AN: I've changed the time of conversation between councillors to one week. Also please keep in mind that almost all Vanus' will be OC, since the mass effect guys don't really fit with them and the PS2's characters being long dead.
one week ago, before declaration of war
The Eternal Light exited the wormhole as it re-entered the Luminaire system, home system of the Vanu Sovereignty. After it's short engagement with the Xenos it had returned to shed light on this problem to the public and military. The ship docked at the large space station acting as the docks and headquarters of the Vanu Navy, also known as Star Fort Helios.
"Centurion." Lux was greeted by a Guardian footsoldier, or more commonly known as a drone, as he stepped out of the airlock. Said drones have a "dumb" or half-sapient AI installed to provide minimum sentience so that they would be able to follow more complicated orders. Though they are similar, they are not to be confused with the actual AIs, which are considered as sentient beings.
"The Primarch is requesting a report in person." The drone continued.
"Will Captain Helena's presence be required, too?" The drone paused for a minute before replying him, " Yes, she would like to have different opinions."
"Very well, inform the captain, I shall go to her first." Lux replied as he begin walking, the star fort was massive, even though teleporters were present, they are only placed in key positions, not in an office.
Primarch's office
"Good to see you in one piece." Primarch Hannah Sherrin said as Lux entered the room.
"I'm always in one piece, Hannah. Unlike you who always get blown into pieces."
"Quit it." She chuckled in response.
The Primarch and Centurion had been friends since the Great War, such was the dire situation of the Vanus during the war, even the second highest ranking officers had to fight side by side with the infantry.
"So what do you want to know?" He continued as he took a seat in-front of the Primarch.
"Your opinions, Lux. These Xenos destroyed one of our ships, not like that we couldn't reconstruct it within minutes." She gave out a laugh before continuing. " And this is a first contact scenario, at least for us. This literally means a declaration of war, to them this maybe a justified action since the alien captain said about humans again."
"It would appear that they have made contact with the Terrans, at least it's reassuring to know that humanity still exists." Lux gave out a relieved sigh before continuing. "As for my opinion, I would strike back, just like what we did with the NC and TR. They attacked, we retaliate. Simple as that."
"I agree, though the final decision lies with the public, funny how everything's running smoothly even if we're a nongovernmental-nation."
"It has been like this since the Declaration of Independence, it will continue to run smoothly." Just as he finished, Adept Helena knocked and came in.
"Adept Helena reporting as requested!" She saluted and stood at attention. Both could not see her expression as it was replaced with photoreceptors, but they could feel the androids' tenseness through her voice.
"Have a seat Helena." The Primarch gestured, as soon as the android sat down, she asked the same question.
"My opinion?" Helena said, " I would suggest confronting them for peace talks, it could be a mistake after all."
"Such is not the path of Enlightenment. We seek to develop our technology and study Vanu artefacts in peace when both the TR and NC declared war on us, the Centurion is correct, we retaliated, and we will retaliate again. And please do not mistaken this as indoctrination or brainwashing."
"I..I understand. But it's still up to the citizens, right?"
"Indeed. I will talk with the other Primarchs and Paragons after our little discussion. Watch the news tonight, it's likely there will be a speech about the incident and an empire-wide vote."
X
Greeting Citizens of the Vanu Sovereignty, it has come to our attention that one of our patrol ship has been destroyed during its mission near a mining colony. As for why it's destroyed, it has engaged in a violent first contact scenario. These Xenos opened fire when the captain simply hailed them in hope of establishing peaceful communication. But no, they ruthlessly shot her down. Therefore the sovereignty has decided to hold a vote as to decide our fate with these Xenos, war or diplomatic negotiations even if they attack first.
As the voting came to an end after six hours, the results were obvious. The Sovereignty wants blood for blood. They would slaughter these xenos till none of them are left, or at least warn them not to screw with the Sovereignty like the TR and NC.
"So it begins."
five days before declaration of war
After the engagement with the frigate with the humans, the Turians decided to yet again station another fleet to monitor the relay, which was previously unknown. Apparently it was the same as the human's home system relay, it just suddenly appears in a moon. Said fleet consists of 5 cruisers and 20 frigates, quite a size even for a patrol fleet near the edge of the Terminus Systems.
The humans on the other side pose a threat and they have to be dealt with. The 314 relay incident is happening all over again, except only with a bunch of isolated humans. What the Turians will not expect is an interstellar empire to openly wage war upon them, which was simply unheard of except for the "brief" skirmish with the System Alliance and the Krogan Rebellion.
X
As the Sovereignty has decided to go to war to these Xenos, preparations must be made. Drones were reactivated , ships were being churned out by the orbital nano-forges by the dozens. Nano-convert ors were also working around the clock to produce nanites, an essential resource for the Sovereignty, while miners continued to retrieve biomass. Civilian life didn't change much though. The Vanu military never needs reserves or replacements , the soldiers simply respawn. They still have a trump card though , which was being activated as they prepare for war. Century old warriors awakened to fight for the Vanu Sovereignty once again. All ten systems of the Sovereignty were shoring up its defenses, defense platforms with FPCs were put into orbit of major planets, more frequent patrols and of course, forming strategies.
Star fort Helios, Auraxis orbit
"Our first priority will be to secure information from one of their vessels, surely they will have ships stationed on the other side of this relay." A paragon spoke.
"Indeed, my calculations suggests that they will not be prepared for a full scale war." Another paragon said, this time being a tactical drone, super AIs with a robotic body. "I have also taken the liberty to station defense platforms near the relay until our more capable forces can be mobilized."
"Very well," Another spoke as he zoomed in on the mining colony where the secondary relay is positioned in its orbit." I would suggest using the mining colony as a staging ground, but, it is a bit risky since its next to the relay."
"It is actually preferable for us to engage planetside rather in space, the veterans never fought in ship to ship combat so they'll be acting as boarding parties and ground troops. Keep in mind that our armies are more of a defense force, we will let the professionals do the work. We will also have to wait until our troops can secure information from one of the Xenos vessels, which will happen during the first engagement, it will also act as a declaration of war to them.
few hours before declaration of war
As the view of the relay came before their eyes, a dozen more ships came out of numerous wormholes. The elegant void crafts began to get in formation in front of the relay, preparing to attack the aliens on the other side.
Most vessels were of the 150 meter long Corona class escort vessels. Which was the most numerous in the Vanu Navy. Each has a plasma projector or two auto-FPCs , four plasma torpedo tubes and four point defence lasers.
Despite having the rebirth matrix, Vanu scientists still designed the ship in a practical way, with minimal crew, low target profile, equipped with powerful engines, shields, nanofullerite armor and a cloaking module-the wraith cloak, which allowed stealth capabilities.
These resulted in the Corona class escort vessel. All in all, a perfect warship.
The other vessels were cruisers, 500 meter long ships which shared a similar shape with the Corona-Class. Instead of a single spinal-mounted plasma projectors, it had two, turreted projectors mounted on the top and bottom sides of the ship and a dozen plasma torpedo tubes, four in front and the rest scattered around the ship and a hundred of PDCs for CQB. It was also commonly known as the Eclipse-class cruiser. Being a cruiser, it lacked the stealth capabilities of the corona, it was also designed as a troop-carrier with a dozen boarding pods and multitude of atmospheric vehicles.
The fleet admiral began he countdown for the work-hole drives.
"3…2…1..Engage wormhole drives."
Turian POV
The Turians knew they will be coming, but not with two hundred ships. The humans once again exited from their wormholes, none of them seems to have the same stealth capability from before which destroyed three of their ships with relative ease. This time they are facing an entire invasion fleet, with most at 150 meters and few at 500 meters.
Funny thing is all of them stopped before the Turian fleet, the Turian Admiral suddenly heard a ping from his console, it was a message, the title said: Declaration of War
"All hands to battlestations!" The admiral immediately yelled, but it was too late. It was 200 versus 20, all they could do was to delay them. His cruiser was immediately targeted by several human ships as the Turian frigates began evasive maneuvers. At least they could dodge the plasma beams thanks to their faster speed. The admiral's cruiser was immediately sliced from the front. Two other cruisers met the same fate as they were determined to be the greatest threat to the Vanu fleet.
The Vanus began to scatter as the xenos made the same move, they were surprisingly close for ship combat, one would imagine that the Xenos would try to stay further in case of an attack. Still, they were well over one thousand kilometers apart and it was just perfect.
Immediately the area surrounding the relay became a disco fest. Bright violet beams spat out from Plasma projector turrets, torpedoes were fired en masse at the aliens, plasma cannon rounds from cruisers flew through the void, finding their mark almost every time with point defense lasers(Saron Laser cannons) firing fanatically.
Vanu doctrine for ship to ship combat was mostly hit and run with stealth and long range kiting if stealth is not available. Ships were to attempt to flank and attack the enemy while firing the plasma projectors and torpedoes. Then they would either turn around to attempt another attack or go pass the enemy, this why they have the relative small size and absurd speed. It seems that it was in the Vanus favor today as the Xenos began to scatter, it would allow easy passage for the Vanu frigates. If they were In more packed formation, it wouldn't go well for the attackers.
While the Vanu have AIs manning the weapons or at least assisting the pilot in aiming the ship, the aliens seems to lack any advanced targeting computers. They still hit though, destroying a few frigates under the immense screening of the slugs. But their aiming was still inferior to the the AIs, one by one the Turian frigates exploded to smithereens.
The engagement was fairly quick, reasonable since it was 10 Vanu to 1 alien. But they knew it's gonna change very soon. As a saying goes during the Great War; A Vanu soldier could take on ten enemies, but he will always be outnumbered ten to one.
A single Turian cruiser drifted in space, it was disabled by an accurate beam to its thrusters. The captain gritted his teeth, they didn't even last for ten minutes, and now spirits know what they're gonna do to his ship.
A cruiser, which was quite rare, came to the starboard of Turian ship, the Turian cruiser was easily larger than the Vanu one, but they were extremely powerful , and now it was clear that the humans want to board his ship.
"All hands prepare for boarding! We will fight to the last man!"
X
Novus Clara Hayes, a rare Human member of the Legio Auraxia stood nervously in the boarding pod, this would be the first battle for many born after the war, including herself and she was very much afraid, too.
Under normal circumstances there would be twelve soldiers, standard size for a squad but there was one more person on board, a veteran managed to fit it and was standing next to her. Instead of purple and gray, he wore white and purple with a rather intimidating helmet. He was also holding a Polaris LMG with several attachments instead of the standard assault rifle.
"Sir, with all due respect. Is it wise to use such a large weapon indoors?" She asked the veteran.
"Have faith, young one. She has proven herself worthy on many occasions " He replied. "Get ready, we're launching soon."
The novus merely raised an eyebrow at the personification of the weapon.
"Commencing boarding action in…3..2…1.. Launch!"
With a loud thud the pod was jettisoned into the void. She could hear the rumbling of the thrusters propelling them towards the enemy ship. From the small window on her left she could see several Vanu frigates circling the cruiser, while the point defence cannons of both cruisers were firing at each other.
Thud!
"So this is it." She though as she flicked the safety off on her rifle like the others. The pod came in contact with the hull as the magnetic clamps held it in place. The plasma cutter attached onto the hull then went to work. The few seconds felt like eternity as she waited, she knew the first guy to go out will be killed if the aliens are clever enough to place automated turrets in the ship.
The hull came down and the interior of the ship was in their view, the first immediately dashed out and as expected, got killed in a matter of seconds. The rest of them started to pour out as they began shooting at the turrets and a few aliens who set up defences, it was mere coincidence that they landed right in front of a turret. Clara immediately dashed into a room a few meters in front of her as the others began to suppress the aliens and destroyed the turret. As she barged inside, she caught a few aliens off guard, but unlike her they were experienced soldiers. The Turians immediately responded and shot at her, her personal shields stopped a few shots, it was close to depleting when the veteran shoved her aside and activated his NMG, or nanite mesh generator. The white armoured soldier slammed into the Turian as he fired his weapon, killing the first as he entered the room.He was unimpressed, back in the old days even Conglomerate rookies would have to take some effort to die. He quickly switched his target to the other alien standing next to the one with his head blown off, he soon suffered the same fate as his friend.
"Come on Novus, looks like they've finished securing the area." Clara heard him said and followed suit. They were down to 9 men from the initial 13, acceptable since they were mowed down initially. The corps of the dead Vanu soldiers vaporized into a green mist. They would respawn on the cruiser and join the second wave if the first was wiped out.
X
The Turian captain gritted his teeth once again, he could hear reports of hull breaches and boarders all over his ship. Despite the troops down below were desperately trying to reduce the invader's numbers, the humans were still making solid progress. He was also surprised to hear about handheld energy weapons, and his troops were being obliterated. He could hear the plead for reinforcements throughout the ships, he lowered his head. He could do nothing as they were preparing for a last stand at the bridge, which would normally be the goal of boarding enemy ships. And just as he expected, he could hear the marines outside begin to fire. There was also the weird sound of energy weapons firing, at least that's what he assumed to be since he haven't seen or heard any before. The mass effect guns stopped firing after a few explosions, even if the marines have kinetic barriers, they couldn't handle several grenades so close to them. The bridge crew immediately raised their rifle and use their chairs as cover, the captain scoffed at the idea, at least it's some cover.
BOOM!
The door blasted open, a bright flash immediately followed, but thanks to their polarised visor of their helmets it didn't affect them that much. A person in white armour came in and several other humans dressed in light armour quickly followed, shooting at their respective targets. As with all breaching actions , it ended quickly. The captain could see several of his crew lying on ground with blue blood spilling everywhere, but alive. Others were not so luckily as they have red-glowing holes in their bodies. The captain slowly raised his hand as he tried to stand up as he was shot in the leg. He was met by a the barrel of the gun of the white armoured human stuck in his face.
"Damn humans." Was all he could say before being knocked out.
