Shepard-Grevel conflict
From FABT
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5 August - 12 August 2183 CE | ||||||||||||||||
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Tactical Resistance victory
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- Garrus Vakarian: "Spirits, what happened down there Shepard?"
- Marcus L. Shepard: "Oh you know, murderous mercenary, batarian slavers, torture, all that jazz. Nothing we couldn't handle."
- — Marcus L. Shepard explaining to Garrus Vakarian what happened on Anhur after the conflict.
The Shepard-Grevel conflict, also known as the Battle of Ikalo Jungle, was a week-long conflict between the batarian Na'hesit faction, the Anhuric resistance and a detachment of the Normandy Squad on the planet Anhur that occurred early in the Anhuric insurgency. Following the end of the Anhur Civil War in 2178 CE, the planet was left economically crippled, with only the reconstruction industry booming as a result of the conflict: the Na'hesit, their once superior military forces exhausted and with the slave trade abolished as a result of the Abolitionist victory, were left to fend for themselves, attempting to fill the gap left behind by the absence of slavery by investing in other industries, all of which failed: the Abolitionists, having no further reason to exist, were dissolved, with the Anhuric Colonial Republic left in virtually the same position the Na'hesit were. As per the terms of the treaty that ended the war, the batarians and humans agreed to separate governments, but the Na'hesit quickly grew tired of the batarian government, and officially separated, going rogue in 2182 CE and beginning the Anhuric insurgency. The Na'hesit restarted the slave trade, abducting humans from edges of the Colonial Republic's territory to then sell offworld: despite this being a blatant violation of the treaty, neither republic was willing to act upon the Na'hesit's actions, not wanting to risk another war after barely recovering from the last. After a year, and fed up with their government's inaction, many veterans of the Abolitionist movement started up a new resistance group with the goal of disrupting Na'hesit operations and dismantling them for good.
The leader of the Na'hesit at this time was Dark Zherl, a member of the Na'hesit military forces who quickly rose up the ranks when a large amount of the Na'hesit's former upper echelons of command left to join the new batarian government's military. Despite being a veteran of the Anhur Civil War, his command left a lot to be desired, and his poor leadership contributed to mounting frustration for the Na'hesit as the resistance continued to raid and disrupt their slaver operations, either freeing slaves en route to the Na'hesit spaceport and base in the Ikaro Jungle, or even ambushing and killing Na'hesit troops. This continued until early 2183 CE, when a turian mercenary working for the Shadow Broker known as Grevel arrived on the planet to assist the Na'hesit: this came after the Shadow Broker took an interest in Anhur due to conflicting reports of Anhuric citizens contracting a rare mutagen native to the planet that held the potential to reject the huskification process inflicted by Reapers, something which the Broker wanted access to in order to prepare for the coming Reaper invasion. Grevel was sent to assist Zherl in organizing his slave trade business better, as the Broker wanted to buy as many slaves infected with the mutagen as possible for the largest possible sample size so that it could be researched and developed into not just an inoculation against huskification, but as a weapon to destroy Reaper husks en masse. With Grevel assuming de facto leadership of Zherl's forces on the field, a fact he was not happy about and that his organization did not say out loud, she began countering the resistance on every front, dealing them significant casualties and even gaining the upperhand. Grevel's presence drove fear into the resistance, and their attacks began to die down, unwilling to waste resources fighting Grevel. Grevel's leadership, while more effective, was also hated by the Na'hesit, as she possessed a short temper, an unempathetic attitude towards her subordinates and, being a non-batarian, she was resented. Grevel saw the Na'hesit as grossly incompetent and untrustworthy, with Na'hesit troops frequently killing escaping human slaves possessing the mutagen by accident: when Grevel started killing Zherl's men to set examples, this only furthered resentment against her, and Zherl began to question his alliance with the Broker, and eventually contemplated turning on Grevel.
An unexpected change in the conflict came when a detachment of the Normandy Squad landed on Anhur in early August 2183 CE, consisting of Commander Shepard and his chief engineer Tali'Zorah, who had arrived as part of an operation to clear out geth heretic strongholds across the galaxy following the Battle of the Citadel. Whilst investigating reports of a geth presence in the area of the Ikaro Jungle, they stumbled upon the Na'hesit transporting a batch of captured slaves, and witnessed their subsequent escape attempt before most were gunned down by the Na'hesit. Shepard chose to engage the Na'hesit detachment, inflicting heavy casualties on the Na'hesit and destroying several of their vehicles before being forced to retreat when Grevel intervened. Grevel immediately identified their assailants as being too professional and too effective to be resistance fighters, and pegged them as Alliance: fearing Alliance intervention, Grevel ordered Zherl to step up his operations. Having been shot during the engagement, Shepard's wound quickly becomes infected as a result of their medi-gel stash being lost, leaving just Tali as the last fully combat effective member of their unit. Deciding to find a way offworld, the two mount an assault on the Na'hesit base, hoping to hijack orbit-capable transport and contact the Normandy for support. Grevel predicted the assault however, and with Shepard suffering from an infection and badly ill, the two of them are defeated and captured by the Na'hesit.
Shepard is later rescued by the resistance after they infiltrate the facility, forcing him to leave Tali behind when Na'hesit forces are alerted. Taking him back to their base, Shepard's condition is stabilized, and after a couple of days, he is back in fighting shape. He manages to rally the resistance behind him, assuming de facto control of their operation, and becomes hyper-focused on rescuing Tali, much to the resistance's chagrin. After raiding a couple Na'hesit convoys, stealing their vehicles and weapons, Shepard mounts an assault on the Na'hesit base with the resistance. By this point Zherl has attempted to double-cross the Broker and kill Grevel, but Grevel sniffs out the betrayal, overpowering his guards, killing Zherl, and assuming full control of the Na'hesit, exposing Zherl's treachery. In the confusion following Grevel's coup, the Na'hesit are unprepared for the sudden resistance assault, and their perimeter defenses are overwhelmed. Despite this, Grevel knew of the upcoming assault, revealing that her effectiveness in countering the resistance has been because of a mole within their ranks, Alec Lee, another agent of the Broker sent by him to undermine the resistance to further his plans. Assuming personal command, Grevel pushes back against the main resistance assault, killing their leader with her bare hands and pushing back the rest. Zlette, a vorcha working with the resistance, learns of Alec's treachery and kills him, but not before Grevel finds the vorcha and kills him too. By this time, Shepard has already infiltrated the base and rescued Tali, suffering from a severe infection as a result of Grevel's interrogation. Stabilizing her, Shepard makes a quick escape, only to encounter Grevel, and the two of them battle, with Shepard ultimately winning the fight by detonating spilled fuel around her, leaving Grevel to burn alive. Escaping and linking up with the resistance, he hangs with them for a couple more days while Tali recovers and he waits for the Normandy to extract them. During this time, Shepard assumes control of the resistance and fights back against the Na'hesit full-scale: with both Zherl and Grevel dead, along with their mole in the resistance, the Na'hesit lose more and more men and material, and they eventually abandon their base in the jungle, retreating towards the northern pole of the continent to regroup and rebuild their organization. Shortly after, the Normandy arrived and extracted Shepard and Tali, returning to their mission. The resistance, now with the upperhand, pursues the Na'hesit relentlessly, eventually cornering and destroying their organization once and for all two weeks later at the Battle of Screamer's Cliffs. Unfortunately, only a couple days later, Shepard would be killed and the Normandy destroyed as a result of an ambush by a then-unidentified vessel over Alchera.
Initially believed to have died on Anhur, Grevel would ultimately survive the battle, suffering from severe fourth-degree burns to most of her body but returning to the Broker and continuing to serve him. She would be present at the final battle of the War on the 89th Shadow Broker at his base, where she would fight Shepard once again, albeit this time with his squad, and she met her final demise.