Shoot First, Ask Question Later.

[]

(AN: If there are any Mistakes, Report here please)

It took just 3 days for the Turian Admiral to finally call off the recovery efforts, the wrecks of their lost patrol were found with no survivors, it put their mood as well as the rest of fleets mood on an knifes edge, years of training worth of experience and discipline kept them from lashing out.

It wasn't a nice feeling to know that ether a group of pirates or sprits forbid a hostile alien force mercilessly butcher this entire patrol to the last claw.

From recovered data from the main computer drives, all evidence, despite the deplorable state all footage was found in, they all pointed to an unknown hostile alien force beyond Relay 314.

The Admiral could already picture a likely scenario that happened here.

Relay 314 was illegally activated by vermin and lawbreakers and allowed an unknown alien fleet to come through thus resulting in their destruction if the small debris field by the Relay was of any indication, this was a serious violation of Council Law, it was a pity they couldn't be the ones to put those criminals out there misery for unleashing another threat to all of Council Space, much like with the Rachni Wars that nearly ended the races of the Citdel prior to his own kinds introduction to the rest of the galactic community.

Proper protocol in encountering a hostile alien fleet was much the same with dealing with the scum of the Terminus and those spirits be dam Batarian slaver fleets, report their findings before moving in to gauge the enemy threat or if not out destroying them with overwhelming force.

In this particular instance, the good Admiral favoured the latter approach, his line of thinking would be that they were dealing with a low scale multi-system space faring civilisation that must have been bloodied by the heroic actions of their lost patrol.

They had confidence in reining in these dissidents, after all he'd been granted a Dreadnought for this mission, it would be a shame not to use it.

[]

"Not long now" I mused looking at the command holo table displaying the Shanxi System in full detail along with a shared video link from a Prowler watching the Turin fleet assemble themselves to jump through the Relay.

The map was then changed to show the Relay within Shanxi System where the region of space there had spaced out Hornet Mines deployed by ONI Prowlers.

And a few hundred kilometres away the Shanxi Battlegroups 1 and 2 where holding position within their MACs effective firing ranges all while the 3rd Battlegroup was on the other end of the System ready to slip in when needed, though I and very much everyone else had a belief that their involvement would be unneeded.

Soon streaks of light appeared showing the many silhouettes of the Turian fleet jumping into the Shanxi System in nice formation.

As they drifted forwards due to the acceleration of the jump they soon came to an abrupt halt just a few kms away from the nearest Mine.

"Masters were picking up comm chatter going to and from both the Turian fleet and UNSC Battlegroups" one of the Vox operators announced to us.

"Give us a summary of those messages" my Younger sister commanded, I glanced at the rest of family to see if they would counter that, after all wouldn't it be better to get a more detailed version of just a summary.

However, it didn't seem anyone would speak up, not even I, as well I had a strong feeling of where this was going.

"The UNSC Admiral Kastanie Drescher has demanded that the Turian vacate UEG sovereign territory, they are refusing and seem adamant to enforce Council…Communication have ceased and both sides are preparing for conflict" and there it is, the moment we've all been waiting for.

"Should we move in to assist" Charlie asked whilst I shook my head and responded.

"No need, this will be a quick affair, besides I want to see what they can do" well a larger part of me getting excited to inevitable slaughter that was about to happen, I should feel concerned about this, but I don't, I am yearning for what will happen.

And my dark thoughts found pleasure in seeing the first shots fired, the Turians began moving towards the small gaps in the Mine field so they could pass by them safely while opening fire on the Humans who launched a massive volley of missiles which were racing towards the aliens vessels.

A few minutes later the first of many MAC rounds left the barrels of the various UNSC warships, streaks of light flashed through space outlining the high-speed slugs tearing through space.

My lips began twitching upwards as I see impacts on the alien fleet, balls of fire illuminated the area space near the Mass Relay for brief seconds, the Turians lost the momentum as nearly a whole half of their ships were destroyed or crippled from the combined fire of the two Battlegroups coordinated fire.

Minutes later they began firing back at the UNSC hoping to get some form of payback, I could see them changing their formation into a loose group instead of being tightly packed together, props to them for trying to adapt to this unfavourable situation, but it wouldn't help them not with the swarm of Archer Missiles streaming in.

Though as the munitions came in the Turians responded with their GUARDIAN Laser Counter Offensive systems, small yet effective red energy lances began slicing through the incoming missiles rendering the swarm down to a standard handful before they impacted on their Kinetic shields.

Still, they pushed on marching ever closer to their doom all while continuously firing at the Human ships, but those round then began impacting on the UNSCs energy shields, each hit lit the vessel up showing a protective gold shimmer of a hexagonal pattern around the frames of each ship.

Then the second MAC volley fired off and in a few seconds latter the Turians were left with a dozen vessels, it was already clear who the victor of this engagement was and that reflected in the way the alien fleet began to pull away and beeline towards the Relay, the UNSC held their position but not without firing off another swarm of missiles.

in a way I was starting to feel pity for the Turians, it was a small thing majorly overshadowed by my glee of watching this massacre, the Turian fleet leader brought this upon themselves, whether they lived or died was a triviality, it would still send a message, but how would they interpret it could go any ways, this could result in total war, but yet again I was confident it wouldn't, it would be too expensive for the other races part of the Citadel, plus if they could in some way get humanity to be part of their group they would have the right to plunder their achievements and take all the advancements for themselves and label it as humanity doing their duty for the prosperity of the Galactic Community.

I snorted at the idea, after what Humanity has been through, their trauma and strong xenophobia wouldn't allow an alien entity to dictate their future.

In another two minutes the missile swarm began being torn down a size, but because there was now very few alien ships left the GUARDIAN defence was less effective thus more impacts caused some of the shields in the fleet to buckle and fail.

Now you could count the number of Turian ships with a single hand, and that all the UNSC were going to get as the Turians used their far superior thruster capabilities to quickly make it to the Relay and jump as soon as they were aligned, the even the so called "Dreadnought" managed to get away, in flames but still space worthy.

"Well, that's that I suppose" the battle was finished, all that was there left to do was for the UNSC to board the crippled vessels that didn't completely get destroyed and seize everything they had.

This was obviously a good day for the humans, they actually managed to win a fight against another alien power without needing a 3 to 1 odds of success.

Though I did dread the coming weeks, mainly for the fact that we'd be negotiating our stance within this Galaxy, we were definitely going to be keeping our independence and not be tied down to a nation or cause, at least not in our current situation.

Looking back to the void of flaming wrecks, I could hazard a swift response from either the Turians or an intervention from the Citadel Council which would probably take at a minimum a week or at length two weeks.

Whatever it was, it would be interesting.

I would be wrong; it would be annoying and filled with second hand embarrassment.

[]

At the heart of the Relay Network there is an ancient mega structure commonly referred to as the Citadel, it is the seat of power of the Council who are granted the power to manage the combined space of those part of their 'Galactic Community' as well as intervene into conflicts and implement new laws for a variety of issues that may arise.

The Council is composed of three ruling races, the Salarians a reptilian species with a short life span yet highly intelligent, they are mostly seen as a race producing scientists, doctors and competent in intelligence gathering and espionage, they were one of the first races to discover the Citadel alongside the Asari.

The Asari are an all-female race of blue skin aliens with a life span exceedingly nearly a thousand years along with a natural talent to manipulate Element Zero, though while they do produce fierce fighters they are mostly seen as the diplomats and pioneers of the arts like music and literature, they are also the most 'advanced' race within Citadel Space but their military force projection pales in compression to the Turians.

The Turians are the fist of the Citadel, their soldiers are enforcers of Council law and the ones who keep the peace by warding off pirates and slavers alike, they are driven by the need to do their duty as taught to them by their instructors as every Turian must complete compulsory military service, thus it is no surprise that they have the mightiest military within Council Space.

So, on one near mundane day within the Citadel itself that a terminal belonging to the Salarian Councillor received an encrypted message from the STG, a special forces group unique to the Salarians with the express purpose of conducting many off the books missions of various manners.

The Councillor, Valern was relatively new to the position as he was began reading through what the STG agents found out, and he had to supress a sigh at what he was reading.

He began to set up a link to the Asari Councillor Tevos so he could coordinate with her to set up a diplomatic mission while also calling for a small for all three Councillors to have a chat about the blunder the Hierarchy caused and was trying to hide.

Again, he tried not to sigh as he thought to himself why he wanted to become a Councillor in the first place.

[]

The feeling Anderson was feeling right now was well hidden ecstatic joy.

He couldn't hide the smile though, none would care though, there were many smiles on nearly every man and woman within the three Shanxi Battlegroups, gone was the dread, gone the fear, gone the expectation of inconceivable lose, now, there was victory.

They won, they won against the Turians.

No that wasn't the right word, they butchered those dam birds and it was relishing, the stick was finally on the on the other side and firmly in the hands of Humanity.

But of course, Anderson also knew that this wasn't the last time they them again, 4 of their ships managed to get away, they were damaged but still in tack and the Admiral didn't give the order to pursue, just to clean up the battlefield and board the somewhat in tack ships that couldn't do anything other than float and spin.

An easy task for any Spartan VI within the fleet, plus he also knew that ONI was going to want prisoners just so they could have a long talk, he didn't pity those aliens for the hell they were in for.

Though the Jolly wouldn't be participating in any boarding action as once again he was reminded by the fact they had lost most of their marine contingent was basically a no factor.

However, he did loan Spartan Fireteam Normandy to assist in taking these vessels, he didn't have to wait long for an approval to send them off.

Looking out into the void, Andersons eyes found the Artefact, the cause for all these events, he knew that more of them were beyond that thing, all whole other society of aliens likely getting ready for a war against his kind.

And once more he that Humanity would respond in as well, but only this time they wouldn't be the defenders, they would also finally be the attackers.

Though, such thoughts wouldn't come true in the many years to come.

[]