"Yavick! What in the name of the pillars are you doing here?"

Yavick turned to his fellow batarian "Huh! O-Oh sorry Kudesh I wasn't listening."

"I can tell" He dryly replied "I said what are you doing here? You know our shift is over now and we can go back in. I've been trying to call you for half an hour already!"

"I just want to see the stars, back home I never was able to see stars since the cities light polluted everything" Yavick answered.

"Yeah and that is why we have the extranet. You could have just looked pictures there" Kudesh grumbled

"But it isn't the same, besides your only saying that because you were born in the rural area. You may hate this but this is the best thing I've seen in my entire life. Look over there at that corner, see that comet there it looks beautiful!" pointing to the comet.

"... I don't think that is a comet ... to red to be one ... and is it me or is that thing coming—" The comet verged from it's path and came straight at them. Kudesh jumped away as Yavick started running. Both were blown off their feet when the thing crashed down.

...

Yavick was the first to walk to it. Getting a closer look he realized it was not a pile of rock or superheat ore.

It was a drop pod

The doors blew open as the last thing he saw was the laser dot coming off the rifle. He fell to the ground as air rapidly left from the punctured hole in his suit. The other batarian fared no better as he was gunned down from the unknown assailant.

Only after the smoke cleared was the person seen and the N7 logo placed firmly on the chest piece. The armor was black and red with segmented pieces covering a black under suit.

"This N7 Izuku Midoriya reporting, all nearby enemies down, begin landing at my position" He activated his transmitter as above more streaks of red started landing down and more N's entering. The team wasted no time once they all landed down, they headed to the massive orbital gun close by. As they traveled across the moon they saw that the cannon was not fully above ground, only partially.

"Any doors Marko?" Izuku's helmet camera narrowed and look for any sign of an entrance. The man pulled out his binoculars and pointed to a small mound of moon dust/rock. Going over the door was well hidden as they pulled away the rocks. His omni-tool created a small holographic block and placed it on the door. Minutes later the door turned green and opened.

They began shooting the batarians and pirates manning the cannon with ease. Most of the people inside were un-armed and un-armored as few were trained in actual gun combat, that was left to the guards to came here periodically. Some of them tried to call for help but Izuku and the other engineers part of his team made sure to bug the outgoing networks, anything that went out was captured, copied, and deleted by the malware.

Within an hour they secured the cannon and contacted the fleets. The other cannons reported the same thing, now it was time for the light show. Uploading their own targeting VI the stolen cannons turned on their allies and fired at them.

In space the enemy fleet was shaken out of its stupor as they watched various ships torn apart from the sudden fire. Command was called as even they were shocked, nothing in their systems was showing they were firing at all and when they tried to contact them they didn't respond back. As command was trying to understand the situation the fleet admiral reported that the relay was activating.

Wolfpack frigates were sent as the ships moved out of the way of the cannons. An hour later and they still did not receive any news. It was only when his XO informed him that nearby satellites found the fleet. When the feed came on many on the bridge panicked or paled at the sight.

It was the alliance and they had sent a fleet ... an entire fleet.

They sent the damn 6th fleet as the flagship SSV Fuji could be seen blasting away at them.

Back on the ground the teams watched as streaks of molten metal begun crashing back down. The alliance had begun the fireworks.

"Damn I love the sight of burnt batarians in the morning" One N5 laughed "About time we finally teach these bastards a lesson they won't forget!"

"You can boast about it later sensors are showing the batarians are realizing our ruse. They are sending two squads down to check it out. What are your orders sir?" an N6 interrupted.

"Start fortifying the place and don't let them in! We didn't steal this cannon only to return it back!" Izuku began moving his group around. Said group was a mix of long-mid range quirk users, soldiers, infiltrators, and combat engineers. He had his infiltrators and quirk users stay in the back as, his engineers were placed in the middle setting up their turrets, and soldiers were put up close raising their shotguns and sub-machines guns.

The sealed door began sparking as the guards slowly opening the door as the sparks moved around the door. Everyone raised their guns waiting and tapping the side of their weapons till the sparking stopped. The door blew open as everyone returned fire, a few grunts of pain aside sensors showed more men starting to come.

He nodded to the engineers as they activated their omni-tools and ball shaped combat drones appeared as they clogged the entryway. The drones let out zaps of electricity damaging the shields and internal electronics of their weapons while making it impossible to move forward, letting the soldiers/infiltrators take out the guards.

Eventually the guards realized that their methods was not working moved back for now. As they left everyone relaxed a little bit knowing more would be coming until the fleet can break though. Izuku went back to the main terminal that connected the cannon to the rest of the moon's network.

"Hmm, looks like they are trying block us. Give me a second ... just need to put this VI in ... and what is this piece of code—Oh I see what you are, that is really clever of them ... take that chunk of code out for this one ... place this into this layer instead ... and there you go!" The computer showed access to the network. "Now let us see where are they are hiding our colonist"

The screen shifted to the sigh of humans cramped in large metal cells. All of them wore simple clothing, as some look heavily bruised or had scarring on their arms of legs. Damn, there was no control to release the prison that was on a separate network and even if he did they had to deal with the armed guards. He turned to the records of when the colonist arrived.

The first few entries showed the colonist resisting all attempts made at them. The guards had tried to avoid beating them as to not damage the goods but is was clear that force was needed to make them listen. The early night were brutal as the guards were not afraid to beat to the ground and deny them food and water for slightest insult. Then the slave conditioning began.

He refused look at those files.

Looking around he found a list of clients that were either here or where to arrive to check on the slaves. Most of their names turned up to be batarian but a few were asari and turian. However there was one name that struck out from the rest of the clients, or in this case a title.

"Who in the world is the High-Priest?" Going back to the search directory it showed that this high-priest was constant visitor and always came with with guards that wore hegemony symbols. He had just arrived a few days ago after hearing news of the colonist eager to see any interesting stocks. He looked at the video feeds seeing a heavily armed batarian whose armor looked more ornamental than practical ... and was he wielding a spear of all things?

"6th Fleet, this is N7 Izuku Midoriya and I need all info we have on these high priest from the hegemony"

...

"N7 we have received your request and are sending all available data on the high priest." His omni tool flashing as the data packet was sent.

Looking at the data packet the high priest was one of the key leaders of the batarian religion and the duty of them was ensure the spirit of the batarian people were kept strong while guiding the other races through reincarnation. Their religion closely resembled that of Hinduism where a caste system was deeply entwined with religion.

However he could not read more as his men informed that the first ships would be landing soon. Readying his rifle he braced himself for the upcoming battle.

xxx Day 1 xxx

The rocket whirled past his head as it blew the closed door behind him wide open. He returned fire and watched the heavy gunmen go down. It has been a day since the siege started and already they were running into problems. For one the pirates have fully locked down the base and were expunging their systems making it difficult to get any further.

The good news was that they knew where the colonist were ... or where they used to be. It was easily to realize why they were here and the pirates decided that they were going to make the alliance bleed and grind before they got the colonist back. The colonist were split up and spread all across the moon, some of them were kept in pens while others strapped explosives to them and threatened to blow them up if they got close.

Suffice to say ever soldier on this moon was getting frustrated. Not at the colonist but at the batarians doing this, already he had to order some men to not rip out their eyes. Someone had learned that the batarians believed the soul left through the eyes and that destroying them meant damning their spirits. He knew his men were angry and frustrated but he would be damn before allowing this to occur, no matter how much he hated them their were some lines you did not cross.

Besides that the pirates also locked down each doorway fortifying them were machine gun nest, flamethrowers, proximity mines, they tried to send men through the vents to ambush them. Not like the last one worked looking up to see the swiss cheese shaped vents. Reloading his gun he fired at into the machine gun nest as the bullet hit the sandbag instead.

A Cryo Blast froze the gun as it nearly broke his shields. Firing again he smiled this time as the gunner fell to the ground, blood coming out of this throat as his friend tried to apply med-gel. A big mistake as the infiltrator behind him shot his head. He and his men made their way around the machine gun nest as they piled the bodies to one corner before burning them. He was thankful that their helmets came with a filtration devices, the last thing he wanted was to smell burning corpses.

A horse cough alerted him to a batarian still alive in far corner. He looked badly injured, walking up the batarians eyes widen in fear as his hands scrambled for a gun. He froze when Izuku raised his at him "I wouldn't try that if I were you."

"W-What do you want?" He whimpered, his baritone voice conveying his fears.

"The colonist, where are you hiding them. If answer correctly the alliance can offer you medical aid, if not ... well that infection on your leg doesn't look good" Izuku spoke.

"I don't know! The higher ups were the ones that decided to move them all I know is that a family ... yeah, yeah, a family of them are on the other side and no else is there I swear to the pillars!" The batarian coughed out.

"And what about the high priest who in the world is he?" pointing to a picture of the priest on his omni tool.

"T-The high priest? H-He's a regular here comes every month for new stock. When he heard about the human slave he wanted to get first looks before the higher caste members. I think he is still in main command room ... a-and he has SIU guarding him."

The Special Intervention Unit, the elite arm of the hegemony and their answer to the N's. Very little is known about them save for the brutal training and the mortality rate being a staggering 18%.

"How many colonist have been sold already, I need names!" Izuku pressed.

"None, you came too early for us to even implant the control chips. The humans would have been sold to highest bidders, some of them to work at the farms, some to be trophy slaves, maybe given to the slave legions, or just a straight up sex slave. I don't know human"

"A sex slave! I thought you bastards loved only yourselves. Sex slaves, how low can you go" one soldier growled.

"Hey don't blame me alright, the upper caste have weird fetishes and you be surprise how many find your kind to be attractive" the pirate coughed and looked up to Izuku "Please that is all I know, I don't want to die here!"

Izuku did not answer back, motioning his men to enter the next room. A few minutes a family of three came out, all of them looking scared and relieved.

"Seems you kept your side of the bargain" He applied some med-gel on the pirate and knocked him out with a punch "I didn't say that I would let you go."

"Are you three alright, I'm Izuku Midoriya from the alliance and we're here get you all out" walking over the family.

"Thank you, I knew the alliance would never abandon us. My wife and child owe their lives to you—why is that freak not dead yet!?" pointing to the knocked batarian "Why haven't you killed him? He could try to attack us or worse. They said they will put control chips in my family and make me watch, I-I can't let that happen!"

"Relax, that batarian isn't going to do anything to you and nobody is going to put control chips into your family. Right now your going through some rough trauma right now and aren't thinking straight. Let's get you out of here first, I have a shuttle waiting for you" Izuku calmed the father down. He ordered his to escort the family and tie up the pirate for further interrogation.

3 down and 157 more colonist to go

xxx Day 3 xxx

"This is all your fault Haliat! If you hadn't brought your ships here none of this would have happened!" One batarian roared as he slammed the table.

"My Fault? Your people thought it was a great idea to attack the alliance. I was paid to do what you ordered, I failed to see how this was my fault" The turian calmly replied. To any turian in the room they could hear the frustration coming from his sub-harmonics.

Sadly his reply did nothing to sooth the angry slave owners and 'retired' batarian generals. If it wasn't Haliat they happily turned their anger to the other members, happy to play the blame game as their men died. High Priest Gorath looked at the scene in front of him as it reminded him of young initials who didn't known a damn about anything.

"Cou-goth, give me the strength to armor my soul against the lost. Ma-skarr, give my mind the resolve so I can cast the shadow of doubt from my mind. Tandor, let your burning spear and heart envelop my own so I can cast the enemies of the great cycle to their end" Breathing in he felt his soul calm down. Reciting the ancient scriptures brought peace within him.

Something that was sorely lacking here.

Why was money and their own safety the root of their fears. Death shouldn't be a fear, their souls were automatically saved by the gods for their acts of grace. For every soul brought into the hegemony was one more soul saved and given a chance to escape the cycle through hard work and faith. How could money ever bring happiness compare to bringing salvation to the galaxy?

"Enough!" the batarians in the room quieted and the mercs turned to him "There will be no more in-fighting, as we speak more and more people are being taken away and losing their chance at reincarnation. I had stayed back thinking you would have a plan but all I see is children whining and complaining, I've seen slaves with more maturity than you all!

I shall have my personal guard assist our forces and stopping the alliance from making anymore pushes. If none of you wish to lead I shall personally lead the charge. Sargent Balkor take your men and bring them to where the alliance are hitting us the most hardest" The SIU member bowed before he and a portion of his men left.

He did not wait for a answer as he left the war room. His HUD showed the alliance close, they were attacking bunker 14, he ran for the bunker as he could hear gunfire and shouting coming from the door. As it opened he was greeted by the sight of alliance forces started to overrun the place.

The soldier in front of him gurgled in shock, horror, or fear as his mono molecular spear ripped through his armor as the internal mass effect generators started ripping his organs to sub-atomic particles. His VI warned him of two other firing at him as he threw a grenades and poison gas coming out. The armor they wore rusted rapidly in front of them and breaking their filtration devices as they clutched their throats in vain.

A shame that rust eater grenades were so hard to make.

He quickly finished off the remaining soldiers inside the bunker as they moved away and back into the tunnels where one of his guards arrived with a M-76 Revenant as hundreds of high velocity rounds spewed out within moments and tore through the fleeing soldiers. Those that survived would have to deal with the lethal polonium poisoning.

Surveying the area he helped one of the men up and ordered them to start repairing the bunker. Looking at the dead men and women he gave a small pray to each one as they left for their next life. His HUD showed the rest of his guards aiding in the defense as Alliance soldiers were being kicked out and pushed back. Not enough to start a counter attack but enough to give them breathing space.

The only hope any of them had was for the hegemony to realized something was wrong and sent aid. But that would take time as even with days passed by there was still no word. The best they could do was keep the slaves away and make them bleed for it.

High Priest Gorath promised to see the alliance pay for their blasphemy and if this was to be his tomb than so be it. All he could do now is drag as many as he could.

xxx Day 5 xxx

"Admiral we can't keep doing this my men are being blasted to pieces out there!" One officer pleaded. Izuku watched as the head admiral's frown deepen. It has been five day since their surprise attack on Torfan and they have been losing steam since the initial assault. The plan went out as intended and they had gotten nearly half of the colonist back in the initial run.

What they didn't expect was the sheer stubbornness the pirates were putting up. The further they tried to get into the moon the harder and brutal they fought back. Even the men were starting to feel the strain as a few were complaining and wishing to end this as soon possible.

Not that he could blame them. He turned back to the pile of dead soldiers, he already lost good men and women and doubted it would get any better. But the idea of abandoning the remaining colonist did not sit right with him either.

"He is not wrong sir, the longer we stay here the more likely the hegemony will intervene. My ships have already intervened and shot down two ships trying to leave the relay. I don't want to be the one the has to deal with a 'curious' batarian fleet. We already have gotten most of the colonist I say let's bomb the place and leave" A rear-admiral spoke.

"And what are you thinking read-admiral?" The head of the sixth fleet asked.

"Our nukes, their bases might be strong but they are nothing to a few megatons of nuclear warheads" the man offered.

"Sir you can't be serious. We would be nuking our own people too, the people would be furious if they learn we did that!?" Izuku interrupted.

"Some would but I think many would be more happy knowing that more colonies will never be attacked by pirates again, and when the colonist speak of their experiences on the moon many will support our actions. And for those that lost their lives we can offer yearly sum of of money to help their remaining family" the read-admiral countered.

"I must agree with the rear admiral on this one N7. I will not have our fleet be open for a possible batarian attack nor cause a potential war. We end this battle today" the admiral ordered slamming down on his armrest. "Do any of you have a good spot where to place our nukes? "

"I ... may have an answer to that admiral" Izuku sighed. He pulled out a map of the facility and highlighted key points "If you want to cause maximum damage then these are the best places. They are near to all known barracks/fusion reactors/warehouse and you name it. All of these areas are within range of the nuke"

"Good. Izuku Midoriya have you men start taking the bombs to the selected areas" the admiral and other members vanished as Izuku was left alone. He ordered his men to expect packages coming from the fleet as he headed over there.

An hour later he was greeted by the sight of multiple cargo transport ships landing down as they started bringing out the nukes. He had teams filled with soldiers that knew their respective location and an N5-N6 leading them to it. As the teams were made and the bombs began moving he went back their impromptu command base.

God, it was like Elysium all over again. Being forced to watch as his men were moving into position and being unable to doing anything until something goes horribly wrong. After the bridge incident he didn't want to assume anything.

...

...

...

"Bomb 1 is secure"

"Bomb 2 is secure"

"Bomb 3 is secure"

"Bomb 4 is secure"

"Bomb 5 is secure"

"Bomb 6 is ... sir, I think we have a problem"

"What is it soldier?" Izuku ordered.

"The team is reporting heavily fire on the way. That high priest and his SIU body guards are stopping them! They must have figured out the plan" the operator explained.

"They still must have sensors in the room. Tell them to hold position and do not let them get that bomb no matter what! I'll be there in a moment" He and small team of soldiers assembled as they rushed over to help the remaining team and as they got closer the sound of gunfire could be heard.

The bomb was secured in a small bedroom while the main hall was a small sea of gunfire, quirks, and biotics. Two soldiers were down dead and a one SIU could be seen holding in throat in vain as another tried to help him. A combined Incendiary and Cyro Blast dealt with that. In the middle of the fight he could plainly see the high priest, his advanced suit of armor taking the gun as men and women fell to his spear.

Modern shields weren't designed to handle melee weapons

He wasted no time as he ran close to the priest as his men looked shocked or tired to stop him

"GAVOG"

The priest halted his attack on one unlucky soldier as did the batarians followed suit. The high priest turned to him with eyes that shined surprise and barely contained fury. "How do you know those words?" acid words coming out of his mouth.

"Did some of my own research about your culture. The minute I saw you on the feed I knew you were trouble so I did some searching. Gavog, a term used in the religious sects of batarians culture, it means 'person without protection of the gods' or the closest thing to a religious curse word" Izuku answered.

"Than you know you what it means to speak such blasmephy to me" the priest hissed.

"I do, your religion dictates that you must kill the man that insulted you to regain your honor. However your religion also dictates that I must also gain something from this fight. The scales of balance are not equal here!" He had spent all of his free time studying and learning about the batarian religion and it's inner workings. One of the few things the hegemony did not censor.

Trial by combat required that an reward of equal value was given to whoever the victor was. If it was not balanced than the gods would not acknowledge it and it will be moot.

"What is it that you want human"

"The surrender of these mercs, if I win than they must lay their weapons and armor down"

"... I cannot give you that" the high priest replied "They lack faith in the true gods, money is their lord they bow to."

"Than the slaves, you will give me every colonist you have taken and the rest of the remaining slaves"

The priest nodded, he raised his left arm up while his right hand covered his heart "Very well, under the eyes of Urath acknowledge your demands. To you accept what I demand?"

Izuku copied his movement "I accept them." He pulled out his rifle as he ordered his men to stay back. The high priest doing the same thing as he readied his spear. The priest moved first as his suits internal rockets activated and flew over tp Izuku who fired at him. Leaping over to the side his sensors showed minor damage to the priest's barriers.

The priest turned around and threw one his grenades as it Izuku shot it in the air. Toxic gas came out as he moved away, rust eater grenades an infamous and very illegal item in council space. The priest moved away from the gas cloud and lunged at Izuku with his spear, the spear bypassed his shields just grazing his armor but enough to leave a small scar. Kicking it away a point blank attack from his assault rifle quickly whittled away at the batarians shield.

Grabbing the spear he tried to hold the priest down, only to see him let it go easily and pulled out two knives. Pushing himself closer to Izuku as the N7's gun hissed and red-orange super heated silicon-carbide flashed into existence. The two of them fought it out as it became clear that for all of his training the high priest was far more skilled when it came to sword fighting. The priest's knives went through his rifle as the gun hissed and fizzled, he ripped it out of Izuku's hand and threw it away.

Both of Izuku's omni-tools activated as one created a large SWAT styled shield and the other turned into an omni-blade. As the blades bounced off the shield he slammed the priest with it, the first few times left the man stunned before shaking it off. Each time he lunged the omni-blade turned into a thin spear that punctured into his armor.

The batarian threw down a flashbang causing Izuku to flinch and move away, giving the priest breathing space. The batarian swept his legs upward, pressing down on his shield and stopping Midoriya from doing anything else. Two small vials of green dangled in front of his shields as the high priest unscrewed them and poured it onto his omni-shield. The shield hissed loudly and sounded like firecrackers going off as he watched it dissolve the silicon-carbide.

Pushing the priest off Izuku watched as whatever liquid was in the green vial started causing his omni-tool to spark and lit on fire forcing him to throw it off and his arm brace too. The priest picked up his spear and threw it him.

Piercing through his armor and causing him to yell out.

"I applaud you human ... few have ever pushed me this far ... but this is the end for you human" the high priest huffed. He forced the human onto his knees, pushing the blade through and back out the other side. Grabbing one of his remaining knives he readied himself to cut off the humans head "is there any last words you wish to speak human?"

...

"... You ... You should ... You should have gone for the other arm" Izuku gasped.

He grabbed the priest's leg and converted his remaining omni-tool into a taser. As the batarian stumbled he pulled out the spear and stabbed into the priest's chest and repeated the motion but this time at his head. Seeing the body twitch one last time he threw the spear away and started applying medi-gel to his arm. He looked back to the remaining batarian "Will you keep your side of the promise or do I order my men to open fire at you?"

One of the batarian put his fingers on his ear piece "This Arhoo, I am ordering all remaining slaves to be returned to the humans. The high priest is dead by trial of combat. Alright you will have your people back, not everyday I see one of our greatest leaders die to you. Tell me human what is your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya"

"It has been a honor to see you Midoriya, may the gods grant you strength" all the batarians in the room grabbed their side arms and shot themselves in the head.

"What the fuck!?" one soldier gasped.

"They are honor guards. Their lives are bound to the high priest and should he die they are expected to follow after him in the next life" Izuku explained. His pain going away as they injected the painkillers "Doesn't matter now. Just get the colonist when they arrive and arm the bomb. I want off this damn moon."

xxx

Izuku watched as nuclear fire burst out of the moon. Looking down his finger pressing on the trigger, taking a deep breath he tossed the trigger away and leaned back on his seat. He could not help but wonder how many people just died from the bombs or would soon die from either the collapsing network or radiation coming at them.

Did he disapprove the action the admiral had taken?

Maybe a little bit. It was one thing to shoot a man with gun but another using a bomb. Not that he was guilty of killing the pirates. Oh no he had no regrets on that part, they were slaver's who were putting horrific slave control chips into their victims, killing them was a mercy on the universe. In past he would have been applaud at the mere idea as killing people was not what heroes did ... of course years of military training destroyed that belief.

No, what bother him was the fact there was still fifty colonist that died on the moon. Even with the begrudging help of the batarians the rest of the pirates refused to part with them and they had no more time to get them out. It just annoyed him that their still where people they could have saved but failed to. But the soldier in him argued that doing so meant more good men and women dying to the pirates. And that made him pause.

Either or, the situation was a terrible one and there was no good answer to it. All he could really do is hope things would get better from here on out.

But ... But for some reason he couldn't the feeling off that this was merely the start of something else ... something bigger