Chapter 9
Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory!
~[==|==]~
Central Federation, Sol system, Earth, Hawai'i Island 2666GS/2338AD May 8
[Soundtrack: Mattia Cupelli - The World Falls]
Governor Alexander Williams looked over the map of Earth with some pride. When the bugs had first arrived, he'd been a bit worried things would be a slow grind backwards, but Earth, even at its most disorganized, was good at producing stubbornness.
Brazil with barely any advanced weapons and a critical shortage of manpower, with tactics and terrain alone, plugged up the bug hoard in South America and was slowly pushing them out, careful not to give the bugs a chance to escape or break through their thin lines. Reports from Frederico were coming in about bug deaths in the millions, he doubted it was that great, but that did indicate there may be a queen down there. He needed to send a pathfinder team at some point to hunt her down if that was true.
Africa on the other hand… well it could be doing better, the bugs were stuck out in the Sahara desert, the North African Union had managed to keep them confined, but there was no plan to get them out. Even with the decades of projects to turn back the desert and transform it into farmland, that swath of sand was nearly impenetrable to any large forces, the bugs on the other hand were supplied every day by the orbiting ships, and everyone was fearing a bug breakout to crush morocco, Libya, and Egypt. If they were lost, the Mediterranean would be wide open, and the possibility of losing the Suez and Gibraltar to them was a thought not worth bearing.
The Chinese-Mongolian Coalition were doing their damnedest to keep the bugs out of their lands, something about not losing the mandate of heaven… Now the Mongolians he could understand, their capital city and the entirety of their people were right on the front line, the Chinese states on the other hand had always been an odd ball after Hegemony fell apart, and now that odd ballness was leading to some fanatic resistance, outright mass attack charges against the bugs in the desert and mountains on their border. They were proble losing more men doing that then would have it they stayed entrenched, but it seemed to be working surprisingly well, the few bug forces that had come at them had been turned back or butchered, and the bugs were actually reluctant to attack them, with the Soldier bugs being forced to corral and then ignite fires behind the normal bugs just to get them to attack certain sections of the line.
Everything north of the Bugs there was Bug territory hardly inhabited, with little industrial resources after the Disorders.
Then there was the recent near disaster at Tsaritsyn Russia. The bugs had nearly managed to not just push the Federation out of it strong points in the city, but nearly made them outright rout. But by some miracle they had halted their advance into the city. However the bugs had not wasted their time, though the bugs in the city had stalled out and been pushed back across the river, soldier bugs had crossed the muck and swamp to the south of the city and managed to break their land lines. With the jamming going on, the army group holding Tsaritsyn did not find out about the amphibious invasion from the Caspian until they had nearly been surrounded.
They managed to fall back but not without losing some of their heavy equipment. They moved the men from the south behind the Don river and took their own naval measures to prevent that from happening again. Most of the wet navy now off the shore were ancient warships, but unlike the Caspian they had a fleet there. And there were a few ships being remodeled with some modern weapons to take their place. The merchant marines may finally get the vote after this war. And the Federation one hell of a windfall now that they won't be paid nearly as much.
North America … was and still is an odd ball… God bless the home land. The old "gun behind every blade of grass" saying was as true now as had been since the USA had let the genie out of the bottle. Which meant the bugs were destined for a bad time. And they got it, landing in the great plains region, the Rockies had been a bulwark for the defense of the States as the Americans gave land for time and blood To the north the bugs which landed in the entirely uninhabited northern wastes were fighting the Canadians who were defending to the last drop, to the West they were fighting the Pacific States who held the sierra mountains passes the same way they had against the the North American Republic. To the north east they had the 2nd US National Guard and the New England State Militia pressing at the borders of the Rockies keeping them hemmed in the central plains and stopping them from trying to break out and make the long arduous march to the north to link up with the Bugs in Canada, the southeast was held by the Federated Southern American States who had actually invaded Colorado in order to fight the bugs, Colorado, being the main zone of conflict, was not complaining as long as they only fought the bugs and left after the war.
The US was one of many front lines of this war, and though she had an impressive home guard to maintain her independence after the fall of NAR, she would not turn down help. And to the south the bugs were fighting the Phoenix-Texan alliance, who were mustering armies out of thin air with the amount of guns they had stored, He was half sure they were hiring soldier from the Central Mexican Union. As one of the richer sub-states in the United States it was to be expected, but something about that just felt wrong.
The only real failure was australia which was lost. the last 200 years had not treated the island nation well, much of its coastal cities had been flooded, and many inland farmers either immigrated to the colonies or had moved to other nations more hospitable. The current inhabitants were tough as they came, and Australia itself served as the main training ground for the Mobile Infantry. The bugs were desperate for a foothold, and had sent an overwhelming force there, and with no good terrain to hold, the Aussies quickly collapsed into defendable pockets of terrain, relying on the sheer size of the continent to buy them time for evacuation by the Fleet, and were conducting a guerilla campaign. However the bugs weren't having it go all their way. Australia had only grown to be more of a hostile place after humanity went to space, as large parts of it had been reclaimed by the wild and the interior desert slowly bloomed to a teeming jungle. However The loss of Australia would mean that the bug were preparing for a long haul, it may take a year, maybe more, but they had the time and the numbers to do it. To take Earth.
All in all they were surviving, and as long as they did they had a chance. He had no idea what was happening outside this little blue orb, but he got reports from the Lunar Defence Ring now and then. Admiral Evelina Rayt Leonidovna was using what facilities she had to bring as many of the ships up to date and had the crew's training nearly 24/7 if not outright fighting the waves of cheap bug ships thrown at her. As soon as she saw the chance to hurt the bugs she planned to sally out and devastate them. He thought about telling her that was a bad idea, but had bit his tongue, she knew that as well, she wasn't an idiot. Barring a miracle or reinforcements she would simply have to wait.
Sighing, he walked over to look out at the submerged city. It was quiet, normally submarines would be ferrying visitors and tourists to see the beautiful city, scuba divers and drivers would be undergoing the constant procedure of inspection, repair, and maintenance, boats would be on the surface sailing between the towers that emerged from the sea, defiant. Now, it was empty of tourist submarines, empty of scuba divers, instead it was filled with tankers moving between the towers, transporting material and people. Soldiers trained in the floors around him. Sailors trained in submarine and learned rapidly how they should pilot and maintain a Federal ship.
It was almost sad to see a city once so beautifully intertwined with nature take on such a dark tone for its preparation for war. They had to just hold until help came, but when would that be?
~[==|==]~
Eastern Federation, Kamulon 2666GS/2338AD May 17
[Soundtrack: Blitzkrieg OST - Combat Theme 3]
"Well this drop's gone to utter shit!" Tribune Jake Silva shouted, looking over the hellish landscape of the battlefield. The fleet and come into the system in hit and run formation into a rather large fleet of pirates in orbit of the planet. Obviously they were high on something because they did not scatter to the winds, which had forced a protracted fight in orbit with tens of thousands of dead already. It was standard for Skinnie conflicts to land troopers before the naval battles were over because when they stuck around it meant there was something down there they wanted, something that his legion had to deny them.
Of course they weren't fighting Skinnies but Batarians, and he knew exactly what they wanted, they wanted the refugees and colonists. He had made it clear to the Legion, this would not happen.
"P'Hai!" He shouted as he watched a bunch of four eyes charge a recently landed Viking lander. They apparently didn't know it was armed and it's automated defense turrets shredded the lightly armored pirates. Nothing but unpleasant memories were left before they could do any real harm, the fire power to stop a full grown warrior bug was overkill for unshielded and unarmored targets playing bug charge, "What are our losses so far?!"
"Minimal losses, sir. Mostly during the landings by the militia." The Skinnie shouted back, looking over his pad. Most of the forces dropped by vikings and slingshots made it safely to this side of the city, however the modified transports did less well on the other side. Basically ending up acting like paratrooper transports, and dumping their compliments all over everything west of here to the other side of the city in chaos. As small groups of troopers fought to survive against the just as equally scattered pirates, "We could be doing better, but considering how badly this drop has gone, I've seen worse first starts! The militia took the brunt of it, the volunteers ended up in unmodified passenger ferries!"
"They finally decided on those huh?!" Silva shouted back as artillery started to pound their position. Governor William's had approved via QEC to release the Shanxi Militia into the care of the Legion for the duration of their operations. Unfortunately they lacked combat transports, and had to make do with whatever they could impress to service. It was between the ground to orbit bulk passenger ferries, or a faster space truck. Silva didn't feel right making the decision for them, so left it to a vote for the militia commanders.
"We lost at least five before we called off their transports, the Batarian anti air fire was tearing them up!" Five ferries meant at least a hundred dead militiamen, "We rerouted them to a safer landing zone at the outskirts of the mountain range to the west, they offered to build a loggy post!" As Silva saw the next wave of drop boats start to make a landing pass Silva hoped so, they were expending ammo quickly, and a logistics outpost to ferry ammo down would be just as vital as the actual fighting, perhaps more so if this stretched on.
Silva sighed and cursed, "I've seen worse as well! But at least we're dropping on a friendly non bug occupied planet, against anyone but the bugs we can pull off a disaster! The bugs wouldn't give us that chance. Any word on when we'll have air cover and recon?!"
"The fighting up in space is still going on, Admiral Chaves says we're to expect that kind of support in four hours at best, but the enemy fleet was larger than expected, and she may only achieve control over local air space and not a full blockade as had been planned for!" The Batarian pirates had already been expected to outnumber Chaves 3 to 1, this would be a tough fight made worse. Thankfully Chaves had the qualitative advantage, and could very well sweep aside the opposition if done right.
Silva remained an optimist, "Well that's good, but could be better, the sooner we get some air cover down here the better, get on the horn and tell her I don't mind a few ship coming in to help their friends just keep them from leaving once they get here!"
"Sir! Report coming in that major enemy forces has began pulling away from the city they're trying to pull back into the wilderness belt to the south of the city!" A mech-trooper shouted from his communications closet.
"Don't give them the chance! Send a couple Asari squads after them! Have Jackson and Oellermann go with them to make sure they go through with the act! Keep them out of the forest, or it'll be a bitch to dig them out!"
~[==|==]~
[Soundtrack: Mass Effect 3 OST - Menae(Unreleased)Extended]
Saren Arterius dived out of the way as the pirates fired some exotic weapon even he'd never seen up close but heard of from his sergeant, "Watch it, they've got constrictor rifles!" He warned over comms as the fourteenth firefight of the day began. It was ending up just as bloody as the others, with a lot of dead pirates.
"What's wrong with these Batarians? They must know we went through a platoon of their buddies already!" Tesel Modri exclaimed as she leaned against the tree. She looked tired as she drew in her biotic energy to pull yet another pirate out of his spider hole getting shot by the squad marksman. She was getting fatigued big time, not good in combat zone, he might have to send her back to the Viking to rest.
Someone spun a grenade out, hitting the wall at the other end it exploded of the many disc objects that the Federation had ended up giving them. It runs out, Humans were REALLY good at throwing things, Turians, Asari, Quarians, even Krogan couldn't get the same level of reach as a human could with his throw. Eventually their trainers gave up and bought the rights to manufacture cheap disc grenades. "Squad, prepare grenades!" Getting into cover, everyone did, marking the last building the Batarians were holding out in, everyone tossed thei r discs at it. A ripple of explosions tore apart its defenders, and then collapsed the front of it. After one final explosion it suddenly died down to an eery quiet.
Silently and quickly moving up, they secured the bundle of shanty prefab buildings they just fought for. Looking to Tesel who was noticeably fatigued, Saren rolled his arm as well, "Five minute break. Police the dead, collect gear, if you need to resupply… well there's plenty of shit guns."
Nihlus Kryik spoke in reply to Tesel's earlier question, "Who knows?" The kid was fresh from some no name Turian merc world at the edge of Turian space, and had been transferred to Saren's platoon after Nihlus' own got shuffled around, "I'd heard some things from my dad in the Terminus. He'd know. Although judging from their blood texture, I'd say something synthetic and strong." Nihlus Kryik had the option, join the Hierarchy, or go to the Citadel and join the Federation instead. After meeting the 16 year old, Saren could see why he chose the Federation. As Nihlus bayoneted each member of the now thoroughly killed Batarian pirate squad to ensure they were dead, Saren had a good respect for the kid's tenacity.
Saren had been born ready for greatness on the homeworld with a fine family pedigree of service. Nihlus was born to a barefaced mother with no past, and a mercenary father who died on his 16th birthday with nothing to pass on.
Polar opposites in Turian culture. In the vids he would be the calm headed veteran of a thousand wars, and the kid would be the hot blooded youth who needed teaching to become a disciplined soldier of the Hierarchy.
"How you figure? I was a police officer in independent space and I haven't seen anything like this." Tesel asked.
"Dad has been beyond civilized space once or twice." Nihlus explained with a Turian's flared smile, "He told me of a job where he and his buddies cleared out a drug plantation. They were all on this weird stuff that quote 'made their blood brackish', and basically abolished their fear of death." Prodding a fresh corpse with his bayonet, and you could see the blood was a saline like mixture, brackish, "They must've taken a lethal dose, and judging from their gear these are definately battle junkies."
When everyone else gave him a look he shrugged, "Ahhh, how do I explain?" Rubbing his helmet where his mandible would be.
Saren knew, "The Batarians find it almost impossible to make their slaves do anything but very simple labor. So they promise slaves things if they fight for them, however in the fine print they also add that they can pump them full of chemicals. Its Neozine, combat drug, highly addictive, lethal to just about everything except Batarians Vorcha and Krogan. You can tell, these little tubes I've been collecting are Neozine injectors. These ones knew they'd die, so they ODed on the stuff and fought us."
Nihlus nodded, "Yeah, dad said something about how they'd get the first born Batarian male slaves, and if they did something truly heroic in battle they'd earn their families freedom or something."
Kal'Reegar shrugged in his suit, sitting down and checking his suit shield capacitors, he had been familiar with some of the stories, "Does it strike any of you as strange? We're fighting rogue Hegemony pirates, in the largest fleet battle since the Kendling Conflict in the Terminus fifty years ago, against slaves fighting to the bitter end, on a Human world that's right on the treaty line, and it just so happens while Earth itself, probably the fourth most protected place in the known galaxy, is under invasion?" Saren cocked his head, he did have a point, too many things were laying in place for this to JUST be an independent action.
Saren eventually shrugged, "What's done is done, we're paid to look pretty and shoot things. Unlike these poor bastards. I'd say someone was paying them to commit suicide by cop."
Nihlus seemed to give that a thought, as he finally settled down and checked his many pockets on his armor, "Are you suggesting that perhaps the pirates are being put to work by the Hegemony sergeant?"
Modri sat down and started to chug water from a canteen before speaking, "Because of the refugees, this world and a few others are on disputed territory, if the Federation…. If WE win the fight with the bugs, we can take them back home and it's not an issue, but if these refugees don't want to go home, well that makes it an issue, so better to make this region look unsafe as possible to make sure things go a favorable way for the Hegemony. So they pay off a few pirate lords with some juicy intel and a whole pile of credits. It's worked before against the Republics."
Saren checked his chronometer before sighing and stood up, "Breaks up. Let's get moving." Everyone nodded, the initial battle rush of the drop had worn thin, and they took one last moment to drink water before assuming battle positions with their partners. Or if they could at least, attrition had affected the squad, friends who had been assigned to them at basic had died or been wounded. Looking to Reegar, Arterius patted his shoulder in a good job, the Quarian was keeping up, and it was impressive for a stereotypically sickly Quarian to do so, so well.
~[==|==]~
Western Federation, Roku San system 2666GS/2338AD May 18
[Soundtrack: Epic Score - Massive Assault]
General Juan Rico watched the holographic map as a large part of the bug fleet was moving toward Roku San in another assault, "Looks like they're trying again, what's got them riled up enough to try?"
Ace chuckled, "If I were a betting man I'd say something time sensitive pushed up their time table. They know we're in a bad food position."
Hackett chimed in, "Well there's only two reasons for that, either they need to be somewhere else ASAP, or someone is threatening their own supply lines somewhere needing enough of their forces to break the siege." He brought up a holographic map of Federal territory.
"Exactly. Damned if I know who's pulling it off, but this is the moment to bleed the bugs good before they make their drops, send a word to the fleet to prepare for action, I want every gun, nuke, and laser ready for action. I want this planet to go down as the Rorke Drift for the Federation."
"And what if it turns into the Alamo?" Ace pointed out quietly.
"Let it not be said, that either battle had no effect on their wars, they inspired others to take up the cause. And both wars were won by the defender thereon." Hackett spoke with an undertone of inspiration.
Rico smiled, he couldn't have said it better himself. Kid definitely had a future. Hackett however would soon need to leave on a shuttle to orbit to lead his meager forces of marines on the ships to soon be embattled. It would likely be Hackett's last battle too.
"Sir! We detect another incoming fleet on the sensors!"
Silently Juan's skin prickled with goosebumps, "More blood for the fertilizer then. When will the two fleets join together?"
"The two fleets will be in firing range in 30 seconds sir! It's Skinnies, the new fleet is Skinnie ships and they're using Federal identification codes!"
"What?!" Everyone shouted in surprise at the same time.
~[==|==]~
General James Projack smiled as his fleet arrived in system, his three modern dreadnoughts, protected by a fleet of disposable raiders and Ptolemaic cruisers, Terran craft, and Citadel ships, mostly from the four eyes. But that was not what gave him the greatest smile, no it was the fact his fleet seemed to have emerged right behind the bug fleet. He had expected his fleet to arrive at a planet under siege and assault, with the bug forces encircling the world. Instead he found the planet still free of planetary siege and the bug fleet amassing together nicely for a pointed assault on the world. Such luck was what won wars.
He immediately scrapped his previous plan of skirmishing the enemy force with his Citadel Ships to destroy the interdictors while his main fleet pinned the opponent down or risked outflanking them.
No... Full, assault.
"Full speed forward. All ships alpha strike. Destroy the interdictors!" His bridge crew, a mix of half a dozen species cried out in joyous battle cries. Gold lasers shot forth from his dreadnoughts in the center of the massive fleet formations, into the open rear of the bug spearhead. The bugs of course started to react… but the lasers were too fast for that to be effective, one moment the bugs had control of the battlefield, preventing the style of combat that had made Terran ships the terror of the battlefield they were legendary for, the next the house of cards fell.
"Raiders, my glorious front line! Go! Go forward and burn and plunder the bugs! For today, we get our revenge upon the great bug foe." He inwardly beamed as he unleashed his dogs of war, almost instantly the raiders made use of their stupendous speed and charged straight towards the disorganized bug formation, firing their minor laser cannons and railguns into both the living warships and colony ships of the arachnids and the battle wagons of pseudo, they weren't going to cause that much damage but they did what they did best, sowing chaos in the bug fleet, disrupting the formations, breaking them apart for the larger cruisers to shred with their numerous broadside cannons.
The most delectable cause of damage was what he had coined, "Monster Infighting". Many magnetic drive style formations relied upon close in formations to maximise sublight speed by linking their gravity with one another to move faster as a group. This had the benefit of moving faster in light speed and sublight speed as a group and forming close in for a spearhead. It had its downsides, the first Battle for Klendathu being a wonderful example of how over eager pilots can actually run into each other, but for an offensive move it would have been the right choice for the bug commander.
However, its downsides were that if one didn't strictly maintain formation they'd enter other ship's line of fire, and when impact times were measured in up to minutes it had deadly consequences, as they tried to hit the fast moving craft and ended up shooting their allies.
The cruisers stayed close to their assigned dreadnought, of which he had at least 50 older classes, protecting them as they moved towards the bug fleet at full speed, firing their main armament and reaping death. The bug battlewagons had begun to turn even as they continued to drift towards the planet, while collisions weren't an immediate concern being hundreds of kilometers away from one another, Projack reveled in the disruption of their formation, but was worried about the power of the unknown, particularly those battlewagons. The ships began to fire, great balls of plasma streaked across the void of space at nearly light speed, slamming into his ships and those impacted were either shattered and melted or rendered inoperable with single hits. But, as he made a prayer to whatever god that would listen to him, he felt his ship shake slightly and continued to fire on with minimal damage to the forward heat shielding. Opening his eyes he released a devil's grin.
What made his ship so modern one may ask? Well, it was the Terran anti plasma armor he'd stolen, and the harmonic shields he'd also stolen. The plasma either barely missed, or extinguished on his hull after causing acceptable levels of damage. The combination of the two technologies had been a great boon for himself, and all he had to do was find a way to include kinetic barriers to complete the trifecta.
"Focus fire on the mechanical ships, they're our number one threat." Projak stated as the first few volleys of fire started to collide with each fleet. The great speed of his raiders meant they were only now entering the ranks of the enemy. It would not take the smart bugs to figure out what his ships were made of so he needed to get rid of them fast. His raiders sent confirmation notices, as they started to focus their fire on the softer rear armor of the machines.
The battle unfolding before his eyes, Projak allowed his commanders to do what they did best, and only asserted himself when it was needed at crisis points. The first of which was the micro jump of a bug reserve fleet coming in. Strangely enough they bore recent battle damage, but Projak dismissed it as a sign of the Bug commander using his damaged forces as emergency reserves. He had easily organized a wing of corvette and their fighter-bomber escort to mop up the force who barely destroyed a single fighter when their jumpzone was invaded by them.
The next one was when a spearhead of bug battlewagons formed and then charged his lines on the left, seeking to break up his skirmish line and get him down and dirty. This resulted in a modern dreadnought and two of its older compatriots getting dirty, and proceeding to evaporate the leading and largest battlewagon, but in return he felt the pain of losing half a dozen Rodger Young classes and their crews of skinnie Humans alongside nearly a score of corvettes. He watched as they bravely gave their lives.
The next was when the largest machine ship he had seen yet began to emerge from the thick horde of obscuring flesh bug ships, covered by scores of them, it was heading right up the center, straight for him, it began and firing a flash of dozens of forward laser, his vanguard just vanished under flames.
He returned fire, and his main laser batteries slipped through and hit the massive ship, causing something to give as he saw a ripple of secondary explosions cross across its left flank and opened up a gash on the ship that made it look like it was giving a smirk. The battered battlewagon then gunned it past its covering escorts, it had taken what he could throw and had barely come out damaged, The ship began to drive at his formation, every cruiser and dreadnought focused their own fire on that super battlewagon, but it was a tough son of a bitch, and its trailing escorts took the opportunity to ram and then start boarding his ships as they came close, damn it he needed to move now. Looking to the captain of the ship, his Personal Admiral himself, Admiral Te'Cha Than, he barely needed to speak, "Get us out of its path-"
He was interrupted by a status report, "My Lord! We're getting readings of a micro jump in front of us!" Just as it was stated, a Terran dreadnought popped into existence right in the nose of the super battlewagon. Already properly oriented, and but a few thousands of kilometers away, the terran ship poured the entirety of its forward laser compliments, its broadsides, and a few tactical nukes at point blank range. For a moment the battle stopped for Projak, for a moment Projak looked on in sickening fascination if the few hundred meter dreadnought would stop that nearly two kilometer mammoth of a ship. His crew were dead silent and then when the radiation cleared away, and the smoke of onboard fires billowed thin, they cheered, with even Projak screaming in victory. Dead in space, drifting forward under its own momentum, was the shell of a ship burning, sparking and dying as what had to be escape pods and shuttle craft escaped from every hidden orifice. In the moment of adulation, of cheering, the Terran ship disappeared once more, as if slinking away quietly from a job well done, with not a word nor a message.
Glee plain on his face, Projak calmed himself before his sailors could see his moment of broken smugness, "Fine work, fine work, who must we thank with gifts of gold?" He asked quietly to his sensor operator.
The Skinnie, a grizzled veteran of at least a century had a wide Skinnie grin upon his lips, he laughed for a moment, "Captain Carmen Ibanez of The Battles of Ypres." He looked over to his console and then opened something on his touch screen, "She says, 'Only I may end you.'"
Projak leaned back in his seat as the victory high permeated his crew and that of his fleet, he directed his ships to shoot off the bug boarding craft on his embattled ships. "Does she say anything else?"
His Admiral leaned down, "She also sent a message for you in particular." Handing him it on a datapad Projak took it and allowed his forces to leap foward, to cover his now destroyed Vanguard and to protect those who were now dead in the water beating off borders. "This is Captain Ibanez to the Traitor General himself….Thank you for getting rid of the interdictors. That was the least I could do for the hero who gave the Federation a chance for its wings back."
He composed a message, the nastiest, more vile of insults ever, "Whatever one may say about my loyalties, I will never be known as an oath breaker, and as a Human. When this is over I'll buy you and your crew drinks a the celebratory feast of our victory." An insult to his miserly sensibilities at least.
"My Lord more bug reinforcements are entering the system!" His Admiral pointed out as a large contingent of ships entered of varying sizes.
Projak ground his teeth, this was not good, he was already taking record losses despite his surprise and success, and from readings of the Terran Fleet they were in no condition to sally forth. If this kept up he may take crippling losses, "No rest for the wicked as it were Admiral. How many more bug ships are incoming?"
"From our scout reports, everything outside of this system. Strange, most of these ships are damaged as well." He explained as at least three quarters of the estimated ships outside of the Roku San system were arriving in varying states of damaged nature.
"Damn it. Send word to our ME reserves! I want those new interdictors destroyed and if possible a few captured!" Nothing wrong with preparing for the next war, and he shivered, for the possible continuation of this one, "Send word to the Terran defending fleet, their wings are about to be bound again." He looked out the view screen at the tactical holographic display of the battle. The armada of bug ships before him were now starting to get organized, and the bug reinforcements were coming in from all over. This would require all of his naval might to beat…
"My Lord! More ships inbound!" He snapped over.
"How many?!" He nearly roared. It was then a fleet of a few thousand ships arrived, glowing in bright red, with a small flag above them. It was a black flag with a white cross, hot on the heels of the incoming bug reinforcements. Once the interdictors were rapidly destroyed, they disappeared again, leaving the enemy reinforcements in disarray. A second later they reappeared oriented behind the main bug fleet.
"No way." Projak nearly whispered, "No. Fucking. Way."
~[==|==]~
[Soundtrack: Two Steps From Hell - Victory]
Lord General Red Halloran stood in front of the bridge view screen with a sneer to the bugs, he expected to jump in with a small part of his fleet, feel things out, and head back to the relay. Instead he found probably one of the biggest naval battles in the history of the Federation underway as the entire system became a battleground between the largest Skinnie fleet he'd seen in his life, and the largest bug fleet he'd ever even heard of.
What he had seen before him was also the biggest opportunity he had in his life. Immediately he began to rally his forces together. And now, half an hour later, his forces had routed and then trapped the outer bug pickets, followed them here, and then destroyed their interdictor ships. Everything was in place for anyone's victory, so why not take it for himself?
"Open channel: Order to all Chapter Generals, let this message be heard by all. Today we show the Federation our glory, today, we will emerge victorious in the first battle of many in this war. Today, today God rides besides us as we purge his domain of the bugs! The verminous filth are on the edge of destruction! Let us go and like the winged riders of old Earth, who rode for the salvation of christendom, TODAY WE RIDE FOR THE SALVATION OF HUMANITY!" He flourished with his hand, "In formation, hammer and anvil!"
A moment later more of the Black Cross joined him in system, and after some organization, they broke up into several smaller groups and began to gang up on the scattered ships, quickly dispatching them one by one, while the largest group that Red led personally formed a crude 3d spearhead and engaged their gravity drives.
Hammer and Anvil, it was a well practised drill taught to even the most green of Fleet ensigns, and Mobile Infantry lieutenants. The anvil, in this case the skinnies, would engage the enemy. Then the Hammer, the Black Cross, would come in behind and shatter the enemy center, envelop the flanks, and force them to rout. That was conducted in small battles however, in battles that numbered less than 100 total ships. This battlefield was less than organized, it was absolute chaos, perhaps deliberate chaos, as Skinnie raiders ranged deep in the enemy fleet and fired with near impunity as any counter fire risked hitting allies. It would be impossible for the Terrans, the Skinnies, and the Black Cross to coordinate communications protocols, get a battle plan settled on, and execute it in a timely manner.
Thankfully, that was unnecessary. As the three fleets didn't even need to communicate. They're were all familiar with each others tactics after years of fighting each other, so they knew how to set up the bugs to fall prey for each other's strengths, but most importantly of all, the grand battle plan was obvious for all who could see it. So it was, as the Black Armada dove in behind the bug forces and started to shatter their disorganized lines, the bugs ships burned, one by one exploding. The battle went on for hours longer, drifting close to the system's only major gas giant, lighting the massive planetoid into a localized firestorm as a burning battlewagon lost power and then drifted quickly into its depths, igniting the highly oxygenated methane pocket. Setting the fate of the wispy giant to burn for 50,000 years.
And for every five bug ships, a Ptolemaic, Terran, or Black ship lost all ability to fight, was destroyed, or simply incapacitated. But for each ship lost, another gladly took its place, to avenge the headless times, to honor their fallen, and create a legend.
~[==|==]~
[Soundtrack: Defeat the Fleet · Hazem Hawash]
General Ro Looked at the holo map in horror, how had things gone so wrong? He'd been forced to launch this attack by the arachnids insistence and the loss of the relay bridgehead, and he expected deaths, but they should have been on the planet. Now fully half his fleet had been destroyed, or been so damaged they could not carry on the fight, and though Terran losses were approaching a fourth of their number deployed, they had only scrounged less than half of his own number.
This battle was lost. He could see it, if he stayed the course his fleet would be destroyed and the road to Earth would be closed for good, and the forces there would be eradicated. And very likely, his queen would die.… There was only one option, "Send an order to all ships in the Roku Sun system, they are to pull out and head for the Klendathu system for repair and refit."
"Sire, the arachnids say they can still win this."
"Win or lose, we would be in no position to use this victory either way."
"...Yes sire… They're complying, for now."
Ro turned back to the screen and mused, after he lost his flagship to that Terran Dreadnought, he had been forced to moved to nearly 20 ships, one after the other, each were damaged to the point of necessitating retreat or disabled. What manner of man can pull together their enemies as one, to form the iron claw to seize victory from the jaws of defeat? General Rico not only deserves his reputation, but should be feared, there was no way he had not organized this in some way, and if so that meant this Rico was bred for war more completely than the warriors of the arachnids, a monster formed by constant war. And as such, had developed the instincts to not just survive such things, but thrive in conflict, to thrive in war, to thrive in the bloodshed that emerged from such friction between empires.
Rico was the Avatar of War, the ten limbed fire spider of conflict. Its hundred eyes saw all, its web of support felt all, and its limbs manipulated all. Ro knew this know, and for a moment, he was not bothered by his defeat, for a moment, he wished to salute the the Human for such a well earned victory. Perhaps it was hyperbole, perhaps over hype of a man who simply found himself fortunate. But the cold shiver that ran up the back of Ro's exoskeleton said otherwise… he did not believe he could beat Rico, and he feared what that meant Empire. For lucky or not, Rico was an icon of something greater. The Ten Limbed Spider, and the Web of Unity.
~[==|==]~
Northwestern of the Northern Federation, Battleship Sol, DMZ between Terran and Fourth Space 2666GS/2338AD May 20
Admiral Edmund Tromblay looked down on the nuked out wasteland of an already dead world, displeased, "The second time…. God damn it people are going to say I'm nuke happy after this one… " He muttered.
It started so simple, he said he'd hunt the prophet down and put an end to his terror and when he arrived on the border he'd gotten lucky as the snake bastard had gone ahead and attacked another system before retreating back towered Fourth space, thankfully a Republic scout ship was in system at the time and had scared him off making him think reinforcements were enroute, and managed to get a tracking beacon shot onto one of the ships.
Well he said he'd take the Sol over the border so he planned to, but as he traced the snake's path, he noticed a system right along the border that straddled it… something about that just screamed "look at me", so he did and what did he fine?
The goddamn Prophet's home base! The bastard wasn't crossing over the border, but hiding out so close, the Federation was too fucking scared to look closely. No fucking wonder the Fourth always rebuffed Federation demands regarding the bastard, he was never in their territorial purview to begin with.
Well he could not let the grey little shit escape now, so he ordered all ships on the border to his location and demanded the snake tailed bastard's surrender, the Prophet called him a two legged hairless monkey who ate his own defecation. With those fighting words the fighting began. The Prophet's small destroyer fleet against the might of the Federation's Northern Fleet… a fleet that was numbering less than a hundred vessels at the time. But it kept growing, as more and more ships rallied to his call and connected to his position through psionic navigation. The damn three eyed shitstains had a lot of tech advantages, but in this case the Federation had the numbers to outdo them and the fanatical determination to destroy them by any means.
Once the fleet was dealt with would usually come the landings, but they'd have been murdered even with what improvements the Federation had had with anti Fourth tactics, nothing could deny they held the home field advantage. So he did the only logical thing one did to take away the home field advantage, kick the board over and light it on fire, he fired off a few nukes first to preliminary bombard them. The MI landed into a blasted hellscape and attacked the central compounds. Even then they fought equally fanatical resistance and losses were piling up. But they did it finally, they managed to bring down their mechs and hunt down the Fourth stragglers. Though the Mobile Infantry would be cursing his names for years most likely for bringing them there. The final casualty level had been nearly 43,000 dead in 31 hours of hard fighting.
Once they had cleaned up the last of the Fourth scum, they began stealing every bit of equipment they could, and freeing the human prisoners they found being used… as lab rats. Apparently they were testing a biological disease that would only kill the humans on worlds so they didn't even have to bother with landing. However they had not found the Prophet, the snake could be dead in a burning ditch somewhere. Or he could be hiding, waiting for them to leave to call for help. So he did the only reasonable option… he cleaned up the planet of all their salvageable tech he could steal, and broke the mantle of the planet, turning the barren world to a molton one. He considered using a nova bomb but that seemed a bit much for what a few nukes on a fault line could do. Maybe it was bit much anyways, but this was his chance to kill the Prophet. Yes he had broken the snake's band of killers, but if they didn't get the head honcho they could be facing the same problems again in a few years. This was the only sound option… he just hated that he'd done this two times now. Nothing starts rumors and nicknames like nuking two planets to dust.
Remember: Service guarantees citizenship!
Follow and review if you liked the story! Tell us how we did, yell at us for failing to understand the underlying morals and understanding of Mass Effect or Starship Troopers.
Arthor Notes:
L: Man life gets out of hand... But then again that's life…Also saw the new starship troopers movie, traitor of mars, It great right up there with the first maybe better than the first if you like the book more.
Blood: Eh, it was made by the japanese and written by the first movie's writer. From what I heard, it was as nonsensical as you could get. I've only seen one good Japanese semi-hard Sci fi series, the Japanese should just stick with Fantasy, its what they do best. Also to note, I'm on vacation, and have been on vacation for nearly 10 days. Unlikely we'll have a chapter ready by the 15th, so expect one next month on the first as always.
Isa Lumitus Chapter 1 Terran Federation Contact. August 30th
L: Well that's because Mass Effect draws a lot of inspiration from Star Trek… and we all know Gene Roddenberry's political thinking. But yeah I kinda remember that "terroristic attack" made on the skinnies in the original, though the main target I believe was some command center not the civilians. All of Humanity ending up being treated like Cerberus? *assumes if he reading this he read to this point* doubtful Cerberus was terrorist organization in the game, more likely they treat humanity like shepard working for Cerberus, very mistrustful of their motives.
Blood: In "Ryder's Block: An Autopsy of Mass Effect Andromeda" by SolePorpoise (On youtube), we see that much of mass effect was inspired by Star Trek, particularly its underlying tones of togetherness and a sense of a brighter tomorrow. Starship Troopers is a mix between a war novel and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" if it were made into a more focused story. As it touches on modern war, and truisms in it. There's a reason why it's mandatory reading for many armed forces, and why it's managed to be so timeless. Both have diametrically opposed morals, Mass Effects "Together we can make a brighter tomorrow" and Starship trooper's "It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong" (Otto Von Bismarck). But it is humanity's strength of adaptability, in Terran Federation, we're a two faced empire, to our immediate neighbors we're warlike and strong with an honorable interior, to the Citadel we're the honest egalitarian frontiersmen. As Heinlein said, specialization is for insects.
TF: Counterstrike Axcel chapter 1 . Aug 19
L: That is a M-27 Centurion Main Battle Tank designed by the newest member of our group… i'm not sure if i should use his first name or if he got a handle… i'll look into that maybe i mentioned it before somewhere. Any way he been coming up with some good stuff for this story including a ship for our hero… yeah.. That right… we're giving the Normandy Federation facelift…
Blood: Thanks again Larry for the excellent work, perhaps we can get you commissions? That'll be cool.
Axcel chapter 7 . Aug 20
L: Don't think that could actually work on CHAS, yeah simple robots that could work but chas's there main processors is "bio-enhanced logic matrix"… sound like there may be something fleshy in there…
Blood: CHAS Units aren't mass produced, their bodies are easy to make, but the main computers which hold their memory and stuff is really hard to maintain and keep going. Mass Effect gets around this by using "Blue boxes" but the Federation Artificial Intelligence software is pretty damn crude compared to the Citadel, so they have to make due with cruder systems. This is ironically safer than the Citadel's approach. Also the Federation wouldn't be comfortable mass producing the things, since it's expressly forbidden for robots to make robots, and for robots to control robots. For example, a shipborne artificial intelligence assistant like we sometimes see in the story may not and cannot override and control other machines that aren't expressly part of its duties, for example CHAS Units, fighter craft, security turrets (Control for those are localized and off the grid for obvious reasons.), ect.
OBSERVER01 chapter 9 . Aug 16
L: Well it is Jack harper not Tim… not yet at least, who knows what time will bring… Not me i write this stuff as it comes to me.
Blood: We have plans, not plans specifically for each character, much of the ride will be shared by all of us. Also for the main series with shepard, short stories will take the place of crew conversations, minor missions, and loyalty missions.
J.E.P 1996 chapter 2 . Aug 2
L: I will neither confirm or deny a viewing of tiny female humans in tanks by a member of this group
Blood: Inspired? Yes. Actual schoolgirls in tanks? Hell no, I could hardly drive when I was 17, I wouldn't want a 15 year old schoolgirl driving a tractor let alone a tank. Then again I'm Coloradan so if other's perception of our driving is something to say maybe that's it.
Blaze1992 chapter 8 . Aug 1
L: No… i don't think so… that was more… psychic drug fueled super powered luck
Blood: Fortune favors the bold, and the prepared. She was both bold and prepared. And lucky, there may have been some psionic stimulating effects of the cigarettes. Unfortunately for the user its highly randomized, and you're high for the duration of it.