Operation: OVERWATCH success!

From: Admiral Steven Hackett
Re: Operation OVERWATCH
Confidentiality Classification: XB-PRIME
Distribution: N7 Forces Only
Soldiers of the Milky Way '

By now you have probably heard that Operation OVERWATCH succeeded on many fronts. Frankly, I would not be surprised if this message goes unread until tomorrow due to excessive celebrating. You have struck the Reapers where they are strongest and lived to tell the tale. Credit goes to you, to those shuttle pilots who retrieved your teams, and to the many personnel who supported and planned the missions.

But I also want to speak to some of what you may be seeing in the media soon. Eventually, it will be public knowledge that we had operations on Earth, retrieving data and personnel necessary for the military and economic well-being of the galaxy.

This success will bring hope to billions of people. It will also enrage some of them. Be prepared for the tough questions ' when are we starting our full-scale assault? Why retrieve this helium-3 magnate but not another one, or save my loved ones? Who are you to play God?

There are no good answers to these questions. The reality is, the Reapers have almost every conceivable advantage ' numbers, firepower, technology ' and we make do with what we have. We strike and retreat because facing the foe head-on would be a disaster. Nowhere is this truer than at Earth.

We have started to give them a death by a thousand cuts. Take heart in this, celebrate, and relax tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will get down to business, because there's nine hundred and ninety left to go.

'Admiral Hackett