Author Note:
This is it. I did a thing.
Roughly 12,000 words. (I write at odd intervals so this is pretty cool for me)
It took so long. At first I was going to make it a stand alone story, but then I decided for some reason to make it a chapter 2. It's still a one-shot and will probably raise a lot of questions about the passage of time.
I have no negative feelings to Mass Effect as a franchise, I just thought it would be a cool idea to have a story all about the space battle side of the Battle Of Earth (ME3) and replace the Reapers with Gatlantis (SBY2202) as a great threat.
An experiment to recapture the same writing style of the previous style. I fear the story may sway in different sections or be less coherent.
I rate this M because I don't know if people will react well to death. There's no blood, swearing or over the top gore. But to be on the safe side, I will make it rated Mature.
The Normandy pulled up alongside Admiral Hackett's Dreadnought. It was nearing the time to push the Gatlantean forces off the face of occupied Earth, and show the Galaxy's civilisations that the enemy is not invincible.
By using the Citadel and Crucible, they could put an end to the Gatlantean presence once and for all. But if they were going to set foot and physically activate the weapon, then they would need one hell of a fleet to punch a hole through the massive Gatlantean blockade of Earth.
Intelligence reports revealed that the fleet around Earth must have contained at least a hundred thousand enemy transponders. The battle that would take place would be near or absolutely suicidal. A lot of brave souls will perish in this endeavour, but it will be worth it, as it will be the final battle to end the genocide-ridden foe.
They may have numbers and superior technology, but they should be outmatched in greater leaders and more guns. It doesn't matter. They have to win for the sake of future generations and the universe.
The plan for Shepard (and the Normandy) was to fly directly into the heart of the cluster with a hole in the enemy defences, hopefully breached. If they get to the citadel, they will be safe from bombardment, but will have to face internal security measures (which won't be too hard, hopefully).
The activation of the crucible was the main priority, and it appeared that time was against them; if they were going to save the galaxy from the Gatlantis incursion, then they had to play it safe, smart and efficiently, or else the galactic alliance fleet would face greater losses. Time was of the essence!
The Admiral stood high, pacing around and wore a serious face.
"Never before have so many come together-from all quarters of the galaxy. But never before have we faced an enemy such as this. That Gatlantis will show us no mercy. We must give them no quarter. They will terrorize our populations. We must stand fast in the face of that terror. They will advance until our last city falls, but we will not fall. We will prevail. Each of us will be defined by our actions in the coming battle. Stand fast. Stand strong. Stand together. Hackett out."
As the Admiral had finished his valiant speech, it stirred a crowd of praising sailors and operators who applauded and cheered on. The courage of man will burn brightly with the flame of vengeance upon the invaders.
Those Gatlanteans stormed our earth and killed everyone that the alliance was supposed to protect. Citizens, military, Pirates… it didn't matter, as none were spared. Even if the alliance gave them a chance to surrender, they chose to commit suicide and blow themselves up or just ram friendly ships. They were monsters, like the Reapers!
Speaking of Reapers, they hadn't shown up. Maybe they are still asleep in dark space… and or maybe faced against Gatlantis and lost.
That doesn't matter right now. Now is the time for the big battle ahead.
As the Systems-Alliance Dreadnought "Everest" departed to join her preset battle group, while the Normandy prepared to jump into the Mass Relay, to lead the final battle.
Earth, Sol system.
Upon earth, was a desolate wasteland of cracked continents and withered cities. A shadow of her former glory, was the cradle of mankind.
It was a depressing sight to behold, but also awe-inspiring and dread-inducing to wonder about the motives of earth's current captors; who loomed above with pure malice. A hatred that burned against all life in the universe, that had them torch entire worlds and send stars into supernovas.
The fleet that occupied Earth was a majority of Karakrum-Class Battleships and Gostok Missile Battleships. Some vessels in the fleet were of light carrier, destroyer and cruiser descent, as their size was marginally smaller.
In the center of the cluster, was the captured citadel with its arms closed and sealed. It once belonged to the stagnant council of aliens who ruled a significant amount of space. Their government tried and failed to defend against the Comet Empire, and as a result, their home was taken in as a taunt.
Gatlantis had no real interest in the abandoned space station. If they wanted to, they could have easily thrown it into a Star or left it to the fate of a blackhole. The roughly 40km long construct was just bait, at the end of the day.
Around the Citadel were a few super-carriers. Three of them stood idle and seemingly dormant, but battle ready with swarms of Devastator-Fighter craft. They were "Dogma", "Centurion" and "Serpent".
After Earth's localised space forces were all but annihilated, the focus was then drawn to fighting on the surface. Tens of thousands of drones were launched alongside infantry and tanks to battle the urban environments.
At first the ground siege was going well; with it all taking place in unprepared cities and military installations, but when humanity dug in, it became a battle of attrition. The amount of hidden flak turrets and organised resistance groups seem to hold back a week's worth of the constant influx of Gatlantean units. It made what was original going to be a quick and decisive victory, into a gruelling soup of destruction.
At some point, the Gatlanteans stopped sending reinforcements, and opted for several inferno cannon formations to quell the survivors. At the hand of Dogma and Centurion, they arrived with their squadrons of Devastators, which leveled the few remaining population centers. The Serpent had arrived afterwards with a low-atmospheric sweep, followed by an escort to deliver additional punishment.
Ever since the three super-carriers stood, they became the localised authority of the blockade.
And now, they stand in a wedged formation, with the Serpent up front.
…
The space around the Solar System's Mass Relay was ery and silent. A black void of stars with little movement that overlooked the Luna ruins. (The Gatlanteans also tore several holes through it.. and presumed to kill off anything that lurked. The same fate was present throughout the rest of the system, and beyond.)
The silence then turned to a hum, followed seconds later by a violent roar from the spinning Gyro-rings in the Relay's superstructure. The blue spark of its core glistened as it overworked to bring in operators from the other side.
Soon afterwards hundreds to thousands of exotic vessels poured into real space at rapid succession. -Beginning with the human's fleets, and later, trailing behind tens of thousands of far-more-alien-in-design-looking warships.
Ships that belonged to every corner of the galaxy, ranging from Asari to Turian, and Salarian to Quarian. Even Geth and other smaller governments added in their support!
Capital ships like the "Destiny Ascension" (An Asari Dreadnought) presented themselves in the mass influx of force.
The Normandy arrived at the scene, as one of the first ships to arrive. On the bridge was Commander Shepard, who looked in awe to see so many ships and people fight by his side.
The massive fleet that gathered stood at around 65,000. Those numbers mainly belonged to cruisers and frigates, with the occasional destroyer and battleship in between. Dreadnoughts and carriers however were towering above the overs, due to their thickest armour and heavy cannons that scattered around the hulls.
Every so often, there would be countless squadrons of the fighters that flew past, that preceded to join pre-assigned formations.
As the capital ships prepared to get in formation, various gun turrets and cannons took aim upon the enemy.
"Alright, everyone. This is it. On my signal!" Shepard spoke over the fleet wide battle coms.
Countless souls operated their guns. Readying for the moment to lay the first strike upon the seemingly unprepared Gatlanteans!
...
"Fire!"
Shrieks of Missiles and thunder of mass accelerator rounds roared to life, sending the biggest salvo in recorded galactic history over towards their mark.
Flares of blue-ish white light whistled across the void, colliding with the dark green hulls of Karakums. For effect, deep metallic rumbles occurred as starship grade rounds dented and scraped away at the hulls.
A few unlucky Karakrums and other Gatlantean ships had their bridge towers guttered and peppered beyond recognition. Which resulted in a few delayed explosions from the impacts (for dramatic effect).
But just before they could get a proper combat stance, and align the heavier warships, another order was broadcasted to the thousands of fighters gathered, by Shepard.
"Fighters, engage!"
"All squadrons on me!" Spoke, a leading patron.
Those who led the charge, sounded off affirmative and acknowledgments, and proceeded to fly directly into the blockade's heart, hoping to bombard unsuspecting enemy starships with missiles.
But, just as the armada of fighter's were about to zero on their marks, the Gatlanteans swiftly countered with their own craft. Hundreds of Devastators launched from nearby carriers, as well as the three flagships that loomed behind.
Dogma, Centurion and Serpent, all in sync, began to spin and twist their double catapult flight-decks, sending a huge vortex of fighters.
The fighter-on-fighter engagement went down quickly, as the alliance withdrew to allow the capital ships to enter the fight. Though only a few squadrons made it back, as the Gatlantean's AA-laser turrets turned a majority of the fighter-offensive to dust.
…
Serpent, Apoculix-Carrier, Bridge
The galaxy's inhabitants factions had come to work as one.
Though, what really went threw the Gatlantean commander's head was the sure size of their quick response effort, and..
"H-How could they gather a fleet of this scale?" He said.
Suddenly, the command room's station spawned a crimson diamond holographic image of their Emperor.
"General Ciers, you know I don't like stagnation on the battlefield." His deep voice echoed.
"Yes, my lord." The officer bowed.
…
White Comet, Throne room
As the transmission faded, the large hulking figure of Zordar smirked.
"Interesting.. Looks like I'm going to enjoy this.." he spoke, more to himself.
…
Back to the battle of Earth
The Serpent, along with its collective band, as one, pressed the blockade fleet to fully intercept the adversary tide.
A wave of bulky green ships cascaded from the flanks of the planet, supplying an additional hail of emerald positron beams.
It didn't look good for the allied-fleet, as they soon began to suffer hundreds of caustilies by the minute. Though, in the end, it wasn't much of a concern, as both sides of the conflict refused to withdraw.
About eighty or so, allied dreadnoughts preceded to forge a covering arc of AA defence, as the familiar sight of Goland-class Missile Battleships began to rapidly fire hundreds of huge white missiles. The missile salvo was met with a hurricane of flak, which disposed of most of them, due to them being large, easy to hit targets.
But the cheers were short lived, as a greater current of fire swept away at the allied Dreadnoughts in the form of thousands of torpedoes and rockets. The intensity of the second salvo viciously gutted and overpowered the guardian defence systems in wicked succession, before they could attempt any evasive maneuvers.
The Dreadnoughts were protecting damaged cruisers and frigates. They thought that they could withstand several blows of beam weaponry, due to size and armour. But they were soon surly mistaken once the closet of the mighty vessels began expelling flame and mini suns.
The combined onslaught of seemingly endless rockets and antimatter beam weapons absolutely eviscerated a majority of the contingent. Super-heated emerald lances slashed through, -bypassing kinetic barriers, and gutted the ships to slag. Often pumpiling them with fury, and leaving them to later explode seconds later killing many brave souls
Shrapnel and loose debris from the exploded superstructures lashed out at their scorched comrades.
Only a few Dreadnoughts and co managed to barely survive, as their engines whimpered while the battered hulls parts rumbled being strained.
They were like fish in a barrel, left to the mercy of the Gatlantean foe. They waited and dreaded the coming seconds for the inevitable hail.
But, just as the contingent of Missile Battleships were about to let loose another attack, a reinforcing squadron of allied cruisers sounded off with their mounted Thanix-cannons, -doing a number in the enemy ships.
The blue-ish beams of accelerated liquified metal, lanced forwards in retribution to lash out and give support to the crippled allied units. The beams staggered the enemy ships, giving off scorch marks and spitting fires.
It wasn't overly effective as a few enemies were left unscathed, but it did split the attention away in a frenzy, giving the crippled Dreadnought survivors to join in the counter attack. Fully eliminating the attentive enemy force of this small skirmish.
…
Around the massive space battle, the two giants drifted closer together in affront to dominate the other.
Countless missiles, accelerator rounds, thanix beams and emerald lances were served between the tidal waves of ships closing distance.
Among the ravenous hordes on the battlefield, the lone Normandy kept proceeding to fulfil the mission. At it's best speed, the puny human frigate locked onto the surface of the Citadel, while the Gatlanteans were distracted.
Only a few Gatlantean ships had taken notice, and began to follow through to taking chase and destroying the annoying pest.
The agility of SSV-2 Normandy, made it a tad easier to out manoeuvre the enemy warships. But, that didn't mean she was off the hook quite yet; as a few Lascaux cruisers and Kukulkan destroyers persisted behind, assaulting with their rapid fire gun turrets that spewed forth with torrents of green lasers .
The Normandy took a few hits from the spamming lances. The starship's fins and port hull began to leak a smoke trail, as it's thrusters sparked unhappily.
To compensate, the Normandy flew low to the surface citadel arms in effort to outrun the heavy energy onslaught.
Getting low to the industrial-grade exterior of the Citadel, the Normandy flew gracefully past metal outcrops and hills. The surface up close was raggeded and plastard with haphazardly built antennae-like structures. Trenches and mountains of densely packed armour appeared all around the Normandy, as she dodged and weaved across the artificial "terrain" looking landscape.
A few bolts of green sizzled past the Normandy, as she trudged on to hopefully out fly the pursuers.
Luckily, the stunt bore fruit as an enemy assault destroyer slammed into a pillar of reaper-steel. The clash tore down the mini structure, as a bright light engulfed a second unfortunate, who flew too close to the "ground".
However three more still remained on hot-pursuit!
Two of three remaining of the chasers accelerated ahead to try and flank, while the third adapted and repositioned above. They were getting smarter, and opted to chase the Normandy with minimizing a risk of clashing.
Sadly, for the Normandy, the dense forest of metallic superstructure seemed to come to an end, with the next area looking like a desolate plane with not as many diverse features.
This gave breathing room to the hunting Gatlantean destroyers, who exited seconds behind.
The destroyer from above veered right a bit and lowered to get a broadside angle on the Normandy with another, while the one to the left turned sharply to ram.
The ramming one luckily overshot it's target, as the Normandy carefully angled downwards. The resulting quick thinking, had the enemy get skewed by friendly fire.
But then karma struck harder with the mistaken shots fired; as the two remaining Kukulkan's were suddenly vaporised by a colossal emerald beam from far above.
The shot from the seemingly afar, sent an almighty shock wave to the Normandy, forcing her to fly away from the close quarters aboard the Citadel's exterior frame.
…
Meanwhile (a few minutes ago. But also technically close by..)
The attention of a few destroyers/cruisers braking off to pursue a lone human ship, didn't go entirely unnoticed by the Serpent.
This lone human ship thought it could barge in and attempt to retake the "Reaper" Relay-Hub, oh how wrong they are. - Ciers thought.
In response, Ciers ordered an immediate strike upon the Normandy, via an Inferno Cannon Formation.
At once, six Calaklum-class battleships lined up in a row, bow to stern. The group formed a sturdy pillar, with a dozen spinning rings of red lights.
Soon the length of ships began to ignite in a pillar of emerald green, which shot forth towards the Normandy's position around the surface of the Citadel's exterior shell.
The deadly super laser crackled and whined through space, slamming into where the Normandy thrashed wildly to escape.
Seeing the Normandy's escape however was expected, so swarms of Needleslave Drones were sent to finish the job. Leaving Ciers to wave off the intrusion, to focus on the next phase.
…
Back to the Normandy. Bridge.
"Kinetic barriers have been overloaded, commander!" Joker announced through gritted teeth.
"What the hell was that!?" Shepard said, flinching.
"A massive energy based attack, focused a few thousand kilometres above us." The Cerberus AI explained.
Joker manipulated some holographic interfaces to reactivate some sensors and cameras, with the live footage displayed on a larger holographic panel-screen.
A few kilometres away, the bridge crew stared eyes wide and mouths dropped. Shock filled their bodies as they witnessed an impossible bite in the Citadel's armour.
For where the Normandy stood moments ago, was a mighty creator of scorched and blackened steel. The very tough alloy that the Mass Relays were constructed of.
It should've taken a fleet to at least deliver that pounding over the course of a few weeks to maybe months.. but here they saw with there own eyes, the damage that was addressed and sent by in regards of Gatlantis.
If burned brightly. Glassed with masses and chunks vapourized. It proved that Reaper metal was indeed resilient in most cases, but it wasn't entirely indestructible.
For where the creator was, extended a gaping hole into the citadel's exterior shell. A gaping whole, that so happened to be perfect to allow a measly Systems-Alliance stealth frigate to cruise on by.
"Joker, I have an idea."
"Yes, sir". The pilot said, smirking.
…
The Normandy did a loop, swerving and diving nose first into the hole that the Gatlanteans made. She wasn't entirely free of passage, as what followed were hundreds to maybe thousands of drones.
At least they weren't hunting them down with a squadron of ships.
The thick layers of outer to inner shell was impressive. The hole that was carved in by the Gatlantean super laser attack was barely deep enough for the commander's liking, but what else were they going to go. It's not like the Citadel possessed some secret back entry that would require some near or absolutely suicidal ground campaign to get to.
As the Normandy shared though, she had fire off a few missiles and thanix-Cannon blasts to break the weakened supports to gain further access through the cave. With luck and enough ammunition, the Normandy was able to burst through the shaft.
The shaft appeared to be more of an industrial use or weak point where the arms closed to seal the station for good.., and the laser that melted/opened it up, brought access to the gaping passageway. Yes, the deadly laser was wicked powerful, it shouldn't be able to go that far down, right?
Oh well, it didn't matter, because they had arrived.
The Normandy shot out of an abandoned apartment complex, which rattled the foundations and sent some debris over the surrounding cityscape. As they had just entered and jettisoned out into the interior section of the Citadel.
They didn't have much time, as the rubble and debris from the forceful entrance wouldn't hinder the Gatlantean drones for too long!
The Normandy flew up and away from the city, and into the "sky".
"Right there, the presidium. Take us to the nearest insertion point!" Shepard commanded, pointing out the spire-like structure on the ring segment that held the five Citadel arms.
The presidium was where the councillors convened to discuss galactic politics. It was the centerpiece and most heavily fortified area in all of Citadel-Space. And with logical determination, and data on the massive structure, it was where they needed to be to activate the Weapon; once the crucible is carefully escorted and connected to the space station.
"aye, aye" Joker replied, as he danced his hands over the console interface.
The Normandy flew forth, opening some of her hidden weapon compartments to combat the drones in the process.
…
Meanwhile, back to space
Flagship Destiny Ascension, with a few hundred escorts, laid a further advance upon the Gatlanteans. The fleet assembled around the Ascension were mainly veterans of the semi-disbanded Citadel Defense Fleet. Many Asari, Turian and Solarian made the bulk with a few client race ships and allies of existing deployments.
(The Ascension is basically a giant lowercase "T" with a donut hole in the centre.)
"Ma'am, the Gatlanteans are pulling away from the citadel!" An Asari officer reported.
"Good, then that will be our chance. We can help provide additional protection for the Crucible and commander Shepparton."
"Goddess, they're coming for us at high speed!" Another officer shouted.
From the view the allied armada, at least a few thousand enemy ships from the scattered battlefield, had linked up and proceeded to bring an all out assault towards the Ascension.
More than a hundred of the enemy ships were of Karakrum design. The very battleships that would be infamous for silencing entire fleets and bases. The very same ships that terrorised Theressia merly weeks ago!
"All ships, fire at Will!"
The Ascension and her flotilla aligned in formation, ready to sink in their thanix cannons and mass accelerators into the Gatlantean movement.
Every frigate to Dreadnought, in the small task force fired mercilessly at the enemy, sending hot rounds and trails of missiles to intercept; ending with the desired effect of putting splinters and holes through the adversary's hulls. Rupturing power sources and creating more than a dozen small suns.
To the crews of the allied fleet this was a small victory, but win no less. But to the White Comet Empire, this was merely delaying the inevitable.
Leading the bloodied strike of vessels, to put down the Citadel Armarda's flagship, was the Dogma and Serpent. Two Apoculix-carriers with their flight decks renewed of fresh attack fighters.. and something else.
The signature twirl of the flight decks began the immediate deployment of fighters in mass. Like before, this time instead of traditional Devastators, they were replaced by larger attack craft in the form of Eaters.
Unlike the fighters that were designed to tackle various assault methods, these small vessels were shaped like swords/daggers. They're job was to combat, and destroy capital ships with agility and explosiveness.
As the Allied flotilla that stood by the Ascension were drawing closer, the expendable Gatlantean warships were pushed back, as a distraction.
"Ma'am, we have enemies… sword-ships?" Said the uncertain Asari officer.
"Doesn't matter, keep pressing the attack. They can be picked off by our fighters!"
No soon did the admiral address her orders, a flight of Turian and Human fighter craft pulled through and assembled to hold off the new enemy fighters.
The large swords (Eater I) sped by the allied fighters, spewing green bolts to deter its foes of the battlefield. The strange, yet allegiant space daggers whipped by, flanking the unshielded Allied vessels, ignoring the assailant squadrons.
Soon the Ascension and her escort caught on to what their enemies had in play, and opened on them with whatever AA batteries they possessed.
Flak and Guardian lasers seemed to dispatch a few of sword-fighters, but it wasn't enough, as the combined onslaught of the Gatlantean war fleet and Eaters proved a tad bit too troublesome for the Allied unit to secure their defences.
The first of the Eater swarm impacted the hull of the Ascension, ripping through her kinetic barriers and cutting deep her armour. Initially, there were sparks and flame that plumed as the Asari Dreadnought vented atmosphere. Then, the sword that first struck began wailing and blindly firing off green, adding more holes and burns. The last and final move was to then detonate, tearing up a significant portion of the Ascension's plating.
Debris and shrapnel rained down, on the already battered and distressed escort fleet. They of who remained were granted ill to none respite as the rest of the Eaters followed after, delivering maximum damage and chaos fleetwide.
A cruiser among the group was impaled several times all over, soon to join the slag field that was the 'enormous' space battle.
With every sword that dropped, another ship was claimed. Those vessels who were of mass and courage, were awarded a better chance of survival. The Dreadnoughts of the fleet that were impaled by tens and more; but nethertheless, they pulled through, just barely.
One by one, nearly every ship in the Ascension's battlegroup was annihilated and shrouded in dust. But they still held on with determination; that even if they did falter, it would not be in vain.
The Ascension with three remaining lackeys, albeit heavily damaged, stared down the coming horde of Gatlantean ships.
But just as the crews were holding onto their seemingly last breath, a surprising and very suspicious change occurred.
"Ma'am, th-there retreating?" The officer uttered.
"What. Why would they be retreating when they suddenly had us out gunned?"
"Unknown-" another officer relayed
"-Wait, we're detecting something from the far side of Luna orbit, Earth's moon!" The first officer declared.
…
From the far side of Sol 3's moon..
Several hundred massive asteroids and chunks of moon made themselves known on the battlefield. They were each staggering, at least four or five times bigger than the Destiny Ascension in sheer size.
The large space rocks, seemingly unnoticed at first, began to subtly descend on the Allied Armada. They're flight path couldn't be assumed as dangerous, as normal onlookers would see them as just rogue asteroids that would soon be caught in the Earth's gravitational pull.
But they would be grossly mistaken, as what happened next; would soon wage nightmare anew.
The huge asteroids, each one by one began to crack. Small chunks of tinier-asteroid floated off. The flakes of rock that idly trailed behind soon increased in size, as bigger chunks drifted apart from the parent asteroid.
Once the asteroid seemingly 'dissolved' on it's own, it revealed under the makeshift
rock shell, that behind the mask, was an "enormous" Gatlantean Karakrum-class battleship.
But this ship was different. Not just it being a lot larger than the normal battleships of it's production line and being clad in black with crimson veins; it was there to serve a greater purpose, one that would be a part of spelling doom for the Allied attempt.
This ship, along with the reveal of its surrounding fleet was fully uncovered. Among the hidden surprise fleet was another type of Karakrum. That being fully clad in crimson. They would soon fulfill a different purpose.
However, Leading the Battalion of black and red vessels was a single Karakrum on the front with a different aesthetic to it's comrades. For, on it's bow (front), there were (painted) malice induced teeth. Along the port and starboard were more blood red accents and veins. And at the rear, it's engine flame was as sickly as it's accents.
Where they were heading, wasn't to simply combat assailant ships, but to wage war in the deadliest of naval manners.
…
Coming back to the Ascension, to a crewsforth flurry of panic..
Alarms blared as the bridge was bathed in a red light. Crew and fellow officers, who were stationed at their consoles began rapidly fidgeting and reporting distress.
The enemy force did a number on the surviving battle group. With numerous hull breaches and fires on multiple decks. counts of missing crew and morale bleeding;
Worse yet, the Gatlanteans had a reinforcing punch of Dreadnoughts of their own, and without the reserves to spare, surviving this would need a Shepard miracle.
The mysterious enemy reinforcement that appeared behind the moon had struck everyone in and around the Ascension's zone as dumbstruck. How could they have built a large number of terrifying vessels under their noses? The sensors were functioning at maximum capacity, and still, the Gatlanteans have more to add to their name.
"Matriarch, the new Gatlantean ships, designated Black Fleet, are coming to us at high speeds!" The first officer announced.
"Then get us out of here! Reverse course!-" Matriarch Lidanya yelled.
"We can't, the mass effect core is overheated. We need to wait till the cooling systems come back online."
"...T-Then, load torpedoes! Fire thanix cannons! Fire everything we have at them!"
"N-No, we can't. The accelerators system's are severely damaged-"
"Ma'am, their ships are still approaching. Ten seconds till impact!" Another officer warned.
"Grrr.. Power up the barriers! Shields up to maximum! Take off all secondary systems if we have to, -just do it!" Lidanya chastised.
"Roger! ..uh, interior lights, offline… artificial gravity, offline…"
The spearhead of the Black Fleet fastened up, with its teeth gleaming in mad anticipation.
"Hurry, -quickly. The shields!" The matriarch urged.
"All non-essential systems are shut down, and kinetic barriers are almost finished recycling!" The first officer said.
As the crew were quivering in degrees of fright, the Black Fleet still continued to snarl and creep.
"...Mass effect core's status is fluxeritating…" A second officer reported in.
"..recycling barriers at eighty nine percent!" The first said, scowling in concentration.
If the barriers could have more power diverted to them, then theoretically, they should hold stronger.. only temporarily, as the core might strain and suffer greatly.
The matriarch gripped her command throne's arms tightly as she held a deep breath in anticipation. In all her long life in the military, she had never broken or thought to even consider giving in. But in these dark and bleak moments, she quietly whispered a prayer in hopes for the day that they all survive Gatlantis.
The eccentric voice of the first officer blossomed. "Kinetic barriers have been fully raised and increased!"
But just as she said that, an all-mighty crackle is heard, followed by the lights cutting out and screams of anguish.
…
...
An ear-piercing screech is heard, as the upper hull of the ascension quivered upon contact.
A violent thud, followed by the grind of steel on steel wails on.
Fire and flame erupted with an explosion of debris, sending chunks of metal, showered in embers all over the hulls of nearby ships.
The Black Karakrum Leader however, was unharmed. It only kept accelerating, like the Ascension wasn't even there. No change in course or flinch on impact.
They kept going.
Ignoring all those who were in their way. No matter if they were friend or foe.
...
...
The Ascension has seen better days.
But now, after the siege of Gantlantean warships and hail of Eaters, the Asari Dreadnought was limping on reserves.
So when the Black Fleet cascaded down and plowed right through the Ascension and her surviving escort, things were even more bleak than loss of ground.
The colliding Karakrum was almost the size of the Ascension. And with it's unyielding speed and mass, the assailant had effectively gutted the upper fin/spire. Killing hundreds of crew and serving a fatal blow to the Asari-Citadel Armada's pride.
Luckily, the bridge didn't go with it. Life support systems and other essentials were online, with the remaining crew at the helm recovering from shock.
Lighting was still dim and deathening sirens were slowly fading out.
"Helm, status report!... and... why are we still here?" Lidanya wheezed. The last part she said to no one in particular.
The first officer responded hastelitly. "Ma'am, the shields were shattered on impact.. and we lost the entire upper section." Referring to a render of the Ascension with her upper fin portion glowing red and unresponsive.
Soon the lights came back, bathing the room in a blue hue.
"What happened to the Black Fleet?" The Matriarch asked.
"The Enemy fleet has disengaged. No counter attack or aggressive movement would suggest that they come to finish the job." The first officer stated grimly.
An orange holographic display of the battlefield was shown. It only showed them the local space around with thousands of IFF tags, distress beacons and debris. Most of the tags belonged to the wrecks of localised allied forces; they were pulsating blue.
The other tags were pulsating red, indicating that they were the enemy. Though according to the flickering and strained long range scanners, the red masses were gradually decreasing and shrinking. This was good, but not great, as the amount of allied caustilies weighed heavy.
...This was war.
Coming back to the display, the recently announced "Black Fleet" that had ambushed the Ascension was nearing out of range.
The first officer danced her hands on the console, to bring up additional data on the ambush. Her eyes went wide as she paled.
"Matriarch, Lidanya!" She said as she brought up her omnitool and shared the reported trajectory of where the Black Fleet was steamrolling to.
The brief respite that chorused throughout the ship had abruptly ceased.
Lidanya, the commanding Asari had the helm, stood up from her seat, which got everyone's attention.
"Get me Commander Shepard of the Normandy!"
…
On the other side of the enormous battle, near, where the Citadel was being contested by either side…
Hundreds of Gatlantean warships of various designs continued to suppress the insurgence of Hundreds of allied vessels. They both stood nearly toe to toe, as the the tides of on coming accelerator rounds, missiles and antimatter beams rapidly clashed.
It had been a rough six hours, with slaughter and strife, gaining an equal favour of either side. The amount of bodies and slag that was laid to rest was immediately pressed and defiled by munitions, who's welders attempted to use it as cover. A bloody strategy, yes, but this was a desperate battle to determine the fate of the galaxy. Life or death.
No matter if a side lost ten or more ships. As they would reroute others from distant formations to enforce dominance. A single Karakrum may have erupted in a fireball, but that didn't matter, as two or three more would come to replace it.
The same can almost be said for the Allied Armada, as they too would lose ships and gain a few spares. The losses that were borne in exchange, for an upper hand, would be meaningless till every enemy was annihilated.
Eventually, for one side, at the end of the day, would be crowned victor and the other would wilt away, dead and forgotten.
..
Among the allied fleet was the Everest-class Dreadnought "" with an allied escort of various races.
"This is Admiral Hackett, we are going to make a push for the Citadel!" The admiral broadcasted across the allied armada.
He and his group held onto the Crucible. A large dome-spherical vessel that was meant to be a super weapon that would activate when docked with the Citadel should, theoretically destroy all the Gatlanteans off the face of the Galaxy.
It was the only thing the allies had. An ancient Prothean device (well blueprints, which was fabricated and constructed by humanity and the allies) that should kill the Gatlanteans, instead of using an absurd number of ships that they obviously don't have.
The escort fleet that added in strength by the minute was mainly forged of Turian, Quarian and Salarian numbers. A large plethora of unique designs ranging from curved and angular compartments, housing batteries of flak and mass-accelerators.
"Hold up, something's come up." A human sailor announced from his station.
"What is it, lieutenant?" Hackett asked evenly.
"I'm getting a reading that the enemy ships are… pulling back, if I'm getting this right."
"Hmm.. so they must be on to something. Are you sure?"
"No.. wait. Yes.. uh, they aren't nearly as aggressive as they were from the beginning."
"...So, they could be preparing for another counter attack.. or perhaps they realise that they have been defeated... A retreat is unlikely, unless.." the admiral went silent, trying to think what the enemy could possibly have in store.
"Well, according to our logs, the enemy have been quite adamant on taking losses."
The admiral frowned, "And so have we."
"I mean no offence.. but, just look. They first had us out gunned, almost two to one, but now, we have close to even numbers."
"So, where does that put us?"
"Their less aggressive stance in this cluster, near the Citadel could be a sign that they are thinning out. Trying to attack all of us, at the same time, while stretching beyond what they are capable of."
"Then not a moment too soon.." the Admiral sighed. "We'll punch a hole with less risk since they seem to be more bothered with trying to hold us all back. A clear weakness in their blockade."
Hackett got up and stared at a holographic projection of how that battle was seemingly taking place.
"Not so tough now, are you, Gatlantis." He said to himself. But in the back of his head, he still felt as though something was off. An instinct screaming to run. But he shrugged it off with a resounded sigh.
…
A few thousand kilometres away...
The Serpent and Dogma rejoined, in a formation with the Centurion away from the Citadel to coordinate effectively.
The formation had a few dozen Cruisers and Destroyers, mixed with some Battleships to take in another onslaught of allied vessels.
Together, they destroyed a handful of enemy "Dreadnoughts" and "Carriers" by showering them emerald beams and lances. The Allied warships were larger and armoured, but they were not immune to the ceaseless bombardment.
While the Dogma was launching the last of its Devastators, a couple dozen lucky missiles struck the flight-deck. The resulting missile fire from the assailant destroyers and cruisers, had crippled the surface gun-turrets, leaving the Apolilix-Carrier under-fortified.
The other two Super-Carriers paid no mind as they were convening with a squadron of Karakrums to assault the enemy Dreadnoughts.
Between the ships, were swarms of fighters of either faction, duking it out. Some fighters blew others with missiles and standard armament, while a few played dirty and rammed with what armour they had.
One Dreadnought among this section's battlegroup belonged to the Turian Hierarchy. It's angular frame and hull made it slightly harder to sink, but like most ships, it was bound to burst in a ball of flame.
Leading the Turian Dreadnought was Admiral Goth. A young Turian naval officer who surpassed his cadets in training. While he didn't grow up on the hirerchy's home world of his race, he still considered it home like how human colonists find their Earth to be their "cradle of mankind". It didn't matter what his origins were, all that mattered was that his planet of Turiankind had suffered for too long against the Gatlantean tides of ruin. That very thought of avenging Pavilon to defy Gatlantis was his righteous justice that he'd have bestowed, and now since times have changed.. he was finally granted the opportunity to show them Turian might!
His crew was loyal and brave. Some were veterans and some were new recruits. New and old blood today would serve on the battlefield. At the heart of it, they were honorable and prepared to lay their lives down for their Homeworld, race and family.
On the bridge, Goth was proceeding to order a suppressive fire for their allied Salarian Dreadnought. Their ally was burning all over. Massive hull breaches and scorching marks were visually dominant.
At the rate they were going, the loss of the entire battlegroup was more than likely by the second. And without reinforcements, this wouldn't end in his favour. Already a few allied battleships were slag, and the fighter squadrons were swatted away.
But then, after glancing at his consol, he noticed something about the enemy's movements.
A single super-carrier was smoking and unguarded. At last things were turning out bright for him and his crew.
But the battlegroup was shrinking fast.
"Admiral! Our shields all but null, and our weapons have run dry." Reported an officer.
This made Goth's confident expression falter. Transgressing into solemnity and despair.
Taking a deep sigh. He responded, but also activating the ship-wide comms. Broadcasting his message for all to hear. "..I want everyone to abandon ship. You have fought valiantly today and steadfast against the odds. You are all brave and honorable.. but, know this. No one will ever hold it against you if you disembark, because you have decided not to be cowardice, but to continue the fight for our ship. For our friends and family. For the hierarchy, and most importantly, our home.
..and I repeat again, prepare to abandon ship… and save Pavilan."
The admiral closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he found all his crew looking at him. Some smug. Some determined, and others standing at attention.
"Haha… looks like we're all going to be caught martialed for disobeying orders!" The same officer frome before announced with pride.
"You, know, you don't have to come with me…" Goth said, holding back a smile.
The Admiral then saluted everyone in the room, causing his comrades to parrot the response in respect.
After a few minutes, the Admiral gave his last order. "Helm, plot a course to take us directly into that enemy carrier!" Referring to the damaged Apoculix-Carrier in the distance.
The Turian Dreadnought's engines lit up, accelerating into the damaged Gatlantean flagship-carrier. With weapon systems replaced by belching flame and compartments leaking black smoke, the avain-in-design warship sped ahead in determination,
-stunned in inactivity, the isolated Dogma croaked, trying to maneuver away. It's main engines roared, and faltered to the dismay of the vessel's captain. In a fit of defiance, the last remaining AA turrets proceeded to pound back at the fuming Turian capital ship. The emerald bolts connected, but the assailant didn't budge.
This was it.
Though in a shocking turn. The explosion that soon engulfed the Turian Dreadnought and Gatlantean Flagship was a lot bigger than anticipated. But luckily the allied armada learned from previous engagements and sought to pull back as the shockwave knocked the Gatlantean forces off course.
The impact of debris and flares, connected with a few unfortunate Karakrums, sending them into a battered slag heap.
The allies won. Only this round… in this small segment of the expansive battlefield.
…
But then…
The small skirmish's victory was short lived, as the Black Fleet division of Gatlantean battleships arrived, only to stomp past the allied contingent.
The fleet of a hundred enormous, three and half thousand meter long behemoths came and went. Accelerating past and ignoring whoever was in their way.
Neither friend or foe was spared in their reign.
One such vessel was the Serpent.
In his last moments in action, General Ceres held a predatory smile towards the allied alien armada. He knew his time was coming to an end.
He knew that he was merely a cog in the perpetual war machine of Gatlantis. An asset to be disposed of and replaced soon after by a generically indifferent clone.
As we're all Gatlanteans. Bread to fight and die. Created and manufactured to fight for emperor Zordar and die, purging the universe of all life.
He sighed. Shaking his head, to remove any feeling of dissatisfaction from the situation.
light consumed the bridge. And, soon, there was no more Ceres.
…
Meanwhile Back to the surrounding Citadel space…
Allied ships had finally made a sizable dent in the Gatlantean blockade of Earth. The hole in the defence caused by the Allied siege, led to the Citadel being less guarded.
Only a small handful of escorting Cruisers and Destroyers were flanking the remaining Apoculix-Carrier.
And by the looks of it, the Gatlanteans were slowly pulling back.
Admiral Hackett stared at the tactical projections of battle turning in favour of the Allied-Fleet movement. Hundreds of friendly pings surrounded the recently contested Citadel.
The occupying Gatlantean forces were dwindling in droves, but still continued to fight on equal or even more furiousity than the assailant.
In other news, commander Shepard had reported in the Normandy's insertion op. The mission to clear out the Citadel of Gatlantean internal security forces was successful with surprisingly minimal casualties. Though, that can't be said well for the Normandy herself.
Unfortunately the Cerberus made stealth frigate, couldn't sustain the damage from a plethora of Gatlantean weapons. The total damage of the ship couldn't be serviced on the go and would need to be repaired at a shipyard or dock with high maintenance tools.
The substantial bombardment of lasers, missiles and other weapons had racked up to doing a number of hull breaches and damage to internal components; such as power to the kinetic barriers, engines and sensors. All other systems seemed to strain less, but would be needed to monitor.
Hackett was suddenly brought out of his domeener when an ensign reported. "The enemy fleet is pulling away!"
That was good. The sooner Gatlantis left, the sooner the Allied fleet could get to work here.
"Now, we can get to the reunification of the Crucible "super-weapon" with the Citadel." Hackett said to himself.
He smiled a bit. It seems things are looking up for the galaxy and humanity. Maybe saving it won't be impossible, now that everyone's willing to work together.
On a sad note, this battle was still of a few dozen that had scoured the crews of veterans, survivors and recruits. A lot of good men and women, had died today. But without there sacrifices, coming this close to victory wouldn't have been possible.
…
In the centre of the cluster of Allied vessels was the Crucible. It's escort was relatively intact with a few minor scratches and burn marks from blind enemy shots.
"This is Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance, we are preparing to dock the Crucible in... four minutes. I need all local fleets to defend our position till the weapon is ready… Hackett, out."
The closest sections of the Allied Armada split into a few many groups. Each contained a multitude of around thirty to forty cruisers, some battleships and remaining support vessels.
When it came to the Dreadnought-class of ships, the fleet could at this time only spare two, as others were too occupied by the restless onslaught of Gatlantis. The rest in the entire armada were as good as dead in the water or completely destroyed; ruin and burning slag, with electrical arcs withering in between.
The two Dreadnoughts that were spared, came from the surviving remains of Systems Alliance 12th Fleet and Turian 2nd Fleet. It was the best that could be scavenged in the amount of time they had.
"Admiral, sir. I'm getting an encrypted message from Shepard! Something's happened to Citadel Control, a power surge that caused extensive damage to the presidium and communications" A communications officer reported.
Hackett grimaced at the news. "Tell him to hold out a little longer-"
"Sir! Gatlantean reinforcements off the Starboard.. I-It's-" relayed a young ensign.
"Admiral! We're getting a flatline from the Mass Relay! No signals or radiation-" was another voice, gone unheard by the sudden escalating tension in the room.
"My god, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT ONE!" shouted the ensign. He was so used to seeing vids and hearing stories of smaller Gatlantean ships, that what he pointed to shook him to his core.
A holographic interface opened up, showing a scattered mess of friendly IFF tags and a sudden surge of hostiles. Red blips that seem to be read just as big the Destiny Ascension or even larger, among groups of other blips.
The room was bathed in red light as it shook from a presumed hit. The alliance command flagship shuttered from more impact.
It seems that there were some forgotten Gatlantean Destroyers that were desperate and joined the fray of their colossal 'counterparts'.
Admiral Hackett got off the floor, leaning on a console for support. All around were his crew, scrambling back to their respective command posts and helping others up. Luckily the damage to the ship and injury to the crew were only minor cases; with severe being a small concussion or bruising.
Coming back to the projected data of the battlefield, his eyes suddenly widened and face grew pale. Hackett had served in many battles as a respective naval officer and ventured far in the ranks, but this was something he had never prepared for.
The possible implication for if he were to let down everyone and Galaxy made him frown. No, he will not fail. He will succeed where others have perished, to protect and help provide a better future for all.
He straightened out his uniform. Letting go of the consol, he began barking orders like no tomorrow.
"Arthur, alert commander Shepard to quicken his pace, get him to evacuate the Citadel if the worse happens when I sign. Thomas, get me a link to the 6th, 12th and 2nd fleets to provide a kill box covering fire. Whatever happens, we can not allow the enemy to lay a single hit on the objective!"
The officers named Arthur and Thomas straightened up, and ran to issue-out their assignments.
…
The Gatlantean Black Fleet continued its unyielding course as every engine unit of the howling squadron shrieked ungodly. Crimson veins that etched into the hulls of larger ones, glowed brighter, casting varying degrees of primal rage.
Other vessels in the same pack roared a ferocious battle cry. Those others, revealed to be slightly smaller Calakulms, painted dark red. A clear tell-tale sign of danger, we're sighted to deviate.
They rushed forward, uncaring if the Allied Armada barked back with their pitiful mass accelerators and thanix cannons.
…
A red Calaklum slipped by and purposefully struck near a group of Turian-Salarian ships. The resulting deviating vessel, detonated in an enormous blue cloud of anti-matter, -completely guttering and disintegrating those Allied ships.
No sooner did the advance Gatlantean menace come into weapons, a dozen new suns were born.
Whines of guardian AA defences struggled to puncture the thick hide-like plating of the Black Fleet. It was a loss cause; no matter how hard the escort fleets tried to gundown.
"...Twelfth fleet is gone. First and sixth fleets are damaged... and the 2nd are leaving formation!-"
".. my god! The 2nd fleet attempt is going to attempt a kamikaze on the Gatlanteans!-"
"-those damn fools."
"-Advise the 8th fleet to evacuate! Do it now!-"
Comm chatter across the Allied armada was in a surge of panic. They were suddenly losing ships faster than the feed could catch on… Too many, to the point where those around the Crucible had to sacrifice their guarding flanks for the new skirmish.
The devianting members of the Black Fleet's 100+ Major Calaklums, we're focusing on softening up the allied fleet.
But for an all out battle for survival seemed unluckily, when Admiral Steven Hackett deciphered the enemy's outlandish assault. It was planned, and well coordinated, which made the human-admiral grimace.
"Something's not right.. Why would the larger ones openly ignore us? Yet we're being hounded.. but they attack as if we weren't really the main objective. If they did, then they could have annihilated us."
He glared at the enemy formation. The phalanx of Gatlantean-Dreadnoughts, that moved perfectly in sync; not caring if a single one suffered a hull breach or slight deviation. They moved as one.. like a single mind, for a single purpose.
"It's a trap.. it must be then. They lured and played us like sheep to the slaughter… I should have seen it coming sooner!" Hackket thought. "Get me command Shepard! Evacuate, -turn all our forces around!" He ordered.
"Sir?"
"It's a trap!" Hackett said in utmost urgency. The very fate of everyone's survival had come down to this. If they could pull away, then I might just stand a chance for a another counter attack… the original plan had failed.
…
Normandy.
Aboard the SSV-2 Normandy, the away-team was being extracted. While Shepherd led a strike team of marines and 'specialists' into the heart of the procedium, until orders were abruptly given to pull back.
It was very alarming, as the battle from outside sounded in the alliance's favour, but once he and his team were inserted to take control away from Gatlanteans, the battle suddenly reversed.
The heart of Citadel, the "Procedium", was crawling with hundreds of enemy soldiers. Each seemingly looking like an exact copy from one another, held a laser based energy weapon that could penetrate kinetic barriers, leaving the majority of the marine-strike team, forced to make entrenchments and fortifications to properly siege the district.
Hours went by, and eventually Shepard made his way to the control room, only to have orders relayed to him from a marine, stating a hasteful retreat. They were so close. Only a couple dozen Gatlantean brute-soldiers were hunkered down.
On the platform, where the commander stood, the last of his team were being quickly evacuated. The entrance to the chamber was being suppressed with the Mako-APC vehicle's turret, to take down Gatlantean Needleslave-Drone Fighters for the defence of the Normandy. (As most of the exterior ship weapons were destroyed.)
"Say again?" Commander Shepard said.
"-you have to get out of there!."
"...What about the mission?!"
"...There was never a mission; They were onto us, Commander!."
The human Spector gritted his teeth. They were so close, and they had to pull back.
"What do you mean, they were on to us? More enemy reinforcements?"
"Precisely, but they're not coming for the fleet.. they're coming for-!" But before the message could be properly delivered, it was abruptly cut off.
They were being jammed.
It clicked in Shepard's head. "It's the citadel! The citadel was the bait." He proclaimed to himself, as he awaited the last of the evacuation.
"Commander, we need to move now!" A human marine lieutenant called out from the Normandy's ramp. He gestured in the direction to where Shepard's eyes met.
Less than a kilometre away, was a swarm of Gatlantis kamikaze drones. A couple dozen of them at least.
Shepard darted onboard, collapsing on the floor and being helped up by the same marine, as the bulkhead-door closed.
Everyone was aboard, and now it was time to get out of there. And fast.
"Joker! Get us out of here, double time!" Shepard contacted the Normandy's pilot.
"Way ahead of you!".
…
The human-Cerberus stealth frigate's mass effect engines burned brightly. Like a candle in the dark, the Normandy sped through the vast shadows of the inner-Citadel cityscape. Industrial and apartment complexes went by in a blur, as the vessel pressed forward to escape the coming darkness; while being pursued by hundreds of kamikaze drones.
…
Outside the Reaper Citadel Space Station, however…
Things were looking worse for wear. The Gatlantean desperate sudden push had generated a stir within the command structure of the Allied Armada. Captains, Admirals and strategic officers of the numerous surviving escort-fleet, were struggling to cope and plot a counter offensive.
As the allied numbers decreased in droves, so did morale and time to repel Gatlantis from the Citadel. The alien charge was unprecedented for it's bloodlust and mass.
All around the human Dreadnought "Everest", were countless frozen bodies of deceased crew members. Their fates sealed after significant compartments were breached and glassed.. Along with horrific carnage of mortified sailors and soldiers; were crisp chunks of slag; still glowing orange even while in the cold darkness of space.
At least the Bridge and most essential systems were still running.
The navigation room was stilled with raw emotions and verble cries. For more than a dozen stoic veterans and hardened professional officers, the large majority were stuck in a position of praying in hopes of making it out alive or in hopes that their loved ones were still hanging on in the quickly fabricated colonial stronghold worlds.
Though, when it came to Admiral Hackett. His expression was kept hardened and stiff; only to hide the strain of his duties and demons at bay. The Gatlantis Black Fleet, had hit harder than ever, in compared to the planetary bombings of Theresa and kamikaze strikes of Pavilion. The anger behind the Gatlantean push was far greater than his scowl for the loss of so many.
Yet, in the span of half an hour, his task to defend the Cruicible was about to come crashing down. To prevent the exceeding unnecessary loss of life, he needed to think hard and fast.
The ultimate goal of freeing Earth, linking the Prothean Crucible and hoping to destroy Gatlantis was soon seen as null at this point.
Hackett didn't have enough ships to lay an offensive and quick entrenchment at the same time. Things were looking beyond grim at this point of no return… If he fled with all the ships at his command, then the mission would have been for nothing, as Gatlantis opens fire; without mercy or offer of taking prisoners. Just indiscriminate death and mindless destruction.
As the minutes went by, his large contingent of Allied ships was thinning. The ones that fought till their missiles ran dry and mass accelerators denatate from overuse, met their end in a short, pathetic blaze of glory. Only to have a few unrelated Gatlantean destroyers run rampant over their chard husks.
"~This is the Alliance sixth fleet, our Dreadnought was destroyed!~"
"First Fleet here, we're taking fire from—"
"Third fleet, respond! My flank is open and is taking heavy damage"
Taking position over the communication's section of the bridge, Hackett assumed control by commanding a crew member to relay a message. One that would wrack a lot of grief for many and mostly like have him decommissioned from the Alliance.
But this needed to be done.
His voice was broadcasted across the whole Armada-wide, in an effort to relay his instructions.
…
Surrounding allied fleets; local and around the skirmish…
"This is Admiral Hackett to all Allied vessels. We have fought hard and ever so valiantly, but this is no time to die… I regret to inform you, that the battle as we know it, was, and has been already lost from the start… for those who are too stubborn to see it and see no hope in withdrawal, I tell you that this fight isn't over!
We can make a comeback. We don't have to fight till the last. Their numbers may have been unending, but our strength however, in uniting for this cause was far greater.
It was an honour to fight by your side, that be you from other worlds or stars. I regret the loss of so many of our friends, family and allies in arms.. so many brave souls indeed.. "
A collected silence washed over the comms. Even as the war continued and thousands died, the final words of Admiral Hackett were carefully listened to.
"..As of this fleetwide broadcast, I am issuing the evacuation of the Sol system. That is a standing order, and I want no one left behind. Form up on the Mass Relay and prepare to jump.. My ship and escort will cover the retreat. Hackett Out."
…
Meanwhile, SSV Normandy II…
"-cover the retreat. Hackett Out."
Aboard the Normandy, Commander Shepard was stumped. On one hand, the monsters that are Gatlantis had yet again found another way to foil his plans; and on the other, this entire battle was seemingly pointless.
He knew of the battle that was happening all around Earth's orbit and inner Sol system; When finding a quiet place to skim over the constant bombardment of space battle reports, he at first assumed a bit of overreaction or hysterical chatter from other naval captains, but when dwelling farthing into the reports, his thoughts were swayed indefinitely.
It was far worse in space than on the station.
"Commander, what are we going to do?"
"Is it true that we're abandoning the mission?"
"How many men gave their lives for this!?"
Were some questions that he overheard from his alliance marine (under his command). Some were outraged, others confused and drained of morale.
It was a tiring push to get through to secure the objective, only to be rerouted..
…
The Normandy with its seething engines maintained enough distance from the scouring maelstrom of Gatlantean Needleslave drone fighters. Even from under heavy fire, lack of room in the huge maintenance tunnel of the enormous station and portions of the Normandy spewing embers from previous wounds; she still refused to yield.
Crimson pikes that shot out from the enemy fighters whizzed past the human-frigate at incredible speeds, tearing through nearby infrastructure and debris. Some sharpened points of the spear-like needles ended up finding their mark, leaving red unmoving quills upon the Normandy's hull.
Nothing the Cerberus-Human ship couldn't handle.
The rest of the journey from the Presidium to the Gatlantean's breach was relatively somber at best. The attacks of physical projectiles from homing enemy fighters while weaving through the collapsing cityscape was slightly jarring, but tolerable.
As the Normandy passed another industrial-apartment complex, a deathly silence took hold. It should have been obvious, but to the sudden dismay of the crew and Shepard, another danger was about to fall upon them.
The pursuing fighters on the Normandy's tail were no longer present.
It was a calmness that drafted unease among the men. It felt like a victory, but no one was celebrating.
As the high-speed cruise of the human frigate descended into the chard and scorched remains of an in-station space-port, the unsettling unease of not being fired upon was replaced without warning.
A loud series of muffled bangs and faint explosions was heard, followed by the piercing screech of metals and whines of far dying ancient machinery. -then, what felt like earthquakes began to spread station-wide.
The Normandy while traversing fuming ruins of the Gatlantean's forceful intrusion, violently lurched forward, scraping its exposed protruding portions on overshadowing debris; creating sparks as the Kinetic-barriers flared. The sudden contact ejected some of the crimson pikes off its hull like splinters, leaving scars and minor hull breaches.
The tremors of the Citadel weren't over, as aftershocks began to pummel and level tattered the cityscape. An entire apartment complex, only a mere kilometre away suddenly crumpled under the strained pressure.
"What the hell was THAT!?" Someone from inside shouted. A shared sentiment that passed around the Normandy as they quickly recovered.
"EDI, status report!" Shepard said.
The Normandy's artificial intelligence sounded off, reporting the number of crew injuries, deaths and various other problems. A few too many to count, but could all be summed up with "we're seriously boned, if we don't make it off the Citadel."
Another shutter echoed and cascaded across the expansive cityscape as all the main lights ceased permanently from section to section. Entire city-blocks became instant shadows of their former glories.
But before the Normandy could be plunged into further darkness, the vessel did a graceful dive into a gargantuan pipeline, similar to how they got onboard in the first place.
…
From outside the Citadel… (only mere minutes before)
The allied armadas were in a panic. Consumed in fear and in unbridled anger. Surviving fleets that received new orders, were making a bee line for the Mass Relay, while the foolish and blind, charged desperately into the enemy's unrelenting fury. Where Emerald green lances clashed with burning hulls and blue-mass-accelerator rounds uppercutted carapace-introcut armour.
Most of Earth's orbit was polluted by thick clouds of slag and unrecognisable debris.
As the Allied Fleet was slowly withdrawing from the battlefield with the Crucible, the Gatlantean Black Fleet unexpectedly changed course away from the limping forms of disabled Allied Dreadnoughts.
Leading the huge strike force was one of overgrown dark Calaklums. It's hull was badly cracked and tattered with extensive damage all around. Even if it's exposed bridge tower were to be guttered, many would doubt that it wouldn't be near enough to hamper it's progress.
A couple dozen Quarian battleships moved to quickly intercept with whatever munitions they had available, only to fall short as a rogue kamikaze red Calaklum detonated its antimatter warhead, leading to the blast removing a significant chunk of the Quarian fleet instantly.
It was a pointless gesture in the eyes of Gatlantis. All it did was make their extermination job easier.
-With an ungracious and scornful display of burning rage, the tips of the blackened vessels collided with the outer-shell of the Citadel. One by one, an auditable bang sounded off; the ones that accelerated too quickly ended up being destroyed from the impact of either falling through the cracks in the massive space station.
The Citadel itself had never experienced this level of punishment in all its eons in service of the Reapers. It was built to be a well armoured and impregnatable space station that could be the hub and rally point for the Reapers, as well as be the way in and out of Dark Space.
It's ancient layers of kinetic barriers and ultra thick armour that stood as a timeless bastion of the former Citadel Council, was now being rendered inert by the mockery of Gatlantis. There was no fleet to protect it no more; and it's own systems were reaching the straining point.
Tens to hundreds of large Calaklums impacted the surface shell; furthing putting an increase of pressure, and endangering the overall internal systems of the massive structure. -as each moderate-impact met the surface, a bubble of energy was released; a blister of built up strain of pressure that exploded, further hampering and crippling the Stations defences.
Automated defence turrets that retracted from the superstructure were already brought online by the Keepers. But they did little to nothing to stop the Black Fleet's unmerciful change.
Painful seconds turned to nightmare-ish minutes as the end of the Black Fleet had finally ceased the full bombardment of the Citadel.
...but it wasn't over.
The surviving Gatlantean Black Fleet that were embedded like ticks were further more active. Maybe a hundred were destroyed in the initial mindless charge, but that didn't matter, as the surviving ones completed the mission.
Those that carried on began to cease firing their position beam cannons and turrets, as the Citadel itself wailed in protest, declaring that it could no longer fight back. Entire regions of the surface of the Station were mostly scoured clean of exterior bits and pieces; creviouses and bulges of unknown technical works were shaved off, and bloated with the excess amount of heat damage.
Individually from afar, the large black towers that were nosed-dived Calaklums fire up their superheated engines and thrusters, spawning beacons of light. If this was somewhere else, it would have been awe-inspiring and epic to look at; but from here, it was a pretty grizzly scene.
..The Station itself began to tremble. It's own mass-effect induced reactors and technologies over worked to fight back against the invasive force, but that was a futile attempt, as they self-destructed dealing even more damage to the already dying Station.
…
As luck would have it, the Normandy came bursting through a giant service port and into the Gatlantis-made main entrance. The massive hole still sizzling and crumbling as it was left there only mere moments ago.
Though as they flew, the more aware they were of the state of the Citadel. Huge gashes and towering debris floated around in the dark, not being pulled down by the artificial gravity. At one point or another, the vessel was forced to navigate closer to the walls, so as to not collide into wreckages.
Every so often, a quake would occur station-wide, sending shockwaves that were intercepted and evaded with graceful precision.
..Soon the Human Frigate emerged minutes later from the lifeless husk of the delapelated Station, which failed to withstand Gatlantis's punishment.
The Normandy used all of its reserves to dart out of the Citadel's gaping wound, leaving dust and echoes behind. The onboard lights and other non-essential systems were deactivated to ensure a hasty retreat. The rerouted power should be enough to get a safe distance away, where they could be picked up by the Alliance.
As the Commander excused himself from the map room, he headed over to where Joker was. His good friend and grandiose pilot of the Normandy.
"Commander, you gotta see this!" The pilot said. His tone, grave and serious, betraying the former talkative and bombastic attitude.
"Yes, Joker..?" Shepard said a bit concerned, still recovering from the battle.
"Look." Was all the pilot said, as the room was bathed in silence.
The commander's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged; widening like a deer staring off into a passing car's headlights. He was at a loss for words. Not even a single breath escaped.
Just a cold silence as he looked longingly at the scene playing out from the Nomandy's frontier viewport.
More than dozen enlarged Gatlantean battleships had lodged themselves into the hull of the Citadel's exterior coating. Painted in street-sized scars and apartment-complex sized marks, the Cocoon of a Station itself was on a wayward tilt.
The angle of the Citadel was on a lean, as the sides that faced the Earth soon started to radiate an amber glow.
Chunks of the Station that were blown off from the initial bombardment began to peel away, uncovering fresh layers of armour, only for that to get scraped and violated by burned debris. Slag that dotted the space around the Station fell unevenly, as they were recaptured by the former galactic-civilisations headquarters; they were torn and striped as most larger pieces followed the Stations example of planetary reentry.
The entire Citadel, in all of it's violated glory, began to descend to it's final resting place.
No doubt countless masses of civilians who once lived their lives upon the enormous space station, were hysterically weeping their loss for their former home. Cities and industrial complexes that spanned the entire inner segments of the superstructure were now being rendered to being nothing but a memory.
A bodiless barryial sight that housed countless historical archives beyond humanity or any of the current races comprehension. Clues of long past civilisations that came before the Citadel, who may of theoricaly used it billions of years by the Council's founding, was about to be erased.
It was also the main method for the Reapers to gain control over their Mass Relays.
...From the portview, Shepard could only make out the remnant of the Station sail down unto Earth's atmosphere. He looked away, just as the Station suddenly released a bright flash; no doubt signaling the end of its use and total collapse.
No more, the Citadel was.
…
36 hours later...
"Was this how it was going to end?" A lot of people would have thought simultaneously.
The Normandy came upon the reorganising Allied Armada at the Solar System's Mass Relay.
Hundreds of ships were all that survived the battle. Countless heroes alike were slain today, and many more will follow the coming days.
The mission was a failure. But the battle was also a victory; only for a selected few, as to maintain a slimmer of morale.
Fleet Admiral Hackett went down with his ship, holding back Gatlantean pursuers that went for the crippled or underpowered ships. His sacrifice saved many lives, including a significant portion of his crew; who were safely evacuated.
The Destiny Ascension. Core and flagship of the original Citadel defence fleet was dragged back to friendly lines. With it's communications severed, the staff were instructed to operate on another Asari Dreadnought. A lot of crew didn't survive the battle, and so few were forward to joining the fleet due to the starvation of morale.
A lot of brave men and women fought, and died. That battle may have been seen as a loss due to the casualties, but when it's turned around, this was the first time in hundreds of years that they're has ever been an allied movement of such a large magnitude. Of course there were the events of the Rakne War or the Krogan Rebellion; but this was something else.
A united offensive, where so many bled to make a difference. An alliance so great that it forged the biggest cooperative campaign that would have overshadowed the Reaper forces, maybe ten fold. The morale was high at the start and everyone had a part to play, even if it was to distract Gatlantis from the Crucible.
Speaking of the Crucible. It seemed to be relatively unharmed. Maybe a few chunks of it were blown off here and there, but in the end, the heavy armour did its job. The escorting fleet that defended it were finely unscaved, making a few commanders who served on the frontlines pout.
Due to Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett passing, a semi-power vacuum was held to figure out who should lead the force, and to formulate a new plan to fight Gatlantis. It wasn't going too great, as the conversation seemed to devolve to senseless shouting matches between Turians and Humans, with the Asari councillor trying to negate the situation further.
Commander Shppeard was there only through holo-communications with a dozen other officials. A few glances were directed at him during the fierce spectacle of politics and military leadership.
...
Meanwhile, to the other side of Earth…
A single medalusa-class heavy annihilation battleship was sitting idle. It's armour coat was a dark maroon colour with white glyphs and patterns. It didn't seem to be bothered by the congressional of enemy ships at the far side of the planet.
A Gatlantis probe from the orbiting clouds of wrecks had made its way back to the ship after a significant amount of analysing. It's body was a similar build to the Needle-Slave I drone; similar colours and runes decorating it's light hull plating.
After a moment, the probe settled by and latched onto the battleship, wrapping cable like tendrils that clamped on. With silent confirmations, the Gatlantean warship ignited its engines and vanished into warp, leaving the dead of space alone.
…
End.
Author Note:
I want to thank you for reading this very long piece.
This is the longest one I have ever written, and I am somewhat proud of it. But disappointed because there were other ideas that I couldn't make work, without it sounding too chaotic.
This experiment has taken forever to put down. I write slowly with a short burst of a paragraph if I'm feeling up to it. Sometimes it takes a week to add something and I tend to start and stop, so I apologise if it sounds a bit all over the place in some places.
My hardest accomplishment is to work with characters and dialogue situations. Some things sound better in my head until I write it down. Other sections I feel fine with, maybe.