February 18th, 2175
14:32
Aeos-Prime, Aeos-System
Normally, the day should have been uneventful for the colonists.
The planet they had chosen to settle on was away from any major trade routes yet far enough inside Alliance territory to not fear any incursions from enterprising slavers and pirates. The regular Alliance patrol crossing through the system helped in that regard, too.
Furthermore, the colony was far too small to be an attractive target, especially given the associated dangers anyone with nefarious intentions would have to face.
Too dangerous with far too little to gain.
That was the consensus any criminal with a brain would agree to.
However, as the colonists of the settlement of around two hundred people looked up into the sky, they saw the shadows of around half a dozen ships descending onto them.
They didn't recognize the designs of the ships, and in hindsight, they should have acted immediately and sent an emergency call to the closest Alliance patrol when they first saw the number of vessels coming down. But the colonists felt safe and didn't act before one of the ships fired upon their rudimentary spaceport, destroying the few freighters they had.
After the first shots were fired, it all happened very fast.
Panic spread among the people, but those with previous military training and the ones who managed to stay decently calm took control of the situation quickly. Someone sent off an emergency call while the others either armed themselves with the few weapons available in the settlement or ushered the rest of their people toward the emergency shelters whose construction was a regulation for all colonies out of the way.
Most colonies didn't see the use in them and didn't construct them before an Alliance bureaucrat pointed it out and threatened them with sanctions if they didn't build the required number as soon as possible.
The colony of Aeos-Prime was lucky in that their first colony leader saw their practical use and made their construction a priority.
Other smaller colonies weren't so lucky on that day.
In the meantime, the foreign ships had landed, and a mishmash of Batarians, Turians, Salarians, and the occasional Asari rushed out of them with guns blazing.
The defenders of the colony fought valiantly, but they were far too few in numbers to stand against the tide for long. They died, and their bodies were left on the ground by the attackers to rot after they stripped them of anything even remotely valuable.
After all, a dead body wouldn't make them any money, so why should they make the effort and take care of them?
Despite the quick and sudden attack, the Alliance reacted relatively quickly and forced the attackers to retreat before they could cause the colony the most possible harm.
A single Alliance frigate that had been patrolling in a nearby system received the emergency call and responded by aborting their task and rushing toward the Aeos-Sytems as fast as possible after passing the message on.
Faced with a competent opponent that was more than a few settlers with guns, the attackers called the retreat, knowing that the single Alliance frigate wouldn't stay alone for long and that any drawn-out confrontation would end badly for them.
Thus the attackers decided to leave the system and travel back from where they came from with everything they managed to obtain.
Faced with the difficult decision of either following them or making sure that the people of the colony who remained were safe and cared for, the captain of the frigate decided to do the latter since the possibility of running into an ambush without any support available was a threat and if it came to that the captain would lead his crew into death without accomplishing anything.
When the Alliance Marines who were stationed on the frigate first stepped foot into the settlement of Aeos-Prime, the smell of death assaulted their noses.
The youngest among them, barely a few months out of basic training, didn't manage to settle his stomach nor keep his food down.
Yet, the older and more experienced ones wouldn't say anything about it since even they had problems with the combination of dead bodies and blood that were left in the open on a day when the sun was shining down relentlessly.
The Marines walked through the settlement, always on guard in case not every attacker managed to make it in time back to their ships and were left behind by their so-called comrades.
Their caution turned out to be appropriate since the group of marines was attacked randomly by remaining pirates who thought that dying in battle was a better option than whatever the Alliance would do to them for participating in the attack in the first place.
Especially, the two Krogans they encountered seemed to follow that line of thought.
Nonetheless, the Marines secured the city without any losses, and with time, more and more people from the frigate joined them in searching for survivors.
A few of the emergency shelters had been broken open, and from the signs discovered, the people who had hoped to find refuge there had been abducted.
Thankfully, more than half of the shelters were intact, and the people there were shaken but alive.
It simply took some time to get everyone out since the pirates and slavers detonated the explosives -which they wanted to use to break the shelters open- prematurely, and the debris obstructed the entry.
Most of the colonists had survived the attack, but a great number had disappeared, not counting the dead. Furthermore, most of the settlement's infrastructure was destroyed, and it would take a long time until everything was back to before the raid.
Nothing to say about the scars, physically and mentally that would remain for their lives.
Yet, the settlement of Aeos-Prime could think themselves lucky, not like the settlement of Ortellah, which turned on this day into nothing more than a burning ruin inhabited only by ghosts.
Aeos-Prime and Ortellah weren't the only targets hit by pirates and slavers on that day. Overall, eleven planets, all under the Alliance's jurisdiction, were hit, eight smaller settlements, and three planets that could be called colonies without shame.
Many people, human and alien alike, lost their lives, and even more, felt the irons of captivity around their necks.
Nobody would disagree that this day was a black mark of shame in the Alliance's history and that of humanity, too.
And the dark times weren't over yet.
But, as it is with all dark periods, there are beacons of light, bringing hope to all. Names, of those who stood against the enemy, proud and brave. Defending those behind their backs, and dealing death to those in front.
The Angel of Elysium.
The Bulwark of Alondite.
The Ghost of Yumei.
The Lioness of Rathar.
These titles gave the people hope, that there were defenders of humanity who did their best to defend them all.
Countless others, whose names may not be spoken as loudly as those four, followed in their steps.
Yet, these were the names of defenders.
The names that would circulate among the people of the Alliance next weren't defenders.
They would be the names of avenging angels.
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February 26th, 2175
14:23
Arcturus-Station, Arcturus-System
Parliament Chamber
"An outrage! This is an outrage, I say," cried someone and his voice was loud enough to be heard over the voices of the other parliament members who all tried to speak over each other.
"We can't let the Batarians get away with such an act! We have to retaliate!" another voice shouted, agreeing with the previous statement.
"There's no evidence the Batarian Hegemony was involved with this attack! Do you want to throw us into a war with your thoughtless accusations, you cretin?!"
"The whole galaxy knows that the Batarians are behind this. Just because there's no evidence doesn't mean that..." The rest of the retort disappeared among the chaos of voices.
My eyes wandered to the section of the parliament chamber where the current government sat, and I saw that the most influential were furiously discussing the events of the last days. They were joined by Andrew, whose face showed an expression of cold fury that looked like it was made from stone.
I could understand his feelings. While he, and through him, the upper echelons of the government, knew that the attack was coming, it should have happened in a few months after every piece was in a position to timely intervene and keep the destruction and death to a minimum.
And now?
The attack had happened a lot sooner than anticipated and caught the Alliance with their pants down. Furthermore, while I didn't have a chance to talk with Andrew before this session, his expression told me enough to infer that he didn't know about the changed timetable.
Yet, that wasn't even the worst thing, in my opinion.
The worst thing was that the attack happened on a far greater scale than anyone thought possible.
They hit eight settlements inside our borders and three bigger colonies.
They attacked eleven planets under the Alliance's jurisdiction simultaneously.
The news agencies around the galaxy called it the biggest pirate fleet of the millennium.
I could feel my face twitching as I thought about the reporting currently happening across Citadel space and barely managed to stop myself from making a grimace.
While most smaller agencies were running pieces that highlighted the devastation and the tragedy of the attack, some of the more influential news agencies had subtle and not-so-subtle undertones that called the Alliance's ability to protect their own citizens into question.
One even outright asked if the Alliance wouldn't be better off becoming a protectorate of the Council.
Thankfully, nobody but the most disinclined toward critical thinking were following that particular opinion, especially as the news agency wasn't something that could be called intelligent.
Nonetheless, the last few days were filled with meetings that had me trying to direct the public opinion, inside Alliance and Citadel territory, toward an outcome that wouldn't be as hurtful for the Alliance's reputation as it could be.
I was somewhat successful, but the only thing that could truly turn around the narrative was the reaction of the government, but how they would react, and how fast, wasn't decided yet.
To call what was happening in the Parliament Chambers a madhouse wouldn't be far from the truth.
Nobody had the full picture and tried desperately to make sense of what they knew while, at the same time, trying to push their thoughts how the Alliance should react onto others.
It wasn't helped by the government officials who stayed amongst themselves to discuss things without anyone standing up to try and calm the masses.
While most of my attention was going from one place to another, I kept an eye on Andrew and his group. So I noticed it quickly when my friend stood up to leave the chamber while the president slowly walked toward the speaker's desk.
Knowing that I would get more accurate and truthful information from Andrew, I left my place among the observer gallery of the chamber to intercept him before he disappeared in the shadows of the AIS to make sure that the Alliance's retaliation would go unhindered by external elements.
Furthermore, I could probably speak along with the president's coming speech. One simply needed to have heard enough political speeches and a bit of imagination to do so.
I wasn't running through the halls of the Arcturus station, but I walked faster than usual.
Along the way, I couldn't help but notice the uneasiness that seemed to follow everyone I passed. Everyone, be they officials, guards, or civilians, seemed to be tense as if there was a possibility of an attack on the station.
It was an impossibility, but nobody ever accused humans of being rational when they were scared.
And being scared was normal right now.
After all, it was a natural reaction after finding out that your defense systems could be subverted.
My hand clenched subconsciously when that thought hushed through my mind, and I could feel how my fingernails pressed into my palm.
That the attacks on the smaller settlements were successful wasn't a surprise. They weren't defended well, and most of their protection came from the regular patrols that went through their systems, acting more as a deterrent than actual protection.
Something that had worked until now.
Yet, the attacks on the three genuine colonies, defended by a handful of ships in addition to a couple of ODPs should have been met with a decisive loss on the attacker's side.
Scheduled maintenance, technical and personnel failures.
Any of those were believable as reasons for the failure of one or two ODPs, but not eight across three different systems during an attack. And one didn't even have to mention the damage that bombs caused among two more.
It couldn't be more obvious that this was an inside job, or, at least, someone who had the ability to evade AIS detection for months to plan this outcome.
And the number of people and organizations that could do that was low enough to count them on two hands, especially since Cerberus and all its affiliated backers could be ignored entirely.
That organization, for all its ambition to become a powerful player, would never condone an attack as this since it hurt humanity's independence more than anything.
Even if they were planning to fan the flames of alien resentment, they would never do so in a way that would end with humans put into slavery. The chance that their involvement could be outed, a real possibility with the AIS and Andrew on the warpath, would cause any goodwill the organization achieved to go up in flames and turn into outright hate for betraying everything they stood for.
Open rioting within their ranks wouldn't just be a possibility but a certainty.
I was sure that for the investigation into how the pirate's attack could be so successful any inclination toward rivalry or the fact that they were officially on different sides would be pushed toward the side. The AIS and Cerberus would work together to make sure that the enemies of humanity would pay for this transgression in blood.
This would probably be the first time the two organizations wouldn't look for a way to come out on top.
As always, it was interesting to see how a shared enemy managed to bring people together.
Managing to arrive at the atrium Andrew would have to cross to get to the AIS offices from the Parliament chamber, I let my eyes wander around, hoping to spot my friend before he disappeared.
While I didn't manage to find him quickly, the fact that I saw far more people wearing military uniforms didn't escape my notice. The number of armed guards had increased as well in an effort to project an atmosphere of safety. I was sure the people responsible for the increased security meant well, but they missed their goal.
Instead, I could see the civilians and officials throwing uneasy glances at them as they walked by.
Something nobody, even the guards getting the glances, could resent them for since it looked like we were at war right now.
In this regard, I wondered what the security of the Arcturus station would be like when the Alliance truly went to war. I imagined it would be similar to the situation right now, but somehow more oppressing and intimidating.
I was sure that not even I could walk these halls without getting stopped by an overeager patrol every five minutes. And my face was known as well as the leaders of international superpowers in the 21st century.
Nevertheless, as I wandered through the atrium, I finally found Andrew.
He was in a heated discussion with someone, but they were too far away for me to hear anything. Something that wasn't made easier by the armed guards standing around them, making sure that nobody could get close enough to eavesdrop.
And since I knew Andrew had at least three scramblers on his person, any possibility of an electronic device listening in was in the same range as a Krogan deciding to dedicate his life toward galactic peace by singing songs of love and peace.
Not an absolute impossibility but certainly close.
As I got closer, one of the guards standing around Andrew stepped into my path, and held his hand up in the universal sign for "Stop."
I respectfully followed his unspoken order a few steps before him and waited patiently for Andrew to notice me.
I could probably force the issue, but, right now, I was practically a civilian with no governmental authority, and the guard had the right to detain me for 24 hours if I made a nuisance of myself.
Seeing a detention cell from the inside wasn't on my to-do list for this year.
They probably wouldn't have done it, but that kind of incident wasn't something the Alliance or I needed right now.
A show of unity was needed, and no matter how annoyed I was because of my "house arrest," I would do my best to support them, no questions asked.
After all, a crisis wasn't the best time to continue to play petty games with each other.
Besides, it wasn't impossible that the leaders of the Alliance decided to lift my "punishment" afterward due to the enormous amount of help I would give the Alliance.
While I was busy checking my Omni-tool if any important messages had arrived, Andrew finished his discussion with the non-descript woman.
Truly, the woman Andrew spoke with was the definition of forgettable.
No facial characteristics stood out, and her plain brown hair was in a hairdo that I probably had seen a dozen times when I walked here.
Her clothes were a simple business suit, neither too cheap nor too expensive, right in the price range anyone with some responsibilities but without any true power would wear.
I wouldn't be surprised if I could only remember that Andrew talked with someone but wouldn't be able to give the slightest description of that person's appearance in five minutes.
Finally, after the woman departed, Andrew looked over to me and gave his guards the signal to let me pass.
"Yours, or Cerberus," were the first words I spoke when I got close to Andrew, nodding in the direction his conversation partner disappeared to.
"Cerberus," confirmed Andrew, his mouth a thin line. "Came with words from TIM personally. He ordered every Cerberus operation that works against the AIS directly or indirectly to stand by and concentrate on the attack. Furthermore, he assured me that there was no Cerberus personnel was officially involved, but that he couldn't say if some rogue elements did it anyway. Cerberus will share everything they find with the AIS unconditionally until we sufficiently punish the guilty parties."
"Parties, huh?" I said. "I guess you don't only mean the pirates, slavers, and the Batarian Hegemony with that label."
"You would be correct with your guess, Oscar," growled Andrew, his voice taking on a tone that sent shivers down my back, and I wasn't even the target of his anger.
"I can admit that my agents dropped the ball on this occasion. We knew that in the last few months, the slowly growing pirate army got some Salarian gangs to join them, and a handful of Asari mercenaries that usually work in another part of the galaxy, but my agents didn't put a high priority on that. It would also explain how their intelligence countermeasures got better. They did it slowly enough so that we didn't get suspicious."
"One of the reasons why you didn't know the number of targets, I think."
"Also correct," confirmed Andrew. "This last month we got more misdirecting and outright false information than at any point since they started to plan the raid."
"The only organization I can think of that would be able to fool you so completely has to be the STG."
"And it was them!" Andrew's exclamation was followed by a string of curses that shouldn't be repeated in polite conversation or in the vicinity of children.
I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his outburst. It was the first time I saw Andrew being so open with his anger.
Yet, it was also the first time I witnessed him being put in the losing position without room for arguing, so I could understand his feelings.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked calmly, trying to keep my friend focused.
It seemed to work as his face relaxed and he returned to a calm and even expression.
"Right now? Find out everything about the attack and where they took our people. Numbers, equipment, locations, backers, support, financiers, buyers. Everything," Andrew started. "Then we will help the military plan the counter-offensive, and make sure that we take back every single person those slavers took from us. Even if we have to go to Khar'shan and free them from the hegemon's palace."
"And what about the suspected involvement from their new backers?" I inquired, curious how Andrew wanted to deal with the Asari and Salarian involved in this mess.
"First we find evidence of their crimes, then we strike back," replied Andrew and his voice took on a dark undertone.
"Find evidence to make sure there won't be any political retaliation after your revenge?"
"Among other things," was Andrew's answer, leaving the rest open for interpretation.
"Well then," I said, and turning to leave, "if you need my help for anything, you have my number. And I mean anything." My last sentence was accompanied by a deep look into Andrew's eyes, making sure that he understood that even if he needed a dreadnought yesterday, I would do my best to give him what he needed.
"Thank you," replied Andrew genuinely and nodded at me.
The guards let me leave without any issue, and I slowly made my way toward my offices here on Arcturus station.
There was work to do and I was sure there would be a whole lot more in the coming days.