Fourth Spectre War

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Great Nos Astran Crackdown
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Klencory Winter War

Fourth Spectre War
Part of the Spectre Wars

Date:

4 February - 26 September 1345 CE
(7 months and 23 days)

Location:

Western Terminus Systems / Milky Way Galaxy

Outcome:

Decisive Council victory

Engagements:

Belligerents

CitadelCouncil.png Citadel Council

ChethyusGoodsisters.jpg Chethyus Goodsisters

Commanders
CitadelCouncil.png
Vayrlea Myrali

CitadelCouncil.png
Zaermok Pinoke

CitadelCouncil.png
Acginia Ignanus

Spectres.png
Faditia Melculus

ChethyusGoodsisters.jpg Zellikzia Kannos

ChethyusGoodsisters.jpg Narisme Gadequa Captured.png

ChethyusGoodsisters.jpg Je'no T'raoris Captured.png

Strength
  • 10,000 Goodsister mercenaries
  • 100 armoured vehicles
  • 95 aircraft
  • 17 ships
Casualties
  • 75 troops killed
  • 2 tanks damaged, 1 aircraft shot down
  • 8,500 mercs killed, remaining 1,500 switch sides and/or surrender
  • 88 vehicles destroyed, remaining 12 captured or abandoned
  • All aircraft shot down, captured or abandoned
  • All ships destroyed or captured
 
"The fourth and final war was an anti-climatic affair. The great battles that had been the centerpieces of the Third Spectre War and the War of the Pretenders were long past by this point. There was little interest in fighting such engagements, and most had given up. The Trespassers were broken and shattered, their remnant companies ill-equipped for waging war. The ambitions and story of vengeance was all but concluded, but it took the deranged notions of one Narisme Gadequa, still belieiving herself to be Kaaysha T'vevo, and her ability to feed and prey upon feeble and weak minded Zellikzia Kannos, sole survivor of the Cuna'Kannos line by this point, that wrote the final chapter of the Spectre Wars. In less than a year, the Council would achieve what eluded them for centuries, and finally bring an end to the crisis of the traitor spectres...at least for quite some time, anyway."
— An asari storyteller regarding the Fourth Spectre War.

The Fourth Spectre War, also known as the Final War of the Cuna Line and Narisme's Madness, was a small conflict between the Citadel Council and the Chethyus Goodsisters PMC that took place between 4 February and 26 September 1345 CE and served as the fifth and concluding phase of the Spectre Wars. At this point in the Spectre Wars, inactive for over two hundred years, they were nearing their conclusion. The War of the Pretenders had not been decisive for the Council, but they had dealt a crippling and irreparable blow to their enemies, eliminating two of Cuna's great-grandsons, and forcing the fall and collapse of the once mighty and powerful Trespasser PMC. The destruction of this private army, along with the deaths of Brutso and Kal'Kannos, ended all chances of a resurgence. Zellikzia Kannos and Usheenes Kannos survived, each commanding but two fragments of the former Trespassers, greatly reduced in strength and never again to pose a significant problem to the Council, especially as Zellikzia and Usheenes were the least martial of the Trespasser partners, and thus less likely to pose a problem. Forbidden from working together under threat of further Council intervention, Usheenes took the Emovamey Trespassers and attempted to partially rebuild the company on Omega, making alliances among the PMCs there, including the Trespasser's former ally, the Krimzon Guard (who were, consequently, now the more powerful PMC). Zellikzia would establish the headquarters of her company, the Chethyus Goodsisters, on Korlus, later moving it to Garvug when their territory was invaded, and her army beaten and defeated, by the turian Ghosts of Marcenion PMC. Narisme Gadequa remained in the employ of the Goodsisters, serving as her advisor, and while Usheenes and Zellikzia remained in contact with each other, they would never again meet in person.

The days of a Kannos united front against the Council, or anyone else for that matter, were long gone. Zellikzia grew despondent and weary of war, and largely retired from the military side of her company, surrendering this aspect to Narisme. Zellikzia had little interest in romantic relationships, and never produced any children of her own. Usheenes, on the other hand, remained true to her promise to bring down the Council, and despite the odds, began to attempt a restoration of the Trespassers, even incorporating the name into her new company in order to grant it more legitimacy as the PMC's successor. During the time following the Trespassers' collapse, the Talons, the dominant drug cartel on Omega and the Terminus Systems, had grown to become a private army in and of itself. Usheenes knew the Talons were going to be an obstacle to the Trespassers' resurgence, and thus began plotting against the turian cartel. Zellikzia frequently attempted to persuade Usheenes against war with the Talons, but her sister had grown desperate and bold, wanting desperately to emulate the success Cuna'Kannos had enjoyed during the Omega Mercenary War. Usheenes' formed and secured alliances with many powerful PMCs, forming a Trespasser-led coalition of the Krimzon Guard, Creedsworn and Onyx Guard, along with several smaller PMCs such as the Cobalt Daughters, Luna Knights, Dukes of Sunder and The Fury. Usheenes even approached and held correspondence with Khurdok Chaggu, arranging a secret deal for Chaggu's support, and his blessing in warring with the Talons. Chaggu agreed to the deal and dispatched troops to join Usheenes' great army. Omega braced for full-scale war, and in 1284 CE, Usheenes' troops set foot in the Pefashi District, territory of the Talons. The Pefashi Drug War broke out, but despite Usheenes' belief in victory and those supporting her, she had massively miscalculated and sealed her fate. From the first day of the war beginning, Usheenes plan fell to pieces: Chaggu's men never arrived, and to make matters worse, the Onyx Guard, Creedsworn, Krimzon Guard, Luna Knights, Dukes of Sunder and the Cobalt Daughters all switched sides almost immeidately. The Creedsworn, renowned for always honoring their contracts no matter the odds, surprised Usheenes the most in their treachery, but as it turned out, the Creedsworn did not betray their contract, as they had already been hired by the Talons beforehand to fake their allegiance to Usheenes. The other PMCs had also been approached beforehand as well, but fought with the Talons free of pay, as they all saw the Trespassers as a threat. As for Chaggu, he had no intentions of aiding Usheenes, and reportedly cared little for the outcome of the drug war. If Usheenes survived, he would have her killed, but if the Talons won, he still would not care. Thus was Usheenes' fate sealed.

The only PMC to remain loyal to the Trespassers were The Fury, but only due to them being enemies of the Luna Knights, who had they been locked in a back-and-forth struggle dating back centuries, largely the result of a family feud that had led to the foundation of the two companies in the first place. Most of the gangs threw in with Usheenes, but only because their survival now depended on their success due to their fear of the Talons' reprisal if they won. Usheenes' forces in the Pefashi district were lost due to the initial betrayal from her so-called "allies" switching sides and slaughtering her men as they slept, but Usheenes herself and some of her lieutenants managed to escape and brace for an attack. Usheenes would remain on the defensive for the next two weeks, but the Talon coalition proved overwhelming, and when Usheenes and her forces were caught attempting to retreat to her headquarters, the Talon coalition forces swept in and cut her off, surrounding her. The battle was a massacre, and Usheenes herself captured afterwards. The war over, the Talons had the headquarters looted and burned to the ground, bringing an end to the Emovamey Trespassers, and any hope of their return. Usheenes was kept alive, taken to a Talon safehouse and kept there to be tortured. Usheenes endured weeks of torture, where she was reportedly raped, beaten and mutilated repeatedly without end. By the time the Talons finally saw fit to be done with her, Usheenes was a drooling wreck who was unable to speak (largely due to her lips being peeled off and the lining of her mouth decayed and burned due to being forced to swallow boiling oil). She was violently decapitated utilizing a turian Mirta sword in the signature Talon fashion, a carry over from the days that it was state-sponsored PMC of the rebel Supreme Colonial Heptarchy during the Unification War. Her body was fed to Palavenese Duga, while her head was tossed in an Omegan sewer, a demonstration of the Talons' contempt for Usheenes. When Zellikzia received word of her sister's death, she only shrunk further into herself, and despite Narisme pushing for revenge, Zellikzia chose against it. This heightened Narisme's growing disgust with Zellikzia, who she already viewed as weak and indecisive. While a sizable chunk of the surviving Emovamey Trespassers would join the Chethyus Goodsisters, and Zellikzia would inherit the rest, Usheenes' death overall would leave Zellikzia as the sole survivor of the Cuna line of Clan Kannos, especially as Usheenes', despite never being married, sired no children of her own, much like her surviving sister. And so the seeds of the final downfall of the Cuna line began at this point.

While Zellikzia sunk further into despair, Narisme's insanity only deepened. Having failed in her previous task, and still driven by the mental programming implanted in her brain by the late Kaaysha T'vevo, Narisme remained determined to beat and destroy the Council, regardless of the odds. Reforming the Goodsisters, she transformed them from a traditional fighting force into a glorified raiding party, and hired them out as pirates, commerce raiders and as extra muscle for ambitious crime lords. She had outposts established on numerous worlds across the Terminus Systems to help with this endeavour, and had their headquarters on Garvug renovated into a luxurious pleasure house, more reminiscent of a brothel than a company's headquarters. Narisme's madness only grew worse when she began removing Goodsister lieutenants she didn't like and replacing them with people handpicked from her harem, most of them lacking in battle competence and training, and only chosen for their unwavering loyalty to Narisme, and the sweet words they whispered in her ear. Narisme was quoted at one point as even calling the Goodsisters the "reborn Queendom of Kaaysha", further illustrating her eventual intentions. The Council had spies keeping an eye on Narisme and Zellikzia to ensure they kept their promise of never returning, but chose not to act, believing Narisme nothing more than a toothless lunatic whose leader was indecisive and weak. While true, Narisme's rise to power was increasing, and despite Zellikzia's initial refusal to even entertain further conflict, Narisme was beginning to influence and slowly turn her over, until eventually Zellikzia gave in. Essentially Narisme's puppet, Zellikzia agreed with all of Narisme's counsel, including her war plans. At this point, Narisme was taking unhealthy amounts of a drug called Hallex, which left her in extended periods of euphoric bliss and ignorant to the outside world, but it also had the added side effect of causing her to hallucinate and display schizophrenic symptoms, typically long conversations with herself and, sometimes, self-compliments. These are not normally symptoms caused by hallex, and it was believed later on that it occurred due to the drug warping and breaking Narisme's mind, which was already weakened by Kaaysha's mental programming. By the end, Narisme had convinced herself she was invincible, that she was an Ardat-Yakshi, that the Goodsisters were as powerful as the Trespassers, that she both knew Kaaysha and was Kaaysha, that Brutso was proud of her, and so on. She had Zellikzia convinced of this as well, especially once she got the asari addicted to hallex. In the end, these drug-induced delusions of grandeur and orgasmic flights of fancy became more than mere delusions, and became actions.

The Fourth Spectre War began with Zellikzia and Narisme's plot to finish what Brutso attempted before, and assassinate the Council. Their discretion was poor however, and it wasn't long before Council spies warned them of the February Plot, as it was called, long before it took place and had C-Sec place the Council under protective custody. Convinced nothing was wrong, the Goodsister assassins paid to carry out the hit arrived on the Citadel, only for their hotel room to be raided by C-Sec and all of them taken into custody. The arrested mercs wasted no time in giving up their employers, regaling the C-Sec investigators with tales of Narisme's sick and depraved hallex orgies, and Zellikzia's pathetic puppetry, and how they were glad to be arrested rather than work for them one more minute. Agreeing to testify against Narisme and Zellikzia once they were taken into custody, they were remanded in a C-Sec jail. The Council knew they had their casus belli, and wasted no time in going to war against the Goodsisters. In their bliss and wilful ignorance, it took Zellikzia and Narisme a week to come to their senses and realize they were under attack, but by then their forces had already lost four battles and four outposts, and were under attack across all their territories. Narisme, to her credit, sobered up quickly and went on the offensive, taking a battalion of her favourite troops (mockingly known as "Narisme's Bedwarmers") and attempting to reinforce Goodsister forces on Naskral. Her coming was well-prepared for however, and Council forces only pulled back long enough to fool Narisme into believing she was victorious. Narisme led her forces in an attempt to take advantage of what she perceived to be a retreat, and after leaving the safety of the outpost, had her forces marching for two days before making camp at a crater. Overnight, their food and supplies were destroyed, including most of their transport and armoured vehicles, and all of their aircraft. Forced to retreat back to the outpost, Narisme's forces were force marched back, which exhausted them quickly, especially due to Naskral's intense sun. Finally, Council forces ambushed them the next day, catching them on all sides. Narisme escaped on the last transport, but her entire army was either wiped out or surrendered. Narisme escaped offworld and ran back to Garvug despite the attempts of Council ships to capture her. For the next few months, she would remain on Garvug, filling Zellikzia's head with lies about their many victories while rapidly descending back into a world of drug fueled ecstasy.

Finally, Council troops arrived on Garvug and surrounded the headquarters building. The Council forces, ordered to take Zellikzia and Narisme alive, offered them a chance to surrender. Narisme ordered the Goodsisters to prepare for battle, and if there is truth to such claims, was arguing with herself back-and-forth as she suited up in her combat armor. Zellikzia countermanded Narisme's orders and had her removed as her advisor, and chose to surrender. She confronted the Council commander at the gates to her compound and announced her surrender officially, and asked for an hour to prepare herself. Zellikzia used this time to travel to her room and contemplate. In a sudden turn of events however, half an hour before Zellikzia was supposed to turn herself in, Narisme stormed into her apartment and got into a heated argument with Zellikzia. The fight ended in Narisme kicking Zellikzia out of the window, where the asari plummeted 60 stories to her death. Narisme countermanded Zellikzia's announcement, and ordered the Goodsisters to fight on no matter the odds. Just as the Council made ready to storm the building however, the Goodsisters abandoned Narisme, and they lay down their weapons and gradually turned themselves into the besieging force. A few Goodsisters even attempted to capture Narisme themselves in the hopes of getting clemency, but Narisme killed them all. A Council strike team was sent in to capture Narisme themselves, and while she attempted suicide via overdose, an asari medic was able to stabilize Narisme's condition upon her arrest. While most of the Goodsister mercs who surrendered were either granted clemency, given suspended sentences or given shorter sentences (each depended on the level of cooperation and remorse), Narisme was found guilty on three counts of attempted murder for the attempted assassination of the Council, and one count of murder for killing Zellikzia. Along with many other charges, Narisme was given life imprisonment despite her attempts to plea insanity. Sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison, Narisme lasted all of a week, as she was later killed during a fight she ensued with another inmate who then shanked her multiple times in the belly, where she later bled out. The coroner's report unanimously agrees that it was suicide, with Narisme deliberately instigating the fight in an attempt to get herself killed, and she succeeded.

The Fourth Spectre War came to a close, and with it, the Spectre Wars as a whole. Zellikzia's death marked the end of the Cuna line of Clan Kannos, as well as the last of the true descendants of the traitor spectres. No further pretenders rose up to claim fame and the Trespassers remained a part of history. And while there would be other rogue spectres, one such spectre even going to war against the Council in 2183 CE, and another abusing her authority to work as a mercenary for the Shadow Broker, these rogue spectres and their conflicts are considered individual affairs, and not part of the Spectre Wars overall.

Prelude[edit | edit source]