Second Rachni War
From FABT
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2 March 11 CE - 13 November 16 CE |
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Pyrrhic Council victory
Rachni military victory
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Shadow Sea, Maroon Sea, Athena Kappa, Zeus Aluticus, Hera Lambda and Thanatos Epsilon clusters fall under rachni occupation |
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- "The second war was even more devastating than the first. This time, our asari allies came to our aid, utilizing their biotic armies to fight back against the rachni. Our policy of containment, however, failed. The rachni smashed through our lines and conquered world after world, system after system falling to their unstoppable hordes. While the slaughter was nowhere near as one-sided as before, the Council military forces only found themselves being pushed back further and further. The war only ended when the Council threw up the Eastern Line, deploying weapons with which could finally counter the nigh-invincible rachni warships and repel their invasion forces. The second war ended on a stalemate, but most historians agree the war was largely a rachni victory."
- — A salarian teacher on the Second Rachni War.
The Second Rachni War, also known as the Council-Rachni War (11-16) historically and sometimes as the First Council-Rachni War, was a major conflict between the Citadel Council and the First Rachni Collective fought between 2 March 11 CE to 13 November 16 CE that served as the second phase of the Rachni Wars. Ten years earlier, the salarians made first contact with the rachni in 1 CE when their civilian expedition through Relay 628 entered the Maskim Xul system. What resulted was a complete massacre, followed by a series of rachni incursions into the salarian-occupied system of Iera in pre-emption of what they believed to be an invasion. The First Rachni War resulted in millions of salarian deaths, and was considered a massive diplomatic and military disaster, with the Iera Containment Zone being established in the latter stages of the conflict to keep Relay 627 deactivated and the rachni sufficiently contained. It was believed further conflict with the rachni had been averted, but in reality, the salarians had wrongly assumed the rachni had only colonized the Ninmah cluster, when they had actually colonized over a dozen clusters, with their empire spreading across much of the southeastern segments of the galaxy. Despite this, the rachni took their time in assembling an invasion force, and neither side would take significant action against each other for nearly six years. During that period, the salarians evacuated the Iera system of its remaining civilian inhabitants to remove the possibility of their interference with the containment zone.
Finally, in 11 CE, the rachni made their move. Spontaneously reactivating Relay 627, rachni fleets attacked through the relay and from outside the system, quickly overwhelming the Iera Containment Zone and causing a rapid collapse of the line. The presiding salarian admiral ordered a full retreat, with the remnants of the Second Fleet hastening from the site of the battle. The rachni swarmed over the system like a plague, securing their hold over Iera by establishing nests across their conquered worlds, especially on Horizon. The STG determined that the renewed rachni threat was far worse than anything they had encountered beforehand, and ran simulations that all led to the destruction of Sur'Kesh. The Council convened in an emergency summit, and it was determined that a joint asari-salarian military alliance would be necessary to beat back the rachni. By the time asari military assets began deployment to the salarian front lines, the rachni had already overrun another cluster and four other systems, with the salarians in full retreat across the entire theater. Finally, with fresh asari reinforcements, the Council went on the offensive, desperately trying to retake the systems that were lost. They enjoyed success at a heavy cost, winning a series of pyrrhic victories and retaking many systems with significant losses. The asari quickly realized rachni brood warriors were more than a match for their own biotic troops, even though they had more of them, and rachni numbers overwhelmed whatever defensive positions they tried to secure. Knowing orbital bombardment was useless against rachni hives, the salarians and asari led assaults deep into the hives themselves, only for entire regiments to be wiped out as they got lost and separated within the endless tunnels. While the Council won many naval victories, their terrestrial engagements enjoyed far fewer success, and what few victories they did win were hardly worth the cost.
Still losing ground, the Council was forced to change their tactics halfway through the war, and through STG and asari military intelligence efforts, developed a new strategy. With the rachni's strength lying in capturing worlds quickly and ruthlessly, the asari and salarians became determined to stop them from capturing any further territory, and began construction of a defensive line from which to hold the rachni indefinitely. Needing to buy time to build the ambitious project, the asari and salarians began research on a weapon they could use to cripple rachni warships in battle, whose own weapons the asari and salarian ships had no defense against. After a year of costly delaying actions, the asari and salarians finally came up with a element zero-charged MAC gun and deployed it with as many ships as they could, including the orbital platforms of the Eastern Line. Finally, in 15 CE, the asari and salarians ceased all offensive operations and fell back to the Eastern Line, which was now operational and stretched across the new eastern border of Council space. The rachni launched six offensives against the Line, all trying to find a weakness in the Line that they could exploit. All six offensives failed, with Council forces putting up a spirited resistance that inflicted heavy casualties on the assaulting rachni navy. Finally, the rachni retreated, and while the war technically ended in a Council victory, it was a valiant defeat at best. The rachni had captured dozens of systems, and inflicted a bloody toll on the Council. The Council also now knew that the rachni were a threat that wouldn't back down, and began plans to launch a costly offensive to retake their lost territory.