36: Repayment of a Debt
Destiny Ascension
xxx
Tevos fought the instinct to cover her eyes as an explosion overwhelmed the view-screen's built-in glare protection. She felt that the sacrifice she was witnessing deserved to be committed to memory, so that others could see the nobility of those willing to lay down their lives to protect hers, if she and the Ascension survived the battle.
Onscreen a Geth cruiser exploded as the heavily damaged Talon of Justice crashed into it. With their main guns offline, Virnicus had given the order to ram the cruiser before it could fire on the exposed ventral section of the Ascension, where the barriers had still not been even partially restored. The rest of the contingent that were serving as the Ascension's escorts were barely faring any better.
Three frigates, two Human and one Turian, had quickly buckled under fire from a renewed Geth assault as once the signal to re-group had gone out the Geth had recognized the danger posed by the Ascension and diverted every ship they had to eliminate the threat.
Tevos knew it was a sound strategy, but given to her current location she could not help but wish that the Geth had developed a software error and forgotten about the only remaining Citadel dreadnought. As she turned back to her station, and the viewer located on it, she saw the Hannover slip between two Geth dropships and fire broadsides at both.
Until the appearance of the Humans, none of the major races had even considered rigging a cruiser for such an attack, but to the Humans it was an tried and tested battle tactic. A tactic that the Geth were now learning about the hard way; which brought a wry little smile to the Councillor's lips.
"Forward barriers down to eight percent, rear barriers are still off-line." Said Lieria as she held onto her station for dear life.
"Engineering reports the primary core is starting to fluctuate. They recommend we only use the secondary core until they can solve the problem. Tertiary core is still off-line." She continued as the engineering reports came to her with the loss of bridge engineer Junila and her station.
"The Hannover reports that their position is being over-run and request assistance." Valern reported from the communication station. After the attack from Sovereign, he had, rather embarrassingly, managed to dislocate his right shoulder – something that was both very hard to do and very painful for a Salarian. Thankfully the bridge assigned medic had re-set it, and to the annoyance of his bodyguard, he had taken over the comm station; thus freeing Sparatus to staff one of the weapons stations. "The same is true for the rest of our escorts."
"How long until they get here?" asked Tevos' bodyguard, Siaha, from another weapons console. With the on-going battle the Council and their assigned bodyguards had been forced to fill-in for injured or dead crew-members as the need arose and so now all were manning a station bar the Salarian Spectre, Maedri Arern, who had cracked his skull during Sovereign's attack, and had been taken to the nearest medical bay.
"Keep our forward barriers towards the main Geth forces." Lidanya ordered Tevos, who had joined Davila at the helm – or what remained of it as a support beam had fallen and killed the second helm operator; destroying most of that console in the process. "We need to hold out until reinforcements get here!" Everyone present knew that was just one ship, but right now, that one vessel was their only hope of survival.
An alarm sounded indicating a close-range FTL jump and Lidanya spun to face Lieria in hope, only for the Maiden to dash it. "Five Geth ships, two units directly astern." Lidanya cursed as she turned back to the main viewer and watched as the attackers re-orientated. With their rear barriers depleted – and the now incredibly stupid idea of limited rear GARDIAN turrets and Silaris armour about to bite them in the azure – all anyone could do was sit and watch as the five Geth ships prepared to destroy the flagship of the Citadel.
Lidanya turned to face the Councillors, giving each a slight bow, before she spoke. "Apologies for my failure."
"You did all you could Matriarch." Replied Sparatus as he continued to fire at any Geth vessel that entered his assigned fire-zones. "That is all that we could ask for."
"Their cannons are aligned." Muttered Lieria before she closed her eyes and prepared to meet Athame.
Tevos watched the main viewer and silently wished she had had one last chance to talk to she daughter even as the rounds from the Geth cruisers rapidly crossed the short distance to the Ascension. As the shells closed, a thin red beam struck one of the projectiles, eviscerating it. Then another beam removed a second shell. More of the Geth's shots disappeared as multiple red beams struck them until all had been eliminated.
As the bridge crew watched, a larger – and far stronger looking – beam smashed into, and through, the lead Geth ship, easily piercing its barriers and slicing the hull. The following vessels started to evade the now severed carcass, even as another of the more powerful beams carved up a second cruiser.
As a third beam struck, Valern spoke up, "Incoming signal." Without waiting for any order, he piped the message through the bridge speakers.
"Sorry for the delay but we had a few issues to work out." The grey saucer and glowing nacelles of the Starfleet vessel swept across the viewer as the Vanguard pulled around the rear of the far larger Ascension as the smaller Starfleet fighters surged through the remaining Geth dropships, cutting them apart with ease.
Lidanya realised a breath she did not realise she had been holding. "No apologies are needed Commander. We are grateful for your actions."
"Well, I did say I would replay the favour one day." Lidanya could almost see the smile on MacLeod's face, one that she knew mirrored her own from the relief that the Vanguard had arrived in time. "And it's Captain now. Long story." The viewer automatically changed to show the forward view as a small group of five Geth cruisers and double that number of dropships broke from the main battle to launch an attack on the two isolated warships.
"Well I look forward to hearing about after we win this battle." Lidanya turned to Sparatus. "Councillor, charge whatever cannons we still have and fire at will." Sparatus' mandibles flexed in delight at the order.
"Belay that. I've got something special for these Geth." Sparatus gave Lidanya a slight nod that he would not fire even as the Matriarch turned back to the main viewer.
"And just what…" Lidanya trailed off as just over a dozen glowing red torpedoes shot out from the Vanguard's rear pod. Closing at almost inconceivable speeds, each torpedo impacted with a Geth ship – and filling the viewer with a bright red glow.
"Incredible." Mutter Valern as he analysed the energy readings from the explosions. Fast moving missile-sized anti-matter weapons were nothing more than a pipe dream of the STG research division, but the Vanguard proved they could be made – and that they were incredibly deadly.
"And effective." Added Sparatus as he chuckled slightly at the destruction brought by the torpedoes. "But somehow that seemed like overkill." Not that he was complaining; more that it was sure to draw the attention of the Geth, and the super-dreadnought when the Citadel re-opened.
"Councillor that was the point." Replied MacLeod, the humour in his voice was now unmistakeable. "It should buy you some time to affect repairs while we move to engage Sovereign and draw off the Geth."
"Do you believe you can stop that ship?" Asked Sparatus. He refused to believe that it could be sentient and have helped to bring about the fall of the Prothean Empire. "Are you sure you wish to try?"
"We're the only ones that can challenge him Councillor. It's not really a matter of trying; simply doing what has to be done."
Sparatus nodded, more to himself than anyone, at the statement. While his earlier meetings with MacLeod and Shepard had been abrasive, he respected that both were willing to do what they must. While they lacked the political subtlety that comes with age, he did approve of the kind of conviction and dedication that they showed to their causes. "Good hunting Captain. May the Spirits guide your blade." He said, and he truly meant it.
"And to you Councillor, Vanguard out." The link closed and Sparatus did not need to look to know that both of his fellow Councillors were looking at him. That was as close to a public apology he had come to in his ten years on the Council.
Yes, he knew the rumours on the Citadel – that his head was harder than a Relay to crack – but he knew that he had to be that way as Valern was too interested in pushing forward without thinking about the ramifications and Tevos could be far too conciliatory at times. Therefore, he acted, as he must to protect the Council – and by extension the Hierarchy – by being 'as stubborn as a mule' as the previous Alliance Ambassador had commented on one occasion.
"Davila, turn us to bring our plasma cannons to the main battle. Councillor, Spectre, if you see a clear shot, take it." Ordered Lidanya, readying the crippled, but still combat capable, ship for further action. "Inform Havjia that I expect full power…." She stopped in mid-order as the whole bridge bucked and she was thrown from her raised location and landed in an undignified heap near the helm consoles.
Shaking her head as she slowly pushed up from the deck she turned to Junila – momentarily forgetting the engineer was dead – before turning to face Lieria. "Report!"
Lieria pulled herself back up to her console and accessed the internal scanners. "Explosion near the primary core." She paused a moment as she tried to connect with main engineering. "There is no response from any engineer and the core is rapidly de-stabilizing." She gulped at the figures she was seeing before turning to face her Matriarch. "I estimate we have less than five minutes until it loses stability."
"Sound the evacuation!" The looks that those present gave her told Lidanya that it was an unexpected order. "Do it!" It was highly doubtful that most of the crew would be able to reach the escape modules in time, but she had to try to save as many of her crew as she could. Turning to the two Spectres still present, she continued. "Get the Councillors to the nearest evacuation point."
Tevos opened her mouth to protest, but a non-too-gentle tug from Siaha prevented her from vocalising her disagreement with the order. Valern and Sparatus turned quietly and quickly, but Valern stopped when a light flickered on his console. "Incoming signal."
"Vanguard to Ascension. We've detected an internal explosion. Is everything alright?"
Lidanya barely managed to hide her surprise at the fact that this new ship could internally scan their ship as she answered. "We are minutes from a core-overload and are moving to evacuate the ship."
There was a slight pause – and Lidanya could see the distinctive grey shape of the Vanguard turn – before MacLeod spoke again. "Understood, we're on our way."
"No, you must stop that dreadnought." She ordered.
"One moment." Came the barely audible reply as the signal went silent.
Lidanya turned to Valern – who still stood at the communication station – hoping for an explanation. However, all the Salarian could do was to give a slight shake of his head to convey his lack of knowledge as to why the signal had been terminated.
"Matriarch, Fleet level of ships arriving!" Reported Lieria with clear panic in her voice.
"More Geth?" Lidanya asked for everyone one the bridge – and probably in the Citadel Fleet.
"Negative. It's the Alliance!"
"Thank the Spirits!" Muttered Sparatus as the unmistakeable image of a Human fleet began to re-form their battle-lines, even as the majority of the Geth forces turned away from the shattered remnants of the Citadel Fleet.
"The Geth are falling back to the Citadel, however it is still closed."
"Clever. They know we cannot fire freely in-case we hit the Citadel." Commented Tevos as she analysed the reports. Just because she was career politician did not mean she was not schooled in the art of warfare. However, she did her best to hide her knowledge when dealing with other diplomats – or her fellow councillors.
Sparatus harrumphed a little. "Then we give them that order." Noticing the looks of both Tevos and Valern, he continued. "We must get past the Geth and stop Saren's dreadnought." Tevos moved to answer, only for the bridge to shake again.
"That's up to the Alliance not us." Said Lidanya, drawing a line under the discussion that was about to break out between Councillors. "Right now, you need to evacuate the ship."
On the viewer, the screen split as a video image of the Vanguard's bridge appeared, with MacLeod sitting with a slight smile in the centre. "Looks like the cavalry is here and moving on the Geth. We're moving alongside and launching our shuttles." He said. "I wish we could beam your crew over, but eezo and transporters don't mix." Though the statement was meant to help lighten the mood, MacLeod was clearly not smiling at the memory that it invoked.
Lidanya looked at the Starfleet Bridge as an idea occurred to her. "That is true; however we have some important passengers that are not Asari. Would it be safe to 'beam' them?"
MacLeod turned his attention from Lidanya to Sparatus and smirked. "I think it could be managed, with their permission."
"Do it." Tevos said, answering for her fellow Councillors. She knew that Valern would try to discuss the technology before allowing himself to be beamed while Sparatus would be wary of trusting his life to something that was almost impossible to believe existed.
MacLeod gave a nod to someone off-camera as Sparatus turned to look at Tevos.
"Now wait a…" Sparatus opened his mouth to protest even as he – along with his bodyguard, Falius, and Valern, were enveloped in a swirling blue light. "Minute." He finished as he reappeared on the bridge of the Vanguard.
"Welcome aboard Councillors." Said MacLeod as he stood and moved towards the ops station, were Khev was actively scanning the Ascension. "How many can you detect?"
Khev answered without looking up. "I am reading around a thousand individuals aboard their ship, some in critical condition. The area around the explosion is showing no signs of life."
Lidanya again had to fight her shock at the scanning power of the Vanguard as she spoke. "Are you sure?"
Khev looked up at the elder Asari and spoke. "Yes. Compared to our earlier readings all thirty seven crew in the vicinity of that core are dead." There was nothing in his tone to suggest a shared pity but that was common for Romulans when reporting such information, not that any non-Romulan present save MacLeod knew that fact.
"Very w…."
"Apologies, but the core is going critical!" Reported a now very worried Lieria. "I estimate it will de-stabilize inside of two minutes."
Lidanya turned back to the viewer. "Captain, you have to move away!"
MacLeod shook his head. "Not going to happen." He turned to look back onto his bridge. "Major, can we extend our shields around the Ascension?" Lidanya heard someone behind her gasp at the question even as she watched the Romulan for his response.
"I believe so, but it would lower them to around a quarter of full strength and run the risk of an overload in a few generators."
MacLeod gave a slight nod to Sahen, well aware that the Major did not agree with this idea but thankful that the objection was not made here and now. Though judging by Sahen's look, MacLeod knew he was going to get that complaint later, if they survived the battle. He turned back to the viewscreen and spoke. "Matriarch, eject the core."
Lidanya moved to the secondary engineering station, and entered the command herself. A soft humming alarm sounded as the process to eject the core began. If anyone had still been alive in Core Monitoring, they would only have had half a minute to exit the core-room before emergency bulkheads were lowered and the air was vented.
As the warning mark passed the alarm ended and the core was ejected. One of the Vanguard's support craft gave the core a quick grab-and-pull with a tractor beam as the Vanguard inched closer and closer to the Ascension.
Lieria monitored the core as it now moved rapidly away from the two vessels. "Core explosion in three. Two. One." Her voice filled both bridges as everyone braced for the shockwave.
As the core lost containment, it erupted in a violent blue ejection, battering the heavily extended shields of the Vanguard.
"Shield strength falling." Reported Khev with impressive calmness. "Twelve percent. Ten. Seven. Four." Thankfully for both ships, the shockwave passed. "Shields holding at three percent. Engineering recommends switching to the armour if we are to engage combat."
"Havaris, activate the armour." MacLeod smiled as he looked at Lidanya. "Sorry to have to run but we've got an appointment with mister big and ugly."
Lidanya gave him a slight bow. "My eternal thanks for the actions of you and your crew Captain." She stood to her full regal height and returned the smile. "Now rip the bastard to pieces!"
MacLeod chuckled as he gave her a soft salute. "With pleasure. Vanguard out." With impressive speed, the Vanguard accelerated away from the Ascension, towards the still closed Citadel and the main fight. In all honesty, that fight was quickly turning into a rout as the first waves of the Alliance reinforcements arrived to begin pounding the remaining Geth ships even as the remaining ships of the Citadel fleet kept the now withdrawn Geth focused on them.
"We have a signal from the Alliance, placing it on speakers." Said Valern.
"This is Admiral Steven Hackett commanding the Fifth Fleet. We stand ready to assist."
"We are grateful for your arrival Admiral, and would be humbled to accept your assistance." Replied Lidanya. Maybe she was being a bit dramatic, but this Admiral may well have broken his own command chain by bringing the roving Fifth Fleet to the Citadel. "I am curious as to why you were waiting at a nearby Relay though."
"You can thank Commander Shepard." Tevos was grateful that Sparatus was not there to snort at the mention of that name as Hackett continued. "After reaching Ilos, she sent her ship to find us and warn us of the attack." There was a slight pause. "In all honestly, I 'm not sure about all this talk of Reapers, but Saren and that dreadnought have to answer for their attack on Eden Prime."
Lidanya was impressed that the Admiral managed to keep his tone in check, and not allow any anger or frustration to creep into his report since many Humans were enraged about that attack; and the Council's unwillingness to believe Shepard's initial report. "I too doubt the idea of the Reapers Admiral. " Now that was a partial lie, as like many of the more powerful Matriarchs, she knew enough about the Protheans and the fall of their Empire to know of the Reapers. What she still doubted was the idea that Saren's super-dreadnought was indeed a Reaper, and thus a sentient AI! "What is not beyond doubt is the power of that ship. The Primarch's Pride was destroyed in only a few seconds while the visiting Pertinacious was crippled by three strikes of the attacker's secondary beam weapons."
There was a pause as Hacket digested just how potentthe attacker really was. "That is disturbingly powerful." Again, Hacket paused, this break however quickly stretched to nearly half a minute. "My apologies Matriarch, but I have just received word from Shepard and she is opening the Citadel so I need to co-ordinate a strike by my fleet to clear a path through to the super-dreadnought."
"Very well Admiral. Good hunting." The link closed and Lidanya again watched as someone else moved away to do her job; defend the Citadel. Turning back to her crew and guests, she spoke again. "Others are moving to do our duty and I for one will not allow them to face this threat alone. This ship will be ready to move in less than one standard minute."
Her tone had been calm and collected but after serving with her for over a century, her remaining bridge-crew knew she meant business and rapidly relayed commands around the mighty warship to ready her for the final push.
Lidanya moved around the bridge until she was standing beside her old friend; Tevos. "Apologies for not being able to get you off-ship with the others."
Tevos placed her hand softly on her friend's shoulder as she replied. "There is nothing to apologise for. In many ways it is better that the Council are separated. That way some part of the Council can survive if either ourselves of the Vanguard is destroyed."
Lidanya gave the Councillor a slight bow in thanks for her understanding. "It is an impressive ship, and its weapons seem more powerful than the Reaper's."
"You believe that this 'Sovereign' is a Reaper?" Tevos asked. Inside the debate was raging about how much of the recording provided by MacLeod and Shepard was true; and how much was simply meant to merely scare.
Lidanya looked around her bridge, ensuring none of her crew were close enough to hear, before she answered. "I do believe that that ship is the same as the one that Vendetta warned of in its reports. However, I am not sure if the ship is truly sentient as it suggested, or if it is indeed responsible for building the Citadel and the Relay network."
Tevos also glanced around as she spoke. "I find myself in agreement with Shepard and MacLeod that it is a Reaper and also that it is trying to bring forth the others in its fleet." Lidanya gave her a slight look of surprise as Tevos was well known not to form opinions quickly, instead preferring to weigh all the facts before coming to a decision. "My concern is how we convince the other races to prepare for this possibility without revealing the truth."
Lidanya opened her mouth to speak but strangely, for an Asari, she found that she was unable to draw on her shared experiences to find anything that would help. Closing her mouth, she looked down as she wondered about the issue.
"Matriarch," both turned to the communications, where a new operator was now stationed. "The Alliance is engaging the Geth fleet. However the Citadel has stopped opening." On the main viewer, the arms of the Citadel had cracked open slightly, allowing a sight view of inside, but not enough to allow anything larger than a frigate to squeeze through.
Lidanya lowered her head in apologies for having to end the conversation abruptly – which Tevos acknowledged with a slight lowering of her own head – and moved back to her command chair. "Very well. It is time to end this. Take us into the fight, combat speed."
…
xxx
MacLeod held onto Khev's chair as he watched the viewscreen. The Geth were doing their best to stay close to the Citadel and Alliance ships – thus negating the usage of torpedoes, an Akira-class ship's primary weapon – which was forcing the Vanguard to weave through the fighting. Thankfully, Reiji was adapting well to piloting a starship in combat, especially given that she had not even flown a fighter in a real battle, and had moved the Vanguard into the main mêlée as the lead elements of the Fifth Fleet had begun to fire on the Geth.
Adding the overwhelming firepower of the Vanguard and her four small escorts to the fight was quickly turning it into a rout. However, the real target was still out of reach as the Citadel had stopped opening.
While the Vanguard could have taken a shot inside at Sovereign, to do so risked damaging one of the Wards if the Reaper moved. It would also require them to stop, allowing Sovereign to return fire – and with their shields currently down, MacLeod was unwilling to risk relying on the armour – still a virtually brand-new defensive system – against an unknown enemy beam weapon.
"Major, any news from Shepard?" he asked without turning around.
Sahen, who as stationed beside Havaris at the tactical console – as this was the standard location for a Romulan XO to be in combat – replied. "Negative. Since her initial signal I have been unable to raise her again."
"What about C-Sec?" asked Sparatus who, against his wishes, had been made to sit in the command chair. Unbeknownst to MacLeod, it was not the forceful nature of MacLeod's order that had irritated the Turian, more that he was unable to help with the fight, which went against everything he knew and had been trained for.
"I have a weak signal from near the Presidium Tower." Said Sahen, and after seeing a very subtle gesture from MacLeod, he continued. "On speakers."
"This is Councillor Aelius Sparatus, who am I speaking with?"
"It is good to hear your voice Councillor."
Sparatus's mandibles shifted slightly at the voice. "Pallin?"
"Yes Councillor." Gunfire could be heard in the background and the sound of one shot smashing into metal near Pallin echoed over the comm-line. "Franklin! Get over to the left and support Rleina!"
"Executor, how is the situation?" Sparatus asked, his mandibles shifting slightly with worry.
"To borrow from the Humans, it's all gone to Hell Councillor! Before the Geth were merely holding the Tower for some reason but now they are actively trying to kill anyone they can find."
"That may be partly my fault Executor." Sparatus turned to look at MacLeod. He did not see it that way, but he could understand the Human's logic. "We have driven the Geth forces back towards the Citadel and an Alliance fleet has joined the fight."
"Quite frankly Commander, I do not care why it is. Simply that we are now close to being over-run."
MacLeod looked up at Sahen. "Can we get a transporter lock on them?"
Sahen scanned the Citadel Presidium, then shook his head. "No. The Reaper is putting out too much interference to allow us to get a clean signal."
"What in the name of the Spirits is a Reaper?"
"Trouble." Was all MacLeod gave as an answer, as this was not the time to argue over that point. Sparatus agreed with a slight nod, as he wondered if the super-dreadnought was indeed what the Humans had claimed it to be. "We're sending a support team, they should be there in…" MacLeod let the sentence hang and looked back at his XO for a timeframe.
"Ten to fifteen minutes."
"Thank you Commander, but right now I am needed on the line."
The signal cut and MacLeod tapped his badge. "Hazard and Alliance teams report to main flight-bay." He tapped the badge again and turned to Rheu, his personal bodyguard; much as he hated the idea, he could see the benefits of one in this universe. "You too." Rheu opened his mouth to reply but MacLeod cut him off. "Deploy the heavy armour." Rheu's face took on an altogether mischievous/scary look as he clasped his hand to his chest in salute.
"I will accompany them." MacLeod spun – as did Councillor Valern and Spectre Falius – to stare at Sparatus. "Your teams will need someone that knows the Presidium and can handle C-Sec."
"Sparatus?" Asked Valern from XO's seat; where he had been sitting silently, and observantly, for the several minutes. After a few short years together on the Council, Valern was still not sure how to judge the Turian as every so often – such as right now – he acted like a soldier and not a career politician. Valern knew that he should expect it of a Turian, but Sparatus behaved as a proper politician often enough, that when he did 'go Turian', it somehow always managed to catch Valern by surprise; though only for a moment.
Sparatus' mandibles shifted in a way that showed his enjoyment at surprising his Salarian counterpart. "I will not let others die to defend what we so easily abandoned." Without waiting for the reply, he turned back to MacLeod even as he stood. "To do otherwise is to dishonour those who have died today." He would not say it, but really that meant General Invectus, a friend since his childhood who was now, in all probability, dead.
MacLeod stared at the Turian for a moment before nodding. "Very well." He turned to Rheu, who was waiting at the turbo-lift. "Uhlan, guard him as you would me." Rheu again clasped his fist to his chest as Sparatus – and Spectre Falius – joined him in the lift.
As the doors closed, MacLeod turned back to the viewscreen. "Ensign, move us out of the battle and as close as you can to the Presidium."
"If I may Captain?" MacLeod turned and looked back at Valern. "There is a private, and unmarked, docking port near the Tower that is meant for the Council use only." He blinked rapidly as what he was revealing was classified, but he wanted to give Sparatus a better chance at survival. "It is for when we need to move someone discreetly on or off the station."
MacLeod could only guess what exactly that meant, but he would not turn down the help. "Thank you Councillor. Show the Major and he'll relay the information to the shuttles."
Valern nodded a little too happily for MacLeod's liking, and stood and walked around to the tactical station. Even as he showed Sahen where the landing port was, he studied the console, while Sahen watched him for the slightest possibility of betrayal.
…