Author's Note: So, after a combination of procrastination, my Internet temporarily going out, and friends asking for my attention, I have finally posted this chapter. My deepest apologies for not posting sooner. Hopefully now that it's summer vacation I'll be able to crank out chapters at a faster rate than the snail's pace I've been going at lately. Anyway, here we go.

Chapter 10

High in orbit above the volus homeworld of Irune, a large fleet of various classes of ships held defensive positions. There were fifty-five ships in total: seventeen cruisers, thirty-six frigates, and two dreadnoughts. Virtually all of the ships were turian vessels. As the volus were a client race of the turians, it fell to the Hierarchy to provide for the species' defense. This large defense fleet was assembled three weeks ago after the Citadel Council was informed of an attack on one of their scouting patrols by an unknown hostile force. This unidentified enemy completely decimated the patrol using energy weapons on their ships, and after news of this reached the Council, all of Citadel space was put on high alert. Every major planet under Council control now had fleets to protect it, and patrols were stationed at every major mass relay in Citadel space to provide advance warning of any offensive by hostile forces.

Among the many ships in orbit above the planet was the Kwunu, the sole dreadnought of the volus. The ship was the only one of its class, named after the volus diplomat who negotiated the species' client status with the turians. It was also heavily armed; its main gun and broadside cannons were both Thanix weapons (based off of the design of Sovereign's powerful main gun) which shot out streams of liquid metal at a fraction of light-speed. This weapon system was capable of obliterating smaller vessels with ease, and it made the vessel it was attached to an undesirable target. It had been said that the Kwunu was easily capable of charring a planet three times over, so it was only natural that the dreadnought be placed in the defense of its creator's homeworld.

Inside the ship, the door to the bridge opened as the turian admiral Kres Tatrumn stepped inside. The admiral stifled a yawn as he sauntered over to the Galaxy Map, with various volus and turian officers turning from their stations to acknowledge his presence. After stepping onto the raised platform above the map, Tatrumn bent his neck back and forth, feeling his joints crack under the strain. Folding his hands behind his back, he let out a lethargic sigh.

This is a waste of time, the turian thought to himself. Three weeks of sitting in orbit above this planet and still no sign of any attack. I'm starting to think that the Council's just being paranoid. Since that attack on the patrol, there's been no trace of this enemy anywhere. This ship is one of the most powerful vessels in the fleet, it'd be much better suited to hunting down pirates and mercenaries than floating here waiting for something to show up and shoot at us.

The admiral felt another yawn coming up, and this time he didn't bother trying to suppress it, letting out a long exhale. Maybe I'm just tired. It really isn't my place to question the Council's orders. It's not like I can do anything about it anyway. May as well stick with it. "Lieutenant," he spoke finally to a turian stationed at a terminal in front of the Galaxy Map. "Anything to report?"

"Nothing major, admiral," the officer replied. "A cargo freighter just left the system en route to Palaven, and we received a transmission ten minutes ago from our patrol stationed at the mass relay. They say that there's no sign of any activity. Other than that, nothing sir."

"Good. Make sure to keep me posted if anything happens."

"Yes sir."

Tatrumn then turned his attention to a volus stationed on the other side of the Galaxy Map. "Ensign," he said. "What is the ship's current status?"

The volus took a loud breath before speaking. "All systems operating at full capacity, admiral," he said before taking another breath. "Shield and weapon systems are on standby."

"Excellent. Alert me if there are any changes."

The volus took another breath. "Yes admiral."

Things are as quiet as usual, the admiral thought. Maybe after another week or two of this, the Council will assume that whoever attacked the patrol isn't going to present itself as a threat, and this ship can go back to performing other duties. Then I can finally spend some time away from this rock.

Tatrumn's thoughts were interrupted by a turian officer stationed at a terminal on the far side of the room. "Admiral," he called out. "We're receiving a transmission. Looks like it's from the patrol."

"Patch it through," Tatrumn ordered. Following orders, the officer then played the transmission over the bridge speakers. The transmission was garbled and sporadic, but someone on the other side was shouting, from the sound of it.

"… coming under… -ack… -dentified vessels," the person in the transmission yelled. His words were unintelligible, but he sounded alarmed. "… need… -forcements… send help… gah!" The sound of an explosion was heard over the speakers, followed by static.

"Sir, we've been cut off," the officer said.

"Try to contact them again, damn it!" Tatrumn ordered. "Find out what the hell is going on over there."

"Admiral!" the turian lieutenant yelled. "We have multiple ships coming out of FTL in our sector!"

"The patrol must have been attacked and now their assailants are coming here." The admiral raised his hand to his head as he spoke to the rest of the fleet. "All vessels, this is Admiral Tatrumn. Move into defensive positions immediately. Raise shields and ready weapon systems." Tatrumn lowered his hand. "Lieutenant, how many ships do you read?"

"There's… by the spirits."

At the lieutenant's exclamation, Tatrumn looked out of the bridge viewport. What he saw caused his jaw to drop. Right in front of his eyes, a massive fleet decelerated out of FTL space. Several dozen kilometers away were easily a hundred enemy vessels of various sizes and classes. Around a dozen of those ships were extremely large, dagger-shaped craft which made the Kwunu seem small by comparison. The enemy the Council had warned about had finally arrived.

"The Council was right," Tatrumn thought out loud. "Charge up shield and weapon systems now! Prepare to engage!"

"Yes admiral!" the volus ensign replied.

Tatrumn then pressed his hand against his earpiece and spoke into the comms. "This is Admiral Tatrumn, we are under attack! All ships, open fire! Launch all fighters, all frigates move in close to attack, have our cruisers cover them! These bastards are not going to take this planet without a fight!"

Admiral Garnick looked outside the Leviathan's bridge at the force that was assembled before him. Moving into defensive positions was a defensive fleet of turian vessels, all scrambling into formation, obviously caught off guard by the suddenness of this attack. Floating in space behind the multitude of turian vessels was their target: Irune, the volus homeworld. The Imperial admiral took note of how foreign-looking the planet seemed, with its gray continents and its dark yellow oceans that supported an ammonia-based ecology. Oddly enough, he found the celestial body pleasing to look at as well.

The turian captain that had been taken prisoner after the skirmish with the Council patrol had given the Empire useful information concerning the state of the Milky Way, but had been unwilling to give up the locations of any Council planets, knowing that they would be subject to attack. Fortunately, the interrogators managed to pry from him a small device that was fitted to his arm – which he called an omni-tool – that contained some valuable data. Apparently before he was sent with the patrol to investigate the recent string of mass relay activations, his ship was stationed over Irune, the coordinates of which were recorded in the omni-tool. In light of the recent conflict with the Council and with knowledge of a Council homeworld in Imperial possession, the Emperor decided to launch an invasion of the Milky Way, and Irune would be a fitting first target to demonstrate the might of the enemy the Council now found itself at war with.

The fleet that had been assembled for the invasion consisted of around nine hundred vessels, one hundred of which were Imperial-class Star Destroyers. It was a relatively small portion of the vast Imperial Starfleet, but it would serve well for the purposes of the invasion. Admiral Garnick had taken command of the fleet with the Leviathan as his flagship, seeing as Hurkk had been killed by Darth Vader for his previous failure. It took around a week for all the vessels to be assembled before the fleet moved through the Galaxy Gate, and once the fleet was through, a portion of it was immediately sent to invade Irune, where Garnick now found himself facing the defenses of the turians. The enemy possessed fifty-five vessels of varying classes, as opposed to the one hundred and seventeen ships in his own fleet. Garnick smiled. We outnumber them over two to one, he thought. This should be fairly simple.

"The enemy fleet is moving into position, admiral," said one of the officers in the crew pit. "They've begun launching fighters and their frigates are moving in close to engage us. Their cruisers and dreadnoughts have already begun to open fire."

"Launch all TIEs and order our Acclamator and Victory-class ships to move in to intercept their frigates," Garnick responded. "Our Star Destroyers will stay behind and commence long-range bombardment."

"Yes, admiral."

"Once we've created a hole in their defensive line, contact General Finn and tell him to begin landing troops west of the capital. We will seize that city and then move on to the rest of the planet. Irune will be in Imperial hands by the end of the day."

"Affirmative, sir."

"Fire the main gun at the nearest dreadnought!" Tatrumn ordered. As he gave the order, the cannon located at the front of the Kwunu began to glow brightly. After a couple of seconds, a bright blue beam of molten metal shot out of the main gun towards one of the large, dagger-shaped vessels. The blast impacted directly on the ship's bridge tower, a large explosion completely destroying it and crippling the vessel.

"Admiral, this is Bravo Group," said a captain on the other side of the comms. "Our frigates are moving within range of hostile vessels."

"The second you're in range, fire everything you've got at those enemy ships!" Tatrumn dictated.

"Affirmative, admiral."

A long distance away from the Kwunu, a large group of turian frigates was quickly closing within effective range of the enemy ships. Several hostile cruisers, many of which were comparable in size to the turians' own dreadnoughts, were approaching them in kind.

"Three… two… one… open fire now!" screamed the turian captain leading the attack group. At his order, the frigates fired directly at the enemy vessels with their mass accelerator cannons, the projectiles impacting hard against their hulls, blowing out large chunks of metal. More than a few of the cruisers were blown into smithereens under the heavy fire. The remaining ships quickly returned fire with their energy weapons, scoring direct hits on the frigates' armor plating and causing it to rapidly boil away against the bolt's energy. A fair amount of frigates were destroyed completely under this onslaught.

"Their cannons are bypassing our kinetic barriers!" screamed the captain. "Taking heavy damage!"

This isn't good, Tatrumn thought to himself. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before they bypass our defenses. "Lieutenant, send out a distress signal!" he barked. "We need reinforcements now!"

"Yes admiral!" the lieutenant responded.

Tehar Muril sat in the cockpit of his turian fighter as the enemy fleet came into view. Behind him were several dozen other fighters, following him in close formation as they accelerated towards the hostile ships. Muril double-checked the HUD system in his helmet to ensure that it was working properly before tightening his grip on the flight controls of his fighter. He was tense, to say the least. The last thing he or anyone else had expected was an attack on the system, and especially one of this size and scope. One minute he was running maintenance checks on his fighter, the next he was being ordered to lead a fighter squadron in an attack on the enemy ships. Whoever these people were, they outnumbered the turians over two to one. With that in mind, Muril had a bad feeling that this battle wasn't going to end well.

"This is Gold Leader," he spoke into the comm system. "All wings report in."

"Tarmas Wing standing by," replied one of the wing leaders.

"Arapeg Wing, all fighters green," sounded another.

"Frepitus Wing, ready for action," another spoke.

"Vyrik Wing, all pilots accounted for," answered the last wing leader.

"Stand by ready to engage," Muril ordered. "Commence bombing run on enemy ships in sector one eight."

"Copy, Gold Leader. Staying in attack formation."

As the turian squadron drew closer to their targets, a large swarm of fighters appeared, heading right towards them. Muril's targeting computer zoomed in on the fighters, allowing him to make out some of their prominent features. Most of the fighters appeared to consist of a pair of octagonal wings attached to a spherical cockpit, while some of the fighters had wings that were more arrow-shaped while keeping the same cockpit. The computer counted at least seventy craft closing in on them fast.

"Multiple enemy fighters incoming!" Muril alerted. "Break formation and fly between them, stay on route to the targets!"

"Roger that, Gold Leader," a wing leader responded. "Breaking formation."

The turian attack formation broke apart as the enemy fighters moved in to attack. Muril swerved his fighter in several directions to avoid the incoming energy bolts as he fired his cannons at the hostiles, destroying a few of them. Several other fighters were obliterated as his wing mates opened fire as well. The swarm of fighters just kept coming, and soon Muril found himself jerking on his controls to avoid colliding with the enemy craft. Explosions occurred all around him as ships on both sides were destroyed, rocking Muril's cockpit. The radar display integrated into his HUD was crowded with green and red dots, representing friendly and hostile fighters, respectively. Dots were blinking out of the display by the second, and Muril noticed that the enemy ships were taking a good deal more casualties than the fighters in his squadron, though they continued to swarm around his wing mates due to their sheer numbers. Eventually, the wave of enemy fighters passed by the squadron, leaving them with a clear shot at the enemy cruisers.

"Muril, we took some heavy losses back there!" called out one of the pilots, alarmed. "About a quarter of our fighters are toast!"

"Stow it, pilot!" Muril barked. "Calm yourself. All fighters regroup, accelerate to attack speed."

"Acknowledged, Gold Leader," replied another pilot.

The remaining turian fighters flew back into formation, though a significant portion of them were now gone. As they accelerated towards the enemy ships, the fighters broke up into four separate groups, each of which flew towards a separate cruiser. The ships' point-defense guns opened fire on the turian ships, picking off a few of them as they drew closer to their targets.

"Almost there… fire!" Muril ordered, flipping a switch on his controls as he did so. His fighter unleashed a volley of disruptor torpedoes at the cruiser he was targeting, and the other fighters followed suit and unloaded their own payload of torpedoes. Muril and the other fighters pulled up as the torpedoes' thrusters ignited and their mass effect fields activated. The torpedoes impacted directly on the ship's hull, the mass effect fields creating large warps in space time. The large, sudden mass changes were too much for the cruiser to handle, and it was quickly torn apart, with large explosions emanating from the vessel which ripped it to shreds. The turian equivalent of a smile crossed over Muril's face, which was hidden under his helmet. Nearby, three other cruisers were obliterated, having suffered the same fate as the first.

"Targets destroyed," Muril announced. "Excellent work, everybody."

"Gold Leader, this is Admiral Tatrumn," said a voice over the radio. "Do you copy?"

"Roger admiral. Targets in sector one eight have been neutralized."

"Good work, but I need your squadron to circle back here now! Enemy fighters are swarming the cruisers, we need support!"

"Copy that admiral. We're circling back now, hang tight."

"Much appreciated, now hurry!"

With that, Muril yanked on the controls, turning his fighter around so that he was facing the turian fleet. In the distance he could see swarms of hostile fighters around the defense fleet's ships, with small explosions occurring close to the vessels as the fighters were shot down by friendly craft or the cruisers' GARDIAN fire.

"All wings form up on me," he ordered to the squadron. "We're going back to provide fighter support for the cruisers."

"Copy Gold Leader," answered a pilot. "Forming up on you."

The turian fighters that remained quickly regrouped, falling back into formation behind Muril. The fighters' thrusters lit up as the craft accelerated, heading back to the fleet at top speed.

"Fire!" Tatrumn yelled at his subordinates. Once those words were spoken, the Kwunu's main Thanix cannon once again fired, this time at one of the enemy cruisers. A single hit tore right through the hull of the vessel, and it was almost immediately consumed in a large explosion. Around the large dreadnought, the fleet's cruisers were firing at the enemy with their main cannons. High velocity slugs hit tore through the enemy ships' shields, causing massive amounts of damage on impact. In return, the hostile fleet fired with their energy weapons, which bypassed the turian's kinetic barriers completely and burned through the hulls of the cruisers. Tatrumn had to shield his eyes from an explosion as one of the nearby cruisers was destroyed under the barrage of heavy fire.

"Lieutenant!" the admiral shouted. "What's the status of those reinforcements?"

"We haven't received any return transmissions, admiral," the lieutenant responded, his voice betraying his anxiety. "The enemy might be jamming our long range comms."

"Damn it! Keep trying to get a secure connection, we'll hold off as long as we can!"

"Yes sir!"

"Main cannon is charged and ready!" called out the volus ensign, inhaling as he did so.

"Open fire on another one of the dreadnoughts!" the admiral barked. The main cannon of the Kwunu glowed brightly once again as it fired at another of the dagger-shaped ships. The beam struck the bottom of the ship in the hangar bay, blasting straight through the vessel and causing a significant amount of damage. However, the battle taking place around the Kwunu was not going in the defenders' favor. In the distance, most of the turians' frigates were destroyed, and the enemy fleet was quickly closing in. Hostile fighters were seen flying amongst friendly ones outside the bridge, with a few occasionally being shot down by GARDIAN laser fire. There were simply too many for them to all be destroyed, however. Tatrumn watched as a wing of hostile bombers swarmed another nearby cruiser, unleashing their payload on the ship, which was quickly annihilated in another explosion.

There's just too many of them, Tatrumn thought. We're getting ripped apart. I don't know how much longer we can hold out. "Fire the main cannon again at the damaged dreadnought!" he yelled. "Finish it off!"

Garnick watched from the Leviathan's bridge as the enemy dreadnought charged up its main gun. A bright blue beam shot out of the ship's cannon after a couple of seconds and impacted against a Star Destroyer that had already been damaged by the weapon. The beam impacted directly on the ship's hull, and a massive explosion followed which tore the Star Destroyer apart. Garnick had to shield his eyes from the intensity of the explosion.

"Sir!" called one of the officers in the crew pits. "That's the second Star Destroyer that enemy dreadnought has taken out! If that main gun hits us, we're done for!"

"Order our Star Destroyers to concentrate fire on that dreadnought!" Garnick ordered. "I want that thing taken out before it destroys any more of our ships!" Once that order was given, the remaining Star Destroyers all opened fire on the dreadnought with heavy turbolaser fire. Garnick smirked as several blasts impacted all across the ship's hull, boiling away the metal plating.

The whole bridge shook violently as enemy fire impacted against the Kwunu's hull. Sparks flew from the consoles all over the room, and a couple even exploded, killing the crewmen behind them. Several of the officers were falling flat on the floor.

"Damage report!" shouted Tatrumn as he picked himself up off of his knees.

"All systems have suffered critical damage!" replied the volus ensign, who quickly inhaled before speaking again. "Shields disabled!" Another sharp breath. "Weapon systems offline!"

A large explosion engulfed the right half of the bridge, killing several turian and volus officers. Their bodies flew across the bridge in pieces, and the floor was covered in blood. Tatrumn's eyes widened in shock and disbelief at what was occurring.

"Sir!" cried the turian lieutenant in panic. "Hull integrity at twenty-seven percent! We can't take much more!"

The turian admiral just stood there, not saying a word. The look on his face was one of utter horror as he realized that they were all doomed. This can't be happening, he thought. Not me, not this ship! Another large explosion tore across the bridge, and the admiral was sent flying to the other side of the room. His entire body ached in pain as he hit the ground. His body screamed in agony as he lifted his head up and looked at the scene before him. The entire bridge was in shambles; the Galaxy Map display was no longer functioning, the display and the surrounding terminals now twisted shrapnel. Fires burned all across the room. Spread out across the floor were multiple turian and volus bodies, their bodies burnt, bleeding, and/or in pieces everywhere. The sight of so much blood made the admiral sick to his stomach.

Tatrumn's stomach turned as he looked down at his own body. The lower half of his left leg wasn't there anymore, and the stump that remained was bleeding onto the floor. His right leg was mangled, bleeding profusely, and covered in bits of shrapnel. He lifted up his hands; they were nothing but torn pieces of flesh, the muscles and tendons exposed, barely holding together. He could feel his own blood dripping from his face, some of it coming into his mouth.

By the spirits, no, he thought. That was the last thing that entered into his mind as another explosion on the bridge tore through his body.

Admiral Garnick smiled in satisfaction as the enemy dreadnought was consumed in a fiery explosion, large pieces of it flying in every direction, some even hitting and damaging the nearby cruisers. Pulling his eyes away from the dying vessel, he took a good look at the situation around him. Almost all of the enemy ships were either severely damaged or flying debris in orbit above the planet. The rest were making a full retreat, with several Imperial frigates in pursuit. A small frown formed on the admiral's lips as he noticed more than a few Imperial vessels among the wreckage. His slight anger at that dissipated quickly however as he regained his composure.

"Ensign," he called out. "Status report."

"The enemy fleet is in ruins, admiral," responded the ensign from the crew pit. "It appears that the destruction of that dreadnought has caused the remaining ships to scatter. It must have been their flagship. Our frigates are in full pursuit of the retreating ships."

"What are our casualties?"

"We've lost thirty-one ships, sir, two of them Imperial-class. A couple dozen other vessels have sustained moderate to severe damage."

"Are our forces still in capacity to carry out the planetary assault?"

"Yes admiral. General Finn is on standby waiting for your orders to deploy the ground army. We have a straight shot at the capital."

"Excellent. Tell Finn that once we are in orbital position, he may begin deploying troops immediately."

"At once, sir."

Garnick folded his arms behind his back, taking in the full view of the planet that lay before him. The Council will now know the wrath that it has brought upon itself, the admiral thought quietly to himself, smiling once again. Soon, this planet will be in Imperial possession, and the Citadel will tremble before the full might of the Empire.

Author's Note: So now the Empire has invaded and it looks like things have gone to shit for the turians. Hopefully this humongous battle scene makes up for me not updating in so long. Once again, I apologize for the length of time it took me to update. I'll try to be better about cranking out chapters in the future. In the meantime, please review.

Edit 6/25: One reviewer, Leaf Ranger, felt that the space battle between the turians and the Empire felt too rushed; that it felt as though the Imperials overwhelmed the planetary defenses in minutes, and suggested making the battle longer to make it feel like the turians were putting up more of a fight. In response to this totally valid criticism, I have expanded upon the space battle somewhat. Just want to let everyone know that I am completely open to adjusting my work if someone has a gripe or offers a suggestion that I feel is valid. Please don't be afraid to offer constructive criticism, as it's the only way I'll learn. Anyway, I hope this extended chapter is to everyone's liking.