"My first impression of Turian organization was… not in a good light, to say the least. They were too rigid in structure, too doctrinal in thinking, with very little space for creative interpretation. Changes in their rigid 'Grand Battle Plan' in the tactical level must be passed up the chain of command, from the lowliest rifleman, to the Chiefs of Staff.
I can't tell you how difficult the first few months and years were when it came to organizing joint operations between us two. President Nabwana absolutely despised the overly political nature of their military, and that was saying something when you considered that the President was a career politician."
High Admiral Jon Grissom, in an interview for the documentary The Greatest War by the Elysium News Channel
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ASV Guiding Light, Docking Bay 12, The Citadel, August 4, 2192.
Wrex and Vasir entered the cruiser through its docking hatch and was greeted by the ship's crew and the officers attached to it.
"Tela, I suppose you'll be requisitioning my ship again." The Asari Matriarch in charge said.
"Blame the Councilor for that, Aethyta. The councilor assigned this ship to me." Tela retorted.
The crew grimaced and cringed as they listened to the two Asari bickering.
"Can you two tear each other apart later?" Wrex interrupted. "I'd rather get this thing flying as soon as possible."
"I see you're still babysitting my sister, Wrex." Aethyta said as she went and sat down on the commander's seat.
"Well, somebody has to." Wrex joked.
Tela groaned and waved them both off as she went towards the crew's quarters where she would be staying.
As soon as she had left, Wrex started the conversation once more.
"You shouldn't be so hard on her you know." He said to the Matriarch.
"She made it into the SPECTRE Corps, she can handle a dysfunctional relationship with her sister." Aethyta answered, opening her omni-tool and reviewing the ship's current status.
"Oh come on, I get that you're pissed that the Corps chose her over you…"
"At half the age." She interjected.
"… At half the age too, yeah. But speaking from an old Krogan to an old Asari half of my age, you wouldn't want your siblings to hate you."
Aethyta just snorted.
"I'm serious! We live for a long time Aethyta. Lovers and friends come and go, but your kin stick around until either you or they die."
"Yeah, I'll keep it in mind." She simply answered.
Wrex grunted his confirmation and went to catch up with the younger Vasir, leaving the senior one alone with her crew.
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Tykis Frontline Sector, Targora Thoraga, August 9, 2192.
"Colonel Victus." Oraka greeted as he walked in the observation bunker.
"Oh! Sir, we weren't expecting you so early." Victus said as he quickly tidied up his table.
"As long as you give me a satisfactory report I couldn't give less of a damn what you do in your spare time." Oraka answered.
"Sir, from observation, we conclude that the enemy won't be attacking any time soon and are massing for a large offensive instead."
"So my deduction was right: the Krogan are inexperienced in static warfare. Do you have any suggestions as to what we should do to achieve a breakthrough?"
"If I may, a conventional offensive following established doctrine will be ineffective in achieving a success. A straightforward attack will only result in the repeating of more massive losses, just like what we faced before we settled. My theory is that an intense, focused offensive in key strategic locations, reinforced by reserve units and other support regiments, could blow a hole in their lines. This lapse in their defense should be taken advantage of by fast moving, mobile units. If my theory is correct, this will force the enemy to either pull back from their lines or risk being overwhelmed." Victus explained.
"An unorthodox solution." Oraka said as he considered Victus' plan. He stayed there silently as he thought through all the different plans and solutions presented to him over the past few days.
"It has some potential. Creative, it certainly is, however the problem is that our commanders aren't as experienced in such… flexible warfare. We would have little set objectives, battle plans must be modified and made to adapt in quick succession. Plans made to take advantage of openings in a tactical level may hinder strategic level operations. You should know this Colonel." Oraka continued.
"I see." Victus answered.
"It is worth some merit however. Despite my… reservations about this plan of yours, I can't be certain that it will fail either." The General added.
Oraka stood up and made his way out of the observation bunker, leaving Victus and his comrades there by themselves.
"You'd think after losing so many soldiers in a few days he'd be a lot more open minded." Victus' friend, Kuril, said as soon as the general was out of earshot.
"You can't expect an old Turian to flip a switch like that so easily. General Oraka's been in the service since before we were even born." The Colonel answered. "I'll still be pushing for our plan to be tried though."
"You better, any plan is better than whatever the hell we've been doing the past few weeks." Kuril returned before getting up and leaving the post.
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The President's Office, Arcturus Station, August 11, 2192.
"What are the terms they're asking for, and do we know anything about their long-term plans? " President Harper asked as he took another bite out of his dinner.
"The Batarian revolutionaries are being reasonable so far. They say they want to reform their state into one controlled by the people." Grissom said over the call
"But that's right now, how about the next decade, or even the next few year? This is a gamble Grissom, I don't want this to end with something like another 'Soviet Union' seeing how that's going to come back and bite us in the ass."
"A reasonable assumption, certainly. However we do hold all the cards on the table right now, so to speak. They need our support, we don't necessarily need theirs. We can use that as an advantage." Grissom tried to reassure the President. "We could demand to be involved in the writing of their Constitution if any. If we play our cards right, we could disarm the to the point that they'd be no threat to us.
"You seem to have all these things figured out Jon, maybe we'd be better off with you as president." Harper said with a chuckle.
"That won't do Donnie, I don't know jack shit about economics" Grissom returned.
The two old friends laughed at the exchange.
"Christ, we've come a long way haven't we Jon?" Harper mused.
"Yeah… I guess we did." Grissom answered.
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Cydonia Mechanics Proving Grounds, Marathon, Mars, August 14, 2192.
The red desert of Marathon. A near endless expanse of red dust and hills of sand. Very quiet save for the occasional thunder storm every few months. Today, that is not the case. Today, explosions and gunfire crack and echo through the desert as the Martian tech giant tests it's new project.
Striding across a hail of small arms fire is an individual clad in armor. Bullets pinged and ricocheted off the starship grade metal that encased the man. Slowly he picked up the pace and began to run. Magnetic servos multiplied his power almost tenfold and launched him high into the air as he leapt towards his target. The armored man landed on his target with a smash, crushing it with sheer force alone.
"Simulation over." A robotic voice was heard from an observation post.
The test pilot acknowledged and walked towards the observation post to retrieve his results.
In the post, the engineers and project heads clapped and congratulated each other on the success that they had achieved.
"Congratulations Dr. Coré, the suit's results are beyond expectations. AFCOM will be granting you the budget for further production and development." Grissom said. "A lot of people over at Lawson Biotech is going to be very disappointed."
"Better them than us." She said "Genetically modified super-soldiers for mass production is just plain stupid."
"I suppose so, but then again, their pitch was pretty good, wouldn't you admit?"
"Trust me Admiral, the future of warfare won't be gene-modded super-soldiers. The Tank-Man will be more than capable of doing whatever Lawson promised you, and more." Eva defended. She didn't buy into Henry Lawson's controlled evolution pitch. Not one bit. "Humanity has evolved through its tools, not through changing our physiology. It'd be absurd to grow an extra limb when we can make a drone do the same job much more effectively."
"Well Eva, an ever adapting soldier on an ever changing battlefield is in every army's bucketlist. Hell, it's in mine." Grissom continued. "But I digress. You've already been awarded the contract. I expect that the Tank-Suits will be ready for full deployment by the end of the year."
The High Admiral shook hands with Eva and the other members of the team before heading out.
"Well, looks like it's back to work people. Somebody tell the head of manufacturing that we've got the go ahead. We're going to need at least a thousand suits by the end of the year." Eva said as she got up from her seat and headed for the door. She left the team in the post and got into her personal shuttle that took her back to the company's HQ where she needed to organize the next step of the project and operations.
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Archive Update: Recorded conversation between Colonel Oraka and Lieutenant Corinthus during the outbreak of the war.
Playback start.
Colonel Oraka: Corinthus, where are you?
Lieutenant Corinthus: Still on my way. We've went into Stage 3 Mobilization. What's going on?
CO: We're at war, get the men ready as fast as you can.
LC: At war? Who shot first!?
CO: The spirits damned Salarians attacked our fleet and are supporting the Batarians, even with our evidence that they sponsored last month's attack. Primarch Antilla has placed us in a state of emergency and the council's already setting in motion their mobilization. Marshal Fedorian is moving us to execute a preemptive strike before they can mobilize the rest of their militaries, and for once I agree with him.
LC: Escalating the war so quickly? It could work I suppose. How long until we're at Total Mobilization?
CO: A week for the frontier colonies, a month for the core worlds.
LC: And the enemy?
CO: Intelligence says two, maybe three months. If red tape probably longer.
LC: That slow? We'll have this war over before the year's Tor celebrations!
CO: Don't count on it. Either ways get here with the men as fast as possible, drag them if need be.
LC: Yes sir.
Playback end.
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A/N:
Kind of a short update, but it'll have to do for now.
Exam season is almost over for me, meaning that I should have more time to work on this in the next few weeks or so. As of the moment I have to type these on mobile because my laptop broke yet again and I haven't installed a good VPN on my desktop. I need the VPN because FanFicion is blocked by my government. Absolute shitheads they are.
Progress on writing is always going. Slow, but always going. I should have another chapter after two weeks.
Remember to leave a review of how you think things are going and point out any grammatical errors you find. I'll fix them if I have the time.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a nice day.