Leaked Messages from Nimbus Hint at Piracy Epidemic

I don't think you know how black markets work.


...I don't think you know what that raid actually indicated.

She does not.

We're not the target audience; I'm sure those the brokers want to remind of their talents know full well who they are and what they did.

See, this is what I have trouble grasping in all these debates - where was this legendary incompetence for the past two and a half thousand years, when the Republics were demonstrably the best-defended region of space in the known galaxy? Allies or no, can you honestly say that state of affairs could have continued that long, generation after generation, if we truly couldn't secure our own borders and shipping lanes by conventional means? It's one thing to note the shortcomings of a particular military (which all forces have, in one area or another), but a description like 'legendarily incompenent' is straying into a somewhat preposterous level of hyperbole.

Sorry, I was still speaking in terms of commerce; in hindsight I shouldn't have edited the sentence, but I thought 'economic defence in depth' sounded a bit of a clumsy term. Picket lines and bases, no, obviously not; alternatives when buyers and suppliers and middlemen come under scrutiny.

As someone whose spent most of her career hunting pirates, here's my two cents:

Most anti-piracy actions are bloody frustrating games of cat and mouse. Space is big and finding a couple of pirate ships in space is fucking hard. The idea is to catch them when discharging or finding their home base if they have one. Finding their buyers is not that easy either, particularly if they're using fabricators or breaking everything down into components. Especially now in the aftermath of the war and people are so desperate for supplies that they're not going to ask too many questions about where it's coming from.

So yeah. Anti-piracy isn't that simple and I wish the Republics luck in getting that under control because piracy ain't going anywhere and most pirates who survive long enough are pretty damn smart/lucky. Everyone's luck runs out eventually but underestimating them will get people killed. Particularly when you've got these desperate types cornered.

You know, we may be just too thick to know anything and all that. I don't bother with this anymore.
It's a bit like with Job's ghosts for some people. It's just a lot of talking on the extranet.

@Nat : Sure but I think job A will be to secure the colonies themselves before seeking the pirates out. I think that part should go fast enough once the asari fleet get there. About seeking out well hidden foes, well I think that's were their elite troops doctrine may shine.
Hopefully before justicars arrive and... do their thing.

I think Sandman raised a fair point about this elite units doctrine having severe limitations. I imagine the asari leaned into it in a spirit of cooperation, assuming their allies would fill less specialized roles. Obviously it's not that great...
A kid I take care off who thinks of joining the commandos says that they should take a page from the Eclipse book and supplement their specialized troops with lots mechs for fire absorption and suppression.

What do you guys think?

It's a solid idea - proven, to a point at least, right here on Illium during the war (with Eclipse involvement, fittingly enough), with all the LOKIs and GAGEs the factories in Nos Varda churned out in wave after wave as fast as resources allowed. I've been told they underperformed as individuals (what with shortages, I'd be surprised if individual units were operating at 100% capacity anyway), but even 'underperforming' mech formations could break up husk waves into more manageable groups and disrupt their mutual support capacity, if they were large enough. That's what those on the walls had to say on the matter, and since we kept putting so much effort into building the things, it seems they weren't in a minority among the decision-makers.

I'd be surprised if the cadres and defence Matriarchs weren't looking at the options very carefully, anyway - I know we're not the only place that adopted that tactic and saw it work well enough. I know there's been a lot of consultation between the Republics and Dekuuna since the relays reopened, and elcor-style automation has been adopted in many areas to make up for the drastic shortage of huntresses. I honestly have no idea if purchases of traditional 'mech soldiers' are going ahead, or planned; my feeling is that if there are, they'll be temporary measures, pending the development of new models. Outside the purely military sphere, I've heard rumours that NAPD is going to be trialling some 'next generation' security model soon, which could be an interesting glimpse at the sort of advances being bounced around the R&D community. Mum's even been talking about some fascinating work being done back home with geth participation in the field of non-sapient thought analogues - 'smarter VIs'. Very theoretical at the moment, but you can imagine how something like that would revolutionise automated defence if it proves fruitful.

I thought this cluster was like almost completely asari. Who the hell is doing the pirating?

Thank you.



While I don't think thats quite the point he's trying to make, he does say this quite a bit. And I am inclined to agree with the disgruntled asari who raise that concern from experience.


I think there are better models than some second tier merc band out there, but in principle thats a very constructive argument.

As unpopular as it will be to say, Cerberus also demonstrated the effectiveness of elite small scale action supplimented by heavy equipment which may well be readily scalable to the advantages of asari phisiology. I also understand there have been a few matriarchs advocating a second look at late krogan rebellion tactics.

Interesting view indeed. Cerberus tried to enhance the individual soldier to an almost ridiculous degree and ended up fielding a lot of equipment that would see 'second hand' use until this day. But still, fielding exclusively biotics is not about putting them into mechs, but that was most likely not what you meant. The best equipment to bring out each one's abilities best is essential for smaller elite groups. Biotics need flexibility and freedom to move to work best. I hear the Alliance was experimenting with combat biotic tactics towards the end of the war, I wonder if any collaboration was involved there and how that program is going.

I am not sure I want to see the establishment of large mech-armies though. From a planetary defense point of view we should take a look at Kahje and what the hanar did there. As the asari doctrine is generally non-aggressive this will always make us lokk 'weak' is some peopel's eyes but that can't be helped and we learned to deal with it ages ago.

At the risk of sounding emotionally needy (please hug me) I'd like to quietly and kindly point out that out of the past half a dozen posts I've made in this thread only one actual asari out of the five directly involved in the discussion has actually taken the time and thought to respond.

Which admittedly does wonders for my ego but makes for rather poor debate overall since those points stand until addressed.

In the Rachni War, in the Krogan Rebellions. And then present but subdued because during peacetime because there were no galactic scale conflicts that forced the Republic's outside their narrow comfort zone. Really though, you don't get to claim credit for "best defended" when you're in the core of Citadel Space, surrounded by allies, and have the collective intelligence of at least a flatworm. Actually yes allies. Yes. Yes one could. Because when push came to shove and the chips were down and the metaphors at their most strained: the Republics just. Couldn't. Hack it.

Considering, again, post Reaper War galaxy and economy I'm not exactly seeing the difficulty in that.

Please listen to the Sergeant.

She actually knows what she's talking about.

And you're doing a fabulous job of proving your indifference to the argument by explicitly posting about how indifferent you are to the argument.

Probably partly Terminus elements and part congratulations you just answered your own question.

Cerberus also had the ability to literally mass produce soldiers from stocks of volunteers, POW's, and refugees; all of which were decidedly abundant during the Reaper War. Thus their tactics were fundamentally different from most employed by other entities because their soldiers, both organic and synthetic, were essentially disposable. Which meant that they could be hyper aggressive in their operations while sustaining few of the strategic setbacks normally associated with that course of action (ie. morale loss, troop exhaustion, heavier casualties).

Given the hilariously long time it takes to take an asari from civilian to military asset I can't say that this is applicable here.

Or recommended.

Vapid, dull, and correct only by virtue of being so general that you are partially right be default.

If you're actually trying to prove some kind of point I suggest you try again.
The Primacy's insular nature and the relatively central location of the Zahel Sea means that tactics like ultra dense orbital/solar networks and other anti-siege measures are effective both strategically and with regards to cost. The same frankly can't be said about what would happen if the asari tried to scale the concept up. "Ignoring it" is not the same as "dealing with it" Ms. Caenis and believe me, the Republics aren't exactly looking particularly powerful right now anyway.

I'm sorry Arina but this is exactly the kind of reasoning that bugs me. Your military failed at the biggest test in recorded history, now your fringe planets are being picked on by pirates, and you're basically saying "why change anything? We're doing fine!" It doesn't help the increasing feeling people have that asari are just not adaptable or willing to see when their millenias-long paradigms fall short...
In the last war your elite troops fell short in face of massive numeric superiority. Mass produced (and expendable) grunts would have helped, don't you think?

Sorry, I don't want to be asari bashing, we all have our strengths and flaws.

You've reached the conclusion that people don't answer to you because they're just intimidated by how awesome your posts are haven't you? :D

Sarcastically: That was the joke, though it is not literally the case.

Dismissively: Not that you would understand.

Eclorly: To prevent further issues in the future I shall attach an emotional reference to the beginning of each of my statements.

Or you could actually look at the context and save the board a collective migraine the next time you try to be funny.

Unless this is some kind of explicit social commentary in which case I haven't consumed nearly enough alcohol for your statement to be considered insightful or, indeed, interesting.

This is a barefaced lie.

Your own government admits that all you can do is special forces actions. You can't fight a conventional war, you can't fight a defensive war, you can't fight an anti-pirate action and, worst of all, you refuse to admit this or change. You don't even arm your troops with standardized or support weaponry! Heavy armor is something your ground forces are entirely unequipped to deal with!

This is what we from the Terminus (Who actually have to deal with our own shortcomings instead of having the Hierarchy deal with our problems for us) call 'legendary incompetence'.


It's a huntress deployment, they deal with it like you would any other police scrutiny on their sources:

Pretend to be legitimate while selling.

Seriously, both me and Sandman have outlined exactly how that works. Pirates can, by and large, supply each other and in the post-war galaxy they can sell to basically anyone they want.

I do not feel surprised with these news. Not only our ship but almost every single vessel under the flag of the Citadel Exploration Fleet has encountered at least some pirate activity either in deep space or isolated clusters. I'd like to direct your attention to the article about the turian CEF ship that suffered damage from an unknown craft in the Exodus Cluster.

Now that once wealthy and prosperous colonies have found themselves in a very vulnerable and even hopeless situation, many outlaws see this as a great opportunity to take hold of anything they can from these colonies. Be that resources, goods, equipment, weaponry or even slaves.

For some reason though, spikes in piracy are noted mostly around asari space. During our mission in the Silean Nebula we encountered groups of pirate ships more than once. Of course they were scattered across multiple systems and the Nebula was soon cleared of any pirates. The situation in the Nimbus Cluster sounds to be far worse though. That cluster is more isolated but more rich in resources than other nearby pockets of space.

The whole situation is rather odd if you ask me. You would expect that these pirates originate from parts of the Terminus that are in relative proximity to these areas. But the entirety of asari space is located deep within the Outer Council Space. One would have to cross many lightyears of space in the Attican Traverse to get even remotely close to an asari world.

According to the information I'm receiving the Nimbus Cluster has just been moved down from the priority target clusters list on the official CEF roster. Military divisions will most likely take up the mission to restore contact with the cluster as well clear it of any danger. It does sound quite serious.

The asari ships are among the ones with the greatest range in the galaxy but Hierarchy and Alliance ships are better equipped to deal with such threats. All CEF ships have been only outfitted with armament suitable with dealing with small scale engagements so we're definitely staying out of this for the most part. This will surely get interesting. For now, we can only hope for the safety and the wellbeing of the isolated inhabitants of far away systems.

Hate to say it, but RedOut's 100% right on this one. I've been getting a lot of job offers from pirate crews ever since I moved back to Omega. And I mean 'I've lost count.'

And for those who are going to crucify me over saying that, lemme just say 'I didn't take any of those job offers.' I don't work for pirates or slavers. Bottom line.

Back on topic. The spike in piracy is simply because people are so desperate for supplies, food, and tech to help with reconstruction/basic survival that they'll associate with pirates if push comes to shove. This situation in Nimbus isn't unique, but it's extreme. The pirates can hit people, then run off somewhere and sell the goods to basically anybody because nobody's gonna be picky enough to care. They just want to eat for a day. Piracy is a good business (not good morally, but you get the point) to get into right now, simply because of the fact that the situation in the galaxy today allows them to get away with it so well. Between the desperation of the colonists who probably do business with them and the desperation of the pirates themselves (let alone the colonists who have probably GONE pirate to make ends meet), there's no telling where this spike in piracy is going to end, or how long it's going to go for.

If Velor Vedevix were still alive, he'd be having a goddamn field day.

While I agree with a lot of the points here, and yes, the asari military does need restructuring in the Post Reaper galaxy if it hopes to retain it's reputation, I will argue that a lack of supporting fire equipment or vehicles largely depends on the cadre you're referring to. Asari Commandos do frequently use VTOL gunship and APC support where there are those certified to operate them and the equipment is available, with the same applying to mortars, AT rifles, and fixed wing CAS aircraft.

While usually heavy armor suppression is not focused on by Cadre unit training, and mostly equipment listings focused on anti personnel weapons, it really is a commander's discretion on how armored hostile targets are handled. Some handle them well, some don't even handle them.

Give Eclipse their due, they're not second tier. Which is hardly the same as being admirable as an organisation, but what they do, they've demonstrated proficiency at.

Establishment maybe not, but the capability, that could be a valuable asset. I don't think there's any question that we (the Republics, that is) ought to be making every effort possible to ensure our failure of initiative in the war doesn't repeat itself, that our allies can call upon our commandos and fleets at need; that's a moral responsibility of ours, but quite aside from that it's part of a mutually beneficial relationship that means when we need a conventional ground warfare force, we can call on the Hierarchy in turn. It's unlikely the entire galaxy will come under simultaneous attack from overwhelmingly superior forces again, and the further reconstruction goes, the less our ability to go to each others' assistance in time of need will be hampered by our own fragility (that goes for everyone). But still, as gratifying as cooperation is, it wouldn't be a bad thing to increase our ability to stand alone - not out of pride, or unwillingness to work with others, but simply so as not to have to ask our allies to risk themselves on our behalf unless we really need to.

A 'standing mech army' would be an extravagance I can't really see any Republic needing in peacetime (even the fractious 'peace' we have at present), but having the capability of rapidly switching manufacturing centres from civilian applications to mass production of military mechs and autonomous platforms - and having already done the R&D legwork to make those forces as effective as possible - could be a very useful deterrent, not to mention an invaluable force multiplier for our own troops.


For starters, I know the Republican democratic model is sometimes called 'government by extranet', but the Extrapedia wiki is not, in fact, our government. It's also one of those instances where the basic meaning is correct, but the phrasing leaves something to be desired - I feel it'd be more true to say huntress units are incapable of winning using conventional warfare methods. If you read on you'll see the references to exceptional guerrilla warfare capabilities, a top-line navy (the article's slightly out of date - but then, everybody's navy suffered pretty horrendous losses, so the relative positions aren't that drastically altered), and the bit about the finest warriors in the galaxy.

Pfah, sure they are.

Or be Terminus levies stranded after the Crucible Event. Or civilians/former militia/commando units with more desperation than scruples and access to ships.
They're also optimized for hit and run operations and small scale strikes. Which isn't normally a bad thing except they're almost all optimized for hit and run operations and small scale strikes.

I would like to take this moment to note the dichotomy between the people who have actually dealt with pirates and other criminal/pseudo-legal elements on a regular basis and those who haven't.

I won't name names

because I'm fairly certain the distinction is obvious.

Well probability does dictate that they can't all be absolutely horrendous so that's something at least. Though it is rather amusing that the ones who are the best prepared for actual defensive and offensive operations beyond "high grade specops" are also the ones who buck the general trend.

You assume anyone would want or need to. You assume that even if you institute military reforms (which the prevailing opinions of the majority of asari in this thread indicate is unlikely to happen for a couple centuries on the inside) old arrangements will still apply. I mean it's only happened, what, three times now?

Because that is so much better given that the vast majority of conflicts are, by definition, conventional. Which mean literally nothing against an enemy unafraid to exploit orbital supremacy. That, as I said earlier, is almost entirely optimized for hit and run and virtually incapable of effectively fighting an enemy who can compensate for their maneuverability. Who are completely incapable of successfully conducting any large scale military venture.

Good God woman. Are you even listening to yourself? Do you have any conception of how horrifically stereotypical you sound?