Chapter 4: Deliverance

The mood aboard the Great Fox was dire not only had the famous James McCloud been injured but the entirety of Star Fox had been taken out by a single fighter along with one of the CDF's best fighter squadrons. Jessica knew that she should say something to help alleviate the people at home in Lylat but she couldn't find the words to say to them. The Great Fox had pulled out of the battle and managed to retrieve both James and Peppy. Peppy was uninjured but was now piloting the Great Fox while ROB treated James McCloud's injuries.

Aboard his flagship, Admiral Pepper seemed confident to those with him on the bridge as he gave out orders but internally he knew that even if they won the day here and took Cerinia the people at home would consider the battle a major embarrassment and loss with the number of casualties they had suffered. As he issued orders for his fighters and bombers to engage the remaining enemy fleet, he was interrupted by his sensors officer. "Admiral, I'm picking up some strange energy readings from near the enemy fleet!"

"On screen!" Pepper shouted before the view screen in front of him changed from Cerinia to the small human fleet nearby. A little away from the small group of ships a large purple rift appeared before to all the crew's horror disgorging a much bigger fleet of unknown vessels.

Suddenly a male voice broke over their comms "Attention all vessels of Humanity, Cerinia, and Corneria. This is Rear-Admiral Steel of the Earth Sphere Alliance's 10th Patrol Fleet. We have come to secure our people from the brutal and unprovoked attack by the Cornerian military. To our Cerinian Allies know that we humbled by your generosity and courage to defend our people and now will do the same. To the members of the Cornerian military that have propagated this conflict know that your reckoning has come. All ships forward, engage the Cornerian forces!"

Pepper wasted no time in responding "Helm bring us about to engage the new contacts! Sensors enemy numbers and classifications!"

The sensors officer responded with growing panic "Sir enemy force consists of a dreadnaught, three battleships, two heavy cruisers, twenty cruisers, sixteen frigates, and over two hundred strike craft!"

Peppy cursed internally this force while not having the number of battleships as the combined forces of his and the 3rd's still blue their cruiser numbers out of the water and the existence of a dreadnaught was deeply concerning, especially if this was indeed merrily a patrol fleet. "Order all forces to form a defensive line and concentrate fire on the cruisers we have to lower their number. Tell our frigate packs to group up and engage single targets with combined fire. Order the 3rd to pull back their transport ships and prepare for an immediate retreat!" Pepper ordered knowing that this was a battle they couldn't win.

As his comms officer was carrying out his orders his sensors officer spoke up again "Sir power spike from enemy vessels… INCOMING!" the sensors officer warned realizing the danger but too late to do anything about it.

"Evasive maneuvers" Pepper shouted as he saw the approaching ships flashed revealing their entire hull to be incasing a large projectile gun that sent truly massive round toward the 3rd and 1st fleets that looked to be a blistering fast blue streak "Brace for impact!"

As the blue streak approached Pepper saw the helmsman had thrown the battleship hard starboard at maximum thrust not enough to fully avoid the projectile but enough to only take a glancing hit. The projectile scrapped the port side taking off a good thirty feet of their port bow before continuing below the ship and exploding with such force that it pushed the mighty battleship upward and perforated their hull with shrapnel.

In the bridge and throughout the ship sirens blared before those on the bridge were silenced by the sensors officer. "Damage report" Pepper demanded even as he surveyed the hull from the bridge viewscreen.

"Sir numerous hull breaches on multiple decks, emergency doors closed. Power crystal undamaged, but short-range laser batteries A and C report fifty percent destroyed, multiple casualties" the ship systems officer reported.

"What about our fleet," Pepper asked looking out and seeing debris clouds were once friendly ships were.

His sensors officer responded, "Sir battleships Warpaw and Stalwart have been broken in half, in addition, we've lost six cruisers but no frigates." The news was defiantly bleak the enemies opening salvo had taken out two of his fleets four battleships and eighty percent of their cruiser complement.

Pepper leaped into action "Order all ships to space apart and prepare for evasive maneuvers! Order our bomber squadrons to engage the enemy fleet with our fighters covering them!" Pepper watched as his orders were carried out and the remaining ships spread out while the fighters and bomber streaked forth toward the enemy fleet.

Switching his gaze to the enemy fleet Pepper was relieved that they seemed to be held at a distance likely recharging that powerful projectile weapon. However, he did notice some odd behavior, a large part of the enemy's cruisers were grouping up into groups of three or four along with a couple of frigates.

"What are they…" Pepper wondered before multiple familiar purple vortexes appeared in front of these groups before they passed through and appeared shortly afterward amid both his fleet and the 3rd. As soon as the ships appeared, they began to fire at the Lylatian ships at knife fight range with broadside plasma cannons and missiles. Realizing that the enemy was taking advantage of the isolated Lylatian ships to outnumber and overwhelm the smaller frigates Pepper began issuing orders. "Helm bring us over to engage the nearest enemy group and engage at knife-fight range. Order our frigates to group up and engage the enemy and recall our strike craft immediately!"

X Corneria 3rd Fleet X

From his own flagship, Santize panicked as the enemy cruisers ripped havoc and chaos amongst his forces. Like the 1st Fleet, the 3rd Fleet had suffered heavily from the enemies opening salvo. Out of his four battleships, two had been instantly gutted before exploding in bright balls of superheated plasma. Amongst his remaining cruisers, only one had survived with extensive damage while the frigates got off lightly with only two being taken out. He could see that the 1st fleet had also taken heavy losses with two battleships destroyed and six cruisers lost to the enemies opening salvo and now were also besieged like them.

"Sir orders?" one of the bridges officers pleaded. Santize remained transfixed to the spectacle outside unable to hear or react to the repeated pleas for leadership of his command staff. "H-how could this have happened?" Unbeknownst to all those involved Andross was watching the unfolding drama back in Lylat from his transport craft thanks to the sensors from the CXS Xerta that gave him a real-time picture of the battle. The ape grinned in amusement before issuing a command on his console activating a collection of surprises, he left on various planets around the Lylat system and triggering a remote countdown aboard the Xerta. Andross laughed even as his transport stealthily entered the orbit of a toxic green planet called Venom.

Meanwhile, aboard the frigate, CMS Despot Captain Rachel Halsey was supervising the situation with calm but alarm. Her frigate pack had not been damaged thanks to their position away from the rest of the 3rd Fleet but now a pair of enemy cruisers was closing on the troop carrier ships and all the other frigate packs were engaged with the enemy leaving the transports vulnerable.

Deciding she needed to act Halsey reacted quickly with a fire in her eyes "Dammit, order the transport ships to fall back behind us! Relay to CMS Opportunity, Resilience, and Scarmarrow to assume formation diamond and flow us. Helm, bring us to a new course of 52 degrees starboard and 37 degrees half speed!" Rachel ordered thinking the enemy likely was trying to contest their transports and disrupt their orbital supremacy over the ground battle. Believing this Halsey knew she couldn't really stop the cruisers from doing so and so decided to abandon the orbital position in favor of protecting the troop carriers themselves knowing they were the only craft capable of carrying their ground forces in case they needed to retreat.

"Captain only two transports are listening to the order! The others refuse to move without Santize's orders!" the comms officer relayed causing Rachel to curse even as the enemy cruisers made short work of the four ships that refused to move opening up with missiles and plasma cannons. Like she predicted one cruiser then held position as the other moved toward the fleeing pair of transports that made for her frigate pack at full speed.

"Helm adjust our course to intercept the enemy cruiser. Communication relay my instructions to the other frigates. Prepare for envelopment tactic Alpha-Epsilon!" Halsey ordered as her four ships prepared to take on an enemy cruiser. As the two forces closed Halsey noticed the other cruiser that had stayed back seemed to be launching a series of small metal objects to the planet below. Rachel was curious about the objects but had to focus on the enemy cruiser which now was heading toward her frigate pack. "Gunnery prepare to focus fire on the enemies weapon systems starting with those plasma cannons. Helm keep our ship pointed at the enemy don't let them get a bead on our energy crystal!" Halsey gave her last orders before the battle and ready herself for the fight coming straight at her.

X Cerinia Orbit X

Captain Jacob McDowell of the Militia was enjoying yet another reentry inside his cockpit watching the ground rapidly approaching through the camera feeds displayed inside the cockpits forward walls. Despite the majority of the human forces here being from the Earth Sphere Alliance the fact that the battle was happening just outside of human space meant that the Militia was the closest military organization to the area and so they had sent a couple of their own ships to participate. One of which the MMS Red Eye was a frigate and troop carrier that Jacob had been launched from just a couple seconds ago.

Jacob was a veteran pilot of the Militia with the callsign 'Cerberus'. As a veteran of the war between the Militia and the IMC, Jacob had been on many such orbital insertions and his immediate mission was like others he had been on with the sole exception of the enemy being aliens.

"Alright, pilots listen up! Your mission is to clear the landing zone of hostile anti-air in prep for infantry insertion. After that's complete you are cleared to engage and eliminate all hostile forces in the AO. Remember pilots' blue foxes with staffs are friendly along with any humans you see. Cerberus we're inserting you in a more forward position than the others near a friendly position under threat of being overrun. Hostile armor in the immediate area."

Jacob keyed his comms "10-4 command Cerberus will save their bacon" he acknowledged.

As the approached the ground and were seconds away from impact Command gave the callout on all channels that were made famous during the frontier wars. "All forces engaging Titanfall!"

X Cerinia Capitol, Serenity Plaza X

Ember ducked down behind her cover again as more laser fire streaked overhead. The Cerinian vixen was an oddity amongst her people with fur that was a pale blue that was near white her tribal markings being a dark blue. Currently however her pale fur was covered with soot and scratch marks that bled lightly painting some areas of her fur with a pink hue. Her emerald green eyes peeked wearily over the rubble she was using as cover at the approaching Lylatian forces nearing her position. Because of her odd fur color, Ember had been somewhat ostracized during her younger years and so seeking acceptance that she couldn't get in the regular workforce Ember had joined the Guardians at the young age of twelve. She had passed numerous tests and only a year ago had graduated from apprenticeship to full-fledge Guardian at age 16.

She had been in the middle of basic piloting training when the order came from the king for all Guardians to be put on full alert. She had been assigned to the cities guard and had been fighting the Lylatian invaders since they hit the cities outer perimeter. She and the many other Guardians had represented themselves well but were slowly pushed back into the city's interior by the enemy's range and numbers. Thankfully the civilians of the city had been evacuated to other settlements well before the assault. At first, they had done well to avoid casualties using their nimble athletics and knowledge of the terrane to quickly outflank and ambush the enemy before retreating, however, the enemies heavy vehicles had arrived and in conjunction with heavier weapons from the infantry, the Guardians started taking heavy losses. They had received some help when a few of the humans they had rescued joined their ranks with strong long-range weapons, but they too could only do so much when they encountered overwhelming enemy fire. It didn't help matters that they found that their energy staffs didn't work against the armor's hull and so they had requested air support, but their king had reported that the enemy anti-air presence was strong enough that what few fighters they still had in space couldn't get close enough to help.

To that end, Ember and ten other Guardians had attempted to sneak behind the enemy's lines to destroy several anti-air positions. Unfortunately, they had been found out near the target and cut off from retreat before being pinned down by three squads of enemy infantry and two armored vehicles that the enemy had been calling APC's.

They had been cornered in the remains of Serenity Plaza which used to be a beautiful park with various stone fountains and statues along with gardens filled with songbirds. Now the area was a pockmarked field with trees either burnt to a crisp or fallen over, statues destroyed or with large pieces melted off, and fountains blown apart and reduced to dry rubble one of which Ember was crouched behind. Her group had suffered five casualties before Ember volunteered to stay behind and distract the enemy while the others mad a brake out. Now she was alone behind enemy lines and about to be overrun after fighting for ten minutes by herself. Her allies had said they would try and send help, but she knew that there was no way for help to reach her as far back as she was.

Sighing in resignation but determined to make the Lylatian soldiers pay for their crimes against her people and the attack on their city Ember steeled herself for death and planned to go down fighting. However, as the enemy squad approached a sound reached their ears that started off sounding like any other explosion in the distance but grew to a loud roar directly above them. Everyone combatants' eyes gazed upward only to widen in shock at what looked to be a meteor wrapped in a ball of flame streaking down toward the square. Ember ideally noted as she saw her rapidly approaching death that there were other streaks of fire heading toward the ground in other locations around the city. Suddenly just before it impacted the ground the fire retreated to reveal not a meteor but some giant metal figure. Ember only had a second to marvel at the sight before she realized the figure was going to impact next to her position. Ember ducked her head down knowing that this was where her life ended and giving one last prayer to her few friends and mentors she prepared herself for the impact hoping it would at least be quick.

BOOOOMMMM!

Ember heard the impact just behind her position and was surprised that other than a brief concussive force that threw her dark blue hair back there was no fiery explosion. Instead, she was greeted by a mechanically female voice speaking in human speech.

"Friendly confirmed, hostiles closing in, weapons hot." Ember opened her eyes and found herself staring at a large metal figure standing at around twenty feet tall and bristling with weapons. Its single red eye moving rapidly around the area before centering on the shocked Lylatian forces. On the front was a painted black canine with three heads and snarling teeth with a fiery backdrop behind it.

Inside the Vanguard Pathfinder class, titan designated BP-7317, Militia pilot Jacob McDowell Surveyed the immediate area spotting the thee enemy infantry squads and two APC's nearing the friendlies position. "Alright Cera, let's get to work!" Jacob shouted before reaching around the titans back to retrieve the XO20A10 Chaingun from its mount before swinging it around and opening fire at the enemy squad only fifty yards away.

The Lylatians had no chance to react before a stream of thirty-millimeter arc rounds ripped through their bodies turning them into chunks and ripping apart the concrete they had been standing on while the smell of blood mixed with the smell of ozone created by the electric rounds. Jacob saw the other two squads a little further away shout in alarm before scrambling to cover white the APC's turned their turrets and opened fire with some type of rapid-fire laser. While the first ten shots hit his hull and did little to no damage to his shields Jacob took no chances and activated the headlight shield installed in his titans' right hand. Soon the lasers started bouncing off a blue luminescent shield that protected the entire front side of his Titan and the nearby vixen while Cera crouched down with 'her' right hand outstretched. Glancing down at the friendly Jacob knew that while he could engage the enemy here and eliminate them the vixen crouched ten feet away may get caught in the crossfire, so Jacob decided to take a risk and opened his cockpit hatch.

Ember had to put her arms over her head as large metal casing began falling from the large figures gun. By the sounds coming from the Lylatian's the rounds were very effective and judging by the blue electricity coming from the barrel of the gun were likely the reason her fur was starting to stand on end. Soon incoming fire started to pour in from the APC's only for the few shots that hit to splashed against some type of energy field around the titan's hull before the rest were intercepted by a large blue shield that appeared when the figure through its hand forward. Suddenly the torso of the figure opened up to reveal an armored individual sitting in a chair it red visor on its helmet staring right at her.

"Hey, lass sorry for dropping in but I need you to get in bout' now." The figure stated in Cerinian much to her shock.

"W-what? Who are you?" Ember asked not knowing who or what this individual was.

The figure tilted his head "Is this translator not working? Dam, ME HUMAN YOU GET IN!" The figure shouted slowly as if he was talking to a child.

Ember shook her head refocusing on her surrounding and realized that this apparent human and his giant suit of armor were likely her best bet out of her current situation. Standing up on her paws she quickly sprinted forward before jumping into the cockpit only for the figure to catch her and pull her down into his lap. On a completely unrelated side note Ember now had distinct proof that this figure was male based on what she felt from her new position.

As soon as she had sat down Jacob closed the hatch and glanced back at the enemy forces before priming the left shoulder weapon on his titan. The shoulder-mounted missile launcher quickly opened before locking onto the two enemies APC's and firing two micro-missiles that steaked above the hard light shield before arching down and punching threw the APC's armor before their warheads detonated and blowing the armored vehicles apart like a pair of popped balloons. With the reduced incoming fire, Jacob disengaged the hard-light shield and sent the mech into a sprint ignoring the enemy infantry with the exception of a few unlucky ones that were trampled underfoot.

"Where are we going?" The vixen sitting in his lap asked noting they were heading deeper into the enemy's lines.

Jacob decided that since she was sharing his cockpit with him she was now technically part of the mission so had no problems telling her the details. "We have to take out a nearby anti-air site to allow the ship in orbit to deploy infantry squads to the surface. The AA vehicle should be… ah, there she is!"

As their Titan rounded a corner, they saw a vehicle with a large mounted missile system on its roof that was currently panning around for targets. Nearby were three infantry squads, two main battle tanks, and three APC's normally a very well-fortified position however for a Titan it was just another target-rich environment. Jacob wasted no time in charging toward the enemy position while simultaneously locking the three APC's with his missile system and opening fire with his chain gun at the enemy infantry.

The enemy had little time to react as all three APC's where suddenly blown to smithereens sending shrapnel and flames flying everywhere whilst large-caliber electrified rounds ripped though their ranks and through what minimal cover they tried to scramble behind. All the while the tank attempted to turn its turret toward the rapidly approaching metal monstrosity but just as its gun lined up with the figure only fifty yards away the large behemoth did something none their thought possible and jumped.

Jacob gave a savage grin as his Titan came crashing down onto the enemy tank crushing it and causing it t explode around his titan's form which drained his shields down by half, but it was worth it to demoralize the remaining enemies. His methods were proven correct as the remaining squad and a half of infantry dropped their weapons and surrendered at seeing his titan's undamaged form emerge from the explosion. Satisfied that the enemy was pacified Jacob walked his titan to the SAM system whose crew abandoned the vehicle and joined their allies before Jacob strapped his chain gun back to its mount and pulled out a large serrated combat knife from his titan's right thigh.

Jacob maneuvered the titan to gripping the missile racks of the enemy vehicle before his other arm maneuvered the knife into the enemies hull, the high-frequency edge of the knife easily cutting through the armor before finishing through and severing off the missile racks from the rest of the vehicle. Tossing the missile racks away like an unwanted can Jacob opened up his communications channel. "Cerberus to Red Eye, mission accomplished enemy SAM position neutralized and friendly secured I have POW's on my position and am awaiting reinforcements."

He didn't have to wait long for a response "Copy that Cerberus, the other finished up their objectives too. Drop pods are falling now. Stand by."

Jacob and Ember watched as above hundreds of pods came roaring down from the sky before slowing down before hitting the surface with a jarring impact. As soon as they landed the ten pods that landed near them discouraged four armored humans that rapidly spread out with two groups securing the prisoners. Suddenly a voice belonging to the commanding officer of the nearby infantry broke over their comm "This is Hammer 3-4 we're your support, sir. Orders from HIGH COM are to advance and destroy the hostile forces at the city perimeter."

Jacob nodded before looking at Ember while opening his hatch. "Looks like this is your stop miss. Join the marines, for now, we're not done fighting today." Ember nodded before disembarking with Jacob closing the hatch behind her and redrawing his chin gun. "Alright, Hammer 3-4 let's find us some action!"

"YES SIR!" was the unanimous shout as the thirty marines, the lone Cerinian, and the Titan moved away and toward the sounds of gunfire.

X Cornerian FOB Pay Dirt X

Jeffery O'Hare had been covering the ongoing ground battle since its beginning from the relative safety of the Cornerian FOB located just a mile away from the beach that Cornerian forces had initially landed on. He was sitting off in a corner of the command center with his cameraman listening to communications from the front and when something especially interesting happened he and his cameraman would interview on of the officers that could be spared on the situation. It was because of this special position that the newsman saw General Dustin Durrow a middle-aged Labrador receive a private message on his terminal which caused him to curse just before reports of giant metal behemoths raining from the sky came through the comm. O'Hare had signaled his cameraman to begin filming just as the general turned to his command staff as more and more reports began to flood in.

"Sir, Barker company reports 70% casualties and that they are falling back!"

"Enemy forces have broken through the 35th and pushing our supply lines!"

"Sir. All forces in the city report heavy casualties and are requesting reinforcements!"

"Sir, our anti-air positions have been overrun by the enemy!"

This last call seemed to do it for the General who squared his shoulders and gave an order all military men hated "Order a General retreat, fall back to the FOB and dig in! Have whatever armor we have left to pull back as well and to group together and if they see one of those behemoths to focus on one simultaneously." The general ordered before noticing the reporter in the corner. "Mr. O'Hare there is a shuttle still at the landing zone, take my personal vehicle and get you and your cameraman off-planet."

Jeffery looked startled "But General" he was cut off by Dustin who raised a paw for him to stop.

"Reports from orbit say another much larger fleet has appeared in orbit and is cutting through our forces. Our transport ships have already been forced to retreat and a number of them have been destroyed. We're not going to win this especially now that the enemy can bring in air support so if you want to get out of here you have to do so now." The General didn't mince words as an aid ran over and gave him a helmet which he strapped on before pulling his sidearm out and striding out of the tent.

O'Hare looked at his cameraman and both sprinted out of the command tent and toward a jeep parked nearby. Around them, the FOB's defensive garrison and its staff were erecting defenses and stockpiling ammo for what was no doubt a last defensive stand. The two piled into the jeep as the staff officer behind the wheel looked at them then at the general who nodded before the officer floored the gas and sped out of the FOB toward the beach.

X Cerinian Orbit X

Russ wheeled the fighter around and let loose another volley of fire from his GAT cannon which streaked through space and tore into another enemy fighter that exploded into a yellow fireball for a split second before the vacuum of space extinguished it. The Raven, like many of his fellow human pilots, had followed one of the frigate packs through a slipspace portal and directly into the middle of the enemy fleet so their bombers could wreak havoc with the enemy ships whilst the fighters dealt with the enemy strike craft.

Russ knew that this battle was pretty much over with the initial enemy fleet being in utter chaos and the second fleet being coordinated but unable to deal with humanities superior numbers and technology. As he surveyed the battle Russ did notice an enemy frigate pack putting up a good showing while defending their two remaining troop carriers, having managed to destroy the human frigate engaging them and now dissuading the human bomber squadrons from their troop carriers with walls of laser fire and putting themselves between the bombers and their targets. Russ had to tip his hat to whoever was their commander since they had managed to not lose a single vessel yet thought they had taken heavy damage.

Suddenly his ships AI suddenly gave him an alert "WARNING REGISTERING A LARGE RADIATION SPIKE FROM ENEMY VESSEL"

Russ immediately wheeled around and saw the designated ship his AI had indicated. The vessel was of a different design than the rest and was the same vessel that had wiped out the Solace however the energy levels he was picking up far outclassed the ones he got when it fired its main weapon. Seeing the crystal in the center of the ship glow an ominous orange and begin to fracture Russ had a sudden realization of what was about to happen the same time that Vice-Admiral Steel did as his voice shouted over an open channel "ALL SHIPS DISENGAGE AND REROUTE ALL POWER TO SHIELDS NOW!"

Russ cursed as he diverted all power to his engineers and thrusters before beelining it toward a nearby human cruiser which had its hangar doors open for the fleeing human strike craft whose shields would likely not hold up to a wave of radiation as powerful as what was likely to hit. Russ flew in and landed with a number of other fighters just as the enemy ship's crystal exploded in a glob of orange light before a wave or radiation exploded outward. Russ's view was cut off as the cruiser closed its hanger doors.

All around the battle area captains of all races desperately did what they could to shield their crews from the blast that destroyed the ship it originated from before expelling a ridiculous amount of radiation outward in all directions. The Lylatian ships who had no chance to defend themselves as the radiation seemed to pass right through their shields before passing through their ships and their crews who began writing in pain as the radiation burned their insides with its corrosive touch. The human vessels fair a great deal better with their shields being made to withstand all types of radiation, that said a number of vessels whose shields had been taken out suffered just as much as the Cornerians did. The various strike craft who hadn't made it to a nearby ship in time and whose shields couldn't stand up to the raw amount of radiation leaving their pilots screaming in the cockpit as their craft sped aimlessly through space some crashing into other ships mercifully ending the pilot's torment.

Rachel Halsey and her pack of frigates should have suffered the same fate if not for their Rachels quick thinking and their position away from the rest of the fleet. As soon as Halsey had registered the human commanders order her sensors officer had noticed the danger and informed her that Andross's ship was about to kill them all. Knowing her ships couldn't handle the radiation the ship would produce she noted an enemy cruiser opening a purple portal to escape along with nearby fighters going through the portal. Halsey immediately ordered her ships to cease fire and make full speed to the portal along with the troop carriers. As the Xerta exploded and the wave of radiation spewed forth Halsey's frigates and troop carriers plunged through the portal, the human captain likely taking pity on the Lylatians and allowing them through the portal unmolested before moving his ship through and closing it behind them before the radiation could reach them. Halsey's taskforce would find themselves at the edge of the system surrounded by enemy fighters and bombers as well near an enemy ship but neither side would fire, both commanders having judged the battle over for themselves.

For the troops on the ground, a warning of the impending disaster was given a scant five minutes before the radiation wave arrived. For the typical ground forces, there would be nowhere to hide as the radiation passed through them though weakened by Cerinia's atmosphere to the point of only three hundred miles of the planets surface being affected. Though the capital was in the center of this area and thus received a full blast of the radiation. The Cerinian's suffered the effects alongside their human allies some finding a small comfort with the alien next to them either holding onto each other as they both writhed in agony. There were some however that didn't suffer the effects.

When the warning was given Titan pilot Jacob hunt knew that the shield of titans was protected from radiation and gave another shout over the comm "ALL FORCES GROUP UP AROUND THE NEAREST TITAN! PILOTS MAX POWER TO SHIELD DOME'S!" The other pilots quickly understood and just before the wave reached them their colossal machines of war spread out their arms and formed protective bubbles around themselves and what friendlies huddled around their feet. Ember and the marines she had been fighting alongside with had been protected by Cerberus's shield dome and thus watched as the energy passed over them harmlessly. After five minutes Jacob would note the radiation rapidly die off until it was at safe levels before dropping the dome and allowing his allies to care to their suffering allies and enemies as Jacob called the fleet for all available medical teams.

In orbit after the radiation had subsided a prerecorded message began to play on all channels "This is Lord Andross to all of those vermin that can still hear me, for long have I suffered under the yoke of ignorant minds who dared to hold back my genius. Now finally I break free from your shackles to achieve my destiny. Now I will have you suffer for your transgressions across your worlds and fleets of pathetic ships. Know that though I now leave my efforts this day have laid the foundation for my return to assume my rightful place as your lord. The Lylat system and beyond will bend the knee to me and those who swear allegiance to me. ALL HAIL ANDROSS!"

Vice-Admiral Steel sneered at the sheer arrogance of this Andross before signaling his comms officer "Tell all forces to stand down, this battle is over. Send a message to the enemy fleet that we are open to a cease-fire agreement in light of recent events, but should they make to board any of our vessels or land on Cerinia we will resume hostilities."

The comms officer relayed the message before pausing to listen to a pained and haggard voice from the second enemy fleet. "Sir, I have an Admiral Pepper on the line agreeing to cease hostilities and asking for assistance recovering their space-born forces."

Steel huffed "Tell him we will recover our own first but afterward will provide them with aid. Send a third of our medical teams to the surface along with a couple of detachments of marines to capture POW's, I have a few questions for these Lylatians." The Vice-Admiral paused before leaving the bridge and marching down to his quarters and to a private communications terminal used for private comms. Activating it and imputing the receiving address he began his debriefing "My Emperor, it is my unfortunate duty to inform you of the catastrophe that has occurred over the planet known as Cerinia…"

Aaaannnnddddd done! Well, that chapter took forever to go through, but this now officially ends the contact ark of the story. Took forever but I wanted to wrap up the battle and I had to not include some bits, but I got it done! So yes, human military technology is a mix of Halo for space forces and Titanfall for ground forces. It should be noted that the Titans and ships are more advanced than their canon counterparts as humanity has just got out of centuries of warfare with said technology, suffice to say a lot of them have been improved to meet the demands of those wars. The next chapter will cover the years between this conflict and the next ark while also including the after-action results of the battle. Some of it will be in timeline format as there is a lot to go over.

Anyway, till next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!