45 Quarian Invasion

--> The Quarians have so far been completely uninvolved in the Reaper War; they hold no planets for the Reapers to attack, and have made no move to offer us aid. The Quarians do not have so many dreadnoughts as the Turians, and their ships are typically second-class compared to the Citadel or Alliance vessels, but they nevertheless have the largest fleet in the Galaxy, and every vessel they possess is armed to some extent.

We need more ships of every purpose. We’ve lost a great deal of ground to the Reapers, and supply points are becoming fewer and farther between; an unarmed freighter could easily be worth a heavy combat vessel whose role it replaces in logistical support.

--> Quarian command has agreed to a meeting. The message was terse, even rigidly formal. Our intelligence has indicated for some time that Quarian ships have been preparing for something massive. I'd assumed that was war preparations against the Reapers, but given their continued absence on the scene of galactic conflict I'm beginning to have doubts. Those Quarians had better not be doing what I think they're doing.

--> Yep. I was right. The Quarian Admiralty have agreed to help in the Reaper War, but they need my help with a wee little problem first: namely that they’re currently locked into a death match against the Geth in a fight the QUARIANS started. Led by Admiral Gerrel, they’ve launched an attack against the Geth in an attempt to reclaim their homeworld.

We’re at war with the Reapers in a struggle that will determine the fate of the Galaxy, and the Quarians think now is a good time to pick a fight with a neutral party? Launching an assault upon Rannoch is a clear violation of their agreement with the Citadel Council to avoid provoking the Geth. I have a hunch that’s precisely the reason for their choice of timing. Launch an attack when all is well and the Council will interfere. But if the rest of the Galaxy is otherwise occupied…

The Quarians’ initial strikes were met with success, but the balance of power quickly changed in favour of the Geth. They’re now being coordinated by a Reaper signal broadcast from their lead dreadnought. Had the Reapers been in contact with the Geth for long, we would have certainly felt Geth presence in the War before now. It seems obvious the Geth resorted to extreme measures when attacked by the Quarians. Even if they entered into some deal with the Reapers willingly, it is highly unlikely they can withdraw again so easily. In the meantime they have the Quarian fleet pinned and are tearing them apart.

The Normandy’s stealth capabilities should enable us to board the dreadnought. We’ll find the source of the Reaper signal, disable it, and allow the Quarians to pull out and regroup.

Little Tali is an Admiral. Officially. In actuality, she's still just a kid, a kid shoved for political reasons into her late father's command position, a position she is not equipped to fill. She confided privately that she did not and does not support the Quarian re-invasion of Rannoch, but that she must support the ruling of the other Admirals to maintain morale.

Of the five Quarian admirals, only Koris, commander of the Civilian Fleet, vocally opposes the invasion. Raan, commander of the Patrol Fleet, is a kind-hearted albeit soft-headed old woman who would be better suited to managing relief efforts than making strategic decisions. Xen, commander of the research fleet, is a cold-blooded scientist who is keen to dissect the first Geth she can get her hands on. Gerrel, a robust and domineering old soldier in command of the Heavy Fleet, overruled Koris through sheer force of will to lead the Quarians upon this ill-judged venture.

Raan and Tali were probably the deciding balance in the vote to attack the Geth. Had Koris won both their support, as he ought to have had little difficulty in doing, Gerrel's rash initiative would never have taken flight and dropped this unwelcome mess on our collective heads. Xen is a lost cause, and I don't expect unflinching conviction from either Tali or Raan in this controversial matter, but Koris could and ought to have done better.

--> In case there had been any question of whether Gerrel is a blasted fool, he ordered all ships to open fire on the dreadnought the moment it was disabled; while my team and I were still on board. One should not assume the worst of an ally, but it is not entirely impossible he saw opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: the source of the Reaper control, and the Citadel representative who might interfere with his invasion plans. Even worse, he fired on one of his own: Tali was accompanying my team aboard the dreadnought when the Quarian fleet opened fire. Her desperate attempt to countermand Gerrel's order was indicative of just how much authority Gerrel wields. Raan too attempted to call off the attack, and quailed before the reprimand of her purported equal.

I'm well aware of the fact that effective military leadership cannot be achieved by committee, that there must be a clear and undisputed authority to decide quickly and without delay, but it is becoming painfully clear that the Quarian leadership is being ruled by a man whose desperation to redress disaster in the wake of his own failure borders on monomaniacism.

For now, the Reaper signal is offline, the weakened Geth have disengaged, and the opposing fleets have pulled back to recoup their losses. Koris' ship went down in a suicide run against a Geth planetary defence cannon on Rannoch, and the remaining admirals show not the slightest inclination to dismiss or even overrule Gerrel's determination to prepare for another assault. The battle will resume. The Quarians will not take this opportunity to withdraw. At this point it's too late for that anyway. With the entire Geth network under Reaper control, they now pose a threat that must be eliminated, and fast.

We met an old friend aboard the Geth dreadnought. Legion. The Reapers were using him as an interface to broadcast their control throughout the Geth network. His restraints removed, he helped us disable the ship and evacuate in a Geth fighter when the Quarians opened fire. Despite being the medium for their control, Legion is apparently the only Geth not now subject to the Reapers’ will. As much as I trust Legion, I’d not have taken his word for his sustained autonomy had he not proven himself friend through action when he had ample opportunity to turn on us. But I am still mystified why he alone is singularly immune to Reaper control. He can only tell me that it is because he is different, more advanced. Subjugation of synthetics would naturally function differently from Indoctrination of organics, so I suppose it is possible a preprepared program intended for the purpose could prove ineffective against a singular individual that failed to conform to expected specifications. There’s no doubt Legion is exceptional among Geth, taking it upon himself to independently seek a means to stop the Geth Heretics, then ally with organics to destroy the Collectors.

Needless to say, the Quarian Admirals are alarmed by the sight of our new ally. Xen expressed a keen desire to dissect Legion. I asked her what she was waiting for, he’s standing right there, and told Legion to avoid breaking the furniture. Unfortunately, neither one seemed to appreciate the joke. Legion seemed simply confused, and Xen left in a huff. She is not welcome on my ship.

Legion tells us that, despite disabling the Reaper signal on the dreadnought, the Geth are still not free of the Reapers. There’s a Reaper base established on the planet, and within a short space of time the Geth will have another means of transmission in place; they will then be once again deadly enough to easily destroy the Quarians. The location of the base is unknown. The Normandy, with Legion’s guidance, will begin immediate search for the target.

In the meantime, Legion has drawn our attention to a Geth server, linked to a significant number of Geth fighters, vulnerable enough for a covert strike. If bombed, the Geth inside the server will simply transfer to another site as soon as the attack hits. The server will have to be disabled, quickly and quietly.

We also have reports that several escape pods from Admiral Koris' ship made it to the surface. Search and rescue is urgently needed in hostile terrain, and the prospect is out of the question for the unstealthy Quarian fleet.

Outraged by the treachery of Gerrel, Garrus has suggested that we invoke Spectre authority and place him under arrest. Javik offered instead to remove him from the equation permanently. I've forbidden both courses of action. Gerrel is indeed guilty of treachery and moreover responsible for this entire predicament, but like it or not, he's also the man we need to fix it. He's the only Quarian Admiral equipped with solid military experience, and this is an irrevocably military matter. Without him, the remaining Admirals would assuredly flounder.

We have urgent matters to attend to. Gerrel can stand trial after this is all over, Geth and Reapers alike. Ashley's muttered comment about pistols at dawn will have to wait.

Should the Quarians withdraw altogether from the conflict at hand, or worse be defeated by the Reaper-enhanced Geth, we would be bringing back from the Far Rim, not urgently-needed reinforcements for the Alliance, but instead a new fleet for the Reapers.

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