Chapter Text
The turian, even in his death, had been successful in his mission.
Jeremy Richards, former N7 sniper and the seventh human Spectre, limped ahead despite his injuries, his Spectre armor burnt and dented in several spots. A combination of Cabal biotics and armor-piercing Raptor fire was not something even Spectres could shake off well.
The Presidium was on fire and chaos. A group of Facinus separatists had infiltrated the turian embassy, killing its officers and hacking through the Hierarchy database. From there, the chaos spread across the Presidium, right up to the front gate of the Citadel Tower. By the time three Spectres along with C-SEC special response had been able to deploy, the terrorists had killed almost two hundred people; Tarren Sparatus was severely injured, so was Caestis and Garrus Vakarian. A human admiral was killed. Richards and his Spectre compatriots had cornered the leader, and when he refused to surrender - the asari Spectre simply detonated his head with a precise flare.
After checking the body, Richards realized the terrorists had grabbed a huge amount of data from the embassy, most classified beyond top secret, and by using a live-feed datalink had already transferred most of it across the galaxy to their hidden base. The last few bits of data left on the OSD were certainly low-priority; mostly documentation packets designed for military class lectures. Richards would hand it off to the ST&R office to decrypt and file it off to the archives, but Senior Commandant Bau had told him to go through it first. The ancient salarian's words were gospel for Richards, there was no way he'd ignore that request. Not just him, most of the post-war Spectres idolized Bau to the extent of almost worshipping him - one of the greatest of the old guard, the most successful Spectre of all time - even ahead of legends like Hazuma T'Armal, Tela Vasir, Saren Arterius, and Jon Shepard - a honed investigator whose skills were almost mythical. When Bau spoke, everyone listened.
And Jondum Bau had always driven one tenet into Richards' brain - always keep reading, keep knowing, because knowing is half the battle; only knowing will help you against odds that surpass your skills and physique.
Richards dived into the doc, a seemingly recent, albeit dry, documentation by a turian analyst in the Hierarchy Intelligence. It apparently covered battle doctrines from all races. At first he thought it would be a drag, that perhaps he was wasting his time despite Bau's advice, but a few pages in and he realized, that he couldn't have been further from the truth.
system message: the omnitool vi translates data as you progress through the document. some terms may appear in your preferred language if no appropriate synonyms can be found.
detected language: cipritine common (00yb6466x)
translated language: earth common - english (00ym9544z)
To The Supreme Primarch of Palaven, protector of the Palavanus, the prime of the Hierarchy,
Adrien Victus, LoP, PS
Submitted by,
Irana Naxirius, Chief Analyst
4th Analysis Directorate, Hierarchy Defense Intelligence
21.02.2254, Location [REDACTED]
Most Honorable Primarch of Palaven, the protector of the Hierarchy, I submit this report in an attempt to postulate a sense of comparative strength among our galactic allies and adversaries. This work attempts to contain comparative levels of various alien militaries - allies, enemies, neutrals and fringe groups.
In the current situation of the galactic community, peace is not something we can hope to keep for long. Foes are massing on our borders, and our own are wrought by war and destruction already. And even on top of these things, there are the vile alien propaganda to consider - the ones that attack our honorific culture and basis of what means to be a turian. The very essence of the Hierarchy is being challenged by alien enemies; and only a proper guided campaign will serve to defend our way of life. This compendium, given the state of the galaxy at this tumultuous hour, shall be of use for the next generations of warriors and generals to come.
Stratagem are the specialities of salarians; politics of the asari, economy of the volus. I, in my humble effort have done what I am educated on - comparing defense apparatuses, their effectiveness, and of course the units that use it.
I will be using a simplistic ranking system to categorize. Hereinafter,
- BETA stands for low-to-medium
- ALPHA stands for medium-to-high
- DELTA stands for high-to-ultra
- OMEGA stands for impossibly dangerous. Do not engage.
May the spirits watch over us all.