From: Francis charron (Guest)

A: No. Gamilas is behind in terms of weapons technology with the energy shield and kinetic barrier utilized by the Coalition and the Citadel. This technology is too precious for them, so there is no chance they would give it away. Additionally, Humanity has many, many other technologies to compensate for this. They are not talking about technologies yet to be discovered.

Chapter 4

= place: Arcturus station, November 8, 2179 =

The former moon base that once saw fights in the First Inner Planet War has now become the seat of the senate and chairman of the System Alliance. Because it was in mankind's home system and had 2 main colonies, Mars and Venus, it was remarkably well defended. The first fleet was constantly stationed there, and various fleets were periodically assigned and released there. However, the most important defenses were 100 MDPs, 400 defense platforms and 20 bases for space fighters on the moons of Pluto, Mars, Earth and Venus, housing a total of 3,000 of the most advanced fighters in the galaxy. Now, however, in the senate room, all the senators were present for a special meeting.

"Silence please." - said the chairman of the senate. The room went silent immediately, and the chairman continued - "We just got confirmation of an attack on the Elysium colony. However, it was not just a pirate raid, as the fleet that attacked Elysium included the Hegemony warships."

The announcement boomed in the hall, and the chairman had to spend another minute reassuring the senators.

"Today's meeting is to finalize the action plan, but you need to know the full report beforehand." - said the chairman, then began reading the condensed version of what was happening on Elysium. From the first arrival of the ships until the withdrawal by the relay. Then he got to that moment. - "We managed to intercept people claiming to send a warning signal about the Hegemony flanking attack. It was two batarians, a turian and a salarian. 3 of them served as slaves on the ship and the last, a batarian, claims to have acted on the behalf of the Rebellion."

This surprised the senators. Many have argued that most batarians may not be particularly happy with their situation, given the number of refugees. But they never thought that the rebels could slip onto the Hegemony ship, rally a few slaves to aid, send a signal to help them, and get away alive.

Moments later, the chairman continued - "He claims that the rebellion is capable of fighting as our allies in the war against the Hegemony."

"We haven't decided to go to war yet." - the British woman said firmly.

"We have no choice in this matter." - said the older man of Russian origin - "They have already attacked us, so we have to respond by force and eliminate this threat."

"I agree." - said an African-American man - "The slavery they allowed and helped continuation existing is unwaveringly evil at the root. We should help the rebels destroy the Hegemony completely, free all slaves and help them to save the new state."

"Not so fast." - the Japanese woman said - "We don't know anything about these rebels. They might just be some dissidents looking for power for themselves. Besides, if we go to the stage of the war to free all the slaves, we will have no turning back."

"Additionally, they want to be our allies, but won't it look like we are taking care of everything and they are just driving our success." - the Korean man said.

"But they were able to sneak aboard the Hegemony and send us the information to the vice-admiral, thanks to which he did not fall into a trap, which significantly minimized the losses." - said a man of German origin - "If they had not informed us, our fleet would not have had time to prepare a short FTL jump and would have suffered huge losses. They can have much more useful information that can easily make up for the shortages in the ships."

"If they have any at all!" - said the Chinese woman - "Besides, if they had information about the attack, they could inform us. We would silently assemble enough ships to fight them off at the start and thousands, I repeat THOUSANDS, would not have to die or become slaves!"

"And how were they supposed to do it!" - said the man with a Brazilian accent - "Come in by boat and say, 'Hello, you will be attacked by 500 ships tomorrow. Prepare your defense silently ' Let me remind you that it was in the middle of growing tensions between us and the Citadel. We thought it was a stupid joke at best."

"Silence." - said the chairman. He waited until everyone had calmed down, looking at the senators. - "We don't know anything about these rebels, but Hackett's report said that if it weren't for them, his fleet would suffer heavy losses. They also give the place and time of the meeting to negotiate an alliance. We should give them the credit of confidence and come to this negotiation, and then make a decision."

There was a screech of agreement among the senators. Better face them directly, and talk with them, then speculate.

"Next, we need to figure out what to do about this attack. Rebels apart, but I think everyone will agree that we need to answer somehow. Information that the Hegemony is behind the attack on Elysium has already reached the local news. In a few hours, the entire galaxy will know."

"Do we know the exact number of victims?" - the Central American man asked.

"They still count, but preliminary estimates are 8,000 killed, 16,000 wounded and 33,000 missing both on the ground and in space." - said the chairman.

There was a murmur of shock and rage among the senators.

"I think everyone will agree that there is only one answer to such losses." - said the man of Polish origin.

"War!" - the exclamation began to repeat throughout the room. The chairman had to cut them all off again for another minute. When he finished, he started speaking again.

"I agree with you that war is the only thing we can do after such a provocation. But we need to establish an action plan in advance. If we turn this into a Coalition versus Citadel conflict, the losses will be too great for both sides. So we need to drive a wedge between the Hegemon and the rest of the Citadel. To this end, the admiralty proposed to implement a previously prepared plan." - then one of the bodyguards gave a special folder and opened it. He then handed the contents to the chairman and he read it out - "In the event that a conflict with the Batarian Hegemony is inevitable due to the provocation of the Batarian Hegemony, we recommended to use this plan for the fastest and least bloody victory."

"The first step will be to obtain evidence to prove the Hegemony's guilt as the aggressor. After obtaining such evidence, it should be sent to the public for the Citadel and the Council itself. This is to ensure that the fleet of the remaining races of the Citadel did not support the Hegemony due to pressure from public opinion reluctant to support the aggressor. Additionally, propaganda actions should be launched to ensure this sentiment throughout the rest of the conflict by whatever means are appropriate as the conflict continues. However, we should not fabricate evidence as STG and Specters will most likely be able to verify this."

"The second step is to deploy geth fleets on the border systems and routes between us and the Geth Consensus/Quarian Republic to ensure a continuous supply of resources from these territories and to defend against raids from the Terminus Systems. Many of the local states work very closely with the Hegemony and can support it if we leave any gaps in our defense at the border. Raynor's Rayders are to simultaneously launch guerrilla campaigns against such factions to weaken their ability to attack our borders."

"The third step is to attack the Hegemon herself. During the previous steps, the fleets should be mobilized and redirected to the border. The stealth frigates are to set points that are strategically important and with a large grouping of fleets in advance. Then our attack is to be directed at these targets, destroying the enemy's border defense. Considering the time needed to mobilize our forces in full comparison with the forces of the rest of the Citadel races, the attack must take place no more than 8 days after the declaration of war in order not to lose the advantage and initiative."

"The next steps should be taken depending on the situation and the government's decisions. It is an opportunity to make peace on favorable terms or to continue the attack in order to eliminate the Hegemony completely."

"According to a few reports, there are separatist groups in the Hegemony, but whether they will act to our disadvantage or our benefit is to be determined. However, taking into account the nature of the rule of the Hegemony, it can be assumed that establishing cooperation with them will be beneficial for us and will allow us to place a government favoring us in the place of the Hegemony. This will require considerable material and military support, but if it is successful it will shorten the border with the Citadel and significantly strengthen the ranks of the Arcturus Coalition in terms of manpower and economy in the long run. However, it will be negatively received by the Citadel Council and other races associated with them. Therefore, it will be up to the Senate to decide what to do next, basing on their judgment on situation."

"As for our allies in the Coalition, We do not recommend their participation in the conflict so as not to extend the war to other members of the Citadel and not to give the Hegemony any possibility of propaganda retaliation against us. However, as previously recorded, the Geth fleets should be deployed on the border with the Terminus Systems. Quarians cannot support any military action economically, but their many merchant ships can be used to support our supply lines."

"Given the boundaries, there is a possibility for the Hegemony to attack by independent colonies. The colonies themselves will most likely choose to remain neutral but may ask us for help in the event of a Hegemony attack. In such a case, the Hegemony will want to use them anyway to attack our territory or to support their war effort. Given this, our support will likely not only refuse the Hegemony a foothold to attack our territory but there is a high chance that such a colony will provide material support for our war effort. Taking these factors into account, the support of such colonies will be of great benefit to System Alliance."

"That's all. Does anyone have any objections to this plan?"

There was a rumble among the senators, but no one objected.

"Okay, it's time to take care of the paperwork. Who is in favor of declaring war on the Batarian Hegemony by the System Alliance?"

All senators voted yes at the same time.

"The preparation of a special cabinet for war and the announcement of it will take place today. Now, we will take care of the second issue, which is the situation in the Pater system."

"According to the information obtained by the local SDF and the flotilla under Captain Kodai, there is a large group of species that are currently at a great war. Most of the military data were previously deleted, but we have some general information and one of the greatly shocking. According to our information, they use ships of the first category. It seems that some of these species have DNA that is 99% compatible with ours."

Shock flew through the room.

"Are you saying these are humans too?" - the Australian man asked.

"Initial research and some information gathered by our forces seem to confirm this. According to their information, some ancient race had transferred them to these planets from elsewhere. Given, that we have 50,000 years old Protheans ruins on Mars, this is a realistic option." - said the chairman.

"But now it presents another problem." - the Peruvian woman said - "You mentioned that he was at war there. How are we to react to that if they are our cousins. In addition, it was recorded there that our SDF forces engaged in a skirmish with the ships of one of the factions there. Chances are they will react similarly to the turians 9 years ago. What are we going to do then?"

"Fortunately, the system there has no garden world, has not been terraformed yet, and there are no important natural resources." - said the chairman - "Additionally, the races there have not even heard of MassEffect. If we just change the relay's trajectory, they won't know where to find us. We can gain some time this way. However, this poses a political problem. It is unacceptable to abandon your own territory because two unknown factions are fighting there. Due to the war with the Batarian Hegemony, we have no ships to keep the system from attacking. Fortunately, the plan chosen by the admiralty is that we will limit the war to just us and the Hegemons when it comes to offensive actions. So our allies can safely secure this system. If worst comes to worst, we can send our fleet of ships and the Geth fleet as an expedition group."

"As long as the Geths agrees." - the man from Mars said.

"Unfortunately, the condition is the help of the Geths." - said the chairman - "So there is a possibility that they will not agree, but they will rather agree to keep the borders secured. So it is enough to quickly force the Hegemony to surrender and redirect our ships to that region. But you should finally introduce the factions that are fighting there."

"All the governments they know in that region of space are involved. They are divided into two fighting factions. The first faction is: Beldel Hierarchy, United Planets of Furide, SUS Empire, and Broal Federation. The second is: Galman Republic, Ethos High Command, Amare Monarchy, Yoruba Union, Technocracy of Piresjia, and the States of Mazan. It is noteworthy that before the war, all governments except the Galman Republic, Broal Federation, and the State of Mazanu were members of the Greater Urup Interstellar Alliance."

"The first Beldel Hierarchy, they have been a race that has traveled with FTL for around 600 years. They are a humanoid race with green skin and pointed ears. They are more slender than us, but we do not know their physical abilities. But their life expectancy is around 120 years. By being part of the Interstellar Alliance before the war, their navy and army were greatly simplified, like other members of the alliance once before. As far as we know, they only have two of these ships in the entire fleet. One is a basic cruiser, and the other is an aircraft carrier that also serves as a flagship. The basic information is that they do not have powerful ship-to-ship weapons, but their fighters are surprisingly fast and maneuverable. This, combined with the lack of any energy shields in all navies known to them, creates a very effective combination."

"The United Planets of Furide is another government that has been traveling into space with FTL for 600 years. They are also a humanoid race, but with red skin and pointed ears. They have a body structure similar to ours, but thanks to the information obtained, we know that their physical abilities are weaker than ours. Their navy is based on only one type of ship. Initial information says that they are almost entirely made to produce powerful artillery firepower that can destroy almost any ship they know in one full volley."

"SUS Empire seems to be the most powerful government of the former Interstellar Alliance and they own over. They have had an FTL drive for 800 years. The ruling race is a humanoid with blue skin and pointed ears. They have a physique similar to ours but are much taller, 2.5 meters or over 8 feet tall. Their navy has 2 types of ships, an aircraft carrier, which is also a command ship, and cruisers. Besides, we know that they have conquered several other races."

"The last government on the list is the Boral Federation. They have had an FTL drive for 400 years. They also conquered a few other races, and the main race is practically like us, only they have green skin. It seems they were also one of the races related to us. They weren't members of the Interstellar Alliance, and they didn't come into contact with the Alliance itself, the already broken one, only during the war, so their navy has many more types of ships. We have no confirmation, but they most likely use concentration camps and the orbital bombing of civilian facilities as a means of punishment."

A murmur of dissatisfaction passed through the entire senate. They will definitely have to watch out for these new neighbors. All the more, they must quickly and firmly explain Hegemony why attacking the System Alliance was the worst idea they could have come up with.

"Now, to the other side of the conflict." - continued the chairman.

"Ethos High Command first. They are one of our cousins and former members of the Interstellar Alliance. They have had an FTL drive for 550 years. The physique is basically human, but only cream-colored, possibly tanned. They are the most powerful military force in this alliance with well-equipped ships and trained soldiers. By being part of the Interstellar Alliance, their ship types also fell to only 2, cruiser and battleship, but during the course of the war, they created a new class of frigates and corvettes. According to the description, they are highly honorable and often fight, even against a much more powerful opponent to defend their rights. It is extremely honorable and thus they gain the general support of many factions, perhaps they could even use it for propaganda to gain the support of other races. But this is also their Achilles' heel and they lost many ships and people defending their ideas."

"Next is the Amare Monarchy. More cousins and former members of the Interstellar Alliance. They also look like us, but all of them have brown skin and golden eyes. They have had an FTL drive for 400 years. Same as the navies of the former members of the Interstellar Alliance, only 2 types of ships, a cruiser and a battleship. But they have developed new energy shields that are much more powerful than ours, but only cover one part of the ship."

"Another is the Yoruba Union. We made contact with them. They also look like us, but they all have dark skin and red eyes. They have had an FTL drive for 500 years. Also former members of the Interstellar Alliance, also 2 types of ships, cruiser and artillery cruiser. He is also developing a new type of ship, an aircraft carrier, and improved technology, thanks to which Attilery Cruseir has entered full production."

"Now the Technocracy of Piresia. They have had an FTL drive for 560 years. They are humanoid but have no hair and have a special skull structure that forms a sort of the third eye. One race based on dextro of all of these. Also former members of the Interstellar Alliance. They have great defense systems in the form of satellites and planetary cannons, but only a small fleet of frigates and corvettes. However, each of them has extremely powerful equipment in the form of fusion torpedoes and a masking device. For secondary weapons, they have what they call the Pulse Plasma Cannon. It is an extremely powerful weapon, but it has a short-range, accuracy and speed. They are objectively the most advanced race of all listed here."

"It's now to the least advanced, the States of Mazan. FTL propulsion for barely 30 years, which is more than we have, but never found any ruins of an ancient civilization. The Mazanuw race is also humanoid but somewhat resembles a lizard in appearance and survival skills. They never met another race until the SUS detected them and tried to annex them, thinking they would be easy to conquer. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and their technology, although primitive by our standards, turned out to be extremely effective. Their equipment is mainly railgun, coilgun and various nuclear weapons. However, they have an extremely original FTL drive in the form of the WormGate. During their research, they were to discover some other space through which their ships could pass by using special gates. In addition, during the conflict, they developed rockets that generate a special field that leads to the premature detonation of all kinds of missiles and disperses energy weapons. Ironically, it was their relatively primitive technology that allowed them to avoid the negative effects of these weapons, which gives them an equal chance against other races."

"The last country on the list is the Galman Republic. The Galmans are our next cousins who have almost everything we do, except for the skin which is blue and is much more mature. Many of the disasters that took place in our world were stopped by them before they started. They have had an FTL for 340 years, but they developed very slowly and methodically. They had their first contact with the Boral, who almost immediately wanted to conquer them, like several other species before. The fighting went on for a year before the rest of the listed races were met, and the Galmans lost 20% of their territory and many ships. Fortunately for them, they removed all maps, or else the inner colonies, which were their main source of production and the main population centers, would be attacked. Their military mainly uses energy weapons at our technological level."

"That's all our expert has managed to prepare so far. Regarding conflict, technology, and everything else, we'll find out when they've finished studying the rest of the files. Meanwhile, the question of the first contact remains. How should we react?" - the chairman concluded, reaching almost immediately for the glass of water.

"Agreements with the Citadel require us to inform about any first contacts, and that's what we should do. Besides, the rumors are probably gone by now." - said the lady from Lithuania.

"It could create additional confusion in the Citadel, which would further reduce the already very little chance of their intervention." - said a Turkish man.

"Right!" "They speak well." the various senators began to speak, and the chairman waited for them to finish, then said. - "So we will officially announce this first contact to the other races. That's all, and the meeting is over. We will announce the declaration of war at 12.00 am Standard Earth Time. Meanwhile, our command of the armed forces will start mobilizing fleets and soldiers."

= place: main base of the Gamilas Empire expedition =

General Elk Domel looked through the window of Gamilas' main base, which is on the artificial island which is now orbiting the gas giant, at the great gate and the fleet orbiting it. The web left behind by the ancient Aquarius civilization served the empire immensely. His expedition was to gain a foothold in the Milky Way Galaxy. He personally believed that his place was on the border, fending off attacks by the Gatlantic barbarians. But the order came from the Leader of Great Gamilas Empire himself - Abelt Dessler.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." - Elk said. A young aide entered the room with a briefcase in his left hand. He saluted in Gamilan style to which Elk replied the same.

"General, the UX-01 scout ship has encountered several intelligent species." - said the adjutant. - "According to the report, a full fleet attacked the colonies which were protected by 20 ships and a similar number of defense platforms. The planet's defense was quickly eliminated. Upon analysis, the captain concluded that the attackers were pirates and destroyed one of their ships, which was pursuing an equivalent of a civilian ship with minimal armament. After about 5 of our hours, a group of 100 ships attacked the pirates. After the battle, the pirates withdrew. Lieutenant Colonel Frakken sent the footage of the clash. I managed to establish that both sides used some kind of energetic shield."

General Elk Domel was unable to hide his surprise. The energetic shield was only in the design phase, and those species already had it. Even the pirates had it! It was a very unexpected and dangerous set of events. But something else worried him. Normally, pirates cannot organize into more than 20 ships at best. Something was wrong. But he didn't have time to think about it, as the adjutant continued. - "The Lieutenant Colonel Frakken has managed to connect to their general information network and has managed to translate their language. We know that the government of the attacked planet will announce something publicly in a few hours, and our ship has still not been detected and is monitoring them. He asks if he should come out and initiate the first contact."

"Not yet." - said Elk.- "Order him to continue his observations and report whatever he finds out. What about the rest of the reconnaissance ships?"

"UX-02 searched several systems but found nothing. The same for ships UX-03 and UX-05. But UX-04 has detected an unidentified mineral."

"Send mining and research vessels there with one flotilla as escort. Anything else to report?"

"No, that's it." - the adjutant finished.

"Well, you can go." - Elk said. The adjutant quickly saluted in Gamilan and left, leaving the general with his thoughts.

= place: Batarian Rebelion main base =

"It finally started." - said the leader of the rebellion. In the lamplight, everyone could see the missing left upper eye and the scar on the face that stretched from where the eye should have been to the top of the head. He had an aura of respect and seriousness around him.

"Too soon, though." - said the turian in his old worn officer uniform - "Most of our forces are not ready. They do have basic training, but due to a lack of resources and space, we couldn't practice any actions on more than 16 ships. If there is a greater concentration of enemy forces in battle, we will not have a chance."

"Beware our doctrine does not involve any major clashes." - another Batarian said boldly.

Turian huffed contemptuously - "And I thought you wanted to replace the Hegemony with a new government, not make a new Terminus."

"What did you say?!" - The Batarian stood up, clearly furious.

"Think for a moment." - the turian replied sharply - "If you want any government that recognizes you, you will need an actual navy, not a gang of guerrillas with old ships, converted civilian ships, and a handful of quickly folded corvettes. They must be trained to act as ordered by their commander no matter what."

"Because it ended so well for you." - Batarian replied turning his eyes to the right, which in batarian culture meant disrespect. The Turian, enraged by the behavior and responses, wanted to throw himself in and slap the boastful man in the face, but his discipline kept his anger in check.

"Please calm down gentlemen." - said the leader - "You are both right. We will need a large and organized fleet if we want recognition from other countries but now is not the time. We will start the training as soon as we manage to conquer the territory and secure it against the Hegemony's counterattack. The information has already reached the highest echelons of the human government, and we have a tremendous amount of evidence against the Hegemony so that it doesn't even have a chance to get the support of the Citadel. Our allies held funds and ships for that occasion. We managed to convince even a few high officials and some of the Hegemony troops to support us. The Humans will declare war on the Hegemony, which will weaken them considerably and their pride will prevent them from seeing the full picture of the situation. Our simulations clearly show that System Alliance will gain an advantage in the first matches, and the Hegemony will try to compensate for this by sending more ships to the border. Then we will hit! When attacked by an opponent with much better offensive technology and internal rebellion, they will collapse."

"I would like to note that it will not be that simple." - Asari said - "We have united about 75% of all Rabelian cells, but the remaining 25% are still unconvinced or openly hostile. They will be a source of problems for us in the future if we don't do something about them quickly."

"If I made these two to cooperate with each other, we will also deal with those cells." - The leader said, showing the batarian and turian who had argued earlier.

Turian's name is Nubius Itaril, and he was a highly respected commander, with many even envisaging an admiral career for him. Unfortunately, a few years before the first contact with humans, one of the Hierarchy officers sent him information about a pirate base nearby. Nubius took his flotilla and was caught in an ambush where most of his subordinates were killed or, like him, were sold as slaves to the Hegemony. While the shipment carrying him to his new master was still in the terminus systems, one of the rebel ships attacked and captured him. All slaves on board were transferred to one of the bases, and he was transferred to the main base. There he met the leader who showed him evidence that the ambush was prepared by the Hegemony because he was too good at eliminating pirates and Desolas Arterius, the officer who gave him the data on the base. Apparently, he wanted to get rid of him as he was his main rival for the commander of the 27th fleet. He decided to agree to join as one training officer for new rebel troops.

The Batarian's name is Usotor Ghokgodrak, and he was the oldest one present. At 72 age of standard years, he spent most of his life fighting the Hegemony after their flotilla attacked his home colony on Terminus. He was only 15 at the time. He then joined a pirate gang and robbed ships on the terminus with them for another decade. At the age of 26, he acquired his own ship and crew, mostly composed of people who had some grudge against the Hegemony. After almost 20 years, he was already a somewhat respected pirate, if that's the name. It was also then that he met the current leader. At first, he did not want to join him, he think a leader was a stupid idealist, but his proposal to cooperate would significantly increase his loot and allow him to hit the Hegemon more effectively. Throughout all these years, he did not forget the scars from the past, as did many of his subordinates. After five more years, he finally decided to agree to the offer to go to their home base, and what he saw left him speechless. For the first time, he believed there was a chance to overthrow the Hegemony. He has agreed to become a full member of his Rebellion. Most of his forces operated mainly in Terminus, pirating the Hegemony ships. His experienced crew taught many recruits how to fight pirate style, which they later renamed guerrilla-style, which is why they both disliked each other.

Different origins and approaches to combat caused frequent friction between them. Were it not for their current situation, they would probably even be enemies.

But whether it's destiny or mere coincidence, they're on one side of the barricade now, and whether it's good or bad for the Rebels, history will judge.