The fleet was fully deployed over the planet's surface. Though the planet's government had been asking questions, the cloud and the fact that the Citadel fleet was between it and the planet seemed to help their attitudes a lot. As the last fighter got into position, the Attican Sun began to move forward, into the cloud.
As he watched the thing get closer, Jacob looked at all the sensor screens around him. They'd probably all go haywire the moment they were inside. Inside something with this much dust and ice and junk, you'd be lucky to find anything at all.
True to his prediction, their sensors cut out as they entered the cloud. Their communications were still up, though. Jacob gestured for the pilot to open a channel to the Pride. "Pride, this is Lieutenant Daniels. We'll try to loop around and come back to you if we find anything. Keep your weapons primed, just in case."
"Copy that, Lieutenant. Weapons on all ships are armed and ready."
The transmission dissolved into static as the Sun pressed deeper into the cloud. Jacob looked at the bits of ice and dirt that floated through the cloud.
They all lost track of how far and how long they flew, searching the cloud for anything. They finally got a very scattered contact on the radar, and made their way towards it.
Jacob looked at the display that showed an outside view of the ship. At first it was nothing but clouds. Then traces of silver and blue began to show. The traces turned into patches, the patches into pieces, and finally, the pieces became geth ships. At least twenty of them, with fighters patrolling the space around them.
"Uh oh." Nihlus muttered.
Jacob tapped the turian pilot on the shoulder. "Get us out of here."
The turian nodded, flipping the ship over and then righting it as they sped out of there, but too late. They'd been detected. The geth ships flew after them, their wasp-like shapes cutting through the cloud like knives.
Back among the Citadel fleet, the Executor of the Pride stared at the cloud. He was distracted by the sensors officer calling out to him. "Executor, I have something. It's coming our way."
"Set kinetic barriers to maximum, activate weapons systems. Instruct the rest of the fleet to do likewise."
"Yes, sir."
The Executor looked up as the cloud parted and the Sun came through, its engines flaring as it shot through space towards the Citadel fleet.
"Sir, I've scanned their engines. They're exceeding the normal safety parameters for a frigate of that type."
"They have good reason to," said another as the ship's pursuit exited the cloud.
The Executor's jaw dropped as the fleet of geth ships shot out of the cloud after the Sun. They pulled up sharply, apparently surprised at the presence of the Citadel fleet. Then they began to move forward again. The Executor was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a moment. He stammered briefly, pointing at the ships with a shaking hand.
"Target the ge…target the…target the geth. Target all of them, SOMEBODY FIRE!"
The entire fleet obliged and missiles and mass accelerator fire flew through space towards the geth fleet. They responded in kind, and soon the space around the planet was filled with explosions. Fighters from both sides were dogfighting among their larger counterparts, which were now mingling and exchanging fire every chance they got.
Jacob tapped the turian pilot of the Sun on the shoulder again. "Let me drive."
The turian quickly obliged. Nihlus looked skeptical. "Do you know what you're doing, Lieutenant?"
"I was one of the top pilots at the academy. I could have flown a ship like this, but I decided to go CSI."
Nihlus fell silent at this answer. Jacob looked at the screen and whispered to himself.
"I am a leaf on the wind," he breathed. "Now watch how I soar."
The Sun shot through every twist and turn possible as it flew through the battle, warding off missiles and fighters alike with its GARDIAN as well as making the occasional strafing run on a geth cruiser.
Outside the ship, the battle had increased in ferocity. Ships were now in danger from debris as well as enemy fire. A geth fighter was critically damaged by its turian opposite and went into a death spiral, crashing into a turian cruiser's engines. The engines sparked and died, leaving the ship dead in space and almost target practice for the geth cruiser that rode by it, firing a broadside.
The Sun turned and went back into the battle. As the ship moved, Jacob got a good view of the battle. Explosions lit up space. The Pride of the Hierarchy was burning as it exchanged furious broadsides with a geth cruiser. Though the Citadel fleet was putting up a good fight, the geth's superior numbers were beginning to tell.
"We need to find the command ship," he said. "Someone find out!"
Saren ran to the back of the ship and looked at the map. Closely examining it, he found out an interesting piece of information. Though the geth had ships that were identical to the last rivet, they left very subtle clues as to what ship was the command. All of their movements rotated around a single ship, like a star in a solar system. The ship in question was moving through the battle, firing at anything that wasn't of geth design. He marked the ship on the display. "That one, Lieutenant. But how do you suggest we take it out?"
Jacob stared at the ship for a moment. Its point defense systems would be too much of a danger to risk dozens of strafing runs. The rest of the fleet was too preoccupied for a frontal assault…
There was only one way.
"From the inside," he replied. He hit the intercom as the Sun flew back into the battle. "Attention all marines, this is your pilot speaking. Report to the escape pod bay and await further orders. All non-combat personnel clear the starboard side."
Jacob scanned the geth ship. Its kinetic barriers were still taking sporadic fire, but they were very weak. What Jacob had in mind would most likely get them inside it, but would it be enough?
He flew the ship back to the battle and made straight for the geth command ship, guns blazing. They instantly knew that they had picked the right ship. Immediately, the free weapons of other ships began blazing away at the Sun, and fighters that weren't being chased immediately concentrated on them. Jacob didn't slow the ship down. He sped it up, the reactors redlining.
He turned on the intercom. "Brace for impact."
He screwed his eyes shut, really hoping that the seatbelt would keep him in place.
The Sun slammed into the geth ship.
See if you can find all of the Firefly references I put into this. I'll post the rest of the story too.