Turian Contact War (Futuro de Daniele)

The **Turian Contact War** was a bloody year-long conflict between the Human Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council, though more specifically the Turian Hierarchy. Conflict began when a turian-backed batarian fleet engaged the Alliance naval fleet over the colony Roof, falsely believing that the planet belonged to the quarians (who had been deemed enemies of the Council). As the quarians were officially a client race of the Systems Alliance, the humans retaliated and the batarians were forced into retreat. Some time later, a turian counterattack pushed the Alliance off Roof and humanity was dragged into their first galactic war. The scale and consequences of the conflict shaped the galaxy's political landscape in ways not seen in a thousand years, and was humanity's proper introduction to the galactic stage.

## Background

Prior to first contact with the quarian Migrant Fleet, humans were in a quasi-isolationist phase. The Human Systems Alliance had essentially united humanity in their expansion following the discovery of alien ruins on Mars, but it also kept them from expanding too rapidly as they had no idea what exactly awaited them outside the confines of their solar system. For all they knew, humanity were the only survivors of a galaxy-wide extinction. Earth's general overpopulation necessitated some sort of settlement outside Earth, leading to the colonization and rapid growth of Eden in 2147. However, it would be decades before humans officially colonized a third planet, and that planet was sparsely populated by the time first contact was made. Despite being confined to three planets, expansion of the Alliance's navy exploded because of human fears of hostile alien life, and a myriad of first contact protocols were created and endlessly rehearsed in case the worst came to pass.

Humanity's first contact with alien life came on July 24, 2201, when a small naval detachment of the Alliance encountered a quarian scout flotilla above Valhalla, an unofficial Alliance planet that housed a research station dedicated to exploring human settlement options. Communication, at least on the onset, was peaceful and the two sides communicated with videos, pictures and animations detailing their mutual interest in a benevolent friendship. The two met on Valhalla's surface, with each side bringing only six soldiers as per the Alliance's request. The Alliance was represented by the Minister of Extraterrestrial Affairs Ivan Chan, and Admiral Rael'Zorah nar Rayya vas Alarei represented the Admiralty Board. Conversation was difficult due to the language and cultural barrier, but thanks to body language, drawings and video representation, both sides returned to their respective ships after an hour with a strong indication that peace and cooperation were the goals of both races.

The second confrontation was problematic, as the appearance of the Alliance AI made the quarians rather uneasy and the quarian marines initiated a standoff that while diffused by Minister Chan, raised tensions with the quarians to a point where the quarians refused a third visit. A video presentation was sent to

the war, the Human Systems Alliance, while out scouting for potential colonies, came into contact with a fleet of Pantorans cast out from their home by their militaristic government. After making a peaceful First Contact with the Pantorans, the Humans scrambled to accommodate the desperate refugees on their only colony, Eden. For six months, the Humans and Pantoran outcasts lived peacefully, with the two species integrating nicely, until the Pantoran home fleet, mistaking the outcasts for owning the planet, opened fire on the Alliance naval detachment. The Turians were contacted by the militaristic Pantorans and several Hierarchy fleets arrived into Alliance space.

After the combined naval armada of both the Turians and their client Pantorans pushed the Alliance from Roof, Turian ground troops landed on Roof. They captured all military targets within the colony quickly, but the situation degraded into a bitter guerrilla war as colonists fought back against the invaders, Human and Pantoran alike. When the Turians and Pantorans chased the retreating Alliance navy to Earth, they were met with the Alliance's Summer Fleet, the term used to describe the entirety of the System Alliance Navy's ships. Although the Turians outnumbered the Humans, the Alliance had a distinct technological and tactical advantage. Naively believing that if the Turians attacked their homeworld the Humans would be forced to surrender, the Hierarchy fleet refused to retreat.

With the Turian ground forces forced off Earth and both the Hierarchy's first and second fleets utterly annihilated, the Humans mounted a counterattack by attacking Palaven, the Turian homeworld. With the rest of the Citadel Council's fleet directed towards the Asari homeworld Thessia thanks to a fake Asari distress signal indicating that Thessia was under attack, the Human Systems Alliance successfully mounted an invasion of the Turian homeworld, taking several of the planet's major cities in mere hours. On November 29, 2242, the Humans halted their attack and attempted to force the Turian Councilor Sparatus to cease hostilities under the threat of their capital city being nuked. Mistaking the Humans for bluffing, Sparatus refused and Palaven's capital city burned in nuclear fire.

Utterly devastated, Sparatus surrendered to the Systems Alliance and the fighting ended on the 30th of November. In the peace talks afterwards, the Human Systems Alliance refused to join the Citadel Council and maintained that they would stay a sovereign entity. The Second Contact War was Humanity's thrust onto the galactic stage and made history by being the first race in a thousand years to defeat the Turian Hierarchy, the galaxy's only military superpower at that time.