AN: I'm back. I bet you all didn't expect this chapter so soon considering my cycles. However, I had a burst of inspiration. For those unaware, I broke a bone in my left foot and badly injured my right leg in July while at work. So my WIP's are on another computer, and as such I am doing what I can where I can. Enough about my woes however, let's address some reviews. "George Christian810," lol, said the author, lmao even. But in all seriousness, maybe this chapter will remind you not to make assumptions and actually READ the chapters instead of 'why use the story we all know'. 'Krieger Techpriest', It's more that the Imperium's gungho, 'conquer everything' has been tempered by the UNSC's sanity…especially when it comes to counter terrorist ops. Imagine a nightmare scenario of counter insurgency where you fight clones of the same insurgents over and over again with weapons on par with yours for thirty years…let alone all the Chaos Cults. Fighting Nod is a bit more than the Imperium can do right now without over extending their forces. 'Reaper of Valhalla', that is the Army Men universe, a game series I enjoyed a lot when I was younger, where Green and Tan plastic soldiers waged war in an alternate reality that had portals to the 'big world' where 'normal' sized people lived…so they had super weapons that were toy robots from the Big World and the like. And the average Imperial is the same size as one of those Green or Tan army men in the 'Big World.' Now then, let's get into the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy it.

Mass Effect 1: Getting the Band Together

Citadel Station, Wards C-Sec HQ docking bay:

As the gunship swooped in for a landing at C-Sec's diplomatic quarter HQ, Shepard went over the details of the op again in his mind. Get the Krogan, Wrex, on his side and find Tali and her information. Sounds easy on the surface right? But nothing could be farther from the truth. At the end of the day, he knew Tali was an expert at hiding her tracks and stubborn as all hell. So finding her could take a while.

Though he didn't have too much time to ponder this information, as the chin gun of the gunship started to rattle and rock the ship. "Shit. Pilot, what's going on down there?" He would bark over the coms. Only to get a reply that chilled his blood.

"C-Sec's under attack Captain! Mix of Krogans and Turians in black featureless Aquila Industries knockoffs, and a Geth 'Prime.' Get ready for a hot drop, I'm contacting the Embassy to get reinforcements here." The pilot, a woman who had been in the service for longer than Shepard had been alive, replied with deathly calm.

Michael bit back a curse as he switched to combat mode, "Alright, change of plans, we're going in hot to secure the LZ and push in to allow Embassy forces to reinforce our counter push. SOP Contingency 20 people, the presence of the Geth 'Prime' doesn't change things. Let's make it happen Marines."

Ashley and Kaiden slammed their helmets into place, and both switched their guns to 'hotshot' mode. While the high intensity laser may not do as much damage outright as a plasma weapon, it could be fired a lot quicker and had arguably better penetrative ability allowing for more collateral kills in close quarters. Two things that would be crucial to their ability to clear the hostiles, and continue their assigned op.

As the gunship swung over the LZ, the automated side turrets and chin mounted quad cannon laid down the hate to clear out the immediate area. Then the door slid open, and the three MARSOC operatives would jump out onto the landing pad. They would then start to sprint at full speed, their enhanced bodies and superior armor allowing them to precisely target each enemy in their way and just as easily terminate them.

Soon the long platform to the elevator was covered in corpses of the attackers. "You're clear for now, ground team. Will maintain overwatch as best as the confines of the Citadel will allow, but for now you're on your own. Foehammer out." The pilot would say over the radio before pulling back slightly.

Shepard would press the button to call the elevator up as Alenko amused himself by using his powers to remove the helmets of the dead attackers and Ashley afixed a bayonet. As this happened, the Captain would freeze as he caught sight of the faces under the helmets. They were all identical between the races. Each Turian looked like the next one, and the same for the Krogan.

He frantically tapped his helmet as he instantly understood the gravity of this. "Foehammer, relay helmet camera data to the Embassy. Either we just ran across the largest clutch of identical siblings for both races coincidentally today…"

"Or someone's gotten cloning to work." Anderson's voice would cut in over the radio. "We're seeing it, Shepard, the Council has been made aware of the situation. They are redeploying all active Spectres aboard the Citadel and all available C-SEC forces to contain the attack from their end. Deathwatch and Marine contingents will be on the Citadel within the next five minutes. Until then you're on your own Shepard."

The captain swallowed imperceptibly, "Yes sir. Wouldn't be a MARSOC mission if it were easy." He would reply with forced levity, when in reality he'd rather be back on Shanxi or any other human world enjoying some drinks and women of loose morals. Still, he was here and he had a job to do.

The elevator would ding as it opened, allowing the three humans in. They would rapidly enter, and look through the transparent side as it descended…which gave them a phenomenal view of the ongoing battle in C-Sec headquarters. The likely clone army was slowly gaining ground with fire support from a few Prime models, but the C-Sec defenders were holding as best they could using cover to their advantage.

But standing tall and obvious above them all was a large Krogan Battlemaster in crimson armor firing a shotgun into the advancing horde and bellowing warcries that could be heard even inside the elevator.

"That's our Krogan it seems sir." Ashley would say with something approaching respect in her tone. "Tough old bastard from the looks of how he's holding up. Good with that shotgun at the very least from that pile of bodies." She would then go on to add. "So what's the play skipper?"

Shepard pondered, and then charged his laser and aimed down into the crowd. "The repair teams won't be too happy with us, but we have the advantage of surprise here. Open up on em, and clear em out Marines, on the double."

Kaiden would chuckle as he and Ashley aimed, "On your mark sir. Target rich environment. Even my one year old couldn't miss, especially with how many of the buggers are down there." He would say, waiting for the signal.

The signal in question would be Shepard opening up with his rifle. Each laser round cutting straight through the transparent material, and punching through the back of an attacker. As soon as the first laser hit, the other two marines also opened up with the same lethal fire.

Limbs were severed, holes punched clean through targets, heads exploded like overripe melons as the water in their cells rapidly over heated, and wiring was fried from the rapid heating in a cacophonous orgy of light and violence. Between the hyper accurate laser fire, and the fire of the defending C-Sec officers, the attackers were rapidly and fatally whittled down to nothing in the crossfire. In fact, by the time the elevator dinged and opened on the main floor, the attackers had been slaughtered.

The Marines would rapidly cross the distance to the defenders as they took a breather. "Marines huh, that's a sight for sore eyes." A female Turian with detective rank markings on her armor would say. "Detective Arcina Vakarian, good to see some friendly faces."

"What happened here Detective?" Shepard would ask as he and his fire team watched the entrances to the main floor for further attackers. "We were headed here to take care of an assignment, and had no warning of anything being wrong."

The Turian female's thinner features contorted in a grimace, "Still piecing that together. Best assumption the Captain had before he was killed was that the attackers had deployed a long range com jammer to disable coms in the immediate area of the wards. There are multiple foot patrols still out there that we lost contact with…Including my brother and his protege."

"I see." Shepard would grimace, coms jamming always made things difficult, doubly so when their immediate contact would be possibly distracted by familial concerns. "Reinforcements will be here momentarily from the Embassy. I suggest that you and your men hold position for now, you're in no condition to launch a counter offensive or keep up with us."

A sharp poke to his armored torso was the reply to that, "Now listen here Imperial, you may be right logically, but I won't forgive myself if my brother is in danger and I am just sitting on my ass twiddling my talons. So you're taking me with you, Detective Chelik can handle matters here."

Michael, in return, simply held up his hands in mock surrender, "Point taken and understood, Detective Vakarian. Just stay out of the line of fire as best as you're able, your armor and shielding won't hold up as well as ours." Which got a simple return nod of acceptance from the Turian woman; and muffled chuckles from his fire team members.

On the squad coms, Shepard would bite off a quick reply, "Laugh it up chuckleheads. I hear the mess sergeant needs help peeling potatoes." Which quickly cut off the laughter, much to the MARSOC Captain's satisfaction.

He would then turn to Wrex, who was sitting nearby looking bemused about the whole thing. "You're Wrex, right? One of the intel agents aboard the Embassy said you may be able to help with our assignment." Shepard's voice was level and even as he said this, but didn't fully mask his exasperation.

The Krogan rumbled a bit of a chuckle, "That's me. If you're talking about the Quarian I saw earlier, last I knew she was headed towards Chora's Den. An Imperial Bar in the wards that have some damn efficient bouncers. I should know, I trained those slugs to be something worthwhile."

"Right. Knowing my luck, Chora's is on the other side of this ward, isn't it?" Shepard would say after a second of processing what Wrex had told him. "Why the hell can't anything ever be simple?" He mentally added on before continuing to speak aloud, "So, what are the odds I can convince you to come along and crack some clone skulls?"

Wrex let out a rumbling chuckle, "Well, normally I'd charge you at least two hundred Thrones for it. But considering these false Krogan, I think I can waive my usual fee for now. We can negotiate proper payment if you want me around still after, eh Shepard?"

The Marine Captain was about to nod, before his eyes narrowed. It seemed suspicious that this Krogan Battlemaster would know who he was; but then he remembered a key fact. The Imperium used him as a propaganda figure often enough that his voice was as well known as his face. And standard Enforcer pattern armor didn't have a voice modifier in it, so naturally Wrex would know who he is. "Fair enough. Now then, let's get to work."

With that, the fire team of five would leave C-Sec and start up the stairs. Things were relatively quiet, and the streets were clear. The civilians naturally had taken cover, and had gone into hiding as soon as an active firefight began. "Thank God for small mercies." He heard Ashley mutter over the squad coms.

Shepard had to agree privately with that sentiment. Few things made combat messier quicker than civilians in the crossfire. At least the Citadel inhabitants had shown remarkable self preservation instincts. The same couldn't be said about some civies he had run into in the past.

Still, as they looked around the motion tracker detected quite a few figures inside one of the nearby buildings. Judging by the looks of it, there were two distinct groups in there. So, the captain got curious, and using his talents with the warp, he took a peek inside the small clinic.

What he saw collaborated that, and was also far worse; for what he saw was indeed two groups, but one was far better armed. "The attackers have two C-Sec officers pinned down along with eight civilians. Counting four Krogan and twelve Turian clones. They have two watching the door, the rest are maneuvering to eliminate the officers it looks like."

Arcina seemed to freeze, before squaring her shoulders and marching off towards the clinic, "I'm helping my comrades. With or without your help." The Turian woman would say, drawing her Aquila Arms Industry assault rifle, a three barreled rotary rifle firing a quarter sized round from it at an extraordinary rate, and getting ready to breach.

The Marines shared bemused expressions before following up and getting ready to breach as well. Wrex merely chuckled before unslinging his shotgun, an AAI shotgun that fired essentially a fifty mm capacity shell with every pull of the trigger. "Stand back, and leave this to the professional." And then the door was wrenched open with a burst of biotic power…followed up by a pair of shotgun blasts into the guards by the door.

Which was the signal to start a firefight in the clinic. Caught in a murderous crossfire the clones, even with their strange shiny black armor and glowing orange weapons, were quickly put in the ground in a bloody heap of mangled body parts and burning flesh.

"Sound off if you're not dead." Michael would say with a dry tone as he kicked over one of the Turian clones. He had a feeling of deja vu as though he had seen the original for these clones before. But he couldn't put his finger on it.

As the C-Sec officers came around the counter with the badly shaken civilians, Wrex let out a loud rumble of annoyance. "Bastard. Not enough to make clones in a mockery of my people. But to clone HIM? Shepard, I'm waving my fee as long as you let me wring the neck of the slimeball who did this."

The others turned their head to the irritated Krogan, and followed his furious gaze. The unhelmed Krogan were obviously the cause of it, but it took a second to click for any of the people here. That was the face of the long dead Overlord Kredak, turned into a clone army…a clear insult to all Krogan everywhere to use him as the template for a disposable army.

"I'll keep that in mind." The aforementioned officer would say before turning back to the officers and the former hostages. "Is everyone alright in here? Does anyone need medical attention?"

"Nothing medigel can't handle. Good timing to the rescue. A few more moments and they would have overrun us." One of the C-Sec officers would reply, they were evidently a male from their broader shoulders and more developed physique compared to the Detective they were working with and the other Turian officer here.

Before anything else could be said, Arcina marched over to the other two Turians and knocked their heads together. "You two had me worried sick. I mean really, the best sniper team in C-Sec gets caught in close quarters like this? Do you have a damn deathwish?" The two C-Sec officers removed their helmets to clear the ringing in their proverbial ears.

The male had simple blue lines as face pain, much like Arcina had, Shepard was quick to note; same colony at least then. But the familiarity of the tone of the tirade was far more familiar. His money was either on lovers or siblings. Judging by the fact she wasn't dragging him back to C-Sec's local HQ to bang his brains out…Siblings.

As for the other female Turian, she had no face paint, and was shorter and younger than her two colleagues. She also looked like she would rather be anywhere else than here, and simultaneously all too used to these kinds of lectures and tirades. Long familiarity then, possibly distant relations or legal guardians? Fascinating, but not really the time for this kind of conjecture.

As Shepard tuned back in, he would do so in time for this little gem, "...I swear to the Spirits, if I didn't already know of your human fetish, Garrus, I'd be having you taken in for psych eval!" That last bit caused the newly named Garrus to turn an interesting shade of purple that was likely a blush. And his spotter, if he had to guess the dynamic, looked politely away and seemed even more uncomfortable.

"Enough is enough." Michael thought. They were wasting time here. Time that they may be rapidly running out of due to the attackers. Time to get back on track. As such, he would cough just loud enough to break in on the lecture, "Apologies Detective, but we have an attack to finish repelling, and my fireteam has a mission to fulfill. You're free to tag along and provide fire support, of course. But we need to move. Now."

The last bit finally managed to drill some Turian discipline back into the three police officers. Who straightened up and put their helmets back on. He restrained a nod in reaction to that, and turned back to the clinic's head, identifiable by her white lab coat and demeanor. "Doctor, what exactly were these thugs looking for here?"

The woman, a human female with short crimson hair and blue eyes, would look bemused at the C-Sec sniper before turning back to her questioner, "Frankly Captain, from the snippets of conversation I managed to catch when their com discipline failed, the thugs seemed to have two objectives. The elimination of the Quarian I directed to Chora's Den earlier today; and the recovery of a VIP named 'Laria'."

A frown crossed Shepard's lips, "Thank you Doctor. I'll relay that to my chain of command. For now head down to C-Sec's local HQ. Marines and Deathwatch personnel will be landing soon, it'll be the safest place on the Citadel momentarily." He would say as he mentally queried his implant to cross check that name with any Citadel inhabitants.

While it worked, he turned to his impromptu and growing demi-squad, "Sounds like Chora's is our next stop. Do any of you have any intel on the place?" He asked as he led them out of the medical clinic. "I'd hate to walk in blind."

Garrus was the first to reply, "It's an Imperial Bar, not an upscale one but has decent food. No issues with drunkards or handsy clientele that result in C-Sec calls. It's through the markets on this section of the wards, a small two story 'open air' area for independent vendors to set up in. It also had a wide open view to the entryway from the wards that likely could be a killing zone if it's been overtaken." The Turian would supply quickly and succinctly.

Wrex let out a rumbling chuckle, "It's likely Fist still has the place under control. I trained his current crop of bouncers, so unless these pyjaks decided to launch their full force at it, it'll still be relatively safe. As well Fist recently got his hands on some Guard surplus turrets and laser rifles, M41 vintage according to him when we last talked." He would then shake his head. "I hope he's still alive, he has the best deals on Ryncol and spicy wings while not being knee deep in desperate runts in need of beatings."

Shepard nodded as he processed that information, as he did, his implant reported back that the only person who answered to that name who could feasibly be in this ward was one 'Sergeant Laria Arterius.' The evident daughter of Saren Arterius, and a fantastic beat officer according to the reports. Seconded to sniper training under…Garrus Vakarian.

At that last bit his eyes widened, "Shit. New formation, keep the C-Sec Sergeant in the middle of our formation at all times until we're done here. She's one of the evident targets of the raid." That caused some consternation, of course, on the part of the Citadel Security Officers. But Wrex as well as Shepard's initial fire team focused up and followed the new orders as they continued on.

Normally, they would have sent Laria, Garrus, and Arcina back to a more secure location. But time was essential. So Shepard was gambling that she would be safest with them. He just had to hope his luck would hold, or this gamble could be a disaster if it went wrong.

There was no contact as they entered the markets, though they could hear distant gunfire and the report of laser weapons from further on. Which led credence to Wrex's assessment, that Chora's Den was still holding out. Though as they descended the stairs, there were several explosions and the laser fire was greatly reduced.

"Shit, double time it people." Michael would say as he readied his rifle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashley switch her weapon to melta mode. While Kaiden changed his to Psi-Rounds, which were a precision round that were far more advanced than the older ones; and able to be guided to their target by the Psyker firing the weapon.

As he rounded the corner, in the lead, the Captain was hit by a volley of fire that forced him to stagger for a second. It didn't deplete his shields by more than five percent. But looking down the corridor, he could see a large man portable cannon, with glowing orange bits, in place. Essentially equivalent to an Imperial Auto Cannon from M41 in caliber, but much faster in velocity and fire rate…and judging by how much they depleted his shield with a three round burst? It utilized the same kind of hybrid tech that the Geth used.

The gun was manned by three Turians in the featureless black armor, who seemed startled when he didn't go down. The gunner quickly squeezed the trigger and started to fire on him again, depleting his shields at an alarming rate compared to regular weapons. But he didn't let them get off more than ten shots before he retaliated with his own rifle, angry beams of jade green light scythed through the weapon and the crew rapidly, clearing the temporary obstacle.

"Well that was less than pleasant to put it mildly. Ash, take point, my shields need to recharge and your melta will allow you to clear any hostiles quickly." Shepard said as he took up covering fire position. "And link your helmet camera to Alenko, he can use his Psi rounds to provide cover fire from where he is."

The two Marines made quick noises of acknowledgement as they carried out their orders. Within a few seconds, Kaiden was aiming down the corridor with his rifle, and Ashley was at the corner to enter the likely killzone. She held up three fingers and counted them down before rounding the corner.

As she did, Alenko fired four times and the sound of the melta gun going off resounded simultaneously. The heat beam melted whatever it had been fired at while the sounds of wet thumps from where the bullets hit accompanied it. A second burst of fire from Ashley's weapon, and then the all clear signal was given.

After which, the demi squad advanced; and Shepard would nod in satisfaction as he saw the two slagged Primes and the crew served gun that had been knocked out of commission. There weren't any other bodies present, but a cursory glance at the hole in the center of the walkway area made it evident where the dead had been tossed to clear firing lines by the attackers.

Still, there wasn't time to contemplate further, a quick motion and the group formed up to breach and enter the club. This was necessary as the attackers had jammed the door shut after gaining entrance. A quick application of C-16 the size of a quarter and they had a tremendous explosion as the door was blasted inwards; allowing them to follow up.

Wrex went in first, his Krogan physiology allowing him to soak up more damage than his compatriots by his very nature; combined with his talents for biotics, and as such he was an ideal shock trooper. Shepard briefly considered the implications of having a large Krogan contingent fight for the Imperium before slamming down on that line of thought as he entered next.

The shotgun fire and battle cry of Wrex was soon joined by the rapid fire discharge of Shepard's laser fire. The two were more focused on their own combat against the scattered clones in the main bar area, and so didn't register the rest of the squad piling in consciously, but rather instinctually. But still, the combined efforts of the group cleared their opposition out quickly; turning the charnel house that the bar was into even more of one.

The last of the guards and bouncers had evidently fallen back into the main bar area when they were pushed back, and had died in a last stand situation. To their credit, they had killed four times their number it seemed if the body counts were accurate. But they had paid for it with their lives, messily. Limbs were strewn about, guts spilled over the floor, heads splattered or turned to ash; the new weapons the Geth and their allies were using was damned effective, that much was certain.

"The Imperial Science Division will have a field day with this. And I'm sure Marshal Breslow will push the Citadel Defense Force for further liaison with Imperial forces citing this incident. As this ward is where most Imperial citizens spend their time when visiting the Citadel, and dead civilians look bad in the news reports." Michael thought to himself as he led the push into the storage room.

He would let himself slip slightly into the warp mentally as he let his extra senses guide his movements, enhancing his preternatural abilities to an even higher extent than before. As he did, he dodged the volley of fire from four waiting clones with heavier personal weapons, and retaliated with his own rifle. Within a split second all four Krogan clones were dead. Holes punched clean through their headplates, frying their brains and killing them outright.

His fellow Imperials were not surprised at all by this feat, and followed along within a heartbeat. Followed closely by Wrex, whose only sign of surprise was a slight widening of his eyes and a split second hesitation in his step. But the three Turians stood stock still in shock for a full second before their martial discipline and pride reasserted themselves and they fell in to breach into the office.

The Captain frowned under his helmet as his senses told him all he needed to know, "Two organics alive in the next room. One Imperial, one Turian, non-clone. Six Primes as well, two have flamethrowers. Room after that is jam packed full of non-combatants, mostly Asari, but also a single Quarian. Two thrones says it's our objective. CQC battle drill people. Let's get this done."

At that instruction, the Citadel Security Officers switched to using shotguns, while at the same time Lieutenant Alenko switched to Melta fire mode. Shepard left his weapon in its laser mode just in case he had to make any precision shots. After stacking up, while Kaiden sliced the door controls Ashely prepped a flashbang grenade. The Imperial version of the flashbang also had the secondary function of temporarily disrupting electronics, an add-on made due to the Quarian's insistence on a jack of all trades stun grenade able to disorient anything from a rampaging Krogan to a Geth Juggernaut.

And as the grenade went off, Shepard was thankful for their insistence on the matter. As it let them quickly breach and enter without taking fire. The report of their weaponry filled the air in the wake of the initial 'bang' from the flashbang, and within two seconds of breaching every hostile target in that room was dead.

Which left them alone with Fist, who looked unmoved and unshaken if roughed up with a broken jaw and arm. The Imperial rose to his feet holding his jaw with his unbroken arm, as he did he gave a nod of respect and thanks to his rescuers. As well he raised an eyebrow, the unspoken question was clear.

"Imperial forces have landed at the local C-Sec HQ and are cleaning up any stragglers. The Wards are practically secure. You and your employees who are still alive can rest a little easier. While I regret we couldn't save your bouncers, they did their best." Shepard would say, giving a nod towards the way they came, he would then add; "I will also be putting in a commendation for you and your staff for aiding and abetting an Imperial MARSOC member."

Fist gave a gesture that could have been a nod, or some other form of acceptance, if he wasn't busy trying to set his jaw back into place. The squad leader had to give him this, for a bar owner he had either a great ego or a sense of propriety; either way, he would move past him to unlock the next room while Kaiden used his Biomancy talents to heal Fist.

As Michael opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of about half a dozen naked Asari women, half of whom had pistols aiming at the door…And there was Tali in the back with a twin heavy bolter emplacement, that part helped distract him from the lake of azure tits and cunts on display. Though a small part of him did note that it was strange that they looked so similar to a human woman when it came to their reproductive organs, both in shape and function…A part he quashed as he was on the job.

"Lieutenant Zorah, reinforcements have arrived. My demi-squad's orders are to get you back to the embassy. The garrison and Citadel Security and Defense forces can mop up the rest." His voice was clear and clipped, but easily recognizable; as such the women in front of him relaxed. The Asari made no move to cover themselves, likely a mixture of the more lax stance of their species towards nudity and their own jobs as strippers coupled with likely some gratefulness to him for saving them…never mind the fact he did it as part of a team. Such being the price of fame.

Something that was proven when one of the younger Asari, who, as the rest filed out to go to their dressing rooms and get into some clothes, slipped a hastily scribbled piece of flimsi into one of his armored pockets. He could already guess what was on it, but that wasn't his primary concern as he collected Tali and the rest of his team for transport back.

As the team got on the gunship, one of the relieving Marines seemed to give him a questioning look. Shepard didn't know what prompted his reply, but unknowingly it was recorded by a CNN news drone on the scene; "What can I say? It was a hell of an afternoon."

Chapter Complete:

Next Time: Mass Effect 1: Among the Dust and Ashes

RnR please

Codex: Aftermath of the First Battle of the Citadel

In the immediate wake of the battle, public confidence in the Council and Citadel Defense and Security forces plummeted. How could it be, that the allegedly most secure and well protected location in Citadel Space could be attacked without warning? Why was C-Sec and the CDF unprepared for such an eventuality? Those and many more questions were bandied about by the news networks and civilians.

Investigations revealed that the attackers had been brought aboard on a contracted ship, the Harchat, a former slaver ship repurposed as a merchant ship and civilian liner. The owner of the ship, a Salarian by the name Alburn Dalmas, was found dead aboard it along with his crew two days later. So that would be a dead end, causing more speculation and consternation.

However, this did give the Imperial military a foothold back in Citadel Space. A hastily signed bill by the Council allowed the Imperium to expand the Citadel itself with add-on sections where three dozen small garrison bases would be established. Each base having a small factory to produce war droids and a small garrison of one hundred Marines. While the Imperial Embassy's garrison was doubled by request. As well, a squadron of corvettes was deployed to reinforce the security of the Citadel due to their superior sensors and speed.

It was hoped by the Council, and their subjects, that such a move would restore some confidence and peace and prevent gangs from gaining influence among the inhabitants of the station. And while it did, it also gave those political parties who saw the Imperium, and by extension closer ties TO it, as the future more ammunition in the elections. Afterall, if even the allegedly fiercely independent Citadel Council was begging for more assistance from the Imperium over such a relatively minor attack, what were the constituent powers supposed to do but turn to the most powerful military as well? Even if such arguments were, of course, worded differently among the Turians, it was similar at the end of the day.

Codex: Intercepted Geth Transmission

Warning: Primary and Secondary objectives unfulfilled.

Analysis: Retrieval of the Prophet's organic family utter failure. Intervention by Ork Mercenaries and Imperial Forces have prevented retrieval of the Prophet's wife, daughter, and sons.

Consequence: Now on high alert or under protective custody, further attempts will be difficult to carry out.

Secondary Consequence: Organics have more examples of Great One technology to analyze, which will decrease effectiveness of further operations.

Conclusion: We must receive more of the Great One's technology to further advance our capabilities. Failure to do so is predicted to lead to annihilation at the hands of the Imperial Organics and our treacherous brethren who refuse to see the truth of the Great One.