It Walked through a dark tunnel in a journey that seemed to last for an eternity. It roared at it's surroundings, scraping it's claws against the black walls. A being which previously walked the world as a creature of flesh before it's rise as one of the dead, searching for a way as a distant unknown willed it onward. A red light could be seen above, the radiance of a star that failed to light the heavens. And thereto it climbed. Whispers surrounded it, spurring it into further action. Flesh to rend, more to convert. Pests to destroy, the sleeping god commanded it.
And so with a terrible howl, it climbed upon the panels along with several others.. claws at the ready to bring down the foes of the gods. The only purpose these fallen beings carried, and a purpose ending abruptly as the wretched Husk's head exploded as a round impacted with it's skull and punched through. It tumbled to the ground and knew nothing more. The last sensation felt, being the footsteps of the living.
"A Geth? Here! I can't believe this!" Hidan laughed at those behind him as the team pressed forward.
"Very interesting. One capable of verbal communications." Mordin offered his observation, would had let a smile tug at him if not for their current situation.
Mei followed the group, acting as rear-guard... a cloud of corrosive vapor following in her wake, careful not to let it close to her allies. "I am more curious about why it did not attack us. I have never seen the Geth hold back, much less talk."
"I believe we'll find out soon enough, but keep your eyes on the mission. We need a Reaper IFF, we should not stay on board this ship for any longer than necessary." Shepard told them while he pulled up his rifle and gunned down another Husk that attempted to challenge the group as it rose behind Hidan.
"Indeed, indoctrination in full effect. Detrimental to our health to stay." Mordin said in agreement.
"I feel nothing of the sort." Hidan clamored.
Shepard dug into his memories.. "If it's true what the tablets conveyed, you Kalinin are far more resistant to the indoctrination. Perhaps it takes much longer to work."
"Yeah... lucky us." Mei shook her head. Groaning filling the space between them as several more Husks surfaced to attack them. The group simply picking up their pace.
"Their probably all that's left, leave them." Shepard growled the order.
They quickly moved through several sections of the wreck, eventually leaving them to another pressure door that could be seen from a distance away. Shepard quickly led them across the remaining distance until only one corner separated them from the door they needed to go through, only to stop dead in their tracks upon the sight that awaited them.
"That's going to be trouble, problematic!" Mordin spoke calmly while regarding that which could be called a massive speed bump to slow their progress. A large crowd of Husks had gathered themselves between them and the door.
"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Hidan muttered, turning around to gun down those that were trying to attack them from behind.. "Now what? Are you going to tell us that some hunchbacks are going to join them, huh?"
The pressure door opened, revealing the approach of no less than three Scions.
"You... should stop talking." Mai remarked dryly.
"Yeah... my bad.".
"Take cover!" Mordin warned them, having already scrambled behind a metal crate by the time the swarm noticed their presence and started to surge forward. Nearly drowning the place with the sheer volume of the noise they made. Biotic blasts passing them overhead. The living before them took the Salarian's advice to heart and ducked into what cover they could find and let the blasts pass them before leaning out, opening fire in earnest as their situation overcame their initial surprise. The new thudding noise of their heavy Carnifex pistols began to compete with the incessant groaning of the charging husks. Heads and limbs parting.. bodies pulverized, frozen, gutted and burned. Many were destroyed, yet the rest kept going.
"Goddamn it! How many fucking people did that bastard from Cerberus send?" Hidan yelled at the very top of his lungs. They managed to keep the Husks away for now, but they kept inching closer as the fight dragged on.
The Husks' progress were only halted temporarily the times when they got close enough for Hidan to jump out of his cover and cut down a great enough number that the horde had little choice but to work their way through the piles of corpses before they could once again fire. An exchange of melee strikes that were only broken by the Scions covering the lesser creatures, forcing Hidan back into cover.
In one critical moment, Hidan was blown away into the railing twenty-five feet away. Forcing Mordin to do a full sweep to incinerate a full wall's worth of enemies to the point that his omni-tool almost shorted out.
Hidan managed to get from the ordeal with a few bruises thanks to his kinetic barriers. The man grit his teeth as pain shot through his body while trying to move. The attack did a bigger number on him than he thought. But seeing the others having difficulties, he forced himself back on his feet. Moving more slowly as he worked to perform his job as the hedge cutter in this battle.
However, as noted before, they could not risk staying here for too long.
"Oi, Mei. Wanna switch places?" Hidan cried out. The former Mizukage still acting as rear guard. Maintaining her cloak of corrosive vapor on the general area away from them to prevent any enemies from ambushing them.
"Sure that's a good idea?" Mei asked, primarily worried about their comrades in this tight space.. and about the damage she could cause to the path ahead if she went all out.
"Positive!"
"What are you going on about?" Shepard managed to call out, having stopped shooting for a split second to get the question across with all the noise going on.
Hidan broke off and headed into the rear of their group while Mei stepped forth. "Slow them down, and I'll knock them down." Mei asked of them.
Shepard ejected another spent heat sink, placing in a new one before he aimed the rifle again, and began to fire wildly into the approaching swarm. An attack that was coupled with Mordin using cryo blasts to freeze the shot enemies, slowing down the group even more. "Good, think I can take it from here." … the woman pushing past them despite their warnings.
She sank her palms together, forming the hand seal; dog. That was all it took for her. The woman inhaled sharply. The Scions pushing aside many of the Husks in the mean time, about to unleash their deadly powers up close. But were too late in their attempt.
"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu! she exhaled and having kneaded the elemental Chakra properly within her, releasing a stream of lava that were shot upward along an arch above the swarm and fell upon it. Ensuring the demise of a great number of Husks... as well as one of the Scions, which melted as the molten rock coated it.
A few dozen husks remained, plus the two remaining damaged Scions that tried to surge forward, but their lower limbs melting in the pools of lava that persisted, coalescing in temporary ponds of metal as the scaffolding began to fall apart. The trapped Husks and crippled Scions became easy prey after that.
"It's going to be hard. To walk through that." Mordin pointed out.
"Which is why I thought it was a poor idea, stupid Hidan." Mei growled, shaking her head.
"Ah, you wound me. At least we got rid of them already... can't be that much left." Hidan shrugged.
"Could you call down some water and clear this up?" Shepard inquired.
Mei nodded.. "I will. Just give me a second." she paused before she spoke again, whispering quietly.. "You should probably check Hidan, one of his arms looks fairly badly hurt. May be broken."
Mordin looked over his shoulder at the man, whom clutched the beleaguered arm of his and gave her a nod.. "Will do."
Mei thanked him before moving forward again and prepared a water based technique.
"... Your sure?" Shikamaru asked. Static filling the channel which was maintained with the Normandy.
It's pilot responded clearly enough.. "Yeah, we lost contact with Shepard and the others. It's kinetic barriers snapped online a while after they went inside. Been trying to hail them since."
"So, we have no idea what is going on in there?"
"Well, we are getting readings showing intense activity on the inside, possibly the core of the Reaper ship. I hazard a guess that they will find it eventually and put it down... but there's a risk to it, I believe." Joker informed him, no half-assed jokes.. something which Shikamaru appreciated at such times like this, but made the situation no better than it already is.
"Something tells me I'm not going to like what you're about to say..."
He could hear the Human sigh. "If they disable the Reapers core, the mass effect field that have been maintaining it's position and relative safety these last tens of millions of years will disappear. The irrevocable result would be the Reaper ship plummeting into the Brown dwarf." EDI interjected.
"So speed is of the essence?"
"Essentially. Yes."
A frustrated groan.. "Alright, tell us if anything happens right away."
"We'll do. No worries." And the link closed as static overcame it. "In other words, shit have hit the fan, as it always does. But we can't do anything but to wait."
"Figures. And that happened at the same time when I got the confirmation about my grand daughters pregnancy at the hands of a lunatic." Onoki almost spat as he leaned back in his chair, resignation upon his face.
"I'd give them a hearty congratulations however, Onoki." Nagato threw in at him. The old man almost looked like he had been shot.
"Congratulations? All I'm going to offer that man is a beating." The old man frowned.. "And what about Konan, you gotten in with her yet?"
A low whimper escaped Nagato to the others surprise. "Don't remind me. She's determined, But I feel bad about being courted by my best friends lover."
"Who's long since dead, she got to move on sometime, as should you."
A long throaty sigh.. "Yes. But she senses my reluctance. It's likely that when our time comes... it's going to involve enough rope to sink a ship."
"Haha. Does not sound that far-fetched..." Shikamaru replied, a chuckle away from being deadpan.
Nagato lowered his head to the control panel, barely restraining himself from headbutting it. And silence descended on the room.
It took a while, time spent using omni-gel on Hidan's most recent wounds, but eventually they managed to pave the way so that they may could continue on their march onward. But despite the removal of the lava, the scaffold still remained weakened from the most recent strain. Many places on the panels had been melted clean away. So getting past the obstruction depended on speed and caution in equal measure.
The pressure door eased aside with little prompting. eliciting some relief from Shepard and the others. A short hallway between them and the next door. Well lit and clean.
They proceeded through, relaxing ever so slightly as the door behind closed shut, providing them with a small sanctuary in this nightmare.
There was nothing particular to take note of in the corridor. But one thing stood out, a singular equipment closet. Frowning at it, Shepard stopped before it and ventured towards hacking it for the contents. Hoping to find something they can use. Within a few moments, he managed to force the closet open. Most of the contents inside being useless, broken tools and reserve items. But he found about thirty heat sinks on the top shelf. That alone being a sight for sore eyes. Shepard quickly distributed them amongst the squad members.
The distraction seemed to be quite welcome as they moved on to ransack the rest of the closet, until Mordin found and pulled out a PDA which none of them had seen until that point.
"What does it contain?" Shepard asked gravely, not expecting much different from what they have already seen.
The Salarian browsed through the contents. "Crazed, incoherent nonsense." he whispered.. but then suddenly he froze, irrelevant information replaced by rows upon roes of technical data and programs. The language looked ancient, but familiar somehow. Mei looked over his shoulder, reading over the information attached to the discovered programs.
"Shepard! This PDA contains a Reaper IFF!" the Mizukage breathlessly told Shepard.
"What? Let me see!" Shepard quickly perked up as he received the PDA and began to read through it. And once satisfied, he attempted to open a link. "Hey, Joker. Mission complete, we're heading back." it took a few moments before he and the others began to realize that they couldn't contact the Normandy. "Damn it. Mordin, can you detect any interference?"
The Salarian brought up his omni-tool again and scanned for energy signatures. The tool worked slowly because of the earlier strain. But he eventually did learn something useful. "Kinetic barriers reactivated. Preventing outside contact. Until that is stopped, we are isolated."
"What is the source?"
"The core. It is nearby."
"Define, nearby!"
"Just past that pressure door." Mordin continued, pointing at the massive door in the corridor which would inevitably lead them into the depth of the ship.
"Great... then let's check what's going on beyond here." Hidan spoke, his voice devoid of mirth as he pressed the opening mechanism and watched the door slide away, revealing a large chamber beyond, their path obstructed by a large kinetic barrier. The dead end confirmed as he slammed his scythe against it's surface.
But their collective attention focused on the lone Geth unit standing in the far side of the room, typing away at a control panel while several Husks emerged from the dark, moving towards the synthetic's position.
"What's it doing?" Mei asked, observing the event with an uneasy calm.
"Don't know."
The Geth finally acknowledged the Husks presence, turned around and gunned down the closest ones with precise shots before turning back to the panel, hammered away and hitting one final button before turning around again, just as a Husk managed to get close enough to the machine and struck it to the deck in one clean blow. The kinetic barrier dropped, the Husks promptly ambushed themselves and were quickly reduced to scrap.
"Why did it help us... why did it save us earlier?" Mai asked, greatly confused while approaching the seemingly deactivated Geth.
Shepard wondered about that too, he had never seen anything but hostility from Geth. Or even heard of anything different. But this one, seemed different from the rest somehow. Sufficient to say, he felt intrigued.
First thing first though. "Why, we can find out later. We'll bring it along once we're done here."
The Kalinin did not appear too enthused about that idea, their expressions told him clear as day. "Why? It's one of the monsters that destroyed our world!" Hidan asked.
"I know you feel upset about the notion, but if this Geth is friendly, we got an opportunity on our hands that we must not let slip."
"What fucking opportunity? We should let it go down with this ship!"
Shepard turned towards him.. "He could provide valuable Intel about the Geth, and the Reapers. It's little but a resource until we can determine if it's intents are genuine, and the possibility of cooperation."
Mei stared at him at length.. and visibly struggled to say what she wanted. But after seeing the sense in Shepard's words. "... Fine, do as you wish."
"Oi, Mizukage! Not you too!" Hidan whirled towards her in disbelief.
"It's the Commanders choice." Mei's shoulders slumped.. "But promise us this, Shepard. If it proves useless, we'll be the ones to put it down."
Shepard gave a slight nod. "Alright, you have my word on that." he turned to the Reaper core. "But before that, let's blow this thing to hell."
It took them the greater whole of an hour to get things ready. All but a few Husks remained. And most of the surviving ones were too scattered to pose much of a problem as the team pulled together all the equipment they could find among the Cerberus supplies present that could explode, or do the same if wired correctly. They had no real bomb to demolish the place, so they jury-rigged one from what they found on scene.
Mei Terumi's lava techniques were considered. But it was deemed too risky, they did not know how much would be needed to melt through the core, how much time it would take, if it could produce a premature detonation. It was not like a fuse to a bomb they could control. No, what they needed a controlled explosion sufficient to destroy the core.
As they finished the bomb and placed the massive assortment of items around the core. Shepard Macgyvered a detonator, with a significant cord leading from it and to the bomb.. long enough for them to be at a safe distance.
Shepard and Mordin picked up the Geth by the arms and held it between them while Hidan slowly backed away from the core while handling the detonator carefully until they got past the two pressure doors, keeping both open with a few crates blocking the way.
"Alright, set it off." Shepard gave the word.
A nod.. and Hidan's left hand hovered above the button that dominated the small device for a full two seconds before he pressed it. It took a few seconds of total silence before the improvised bomb detonated.. the corridor leading to the core lighting up fiercely, the ship around them shuddered with the resulting destruction in it's most vital component. Gravity starting to fail. The hull creaking violently as the mass effect field that surrounded the Reaper began to fade, leaving the derelict vulnerable to the incredibly massive gravitic pull of the brown dwarf.
The team hurried off the scaffold, and ran along the uneven terrain between them and the gaping wound that existed on that part of the ship. "Joker, do you copy?"
"Damn it, Commander!" The pilot responded with an explosive sense of relief. But before Shepard could respond the Normandy began approaching their general location along the side of the Dreadnought's hull, towards that very breach.
The dreadnought sounded like it's about to fall apart, they did not have much time left. They stopped at the very edge of the breach and stared all as one at the Normandy as it approached and presented it's main airlock in their direction, and opened. "Come on, get on board!"
With a heave, Shepard and Mordin tossed the Geth body towards the other ship, quickly followed by the Kalinin. Then Mordin. Shepard took one last look over his shoulder at a few Husks that had managed to surface close to them. But too late, he jumped, floating through the space between the two ships and felt gravity overtake him as the Normandy's airlock closed shut behind him.
"Get us out of here, Joker!"
"On it, Commander." the pilot responded quickly.. the Light Cruiser picking up speed immediately and left the Reaper derelict to it's final demise. A few explosions twisted the Reapers hull as it began to fall out of sight into the brown dwarfs atmosphere. And what seemed to be an eternity ticked by before the clouds only barely concealed a huge explosion as the Reaper succumbed to the massive pressure deep within Mnemosyne. The thirty-seven million year old relic finally gone.
An hour later, Shepard had gone to his room to rest. They stored away the Geth in the AI core room, and stationed a guard to ensure nothing happened. EDI had been in the process of draining all data concerning the Reaper IFF the PDA they found contained. It had proven to be a truckload in worth.
"It will take some time to fully install the IFF and make it ready for us, Commander." EDI reported once the download had been complete.
"Will it be ready by the time we join with the Cerberus fleet assets we were promised at the Omega 4 relay?"
"If nothing goes wrong, I believe so." the AI stated smoothly.
"Alright, keep me updated." Shepard closed down the link. They merely needed to deliver Hidan and Mei back to the Lance of the Six Paths, along with recent news and hope they take it well. Then off to the Omega 4 relay. Remarkable little time remained, the trip alone could take days. The Commander cursed himself briefly. Hoping that Councilor Anderson's operation against the Chakra relay stations' going well.
The alien door opened slowly, bending and warping aside, like a length of rope loosening from a rubber tube. Almost like a sphincter. Tayuya stepped through it first, and already she found herself at the verge of vomiting.
"This place is.. unsettling." Zetsu groaned as he followed her. Tayuya supported herself against the wall. Bio-tech, neither of them appreciated the look of it. The walls were covered by a alloy that felt chitinous to the touch. They couldn't see any sign of discomfort on Darui and Shino because of their control chips inhibiting their actions to a certain extent.
All of them appreciated the artificial gravity though. And the energy coming from the Chakra pathway systems within the station clearly told them that it's the right place.
"Even after the vision, actually standing here I can't help but feel how alien the Makers were." Madara passed the four others as he stepped through another door before them, and into what must be the main chamber. The general shape being that of an orb, but contained several tiers of floors bound together by thin bridges. The bottom occupied a somewhat familiar imprint.
However, between the five tiers that the room possess, three of them seemed to intervene into a large sidewards floor filled with monitors, control panels and projectors. Or at least the bio-tech equivalent. A few elaborate markings could be seen scattered around the chamber. Five in particular which clearly indicated the elements. Fire, wind, water, earth, lightning.
And while he was busy surveying the room, Kabuto moved past him.. seemingly not bothered by the alien geometries as he made his way up to the sideways control space. Madara gazed up as he ascended the bridges up to there. His Sharingan discerning one particular feature of this bio-tech. The artificial gravity seemed to work differently from what they had seen so far. Chakra ran all across the floor and walls, and focused around their feet, making sure they can walk around without difficulty, instead of floating through zero-gravity. The air was difficult to breathe in at first, but the atmosphere quickly adjusted to the Kalinin whom just arrived.
Come to think of it, the stations were intended for them. Kabuto passed an identification code to the station upon approach so that the defenses would let them pass, the identification being their very DNA, transmitted through a small sacrifice of blood.
"Stop your whining and come on!" Madara chastised Tayuya and Zetsu for their moment of weakness. He paced along to follow Kabuto, with the two others only barely keeping up at the moment.
"Madara! The shape down at the bottom, we are supposed to affix the statue there!" Kabuto hollered, pointing downwards... or sidewards according to his current position.
Madara looked down at the bottom for a moment before moving down.
"Tayuya, Zetsu. Give me a hand here."
"Finally... something to keep me busy." Tayuya spoke softly.
Zetsu shook his head.. "Nothing much I bet."
Smoke obscured the lower levels, but was quickly filtered out as Madara summoned the Statue of the outer path into place. The union between the imprint and the statue going smoothly. Madara watching as the Chakra of the station and the tailed beasts within the statue began to interact.
Good.
Madara did not like to follow the orders of such a young upstart. But the sheer promise of this plan compelled him into cooperating for the time being.
"What is it looking like up there?"
A silence followed for several seconds.. long enough for Madara to simply warp himself up there, but Kabuto did not seem fussed about that detail, probably expected it. "Quite fine. We are getting green all across the board. The weapon will take some time to charge though."
"Why is that?"
"Technically although the weapon can be operated and fired with just two tailed beasts. It's the minimal amount. The more beasts involved the quicker the charging period."
"Do we have enough time to spare?" A yelp away from them distracted him away from Kabuto.
"Hey, look at this.. what in the world?" Tayuya called out as the projectors displayed scores of holograms in mid-air. Nothing surprising, other than the fact that the projectors used a gaseous form of Chakra to form those images, making them semi-solid due to the sheer concentration.
"Quite a lot of time, I reckon. Here, we are getting feeds from the rest of the stations." Kabuto beckoned as he moved closer to the images.
"What does these scriptures say?" Zetsu voiced his curiosity as every Kalinin present focused their attention on the projections.
Madara peered at the images.. "Two stations destroyed. Recently too. The Citadel must be on the hunt. Doubt Shepard could pull this off by himself."
"Quite perceptive." Kabuto hissed as he reached for the control panel that connected to the projectors. "The third station are about to be attacked as we speak."
Madara felt disappointed.. "I thought these installations would be better protected than this."
"The Citadel according to automated reports have utilized novel tactics and overwhelming numbers thus far. During the first two assaults, the effectiveness of the defenders have been rather small. However, all that the defenders learn about the enemy are shared with the other stations as well. Which will allow them to become much more proficient at eliminating the particular threat." Kabuto let go a small chuckle.. "You could say that the Citadel forces are teaching the Maker defenses how to fight, in a manner of speaking. Individually each Maker ship are a power house in each their way, but the new knowledge will allow the automated forces to fight more effectively."
Madara frowned as he looked up at the image of the galaxy that dominated the view, raised a finger and softly pressed the blinking dot on the map, indicative of the station currently under attack. The image zoomed in immensely until it settled into a view a star system. Overlooking now a battle field, windowing both forces smoothly in. Rendered images of each individual ship in either fleets appearing. The Maker ships arranged themselves in the same formation as in the former encounters as indicated in the log.
"How inefficient. Let's provide a measure of aid, shall we?" Kabuto offered as he pressed a few buttons on the panel, soft to the touch, a small squelching noise acknowledging the order. A field covered the whole image. Information about the entire battle field was scrolling past them. Indicated capabilities of enemy ships. Information about the Maker fleet.
"Is this...?" Zetsu gasped, clearly fascinated.
Madara's singular visible eye glowed as he relished the sight, flexing his fingers. "A command interface."
"The most desirable outcome would be the total destruction of the attacking fleet, but they outnumber that stations standing forces by... quite a lot. That leaves our chances for total victory quite low." Kabuto summarized from what he could observe as he pulled a copy of the current image from the active one.. a mold to use for shaping their strategies while the Citadel fleet advanced, estimated a few minutes before the engagement will begin.
"Then all we need are to damage the opposing fleet as much as possible, forcing them to slow down to gather reinforcements." Madara lifted his hands to the mold and shaped the fleet. The ship types indicated; Three Shield ships. Twenty-one Gunships. One Array ship. The first ones were arrayed at the tip of the formation in a wide spaced triangular formation that slowly circled around a single axis. The Gunships packed together in a tight formation, without obscuring each others field of fire. Upon a closer look, they had been fielded into a formation that looked much like a ring, with a large hole in the middle, inside which the Array ship was positioned. "This, would be satisfactory."
"Ah, if I could put a name on it, I'd call it a barrel formation. You basically have taken the ships to tighten up their fire solutions as much as possible. It won't leave much room for evasive maneuver..." Kabuto noted, seemingly deep in thought.
"Indeed, but as I said, because we can't destroy them all, we have to incur as many casualties as possible before the enemy forces' numbers become a telling factor. This will allow us to place forth a withering field of fire against them."
"It's worth a shot. It could be worth to rearrange the Shield Ships though. The way things are, the greatest weakness of the Maker fleet are the lack of fighters to counter that of the enemy."
"Logical solution, fighters are mostly ineffective against the Void Demons. Sheer weight of numbers using heavy ships and firepower are probably the most plausible solution as far as conventional tactics are concerned."
"But leaves them vulnerable against Citadel fleets."
"And about the Shield ships?"
"Their primary purpose are to set shields into place, consisting entirely of smoke consisting of microscopic particles arranged so tightly as to slow down projectiles passing through them. A form of cushion. That's how they minimize damage. Stopping the projectiles are difficult to say the least, especially that of Void Demons. No, Maker shields focus on slowing down the projectiles to reduce the inevitable damage. The advantage of that being that Maker shields are far more durable. Once a kinetic barrier are weakened, it takes time to replenish it." Kabuto informed the other at length. "The Citadel's opening move according to common doctrines are to send in waves of fighters first along with wolf packs of Frigates." he began to feed instructions into the interface connected to the three Shield ships. "I will have them to be used for blocking the fighters."
"Alright, but right after the initial wave, I'd like to have them to protect against their main fleet."
"Of course. The Array ship is quite a curious ship. No one would be able to guess what type it is without having information about it beforehand."
"Indeed. I only glanced at the description and already knew where I wanted it." a dark chuckle.. "Like the hidden part of an ice berg."
The active field image was about to be set. The Citadel fleet arrived within effective range. And as predicted a great number of fighters and Frigates swarmed towards towards the Maker fleet.
"About time to set things in motion." Kabuto whispered as he pulled the mold back into the active interface, watching now as the real ships rearranged their formation in a hurry, to exactly where they wanted them to."
"Look at that, it's perfect." Tayuya whispered as the fighter screen and the Frigates behind them narrowed their formation to go after the much more tightly packed enemy fleet.
"The Frigates got smart Officers though, their slowing down. Probably expecting trouble." Zetsu guessed.
The fighters however rushed into the formation. Only for the Shield ships to intercept their flight path. Vast clouds of particles drifted from each their five arms as they lazily spun around. The shield fully up within seconds. The very shrouds which purpose to slow down bullets for their more combat dedicated ships behind them proved lethal against the fighters as they tried to pass through. The small crafts crushed as the shrouds built massive amount of pressure around them, no less than fifty fighters tried to get through before orders from higher up managed to reach them, forcing the remaining fighter wings in the attack wave to break off into individual squadrons and away from the Shield ships.
"Excellent." Kabuto sneered.
"Good, now back to fleet protection." Madara instructed, just to watch one of the Shield ships blow up as it was strafed by several Frigates, seeing their firepower plowing through the shield to fragile ship beyond, destroying it.
"It's already a foregone conclusion that the local fleet will fall. We can just hope they will take enough of the Citadel forces with them to slow them down." Kabuto said, sullenly.
Madara chuckled, "Given up on them already?" he pointed out the formation as it aimed down at the center at the sleek Salarian formation like the barrel of a gun. "I'd say the battle have just begun."
Information scrolled by on the projections faster than before as all the Gunships opened fire as one. Resulting in two rapid salvos of projectiles that resembled nails. Bio-spikes according to information the computers provided, followed by a third salvo composed of a strange seed shaped bullet that followed in the spikes wake.
The Array ship tilted forward, it's carapace gleaming as no less than eighteen gun ports opened on the topside of it. A six-shot barrage apiece were launched within short notice. Eliciting a long whistle from the watching Kalinin in appreciation of the sight.
The Frigates along the way were quick to evade the incoming barrage. It did not matter where they went as long as they get out of the way. The Cruisers however could not move nearly as fast, and the first salvo soon reached them. Most of the bio-spikes found their mark. The shields were greatly weakened on most of the ships. But several shots missed. The second salvo arrived soon after, striking the already weakened ships. In the mildest of cases, the hits tore the outer hull apart, but failed to cause any real damage. But where the worst happened, the bio-spikes passed clean through the opposing ships, causing explosive atmospheric decompression. those whom were struck through the engines detonated, breaking up into small fragments. Or simply hung there, dead in space.
"Only a few went down? That sucks." Tayuya worded it exactly, not holding back her disappointment.
"There's one more salvo from the Gunships incoming. Six more if you add the Array ship." Madara observed.
The third salvo got to the Salarian battle group within a few moments and impacted with the ships belonging to the fleet, quite literally as the over sized projectiles collided with the Cruisers within and exploded in due turn. Eighteen ships quickly vanished from the display carnage in the resulting carnage as the unshielded and damaged crafts took the hits. The Array ship salvo's following in late and wrecked what was left. It's projectiles were built to be blunt, and put a heavy emphasize on stopping power and sheer kinetic force than armor piercing. Eight more Salarian ships that survived the Gunships' assault tried to limp away only to be obliterated by the Array ship. And those heavily damaged by the previous barrage weren't spared either.
"That's the way to do it." Zetsu grinned as he watched the chaos. The Maker fleet successfully crippled the Salarian section of the Citadel fleet.
Tayuya shook her head.. "You think so? Take another look."
True to what she referred to, the time it took to perforate the Salarians, the other elements of the Citadel fleet took their time to rain a hell of their own upon the Bio-ships.
The Shield Ships had been overwhelmed and destroyed. A third of the Gunships were also destroyed, with another third gravely damaged.. five additional ships soon after, the formation slowly being torn asunder by the wolf packs now. The battle appeared to be lost.
"Align the ships for another barrage." Madara quickly put forward.
Kabuto shook his head.. "Their barely holding together as it is." he leaned closer to the interface.. "Ignore last order, fire at targets of opportunity."
The other glared at him strictly as his orders were overridden. But relented soon as the remains of the Bio-ships were shown in the finishing stages of being destroyed in detail. Remaining Gunships and the now damaged Array ship constantly firing burst after burst at the enemy fleet, causing several more casualties, primarily among the Turians. One of the Gunships rammed a Frigate that strayed too close, the resulting collision smearing both off the battle field.
Within a few additional minutes, what remained of the fleet was decimated, the Array ship finally succumbing as dozens of rounds struck it from various angles, bringing an end to the battle. Leaving the Kalinin to simply watch as several additional projectiles was launched from the Citadel formation and struck at the Chakra relay station in that system, disintegrating it. And by extension causing the image to fade.
A silence fell upon the chamber, with the exception the low constant hum from the organic structure surrounding them. It was Kabuto whom eventually broke the silence.
"They have at least given us more time with their sacrifice. We should be thankful for that fact, at least."
"...Yes." Madara nodded in agreement. It was the truth.
Kabuto took another mold up in the display. "We should plan for later battles while ahead."
"Yes, lets." The other frowned as they went to work. While the other two turned towards the chambers lone and matted window, a vague image of the stars beyond.
"I hope the charging of the weapon finish soon, I already hate this place." Tayuya groaned as she found a place to sit down.
"That goes for everyone here.." Zetsu commented. "But we don't have a choice, it's the only path open for us right now."
Tayuya sighed and turned her gaze to the stars outside, and if for only a minute, she felt more tired than she had ever been before. Waiting turned out to be all they could do for now.