Shinobi Controlled Space
Planet Sayang
General Adrien Victus
"General, the clean up is currently underway! We are regaining operational command in...three...two...one!" Letting his hand fall from its countdown the young ensign was met with a holographic screen lighting up in front of him. The Eezo gun was an exemplary piece of technology that the Salarians had been able to make, but it was just as costly as well. The amount of Element Zero used in that one-shot attack was enough to power five dreadnoughts all on their own. However, at the level that their enemies were within the natural trophic level, measures had to be taken and resources just became blank numbers on a check. Those numbers however had earned the Citadel a great victory but the ship that housed the Citadels newest weapon didn't walk away unscathed either. Such a concentration of Eezo would be harmful to any onboard ship systems, given its hazardous nature. Expensive and easily repaired equipment was used in the creation of the Broker in order for it to be able to use the Eezo gun to its maximum potential.
"Alright, make sure you reboot the system just in case" Victus ordered. The ensign saluted and ran back to his post to perform his task. Next to Victus was a Salarian STG Operative, a Salen- just Salen- who was standing passively off to the side. The Attack Group codenamed, Steel, were holding position outside of the enemy worlds orbit and Victus was slightly relieved that the planet hadn't suffered permanent damage from the launching of the Eezo gun, his mission was to take a planet and hold it not destroy its eco system.
"Sir, reinforcements have entered the system!" Victus sighed, the entire Ninth Turian Attack fleet and the Sixth Rear Guard Fleet had been combined to assault the enemy world on the campaigns initial assault but the sudden appearance of the gigantic ODP's- What's with these aliens and making everything big- at least 45% of the combined 11 000 ships had been destroyed with more declaring serious damage. The arriving reinforcements would be the Salarian and Asari ships, a slightly smaller more specialised fleet of ships that were meant to assist in the taking of the enemy world.
"Establish a comm link and get the ships organised. I want engineering ships repairing the fleet fast, while the rest set up defences down faster than the enemy can enter the system! Line up the Rear Fleet all around the system and tell them to open fire on any ship that does not transmit a FoF tag!" The Turians who had been hovering over their colleagues gave the General a salute before marching off to perform their task.
"General I think it'd be best if we scan the surface before advancing any further, we need to know the planets defences before tackling the idea of taking it" Salen said off to the side. Victus gave a crisp nod to the Salarian, his talons already selecting out a member of his crew.
"Get me eyes on the most industrial part of the city! Light up any signatures common to military establishments with statistical analysis of the surrounding terrain!" Victus clipped a switch by his command chair that lit up a holographic view in front of him. The planet was outlined in blue with the continents shining a bright green. The planet had three large bodies of land with at least two oceans that Victus could discern. The continents were mostly dominated by large sprawling trees that appeared to be intertwined with several large skyscrapers.
With a quick scan Victus was shock to see that the trees were actually hiding a sprawling city beneath it, the buildings almost covered in forestry with only the roads devoid of any roots. The city was about as large as one of Palaven's biggest cities but seemed more smaller due to the size of the continent it was on as it took up at least 36% of the planets surface. Victus slightly marveled at the strange architecture the Shinobi employed for a moment before refocusing his eyes on three glaringly red outlines. They were spaced evenly apart in the city, the one closest to the cities centre was larger than the other two and Victus wondered if they were outposts.
Had they expected them? That was severely unlikely, so it was best to assume that this world was important to the Shinobi in some way, possibly the reason why it was so well defended. "Zoom in on the centermost structure, just past its north face!" Salen ordered. The Turians by their stations only hesitated a moment, enough time for Victus to give them a nod, before they set to work. When the view of the continent zoomed in closer to the enemy base at the center of their city, Victus was able to see a mob of asari-like creatures, the Shinobi people, running out of its entrance lifting heavy equipment and moving almost too fast for the Brokers systems to keep up render.
Victus sucked in a breath at their numbers, they were almost bordering two thousand as they scrambled out of the base. As it stood, Steel, had a whole 900 000 soldiers-excluding the soldiers on board as security detail- to take over the planet and they had to do it fast before the enemy sends reinforcements but if the Shinobi have a larger force here then that would be unlikely, after all, these were a people that took Thessia with a 12 000 man force. "Prepare to bombard them!" Victus felt slightly uneasy about bombarding a major population centre but he was not about to risk the lives of his men on trivial morals even if they're causing a stir in his head.
The Broker and a dozen other Cruisers began to move forward intent on raining hell on the enemy soldiers. Salen took a step next to Victus but the Turian didn't mind and instead waited for the slugs to fly.
The Broker's gun lit up with a blueish hue before a slug was launched free at phenomenal speeds, followed by the static releases of ten more from cruisers. The slugs were close to hitting the planet and Victus prayed that the shot did not strayed wide but to his surprise a blue rounded barrier lit up around the planet as the slugs entered atmosphere, its sudden appearance almost like an angry mother as the slugs slammed into it. The barrier crackled with electricity where the slugs had hit, the lightning arcing over the Mass Effect weapons in a mad frenzy before finally it launched the slug bag in every direction.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Victus screamed. The Broker responded immediately and was barely able to dodge the incoming slugs before it nicked its port side, the barriers of the ship holding just enough so that the ship could survive, the same could not be said about the cruisers however as they suffered massive damage from their own weapons, one was critically damaged while others had their shields ripped from them, one had even lost its engine.
"Planetary shielding!" Salen cried out. Victus tossed a disbelieving look at him but couldn't deny that his words held merit. But what kind of generator did the Shinobi have to power such a mechanism?(CoughCough) "No! Acts on deflection rather than shielding, a more stable form perhaps? What kind of system do they use to be able to achieve such a feat in a massive scale" Salen muttered. Victus grunted as he pushed himself up onto his feet.
"What are we to do now! Was this entire campaign worthless!" If all Shinobi planets had such a mechanism installed then the probability of Citadel forces gaining any ground would be practically zero. If they didn't have the ability to eliminate the shielding their military effectiveness would be severely diminished.
"Not quite right" Salen said matter-of-factly. Victus passed an annoyed glance towards Salen, ordering with his eyes for the reptilian to say his piece. Seeing his colleague giving him the stink eye, Salen continued, "From the readings we took of the planet when entering the system, the shield had been activated continuously with the ships in space bearing close proximity with the planet itself. If my theory holds through, a ship would be able to pass through the shielding if they are slow enough, though given their close proximity within the planet's atmosphere planetary bombardment would be inadvisable"
Victus crossed his arms in thought. If that were the case then only Frigates would be able to enter as their tonnage wouldn't affect the planet's gravity. Going from that Victus decided it would be a better idea if the main invasion force concentrated on the largest central continent while splinter forces held off Shinobi forces from taking the main forces sides. "Are you sure about this?" Victus asked. Salen gave him a dubious look.
"I'm a Salarian, I wouldn't be speaking if I wasn't sure" Salen quipped. Victus made a noncommittal hum, storing the thought for later as he clicked a button on his omni-tool.
"I want all groundside forces to be prepared for fast entry! Frigates are to follow behind with Fighter support to secure landing zones. I want Turian engineers with the vanguard force to establish a beach head." Victus ordered. Behind him, Victus saw the Salarian moving away towards the door.
"Going down to the surface. Will make sure to come back with sample technology." Salen rapid-fired as he ran away. Victus watched him go before shaking his head and rounding back to the holographic table, silently wishing he was going down with his men to the enemies planet.
XXXXShinobi GarrisonXXXX
ANBU Commander Falcon gripped the dashboard of the Military Grade Humvee as the vehicle veered itself into the parking lot of Sayang's garrison base. The Commander was internally bristling as his car manouvered around the cityscape. The Commander had arrived on the planet after formally interrogating the captured POWs, the three Generals that had been in charged of the Citadel retaliation, the two Turians captured during their attack on Lao and the pirate that had attacked The Kurama. The information they provided was invaluable, though he had to use unsavory methods on them to have gleaned as much as he had. He had planned on using Sayang as a small intermediary as he connected with Shinobi Command but in a sudden ambush, Citadel forces had somehow cloaked themselves and entered Shinobi space in an unidentified manner. This worried Falcon, if the enemy had somehow fixed their current FTL problems than the Shinobi wouldn't be able to hold their one-sided advantage. There was also the invisibility but Falcon had already devised of ways to deal with cloaked ships for a long time, he was ANBU afterall.
"Genin stop here" The Genin that had been driving him slammed his foot down on the brakes, a little bit too hard for Falcon's liking but it got the job done as the vehicle skidded to a stop in front of the Shinobi Garrison HQ. Falcon patted the Genin on the shoulder before hopping out of the vehicle. The ANBU had his black cloak wrapped around his shoulders, his ANBU mask secured safely over his face and tanto blade resting on his thigh.
If Falcons last update was still accurate Sayang had a garrison of 50 000 Shinobi soldiers, most of them located within the central city with a dozen fireteams spread out in between with outposts in regular intervals. So at best Falcon was dealing with a large force within an urban environment with smaller pockets spread out in all directions who would have no where to go if the enemy bull rushed the center. "Commander Falcon" The ANBU twisted his head just enough to acknowledge another ANBU that had dropped right in front of him.
"Panther, what were you able to gather?" Panther was dressed in the typical ANBU uniform, nothing out of the ordinary except for the pitch black mask he wore on his face.
"The highest ranking person here is a Low-Kage going by the name of Risai Tonaka, he's currently preparing his men on the North and West openings of the town and setting up Etherion AA Guns on the buildings surrounding the HQ. The colony itself doesn't have an Etherion in working condition right now." Falcon cupped his chin in deep thought. He had only brought an escort detail of five ANBU, the other four were probably coordinating with the defense force while the other Shinobi would be busy with preparing barricades and encampments.
"Tell me Panther where do you think would be the most likeliest place for the enemy to assault?"
"The HQ, Sir. They obviously want to own this planet quickly before the Shinobi reinforcements arrive, which may not be able to come too soon as the 1st and 2nd fleet are behind enemy lines, the 3rd fleet is a logistics fleet filled with Medical ships and Cruisers while the 4th Fleet is spread out between the outer colonies. We'd probably be on our own until one of the Guardians can amass enough troops to relieve us" Panther answered honestly.
Falcon sighed to himself, "I knew this was going to happen one way or the other. We came in this war with too little numbers. Maybe before the Colonial wars, when we had four times the fleet we'd have been able to crush them quicker but right now we're just entrenching ourselves in a war of attrition. If news that the enemy were able to find one of our planets and besiege us make it out, the public outcry will be enormous and the government can't afford to lose any more troops with new recruits going gung ho thinking they're being heroes. We need the men not the cannon fodder" Pulling out a piece of paper from his back pocket, Falcon gripped the small flimsy tightly. "This information could change that for us, we could end this war in one swoop." Just as he finished his sentence Falcon heard a sudden cry fill the air. Twisting his head upwards, the Commander bit back a curse as he saw Frigates suddenly descend into the atmosphere followed by hundreds of transport ships.
The sound of whirring bullets filled the air and Falcon saw a three man Shinobi team operating an Etherion AA gun, their bullets dropping three transports before they had to duck down from incoming fire. A few stray shots slammed against the pavement nearest to Falcon and the Commander dropped to the ground with a dolphin dive.
A squad of Shinobi behind him however were caught unaware and were burnt to a crisp by the explosions. The ANBU ripped his tanto free from his thigh and jumped onto the nearest building he could find. His feet adhered themselves onto the buildings side before he sprinted upwards in phenomenal speeds. Panther, who had remained on the ground, had to blink his eyes in surprise as he watched his Commander blur in front of him faster than anything he had ever seen (And that's pushing it for Shinobi's) before he leaped off the top and landed atop an enemy troop transport. The ANBU Commander brought his tanto down on the ships cockpit before he performed a swift set of handhelds.
Even from where he was Panther heard the sound of lightning cackling and he saw the Commanders hand sliced downward from where he had embedded his blade before blue blood gushed out from where he had cut. The Commander jumped off the falling transport before landing back onto the building.
"Panther! Get the Shinobi forces to take cover in the buildings! Destroy as many troop transports as you can before reforming on the outskirts! No matter what do not let any enemy units land within the city proper!" Panther made a quick nod before rallying nearby soldiers who were trying to knock the birds out of the air using Earth bullets. They quickly got up and ran to the nearest building, their kunai knives already glistening.
XXXX
Saren Arterius groaned as his body ached. His head was spinning and he had barely the barest thought entering his mind as he felt a weight on his body. Opening his eyes, he held back the need to yell as he saw the soulless eyes of a dead Turian staring back at him. Saren sucked in a deep breath and then immediately began coughing as the stank of blood twisted his lungs into knots. "Is anyone alive!" Saren asked. There was a brief rustle before a few groans answered his call.
"Deeta here!" A Turian Private Saren knew little of replied. The young Arterius sighed in relief, at least he wasn't alone in this mess.
"Private where are you?" There was the groan of metal and Saren briefly panicked that the wreckage of the troop transport was about to cave in but instead he saw a beam of metal be moved away. Out from the debris a rather large Turian stood up, his broad shoulders and sharp talons a rarity in average day Turians.
"Sir" The large Turian said as he took large strides towards the downed Staff Sergeant. The Turian carefully placed his arm around the dead Turian on top of Saren and when he pulled a weight was lifted off his chest but with it came another searing pain.
"Sir, there seems to be an iron bar...well, stabbed into you by your side. I'll have to remove it and I don't have a proper medical kit, this will hurt" Saren gritted his teeth as he nodded his head in acceptance. With careful and baited breath Deeta coiled his fingers around the metal bar before ripping it out in a quick and smooth motion. Saren lurched forward but the action only caused the pain of the removal to spike even further. He almost screamed if it wasn't for Deeta clamping a large hand down on his mouth. For a full minute Saren gripped Deeta's wrist tightly as his legs spasmed from the pain but eventually he recovered and he felt his hands slackened by his sides.
"Alright Sir, I bandaged it up as best I could." Deeta informed him. Saren looked down on himself and saw a standard bandage wrapped around his body. The pain was there and the Turian could kill from some painkillers but for now that was enough. Looking to his side Saren caught sight of his assault rifle and didn't hesitate to pick it up. Deeta saw what his Staff Sergeant did and immediately followed by picking a rocket launcher and an assault rifle.
"Do we keep going with our objective Sir?" Saren turned blurrily but determinedly towards Deeta. He only gave a moments hesitation before he tossed a bag of explosives towards the other Turian.
"We have to keep going. We're the lynchpin for this invasion remember" Deeta was silent for a moment before finally nodding his head in acceptance. Saren watched as the larger Turian darted off towards a building, no doubt going to find a route to move on with while Saren quietly stayed behind, passing a glance towards a building just off the horizon. For a moment Saren drifted back to the sight of the Asari-like figure that had destroyed their transport. His talons coiled by his sides.
"I'll find you brother. I swear it"
In loving Memory of Monty Oum. Animator, Idol, Friend.
We will forever cherish the moments you have graced us and with all our hearts and soul we promise to follow our dreams in your honor. May your family rest easy and your friends think of you always. This community, this family, will forever hold you dear to our hearts.
Because when RT reaches its success, we'll always remember the man who could not be with them but had so selflessly paved the way for them.
June 22 1981-February 1st 2015. You were so young, you were so great.