Cerberus Daily News - May 2010

Cerberus Daily News delivers daily news about the Mass Effect universe via the Cerberus Network. In universe, these news reports take place in 2185. They are not given with headlines, but ones are provided here for easier navigation.

The following is an Archive of Cerberus Daily News reports from May of 2010. This archive is preceded by Cerberus Daily News - April 2010.

05/01/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (4)
"Reaction to the attack on Taetrus continues to pour in from across the galaxy. 'This is an act of war', stated Minister of Agriculture Idus Valen, who became Primarch of Taetrus by the laws of succession. 'This is an attack against all civilized colonies of the galaxy', stated Ulra Nron of the Vol Protectorate, who ordered a natonal day of mourning for those lost in the destruction. On Palaven, millions of turians in dozens of cities marched in solidarity with the victims of what is becoming known as the Vallum Blast. The death toll is still unknown, but estimates run anywhere from 150,000 to 1.1 million, which could make the day of the blast the second bloodiest day in turian history, ranking just under the first 22 [Earth standard] hours of the Battle of Digeris."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/02/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (5)
"Clearing bodies is just one of the grim tasks firefighters and medical personnel are performing in the city of Vallum tonight. Remains are being taken to indoor gun ranges, hielae (throwball courts) -- any nearby intact buildings with enough open space to accomodate the dead. Even citizens outdoors at the time of the impact were not spared -- the sudden blast was enough to burst organs and eardrums in a phenomenon called overpressure. 'It's like tossing explosives into a lake', explains Lieutenant Razun Scartos. 'You don't need shrapnel to get a lot of dead fish'. Meanwhile, nearby hospitals are full to the brim with the living -- at least 4,500 turians managed to limp or carry one another to nearby Haemona Medical Center, which previously had capacity for only 1,500."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/03/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (6)
"The outpouring of support for the turian victims of the Vallum Blast has reached across the Milky Way. 'Today, the whole galaxy bleeds blue', said Earth's European Union's Prime Minister Hertz. On Thessia, Matriarch Tiala ordered the Serrice Republican Guard to play the turian anthem 'Stars Behind Me' during their changing of the guard, an act last performed during the Krogan Rebellions after the turians lost Uchalda. The quarian Migrant Fleet made no symbolic gestures, but are sending two dozen cruisers to Taetrus packed with emergency supplies. The Salarian Union, meanwhile, is donating heavy moving equipment: state-of-the-art construction-grade vehicles that use mass effect fields to alleviate secondary collapses when digging through rubble."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/04/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (7)
"The culprits of the Vallum Blast remain at large, but colonial, Hierarchy, and Council investigators are narrowing their search. Only two of the twenty-one groups that now claim responsibility have previously demonstrated the hacking skills necessary to use a spacecraft as a weapon, and only the separatist group Facinus is known to have made the attempt. Facinus is believed to be behind the [Earth local date] February 22nd hijacking of another commerical cruiser that crashed at suborbital speeds in an uninhabited area. Facinus' goal is to separate Taetrus from the Turian Hierarchy, who they see as having betrayed the trust of their people. Though Facinus' structure is cellular, its political arm's base of operations is in the Diluvian Wildlands on the Taetrus island continent of Eluria."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/05/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (8)
"The search for survivors in the rubble on Taetrus continues tonight. Only sixteen trapped people have been recovered alive, and experts say the chances of finding more survivors are slim. Bulldozers and heavy cranes are removing debris from the city's four major highways. Only a handful of aerial ambulances have made it to the interior of the rubble. Firefighter Extan Relius says that there is little hope for those in the central crater: 'The impact didn't just knock buildings over; it picked them up and dropped them'. New calculations indicate that even this massive blow was relatively mild compared to what it could have been -- the ship involved was only starting its acceleration to FTL speeds, and achieved a velocity under that of a mass accelerator bullet before contact."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/06/2010 - Post Production on "Nekyia Corridor" Possibly Affected by Vallum Blast
"Post production on the mega-simulstim 'Nekyia Corridor' may be the latest casualty of the Vallum Blast. One of the sim's major scenes involves a lovelorn pilot committing suicide by flying a ship into a city at FTL speeds. Asked if this would remain in the final cut, director Morgan Bierester replied 'You'll have to wait and see', but added, 'The project deals head-on with themes of death; the title's 'neykia' is actually a Greek word -- the best translation for an asari tradition asking for guidance from the dead. We're not about to ruin it all with some exploitative sequence. It would be tasteless to further traumatize those hurt by this tragedy'. His actions back up these words -- the sim's cast and crew have started a charity called 'Recovery Corridor' to collect donations for the families of those devastated by the blast."

05/07/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (9)
"A glimmer of hope on Taetrus tonight: rescue workers found a turian child, alive, buried in the wreckage of the museum known as the Enrarium or the 'old postal office'. The nine-year-old child, found in a collapsed stairwell, is known only as 'Octa'. She has no injuries other than scratches on her carapace and some loss of hearing. She is conscious and being treated for dehydration and malnutrition. The press has not been allowed to interview Octa yet. Saren Yahirix, the rescue worker who found her, said that she didn't even cry out. 'We didn't hear a thing. We just opened up the wall, and there she was'."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/10/2010, 05/14/2010

05/08/2010 - Separatist Group Facinus Threatens More Attacks
"A video of the separatist group Facinus celebrating the Vallum Blast surfaced today. Footage shows noted separatist Kihilix Tanus praising pilot Vamire Squaron for his successful aiming of a private vessel and ejecting from it before it accelerated to its hyperlethal speed. The conversation implies that Squaron bypassed the ship's safety protocols by installing an improvised FTL plotter, using an archaic design no longer in service throughout Citadel space. The vid also shows Tanus criticizing the Turian Hierarchy for failing to respond to the humanitarian crisis on the planet Belan. 'They are old xemna [herd animals], only responding when they themselves are jabbed'. He then threatened a storm of lightspeed vessels, one for every week that Taetrus remains 'subject to the human-appeasing lackeys that run imperialist space,' referring to the Hierarchy and Citadel species."

05/09/2010 - Four Turians Arrested After Organ Harvesting at Haemona Medical Center
"Gruesome news out of Taetrus tonight: Four turian men have been arrested for stealing healthy organs from the dead at the overcrowded Haemona Medical Center. The men posed as nurses and used fake identity cards to gain entry to the hospital's morgue. Two ran interference while the other two, skilled in surgery, removed kidneys, lungs, and gizzards from the freshest corpses of those who died just days after the Vallum Blast. The turians were discovered by a diener, who suspected something was amiss when the men attempted to prevent him from seeing the bodies. 'I cannot believe I'm the same species as these parasites', said the diener, Daherax Antivus. 'Whatever happened to shame?'"

05/10/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (10)
"As the last fires of Vallum are finally extinguished, new estimates for the numbers of dead and missing in the Vallum Blast have been established. Fire marshals now put the number of recovered bodies at 4,278. Military police estimate the death toll at 138,000, based on missing persons reports and traffic flow estimates for the city on the day of the impact. The cost for repairing the damage is estimated at 338 billion credits, to say nothing of the city's gross domestic product that was estimated at 4.8 billion per year and is estimated to fall to 1.3 billion by the end of the fourth quarter of 2185."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/14/2010

05/11/2010 - Reorganizing of Taetrus' Governmental Infrastructure Reaches Important Milestone
"The reorganizing of Taetrus' governmental infrastructure following the Vallum Blast reached an important milestone tonight, as the colony's Laudatix -- the ministry of citizenship rankings -- held its first oserun since its office was destroyed in the blast. The oserun, a ceremony that recognizes the promotion of turians to a new citizenship tier, was initially overseen by local general Timus Aurelos, who swore in the new minister, Anela Saneraxis. Aurelos then turned the ceremony over to her, and Saneraxis formally promoted 1, 238 turians, ranging from young adults entering 2nd-tier boot camp to Radiatum lawgivers in the 23rd tier. Saneraxis called on the latter in her closing remarks, saying 'We know the task before us is mighty, and we look to our leaders to help us serve with dignity and strength. Together, we will prevail'."

05/12/2010 - Protracted Fighting on Garvug After Aborted Coup (11)
"Today, corporate forces on Garvug intercepted a shipment of explosives and weapons to the rebel forces on that planet. The weapons, which included surface-to-air missiles, mortars, and small arms, allegedly come from Clan Urdnot on Tuchanka. 'This was a critical find', said Lieutenant Colonel Iason Riggs of Binary Helix. 'It is imperative that the galaxy knows we have zero tolerance for those who aid insurgent forces, whether from the Terminus or elsewhere, and we will call out those who act against us'. Urdnot Jatt, spokesperson for Clan Urdnot's financial arm on Tuchanka, appeared unimpressed: 'What is Binary Helix to us? Or Sonax or Guanghui Solutions? They barely come to our planet, let alone sell anything'."

See also: 03/28/2010, 03/29/2010, 04/03/2010, 04/05/2010, 04/07/2010, 04/08/2010, 04/09/2010, 04/14/2010, 04/21/2010, 04/25/2010

05/13/2010 - Taetrus Declares War on Separatist Group Facinus (1)
"Primarch Idus Valen addressed the colony of Taetrus in a [Earth standard] forty-minute speech culminating in a declaration of war against the separatist group Facinus. The primarch spoke from the steps of the Sanhei Memorial, received seven standing ovations, and was frequently interrupted by applause as he detailed the crimes of the previously little-known group. 'Our enemies will not escape the long talons of justice', he stated. 'Their dreams of anarchy and unaccountability have given birth to a mass murder that marks them as criminals, not heads of state. We call upon their neighbors in an ultimatum: deliver them to us, or share their graves'. He announced that the Turian Hierarchy will be lending its support in a military effort against the Diluvian Wildlands, a rural wetlands area where Facinus holds the greatest influence."

See also: 05/21/2010, 05/25/2010

05/14/2010 - Taetrus' Capital Obliterated After Blast (11)
"New video and details about the first few minutes after the Vallum Blast emerged today. The Carifinum, the emergency management agency responsible for public crises on Taetrus, delayed its initial response to the calls by half an hour -- a critical misstep that citizen advocacy groups claim could have saved lives. The Carifinum released this statement today in its defense: 'From the noise of the blast and the size of the fires, we judged a nuclear scenario possible and, in fact, probable. Our first response, made within minutes of the blast, was to send out teams with particle counters to ascertain if we needed hazard suits to avoid being irradiated. Once it was clear that the weapon used was solely kinetic, we sent every available hand to the blast zone. It would have served no one if our response had gotten our brave rescue personnel killed'."

See also: 04/28/2010, 04/29/2010, 04/30/2010, 05/01/2010, 05/02/2010, 05/03/2010, 05/04/2010, 05/05/2010, 05/07/2010, 05/10/2010

05/15/2010 - "Galaxy of Fantasy" Players Hold Virtual March
"Players of the extranet game 'Galaxy of Fantasy' held a virtual march supporting the survivors of the Vallum Blast. Over one million players attended in the virtual space of Radiatum Park, where an online kiosk set up by the game's developers allowed them to donate to the victims of the blast. 'The players have been incredible', says community manager Enrique Schofgee. 'The entire basis for the game is turian mythology. To see turians under attack like this in real life strikes a chord in our players to do something'. Prominent player Alila Minaro agrees. 'We spend hundreds of hours defending and maintaining this world immersed in turian culture. You can't do that and not have a little turian public spirit rub off on you'."

05/16/2010 - Taetrus Separatist Demands Eluria Independence
"In a prepared statement uploaded to the extranet, Taetrus separatist Kihilix Tanus demands that the Turian Hierarchy recognize the island continent of Eluria as the free and independent state of Parthenix, or face further attacks from spacecraft used as weapons. Calling the Vallum Blast 'merciful' and saying he has ships that could hit with '100 times that force', Tanus boasted that even Palaven itself was not safe. Primarch Idus Valen responded almost instantly, saying 'Justice neither trembles nor runs in the face of evil. We will execute our plans, no matter the threat'. The extranet reaction has been more biting: despite the vid being released only hours ago, a game application called 'Radiatum Response' has already gone viral. The app allows players to orient crosshairs on the faces of the turian separatists in the video and fire excrement, bullets, or pies."

05/17/2010 - Reporters Attempt to Re-Create Vallum Blast Scenario
"Two reporters from the Sirenum Scopuli Network have attempted to re-create the scenario necessary to cause another Vallum Blast. Faking their credentials with high-resolution omni-tools, they managed to charter the private vessel MSV Zothera and fly it into orbit; there, a computer expert claims he set its coordinates for the city of Regeris but was stopped by the ship's hardcoding. 'FTL plotters are all about safety, and you need a very specific skill set to bypass them,' says Serus Lilix, who handled the piloting. 'It's like finding a particle physicist who can also build a locomotive.' Primarch Idus Valen was asked in press conference today about the incident and he praised the reporters for their work. He declined to comment on the specific differences between the reporters' tactics, those of Vamire Squaron, and the failed [Earth local date] February 23rd hijacking now attributed to Facinus, saying 'I'd rather not broadcast an instruction manual on what Facinus has learned.'"

05/18/2010 - Governments Re-Examine Need for Kinetic Barriers in Metropolitan Areas
"The Vallum Blast has governments re-examining a critical question: do major metropolitan areas need kinetic barriers? The technology exists: emitters designed to shield asteroid-prone colonies can be mounted on high-altitude balloons and tuned to allow slow-flying planes and starships in while shielding cities from ships flying at hyperlethal speeds. Some turian cities on Palaven have them already. But the cost is substantial: covering a sprawl such as Earth's Los Angeles could initially run as much as 848 million credits, with an annual cost of 74 million to monitor and maintain the emitters. Less wealthy cities would have to do without, bumping them up on the list of potential targets. Experts say the easiest solution is to upgrade ship VIs so that bypassing the safety protocols is even more difficult. 'The hype is that anyone with hacking skills can turn a ship into a relativistic weapon', said Taetrian professor of computer science Arayna Hanus. 'Fortunately, hard-coding prevents this in 99% of cases'."

05/19/2010 - Atmospheric Dust Finally Clears on Taetrus
"Last night, to the relief of many colonists on Taetrus, the sun finally set on the Vallum Blast. For the last two weeks, suspended dust in the atmosphere promoted the formation of high-altitude ice particles that reflected the sunlight at all hours of the day and night. The result has been the so-called 'doomsday glow' in the sky that was so bright that citizens as far away as Dilix could read a paper book by its light at midnight. Civil authorities repeatedly reassured Taetrians that this was not due to any type of nuclear fallout. Though Taetrians can finally get some sleep without closing their blinds, the effects of the dust will linger -- the global atmospheric transparency level has dropped a grade, and this dimming is expected to continue for another month."

05/20/2010 - Citadel Council to Hold Galactic Employment Summit
"The Citadel Council announced that it will hold a galactic employment summit in thirty [Earth standard] days' time to seek answers while grappling with a downturn in the galactic job market. This announcement comes just days after figures for planetary unemployment were released. Colonies, as a rule, were havens for job growth, with their median unemployment rate at 4.4%, rather than the 13.1% that homeworlds suffered. Some planetary leaders such as Palaven's Primarch Enterus say growing vorcha populations are inflating these numbers and the figures are much lower. Others, such as Thessia's Matriarch Tiala, point out the opposite: 'Vorcha are the great undocumented,' she says. 'If all of them were included, we would see the true unemployment figure, which would be staggering to those unused to species-specific variations in the data.'"

05/21/2010 - Taetrus Declares War on Separatist Group Facinus (2)
"Over 60,000 troops from the Turian Hierarchy arrived in orbit around Taetrus today to assist in that planet's struggles against the Facinus separatist group. While the troops are staying in orbit for an additional day before being dropped in the Diluvian Wildlands, the Hierarchy's General Partinax was met by Primarch Valen and General Timus Aurelos at the Vallum spaceport. Hundreds of well-wishers were on hand with homemade signs, salutes, and chants of 'Partinax, Partinax.' The 60,000 troops will be joined by an additional 110,000 Taetrian forces traveling by air and sea to the Diluvian border. Meanwhile, Pavan Sahira, provincial ruler of the Diluvian Wildlands, states that Facinus has departed from their province and any attack would be an unprovoked act of aggression from the Hierarchy and planetary government. She called on Partinax to be merciful and not to 'taint the talons of our galactic army with the blood of our own kind.'"

See also: 05/13/2010, 05/25/2010

05/22/2010 - Turian Clawball Legend to Serve on Taetrus
"Turian clawball legend Neno Raxirian has joined the Hierarchy forces heading to Taetrus. The 39-year-old is on the 14th citizenship tier, making him eligible for conscription. Raxirian says he's volunteering. 'There's a time and a place for clawball,' he said in an interview with GBC News, 'and there's a time to serve honorably.' That he has done -- in a brief service stint during his adolescence, he received a citation after his unit came under fire. Is this seeking out past glories? Raescir Rockets fans know his performance has slipped of late -- the team has only 9 wins this season, backed by 7 losses. Raxirian denies the stats have any relation to his decision. 'I don't think anyone could look at the Vallum Blast and say they don't want to help. For me, funding a charity isn't enough. I want to be there. I want to act now.'" ===''05/23/2010 - Crew of MSV Atlanta Arrested for Spying ''=== "Reports from Taetrus indicate that the human crew of the MSV Atlanta have been arrested for spying. The crew, including five reporters from the Earth cable news channel Mirror, was accused of attempting to photograph dead turians -- a misdemeanor in times of peace, and a graver offense during wartime. Said Hierarchy Navy spokesman Commander Iustinix Sylvatus: 'The charge does not translate well, but their intent was clear. They were using their ship's scanners to monitor the battlefield and report on it. We cannot allow this, as it gives away vital intelligence and compromises the memory of the dead'."

05/24/2010 - "Taetrus Effect" Pushes Comedies to the Top at Galactic Box Office
"The weekend box office went to comedies and romantic comedies once again this week, as the so-called 'Taetrus effect' has spoiled appetites for action fare across Citadel space. 'Check and Mate,' the story of asari maidens' tribulations at Earth's World Chess Championship, won the number one spot, taking in 2.05 billion credits. Second place was salarian family fare 'We Meet Again, Doctor Fear,' at 1.6 billion, milking the gag of a captured secret agent with a wrist-mounted time machine that can only take him fifteen minutes back. Third went to the badly timed 'Bullet Train,' which eked out 160 million credits, a 40% drop-off from the previous week. Fourth was the disastrous 'C-SEC' at 97 million. The action flick's revenue stream came primarily from Tuchanka, where a labeling error mis-categorized it as a comedy."

05/25/2010 - Taetrus Declares War on Separatist Group Facinus (3)
"Primarch Idus Valen held a press conference today to announce the beginning of the air campaign against the Diluvian government and Facinus separatists. 'Over one week ago I gave clear and specific demands to produce the leaders of Facinus and renounce separatism,' he said. 'These demands were not met, and the Diluvians will now pay the price.' He went on to say that to respect the dead, Taetrian and Hierarchy forces would not allow press cameras or communicators in the battle zone and would arrest or eject any violators, including those using satellites or starship scanners. The gathered human reporters walked out in protest of this policy, which is considered the right of the deceased on turian worlds, but is viewed as dictatorial by humans."

See also: 05/13/2010, 05/21/2010