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.
Shanxi – Theta System
2112.09.25
Lieutenant General Jack Williams sat at the briefing room table in his headquarters on Shanxi. In the centre of the long oblong table rotated a hologram of the Zodiac cluster, the explored sections were in blue, while the sections only known of by the recovered Prothean maps were coloured a smoky grey. Joining him at the table in person were the three brigadier generals from his own division on Shanxi: Xaio Ke, Kai Jodl and Vittorio Albricci. Brigadier General Maria Soberon, CO of the brigade garrisoning Zapala, and Commodore Lalla Hansa, CO of the naval forces in the Theta system, attended via hologram.
All looked tired and stressed, many having had little sleep since the report on the information from SSV Voyager had been rushed to their desks.
As the highest-ranking officer, and the one in overall command due to inhabited planets under his command being the enemy targets, General Williams began the meeting by informing the others of his strategic decisions. "People, as much as it might please the Commodore to do so, we're not going to fight the enemy in the Zodiac system. Though we don't know where the primary or secondary backdoor relay connections in this sector lead to since this is the last sector shown on the retrieved Prothean supersector maps, we do know that the Zodiac sectors backdoor relay connection is in the Lambda Expanse."
The General manipulated the map to show the relay connection in question.
"Now, we have no idea if it leads to the same sector as the primary relay in the Zodiac Group does, but we can't take the risk, as the Lambda Expanse relay links to both the other clusters in this sector. There's no point in preparing to fight the enemy in the Zodiac Group cluster if the aliens use this backdoor to go through the Lambda Expanse cluster, cut behind us, and attack us here in the Centauri Veil cluster while the fleet is away."
Commodore Hansa excepted the point with a slightly sour look, General Williams altered the hologram to show the Centauri Veil cluster, the various explored systems reachable only by a starships FTL forming a roughly spherical shell around the mass relay in Theta system. "That means we are going to have to fight them here. Now, they only have one point of entry, the secondary mass relay right here in the Theta system. But we have more than that to think about."
The hologram highlighted two green and four yellow planets spread over four systems. "Here, in Theta system itself, we have the shirt sleeve Chinese colony on Shanxi and the Mexican and Argentinian dome colony on Zapala. Over in the Alpha System, we have the Kenyan and Nigerian dome colony on Kaduna. In the Beta system, we have the Italian and Spanish dome colony on Catania and the Thai and Brazilian dome colony on Karabi. Finally, we have the Indian, Iranian and Turkish shirt sleeve colony on Indus in the Delta system."
The display lit up as General Williams punched another sequence in, and the military forces present in each system displayed next to them. "All of those colonies have the garrisons appropriate to their world class and population, which I have decided to leave in place. We don't know the enemy's numbers, motivation, capabilities, or military doctrine and I have no intention of stripping these worlds of their garrisons to boost defences here on Shanxi. Not when we're not even certain that Shanxi will be the enemy's primary target, though I admit it is highly likely to be."
Several of the generals looked put out, but with no knowledge of the enemy to counter General Williams's point they accepted the decision. General Williams turned to Commodore Hansa. "Commodore, for those ground pounders who don't know the navy's garrison system as well as the army's, can you please confirm for us the ships we have available?" The General knew of course, but not all his subordinates did, and they needed to know what was available to plan a viable defence.
Commodore Hansa waved her hand at the hologram, suddenly the planets were no longer highlighted, instead the systems were highlighted, and a stream of naval data was connected to each one. "Of course, General. Just like the army, when colonising a new sector, the navy assigns ships based on a worlds class and population. Unlike the army, when the sector is fully colonised these forces will be combined, and more ships added to make up a full fleet, rather than following the army's system of waiting for the worlds to grow too the pre-requisite levels before deploying full armies and army groups."
She grimaced as she looked at the readouts again, as if by sheer force of will she could make them multiply. "Unfortunately, this difference does not help us here, as the Zodiac Group and Lambda Expanse clusters are still awaiting exploration and colonisation. On General Williams's order, I have sent a courier boat back to Earth with all the information from the SSV Voyager, but with the political situation it may take days or weeks before they send help. Here, in this cluster, we have my own cruiser squadron totalling 68 warships defending Theta system and another cruiser squadron is assigned to Delta system and its shirt sleeve colony. Alpha and Beta systems only have dome worlds, and such they only have assigned cruiser detachments of 28 warships each instead of squadrons. We also have 5 sub strength cruiser flights of 4 ships each patrolling the shipping lanes between all of them."
"Thoughts?" General Williams opened the floor.
"Commodore, there is no way for the alien forces to know of the other systems in this cluster, correct? They would have to scout each star system in an ever-increasing spherical radius from Theta to find them, just as we did to find the garden worlds in the first place." General Soberon was staring intently at the hologram. "Can we not then combine all of the warships into one fleet here in Theta? The only system in the entire Centauri Veil that we know the aliens will have to attack?"
"That's an accurate assumption General, I'm certain that the Cole Protocol will have been activated." Commodore Hansa's voice radiated absolute faith in the ship crews that had gone through the relay with Voyager."
"The Cole Protocol? That's from Halo. We are not playing computer games here Commodore! What do you think this is?!" Brigadier General Xiao Ke thundered across the table.
Commodore Hansa seemed to be holding back laughter at his outburst. "The human imagination is infinite general. Computer games, books, movies, they cover so many possibilities for our future. If they are well written, then they also provide many courses of action that we can take in response to those possibilities, with the pros and cons often fully explored for us as well. They're just as viable a source of information as our own military exercises at the various academies are, and the navy does not dismiss viable courses of action for a fleet to take when facing unknown alien aggressors just because they were developed by an author for a computer game, rather than by an officer in response to a training exercise."
The Commodore's voice hardened as she continued. "The Cole Protocol is official navy policy, you can be certain that the ships in Zodiac followed it as soon as they realised they were under attack, all navigational data apart from that of Zodiac system will have been destroyed. The aliens will have no knowledge of Alliance territory and will be flying completely blind."
General Xiao looked furious and embarrassed, but General Williams cut across him before he could speak again. "That may be Commodore, but wasn't the SSV Bunker Hill and her wolfpack destroyed before they even knew they were under attack? Can you guarantee that they had time to perform the Cole Protocol? And what of the two other survey ships that were elsewhere in the Zodiac Group when the attack occurred? they could return to the Zodiac System at any moment and be captured before they knew that they had any reason to follow the Cole Protocol, couldn't they?"
Commodore Hansa looked angry at the suggestion, both that her crews had not done their jobs and that they could be fooled, but eventually she gave a sharp nod. Acknowledging the General's point had merit.
"Then as tempting as it might be to mass all ships here in Theta to meet the alien threat, I do not think that leaving four colonies completely exposed to naval attack is worth the risk. Especially as we don't know the enemy's capabilities and tactics. If we keep the naval formations separate and the navy is defeated here in Theta, the other systems in the cluster will at least have a chance to analyse the data and plan for the next battle with a viable defence force."
The Generals all conceded the point before General Williams continued. "If we gamble everything on defeating the enemy here in Theta and lose, then there will be no naval forces left to exploit any weaknesses in the enemy's forces or tactics, the entire cluster will be open to naval attack. Commodore, you will have to fight the hostile forces with what you have, and I want courier boats ready to be dispatched to Delta system as soon as the battle begins and ends, whatever the outcome."
The others nodded as they all wished that the interstellar communications and internet system being rolled out across Arcturus and Hades Gamma Sectors was up and running here. Sadly, with the tachyon comm buoys that were the backbone of the network having limited range, they had to be placed in a long chain to each system in normal space. Which made them incredibly expensive and slow to install. The newer colonies like Shanxi still only had their intrasystem internet network, they relied on courier boats for interstellar communication.
"General, I would suggest recalling the intersystem patrols and adding them to my own squadron. They'd only lead any scouting alien forces to our inhabited systems, and I could use a little extra punch if we're leaving the other formations in their respective systems. Also, I want to raise the first contact package with you."
The generals face's turned to stone as they all turned to the only naval officer present. "Useful scenario data aside Commodore, this is not Star Trek. We don't plead with alien forces to talk while they shoot at us and destroy our ships." General Soberon voiced what they had all been thinking, though more respectfully than General Xaio would have liked if the pointed stare he was sending at the Commodore was any indication.
Commodore Hansa stood her ground. "I know General, and I have no intention of giving up any first strike advantage my ships might have by broadcasting it when the enemy have come through the relay to attack us. However, this is still first contact. Humanities first encounter with an alien species. Yes, they fired on us and yes, they destroyed our ships. But how we handle this will be the defining moment of our race. It will be looked back on for as long as humans exist as the moment when humans decided to meet the galaxy with an open hand, or with a clenched fist. I want to make it clear that we are better than these aliens, that we are willing to talk no matter how disastrous our first meeting. That we will fight and defend our territory and our people, but that we won't ever close the door on diplomacy. That we will never give up hope of peaceful coexistence."
The Commodore's last attempt to invoke her fellow officers into sending the first contact package had the most effect. They each looked around the table where they saw an American, a Chinaman, a Mexican, a Moroccan, an Italian and a German. Their countries had been allies, enemies and competitors at various points throughout history. At several points many of them had gone to war with each other, ranging from small border conflicts, to wars to the bitter end where they had choked the life out of each other. Yet now, here they sat. Not only on the same side but wearing the same uniform, coexisting peacefully and ready to fight an enemy together. To defend colonies that were not only not their own, but in some cases were inhabited by former bitter enemies.
After a moment Brigadier General Kai Jodl spoke up, though his heart wasn't in it. "The first contact package holds a lot of information that could be useful to an enemy. Our attitudes, our ships, what we're seen doing, the very basic medical data, our history…" He trailed off, not wanting to set the precedent that humanity was an aggressive warmongering race by recommending they not even attempt diplomacy, even if they had been attacked first.
Brigadier General Vittorio Albricci was feeling the same doubts as his fellow officer and gave a possible course of action. "So, we cut out everything from the package apart from our language and some standard greeting images. That will be useful information if they can intercept our comms but we are going to have to live with it if we do this. We also include a video of only 12 of their ships coming through the relay. If they want to give diplomacy a final chance, if their actions in Zodiac really were a misunderstanding, then this will let us open communications. If not, then history will show that despite being assaulted without warning we still tried the path of coexistence, that we were the better race."
Commodore Hansa smiled thankfully at him. "I can have that ready to go in three hours. I'll load it into one of our courier boats on auto pilot, set to broadcast on all possible frequencies as soon as it clears the relay. I will also have one of our smallest nukes tied into the sensors and set to detonate as soon as it detects movement towards the ship. It won't be large enough to cause any damage to ships more than a few hundred metres away, but it will utterly destroy the courier boat. There'll be nothing left for them to capture and analyse if they're still hostile."
Lt. General Williams thought about the idea for a long time. Giving an enemy useful tactical information in the form of language, vs never even attempting communication with the first alien race humanity had met. Eventually he came to his decision. "Do it. If they're going to be called to war I want the people of the Systems Alliance to know that we did all that we could to prevent it. You have my full support for whatever actions you take in space Commodore. Defend this system as best you are able, but if you are overwhelmed do not hesitate to retreat. Ships and experienced crews are far more valuable in war than heroic but pointless deaths."
He turned to the other officer present via hologram. "General Soberon, you have full tactical authority for Zapala. Defend the colony however you see fit."
The two officers present by hologram saluted and then shimmered out of existence. Lt. General Williams turned to the COs of the three brigades that made up his division of ~165,000 soldiers to begin planning the defence of Shanxi.
Theta System – Centauri Veil
2112.09.28
Commodore Hansa stood at the plot table in the centre of the multi-level octagon pit that was an Alliance ships Flag CIC. Around her on two successive levels were ringed the workstations for the crew that would enable her to effectively command the fleet, but here, in the centre, there was just her and the plot table showing the fleet's position. The first contact package had been sent through the relay three days ago, then she had got to work on planning to defend Theta system.
Right now, the plot showed her ships, all arranged in flights of four ships that were the Alliance's standard naval formation. All other formations were built from the understanding that the warships would be deployed in self-supporting flights of four. At the centre of the fleet were the 8 heavy cruisers that included her flagship, SSV Tehran. Surrounding them were 24 of her 48-strong cruiser force, while the remaining 24 were split, 12 on each side, forming the curving flanks of her formation. Ready to speed ahead and run-down fleeing enemy forces, to envelope defeated enemies, or to turn outward and defend against flanking attacks. Whatever might await her fleet, they were trained and ready for it.
The final group of ships in her full-strength squadron were the 16 frigates. Of limited use in battle due to their weak main guns, kinetic barriers, and armour, frigates had only two traditional uses in battle. That of torpedo screen and torpedo boat, moving independently across the fleet to use their guardian arrays to reinforce whichever part was under the heaviest non-gun attack, before charging at any hole in the enemy's formation and delivering a hopefully knockout blow to their dreadnoughts and heavy cruisers. She had changed their orders to remain in reserve unless enemy fighters were detected, the limited benefits a torpedo run from such a small number of frigates could add to her offensive punch were worth a lot less to her than keeping them undamaged and ready to defend against a species that had managed to create viable strike craft weapons
Her nightmare while planning this battle was enemy strike craft, Voyager's data showed that the aliens had successfully miniaturised disruptor torpedoes enough that theoretically small versions of them could successfully be deployed on strike craft. Like all humans, she knew how deadly carriers and fighters were to fleets designed on the principle of big guns. The Second World War had proven that a carrier would slaughter a dreadnought 99% of the time. If the enemy forces jumped in with carriers. her defeat was certain. But that frigate force might just buy her enough time to retreat.
Commodore Hansa had reinforced her centre with one of the five sub strength flights of cruisers she had recalled from interstellar patrol, but she had dispatched the remaining 16 cruisers elsewhere. She had something special planned for them.
The Commodore was nervous, though she didn't show it. Voyager's recordings showed that the enemy ships had superior speed, armour, torpedoes, guardian arrays, and kinetic barriers when compared to her own. She also believed from the way that they had been deployed and used that the ships that Voyager and Bunker Hill had identified as cruisers, were in fact frigates. This filled her with dread as that made the enemy frigates more than double the length of her own 157m Pearl Harbour class frigates, and only just shorter than her own 340m Geneva class cruisers.
Thankfully, it seemed that the aliens gun technology was the same. Both the enemy frigates and her own cruisers had a single main gun that was 300m in length, and from Voyager's recordings of the battle, the shots from the enemy frigates impacted with a firepower of 5.4 kilotons, the same as her own cruisers. The problem was if the other enemy forces were similarly supersized, then her fleet would be swatted away like gnats.
The recordings showed that the enemy cruiser was 535m long with a firepower of 15.1 kt from its 500m main gun. When compared to her own cruisers, it was a firepower difference of nearly 10 kt. With her own cruisers guns proving to be two thirds weaker than the enemy cruisers', she would have to engage with her 600m heavy cruisers and their 18.3 kt/550m main guns to come anywhere close to matching the enemy cruiser's firepower, and she only had eight heavy cruisers. If that size discrepancy continued…
Shaking off her doubts, the Commodore focused on her fleet's position, which was below and behind the mass relay. Here was where she had decided to make her stand, using the defender's advantage of positioning to try and make up for the enemy's advantages in size and technology. From this position her ships could fire up at ships emerging from the mass relay, striking them from behind and below. These were the weakest aspects of human designed ships, and that was something that she prayed was true of the alien ships as well.
"Relay is showing activity!" Sensors reported as Comms sent out the fleet wide call to battle stations.
"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship! Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship!" The SSV Tehran had already been at condition two along with the rest of the fleet, so there was no mad scramble as the alert strips turned from yellow to red and the alert claxon screamed. The CIC crew noted that Captain Fisher had called Tehran to battle stations before they had sent out the fleet wide order. Commodore Hansa allowed herself a small smile at her Flag Captain's efficiency.
"The fleet is at action stations Commodore, all ships report cleared for action." Comms reported before Sensors jumped in.
"Ships exiting relay, they appear to be in standard flights of three, repeat three, not the previously observed four as is Alliance standard. Profile matches the unknowns encountered in Zodiac system. Two distinct ship types detected, length 3-1-7m reclassified as enemy frigate." The sensor officers voice shook a little at classifying such a ship as a frigate, but he continued. "Length 5-3-5m, reclassified as enemy cruiser."
"Numbers!" Commodore Hansa demanded, hoping against hope that the information her plot was showing was wrong and there were less than twelve.
"Total numbers 1-8-0 ships and rising, I think they're conducting sensor sweeps but they seem to be focusing on the inner system. They're not reacting to our presence."
"Comms, anything?"
"No Commodore."
"Then send out a general order. Open Fire."
Beijing - Earth
2112.09.28
Li Xiuqing, President of the Peoples Republic of China, welcomed Sheng Zenghong, China's ambassador to the Systems Alliance and its representative on the Alliance Executive Council, into his informal office.
"Welcome back to Beijing ambassador, tea?" President Li offered before interrogating his ambassador in more detail. "Have any further communications from Shanxi arrived since your last report?"
"None since General Williams declared code butterfly." Ambassador Sheng replied calmly. "Given that we have heard nothing further despite the General's report that he was going to attempt to make peaceful contact, the Alliance military believes that the aliens have proved to be hostile and have destroyed or occupied Shanxi and Zapala. Or have engaged our space and ground forces to such an extent that they've been unable to get any more messages out."
President Li's face soured. "This couldn't have come at a worse time. The people have been restless for some time, we've not long recovered from the disastrous aftereffects of the one child policy. Any threats to our newly recovered prosperity and reputation will surely result in outright protests, given how much the ministry of propaganda has invested in telling people that the hard sacrifices they endured to return us to our place as a superpower have made us immune to any threat."
"I didn't realise that internal unrest was still so serious."
"You didn't realise because the censors have been doing their jobs." President Li replied darkly. "They've kept a lid on things so far by successfully keeping the largest anti-government groups from knowing exactly how strong they are when combined. Which, for your information, is worryingly strong. The resentment from our time of recovery and renewal still lingers, and if the impression is given that all of the sacrifices were meaningless there is a real danger that the censors will be unable to control them and we'll have to deploy the PLA."
Ambassador Sheng winced. Maintaining control was the absolute priority, but deploying the Peoples Liberation Army against internal protesters never ended well. They crushed any challenge to the government's authority, but at the cost of increasing the resentment that had led to that challenge in the first place, to say nothing of the diplomatic damage to China's international standing. "But surely an alien invasion…"
"In their infinite wisdom, the ministry of propaganda included that on the list of challenges we're supposedly now able to face head on." President Li replied to the unfinished question. "Apparently with all of the colonies out there, the chance of one of ours being the target of an alien invasion, if we even met any hostile aliens at all, was so remote that claiming we were now ready to face it thanks to the people's sacrifices was an easy propaganda win."
Ambassador Sheng nodded, grasping the gravity of the situation. "I understand sir. What is it you want me to do?"
"What are Carmichael and Khatri planning?" Li Xiuqing asked bluntly, naming the heads of the Alliance Navy and Army.
"Fleet Admiral Carmichael recalled all the ships of the 2nd and 3rd Alliance fleets to Arcturus as soon as code butterfly was declared. He's since detached the dreadnought Everest from 1st Fleet and sent her to join 2nd and 3rd to give them extra firepower. 1st Fleet itself will remain in Sol to protect Earth, but the other two will sail out under Admiral Drescher's command to engage enemy space forces as soon as they've finished assembling, which is estimated to be 4 days from now." Ambassador Sheng reported.
"Unacceptable." President Li snapped out. "We cannot be seen to do nothing to protect our own colony, it might give them and our other colonies ideas about asking for more autonomy, or worse, they might begin to see the Alliance and not China as their protectors. To say nothing of the damage to our reputation among the people here at home if they see a bunch of westerners protecting Chinese citizens! After all the sacrifices they made to fund our military and all the promises the ministry of propaganda's made! Dam the Treaty of Mars for ensuring none of us have any legal warships! And dam Yang Jintao for making it happen!"
Ambassador Sheng remained silent as the President vented and paced the room.
"Go back to the Executive Council and make sure that they hold back any naval operations until the ground forces are ready to be transported to Shanxi as well."
"How will that help?" Ambassador Sheng replied in confusion. "Field Marshal Khatri plans to have the Alliance Army ready to deploy to Shanxi in 5 weeks, well, just over 4 weeks now, how will the situation have changed by then?"
"We'll be able to send the Peoples Liberation Army into space." President Li replied grimly. "I've already ordered all of our shipyards to begin converting cargo ships to troop transports. They won't be anywhere near as effective as the troop transports Khatri has, they'll just be boxes with engines and an air supply truth be told, but with the shipyards working 24 hours a day we'll have double the lifting capacity of the Alliance in just under 6 weeks, only a week after Khatri's estimate, and given that she's working with westerners and Indians her timetable will slip by at least a week, if not more."
Calming himself, the President poured another cup of tea.
"It's not as ideal as having the entire operation be Chinese, but if the PLA does the majority of the ground fighting, and we have the Treaty of Mars to explain to the people why the Alliance did all of the space fighting, the people shouldn't see it as a humiliation and our internal unrest will die down, at least a little."
"And our colonies will be reminded that we can dispatch entire army groups to them whenever they start making requests for more autonomy again." Ambassador Sheng noted mildly.
"I couldn't possibly comment on that." President Li stated, his eyes cold.
Codex Entry: Humans – The Treaty of Mars
(Citadel Codex, First Human SPECTRE Collector's Edition, 2183)
The Treaty of Mars was incorporated into the founding charter of the Systems Alliance following the events of the 6-minute war in 2085 CE. Before the Systems Alliance was founded, the human home system of Sol was colonised by the competing human nation states.
These nation states also had space going navies to defend their colonies from attack by other Earth nations. Despite the general feeling of unease that this situation was a powder keg waiting to blow, the governments of Earth saw no way around it as they refused to leave their colonies undefended. A similar scenario had played out with nuclear warheads in the human standoff known as the Cold War, deterrence was based on MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction.
The Systems Alliance was in the process of being created and there was a growing feeling that the space going militaries would need to be coordinated to a degree that had never been seen before. In the face of an alien attack, the human navies would have to work together seamlessly despite their differing operational methods, rank structures and training standards.
The ships themselves would all have to be able to be supplied using the same logistics system as well, as having a dozen different ship sensor systems for example, would completely overload supply lines in the event of war. This meant that all ships would have to be designed with the same components for the humans to fight effectively as a united species, meaning that each unique technology developed by a nation for its warships would have to be shared with every other nation. If they weren't, the logistics of a dozen different navies tech bases would cripple any unified human war effort.
Talks on this topic would most likely have eventually broken down if it were not for the events of the 5th of March 2085.
Two nations with relatively new colonies on Mars, India and Pakistan, also shared a disputed border province on Earth. This had taken the two nations to the brink of war several times in the past and now it did so again. However, while the nations themselves did not actually go to war, their naval forces in Mars orbit antagonised each other in a slow escalation of hostilities.
This was not unprecedented; it was the same on Earth where the two nation's ground and air forces were doing their own antagonising and escalation. In Mars orbit however, unlike on Earth, one of the weapons officers on the Indian flagship, the INS Vikramaditya, panicked and opened fire as he believed a Pakistani attack to be imminent.
Over the next six minutes the battle raged as the warships of India and Pakistan fired at each other. Three were destroyed, but it was one shot that changed everything. The Pakistani warship PNS Alamgir fired at the Vikramaditya.
She missed.
The shot impacted the surface of Mars with an explosive force of 0.4 kilotons. It wasn't a large blast by the standard of the nuclear-powered explosions that humans could produce at this time, but it was more than enough to shatter the dome of the Brazilian colony of Amazonia.
The battle ceased as both sides watched the accidental deaths of 50,000 Brazilian civilians with horror.
The worldwide reaction was both condemnation and fear - fear that the next time this happened it would be in a war between larger nations, with bigger warships, and in Earth orbit.
The Treaty of Mars was the result of that fear. It stated that all nations were only allowed to maintain minimally armed and size limited orbital guard cutters in space. These were also only to be used to provide security for their colonies and shipping lanes, maintaining law and order.
The only body allowed to field true military warships was the new Systems Alliance Navy. The crews of those ships would also be mixed so that no one nationality would be in command of the international fleet. Critics stated that this would effectively put the entire human space going navy under American and Chinese control, as those two nations would maintain a stranglehold on the Alliance Executive Council.
There were several riots, but the fear people had of dying by accident from a stray shot from an orbital battle, coupled with the intense diplomatic arm twisting from the USA and the PRC, ensured that all nations with a presence in space eventually signed the treaty, on the condition that neither superpower could gain majority control.
Though many nations would secretly keep a squadron or two of warships, constructed at black shipyards and hidden from prying eyes, when the Systems Alliance was founded in 2086 CE it became the sole naval power of humanity and all other military space forces were disbanded. Officially.
Codex Entry: Humans – The Systems Alliance Navy: First Contact War
(Citadel Codex, First Human SPECTRE Collector's Edition, 2183)
Codex users please be aware that the composition of these formations, and their commanding officers, are BEFORE the major reforms undertaken of the Systems Alliance navy order of battle following the First Contact War (Relay 314 Incident). For the post-reform order of battle of the Systems Alliance navy, please see chapter 24 codex entry.
During the First Contact War (Relay 314 Incident) The Systems Alliance's understanding of mass effect technology was insufficient to produce disruptor torpedoes small enough to be mounted on strike craft. As such the human's obsession with the carrier had yet to form, and their navy was still a 'big gun' navy like the rest of the galaxy's. This left the humans following the standard ship types of frigate, cruiser, heavy cruiser and dreadnought. Though their inclusion of a heavy cruiser in that order of battle was surprising, it was not without precedent in Citadel space as the Quarian Federation had also used such a ship class.
The idea of a heavy cruiser to provide additional firepower – and command facilities – to fleets that did not merit the deployment of a dreadnought is an idea that has not been seen since the fall of the Quarian Federation, the only other galactic navy to have produced such a ship type. The stigma that the heavy cruiser concept faces, with the idea originally being quarian as far as the wider galaxy is concerned, has led to the class being consistently underestimated by opponents. A benefit that humans have been eager to exploit in the annual Citadel war games, leading to several embarrassing Citadel race defeats and massive payouts from betting shops across Council space.
The later development of the fleet and escort carriers with the development of viable strike craft torpedoes resulted in a major reformation of the Alliance navy's composition and order of battle in the years following the First Contact War (Relay 314 Incident). This coincided with minor reforms to its command structure due to the deficiencies in wartime command that the war exposed. The Citadel navies are derisive about the human's pet project, and have built only a few prototype carriers of their own for testing purposes.
The most obvious differences in formations between the Alliance navy, pre and post reform, and the other galactic navies is that the humans use a base 4 deployment for their ships instead of the galactic standard base 3, and the lack of single cruiser missions that the other galactic navies favour for the least important patrols. Humans instead prefer to field a larger frigate force than other species and send a wolfpack of better endurance frigates instead of the single cruiser. The stealth frigate is the only human warship that ever operates alone.
FCW Frigate Wolfpack – 4 Ships: The human term for a frigate varrenpack, these are groups of 4 frigates used for the lowest priority patrols, advance scouting by human fleets, and for torpedo raids and anti-strike craft defence in battle. This base 4 formation is used throughout the Alliance Navy, as opposed to the galactic standard base 3.
Contrary to most galactic navy's, humans see the frigate as an offensive 'torpedo boat' in addition to its traditional role as an anti-strike craft and anti-torpedo escort. The CO is the lead ship's captain, a Lieutenant Commander. These formations are the only ones that survived the human's obsession with the carrier and the post First Contact War naval reforms unchanged.
FCW Cruiser Flight – 4-12 Ships: Sub-strength cruiser flights were the smallest cruiser formation fielded by the Alliance before the FCW, containing 4 cruisers.
At full strength these formations contained 8 cruisers and 4 frigates. They were generally used for low and medium priority patrols and to guard small installations. The CO was the lead ship's captain, a Commander.
FCW Cruiser Detachment – 16-28 Ships: At sub strength a cruiser detachment removed one frigate from one of its wolfpacks and replaced it with a heavy cruiser to command the detachment. They then added four additional cruisers. At full strength these formations contained 1 heavy cruiser, 16 cruisers and 11 frigates.
Before the First Contact War cruiser detachments were generally used for the highest priority patrols, to guard medium sized installations and to garrison systems with only class 2 garden worlds present. The CO was a Commodore.
FCW Cruiser Squadron – 32-68 Ships: At sub strength a cruiser squadron consisted of 4 heavy cruisers, 20 cruisers and 8 frigates. At full strength these formations contained 8 heavy cruisers, 44 cruisers and 16 frigates. Before the First Contact War, cruiser squadrons were generally used for defending the largest installations and as garrison forces for systems with shirt sleeve garden worlds.
Cruiser squadrons were also the building blocks of Alliance fleets. The CO was a Commodore with two flag captains in addition to the one on her flagship helping to command the formation. A cruiser squadron under Commodore Lalla Hansa was the first human formation to engage an alien force in open (intended) battle. The encounter is still taught in turian military history classes today.
FCW Alliance Battle Fleet – 817 Ships: Formed from 12 cruiser squadrons the Systems Alliance had three battle fleets at the outbreak of the First Contact War (Relay 314 Incident) Alliance doctrine was to have one fleet assigned to protect each sector, most garrisons and patrols in that sector would be formed out of the fleets 12 squadrons.
However, the most important locations such as large military shipyards, naval bases and shirt sleeve garden worlds, had their own garrison forces. These forces were not attached to the battle fleets so that the critical locations in a sector would not be left defenceless should the fleet sail out to meet an enemy force in battle. A First Contact War Alliance fleet was composed of 1 dreadnought, 96 heavy cruisers, 528 cruisers and 192 frigates. The CO was an Admiral with two Vice Admirals and one Rear Admiral helping to command the fleet.
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
The First Contact War: 45 years earlier than canon