AN 1: I am frankly astounded by how much you guys like me. 500+ reviews, 800+ favorites and a 1000+ follows. You guys are the best. I also love the fact that so many people have participated in my humble little poll. Here are the results-
1) Small & Peaceful - 136 votes - 27%
2)Medium & Moderate - 238 votes - 48%
3) Large & Bloody - 113 - 23%
Unique Voters - 487
Well since there is now a clear winner, we will now have a Medium & Moderate War. Since I had to wait for the poll results, this decision will not be implemented until the next chapter. This chapter will... well why don't you guys just read it for yourselves.
The Harbinger Of Change
Chapter 8: Cleanup
Every soldier stopped fighting. All of them just turned to stare at the beast that descended from the sky like a God. Awe, hope, fear, disbelief, reverence. These expressions all passed through the faces of the people there.
They were snapped out of their reverie by a cheer coming from the humans. A cheer that struck fear into his heart as his basic translator repeated the words for him in the turian language.
"The Emperor Has Come!"
In Orbit Around Shanxi
The remains of the turian Fourth Fleet held their positions above Shanxi. The cruisers were pulled back with a few of them firing at the planet. Meanwhile the frigates formed a screening line around them in order to intercept any surprise surface to orbit missiles the humans might have hidden up their sleeves.
The bombardment had put a serious dent in the ammo of the turian main guns. Most of the people on the ships knew that if they had even one operational dreadnought left, then they would have leveled the entire city by now.
Still, they did the best with what they had. They were turians after all. No matter what their orders, they would follow them to the letter with complete and utter dedication. After all, it was by following these types of orders that they were the supreme military force in the galaxy.
And this dedication and arrogance would be their downfall.
You see, they had about a 100 ships left (if you discount the still inoperable dreadnought at the edge of the system). And yet none of those 100 ships was patrolling around the fleet to serve as an early warning system.
If even one of those ships had been patrolling the edges of the system, then the fleet of 500 human ships would have been discovered. Then the turians might have had a chance to retreat or reinforce their lines. Then they might have had a fighting chance.
But they didn't. So what could have been a glorious last stand turned into a slaughter.
The Imperial Second Fleet used Quick Warp to jump right behind their lines and fire their first volley.
Their targets - the cruisers.
The ships that relied solely on mass effect technology could easily claim that their guns were faster and had a higher firing rate than their counterparts. But the one thing they lacked was the pure power of the human guns.
The first volley was fired at point blank range and had no chance of missing. With massive amounts of power behind them, the shots tore through the shields and impacted the armor with unforgiving brutality. Many ships were destroyed instantly while many others were either injured or crippled.
Before the rest of the Fourth could regroup, the massive Second broke formation and fired a wave of their missiles. The Archer missiles served to overwhelm their flimsy defenses and also serve as a screen for the far deadlier but fewer javelin torpedoes.
At the same time, the battleships and cruisers in the fleet released their fighters. These fighters did not engage the turian ships but rather formed a defensive line around all the ships. Any retaliatory shots or missiles by the Fourth were intercepted by them, the pilots sacrificing themselves to ensure that the Second will not lose a single frigate. Generally this maneuver would not be possible. However, the precision and perfect accuracy of the Second's AIs made sure that not a single shot managed to cause any damage to the Second's ships.
The decimated remains of the turians managed to form a basic firing line, but they were in for another surprise. The three carriers, which had stayed put at the edge of the system with a token guard, quickly jumped to positions right behind the newly formed firing line and released all their fighters and shuttles. Half of these fighters and all the shuttles quickly descended to the planet's surface to mop up any remaining turian resistance. The rest used their payload of missiles and guns to harass the turians' ships and wreak havoc on the their lines.
Under attack on both sides, the remnants of the once great fleet could not survive for long and was quickly eliminated.
The only surviving turian ship was Admiral Desolas' dreadnought Palaven's Might. and on the bridge of that ship, the aforementioned admiral stood. He felt so humiliated and enraged. He wanted to rip out somebody's spine with his bare hands.
The voice of his yeomen snapped him out of his dark thoughts. "Sir, something massive just appeared out of nowhere. Its right in front of us.
As he looked up, he froze at the sight. Right in front of his ship was a massive ship bristling with guns and weapons. It must have been at least 5 kilometers long and almost twice the size of the asari's vaunted Destiny Ascension.
His ship was just about to become fully operational again. But now this massive ship shows up to destroy them. They had no chance of surviving. They couldn't even go down fighting.
He was surprised when the ship did not fire at them. Instead a port opened along the centre releasing a single missile.
All of a sudden, a voice blared from his ships comms that almost caused him to openly weep in front of his crew.
"Knock Out missile released. Go to sleep birdies."
On The Planet's Surface
The battle on the ground followed the same path as the space battle. A quick turning of the tide and a crushing defeat for the turians.
Most experts would say that this rapid change was caused by the loss of orbital dominance and the inflow of reinforcements from the carriers.
The soldiers would claim that it was the sheer psychological effect of having a massive thunderbird rain down lightning bolts on your enemy's fortified positions.
Anti air defenses were useless. Biotics were useless. Missiles were useless. Standard gunfire was so useless that some turians even threw their guns at the hulking beast out of frustration.
Needless to say, that was useless as well.
With the tide turning, the turians quickly lost all the ground that they had painstakingly wringed from the defenders. Their Forward Operations Base was seized as well. It housed 14 human prisoners, including the barely alive Zaeed Massani, 5 goblin prisoners, 2 elven prisoners and one dazed and heavily tranquilized giant. None of the soldiers were able to explain how that happened.
As the turians were pushed back, the thunderbird followed. It made any airstrikes impossible and destroyed any remaining armor that might have been in play. At the same time, it allowed human troops to dominate the air and outflank the enemy at every turn.
The only area that was firmly under turian control was the spaceport. It was the location where they had first landed and the housing point of all their reserve forces.
Now, it was the site of their last stand.
THoC
The majestic bird howled inside him. It wanted to let loose fully. It wanted to crush the invaders that had dared to set foot in his domain without any mercy. It wanted to kill the bastards who dared to kill his people without any regard for collateral damage.
This was the drawback of transforming. The fact is he basked in the intoxicating power and strength of his form. He always enjoyed the experience. Yet he had to keep his inner animal spirit on a tight leash. He knew that if he let loose then he would be hard pressed to reign the monster that he was back in.
His rage made it much harder to remain in control. The sheer brutality and cowardice the turians had shown today filled him with an explosive and cold fury.
Yet he needed to remain in control, especially now. The bird faced bastards had been pushed back to the spaceport. The final assault would begin now.
Yet he felt great anticipation and regret. Regret because he would not be able to remain in his animagus form any longer due to the architecture of the spaceport. Anticipation because he could finally use some of the war magicks (yes, magicks not magics) that he had read up on from many dusty old tomes. Some of them were so destructive that they would have leveled the ancestral Potter manor and destroyed everything in it.
Some of these spells even magic fiendfyre look weak.
He almost felt sorry for the turians. Almost being the key word.
With a sigh, he transformed back right in the middle of the storm. Thanks to his animagus form, he was immune to lightning or any other electricity. For extra dramatic effect, he 'booked passage' on a lightning bolt and had it strike a small hill near the spaceport.
He effortlessly used his magic to part the cloud of dust that had risen from the impact and revealed himself to all onlookers. As he rose from his crouching position, he settled on the perfect words to announce his arrival. Turning to the turians, he whispered in a voice that somehow managed to reach the ears of every person in the battlefield.
"Now I Am Become Death, The Destroyer Of Worlds. And You Have The Privilege Of Being My Next Target."
THoC
Dear Daphne did always complain that his dramatic side rears its head at the worst of times.
His words seemed to have a noticeable effect though. Many of the turians were shaking in fear. Some even looked like they just wanted to drop their guns and beg for mercy. Even some of the human soldiers looked scared. Now why was this happening?
'Oh wait! I forgot to tone down my aura of power from full effect mode. Silly me.'
He absent mindedly noted that the turians were beginning to fire upon him. He quickly erected the protego and the aegis levis shield around him. The first would deflect energy while the second would deflect physical objects. The heavier the object, the more energy it would take. But, it was perfect for the turians' bullets which were the size of a grain of sand.
After observing the battlefield for a second, his tactical mind kicked in and formulated a plan. In an instant, he had sprung into action.
He unleashed a barrage of reductor and explosion curses to target strategic parts of the spaceport, causing many turians to be crushed under rubble. then, he transfigured said rubble into a number of animals which immediately began attacking. He used a prank spell to make many turians' guns turn to rubber. He used a combination of charms to make many of them believe that the soldier beside them was their mortal enemy. He even used a dark curse to cause spikes to shoot out of the ground and impale any ranking officers he could see through their groin.
Ouch.
Within a few minutes of his entry, the turians were in full retreat. Having lost all their commanders, they only knew that they were on enemy turf with very little chance of survival. In such a situation, their survival instinct kicked in and made them bolt towards the nearby forest.
A small frown marred his face when he saw that. If they managed to successfully hide there, it could take weeks to rout them all out. The forest would also be significantly harmed by their actions. No, that would not do at all.
There was only one thing for it.
He would have to use one of his precious chant spells. If the records of the tome which gave him the spell was correct, then the last time this spell had been cast was when Merlin had stormed Morgana's stronghold.
He ordered his soldiers to hold fire, stepping out in front of them all. Time to make history.
"Let the mists rise and roll
And hear the winds howl in the night"
The turians looked confused. They had no idea what was going on. Only a few noticed as the air stirred around them.
"The frigid storm rushes ever onward
Winter's bite wounds deeper each time"
The swirling of the air became more apparent as the cold mist started billowing up from the ground, being drawn by the quickening currents of wind. His voice was steadily gaining volume.
"The night sky and the cold stars stare down
From the tundra the white wolves howl for their lost"
A vortex of the wind and the mist seemed to form and was pulled towards him. His hands held a coalescing orb of pure frost that literally bled power.
"For the wicked have dared to sow chaos into the four winds
And now the evil shall face the whirlwind's destruction"
He could barely be seen now, so thick was the aura that surrounded him. The white orb though kept on getting brighter and brighter, almost hungry to cause destruction.
The spell was complete. All the people watching could feel it in their bones. The only thing left was for it to be released.
"Arctic Maelstrom!"
These words were screamed out and let the floodgates open.
A massive wave of ice was unleashed by the orb. It quickly made its way to the now running turians, seeking to entomb them forever. Its power incomprehensive. Its reach unending. Its wrath unavoidable.
It covered all the ground between him and the edge of the forest, making the ground look as if it had been viciously assaulted by a blizzard.
The fate of the turians was the most shocking. Almost a 1000 turians had been completely frozen over by the ice.
It was horrifyingly beautiful.
He was tired though. Almost too tired to appreciate it. But he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned to come face to face with his son, who was wearing a small smile so much like his mother's.
"Emperor, I came as soon as I heard you had arrived sir."
He had never felt more proud of his son. Weathering an assault as brutal as this but still maintaining his cool. And still sticking to his disguise.
He had raised a good man.
"The honor is all yours General."
General Michael Williams Potter smiled viciously and gracefully accepted the gift. Stepping forward to the cheers of his men, he readied himself, drew upon his power and cast wandlessly "Concussa Unda."
Another chapter over. I would like to credit the first sentence of the quote I used to Dr Oppenheimer (the second bit is all mine). Also, I would like to credit the chant I used to Landstradd's story 'The Sorting Hat's Stand/The Power Of The Mind'. All of us felt very very sad when he abandoned it.
I would also like to state that any English to Latin translations were taken from .com. If I have made any mistakes, then please let me know and blame Google.
Adios!
