Firing thrusters, the Hephatarus cleared the hangars in seconds. The moment the Hierarchy frigate was away from anything sensitive it's primary engines lit, propelling them away from the colony port at high speeds, zipping along the side of the massive station to join its larger kin. Both warships, a small frigate and a single heavy cruiser, headed in the direction of the system's Relay.
Marching onto the bridge, Captain Cincannato nodded to the distracted acknowledgements in his path, striding to Commander Rhamoutis who briefly saluted him before going back to the CIC. A holographic map of the system popped up, icons showing the handful of planets, the locations of the Relay and the human stations, and a single marker from the other squadron's frigate. One currently outrunning several red dots.
"Captain sir. Data from the Gravirus estimates we're looking at eight ships on a direct course towards us, composition unknown but profiles suggest multiple cruisers." Rhamoutis told him quickly. "ETC is four minutes."
Cincannato cursed under his breath; there was no time to shuttle over. "Send a coded burst to the Aberrian, the Hephatarus is the designated flagship until further notice."
"Aye sir!"
"Move us to sector two-two-one, keep a loose formation." Gripping a railing, Cincannato felt the ship lurch; gravity was being shifted to compensate for maneuvers, something frigates always had problems with in his experience. He ignored any queasiness to track friendly icons: fresh beeps indicated the Aberrian acknowledged his order, and the Gravirus answered the same when it rejoined their formation.
Data was sent over a tight beam laser, for security as much as bypassing any lingering Prafeco interference. The Gravirus' findings were displayed on the CIC, crewmen and the VI system (technology gifted from the salarians decades ago) extrapolating their telemetry as well as adding what the Hephatarus' sensors could detect. The result had his claws tighten.
Eight flattened oval warships were incoming: five smaller frigates, surrounding three thickly armored vessels which were individually equal to his heavy cruiser. Cincannato was outnumbered and outgunned.
The comm officer turned her head, "Sir, Aberrian reports their drive is primed. They can jump at your word."
"Set randomized coordinates and rendezvous point." Rhamoutis glanced at his helmsman, who's talons danced over the display.
"Coordinates input."
"Comm probe updated, estimated destruction after message in two minutes."
Rhamoutis nodded, sparing a pointed glance at his CO. He stared at the massive stations, clicking his mandibles in thought.
Cincannato toyed with the idea of defending the colonies, but his only justification was his conscience. There were only nine million humans; the entire population could get lost in any core world city, even smaller colonies had more people. He owed nothing to these primitives, not when allied forces were overstretched on multiple fronts, and they admitted they weren't all that remained of their species. When he weighed the numbers against the numerous turian and Citadel lives at risk, against his duty to the Hierarchy, there was no contest. No matter how much he wished it wasn't so.
Cincannato closed his eyes. "Send a coded burst to the humans. Tell them they need to jump out of here immediately, it's their only chance."
A hollow gesture; connecting the two colonies for travel took days at minimum, but even if they left the Banna station behind, they still needed precious time to build up energy for a jump. He was sure they already began, consigning a million of their own to krogan claws.
Not that it mattered, their drive's pathetic range and operating time meant they couldn't go far. They were just delaying the inevitable-
"Captain, ladar is picking up additional contacts!"
"Get me a bearing." Rhamoutis barked as Cincannato's head snapped up. More krogan already?
"Sir, it's from the stations." The crewman reported in surprise.
"External cameras." Cincannato demanded.
Holographic displays popped up, showing some unexpected static; multiple gouts of fusion torches were streaming from Texas, he counted seven lights slowly prowling towards his formation, sending out a dozen or more smaller flashes which moved much faster. One was getting close to the Hephatarus, breaking off from a formation.
"Magnify."
A click zoomed in, showing a bidepal figure; clad in green armor, it was carrying an elongated missile launcher on one shoulder, using a free hand to jostle what looked like extra munitions. As he watched its monoeye swiveled towards his camera, flashing a red light.
He spotted several others forming up; the bulky machine they called a Dom, blocky GMs, a heavily armored Guncannon, a pair of oval Gelgoogs, all flying together towards his squadron. The mobile suits rapidly outpaced the small fleet of human ships, four cannon armed things they named Salamis classes, two bulked up Musais, and a plane-like Zanzibar.
"Sir. Praefoco particle count is rising. I've lost radar." One officer reported.
"Microwave sensors are gone, infrared is fogged. Attempting to clear."
"Ladar is reduced sir, accuracy is down ten, correction, fifteen percent."
Rhamoutis growled, switching to the comms station. "Can we still communicate with the squadron?"
"Testing, affirmative on the tight beam. Gravirus and Aberrian are reporting the same effects. They're requesting to jump now-new transmission." The officer turned with visible surprise. "Sir, its from the humans."
"Put them on." Cincannato barked.
Static sounded on the speakers, there were no visuals. "This is the Blue Valentine of the Colonial Defense Force to the turian commander, respond."
"Can we be intercepted?" Cincannato demanded.
"Negative sir."
"Captain-" Rhamoutis raised a claw, but Cincannato nodded at the officer.
"This is Captain Cincannato on the frigate Hephatarus. What are you doing, Captain Synapse?"
When the comms activated again it wasn't a female human on the line, but that disciplined captain of the human warship. The translator rendered his words into legible plebeitu, the most common dialect of the turian language since the Unification War.
"This is Captain Synapse, acting commander of the CDF. By order of the Texas civic council I am placing my forces under your command."
Taken aback, Cincannato could only let his mandibles hang open in shock, distantly aware of the crew's gasps. But Synapse wasn't done.
"This is temporary. We have no idea how to fight these things, you do. When this is over we'll go our separate ways."
"But-" he let out an undignified sputter. Cincannato had only a slight idea of humans capabilities, but he could infer enough to tell their ships would be worthless; they were shocked when he gave a basic explanation of kinetic barriers. Another frigate would be more valuable than their entire force.
But…
"Have the krogan scanned us?" He demanded.
"Affirmative, but it doesn't seem like they're getting much return signal. Ladar is all my display is registering."
"Captain, need I remind you that our sensors are blinded." Rhamoutis said.
"I know. But so are the krogan's." Cincannato gripped the railing.
A crazy plan was brewing in his mind. One that was unorthodox, risky to the point of insanity. Even if it succeeded his career was over, as the most optimistic outcome. Most likely it would fail, he would sacrifice three ships and six hundred turian lives for nothing. But if it worked…
"And the humans are well versed in fighting blind."
"Captain?" Rhamoutis was far from the only crewmate to send him puzzled looks.
"Captain Synapse, you are advised to fall back. You have no reason to fight." Cincannato relayed to the comms.
"Sorry Captain, no can do. I can't sit back while your boys risk your lives to save my home. We're prepared to fight, and by God we're gonna give these lizards one."
Cincannato discreetly checked if the recording device was active; he said his piece as per regulations. "Very well. I'm sending your forces a basic codec for communications. Move your ships into these positions, have your mobile suits concentrate on my frigates."
Rhamoutis clicked his mandibles. "Captain Cincannato, sir. I am lodging an official protest."
"Commander, you are ordered to relieve me of my post at the conclusion of hostilities. If we don't survive, let the record state that all responsibility for this mission falls on me." Cincannato rattled off, focusing on the display.
He stiffened, but after a second he nodded. "Understood, sir. Bring us about."
Cincannato held onto the railing as the ship swayed. Icons appeared on the display, showing what the human ships were armed with; it was a dangerous move on their part, but right now they had more pressing concerns. He wasn't sure what a 'beam cannon' was, a type of laser weapon? Dismissing his musing, he ordered the Salamis ships to clump by the Aberrian, close enough that its barriers could partially shield them. The first Musai hung back, it would close in if needed.
But the second, its reported armament had him blink. That would do nicely.
Mobile suits clustered around the frigates, huddling as near as their thrusters would allow. They didn't have the speed to keep up with his ships, close enough would have to work.
A thunk on the hull had him snap up; debris?
"Report." Rhamoutis snapped.
"Sir, um, a mobile suit has… grabbed the hull." The officer glanced at him. Several smaller thumps followed in quick succession, likely to hang on better, and by doing so that machine was damaging something important-
"Enemy ships are firing!"
Cincannato tensed, watching the display to the point where his eyes hurt. The krogan cruisers were slinging rounds at his task force, long ranged shots which sailed past his ships by a huge margin. Superior gunnery was the turian navy's greatest advantage, but even by krogan standards this was a huge miss.
Nonetheless he rattled off orders. "Evasive action, target the cruisers. Launch fighters."
The Hephatarus sped off, rattles overhead telling him that additional mobile suits were hanging on as tight as they could. As long as they were enveloped by the mass effect bubble they should be fine, he hoped, even if they had no weapons which could damage a cruiser.
Behind them the second Musai, the Wild Snake, launched itself towards the krogan ships at its maximum speed, briefly flanked by a lone wing of blade shaped fighters from the Aberrian. Pods jettisoned while the Aberrian fired its twin guns, like the enemy their shots were massively off, but his crew still managed greater accuracy in return. One hostile cruiser veered away, undamaged but its barriers flashing. All while the ponderous ship closed the gap, its slow speed made it seem unassuming next to the turian ships.
The krogan frigates broke from their formation, only one made the necessary twists to evade incoming fire while fighters gave chase. For the second it fired a round which blew apart the Wild Snake's engine pod in a blast of debris, but not before its loading bay opened; dozens of nuclear tipped missiles fired, a wide cone of unguided munitions that left a trail of vapor behind them. In a flash the first frigate was destroyed, taking two missiles which he guessed were in the megaton yield range, big enough that the blast accidentally caught several other nukes.
Enough smacked into the lead cruiser to collapse its shields, immolating the vessel a second later.
"Target down!" An officier cheered.
"Don't get cocky. Signal the Gravirus and take us in." Cincannato ordered.
There were another couple thumps before they sped off, Cincannato flicking to the display to make sure the Salamis ships were clustered by the Aberrian, the squadron pulling back to fend off raiders. Ahead the krogan ships grew larger, flinging rounds as fast as their guns could shoot; he winced at one smacking the Aberrian's barriers. Despite the interference two shots landed in return, the target needing to correct its course as its own barriers flashed.
The Hephatarus opened fire with the ship thumping, shots sailing out to smack against the cruiser. It wasn't likely to do much, but if that kept the krogan's attention on them then they could exploit somehow. The Gravirus banked away from an attack run, firing on a frigate but missing while another hostile gave chase, secondary guns helping to ward it off. The Hephatarus meanwhile closed in, Cincannato gripped the railing.
That was when the riders detached, showing him that his passengers were two GMs and the Guncannon. All three zipped towards the nearest cruiser making twists to evade its streaming mass accelerator point defenses, its barriers flashed again thanks to the squadron's fire, while its escorts swerved to chase the Hephatarus.
"Are they insane?" He muttered. It was a suicide run, yet the lead machine raised a stubby rifle to fire anyway.
Of all things he didn't expect a yellow beam to erupt from the weapon. It wasn't a laser, nor was it a solid projectile like a mass accelerator; neither of those options could make the cruiser's barriers flash so much from an impact that tiny. And then… it punched through.
"What the-" a young crewman balked at his station.
Only years of experience kept him from fixating too much on the dimmed beam smashing into the center of the ship, explosions ripping across a chunk of hull. The barriers flickered repeatedly, trying to protect the vessel from scattered fire from the other two's conventional guns, which pinged off harmlessly, not able to penetrate or even stress the barriers like the Hephatarus could.
That changed when all three passed through while it was temporarily down, racing along the hull unloading all they had into the target. Most of their shots merely put holes in the hull, only the Guncannon's weapons did any significant damage, until the lead GM twisted around to actually land on the cruiser itself. It skidded over the surface, hugging thanks to its thrusters, and as he struggled to track it thanks to the ongoing battle, the machine ignited some kind of glowing beam half as long as it was tall, plunging it into the hull. Wherever it touched the hull was split apart, leaving a red hot gash in its wake.
Plasma, it had to be. Why Cincannato spent precious seconds mentally analyzing that melee weapon and pondering its usefulness, he wasn't sure, just noting that the GM wrenched itself to a halt as the whole cruiser tried turning.
The beam sword slashed again and again, carving a makeshift hole near the end of the main gun's barrel, allowing the mobile suit to fire that beam weapon into the exposed innards. It blasted off as fresh explosions ripped through the bow, the vessel starting to list thanks to its comrades dancing around the scattered point defense fire. One wasn't so lucky, its faded red paint was shredded by a gun before it unceremoniously exploded.
"Enemy cruiser… is down." Rhamoutis numbly spoke, shaking his head with a snarl. "Status report."
The survivors departed as secondary explosions crippled the krogan vessel, just in time for the third cruiser to get a shot off; the Gravirus was cracked immediately, his squadron's second frigate destroyed in an eyeblink.
"Friendly down, Aberrian is under attack!"
While the Hephatarus banked thanks to an enemy frigate pursuing them, the three others sped towards the flotilla. One didn't make it; the main gun got a shot off that impacted a mobile suit, the bulky Dom based on a squint, obliterating it before it was set upon by several mobile suits. Two Gelgoogs led several GM teams in a pincer move, tearing apart the ship in retaliation, losing two more machines to overlapping point defenses. It almost escaped them by sheer velocity, almost.
Several missiles from the lone Zaku flew after the others, one impacted in a flash of gamma radiation which flashed the shields, but their speed let them escape the worst of the damage. That was when the two remaining ships opened fire on the Aberrian, its barriers flashing dangerously brightly, then splitting apart in a classic circle tactic. But their new escorts were in the way.
One of the Salamis ships opened fire from six different turrets, spewing bright pink beams in the way of the frigate. Cincannato was amazed that their shots were even more impressive: the krogan frigate was sliced apart into several parts, accidentally missing two beams for what little that mattered. Superheated chunks started to veer away before the engine went up. Its barriers hardly slowed down the particle weapon.
Its partner had more luck, the other Salamis only sheared off an engine that caused it to list. The ship could still fight, launching a volley of missiles that were surely jammed to uselessness. Cincannato cursed when through the weight of numbers, one got through: the Salamis was cracked in half in a bright flash, dead the moment it was hit. Scattered fire from the remainder missed, until the remaining mobile suits swarmed the ship and blasted it apart, even if it cost another two units.
"Its on us!" The Hephatarus rocked from a huge impact, Cincannato was thrown off his handhold to skid off the floor. He hit the wall and gasped, blearily seeing Rhamoutis hanging on as much as he could.
Picking himself up via grabbing the wall, Cincannato glared at the icon showing where the enemy ships were; the cruiser was turning about, but the frigate was on their tail. Displays blared warnings as mass accelerator shots missed, then one smacked into the barriers, overwhelming them as the ship kept shooting.
"Get us a firing angle!" Rhamoutis snarled when a host of new alerts popped up.
Seeing a flash on the display, Cincannato snarled. "Belay that! Change course and get us back to the escorts!"
Immediately the Hephatarus veered, the hull rattling from impacts. The screen suddenly loomed with the remaining cruiser, they were so close that its point defense guns started firing streams of projectiles at them, tearing fresh holes in the hull. And that wasn't counting the remaining frigate firing a mass accelerator round which narrowly missed.
The frigate abruptly pulled away, but whoever commanded the cruiser didn't seem the advancing Aberrian. Instead tiny jets fired, aligning the main gun with the squadron. Cincannato opened his mouth to yell an order, but it was too late. Its gun fired, flinging a round into the void; it had to be manually aimed considering the interference. The bright speck shot towards his flagship.
And missed.
Ignoring the remaining frigate suddenly going up in a flash, Cincannato helplessly watched the round fly past his ship and the humans. Too late he realized they weren't the target.
Thanks to its fusion torches Texas had moved a short distance while they fought off the krogan, at a glance still charging a mass effect bubble for FTL travel. There were no shields, and while the outer surface was heavily reinforced to handle prolonged travel in the cosmos, the mass accelerator round was a step above any debris it was designed for. It had no chance of stopping the shot.
In the midsection of the station the outer hull was blown inwards, smashed open by a projectile carrying several kilotons worth of explosive force. He saw a cone of light flashing before it went dark, spreading a cracked pattern around the hole; all too easily he could see debris being sucked out, buildings and those pleasant fields and whatever foliage they had grown over the years. The casualties… he could only guess.
"Target that ship." Someone commanded. Cincannato wondered who spoke, glad that the Hephatarus crew didn't immediately obey a stranger. However, he liked much less that he received several incredulous looks, including Commander Rhamoutis, whose mandibles clicked in confusion. "That was an order. Destroy that cruiser."
Reluctantly the crew went to work, the viewscreen scrolled so the krogan warship filled the display. Cincannato strode to grab the railing, uncaring that his claws were aching from how hard he grabbed the bar; his eyes were on the enemy, not his men sending him leery stares for ordering a suicide attack. If the Aberrian responded soon enough or their new allies could intercept them in time.
"Ladar is picking up the mobile suits, they're on an intercept course." One ensign reported, fresh icons showing the two machines on their way to the target. A part of him wondered if the krogan were afraid, due to the cruiser firing thrusters to bring its ponderous bulk about, turning away after the shameful attack they inflicted.
Before his eyes mass accelerator rounds slammed into the cruiser, a dozen slugs impacting within seconds. The krogan ship's barriers flashed after the first volley, dropping just in time for several more, slower lights from frigates and much faster specks from cruisers, ripping the warship apart. He squinted as it went up in flames.
Cincannato kept staring after he mentally noted the shots came from the opposite direction. From the relay he distantly guessed.
He didn't look away when the comm officer turned. "Captain, I'm getting a signal. It's the Titan Claw. I'm reading multiple signatures, its the entire flotilla."
Only looking away when he saw icons of a dozen ships filling the display, their profiles checking out as Hierarchy vessels moving in system from the relay, he turned to Rhamoutis, who stiffened. Nonetheless he stood up straight and cleared his throat.
"Under Naval regulations seventy two-three, and under orders from a superior officer, I hereby place Captain Cincannato into custody."
