[Council] Deep Space Station Completed

Deep Space Station Completed

Sana Calaris, The Cyan Sun

Dilal System, MINOS WASTELAND - Today marks the completion of the Strata space station in Minos Wasteland. The station is expected to serve as a stopover for military patrols and deep space exploration missions as well as a watching point for local peace keeping forces.

"We have seen a sharp increase in pirate activity not only in the MW cluster but all over the galaxy as well,” said Nulius Patikkan, director for the Strata Project. “Given Minos' valuable and strategic position in the new layout of the relay network, Strata station will be a great leap closer to pacification of the region.”

As more systems from the Traverse and Terminus regions get connected to the network, Strata is expected to become a large trading and transportation hub as well, bringing in sizable revenues for Council species that have collaborated in the project.

Stay tuned next week for the live broadcast of the opening ceremony and speech from councilor Sparatus!

Oh dear.

He does realize that he is on the veritable doorstep of the Terminus systems yes?

Or has nobody had the heart to tell him yet?

They probably do know. But they're guessing, and likely correctly so, that the Terminus is still too fractured to really mount any proper resistance. They might have to deal with local militia's and small armies, sure, but nothing like they would have faced before the Reapers. Too many warlords out there still more than happy to kill each other.

I could be wrong, of course. External threat, even a perceived one, might start pulling the Terminus together into the alliances it used to have.

Yes but the question is why. You're never going to "pacify" that region, not to C-Space standards and no matter how many patrols or garrisons you throw at it. There will always be raiders moving through that area by virtue of it's location (although why they would hit there instead of a fringe asari republic or something I'll never know). There will always be an influx of criminal elements. Plus, attempting to expand into an area like the Terminus that not only doesn't want you but will actively and violently resist such an action in a unified manner was a strategically retarded move even in peacetime. Much less now when every government worth the title is rather preoccupied with consolidation of their territories and has devoted the lions share of their resources to the task.

Frankly that's where most of the conflict is going to be anyway, between component states rebelling against their former patrons (as in Tshombesha) or nations snapping up what choice assets they can before a larger or more advantageously placed neighbor bulls them over (as on the Line).

So really, not only is the project doomed to failure but it's largely unnecessary anyway.

Maybe that part is even more important, having a relatively well secured trading post where in and out corridors can be patrolled. I see some use in such an endeavor, even if a plan to pacify the Wasteland seems a bit far fetched.

I apologize but if you may indulge a question of mine: with who?

The clear implication of the article is that, with Strata, the principle investors hope to reap profits in fiscal and material interactions with extra-Citadel space. However most direct trade with the Terminus, such as it is, flows through Omega, to major "near-Terminus" colonies (such as Illium), and then on to core Citadel Space trading hubs.

It should also be noted that most of the intermediary regions that thrive on the mutual exchange (Illium again being the go to example) make an effort to be accommodating to Terminus interests and, as such, don't do things like, for example, try to impose Citadel Space military dominance on the people they're theoretically going to be trading with.

Hey, it's just the way business has always worked.

"We have shiny beads, but if you want them you're gonna hafta play by OUR rules."

Trading at gunpoint only works if the other guy doesn't also have guns.

Correct me If I'm wrong but I think that with the devastation and lack of organization that there currently is in the Terminus, as well as the fact that the Relays the new relay network is being built from the heart of Council space (Sol) and outwards mean that the Terminus systems are at quite a disadvantageous point in the meantime. With only a handful of relays functioning, large chucks of space isolated and once great terminus powers either destroyed or cut off from the rest, it is safe to assume that they are pretty much out-gunned for now.
Besides, from what I've been hearing in discussions around here in SATAE, the new leadership of Omega wants to take the whole region to a more benevolent and extrovert direction. Opening trading ties with the council seems the way to go. Not to mention that the MW is still Council Space. If you'll do some research you'll see that the Minos wasteland is located, for the most part, in the Outer Council Space region. This area is clearly part of council space.
Amidst the chaos that followed the aftermath of the war, many terminus factions grabbed this opportunity to catch everything they can from council worlds while patrols were still thin and the colonies defenseless. As the news have been reporting, there have been pirate raids as deep as in the Silean Nebula. With the installation of Strata in the Waste, the Council is simply reclaiming what is theirs and at the same time, try to approach the Terminus in a non-hostile fashion. War is the least everybody wants right now and it is common sense that the galaxy is better off with a neutral-to-friendly relations between the Citadel and Omega.
This is anything but provocative. I am sure that the people of the Terminus systems are smart enough not to be enraged when the council is simply re-securing its borders. I am also certain that they would not attempt to expand into the MW by pressing territorial claims on the cluster. Just like the Byzantine Empire settled the 'Akritai' at the fringes of their territory to secure their borders and protect the population from raids an invasions -to which they were prone- Strata means to secure their space and safeguard the population.

Oh by all means.


Yes but while they can't reach you that also means that you can't reach them. Which reduces the effective strength Terminus to the Nemean Abyss, Omega Nebula and its environs, and the handful of regional clusters that are accessible via slowboat FTL. It's a much smaller space, strategically speaking, to defend and has some of the most powerful and hardened individuals in the known galaxy jealously consolidating as much of their territory as they can. Aria. Blood Pack. Eclipse. Suns. Nemean Warlords. Ad'Thoro Pact and it's still significant member states. Pirate and Raider lords. They may be outgunned on a grand scale but, at the same time, these are not people who are unaccustomed to bloodshed, more than capable of bleeding an invader dry and yet, despite what those with warhawk tendencies such as yourself may believe, nobody still wants to fight.

This includes Citadel held space as well. And while security and national defense are undisputed priorities, they should be concentrated upon areas with something vital to protect.

An asari Republic with large and valuable caches of research and an outdated defense force? Yes.

Pray tell what is so essential to protect in the Wasteland? Invictus? The turians can more than handle themselves. A few abandoned penal colonies? What? It's the frontier, there's little enough of value out there in any case.


Which they have. Through the Terminus's primary trading hub of Omega. And which individual regions will be less inclined to do with the prospect of "pacification" in their face.

Also, please, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you just refer to Aria as...benevolent?

I believe the word you were looking for Mr. Hoffmann is pragmatic.



And that is...no that is almost entirely categorically wrong. There can be no points awarded for effort.

Isolated raids do not a systemic campaign of expansion make (a hypothetical campaign that, again, nobody wants) and should not be taken as such, nor replied to as such.


Because, clearly, attempting to completely pacify a historically frontier area and bring it up to par with core regions of Citadel Space is the definition of "neutral". Much as a base that is explicitly designed as a launching point for both military and expeditionary operations is the definition of "non-hostile".

Do you know the best way to eliminate raiders? You starve them. You make it not worth their time to strike at your worlds and you do that by fortifying the individual systems.

Which, as been repeatedly shown, is the most efficient and long term effective way of curbing pirate actions.

Then...why is the station necessary at all? If, as you have just said, nobody has as of yet attempted to expand nor is likely to do so in the future then why is this project even necessary?


Which would be relevant if this was the Byzantine Empire and thus subject to the same socioeconomic stresses and geopolitical climate.

Which, as far as I am aware, it is not.

Well, you've convinced me. Thank you for clarifying Mr. Aleksanders. I'll have to point out that my field of specialization is not military not economics so I'll ask for an apology for any silly things I've said.

But I would like to ask you; why are you so disapproving of this council initiative and criticizing it so passionately?

I would imagine that the people at the seat of the whole galaxy's government would be wise enough to see through these points you've made but since they are going ahead with this, there must be something deeper.

Also, you seem to be deeming this project foolish and unnecessary based on human ways of military strategic thinking and overall mindset. Being involved in cultural diplomacy, this is where I can safely say based on my own expertise that many species perceive situation in very different ways. Perhaps this is a part of interstellar politics that we humans, as a species, find it difficult to comprehend.

One hears whispers that the Queen has gone soft.

How do you figure 'outdated'? Due to war losses there's a higher percentage of new-build vessels and hardware in the Republican forces now than has ever been the case in the modern era (not that that's necessarily wonderful, since - organic design philosophy and all - our tech tends to get better the longer it's been in service, given proper maintenance, but that's not the question at hand). Sure we've got some stopgap solutions in play, vessels pulled out of retirement and retrofitted and the like - everyone does - but last I heard, most of our huntresses are being equipped with tech that's at-or-near top of the line.

We appreciate the help, of course - hardware's useless without someone to use it, and even with limited industrial capacity to spare for defence, the Republics can turn out guns and ships a lot faster than the properly trained huntresses to wield them. That's going to be our acrylic heel, as you'd say, for the next couple of decades.

oh man, I wonder what the problem is there

Because it is sapping resources that could be better spent elsewhere in the short term and, in the long term, could have politically unpleasant repercussions.

And because this is, essentially, a hobby of mine.


...eurgh.

My distaste for the "we can't see anything happening thus something that explains it all clearly must be happening" is only outweighed by my dislike for the-


Oh my Christ really.

You're really going to go with the "aliens work in mysterious ways" argument? That is not only uncomfortably close to servility it is also lazy. It is lazy debate. It is lazy politics. It is lazy thinking.

Not even because it's wrong necessarily, the core concept that other races will consider a situation differently than humans is fundamentally correct (and obvious), the issue with that excuse is that the thought just stops there. It's a trump card designed to kill discussion and, frankly, fuck that noise.

Just because something is different does not mean that one is not capable of understanding it. If one were to follow the logical implications of your idea out then obviously this is all a hallucination as we never developed beyond a primordial concept of the world around as. But, on the off chance we all do exist (and, if we all don't then continuing anyway as I'm rather enjoying this hallucination in particular) I would like to establish that my thinking when approaching this issue has a human bias (again obviously) but it is also tempered with extensive experience with regards to certain economic and military universalities.

Such as: if an action brings you no tangible short term nor long term benefits that outweigh the respective costs you maybe, just maybe, shouldn't do it.


And one hears rumors that the third planetoid of the Risi system is made entirely out of cheese and that pyjaks know the true name of God.

The woman has been running one of the most dangerous stations in the galaxy for about as long as Humans have been capable of breaking orbit. I sincerely doubt that she is even capable of "going soft".


It was in reference to a specific debate regarding that situation that was held in a thread some weeks ago.

Ms. T’Nara, Mr. Sandman, rest assured that we care about our defenses and that they are set up well. Your concern about the safety of Hyetiana is appreciated and I submitted copies of your arguments to their representatives.


Also, I am amazed by your excessive writing, Mr. Sandman. Did you ever try to pursue a career in human politics? I hear there are great opportunities for men of your rhetorical talent that even pay pretty well.

Mr. Hoffmann is correct, it is C-Space and therefore this endeavor is totally legit and not hostile at all. In fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with strengthening border regions by establishing well protected state of the art trading facilities. This is beneficial for everyone who wants to trade under C-Space regulations in the region. It will provide not only better means for local systems to sell their goods and improve their economies but also will secure a stable influx of C-Space goods and those who want to trade on our terms.

Unfortunately, these days such a facility can not be erected without proper military defense capabilities. It never was any different and is nothing to raise an issue about. Peace by trading is something that has a millennia long tradition and proved itself inside C-Space.

As for Omega and the relations, I don’t think Ms. T’Loak has gone soft in any way. She is pragmatic indeed and that is what kept Omega stable and also a sort of calculable force to deal with. Deal as in trade. Again, this has kept the status quo without any big war for a long time and is under the given circumstances something that’s beneficial for a lot of people and populations. It is far from being perfect of course but then, what is perfect?

Ah, all apologies. I do have a tendency to get a tad verbose at times. Thus, in the interests of conserving both time and language I shall endeavor to reply to your observations through the restating of earlier arguments where applicable.

That's one case, in one republic, it hardly represents our entire military state. My read on that is that Hyetiana has sufficient faith in its neighbours to forego an immediate boost in fighting power. That doesn't mean pulling the 'call for help when attacked' trick you mentioned in that earlier thread - it means that when Hyetiana detects a forming threat its own Huntresses can't eliminate alone, it can rally additional troops and firepower before striking. Huntress doctrine isn't big on waiting until the point where the enemy attacks.

In any case, it may well be seen as a wise move in the end. The Rebekahs, proven in battle though they are, are a pre-war design, and I imagine you'd be well aware of how war stimulates innovation in fighting technology. Not to mention the new avenues for R&D cooperation in the postwar galaxy. I wouldn't be surprised if Kendra is well underway on developing a Rebekah III which will far surpass its predecessor.

Are you thinking birth rate? Not so much as I hear it, even with the workforce demands of all the reconstruction projects there are still volunteers aplenty. They'll be of immeasurable value 'holding the fort' as it were, but it takes many years of commitment, education and training before an asari can truly be a Huntress. Weakness of an all-elite military, but every model has its vulnerabilities; this is our way, and in the long run we'll be better off remaining true to it and dealing with the immediate crisis as best we can than discarding millennia of proven effectiveness.

Kind of you to reassure us, thank you. :)

And I was in no way implying that it represented your entire military state, merely referring to it as a particular example of a region that would be most vulnerable and thus profit more from a military outpost like this than a frontier region such as the Minos Wasteland.

But if you want to discuss the state of affairs of the asari then very well, I shall do my best.

The individual asari states are the most vulnerable out of all the primary governments to coordinated hit and run raids.

Without question.

Without debate.

The Systems Alliance (former holder of this title) is now at the core of C-Space and in a military alliance with the two other most obscenely militarized nations in half the galaxy: the Hierarchy and the Clans. The join exercises, mutual exchanges of tech and tactics, and personal bonds between the three entities has, overall, helped reduce their risk for such attacks to effectively nil. The volus are under the aegis of the Hierarchy. The salarians have nearly the entirety of their military industrial complex intact and are served well by their overall attitudes to such preparations. The hanar are insular, hold relatively little territory, and have defensive grids that can hold off Reaper flotillas. Elcor worlds are a virtual nightmare to coordinate any sort of ground action on when one takes into account both the raw physical prowess of the native populations and difficulties inherent in a high gravity environment. The quarians have the geth. The Confederacy has a bolstered population, well supplied fleet, and is packed full of military/paramilitary factions.

That leaves the Republics. Decentralized elite forces. No overall standing military. Rich in mineral resources, tech, and research. Not enough bodies to fill their ships or garrisons. A primarily reactive policy to forming threats which is well and good when you're on the onset of a military campaign but somewhere between useless and actively detrimental when you're trying to combat highly mobile and well armed pirate/raider groups.

Fringe republics with little in the way of local warbands or flotillas are, to use a decidedly crude expression, somewhat fucked.

As I stated in that threat and would like to reiterate here: just because you play the long game doesn't mean that everyone else does.

I think you're missing the point a little bit there. Huntress doctrine is a proactive, not reactive, policy. We have defenders, as one must, but the point of the Huntress isn't to deter aggressors from attacking, it's to stalk and eliminate aggressors before they attack. Nobody suddenly finds themselves in possession of an unexpected assault force and thinks hey, why not attack the asari, on a whim - raiders, like anyone else, operate at the pointy end of a chain of supply, both material and political support (whether that 'polity' be a nation or a criminal syndicate). Those raiders may look 'elusive' to you and I (more the latter than the former, I'm sure), but millennia of evidence shows that to Huntresses (never mind Commando-led bands) that supply chain may as well be a giant 'attack here' arrow painted across half the sky, pointing directly at the would-be raiders.

As I say, it's not a perfect 'system', but nobody's is; it's the one that works best for us, and I don't feel that it makes us any weaker than any other military would be in similar circumstances. 'Playing the long game' doesn't preclude recognising and accounting for other strategies; we've been allies of the salarians since virtually the beginning of the current era of interstellar civilisation, we've picked up a thing or two from them.

Oh no I understood it correctly. My counterpoint is that, in this context, it is essentially a reactive one.


And here again we differ. Most raiders of any significance or note operate in a virtually self contained system, with ships and men acquired gradually over the course of their careers through both legitimate dealings and battlefield prizes. They have their usual buyers, their usual vendors, their usual haunts and ports of call. But other than that? They're effectively ghosts, operating on flotillas that can be largely self sufficient for extended periods of time or hiding out on bases within the purview of perfectly legitimate states and enjoying their de facto legal shield. A fair amount of raiders don't answer to any nation, they don't answer to any vast criminal syndicate, they answer to their crew and their own conscience (or lack thereof). They are, in a sense, nations unto themselves. There is no supply chain to attack, or, at the very least, none that you can attack without setting off a cataclysmic political backlash with centuries long repercussions.

And to compound the issue you are effectively dealing with an economy of scale. There are, without exaggeration, thousands upon thousands of active pirates, privateers, and raiders throughout extra-Citadel space. Many who have no legal records, act behind pseudonyms and disguises, and are outside the effective reach of your huntress bands regardless for the vast majority of their effective lifespans. And yet you claim that your soldiers will be able to hunt down the singular needle in a sea of needles that is directly relevant to their mission.

You are right about one thing though I will give you that, nobody stages attacks like that on a whim. They do it because their target is vulnerable and profitable and as of now the Republics are most definitely both.


Well obviously. It's a rather terrible system really.


I think you'll find that things have changed rather drastically over the course of the past decade.