THE BATTLE WON
The batarians successfully withdrew from Mindoir without the loss of a single starship. When it became evident that a proportion of the civilian population could be on board the enemy vessels, the Alliance relief fleet held their fire, and the batarians made good their escape through the mass relays. The Hegemony's main goal for the operation was entirely fulfilled. Out of a civilian population of approximately 1.2 million, nearly nine hundred thousand colonists were either dead or missing, the great majority captured by the slavers. These were taken to Khar'shan itself for processing, where many were paraded en masse in spectacles for the political gain of Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra upon arrival. The Alliance meanwhile was forced to mop up the resistance of pirates stranded on the planet, and take account of what just had went wrong. It was a process that would change the nature of humanity's relationship with the galaxy forever, and one that would prepare the species for greater struggles that still lay unknown in the future.
The 737th Infantry Division had suffered 30% casualties, and these were concentrated almost exclusively in the two infantry brigades. Furthermore, the division lost eighty of its assault walkers, twenty six Orca tanks, and its entire complement of Mantis gunships. The militia losses were far worse, as they had borne the brunt of the initial assaults. It is estimated that every two in three militia soldiers were dead by the end of October 8th, with some units taking up to 90% casualties.
Batarian losses were comparable in numbers to Alliance figures, but they had deployed far more professional soldiers, and so the proportion of their forces destroyed was far smaller. However, the biotic and mobile troops had taken the brunt of these losses, and the batarians could ill afford the destruction of such experienced and useful troops. Due to the final battle for the New Omaha Pocket, Blood Pack losses were almost total, with only a dozen krogan making it off of Mindoir alive.
AFTER THE BATTLE
The immediate consequence of the battle was to set off a political and military crisis within the Systems Alliance. Consul Gasperi immediately appealed to the Citadel Council as soon as news of the attack had reached her, but when the batarian ambassador made it clear that any intervention would mean total war between the Citadel and the Batarian Hegemony, the request for aid was denied. This set off rioting across human space, which intensified when news of the scale of the defeat broke days later. Anti-alien sentiments rose sharply, giving Cerberus and Terra Firma real political capital and allowing the rise of both organisations. The former in particular grew spectacularly in size and wealth, and Mindoir can be credited with expanding the capabilities of Cerberus to carry out sophisticated terrorist activities on a galaxy-wide scale for the first time.
Despite the brutality and aggression of the attack, the consuls considered simply paying for the return of the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir. The batarians had not started a general offensive, but remained within their borders as before. Gasperi in particular did not think that the Alliance was ready for war, and tried desperately to avoid it. Alliance High Command was not of the same opinion, and the rank-and-file were even less amused by the notion that Mindoir would go unavenged. A collection of admirals and generals signed their name to a secret petition, demanding that war be declared or "such measures for the restoration of the Alliance's original purpose" would be made immediately. The threat was clear. The military would overthrow the consuls if they did not immediately move a declaration of war in parliament.
In truth, the consuls were on the edge of being ousted by the politicians anyway. Gasperi and Forrest's Conservative Party split immediately when the consuls' hesitation was made clear, with a "People's Party" forming by rebel members of parliament around the long-time party critic, Alice Dennison. This new party issued an ultimatum of their own; they would bring down the government in cooperation with the opposition and have the sitting consuls arrested if a declaration of war was not made on the Batarian Hegemony. Stuck between the military, the politicians and an enraged public, Gasperi relented and reluctantly declared war. The batarians would return the kidnapped citizens or face the wrath of the legions and fleets of humanity.
However, the consul's assessment that that Alliance was not ready for war was to be proven correct. Over the course of the next month and a half, naval engagements against the Hegemony were stalemates, and no real progress towards defeating the enemy navy was made. Troops were successfully landed on some outer batarian colonies, but the war threatened to turn into one of attrition. This was unacceptable to the High Command, as well as the public at large. Calls by extremists for the deployment of the capital weapons carried by the deterrence fleet were soon echoed by the admirals running the war. A statement needed to be made, they said. The threat of a coup d'état was again issued, this time demanding that three batarian colonies be selected and the full wrath of humanity's nuclear arsenal be deployed against them. Gasperi was disgusted, but unable to bring herself to allow the end of human democracy for the sake of the batarians. She agreed, and selected the three least populated batarian colonies for nuclear annihilation.
The weapons of mass destruction were deployed, and thousands of batarian colonists turned to ash. The galaxy now knew of humanity's resolve, and were horrified. The Citadel Council finally intervened, unable to ignore the escalation in the conflict. The turians moved their fleets into the region, placing them between the two species, and declared the border a military exclusion zone. Forced to stop fighting by the armed might of the Citadel, the asari brokered a ceasefire. The batarians were to return the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir, and humanity was to compensate the families of the batarians killed in the nuclear attacks. Both sides were forced to agree to this, and so the First Verge War was brought to an end with the only one major battle fought; Mindoir. However, every grievance that had led to the conflict remained. The issue of colonisation of the region remained unresolved, as did the issue of continuing batarian pirate activity. Adding to these problems, the batarians returned only a fraction of the kidnapped populace, claiming that most had died in transit due to resisting their capture. The Alliance and the Hegemony would fight each other again.
General Francesa De Santos was honoured for her defence of Mindoir, but wherever she went, she was a continual reminder of a catastrophic defeat, a problem that haunted her in every command she took afterwards. Unable to shake the "Curse of Mindoir", she was eventually promoted to Field Marshal in 2172 with the arrival of a new government, but she retired to her native Chile soon afterwards. She published an account of her combat experiences in 2176 entitled To Fight For Earth and it became a best-seller both in human circles and beyond. She died in 2186 during the Reaper invasion of her homeworld, convinced that she had done everything in her power to save the people of Mindoir.
By contrast, General Khasvan Gadnalak was deeply unsatisfied with his performance during the campaign. Although hugely lauded and made into a celebrity among Hegemony loyalists for his leadership, he thought that the fighting had exposed serious weaknesses in both the External Forces and himself. In the aftermath of Mindoir, he pushed for serious reforms in the batarian military, with the Alliance as a model. These were met with varying enthusiasm, and their most widespread influence was that of copied human equipment. On a personal level, Mindoir made Gadnalak the man that batarian rebels would praise for decades to come. He dedicated himself to all things military, becoming a paragon of batarian virtues, pushing himself to the edge at every necessary moment. By 2184, he had disappeared, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra succeeded to the highest position in the Hegemony soon after Mindoir, his dream of leading his people fulfilled. With the conflict with humanity unresolved, he made a formal request of the Council to have the Skyllian Verge declared a zone of batarian interest. Although disguised as a long term peace plan between the Alliance and the Hegemony, he aimed to buy time and resources for him to crush the humans. When the Council refused to impose such a measure, he ended formal diplomatic relations with the Citadel species, and the batarians withdrew into their borders to bide their time. The Hegemony would become increasingly tyrannical under his rule, and Ar'dra would die during the Great Upheaval, an event that was largely of his own creation.
For Consul Anka Gasperi, the failure of the batarians to return all the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir was the last straw. She resigned, and took it upon herself to write to every surviving family that had experienced a loss. She worked night and day on the mammoth task, spurning politics and her own life for months to complete it. Her letters largely restored her public image, but the guilt she felt about the batarian attack could not be stemmed by any means. Once every family had received an apology, she committed suicide, opening her throat with the sword she had received at her inauguration as consul. In the end, Mindoir had also claimed one of the brightest minds ever produced by humanity. She was honoured by her great political rival Consul Nozomi Taro upon her death in 2173, and granted the only state-funeral for a political leader ever organised by the Alliance. Gasperi was buried in a small cemetery in Italy, her father's land. Some of her letters were gathered and published in a collection in 2178, after Mindoir had been avenged on Torfan and in the Kite's Nest.