changes, such as recruiting more than 0.5%, or decommissioning defences in the core Alliance worlds. Using how deep they will be in our territory be by then as justification for removing the requirement for so many colonial guard troops."
"Estimate wise, in 2180, at the completion of our building programme, the Systems Alliance should be able to field eight active fleets, each centred around one of the dreadnoughts we are permitted to build under the treaty of Farixen, and two reserve fleets without dreadnought support. Two active duty marine planetary assault corps, with two in reserve, and one active duty army group, with two more in reserve. Combined with the colonial guard, all of this should be deliverable with a 0.5% peacetime army."
The cabinet looked slightly stunned at that information. "I guess we are all used to thinking on the scale of our individual nations and forget how large the Alliance actually is. Half a percent of 11 billion goes a long way, it seems. Out of interest, what could we deploy in wartime?" The Home Secretary questioned quietly.
"Assuming 2.5% of the population volunteers in the event we declare war, minus our already existing active and reserve forces, and based only on our current colonies and not any more that we may found before then... in 2180 we would have over 345 million volunteers to train and deploy as we see fit," Field Marshal Khatri replied proudly.
"Allah be merciful!" the Minister of Health exclaimed in shock. "What of total war?"
"Based on a 10% conscription law and subject to the same conditions as I just mentioned, we would have 1.9 Billion conscripts. New colonies planned before 2180 are certain to take that figure over 2 Billion by the time we actually reach then."
The Cabinet sat in total shock, suddenly aware of how large the Alliance was, and more importantly, how powerful the Council races they were determined to eventually join were, given how weak the Alliance was relative to them at the moment.
"Yes, well…." the Chancellor of the Treasury spoke up, clearing his throat. "Manpower is all well and good, but what of the cost? All of this development, construction, recruitment, training. The bill must be eyewatering."
"Stretching the programme out over 70 odd years does help keep the cost down," Admiral Carmichael placated. "But yes, the cost is very high. We estimate that the first 30 years of the programme will require 20% of the current federal budget to be spent on the military, dropping to 15% for the remainder for the next 40 years, before finally falling to a regular peacetime requirement of 10% in 2180. Given the current military expenditures of Alliance's current and former member states, we are confident that this will not strangle the economy."
"Forget strangling the fucking economy! How the fuck are we supposed to finance that?!" the Minister of Education practically yelled. "The budget is already stretched tight and suddenly we have to nearly quadruple the military's share? Where is it going to come from? Who's going to lose out?"
The Cabinet Ministers all suddenly looked at each other warily, knowing what the drastic cuts required would do to their departments. The percentage increase the Admiral was calling for was larger than some ministry's entire budgets.
"I think that our officers, while they have valid military concerns, have severely overstepped the mark. We cannot afford-" Transport began to throw recriminations, but Defence immediately shut them down.
"Oh do shut up. You all knew where our ambition to be a Council race would lead, and you all knew – at least vaguely – what it would cost. But none of you opened a discussion about it around this table. You did not want to know because you did not want the responsibility, either of condemning us to be a second-rate power, or of finding the money to realise our ambitions. Which might be called good politics by some of you, but I call it what it is. Abject cowardice."
The fire thrown by the Minister of Defence enraged the other Cabinet Ministers, mainly because it was true. All of them started yelling at each other before the clear laughter of the Minister of Culture caused them all to fall silent.
"Ha ha ha, oh god, all of you a such a picture. Why are you so wedded to the idea that the money must come out of your own ministry? Just raise the high band income tax rates."
The Chancellor bristled and simply looked down their nose. "It is not that simple, Culture. Which you would know if you held a ministry of any importance."
The Minister of Culture simply grinned. "Maybe my ministry isn't as prestigious as the mighty treasury, but I know public relations. Do you know what the tax rates were like the last time there was a major war within living memory? It didn't matter who was in government. Democrat or Republican in the USA, Conservative, Labour or Liberal in Britain. The top income tax rate for the 1950s, 60s and 70s was always between 70% and 90%, it didn't drop below 50% until the 1980s. Most of our countries have a higher income tax rate in the 30% – 45% range. We have plenty of room to manoeuvre."
"You might have missed it," Industry hissed spitefully, regaining some of their bravado. "But we haven't exactly suffered a multi-year globally devastating world war lately."
"No," Culture smiled icicles back at Industry. "But we have suffered an invasion by those who call us primitive barbarians. And despite barely clinging on by our fingernails, in truth we were saved only by the mercy of the asari, halting what could have become a crusade of near genocide that would have left Earth as devastated as Tuchanka."
His grin would have been infectious, had he been in more morally dubious company. "We still lie weak and prostrate, unable to defend ourselves against just the turians, let alone the entire Citadel Fleet. We exist at the sufferance of the asari, and how can any decent human stand that? How can the super-rich decide that money is more important than our very existence? Surely the duty of every citizen is to pay their fair share to our collective survival in the face of this existential threat, and, of course, ensure that their fellow citizens do too."
The Cabinet Room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Several Cabinet Ministers were looking at the Minister of Culture as if he had grown a second head. The rest were rapidly moving him up their internal 'dangerous threat to my career ambitions' list and trying frantically to remember if they had handed him any ammunition on themselves recently.
"That is not really an accurate portrayal of the military situation," Fleet Admiral Carmichael spoke up awkwardly.
"Nor the diplomatic one," the Foreign Secretary spoke much more harshly. "In fact, it would be difficult to be less accurate without outright lying."
Culture shrugged, unconcerned. "Maybe, but as you yourself just said, it's not an outright lie. It's merely massaging the truth into a more helpful shape. As with everything in public relations, it's how you sell it."
"That rhetoric could really come back to bite us in the ass," Sapient Rights commented, wanting to be on record. "Once unleashed it's hard to counter."
"Perhaps." Prime Minister Tharoor spoke up thoughtfully. "But that is a problem for another day. We need a strong military if we are to survive, and to further our ambition of gaining a council seat, and to do that we need money. A lot of it, and for a long period of time. We have to catch up with millennia of expansion and military build-up by the three council races, and we only have a century or two to do it."
The other Cabinet Ministers all looked at each other and at the Prime Minister, running their own internal calculations. Deliberately setting up long term problems was risky, but if avoiding doing that just caused the Alliance's already large short-term problems to multiply, it might not matter. Having a peaceful future was of little use if your government collapsed before you got there.
"Admiral, Field Marshal. Thank you for your report, we will discuss it, and its recommendations, in detail over the coming weeks. If you could please see yourselves out.
Both military officers filed out, Anaya Khatri shooting a disgusted glare at the Minister of Culture as she did so. The man was scum in her opinion, and she had no problem showing it. A mercenary that decided to protect his client's cargo rather than help in the defence of Shanxi didn't deserve any of her respect. How the man had managed to leverage such self-serving actions into a war hero narrative that had helped him win his election was beyond the Field Marshal.
As Prime Minister Tharoor turned to a minister he admitted to himself that he had severely underestimated, "I believe that Culture should tell us what they have in mind."
The cybernetic eyes of Jack Harper, the Minister of Culture, Media and Sport, locked with Rajendra Tharoor's. "Of course, Prime Minister, I'd be happy too."
XNAV: 534.746 / 893.782 / 12.29 – Attican Traverse
2113.03.27
Lieutenant Shala'Raan vas Tesleya kept a close eye on the bridge crew of the Tesleya. The batarian-built frigate was part of the scouting group centred around the Tonbay, one of the cruisers that had fled Rannoch 218 years ago as the Migrant Fleet franticly tried to escape the war of extermination that their geth workforce had unleashed on them. Now it was used as one of the anchors of the Patrol Fleet, acting as a command hub for six frigates as they, and other ships of the Patrol fleet, swept space along the Migrant Fleet's path.
It was the dream of most quarians to serve in the Heavy Fleet, the powerful cruisers – including the last surviving heavy cruisers in the galaxy – that protected the Civilian Fleet and the entire quarian race.
But not Shala. She had enjoyed her pilgrimage immensely, and if she were not so deeply attached to her family, she would have stayed exploring the galaxy for years.
As it was, she had compromised and gotten a spot in the Patrol Fleet by bringing back the Tesleya, an accomplishment that had netted her a starting commission of lieutenant and the position of executive officer on her pilgrimage gift to the fleet. Consisting mainly of frigates and lighter cruisers, the Patrol Fleet not only escorted the Heavy and Civilian Fleets, they were the one part of the Migrant Fleet that explored on their own, scouting ahead for threats. Granted, it was in the general direction that the Migrant Fleet was going anyway, and that direction had usually been chosen because it was supposed to be dull and unthreatening, but Shala'Raan would take what she could get.
"Captain, I'm getting a return in one of the forward port sectors," Sensors called out. "It seems to be a ship. It must be derelict otherwise we would have spotted it long before now."
Shala'Raan was standing over the young sensor officer in a flash. "Correction Captain, it's operating on minimal power. If it was derelict, we still wouldn't have a decent reading on it yet. It's still producing a minimal heat signature, and the heat distribution pattern shows that to be deliberate, rather than the lingering remnants of a catastrophic systems failure."
"Battle stations," Captain Hilo'Vael vas Tesleya called out calmly. "Well spotted Lieutenant Raan. Weapons, lock onto that ship and prepare to fire."
Quarians didn't take any risks with the safety of their ships or their fleet. They couldn't afford to. Not with the entire quarian race reduced to 17 million people in 50,000 ships, even combat ships in the Patrol and Heavy Fleets had civilians crammed aboard, which meant that anything that might be the slightest threat had to be destroyed with prejudice. There simply wasn't another option when the destruction of a single ship would put a noticeable dent in the numbers of the entire quarian population, and more importantly in their genetic viability.
"No change in enemy ship, Captain," Lieutenant Raan reported. "What are they doing? They have to know their trap has failed, we've reoriented to face them and the heat signature for our weapons will have lit up like a turian firing range."
"It doesn't matter, we are locked on, Captain," Ensign Rael'Zorah vas Tesleya spoke up eagerly from the weapons station, it wasn't often that they got to engage in actual combat, and he relished the chance. It was why he had chosen the Patrol Fleet when he returned from pilgrimage. His friend, and comrade in arms and trouble, Han'Gerrel vas Neema might have control of bigger and better weapons on one of the few heavy cruisers still in existence, but if the Heavy Fleet engaged in combat, it meant the entire Flotilla was threatened. This chance to fight without the desperation of the future of his entire species hanging in the balance was exactly why Rael'Zorah had chosen a weapons officer position on a Patrol Fleet ship. He actually wanted to use the weapons he was in charge of.
"Perhaps the derelict is bait to draw us in? Shall I inform the other ships that we have possible hostiles incoming, Captain?" Comms spoke up hesitantly.
"Yes, excellent initiative, Comms." Captain Vael praised, hoping to encourage the situational awareness his comms officer was showing.
"Still no movement from enemy vessel," Lieutenant Raan noted hesitantly.
"Captain?" Ensign Zorah spoke up, confused that he had not been ordered to fire. The Migrant Fleet's policy with unknowns was clear, shoot to kill.
"Sensors. Confirm the dimensions of the target for me please," Hilo'Vael ordered leisurely, projecting calm and confidence to the 5 strong bridge crew.
Shala'Raan had known her Captain long enough to see through the act. She knew he was conflicted and left the sensor officer, striding over to his command chair. "What are you thinking, Captain?"
Wordlessly, Captain Vael simply pointed to the dimension's information displayed on his screen, dimensions that Sensors had just confirmed. Length: 1,400m Height: 400m Width: 400m Shape: Flattened hexagonal cylinder.
"Captain, that's…"
A strangled cry from the weapons station let them know that Rael'Zorah had just figured it out too, now that he wasn't just focusing on using the heat distribution map and direction of drift calculations to inflict maximum damage in the shortest time possible.
"Dreadnought sized if it's military, super-freighter sized if it's civilian." Captain Vael replied, making Sensors, Comms and Helm all join Rael'Zorah in total shock "Did anyone have freighters that large when you were on your pilgrimage, Lieutenant, Ensign?"
Shala'Raan and Rael'Zorah, the crewmembers who had been on pilgrimage most recently looked at each other for a moment before Lieutenant Raan responded. "Only the volus, sir. There are other ships of that size around of course, but they are all one-off designs. Only the volus had the need for such large ships given the sheer volume of trade they do with, well, everyone."
"Captain, the Tonbay is hailing," Comms called out. "The Commodore would like to speak with you."
The Captain acknowledged and activated the comms. "Commodore."
"Captain Vael. Why haven't you destroyed the unknown yet?" The Commodore was swift and to the point.
"At the moment sir, I think its size warrants a different approach. I formally request permission to close with the unknown and see if it is truly derelict."
There was silence on the line for several moments. "Captain, that is a grave deviation from the rules of engagement, you know unknowns are to be destroyed. We can't take the risk that they will turn hostile."
"I know, sir, and if this were a frigate or a cruiser, I would agree wholeheartedly, but there is a super-freighter out there. We have nothing even close to that size except the liveships. Just think of how many families could live in that space! We could issue thousands of new child permits if we bring it back." Hilo'Vael spoke respectfully.
The Commodore was silent for several moments. The rules of engagement were clear, but so was a Captain's authority over their own ship when not in combat. "Very well, Captain. If you are prepared to take the risk, then you may close with the unknown. We will maintain the patrol. But I warn you, if it is a trap, we will not be coming to rescue you. I will not throw away more lives, no matter how tempting the bait."
"Thank you, Commodore." Captain Vael sighed with relief as the comms channel closed. "Helm, close with the derelict, cautiously. I want to be able to manoeuvre if this is a trap."
As the Tesleya closed with the derelict, Shala'Raan and Rael'Zorah poured over the weapons console as it came into visual range. Sensors kept watch for any ships that might try to jump them, while Hilo'Vael sat alert, trusting his officers to see to the detail while he kept his mind clear to respond to whatever might happen.
"Well, it's certainly not a military ship. Look at these." Ensign Zorah stated calmly pointing out the fifteen two hundred meter wide domes spread along the ship. They formed an interlocking pattern around the central three quarters of the flattened hexagon cylinder shaped ship, with 3 on the dorsal surface, 2 on the dorsal port and starboard surfaces, 3 on the ventral port and starboard surfaces, and 2 on the ventral surface. "Does that look like vegetation to you?"
"Yes," Lieutenant Raan answered. "But I'm more interested in this. Look at that hull plating. It's new, as in days out of the shipyard new. I'd say that those domes used to project significantly away from the main hull, but someone just enclosed that space by linking up all of their bases, and then connecting them to the hull to form a sort of giant cargo hold."
"There! There's the registry information." Rael'Zorah exclaimed in triumph zooming the visual sensors into a block of symbols on the smooth hull. "That's a representation of a trinary star system. It has to be, I think?"
"But what are the symbols next to it?" Shala'Raan growled in frustration, highlighting the strange black symbols that were arranged into 'SV GAIA' "Is the translator giving us anything? Anything at all?"
"Nothing Lieutenant." Comms replied running every analysis in their arsenal on the symbols and drawing a blank.
Shala'Raan and Rael'Zorah continued to argue and analyse as the Tesleya flew by at high speed.
"Weapons, anything?"
"No response at all, Captain," Ensign Zorah responded.
"Sensors?"
"All clear, no threats or anomalies detected anywhere within range."
Captain Hilo'Vael vas Tesleya stilled for a moment and prayed to the ancestors that he was doing the right thing. "Sensors; keep a close eye out. I want to know the very second even a speck of dust looks out of place. Weapons; find us a docking port and transfer the coordinates to helm. Comms; hail the Tonbay, tell them… tell them we're going in."
*Visuals for the 'derelict' can be found on my tumblr or by googling 'battlestar galactica botanical cruiser'
* An entire codex entry for the special forces (N7s) has been written and placed in chapter 17. Various other codex entries have been tidied up and moved to make them a.) make more sense, and b.) take into account these reforms.
The biggest changes are to the marines order of battle – chapters 15 and 16
*The only canon figures we have for warship compliment is Normandy SR1, 51 or 31 depending on how you read the list, and the Destiny Ascension, 'over 10,000' – these are incompatible given the wildly different crew per meter figures they invoke, so I have gone straight down the middle based on crew requirements of current navies. Explained below.
*Geek Info – For those as interested in numbers as me, the crew compliments of current navies and specific military percentage and budgets of some of the SA member nations are listed below (using the 2017 figures) rather than the broad range given in the chapter. I hope this explains some reviewers' questions as to how the Alliance has so much money and so many troops to deploy and how the navy can be so large. Quite frankly, compared to the army and navy figures we are used to; the Alliance's population and economy is just simply staggering and its crew requirements stunning.
Percentage of population serving in the peacetime military (active and reserves)
USA = 0.7%
France = 0.6%
Britain = 0.4%
India = 0.4%
Germany = 0.3%
Australia = 0.3%
Military budget as a percentage of central government spending (budget) and as a percentage of GDP
USA = 20% Federal Budget – 3.2% GDP
India = 9% Budget – 2.5% GDP
China = 6% Budget – 1.9% GDP
Britain = 5% Budget – 2.2% GDP
Australia = 5% Budget – 2% GDP
France = 4 % Budget – 1.8% GDP
Germany = 2% Budget – 1.2% GDP
Now; I don't have the skill to create an entire economy for a fictional universe some 200 years in the future, but it would seem reasonable to expect the Alliance to be able to maintain current post cold war/long peace military expenditure levels as an absolute minimum. Which I hope you will agree gives it plenty of money for the defences and fleets I have given it due to its sheer size.
Likewise; while my population spreadsheets are not yet complete – I still have to create the colonies list and population growth over time matrix for 3 more clusters that the Alliance will have colonised by ME1 – even with the current, partially complete, spreadsheet 0.5% of the Alliance population is 57.7 million in 2112. Jumping to 81.4 million in 2183 (ME1) and over 87.6 million in 2187 (ME3) and that's just the peacetime military (active + reserves).
Canon states that 3% of the Alliance population volunteers for military service. So just to be safe I have given the Alliance a wartime military of 2.5% to allow 0.5% of retirees, medical discharges both physical and mental etc… That currently gives the Alliance a wartime military of 345 million people in 2183 (ME1) to add to its active and reserve forces – larger than the entire population of the USA today.
For a total war, with drastic conscription laws I came to the figure of 10% of the Alliance population (WW1 and WW2 figures averaged 8%, then I added 2% due to the huge increase in automation in economies since then, freeing up more people for conscription without damaging wartime production). This means that in a total war the Alliance will, in 2187 with the arrival of the reapers have wartime total conscript military of over 2 BILLION to add to its existing 100+ million strong standing military (active + reserves), though – like me staring at my army/navy/marines/colonial guard spreadsheets – the military planners will no doubt be wondering WTF to do with them all instead of celebrating :D
Naval Crew Compliments – For those interested in how I worked out the crew requirements of the navy
USN Gerald Ford carrier (2017) – Length: 337m / Crew: 2,600 with air wing + deck crew
RN Queen Elizabeth carrier (2017) – Length: 280m / Crew: 620 without air wing + deck crew
RN Audacious carrier (1950) – Length: 245m / Crew: 2,640 with air wing and deck crew
RN Vanguard battleship (1950) – Length: 248m Crew: 1,975
As you can see, although a carrier's air wing and deck crew are still manpower intensive. Better technology has allowed us to drastically cut the number of crew required per capital ship. I am therefore happy with my Alliance dreadnoughts requiring only 1,690 crew and fleet carriers 3,235 (excluding marines) despite them being multiple times the length of current and past warships.
RN Astute attack submarine (2001) – Length: 97m / Crew: 98
RN V class attack submarine (1942) – Length: 62m / Crew: 33
RN Type 45 (Daring) destroyer (2010) – Length 152m / Crew: 191
RN Daring destroyer (1949) – Length 120m / Crew: 279
As you can see, for smaller warships there seems to be something of a barrier, not even increasing technology can bring the crew requirements down to much. Indeed, for the Normandy SR1 equivalent (submarine) they have actually increased. As such I am happy with increasing the SR1's crew compliment to 74 (excluding marines), a 60% reduction in the standard crew per meter ratio of Alliance ships I came up with, and having the standard Alliance frigate and cruiser have crew compliments of 177 and 428 (excluding marines) respectively.
Timeline Changes So Far
First colony on mars: 27 years earlier than canon
Discovery of Prothean ruins: 64 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (council of nations version): 63 years earlier than canon
First Contact War: 45 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (parliamentary super state version): 44 years earlier than canon
Citadel Ascension Process: 52 years longer than canon (humans become an Associate Race 7 years later than canon)