Idenna incident
From FABT
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7 May 2184 CE | ||||||||||||||||
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Pyrrhic Quarian victory
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- Marcus L. Shepard: "Your people really don't like Cerberus. What did I miss?"
- Prazza'Sal: "They killed our people, infiltrated our Flotilla and tried to blow up one of our ships!"
- Miranda Lawson: "That's not how I would have explained it exactly. It was nothing personal."
- — Shepard's questioning regarding the Idenna incident during an encounter with the 12th Explorer Platoon on Freedom's Progress in 2185 CE.
The Idenna incident, also known as the Idenna massacre and Raid on the QMFV Idenna, was a Cerberus raid on the Migrant Fleet cruiser QMFV Idenna that served as the conclusion of a two-step Cerberus operation to attack the Idenna and retrieve the autistic human biotic child Gillian Grayson who was seeking refuge on the ship, and is considered the spark that started the Quarian-Cerberus conflict. Prior to the incident, the Migrant Fleet and Cerberus had never crossed paths, with Cerberus' pro-human agenda causing them to not factor them as a priority, and to the Migrant Fleet, Cerberus was virtually an unknown quantity, largely due to humanity still being relatively new to the galaxy. In 2184 CE however, this all changed when four humans from Jon Grissom Academy, two of them children, one a security guard and the other a high profile Alliance officer, arrived on the Fleet, transported by pilgrim Lemm'Shal, having been offered shelter and safe harbor aboard the Idenna following their escape from Cerberus captivity on Omega with Lemm's assistance. One of the children, an autistic human girl with biotic powers named Gillian Grayson, had been used as a guinea pig by Cerberus to develop her biotic powers to help the organization better understand biotics, and when this was discovered, Cerberus attempted to abduct Gillian for experimentation, and were pursuing them. With this understanding, although largely helped by Kahlee's fame in the Fleet for having helped investigate Saren Arterius, the Fleet permitted them to remain for a short time, both the fugitives and the Admiralty Board believing Cerberus wouldn't dare attack the Fleet directly. The Admiralty Board granted them asylum for as long as they needed to lose Cerberus' interest, as feeding non-quarians over an extended period of time would be cost-prohibitive. During this brief couple of days on the Idenna, the fugitives integrated with the crew of the Idenna, befriending them, with Kahlee herself spending most of her time speaking with the ship's captain, Ysin'Mal. During this time however, Cerberus was not idle. Despite lacking approval from the Illusive Man, the 21st Cerberus Commando Platoon under Pel Ladges, with assistance from Gillian's adoptive father (and Cerberus operative) and quarian traitor and exile Golo'Mekk, began planning an operation to infiltrate the Fleet, extract Gillian and escape before reinforcements would inevitably arrive to overwhelm them. Operating alone without the support of the rest of Cerberus and wanting to sell Gillian to the Collectors for his own personal gain, Pel came up with a plan to lure a quarian shuttle to a remote world to capture and use as a trojan horse to get them to the Idenna undetected and without drawing suspicion from the rest of the Fleet.
Golo'Mekk was used as the bait, contacting the shuttle Cyniad to offer an exchange of technology, with the meeting set on the cold, snowy world of Shelba. The captain of the Cyniad, Feda'Gazu, was suspicious of Golo and took precautions to prepare for any trickery, but was not prepared for a full platoon of Cerberus commandos. Landing the shuttle and leaving most of her crew behind, Feda'Gazu took a rover and two of her adjutants to meet with Golo at his truck. Following a successful ambush, the Cyniad and its crew were killed, with only the pilot Hilo'Jaa left alive long enough to be interrogated for his countersign, which was needed to convince the Fleet's defenses they were friendly. Despite almost killing Hilo when taunted, Golo was able to extract Hilo's countersign through sufficient torture before killing the pilot. With the countersign in hand, followed by a jury-rigged modification to the shuttle to outfit it with a short-range laser to scramble communications, the Cyniad was ready for the assault, carrying the full strength of the 21st commando platoon, Pel Ladges in command, Golo'Mekk accompanying to provide the countersign and act as a guide, and Paul Grayson to act as a friendly face to make capturing Gillian easier. The stage was set, and on 6 May, the Cyniad set out for the Migrant Fleet at its current position and heading in the Medusa system of the Rings of Henusa. The Cyniad arrived on 7 May, and upon approach transmitted Hilo's countersign "my body travels to distant stars, but my soul never leaves the Fleet", with the Fleet's defenses standing down and allowing it through. The Cyniad proceeded to land on the Idenna's hangar deck, at which point a small security detachment under Isa'Pal was waiting for them. Unaware of the trap, the security force was caught offguard when Ladges' platoon stormed out, gunning down the quarians in short order and making short work of the handful of quarians working in the hangar at the time, shooting them as they fled for safety. With the hangar secured, and the Cyniad's short-range laser blocking any communication to and from the Idenna, the ship was unable to call for help, giving Ladges sufficient time to extract Gillian and get out before the Idenna cut through the interference or the Fleet got suspicious. Splitting his platoon into four squads, he sent one with Golo'Mekk and Paul Grayson towards the crew quarters, the other under his command to make a push for the bridge, another to hold the hangar bay to cover their escape, and another to sweep the rear of the ship towards the engine room. This was to cover as much ground as possible, but it also left the strike team unable to concentrate their strength as they moved into the halls of the ship: another downside was that Golo would be accompanying only one squad, meaning the other three would not benefit from his knowledge of quarian ship layouts, leaving most of them lost or confused, limiting their progress.
Regardless of this initial operational hiccup, the element of surprise was carrying the day for Cerberus, with the quarian response to the attack remaining confused and disorganized for the first few minutes as reports came piling in to the bridge from across the ship of weapons fire, enemy contacts, and casualties. Ysin'Mal knew they were under attack, and quickly ordered his marines and security to mount a defense, but with his forces scattered, casualties began to pile up, civilians caught in the crossfire as the marines desperately tried to evacuate them to the bridge and engine rooms respectively. Grayson's squad managed to make significant progress due to Golo's knowledge of the ship, with Kahlee scrambling to find Gillian in the chaos before he got to her. The other three squads had no such luck, with the squad in the ship's rear taking significant casualties as a team of marines managed to form up and catch the squad in a chokepoint, cutting down numerous commandos and forcing the others into cover, resulting in a drawn out firefight, both sides stuck in a deadlock. Ladges' team fared no differently, eventually coming across a hastily mobilized squad of civilians, off-duty marines, security personnel and bridge staff, all armed and lead by the captain himself, holding off Ladges' unit just outside the bridge itself. A factor that tipped this balance in the quarians' favor was the unexpected presence of thirty marines, the 12th Explorer Platoon, under the command of Tali'Zorah. Her unit spread across the ship, Tali and Prazza led six of them in holding the engine, while the remaining 24 were scattered across the ship, mostly fighting the commandos in independent skirmishes. Regardless, no reinforcements were coming and Paul Grayson and Golo'Mekk became separated from their squad when they successfully located Gillian, pursuing her down a series of corridors while they left their squad to hold a defensive position. Despite being caught in a deadlock, Golo and Paul successfully caught up to Kahlee and Gillian, with Golo viciously beating Kahlee while Paul grabbed Gillian and prepared to call for a withdrawal.
Despite this, the other squads' lack of knowledge of the ship's layout was quickly turned to the quarians' advantage, with Tali's unit leaving a hallway to the right to trick the Cerberus squad into thinking they could flank her, proceeding to then lock the door infront of them, having her squad box them in from behind and quickly inflicted significant casualties while they were in the open, only a handful making it to cover in time. Their engineer desperately tried to open the door but was blocked by Tali's expertise at every turn, and with no way out and laden with too many wounded, the unit surrendered and the marines took them prisoner. Ladges' squad was forced back again and again, and his attempts to contact the squad left in the hangar for reinforcements fell on deaf ears as quarian engineers worked to interfere with Cerberus' communications. Around the same time, Paul Grayson had a change of heart and turned traitor, shooting Golo in the back of the head and helping Gillian and Kahlee get to safety: once at the bridge, he told them of Golo's squad that was holding a defensive position in the quarters', and the captain seized the opportunity to flank them. With a company of marines, bolstered by men of the 12th, Ysin'Mal had Hendel Mitra leading an attack on this position, catching the squad by surprise. With his position compromised, Ladges' used a backup channel to order his platoon to cease offensive operations and fall back to the Cyniad, preparing for a tactical retreat. As he was giving these orders however, a marine managed to catch him with his shields down, shooting him once through the throat and a second time through the chest, killing him. With command passing down to Ladges' second, Oscar Clarke, Clarke, hearing word of Grayson's betrayal, decided the mission was a failure and this time pulled off a fighting retreat, with his unit moving hall by hall, putting down suppression fire to cover their retreat. Unbeknownst to Clarke, Golo's squad had been overwhelmed and was now creeping up on his right, while Tali's unit had surprised the squad in the hangar, overwhelming them and quickly securing the Cyniad, Tali placing a few of her marines in the shuttle and the rest hidden behind cargo crates to ambush Clarke's men as they returned. As Clarke's squad attempted to enter the shuttle, Tali's men sprung the ambush and, joined by the captain's men attacking from behind, killed enough of Clarke's commandos for him to realize they had no way out, so he surrendered, with the surviving seven commandos of his unit following suit. The quarians however had witnessed the carnage Cerberus had inflicted during their raid, murdering dozens of civilians in cold blood, children included, and most were filled with hatred and rage and this, stoked by Prazza's discovery of his dead niece, resulted in Clarke and the surviving, captured men of the platoon being executed by the marines, leaving no survivors.
For Cerberus, the raid was a disaster, and for the Migrant Fleet, a day of tragedy. Operationally, Cerberus had failed to achieve their objectives, Gillian Grayson remaining safely in quarian hands, with Paul Grayson having defected, and one of their best assets, Golo, dead, along with thirty commandos. For the quarians, 57 civilians were dead, 5 of them children, which resulted in the Flotilla calling the incident a "massacre", and despite destroying the Cerberus platoon responsible and stopping them from acquiring Gillian, the cost had been high in quarian lives and the raid exacted its toll. Golo, already an exile and reviled for his part in the attempted kidnapping of his own people to sell to the Collectors ten years ago, had his body tossed in an incinerator, the ultimate sign of disrespect for quarians, as cremation of a body was prohibited in their culture. Paul Grayson, despite defecting, had still taken part in the raid, and Kahlee, with help from Lemm'Shal and borrowing his shuttle, was quick to get Paul off the Idenna before the quarians decided to lynch him. Word of the raid sent political shockwaves throughout the Fleet, public outcry demanding blood and revenge against Cerberus: this call would be answered in the form of a reprisal, and with intel provided by Lemm'Shal, a squad of Tecr'fer special forces was deployed to Omega shortly after the raid, attacking and destroying Facility ANTONY, torching the facility, grabbing relevant intel and leaving nothing of the compound standing, even wiping out the 21st platoon's sister unit, the 22nd Cerberus Commando Platoon in the process. From that point forward, the Migrant Fleet adopted a hostile stance against Cerberus, with military policy being to engage and terminate any Cerberus operatives encountered with extreme prejudice, effectively creating a state of inactive war between the two factions. While Tali'Zorah would prove to be an exception to this rule in 2185 CE, even being allowed to assist with a Cerberus-led operation against the Collectors (albeit due to extenuating circumstances), the rule remained the same, and the Fleet would effectively remain hostile to Cerberus right up until its final destruction at the end of the Reaper War only two years later. Another effect of the raid was that Ysin'Mal was able to use the incident to further prove to the Conclave the necessity of the New Home program, believing such an attack was only possible as a result of the Fleet's vulnerability, and was finally able to obtain approval for his four-year expedition to find a new homeworld. The Idenna would depart not long after, with Gillian Grayson and Hendel Mitra staying aboard as members of the crew, honored with "nar" and "vas Idenna" respectively for their actions in helping defend the ship, while Kahlee would return to the Alliance, Paul Grayson having escaped custody but actively pursued by Cerberus. The Illusive Man, despite the loss of the ANTONY facility, emphasized that Cerberus was not to retaliate against the quarians, as Ladges' operation was not officially a Cerberus operation due to Ladges' acting on his own, and he made deliberate attempts to heal the rift with the quarians, perfectly willing to even share intel collected on the Reapers with the Admiralty Board in 2185 CE.