Hiccup Haddock, AWS Normandy
"You sure this will work",
"No clue comrade, but its better than standing around and waiting for those cruisers to gain an idea".
"Just bear in mind I've tried this before and it did NOT end well". Murmured Hiccup as they loaded onto the asari shuttle. Stolen from the planetary defence gun, Hiccup thanked the gods they had kept it around. "Is the bomb ready?". Khodemchuk chuckled, before patting a fairly smallish shape with a beeping blue light. "This thing will turn everything in an 80 meter radius to hot plasma".
By that he meant the warhead they'd hastily torn off of a torpedo and stuck to a timer before loading it into the shuttle. "Copy that. just make sure it works!", said Hiccup as he manoeuvred his way into the main compartment. "Anderson we're ready with the shuttle".
"Copy that Hiccup, we're ready up here with the thrusters. The asari shuttles are trying to sneak round and gain a bead on us, the plan is to rip them apart with our PDCs".
Hiccup closed his eyes as the door of the shuttle closed with a mechanical whir. "Aye Aye sir, just don't leave without us".
"We'll try not to". The dull roar of the PDCs echoed out and the shuttle jerked before blasting forward and out. Several bullet holes appeared as the PDCs made it look real, none any risk of course as Hiccup adjusted the blue and white armour of an asari marine, the armour nowhere near fit him and it was chafing his arms trying to keep the element zero rifle pointed at the floor.
Kolgrim coughed, before flicking on his voice synthesiser. "This is shuttle 2 from the asari cruiser Lucian requesting repairs, access code 3449".
"Now we find out if the turian intelligence on the access codes was worth squat".
"Shuttle 2 you're not on the arrival schedule".
"We took damage after the attack on the human stealth frigate and we won't have enough fuel to make it back to the Lucian".
As they approached the hangar bay, several GUARDIAN lasers extended and directed to point directly at them. "Shuttle 2 hold position now and prepare to be escorted by shuttles 7 and 8". Two other shuttles with gimballed turrets pulled onto their flanks as they held position.
"Oh frak, okay they aren't falling for it this time", said Hiccup. "Do we have anything we can do? There's no way we can bluff our way up close".
Kolgrim laughed hysterically, before grabbing the controls. "I have an idea...". With a massive burst of power, they launched forward and rammed straight through the kinetic barriers. Sparks flew from the consoles and inside the hangar, guns flashed as bullets sparked against the fuselage. "Get some fire down there!". Hiccup raised his rifle and slid open the door, before firing randomly on the large mass of soldiers in the hangar.
"Get that bomb out!". Khodemchuk kicked the machine forward as it flew from the open door and the inside of shuttle was pounded with gunfire. Hiccup then spotted a large tube being set up on a mount, and a gunship lifting off. "And on that note its time we say goodbye, MOLLER!".
The engines flared and the ship lumbered across the narrow hangar with all the grace of an elephant on drugs. "Oh Пиздец. The bombs been set off!". Hiccup continued firing his rifle, before it beeped and the cooling slide slid open letting loose a pulse of steam. "Well crap, Moller we might need to hasten our escape!".
"What the frak is going on back there?".
"Khodemchuk set the bomb off early".
"I will have you know I did nothing of the sort".
"Then how did it activate?".
"I kinda forgot to activate the-". A particularly accurate shot speared through Khodemchuk's chest, and he collapsed to the floor. Hiccup gave a shout, before pressing both hands over the wound, which was now spurting blood. "KOLGRIM!".
"HANG ON".
The explosion was silent, almost entirely. The lack of air in space meant noises couldn't be transferred, and the detonating plasma warhead was as silent as a winters night, the same went for the Normandy blasting away and catching the shuttle in its open cargo bay. The shuttle screeched across the floor before slamming into the rear wall and jerking. "Anderson we're onboard!", yelled Hiccup as he tore off the asari armour and called for medics.
Outside, a mass accelerator shot narrowly missed the destroyer. One of the Normandy's tubes opened as it curved round and arced straight at the now damaged dreadnought. A swarm of four torpedoes dropped as it fired its spinal railgun which slammed straight into the open hangar and ripped the guts of the ship out like a bullet through a clock. The torpedoes where intercepted, but one which made contact with the ripped open hangar and consumed the front of the ship in a nuclear blast.
With the dreadnought gone, the computer pinged with forty friendly IFFs as the Spirit of Fire and its fellow warships appeared from FTL and began unleashing their rail-guns and PDCs on the remnants of the asari fleet. 20 seconds later, the asari finally began rotating their ships towards the fleet, but the Spirit of Fire and its fellow warships shot past, having been travelling with a relative velocity of nearly 8.9 kilometers per second.
By the time the asari fleet opened fire with their mass accelerators, the Spirit of Fire had disappeared back into FTL, its strafing run leaving the defence fleet crippled. While the cruisers and frigates had been left untouched, no-one had defended the missile platforms or the ground support ships. No-one would actually realise this fact until the following day.
Armali, Asari Empire Capital Building
"This is unacceptable Benezia! A dreadnought crippled above our own homeworld? A spaceport destroyed and in ruins! The defence fleet struggling to defend freighters from the Archians?", yelled Tevos as she stared at the shimmering image of Benezia, who was not on Thessia.
"I am already taking steps to minimize the impact of the Archian fleet group in Thessia. The STG have informed me they have been given stealth ships capable of suspending themselves for extended periods of time in stealth".
"And yet while rebels ravage through our homeworld you see it fit to head for the Citadel", she said.
She wanted to punch Benezia as she smugly replied, "The Citadel possesses the largest fleet shipyards in the galaxy and is a vital target, I am currently overseeing the development of the new and improved Destiny Ascension, and with the hull laid down, we may be able to strike back against the Archians before they have a chance to-".
"To what!? They've already hit Thessia several times and taken out numerous convoys carrying Element Zero to the frontlines. How can our fleets fight back if they have no fuel!? Answer me that!?".
"Give authorisation to spread out the fleet and start protecting the convoys. If we can't hunt them, we can at least protect the resource they're after".
"Fine, but I swear to god you can't ignore the demands for a ceasefire much longer".
"I will take whatever means necessary to defend Asari sovereignty, even if it means carrying out unrestricted warfare and start slagging planets". And with that, the image flickered and disappeared. "Frakhead.
As the hologram disappeared, she felt something. A presence. As though someone else where in the room with her, and drew her sidearm. The gun levelled on a single human, clad in armour sat at the side of the room, out of view of the hologram, and seeming unconcerned by the gun.
He then raised his arm, and a flickering image of Grimborn appeared. "Representative if you are seeing this then it means the situation has reached a breaking point. Should you choose to continue, control of the asari homeworld can be relinquished by the end of the week. For now I am afraid you must follow all instructions of Lieutenant Baker here".
The message cut off, and before she could comprehend what was happening the alarms went blaring red, and the soldier (Baker?) had grabbed her and fixed a pair of cuffs around her arms. 7 more soldiers entered, all in a similar set of deep black armour with glowing purple highlights. When they spoke, they spoke with an authoritative tone which made her realise these people meant business. Their voices where heavily synthesised, and the glowing purple masks swirled with energy.
"Target is secure, moving to evac".
"Where the frak are you taking me". She managed to wrestle her arm free, and raised a biotic barrier. One of the soldiers pulled a small instrument from his back. It was a smooth and oddly shaped gun type article, with a purple orb which pulsated. On closer inspection she realised all of the soldiers had one. With relative ease, he threw his hands forward, and purple swirls surrounded her, paralysing her movement. They then grabbed her and manhandled her forward again.
A pair of asari jumped forward from behind the door, and with relative ease, the two forward soldiers raised their guns and fired two tame green orbs which overwhelmed their armour and melted them to the ground. Tevos wanted to throw up at the horrific show of gore, but couldn't. As they rounded the corner, she was led to a balcony.
Near the balcony, a heavyset craft with a smooth black exterior and a single set of rotor blades was hovering there. It had a pair of short stubby wings and a single rotor on its tail concealed within a shroud. "Airwolf is onsight, launching now".
As she was thrown into the craft, the other soldiers boarded and the thing jerked before she was fastened into a seat, and whatever stasis field surrounding her dissipated. The ground was rapidly receeding from view as the craft shot upwards, its engines whining and burning like crazy. A mechanical clunking echoed out, and before she knew it, the blue of the atmosphere was darkening as they shot upwards.
"Spirit of Fire capture is complete, preparing for rendezvous with the Stalingrad at gridpoint 6H"
A masculine, but much lighter voice replied, "Copy that Airwolf. Going dark now".
"Where the frak are we going, Answer me!". The human soldiers ignored her, and one not-so-subtly angled his rifle towards her. She flinched away, thinking back to the two asari marines who had been shot by them, before remaining silent. The two hour period as they receded through the rigours of FTL where filled with awkward silence, every attempt at gaining information met with silence, or a threat from the guns. She found herself despising these humans even as a loud bang signified an exit from hyperspace.
"Stalingrad this is Airwolf, request docking permission, Alpha Alpha Zero Zero Niner Zulu".
"Airwolf you are cleared to enter hangar bay".
A ship unlike anything she had ever seen before was fast approaching. It resembled a fighter more than anything, with four engines mounted on rectangular pods under its swept down wings. A single fuselage section with a hangar under the nose. It was painted a deep black, and imbued with the word Stalingrad.
As they set down in the hangar, she rose on order, and proceeded into a cramped and almost full hangar deck, where the shuttle from the planet filled most of the space, the only other craft present was one of their tanks, a heavy vehicle with a massive rail-gun on its rotating turret.
As she proceeded forward, one of the soldiers from before gestured with his gun to a room at the back, as she entered, her heart dropped. The room was dull and bare, with a single crash couch which doubled as a bunk, small side room which she guessed was a toilet, a couple of other contraptions where present, what she assumed was a sink and table with chairs. But this was a prison cell.
She was a Prisoner of War.
Hiccup Haddock, AWS Normandy
Hiccup made his way through the crowded CiC to the briefing room with Anderson in tow. Apparently the higher ups had reached the end of their leash and wanted to bring about a quick end to the war. To facilitate this, Hiccup had been ordered to join in with an air assault on the Thessian refinery which provided much of the refined element zero to the asari fleet, which would be swiftly followed by a formal demand for a ceasefire. Hiccup didn't want to see what would happen if they didn't give in to the demands.
Especially with the overwhelming speed the Turian fleet was making a comeback with nuclear weapons created from fission.
As he entered, he took a seat at the side with Toothless at his feet, both looking at the center of the room where a hologram of the facility stood. Others began to enter, most of which Hiccup didn't recognise. First was Moller, who was dressed in a flying suit which Hiccup didn't recognise. Behind him was a loudmouthed and brown haired American with a similar flight suit and a badge which read, 'Alvin H Davenport'.
"Well well well, if it ain't back to the future in-person". The man leapt forward and slapped Kolgrim on the back. "I didn't realise Grimm here actually told the truth". He held out a hand. "Flight Sergeant Davenport, also called Chopper while in the air".
Kolgrim smiled and retorted, "We where wingmates back in the OPA rebellions. He flew under that nickname, I got pegged with 'Grimm' because-".
"Because you never smiled you grumpy bastard". A heavyset pilot with a buff and muscled body and face remarked, "Warrant Officer Jack Bartlett. Nicknamed Heartbreak One". Hiccup shook his hand and staved off a wince. "Any reason for the nickname Heartbreak?".
"Cause he can't keep a girl more than a month", remarked a short woman with black hair and a badge which marked her as a flyer for Stormcutters. "Kei Nagase, Edge for short". "Alright troops settle down. Don't want to overcrowd your captain do yah?", said Chopper.
Hiccup laughed, "Wait captain, I thought-".
"Lieutenant Haddock?", asked a blonde haired and thinly wired man with a bomber corps badge. "I'm Wing Commander Shepard Book, Codename SkyEye for short. You're facing a temporary promotion to Squadron Leader for the Archian Air Force for this mission". Hiccup saluted, "Uhh, thank you sir? But why the sudden promotion?".
"The Air Corps are a mess. We got redirected from Sur'kesh with a light carrier and we we're running short on officers. Our original Flying Officer, Lehman got sent back to earth with a broken arm and a ruptured spleen after he took a bullet during a sortie, so for now you've got more flying experience than anyone if you're recollections about pre-modern era fights are anything".
He then removed a badge. It was metallic and had an oddly coloured yellow strip which had a very sharp 8 made from a ribbon which rotated around itself over a galaxy. A jet was above the 8 with two trails, and below it read Mobius Squadron. "For now you are Mobius 1, leader of Mobius squadron. Flight-Lieutenant Moller over there is Mobius 2, and I'll introduce you to the rest of your squadron later. For now we need to brief you guys on the situation.
In the center of the room, the Refinery pulsed, before a massive cluster of dots appeared. "Here we have the refinery, its pretty standard for an asari fuel production facility, except... this".
Surrounding the facility a massive barrier appeared, it dwarfed everything else and covered the entire facility. It seemed like the domed shape would collapse under its own weight, "It's a kinetic barrier more powerful and sensitive than anything we've scene. Should the Asari become aware of an attack, they would activate the barrier which will keep the facility from any attacks. We need to take it down in order for the Resistance to get their soldiers in. But not permanently".
The shield generator appeared, an intricate looking spire in the center, surrounded by guns and vehicles. "The shield is generated from a single spire, which we are planning on crippling for a brief time to ensure the troops can get in. The Asari have a multitude of redundant generators which protect the spire itself, however, to vent heat there's a single thermal exhaust port at the base of the tower".
Chopper leaned over and whispered, "Sounds like star wars".
"Now the problem is the only way to reach the exhaust port is down a single heavily defended shaft which is protected by a variety of anti aircraft guns and heavy surface to air missiles".
"Still sounding like Star Wars".
"And we need to eliminate all of these in order for a bomber to drop a heavy FAEB down the port, the blast should be large enough to crack open the barriers, allowing a single dragon rider to proceed down the shaft and blow the main power connection coupling. This will allow the resistance to take the base while we provide air support, before repairing the shield to keep the facility from further attack".
"Oooooh yep. Someones been watching too much Star Wars".
Kolgrim rolled his eyes, and Hiccup held in laughter. It was kinda obvious Chopper was a joker. "A bomber wing, provided by Squadron Leader Patrick Beckett will carry the bombs, while Mobius squadron led by Squadron Leader Hiccup Haddock will neutralise the defences and provide guidance for the bomb. Listing squadron led by Patrick Beckett will attempt to protect the bombers, however we only have six fighters up there, so its likely Mobius won't be expecting any support".
One of the mobius squadron members who Hiccup didn't recognise raised a hand. "But sir our Aurora's will never be able to carry enough munitions to destroy them all".
"That's why we're thankful to the carrier Bratislava for providing several aerial rearmament drones and you'll all be given AV12G Typhoons to carry out the mission. I'll also be providing AWACs duty in an E898 Sentry".
"What about enemy fighters", asked Edge.
SkyEye gulped, "It's very likely the base has its own fighter complement, so prepare for air combat. We sortie in 2 days and 4 hours exactly. You'll be moved to the Bratislava for now Moller and Haddock for a short amount of training with your squadron so prepare your equipment for immediate transfer via shuttle. Dismissed!".
Hiccup saluted, before turning away. "Haddock wait a second", shouted Anderson.
Once everyone else had left, Anderson handed over a file. "You'll be joining the ground assault once we breach the shield. We're going straight for the control center to disable to ground defence guns and cause chaos... I'll be joining you this time because..." He looked around, before lowering his voice. "The Fury Corps accepted your application. I will be reporting on the mission and following this you're scheduled for immediate departure to New Princeton for training".
He was stunned at the proposal, he never actually expected to get in. "Wait really sir?".
"You did exceedingly well during the attack on the defence cannon with the intel gap we had, and you showed exceeding courage when we took down the dreadnought. You also kept Khodemchuk from bleeding out and he's personally recommended you for the operation. Damn fine job Hiccup". The Admiral left, and Hiccup found himself heading for the med bay to say fairwell to the heavyset Russian.
"Ahh, Comrade Haddock how are you?". It was clear he was delirious as Hiccup arrived. "Just to say goodbye Khodemchuk, you're headed back to Earth soon while I'm being transferred.
"Ahh, they said something along those lines, I didn't really pay attention, the unicorns flying around my head distracted me". He then chuckled, which devolved into coughing.
"You can call me Valerii as well my friend Haddock, you saved my life". He then raised a hand to Hiccup and drew him into a hug. "Удачи товарищ, I will see you soon".
"See you soon too Valerii". He then drunkenly saluted, before collapsing back onto the medical couch. Hiccup saluted and chuckled, before heading out.
He had jobs to do, and a new crew to meet.
Codex Entry: Biotics and Psionics
Biotic - A term used to describe organic beings which are exposed to dust form element zero while still developing. Long time a staple of Turian and Salarian special forces, the dust form element zero (which is usually created when FTL capable warships explode over habitable planets) is absorbed by the cells of the host body while it is still developing and manifests itself during adolescence as a capability to harness the power of element zero in two key ways. The first is the standard use to raise and lower the mass of objects, the second being the capability to create telekinetic fields around objects to move them from a distance. Oftentimes exposure to element zero of any form causes dangerous cancerous growths however on the instance where the young survive, they often find their abilities accidently, and are transferred to specialised training facilities. Human biotics are almost unheard of due to a lack of element zero within human space, and exposure of element zero to dragons has, in every known instance, caused death.
Psionic - The polar opposite of Biotics, psionics are completely unexplained and it is unknown what or how these are formed. Psionics is the capability of an organic being to utilize unknown subspace fields to control the living biomass of organisms in ways which are unprecedented. While this is somewhat connected to willpower and courage the discovery of psionic beings was kept a closely guarded secret, and even still the few million psionic soldiers in the federation are kept a closely protected secret. Psionics allows manipulation of the brain in organics, or any form of matter. This can be done via the use of a psionic manipulator, a small device with a specialised energy field able to sustain itself. Dragons are among the most psionic beings in the galaxy, each being connected via an unknown psionic conduit to the alpha. Certain dragons such as night furies can harness this power more clearly, and the capabilities of human psionics allow communication with the dragons, the capability to aid fellow soldiers remotely, or the ability to harm or even control enemies. Psionic converters are a fairly old and expensive tech used to allow dragons to speak, and due to unknown reasons, the only dragon able to use them are Night Furies, of which currently only one uses one constantly. Nott'Einfari the representative for the dragons.
"A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better, than a master of one" - Unknown
