AN: I'm back ya'll. I am still alive, university has not sucked all the life out of me. As promised here is the Chapter which I gave you a sneak peek too. It has been altered slightly compared to what you may have previously read. I've also condensed the timeline at the beginning slightly if any of you are interested, but nothing new has been added there. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy it. The next Chapter will be well underway soon.
UNSC Reach, Dauntless class Dreadnought
Slipspace en route to the Citadel
No commander would ever admit it publicly, but it was obvious they were extremely attached to the ships they command. Athena had been devastated when her request to have her previous command, the battlecruiser Bay of Salamis, transferred to her fleet was denied. Though she could understand why it had been rejected, repairs were still underway and much of the ship was still not combat effective. The request was a long shot, but she tried. Now she had her new command, a brand new ship along with a brand new set of responsibilities. The 16th Fleet was a huge step up from her former battlecruiser division, yet she welcomed the challenge; from 20 ships to just over 300. She had technically skipped a stage of commanding a battlegroup, but she suspected that Lord Admiral Hood needed a commander for the 16th Fleet and saw fit to promote her. It would probably cost Hood some political friction within the Admiralty, but frankly, she was not going to complain. With her new command came a new flagship, the dreadnought Reach. Single-handedly the most powerful class of dedicated warships in the UNSC Navy after the Preston Cole. While the Infinity was still one of the most prestigious ships in the fleet, at the end of the day, she was still a multirole vessel, capable of both military and scientific service in both peace and war. She had every bit of Covenant and Forerunner technology integrated into her. But the Reach was designed and built for war. To a certain degree, she was Forerunner tech, it ran through her, of course with the added human touch to make it uniquely UNSC.
Just shy of five and a half kilometres, she was covered from bow to stern in armour, backup shield generators, missile silos, MAC gun emplacements and hangar bays. Discounting the Preston Cole and the Infinity class supercarriers, the Reach and the rest of her class are the most expensive dedicated warships the UNSC has ever constructed - which would explain why that only 35 had been built so far. Each responsible for leading a fleet, they are most often, if not always, the flagship of fleets. It took three years to build a single one, that is without completely compromising the UNSC's already massive annual budget for fleet modernization, but shipyards ran around the clock to equip every UNSC fleet with at least one such dreadnought. Not only was she extremely well armed, but she could carry more than 300 Broadsword fighters and bombers and approximately an entire division's worth of troops - 12,000 men along with all their vehicles and equipment. The Reach herself was a brand new vessel, only being commissioned into the fleet barely a week ago. She was not even fully staffed out yet, the rushed deployment to New Madrid caused her to be operating with a sufficient but nowhere near optimal crew level. Since Athena's previous command was in drydock for the foreseeable future, all of her crew from the Bay of Salamis was transferred over to fill in. Athena was even permitted to bring the AI, Amelia, with her.
As the massive vessel streaked through slipspace along with over the other 700 UNSC vessels of all types, deep inside the bowels of the dreadnought behind sealed blast doors, a meeting of the fleet's high-level officers was taking place. A meeting consisting the fleet's commanding officers, no more than 10 people.
"The end goal is simple enough, take the Citadel and enforce an unconditional surrender." Athena reminded a meeting room of people. It was mainly her subordinate battlegroup commanders along with Admiral Hackett and his staff. "But how easy it will be to take the Citadel is another question."
She paused for a moment to bring up a 3-D holographic projection of the Citadel and its surrounding space. As the holographic projector whirred to life, it displayed the space station. "Just to remind everyone here, three days ago the prowler Necessity successfully made it to the Citadel undetected and deployed a slipspace beacon. As such we now have our exact jump coordinates. While on station, they have been sending out cloaked probes to identify military targets on the station as well as to ascertain the strength of the local defence fleet."
A voice spoke up from the opposite end of the table, "What are we up against Admiral?".
"According to the latest intelligence reports, there are at least 2400 ships present with more arriving every day. It would seem that they are assembling a force of their own." Athena recalled meeting General Williams a few days earlier. He commanded the marine expeditionary corps attached to her fleet, nearly 40,000 strong - three whole divisions. Admiral Hackett had another corps attached to his, a total of 80,000 marines between the two fleets. "We have identified several key targets on the Citadel itself. Mainly strategic chokepoints and buildings of importance. But first, we have to get through their defence fleet. Admiral." She finished by gesturing to Hackett to continue the briefing. While they were technically the same rank, Hackett had been an admiral longer, thus making him her de facto superior.
The 55-year-old admiral took over. His holographic projection stood up. "They don't know we're coming, so we have the element of surprise. Our ships will exit slipspace here, on the flank of the enemy fleet. The initial objective, push the enemy fleet away from the Citadel towards the local Mass Relay. Next, we establish a perimeter around the Citadel while simultaneously engaging their fleet, and deploy ground forces. Once ground troops have been deployed, it is crucial that our perimeter cannot be breached, we must prevent any enemy reinforcements from reaching the Citadel. We must keep pushing the offensive to keep off balance, no matter the cost. The Union will be arriving in the second wave, and they will deploy here, at the Mass Relay. Once we have the enemy fleet trapped between our fleets with no hope of escape, we will enforce their surrender or destroy them. The President and the Arbiter, on their respective flagships, will be the third wave. Hopefully, by the time they arrive, resistance will have been crushed."
He looked to General Williams. "Meanwhile General, while we secure the perimeter around the Citadel, your troops will need to blast through their defences and capture the Councilors. I will leave the ground deployment orders to you, but please if you could brief us on your plan now, it would be appreciated. Also, I received a communique from Admiral Dare earlier, in the spirit of inter-branch operations, ONI has decided to transfer temporary command of the fleet's Spartans for the duration of the battle. That includes the Master Chief and the other Spartan IIs." The General nodded in acknowledgement and stood up, a smile crept onto his face as he thought about the endless possibilities he could do with the Spartans.
As he stood up, he cleared his throat. "Admirals I hope the plan that I have come up with will be satisfactory to you and your deployment orders. Our goal is to cause the most damage to the Citadel as possible, hitting all military targets available. We will deploy in two phases. Phase 1, a battalion's worth of ODSTs and the Spartans ONI are so kind to lend us, will insert in drop pods at the base of the Citadel Tower. From there, they will storm the building and secure the Councilors. Once secured, they will hold the building until Phase 2. Phase 2 will be off the remainder of my corp deploying around the tower once the perimeter around the Citadel itself has been secured by the fleet. From there we will branch out destroying military targets as we please. Besides, the top brass wants to test out a new vehicle, this would be the perfect field test." He gestured to a holographic man sitting on his left, General Achen - commander of the Marines attached to Admiral Hackett's fleet. "General Achen's Corp will operate out of the fleet and reinforce us wherever needed."
"General your ODSTs and the Spartans for Phase 1 are aboard the Serena correct?" Athena asked, General Williams confirmed it with a nod. "The first stage can be accomplished easily enough, we can rush the Serena and her escorts in past their lines while we hold the element of surprise. Once they've deployed your troops they can micro jump out of there and rejoin the fleet."
Hackett frowned and chose this moment to interject, "Why not just deploy all your men at the beginning? With a large enough force there at the beginning we may even spilt the Citadel fleet between supporting their troops and engaging us." It was a subtle message, but obvious enough to those in the room. Hackett was trying to disembark all the marines in one shot so that he would not have to worry about them in the space battle that would inevitably claim some of his ships.
"A valid point Admiral, but I would not recommend it." General Achen countered, he had been silent until now. "I understand that our forces maintain combat superiority, but we must be cautious about this. If we deploy all of our troops and cannot support them with necessary fire support and air strikes, they risk taking unnecessary casualties or perhaps even being cut off from us and destroyed. I am not ready to lose so many men just yet Admiral. History has shown us many a time what overconfidence can lead to. No, we will be cautious and deploy the entire corps only once the perimeter has been established. "
Hackett nodded his head slightly in understanding, accepting that he would never understand ground warfare as well as the Marines. "Whilst we are on the topic of ground assault, I would like to remind everyone here that by order of the President, civilian casualties are unacceptable. That means absolutely no ground or space-based nuclear ordinance. Failure to follow these orders will result in a court-martial offence." Protests sprung up around the room, but Hackett raised his hand, silencing them. "Before any of you ask me why, let me tell you it's because the President wants to gain the moral high ground in the negotiations to follow. Thousands of civilians died at the hands of the Turians at New Madrid, if we can pull this assault off without a single or as few civilian deaths as possible, the President will have greater political leverage. This is also our chance to show them that we can pull off a major military operation on a populated area and still have no civilian casualties."
Aside from a few protests from the odd commander, the room remained quiet. Athena seized the chance and continued from where Hackett left off. "If there is nothing else, our forces will be arriving within 2 days. We will update you should any pressing matters be reported. That is all. Does anyone have any questions?"
The room stayed silent. "Very well, we're done here then. Dismissed." she finished.
ARS Destiny Ascension, Asari Republic Dreadnought
Space surrounding the Citadel, Serpent Nebula
"Matriarch Lidanya? We're detecting a large spike from the Relay." The sensor officer called out, a tone of boredom dominating the sentence.
Sighing, Lidanya somehow found the strength to pull herself off her command chair and strode over to the sensor station. Like every other day, this was nothing unusual, ships go through the relay every day - but being the commander of the flagship of the Citadel Defence fleet required her to be notified of every ship going in and coming out of the Relay. Ship name, registry number, class, government affiliation and owner, - the entire works. She opened her Omni-took to check the schedule of arriving ships, only for it to be confirmed with what the sensors were now telling her.
Turian warships began to appear from the Relay, their decreasing momentum consistent with the sudden deceleration. The swarms of frigates came first, followed by the larger cruisers and dreadnoughts with the carriers bringing up the rear. Altogether, 1200 warships showed up - the Turian 5th Fleet recently redeployed from the Terminus front. They were here to contribute the Turian effort to the diplomatic fleet to be sent to the new species they discovered.
Diplomatic, huh, more like a show of force. Lidanya sarcastically thought to herself. The space around the Citadel was already overly crowded with ships, the Asari and Salarian fleets arrived days ago. On top of the usual traffic going in and out of the Citadel, the controllers were having a difficult time directing civilian traffic away from the military vessels.
"Ma'am, we're being hailed by the dreadnought Unification." The comms officer reported. "Admiral Arterius is requesting to speak to you."
"Transfer it to my station," Lidanya answered while simultaneously walking back to her chair. She tapped a few commands onto the small console attached to her chair. The Turian Admiral's video feed came on soon after. "Desolas, nice to see you again."
The Turian smiled, "Matriarch, it brightens my day to see you again." Lightly mocking her with a slight bow.
Lidanya rolled her eyes, "How many times must I tell you that you can address me by my first name and not my title Desolas."
"Yes I know but calling you by your first name isn't as fun Matriarch," Desolas replied, lightly laughing to himself. After a few moments, he recovered himself. "But onto more serious matters now, where would you like to park my fleet?"
Lidanya opened her Omni tool and brought up the current deployments around the Citadel. With the arrival of Desolas and his fleet, there were now just shy of 3000 warships in the system - including the Citadel defence fleet. She spent a few moments thinking before breaking her silence. "Take your ships and deploy them on the left flank. I don't really have anywhere else to put them. That being said, try not to collide into the Salarian formations next to you. A Volus freighter already hit one of their frigates today."
Desolas laughed, miserably failing to control himself. "The Volus were never great pilots were they? Very well, I will take my fleet to the left flank without crashing into the Salarian as requested." He looked offscreen for a moment a relayed the necessary orders before turning back to her. "What time do you get off duty? We should catch up."
Lidanya tilted her head and smiled. "I get off in about two hours from now. What did you have in mind?"
"I have a bottle of Turian brandy that needs consuming. 2132 vintage, an excellent year if I may add. Only 1000 of these bottles exist." He proudly said.
She let out a soft whistle, she knew of those values. Each was valued at over 8000 credits, obtaining them was difficult even for a Turian Admiral commanding such a prestigious fleet. "Desolas, that is quite the drink you have in mind. Normally I would insist that we choose a different bottle but I am dying to have a sip if you're willing."
"But of course. I have a reason to celebrate anyway." He replied.
"And the reason for this celebration?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in the process.
"My brother Saren just got made a Specter. He gets formally admitted in tomorrow." Desolas announced, projecting his voice to make it clear to those who might be listening in.
"Congratulations Desolas, you must be extremely proud. Please pass on-" That was all Lidanya managed to get out before she was rudely interrupted.
"Matriarch!" Her sensor officer shouted, "I am detecting massive spikes of radiation in Sector 8! Sensor readings match the same radiation as the unknown aliens the Turians encountered at the partner relay of Relay 314."
Lidanya's blood went cold as she switched screens and obtained a visual. Hundreds of years of experience could not prepare her for this moment. She found herself frozen to her chair, unable to move a muscle. On her screen, hundreds of white portals began angrily ripping through space.
"All hands, battlestations!" Desolas ordered. She had completely forgotten that he was still on call with her as he continued spewing out orders. "Launch all fighters! Move the fleet into formation Manae Four. Lidanya, I guess we need to put a rain check on that drink, I'll call you later. I promise." With that, the call ended.
Lidanya finally found the strength and her voice. "Go to battlestations! Evacuate the Council now and order the defence fleet to converge around the entrance to the Citadel. We must buy the Councilors time to evacuate. Seal the station! Sound all alarms on the Citadel, and mobilise all C-Sec and military units. Prepare for combat."
"Matriarch, our communications are being jammed. I can't get a signal out to the Citadel." Her comms officer panicked. Lidanya cursed as she admitted how impressive this alien's cyber-warfare suite was.
The entire bridge was bathed in dim red light as klaxons began sounding throughout the flagship of the Citadel Fleet. The decks vibrated as the engines kicked in, moving the massive dreadnought to block the entrance of the Citadel. The Asari and Salarian fleets were moving to take up positions in front of the Defence Fleet while the Turian ships were gunning their engines to take their place in the battle line. Lidanya turned her attention back to her screen, and almost immediately regretted it. The white portals began regurgitating ships, hundreds of black and grey hull ships of different shapes and sizes. She lost her cool almost immediately when hundreds of 500 to 600-metre cruisers exited the portals, then she nearly passed out when their dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts started appearing. Multiple vessels all between the lengths of 1 to 3 kilometre long. She finally lost all capacity to think when the last two ships exited their portals. They were identical, all five and a half kilometres of it, these Leviathans made the Ascension look like the work of a novice. Their sharp angles and mean aesthetic sending out vibes of destruction and sheer power.
As the chaos on the bridge exploded all around her. Lidanya said something so softly, only the crew in her immediate vicinity would have heard her. "Goddess help us."
The longest minute of her life passed as the Destiny Ascension manoeuvred into position, the main cannon pointing straight at one of the two largest alien vessels. The smaller Asari capital ships were falling in around the flagship, the Salarians were moving off to the left flank and the Turians to the right. By now, all the portals had closed, and there lay several hundred alien vessels staring down the Citadel fleets. It was chaos, there was no plan or formation that they were adapting, that became evident when an Asari cruiser narrowly missed a Salarian frigate. Lidanya was about to order her comms officer to call up the commander of that ship, but the comms officer called out to her first.
"Matriarch! The enemy fleet is broadcasting on all frequencies."
"Put it up." Lidanya replied with fear seeping into her bones.
A figure appeared on the viewscreen. Lidanya immediately noticed the similarities between this alien and Asari. Similar facial structure, humanoid in appearance. The harsh features on his face suggested a male and not a young one at that. The figure started speaking in fluent Asari. "I am Admiral Steven Hackett of the United Human Federation. You have committed an act of war upon our people, you burned our world, and killed enough of its population. If this is how the Citadel conducts first contact missions, then I feel sorry everyone you meet. But we have dealt with your type before, and we are no strangers to war. You may outnumber us now, but I promise you that numbers will not save you from the fates you all deserve. Don't bother offering surrenders, we won't be accepting them just yet." As the man cut the channel, Lidanya for the first time in hundreds of years could not describe her emotions, but terrified - was an understatement.
UNSC Reach, Dauntless class Dreadnought
Outside the Citadel
"All hands, general quarters. I say again, all hands general quarters. To your stations and prepare for combat." Amelia had been announcing over the ships tannoys for the last few minutes.
By now, Athena's eyes had adjusted to the dull red lights that now engulfed the bridge. Her bridge crew was at their stations, typing commands onto their consoles. The weapons officer was rapidly arming missiles and charging the PMACs. Flight ops were preparing to launch all 300 strike craft. The newly promoted Captain, formerly commander, Duellos was assigning damage control teams to different staging points around the ship. Sensors were doing some last minute checks on the array. The number of marine guards at the bridge had been doubled, preparing for the unlikely but possible event that they get boarded.
Athena herself was strapped into her chair, mentally preparing for the battle ahead. This was an enemy she had fought before, well at least the Turians were. The Salarians and Asari were completely unknown to her other than the information she had obtained from the captured intelligence.
"Admiral," Amelia said, simultaneously appearing on her pedestal. "All ships report combat ready."
"Very well, Amelia begin jamming all communications to and from the Citadel the moment we exit." Athena replied.
Amelia began announcing to the bridge. "All hands, prepare to exit slipspace."
As the viewscreen switched from the black and white of slipspace to the orange of the Serpent Nebula, it displayed what the prowler Necessity had already told them to expect. There lay a space station, with thousands of ships surrounding it in a semicircle. Like ants guarding their nest. The station itself was a simple symmetric design, five separate arms joined to a ring in the middle. But what was most important was the massive fleet the Citadel races had brought to bear, more than 3000 enemy ships compared to their 800. Despite the odds, Athena knew that UNSC vessels were far superior. She noted their battles lines they were forming.
"All ships accounted for. Waiting for the order to fire." Amelia announced again.
"Get me firing solutions for all weapons. Launch all fighters, defensive formation." Athena called out. As the bridge crew went about their tasks she sent a message to her subordinates warning them of possible flanking attacks. "Amelia, take control of point defence, I don't want a single one of those disruptor torpedoes coming anywhere near us."
Amelia acknowledged with an "aye" before disappearing. Athena could only recall what havoc and destruction the somehow shield penetrating disruptor torpedoes could cause on UNSC ships. Based on the Turian wreckage and captured data obtained from the Battle of New Madrid, UNSC science and engineering teams were now working around the clock to understand the principal of Eezo, or Element Zero, and by doing that develop effective countermeasures.
By now hundreds of fighters were shooting out of their hangars from the UNSC fleet, forming wedges in their individual squadrons. The carrier Serena, carrying the first wave of the invasion force was being assigned more squadrons and even a pair of heavy cruisers and destroyers for its escort. Carrying the UNSC's or ONI's most valued Spartans, it's protection was of the utmost importance. It's charge into the Citadel would be like a poisoned dagger stabbing the heart that would cause the rest of the body, the Citadel fleet, to inevitably fail. Hackett was now distracting the Citadel Fleet with a little bit of psychological warfare, reciting a speech carefully crafted by some of the President's personal speechwriters, reminding the Citadel races that humanity was no stranger to war. They had truly woken the beast that had been sleeping for decades.
As Hackett continued his speech, Athena's comms officer called out to her. "Admiral the Serena is requesting permission to proceed with phase 1 of the plan." He reported.
"Tell Captain Asimov to proceed with the plan, we will provide covering fire and punch a hole in the enemy line." She replied, turning to her weapons officer simultaneously. "Weapon status?"
"PMACs One through Four are fully charged - quick-recharge capacitors standing by, missiles in tubes A1 through D20 are armed, deck gun crews are reporting readiness, CIWS activated. Energy projectors online and ready. No nuclear missiles are loaded in their tubes." Came the reply.
Athena nodded in acknowledgement, swiping her hand across the Citadel lines on her personal display highlighting targets for her ships. As Hackett began to finish his short monologue, she gave the command. "All ships, open fire."
The Serena and her escorts charged forward, hoping that by the time she reached the perimeter, the fleet would have blasted a hole through. Fire erupted from the PMAC barrels of the UNSC fleet, hurtling the plasma encased tungsten shells towards the Citadel fleet. Hundreds of shells found their mark instantly, and as before, the results were instantaneous and devastating. Pure energy lashed out from energy projectors, instantly vaporizing anything it touched. Dozens of ships in the Citadel fleet erupted into blue and orange explosions as their eezo cores detonated. The kinetic energy from the PMAC shell alone forcing its way through the armour and the reactor before exiting the ship, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Coincidentally, most of the ships that were destroyed were Turian, rather than Asari or Salarian. With an overwhelming amount of fire, the UNSC broke a hole in the Turian line with the first volley. The Turian ships, reeling from the blow they had just taken, reorientated themselves to face the Serena, unleashing a storm of blue mass accelerator fire. Each shot was blocked by the ship's hard light shields, shimmering a dull gold each time. Then the Turians launched disruptor torpedoes, the threat of these missiles was already known by every UNSC commander. The Serena and her escorts answered with a tsunami of purple pulse laser fire, the AI must have been handling point defence as the carrier swatted more than two-thirds of the torpedoes like flies, leaving the fighters to destroy the remainder with their twin rotary cannons. Turian fighters tried to close in on the charging UNSC carrier, only to be shot by accurate point defence fire. The carrier along with her escorts were fighting back as well, using the 'mini-MAC' deck guns and scores of missiles. Every pair of shots claimed a Turian ship, till eventually, there were not enough to stop the Serena, two cruisers, two destroyers and a swarm of fighters as they smashed through the shattered Turian line and made a beeline for the Citadel, engines blazing a glorious blue behind them.
Even as the reports of Serena's successful breakthrough started to come in, Athena didn't lose focus of the battle. She stared at the tactical display as the bridge rocked slightly from the newly redirected mass accelerator fire coming in from the Turian fleet. She swiped her personal console, switching to the view of the external cameras and zoomed in on the Serena, now above the Citadel Tower. Athena spied small black specks falling from the Serena's underbelly. Drop pods. Phase 1 was complete.
"All ships increase speed to half. Maintain fire. Keep our fighters close by FlightOps, I want them protecting our ships. Comms, send a message to Robert E. Lee, inform Admiral Hackett that we are proceeding with Phase 2 of the plan." Athena announced to the bridge, a series of ayes answering with each crew member dutifully relaying her orders. By now the Serena had rejoined the fleet and her fighter group was contributing to fleet defence.
She switched back to her tactical map to analyse the situation. The mapped split into two dominant colours, blue dots for UNSC ships and red for the Citadel fleets. Her front with the Turians was going as expected, though with significantly fewer casualties on her side. Hackett was having a similar experience, the Asari and Salarian fleets seemed to be more contempt staying at maximum range lobbing shells and hundreds of disruptor torpedoes. Very few of the torpedoes were even making to Hacketts fleet, damage was minimal. Hackett was still being cautious, keeping his own ships at maximum distance, utilising the superior firepower of the PMACs to simply outgun the Asari and Salarians. A blue dot that winked out of existence caught Athena's eye as the report came in.
"UNSC Silk Road destroyed, lost with all hands." Her sensor officer called out.
Another frigate lost. Damn. Athena thought to herself. The Eridani class frigates were the successors to Paris class frigates, but they could be modified to fit the roles of the older Charon and Stalwart class frigates as well. There lay the problem, once the shielding and external armour was breached, the Eridani's were extremely fragile. The modular nature of their design meant that they did not have any of the honeycombed internal structure which the larger capital ships had, resulting in them being able to take less punishment.
The battle so far had cost the UNSC 20 ships, 12 of which belonged to Athena's fleet, and they were all frigates or destroyers. Athena's own cruisers, battle-cruisers and battleships were still intact. Turian aggressiveness was currently showing to be more effective against the UNSC compared to the Asari and Salarians caution. But it had cost all of them regardless, over 900 ships from the Citadel fleet were now floating pieces of wreckage. They were learning, using their superior manoeuvrability to constantly move around, making it harder for the PMAC gunners to get an accurate shot on them.
"Admiral, the enemy ships are falling back." Captain Duellos reported.
Athena broke focus for a second and saw the Turian ships gunning their engines and breaking into wide arcs that put them facing away from the UNSC fleet. The Asari and Salarians copied their movements and soon enough, the surviving Citadel ships were falling back towards the local Mass Relay. It was an orderly retreat, the larger capital ships covering the withdrawal of the smaller more vulnerable ships before falling back themselves.
"All ships, general pursuit. Put us between them and the Citadel." Athena quickly ordered. Whether their retreat was intentional or not, she intended to seize the moment. "Get me General Williams."
The marine general appeared soon after, "General, prepare your troops for landfall. We are establishing the perimeter now. Be advised that support from the fleet will be extremely limited, it is my belief that once they see us blockading the Citadel, they will do everything in their power to break it." Athena informed him.
"Very well Admiral, we are ready. I must also advise you that preliminary reports from the vanguard report that only half of the tower has been secured, the remaining half is still contested. We also do not have the councillors yet." He replied.
"Do you require assistance General?." She asked, it was in her best interests that the Councilors were captured as soon as possible.
"Negative, just get the ships carrying my men to the objective and we will take care of the rest. I assure you Admiral, we will find the Councilors. Williams out." He finished, hologram winking out.
Athena relaxed back into her chair, there was nothing she could do to influence the ground battle, all the fleet had to do now was hold the line. Phase 2 depended entirely on the ground forces.
"Admiral I'm detecting activity at the Relay." Her sensor operator called out.
The Union were early, by her estimation they still had hours to go before they arrived. "Are they Union vessels?" Athena asked.
"Negative Admiral, they aren't slipspace ruptures." Came a perplexed reply that quickly turned into a yell. "New contacts! Hundreds of ships are coming appearing around the Relay now!"
Athena shot up, Citadel reinforcements? According to their intelligence, neither the Turians, Salarians or the Asari had additional forces in the region. "Amelia I need you for a second, cross reference the new ships with all known Citadel designs."
The AI appeared a millisecond later, running her holographic hands across a holographic screen. "Scanning and matching references. And - I got them. Turian ships, and according to the Turian database, this is the Turian 4th Fleet. Stationed one at the partner relay to the relay in this system."
'More Turians? They mobilised their forces a lot quicker than anticipated. How could ONI not have known about this.' Athena thought to herself, she needed to have a word with her ONI attache after the battle.
"Mark them as hostile and prepare to engage." She asked.
"Consider it done. Admiral they are forming lines and advancing, it seems they plan to arc above us and fall on our flanks. Sensors are detecting build ups consistent with the charge of mass accelerator weaponry." Amelia informed her.
Athena cursed to herself, by now there were well over 1000 Turian reinforcements that had just jumped in. "Get the General's troops on the ground now. Inform him that capturing the Councilors remains a priority. We will hold the line here and provide support whenever possible." She ordered. Even with hundreds of Citadel ships now drifting hulks, the UNSC were still vastly outnumbered. The battle was about to be launched into its climax.
UNSC Serena, Vindicator class carrier
Above the Citadel Tower
"Spartan teams, ODST Battalion Zimmer, head to your drop pods. We have broken through the Turian lines and are approaching the drop zone. ETA 5 minutes." The Serena's AI announced over the drop-bay tannoys.
John secured his assault rifle into his pod's weapon slot with a satisfying click. He placed a hand on the frame of his pod and started climbing in. With a foot into the pod, he paused for a moment and turned his right - taking in the scene.
10 other Spartan IIs, the last of their kind in the entire galaxy were stepping into their pods. They moved with purpose and dedication that John had not seen in decades. The Spartans may have been considered too old for active service at this date, but they were still the most dangerous, experience and trained soldiers the UNSC could field. Besides, John highly doubted anyone was going to tell a seven-feet tall super soldier clad in half-tonne armour that they were too old to fight. When the reports of the first contact with the Turians reached UNSC command, the surviving Spartan IIs were all redeployed from training duty and sent back to UNSC Preston Cole - to form part of the vanguard of humanity. Generally, the concept of emotions did not really apply to Spartans, but John was feeling something in him though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Spartan Gray Team were the furthest away from him, each member stowing grenades and silenced submachine guns and assault rifles. Off all the Spartans II teams, they were the most covert and sneaky out of them all. Spartan Red Team, survivors of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, were next. They were nearly the complete opposite of their comrades in Gray Team. Choosing DMRs, demolition charges, rocket launchers and John was convinced that he spied Alice-130 locking in a handheld chaingun. They were the most adept at knocking down the front door and making their presence known, though, despite that, they could operate discreetly but only if the situation called for it. Closest to John were the final three Spartan IIs, they were the closest thing he had to a family now that the late Doctor Halsey was no longer with them, having passed away quietly in her sleep barely a year before the UNSC found John. Frederic-104, Kelly-087 and Linda-058, together along with John they formed Spartan Blue team. The most well rounded and infamous Spartan team that ever existed. Fred sheathed his oversized knife into its sheath on his chest, Linda was debating which of her many modifications to bring and Kelly was strapping two Magnums to her leg holsters. Satisfied that they were locked in place, she looked up at John and swiped two of her fingers across her faceplate. The Spartan 'Smile'.
John returned it, swiping two of his fingers across his faceplate. Kelly turned back to her dropod, securing her straps before closing the hatch. As the other Spartans started closing their hatches, John finally brought himself into his own pod, securing the straps and tapping the commands to close his hatch. When the hatch closed with a hiss, that ever so familiar voice spoke.
"So, can I talk now? Or are you still brooding over meeting your brothers and sisters again?"
John blinked without betraying any emotion. "You know you mean a lot to us as well right? You could have said something if you wanted to."
"Oh I know I could have," Cortana said, now fully stabilized by ONI techs on the Preston Cole before being handed back to John. Lieutenant Shepard kept her word, John made a note to himself to remember that. "But I felt it was a moment that you needed to have with them."
Not knowing what to say, John changed topic. "Have you sent the plan to the others yet?"
"By that, if you're asking if I have sent copies of the plan to my copies, not fragments kind you, in the other Spartan IIs. Then yes. It's admirable to think that ONI, of all people, came up with a way to cure rampancy but to improve our OS system so that I can be in several places at one time and not lose my mind. I think Parangosky is rolling in her grave at how liberal her organisation has become." Cortana answered, chuckling to herself.
John rolled his eyes and adjusted his comm channel to listen in to the ODSTs.
"Marines get to ride down in fancy-ass Pelicans. If you ask me, those buckets are just bigger targets asking to be shot down. But not for us my fellow ODSTs. We travel downwards in style." A voice shouted.
Another voice, the AI of the Serena, cut in over the speakers. "Opening bay doors, stand by for deployment. 30 seconds."
"You all have your orders, and you all know our objective and what is at stake here. We are here to safeguard humanity. We fended off the Innies, the Covenant bastards, the thrice-damned Flood. And you can be damn well certain that we will fend off this so called aliens.- " The first voice shouted again.
"20 seconds."
"- Remember that once you hit the ground, find cover and your squadmates. Then we make for the target building and secure it. We haven't simmed this before, but I will be damned if a single building stops us for achieving glory today. -"
"10 seconds."
"- My fellow brothers and sisters.- "
"5." Beep
"- there is no one I would rather have fighting by my side today. -"
"4." Beep
"But ladies and gentleman, what is our motto?!" The voice screamed.
"3." Beep
"Feet First Into Hell!." A thousand voices screamed in unison.
"2." Beep
"Damn straight, I'll see you on the ground." John couldn't help himself but grin at the speech he heard.
"1." Beeeeep. "Commencing drop."
At that instant, thousands of drop pods shot out from the underbelly of the UNSC carrier. Each achieving terminal velocity soon after being released. The sky was filled with flak. Explosions shook John's pod as it streaked down towards the space station. He stared out the small viewport at the mess of the ensuing space battle. Streaks of blue were countered by the streams of missiles and the brief yellow flashes of MAC guns. Wreckage from Turian ships drifting freely amongst all the organised chaos. A pair of Turian fighters were turned into scrap as they were caught in the Serena's defensive AA fire. One collided with a nearby ODST drop pod on its way down, a scream from the pod's occupant was heard for a brief second before static took over.
John checked the altitude. Another 1000 metres to go. He told himself. He checked his Spartans vitals in his HUD, all green still. No complications.
He remained completely calm as his drop pod covered the remaining distance in seconds before smashing into the ground, smashing into whatever was beneath it. As the hatch to his pod blasted outwards, he stepped out, grabbing his assault rifle in the process.
"So just like that time on Installation 05. Ready to get to work?" Cortana said.
Hidden behind his visor and invisible to all but Cortana, John grinned. It was good to be back in the action. The ground shook as other landing pods landed around him, hatches popping to reveal the other Spartan IIs. Further away were groups of ODSTs hastily organising themselves, as they prepared to storm the building in front of them. What seemed tiny from space was a lot bigger now that John was on the ground. The towering structure elegantly loomed over them dominating Johns foreground, with the flak and space battle painting the background.
"Chief!" Cortana shouted in alarm, "I'm detecting multiple hostiles at the entrance and lower floors of the target building."
A stream of bullets ricocheted off the ground next to him. Blue machine gun fire spewing from automated turrets at the entrance to the tower. Uniformed Turians, Salarians and Asari began opening fire at the UNSC troops with short controlled bursts. Their blue and black colour scheme identifying them as C-Sec, Citadel Security.
"Spartans. Move up. I want rockets on those turrets." John ordered, switching back to the Spartan's private channel. Barely a second later a pair of rockets flew from shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, consuming the turrets in balls of fire.
John led the way, raising his MA7. He squeezed the trigger and the glorious sound of the assault rifle staccato filled his ears. Lead spat out from the barrel while spent cartridges were ejected, clinking as they hit the ground. His first burst caught an Asari in the shoulder, his next blew the head of a Salarian and the cycle continued. His fellow Spartans copied him with unparalleled accuracy as they charged the entrance, downing the C-Sec guards within seconds. A pair of well-placed grenades sent more C-Sec guards flying from their cover.
By the time John reached the entrance, more than 30 C-Sec guards lay dead or incapacitated. Pools of blood starting to form on the floor, their bodies limp in all forms. As John checked for additional hostiles the ODSTs started to converge on the entrance, their faces displaying disappointment and annoyance that the Spartans were getting all the kills. Professionalism forced them to move on, deploying portable machine guns on the flanks, portable surface to air missiles at strategic locations and anti-personnel mines on the paths to the entrance of the building. Companies were organized to secure the surrounding buildings to prepare for the inevitable counterattack. Squads were preparing to storm the Citadel Tower.
John pinged the door on his HUD, and made some gestures with his free hand. Fred ran up to the door, placing a block of C-12 on it, before taking cover. Pulling out a detonator, he barely a second before pressing down. The door was blown inwards, the explosion leaving nothing but rubble in its place. Before the smoke had even cleared, John sprinted in, gunning down more C-Sec officers who were taking cover behind makeshift barricades. As the other Spartans and ODSTs flooded in, the sound of gunfire dominated the lobby drowning out the screams and cries of pain coming from the C-Sec officers. A grenade took care of the last bit of resistance taking cover behind a desk. John stepped over the corpses, he felt a small measure of sympathy for them, they were brave soldiers only doing their duty. None of them would have woken up in the morning thinking that today would be their last.
"Gray team, take the lower levels. Red team the mid levels. Blue team with me, we take the top. Find the Councilors, remember we want them alive." John reminded them, trusting each of them to recall the finer details of the plan.
"I know I don't need to tell you this, but don't take the lifts. They are ridiculously slow." Cortana joked.
Her remark earned a few chuckles from Red Team. John swept his vision across his Spartans. "Move." He said.
As Gray and Red teams sprinted off, a female ODST Major approached John. "Master Chief, Major Johnson, where do you want us?"
John thought about it for a minute, before reaching a decision. "Ma'am, I need 2 platoons to assist in helping my teams in sweeping the building. We need to be thorough and there's a lot more ground to cover. Have the rest of your men take up defensive positions around the building, C-Sec will no doubt want to push us out. It is crucial we hold out until reinforcements arrive."
"Don't worry Master Chief, we'll make them sorry they even attempted to retake this building. I'll have the platoon leaders report to you shortly." He nodded, before turning on his heel and walked back outside.
Seconds later, a pair of marine Lieutenants jogged up to John. "MasterChief, what do you need us to do?" One of them asked. While John was technically subordinate to them, it had been drilled into them at Officer School to follow one rule: experience takes precedence.
"Sirs, I have 2 Spartan teams moving through the building as we speak. If you could follow them and help mop up resistance in the building, we will accomplish this a lot faster." John suggested. Based on what intelligence he had, there were thousands of rooms in the building, and he had to sweep each one looking for the Councilors would be time consuming.
"A sound plan Chief, consider it done." The other Lieutenant replied, moving away to give orders to his men.
An explosion was heard coming from outside when John's comms crackled to life. "Master Chief, Major Johnson here. C-Sec is counter-attacking, they aren't in great force but I suspect more of them to arrive soon. I would appreciate if you could get a move on before I lose my battalion."
"We're moving Ma'am." John replied. He ejected his half spent magazine from his MA7, grabbing a new one from his utility belt and pushing it into place. It locked with a satisfying clack.
"Blue team, let's move."
Temporary C-Sec Firebase Delta
Around the Citadel Tower, Citadel
Spectre Saren Arterius ran past a pair of Turian officers setting up turrets into the lobby of an office building, hastily converted into one of several checkpoints set up around the Citadel Tower. Mounted turrets were emplaced behind clumsily and rapidly assembled strong points made of sandbags and debris. Patrol cars were airlifting in crates of firearms from the multiple C-Sec positions across the Citadel. There were a few regular army units stationed across the Citadel, mainly Turian and Salarian Marine units on shore leave, they poured into the firebase frantically searching for weapons. Assault squads were being organized, a mixture of both Marines and C-Sec personnel. The aliens had stormed the Citadel Tower and wiped out the first line of defence, and the Councilors status unknown. The humans were jamming all communications, to Saren's dismay.
"You there!" He called out to an Asari C-Sec officer running past him. "Who is in command here?"
Her annoyed expression disappeared from her face once she recognised the newest Spectre, "Executor Palin. He's over there by that prefab shelter." She pointed to a Turian in black armour, surrounded by a dozen C-Sec officers. Saren nodded his head in appreciation, the Asari taking that as her cue to leave.
Saren walked over just as Palin dismissed his subordinates. The Head of C-Sec noticed him immediately. "Make it quick Spectre, I have to find the Councilors and break through those human defences." He said, his attention split between Saren and a datapad.
"What's the plan?" Saren asked. He had a few ideas of his own to chip in from his experience in the Turian Blackwatch, but he held his tongue, for now, to see what Palin had in mind.
Palin looked up from his datapad to analyse the contested Citadel Tower. "So far the enemy seems to be entrenched at the entrance and on the buildings on the flanks. We've taken back one of the buildings on the flanks, and the other should be back in our hands shortly. But every attempt we've made for the Tower itself has been repulsed." Pausing for a moment, he let out a short sigh. "I've lost too many officers trying to take the Tower back. Even a pair of gunships as well." He faced the open ground between the firebase and the Tower, it was strewn with fallen C-Sec officers, their black uniforms littering the white floor. A patrol car stabbed the ground, it's rear end sticking out at a 45-degree angle, smoke rising from the engine intakes.
He turned, facing himself to Saren, shoulders heavy with despair. "Honestly Spectre, other than throwing more bodies at them, I don't have a good plan. I suppose the only good thing to come out of this is what we've eliminated a substantial portion of their troops."
Saren saw this as his chance. "Executor, how many formal marine units have assembled?"
Palin pondered for a moment, accessing his memories. "About 4 platoons of Turian marines, 3 platoons of Salarian merchant marine and a single Asari commando squad."
"Gunships and fleet support?" Saren asked, his experience fighting Batarian slavers reminding him of the importance of air support.
"I have a pair ready for action, callsigns Talon 4 and 5. I am ordering all available forces to converge on the Tower so we should have more support soon. As for fleet support," he grimaced, "I heard from Matriarch Lidanya, they're taking heavy casualties, they might be falling back to the Relay soon. She sent word to the 4th Fleet on the other side, so hopefully they'll arrive in time."
Saren cringed at the loss of fleet support. It made his job a little bit harder. "Alright we need to move now, if the fleet is falling back then these aliens can expect reinforcements soon. Permission to take command of the regular troops?"
Palin gave his blessing, before moving off to supervise his troops. It occurred to Saren that of course, C-Sec couldn't retake the Tower, they were the police force and barely a paramilitary one at best. They were for keeping the peace, not assaulting a defended position.
He strode over to the regular troops standing idly, lost for instructions. "Who's in command here?" He called out to them.
A trio of Turian Lieutenants stepped forward, along with an Asari Huntress. The Salarians still looked lost, Saren deduced that their platoon leader was missing or dead.
"I am Spectre Saren Arterius. Effectively immediately, I am taking temporary command of your units." They looked at one another, confused at the suddenness of this. Saren continued, "we need to retake the Tower, the Councilors are still in there and we have no idea where they are. But under no circumstances can the humans capture them."
Looking determined, they looked ready to die to save the Councilors. "How do we go about that sir?" One of the Turian Lieutenants asked.
"We are going to leapfrog our way towards the entrance. One platoon will move up while the rest lay suppressing fire. Then another will move up. Then we repeat. We have a pair of gunships who will be making low-level strafing runs to assist. But we must reach the entrance. Any questions?" Saren answered rapidly, time was of the essence.
Silence prevailed across the force, only interrupted by the occasional burst of gunfire. The Turian were designated Platoons 1 to 4, the Asari were the 5th and the Salarians were split up between the Turians. "Alright, we move now," Saren ordered.
The force charged forward, assault rifles at the ready. The second they left the safety of the C-Sec firebase, they were met with a hail of bullets erupting from the entrance of the Tower. The bullets rained of them with unparalleled accuracy, as a Turian private found out. The first bullet hit him squarely in the chest, the second broke his kinetic barriers, the third went clean through his head. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Saren took cover behind a bench, the rest of his men copying him, hiding their profiles behind whatever they could find. He peeked his head, noting the human defences.
"1st Platoon move up, everyone else provide covering fire. Now!" He raised his head about the bench, squeezing the trigger as he did so. Rounds left his barrel, heat building up with each shot. The Turian platoon broke cover and charged forward, moving only a few meters at a time before finding cover again. The process repeated over and over, his men were making progress but at a cost. Each time they broke cover, one or two marines were killed. They were about halfway there when Saren's comms crackled to life.
"Saren! Come in!" Palin shouted into his ear through the earpiece.
"Executor, I'm here," Saren replied, jerking his head back as a shot chipped a bit of the wall he was hiding behind.
"Saren the fleet is falling back to the Relay. They're taking heavy casualties. And our forward observers report that human ships are closing in on the Citadel. You have to break through now! We are running out of time."
"We'll do our best. Saren out." He cut the line and mentally cursed to himself. A quarter of his men were dead, and they still had half way to go. "Asari Commandos, get out there and form biotic barriers."
The commandos broke cover and sprinted into the open, miraculously avoiding being hit. Their armor glowed with blue energy as the natural biotics put up massive domes of biotic shielding.
"Everyone into the shields!" Saren ordered. His surviving troops rushed into the domes, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Safely inside the barrier, bullets harmlessly bounced off the biotic barrier.
"Push forward!" He yelled. Together they edged their way forward, meter by meter. The Asari commandos using every ounce of strength in them to hold up the barriers. Saren switched the comms channel, "Talon 4, Talon 5 come in. Spectre 142 requesting air support."
An Asari voice crackled in, "Talon 4 here, where do you need us?"
"I need you to run a low-Level strafing run across the entrance to the Citadel Tower. Approach from bearing 140. Guns and rockets." Saren requested, if he could time the air strike just right, he could break through.
"Affirmative 142, we're inbound hot. ETA 1 minute, vectoring in hot." Came the reply, Saren breathing a sigh of relief only to have his face turn into horror a second later.
One of the Asari commandos collapsed from exhaustion, her barrier dissipating with her fall. As the protective barrier fell, human machine gun fire ripped into those once sheltered by the now gone barrier. Their shouts of pain drowned out by a pair of explosions. Limbs were separated from bodies, blood started oozing out from them. Saren winced as more than 20 men were killed instantly, but he was more determined to push forward. He needed to distract them so the gunships could make their attack run.
The familiar hum of gunship engines entered the corpse-strewn battlefield as his comms came to life once again. "Talon 4, Talon 5 on station. Rockets away. Guns guns guns." The gunship pilots reported.
The gunships unleashed a barrage of rockets, each with the power to take out a Mako. The rockets slammed into the ground, throwing debris, weapons and bodies into the air. Rapid flashes spat out from the chin mounted turret, bullets shredding the human positions. The gunships emptied their rocket pods and ejected the turrets heat sinks, flying over the human positions with incredible speeds. Their high-speed, low altitude approach caught the humans by surprise. As the gunships buzzed over, their jet wash blew over bullet-ridden corpses, pushed trickling blood across the pavement painting it a crimson red.
"Drop barriers! Grenades!" Saren roared, motivated by the effectiveness of the strafing run. The exhausted Asari dropped their barriers, and Turian and Salarian marines primed and lobbed grenades behind the makeshift human barricades. As the grenades detonated, the volume of human fire decreased. A few dazzled and concussed stragglers stumbled towards the entrance of the Tower, only to be cut down by well-placed shots from the advancing Citadel forces. Saren urges his men forward as they charged up a small staircase. At the top of it, he witnessed the carnage the gunships had wrought and felt no remorse whatsoever. He felt nothing, indifferent. They were soldiers following orders.
He pinged the Executor's comm unit, Palin's voice came on a few seconds later. "Spectre, status?"
"We've retaken the entrance. Though I'm fairly certain most of them are still bottled up inside the building. I'll need reinforcements to break through." Saren reported, now confident in his ability to secure the Councilors. He didn't notice the shadow creeping up on him.
"Very well, more marine units have arrived. I'll be sending them your way soon. In the meantime - by the spirits." The line suddenly cut, but Saren detected the mixture of awe and fear in the Executor's voice.
Saren felt the shockwaves flow over him, he turned back and Firebase Delta was a smoking pile of debris. Only now he then noticed the shadow engulfing him, and a chill fam down his spine. He turned around and looked up. The sun was gone, the sky was gone, in its place was a massive human super-dreadnought, longer and larger than most Turian ships. Flying alongside were smaller human cruisers, protecting the super-dreadnought. A pack of Turian frigates jumped in rather close proximity to the human vessels, launching disruptor torpedoes en mass. From the ground, Saren saw the results of this futile attempt. The super-dreadnought and it's escorts destroyed most of the torpedoes before they even got close, returning fire with what seemed to be overpowered mass accelerator shots. One shot took out a wing of one of the Turian frigates, the next crippled the vessel amidships. Another frigate lost its starboard engines, causing it to collide with a nearby frigate, the resulting exploding from compromised mass effect cores consuming them both. The entire pack was wiped out in minutes.
This race is no stranger to war. They clearly hold a technological advantage to us, the best we can do is outfight and outsmart them. Saren thought to himself, the once subtle rage now building slowly. A race of beings technologically and militarily superior to the Turians, besides the Protheans this was unacceptable. Hundreds of Turians aboard those frigates died to what end? They barely even touched the enemy ships. The cost in lives for both sides was so disproportionate he had no words to describe it. To Saren it seemed that for every bit of ground they retook, at least 5 men died. And for every one of their soldiers who fell, at least 10 paid the ultimate price.
The human super-dreadnought moved directly above Saren. Multiple black specks flew out from the massive vessel, getting larger each second. What seemed to be platforms dropped from the belly of the vessel, specks of grey getting larger with each passing second.
Dropships and drop-pods. Saren realised. They're the ground reinforcements Executor Palin predicted would arrive. "All units, fall back! Fall back!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping enough of his troops would hear him through the chaos. He started sprinting away from the Tower, in no particular direction. Some saw the Spectre run, and figured now would be a good a time as any to follow. Others blindly stood there, as if they were glued in place by fear. They were crushed seconds later by a massive plate. Saren spied a look over his shoulder and what he saw terrified him.
On the massive plate was a massive six-legged vehicle. At least 10 meters tall and 22 meters long, an armoured cockpit dominated the front centre, with four cannons around it, and two more cannons at the rear. It sported a massive rail gun on the roof that looked capable of annihilating everything.
Saren just about managed to find cover when the enemy walker opened fire. It wiped out a platoon's worth of Saren's men instantly. He tucked himself into a ball and felt himself starting to break. He had victory and glory snatched away from him, and now his men were dying all around him. As the enemy dropships began landing, humans began disgorging from them. Saren switched his comms to a more open channel.
"All units! Firebase Delta is gone, I say again, Firebase Delta is gone! Fall-" An explosion cut off the voice.
"They're landing everywhere! Spirits the commander is dead, we need reinforcement-"
"Mayday mayday! Talon 4 going down, port thrusters gone. I'll try to put her down - Goddess, missile incomin-" static replaced the Asari pilot's voice.
"All hands, this is the Captain of the Verrikar, we've lost thrusters. The reactor is red-lining, we cannot contain the breach!" Klaxons could be heard before a series of explosions cut it off.
"Firebase Alpha is being overrun, they're cutting us down. Requesting reinforcements.
Saren squeezed his eyes shut, and braces himself for what he was about to do. "All units in the immediate vicinity of the Citadel Tower. This is Spectre Saren Arterius. Stand down, I say again, stand down. Surrender your arms and hope for the best." He switched off the comms channel and cried as he dropped his weapon and spied human soldiers moving towards him.
Inside the Citadel Tower
The thermite charge blew open a hole in the door, the unstable mix of chemicals and explosives bent and melted metal, giving off a distinct smell. Before the smoke had dissipated, a trio of flashbangs and stun grenades flew into the room, gracefully bouncing off the floor. They detonated sending white flashes and a loud bang across the room. John waltzed into the room, squeezing the trigger of his assault rifle in controlled bursts. The remainder of Blue team followed him, with appropriate rates of fire for their weapons. The dozen or so occupants were neutralized in seconds, disoriented and blinded, they couldn't offer much of a fight. That seemed to be the way things were happening so far, General Williams informed him earlier that C-Sec in the immediate vicinity of the Tower were surrendering, with that the Marines were branching out striking targets across the Citadel.
"Clear." John announced, his voice stoic, they had searched room after room and there was no sign of the Councilors. They had even checked the Citadel Council Chamber and even their private offices, all had come up short.
"Relax Chief, only another 39 rooms to check." Cortana added sarcastically, John would never understand how she managed to find all this funny. "Red and Grey teams report that their sections of the building are nearly secure. Though they also report no sign of the Councilors."
John didn't react to that, it was expected of him and his fellow Spartans to carry out their duty at the highest levels of efficiency. Whatever the cost. "Blue team, next room." He ordered.
The four Spartans marched out of the room, rifles raised scanning every angle and surface. They re-entered the corridor and followed it, their heavy footsteps echoing down the pristine marble floor. With efficiency second to none, they cleared room after room, but without success. Each time, they repeated the same process, leaving a trail of dead C-Sec officers and guards in their wake.
They approached a corner, John held up a fist signalling Blue Team to stop. He could hear something, it sounded like a lot of shuffling and nervous breathing. He peeked his head around the wall, only to jerk it back instantly as bullets whizzed through space where his head would have been milliseconds ago. "I count 24 hostiles."
Cortana chimed in, her tone the usual uplifting and sarcastic. "Actually it's 34 if you add the guys hiding behind cover and pair mounting the turret. But it 10 men shouldn't make much difference would it? Some heavy firepower would do the trick."
John turned to face Fred, Blue Teams local heavy weapons specialist. "Fred hit the turret first."
"Finally I get to use this." He said happily, hefting the 20 kilogram M8 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, or more commonly known as the Spartan Laser, onto his shoulder. Aesthetically, the M8 was identical to its predecessor, the M6, but thanks to Forerunner technology it was more efficient, slightly lighter and packed a bigger punch. Fred squeezes the trigger halfway, an increasingly high pitched whine indicated the laser was charging. As soon as the whine's pitch stabilized, Fred sighted the turret, confirmed the calibration between the laser and his HUD, aimed and pressed down hard on the trigger. Directed energy lashed out from the barrel covering the distance between itself and the torrent instantly. The destructive power ripped through whatever shielding it had, consuming it and everything in its immediate vicinity in fire.
Before the explosion had dissipated, Blue team charged around the corner, guns blazing. The sound effects of assault rifles, shotguns and pistols forming an orchestra on its own. Shell casings dropped to the floor like flowing water. It was over in seconds, bodies lay limp on the cold floor, slumped over makeshift barricades. Some had managed to get a few shots off, but it didn't do much.
John ejected his spent magazine onto the floor before reloading a fresh one. As he pulled the bolt back with a satisfying click, his shields regenerated giving off that lifesaving hum. Only now he realised that he was staring at a flat wall in front of him, a dead end.
Why bother defending this dead end with so much firepower? Perhaps it was their final stand? He thought to himself, swivelling his head to analyze the corpses around him. This is the final part of the building we haven't checked. So it is possible that this is their final stand. Unless…
In his HUD, John activated his suits thermal imaging suite. Reverse engineered Forerunner technology allowed UNSC engineers to improve upon infrared imaging sensors, they now had the ability to penetrate most materials, detect heat build ups and even separate living beings from hot objects. He scanned the wall, and three blooms lit up. They were all in different stances, one was sitting, another looked to be hiding and the final one appeared to be in a shooting stance.
A safe room, John realised. Using hand signals, Blue team stacked up on the wall, Linda placed a breach charge on the hidden door before retreating to a safe distance. John nodded to her and produced a flashbang from his utility belt. Linda tapped the detonator and the door blew inwards. John tossed the flash bang in, bouncing off one of the walls before exploding right in front of the figures' heads. As they staggered backwards in confusion, John charged in, disarming one the only armed figure - a Turian. As the Turian fell back stunned, the other two figures recovered and stared in confusion and defiance as they stared at Blue Team's raised weapons.
"Chief, I've run facial recognition. This is them, the Councilors." Cortana spoke through his internal helmet speakers.
"Open a channel to General Williams." John replied, a split second was all it took for Cortana to open the channel. John cleared his throat, "General Williams, we have them. Package secured."
UNSC Reach, Dauntless class Dreadnought
All things considered, the battle wasn't going to badly. Even with the arrival of the Turian reinforcements, Athena's ships were holding the line. Her carriers had entered the Citadel and deployed General Williams troops, and they had even repelled a small incursion of Turian frigates. The only downside was that most of the fleet's carriers and escorts were now deployed within the Citadel arms. Despite the small success, Athena's escort ships were paying a heavy price for it. Most of her larger capital ships had the shields and armour to absorb most of the Citadel barrages, the same could not be said for the escorts though. They were being singled out and destroyed through sheer volume of mass accelerator rounds. Turian attack bombers were making runs at the ships on the periphery of the formation forcing Athena to move them further to the rear of the formation and bring the heavier ships up to take their place. But every time a cruiser or a larger vessel was destroyed, the sting hurt a lot more.
"Admiral UNSC Alamo is reporting heavy damage. Her Captain is requesting permission to fall back." Her comms officer shouted over the klaxons.
"Permission granted. Have the Ashani and the Constitution move up and take her place." Athena replied, gripping her armrests tighter as the bridge shook from the impacts of mass accelerator rounds.
The Reach was in the thick of it, absorbing an endless stream of mass accelerator rounds. Her hard-light shields glowing gold with every hit, orange rocket glows followed the missiles launched from her missile tubes, fighter and bombers flew in and out of hangars replenishing their ammunition stores. Every minute or so, the PMAC or energy projectors flashed white with destructive brilliance. Inbound disruptor torpedoes were being shot out by point defence guns painting a nice blue. The purple of the Serpent Nebula was the perfect background for the explosion of colours that the space battle produced.
"Admiral, shields are down to 10%, we're detecting fluctuations all across the ship - mainly due to disruptor torpedo hits. Missile expenditure at 50%. PMAC gun 1 has overheated. Fighter screen maintaining position" Captain Duellos reported, years of military discipline forcing the calm controlled tone of his voice. Now that Athena was an Admiral, the heavy micro-managing task of commanding her vessel fell to her former XO.
"Noted. Keep firing Commander." Athena answered, the ship was now shaking more violently as portions of the shields gave way and bits of armour playing were blown off. A disruptor torpedo lucked through the point defence fire and hit the armour plating, warping it before ripping a sizeable chunk of it off. She had to give the Turians credit, they adapted to UNSC tactics fast. They were randomly manoeuvring their ships, making it that little bit harder for the AI's to track their targets. She studied her tactical display and glanced over at Hackett's lines. They were holding the line, but losing more ships. The Asari ships packed a bigger punch than the Turians, and could take the more hits. The massive vessel which ONI had identified as the Destiny Ascension had even survived a direct hit from a PMAC, it was barely functioning but it had survived.
"Comms, get me Admiral Hackett!" She yelled, the comms officer nodded and typed into his console furiously, eventually bringing the Admiral's face onto the display. "Admiral Hackett, do you require assistance?" She asked.
"Negative Admiral. Hold the line, we cannot risk the Citadel fleets breaking through. The Union should be here soon -" he looked off-screen for a minute to yell at one of his officers. "Damnit Captain I know the Icebreaker has lost her fighter wing, order her to stay in position. I'll detach a group from the Harvest to assist. Admiral keep holding the line, but whatever happens, do not let the Turians turn your flank. If they do our carriers are at risk."
"Understood sir. If you still-"
"Admirals!" Her comms officer interrupted, "General Williams reports that the Councilors have been found and are willing to surrender with conditions. He is awaiting further orders."
Hackett grinned but maintained his serious composure. "Good. Tell the General that he is not to accept any surrender, even if it's unconditional until the Union get here and we have crippled more of their fleet. We need to send them a message that we are not to be trifled with." Athena's comms officer acknowledged the order and began transmitting it. "Now all we need to do is hold out until the Union get here. I will send word to General Achen, inform him to continue striking military targets across the Citadel until told otherwise." As he finished, Athena caught a glimpse of a shower of sparks raining down around him.
"Very good sir. Admiral if you still need reinforcements, I can spare a few ships to reinforce your flank. Should you need them of course." Athena offered - according to her tactical display, Hackett's right flank was taking a pounding. The Salarians were doing long range hit and run attacks on Hackett's ships, and it was taking its toll.
Hackett pondered for a moment, calmly rubbing his grey beard as chaos evolved behind him. "Very well Admiral, I'll take your offer for assistance. Have them put on the extreme right, extend the line out. Maybe it will make the Salarians think twice before trying another attack again. Hackett out."
Athena cursed silently to herself at the situation they were in. Essentially they were holding a blockade of the Citadel and the Citadel races seemed hell-bent on breaking through. Though every attempt they had made so far resulted in failure. The entire space was littered with debris, chunks of torn hull plating drifted lazily, bodies sucked out into the vacuum of space frozen solid rotated on their own axes.
"Admiral, detecting slipspace ruptures at the Relay. It's the Union, they're here!" The sensor officer shouted out. As she finished, hundreds of slipspace portals opened and poured out the sleek Union vessels. As they decanted, they unleashed a flurry of energy projectors and plasma torpedoes. Each one burning through the hull of the Citadel ships. Their technologically inferior kinetic barriers not designed at all to counter plasma weaponry. It was only a matter of time before enough of the Citadel fleet was disabled or destroyed. The Union carried out their part of the mission with ruthless efficiency, launching volley after volley of plasma torpedoes. Seemingly endless streams of energy lances sliced through hull armour like a sharp knife through paper.
"To all UNSC and Union vessels, this is Admiral Hackett." His voice suddenly boomed over an open comms channel. "Ceasefire, I say again ceasefire. As of now, an unconditional surrender from the Citadel Council has been accepted. All ships are to stand down and begin recovery operations. The day is ours, well done to you all. Hackett out."
Almost instantly, every UNSC and Union ship ceased firing. The UNSC AI's dropped their cyberwarfare suites and jamming signals and finally allowed the Council to talk to their own fleets, and soon after they stopped firing. The battle was over, Athena allowed herself to slump into her chair and relaxed her muscles. She never realised how exhausted she was until now.
Wearily standing up, she turned to Captain Duellos. "Captain, begin recovery operations. I'll be in my quarters." She registered a single 'aye admiral' before she unconsciously blocked everything else out.
Without waiting for a reply, she walked through the bridge blast doors as they slid open. The marine guards presenting their arms in salute. As she strode through the corridors, damage control teams were already running around, welding torches and Huragok in tow. Injured sailors were being rushed to sickbay for treatment. As she approached her quarters, another pair of marine guards saluted her. She managed to salute back before entering her 20 by 15-metre room, dropping on the bed and drifted off to sleep.
Office of Naval Intelligence
Clearance: Level 2 (Analyst and higher)
Department: ONI Section 1
Report Subject: Marine Heavy Assault Walker 'Oliphant'
Date Published: 3rd July 2589
Taking on inspiration from the Mantis. The Marine Corps and the Army decided to embrace a broader use of walker vehicles. With the Mantis an already tried and tested vehicle, The Corps and the Army turned to the Oliphant. A six-legged beast with enough firepower to fight off both infantry and just about any other vehicle known in existence. Equipped with six 40mm anti-personnel cannons and a single rooftop mounted extended barrel Mini-MAC. The Oliphant is more than capable of handing out punishment. With armour thicker than the Komodo Dragon MBTs, she is also incredibly well armoured. However, she trades speed off for these advantages. While she is slow, her height means that her crew is better protected from landmine blasts. With feet that can grapple almost any surface, these walkers are also theoretically capable of climbing any vertical height.
With armour and firepower unparalleled by any other vehicle in the UNSC, but with a slow top speed. It is recommended that this vehicle be used in breakthrough situations, either from a landing zone or to establish a beach-head. Designers have also designed it to be able to be dropped from space with an enlarged modified version of the ODST DropPod. In short, this vehicle would be an excellent assault vehicle, especially in terrain that does not favour tracked or wheeled vehicles.
In the Marine test pilots words "I cannot wait to field test this thing."
AN: Thanks to Azrael The Deplorable for pointing out the confusion with the surrendering, it has now been rectified.
