"The Switch"
The Silver Office, Arcturus Station, April 7, 2193
"You are certain?" President Harper asked the Ambassador one more time.
"I'd put my life on the line for it." Goyle answered.
Harper sighed. It would seem that not even his last term in office would see any lasting peace. He hoped that his lasting legacy would be as the president who weathered the storm and rebuilt... it would seem that fate had dealt him a different hand to play.
"Damn it... Alright." Harper cursed. "You are dismissed, Ambassador. I'll need you at your station to help coordinate with the Turians."
"Understood, sir." Goyle said as she got up from the chair and excused herself.
As soon as she had left the room, Harper took no time to dial up Admiral Grissom and set things in motion.
"Grissom, it's time." Harper said as soon as the High Admiral's face showed up on holoscreen.
"Goyle returned with bad news then." Grissom replied.
"It's worse than that. Mobilize the navy for Case Blue... we're executing War Plan Jawbreaker."
Harper could see the realization set in to Grissom's usually stoic face. The High Admiral did nothing else but nodded in acknowledgement.
"Understood sir... God help us all."
Grissom ended the call, leaving Harper once again alone with his thoughts.
"God help us all indeed." He whispered to himself. "God help us all."
-000-
Above New Cyrene, High Seas System, April 22, 2193
"The SSV Wittenberg makes the last one, both 9th and 4th Fleet are fully assembled, sir!" A bridge officer reported.
"Good." Kahoku acknowledged. "Get me Admiral Drescher on a secure line."
"Aye sir, ringing up the Admiral now."
Not long after, the holographic image of the admiral aboard the Jerusalem showed up where Kahoku's stellar map used to be.
"Admiral Dreshcer." Kahoku greeted.
"Admiral Kahoku." Drescher greeted likewise.
"I assume that Grissom has had you briefed on recent events?"
"Only the vague outline, he told me you'd get me up to speed."
"Right. In that case, gather your command staff for a conference in the Son of Man in 1 hour." Kahoku relayed. "We've got a lot of new juicy information on the Council, and it's best that everyone gets the memo."
"Aye." Drescher simply replied before ending the short call.
-000-
"We're landing in three, two... touchdown!" The Kodiak pilot announced as the shuttle landed in the Son of Man's portside hangarbay. Admiral Drescher stepped out of the shuttle as soon as its rear hatch was opened. She was greeted by a small marine welcoming party in the midst of a hectic shuffle of crew and other ships.
"Admiral Drescher, Admiral Kahoku is expecting you." The marine leading the party yelled over all the commotion.
Drescher eyed the marine's rank by his left shoulderplate and then answered.
"Lead the way, sergeant." She said.
The group left the hangarbay and entered one of the many internal tramways inside the stellar dreadnought. At just a little over 1 kilometer long in length, it was imperative that travel inside the ship could be made as efficient as possible. As such, internal tramways and roadways were constructed inside the ship. The dreadnought's internals could almost be compared to the underground cities of Luna, Mars, and Belka. Every inch of space served a purpose, every bit of material was used for a reason. The ship's tramway was reserved for priority transits, whereas the roadways were for... less urgentmatters. The tram took the party into the heart of the ship, where most of the command staff was. It took a few more minutes, but they finally arrived in the conference room. Upon entry, she was greeted by Kahoku and the command staff of the 4th Fleet. The Admiral of the 4th thanked the sergeant and quickly dismissed him.
"Drescher, punctual as always." Kahoku greeted, turning to his fellow Admiral and nodding.
"Kahoku," She nodded in return. "what's the news?"
"Take your seats and we'll start."
Drescher waved her staff over and herded them over to one side of the conference room, across them was Kahoku's own staff. Once both command staffs were seated an ACI agent, who she recognized as Colonel Jack Harper, walked up to the presenting podium and started.
"Greetings, let's skip the pleasantries and get right to it." Jack said, starting the briefing and activating a set of holoprojectors. He deftly manipulated the projector controls from his podium and began displaying different bit of data.
"Last week, as we have all been briefed, we've had a total diplomatic breakdown with the Citadel Allied Races." Harper continued. "However, what you weren't briefed is of the information leak we received from an inside source within the highest echelons of the Citadel Government."
"What kind of leak?" Drescher asked.
"A private investigation into corruption within the Council lead to a few points which linked to Batarian hostilities against us. The investigation thus far implicates several high ranking members of the Citadel Government."
"We have to assume that these officials were influential enough to get the push to war going." Kahoku mused. "Any chances that the Councilors are in on it?"
"If they are, they're doing a good job on keeping it hidden." Jack answered.
"How do we know the source isn't covering the Councilor's tracks?" Drescher now asked.
Jack looked at Drescher with an expression that was equal parts amusement and disbelief.
"We have reason to believe the information is authentic, because a Councilor gave it to us." Jack explained.
Drescher's brows curled in confusion and surprise, but that expression was almost instantly stifled. She leaned forward on her seat, the ACI agent now having all of her attention.
"Our informant was Councilor Toraph, who represents the Salarian Union in the Council. He was working through a SPECTRE Agent by the name of Valern. In so far, they have shown that there is dissent within the higher echelons of Citadel. If we can exploit this properly, we can negate their technological and numerical superiority." Jack continued. "Our covert attempts to contact influential sympathizers within the Asari Republics have thus far not yet proven useful results, but we might be able to turn our current predicament around to draw out these sympathizers."
Harper pulled out the documents for War Plan Jawbreaker, now updated to accommodate newly revealed information provided by Councilor Toraph. He had it all displayed on the holoprojector mounted on the conference table.
"The plan, as drawn by the President and High Admiral Grissom, involves feigning weakness and drawing the Council's preemptive strike into a prolonged engagement. The colony of New Cyrene is currently being evacuated of as many non-essential personnel as possible." Harper shifted the plans to show projected deployments of fleets, troops, and expected engagement zones. "We intend on drawing the Council forces into committing a sizable amount of troops into a planetary invasion."
"We're just going to let them hit the planet?" Someone from Drescher's command staff asked. "Wasn't Shanxi bad enough?"
"It is unfortunate, but it is also a necessary evil." Harper answered. "As of the moment, we lack the necessary forces to effectively defeat the Council in a pitched battle. Hackett's expedition, made up of the 6th fleet, will be tasked with managing the Terminus and Batarian front. The 1st fleet remains guarding the inner worlds while the 3rd and 8th are still going through retrofits. The 5th is being sent to reinforce Hackett and the 7th are still still scattered into smaller battlegroups across Alliance space. Until they can be recalled, our technologically inferior ships have to make due with superior numbers and planning."
"What role do the Turians fall into?" Kahoku asked.
"The Turians have been informed, and they are delaying their multi-front counteroffensive to coincide with the Council attack on us. This should tie up any potential Council reinforcements from coming our way and allow us to take on the invading force on a more even playing field." Harper explained. "The carrier centric 9th fleet will hold position a short jump out of system. The new FTL capable fighters should be able to harass supply lines and attack enemy vessels from a distance. The 4th fleet will be stationed on high orbit over New Cyrene to stop the Council from gaining total orbital supremacy."
"A geosync orbital battle could get messy fast. A prolonged siege complicates things further." Someone from Drescher's combat staff commented. "What do we know about the invading force?"
"Right now, woefully little." Harper admitted. "The leaks Councilor Toraph gave us mostly covers ship and weapon schematics, combat doctrine, battlefield protocol, and deployment statistics. We don't yet have a definitive number for the upcoming invasion force. Depending on how long it takes for them to prepare, we could be facing something as small as a hastily assembled battlegroup, to a fully fledged war fleet."
"Let's hear about those ship schematics then." Kahoku spoke.
Harper brought up the first ships in question. These were sleek, curved, and elegant. A stark contrast to the Alliance Navy's angular and generally utilitarian designs.
"These are Asari Navy ships. They are fast, nimble, and carry sufficient firepower to shoot itself out of a firefight. Their hull plating tends to be lacking by our standards, but their shields are overkill. Each Asari warship carries with it at the very least 2 extra shield generators, with heavier tonnage of ships carrying even more. These shios are more technologically advanced than our own, and they make up most of the Council's fleets by a slim majority."
"Strike craft carrying shield piercing munitions might be preferrable when fighting this one." Drescher commented. "I'll have to requisition an extra shipment of them later."
"Moving on, the Krogan Navy forms the other half of the equation."
Krogan ships now showed up on the holoprojector. They were square, bulky, and even crude looking. They looked like flying tanks, and as Harper would explain, acted like it too.
"Krogan ships are heavier, slower, have thicker hull plating, and carry more firepower than their Asari counterparts. Instead of redundant shield generators, Krogan warships carry a powerful assortment of secondary batteries and weapons." Harper explained as he pointed out the various subsections of a Krogan ship of the line.
"What do we know about the xenos crewing them?" One of Kahoku's officers asked.
"Krogan are blunt, straight to the point, aggressive, but largely traditional as a society. Most value glory in battle and adherence to their ancient ways more than survival. If their ground force structure is anything to go by, we can expect them to neglect their onboard damage control units."
"So they've got a tough shell, and mushy insides. I think we can deal with that."
"And now, last of the Council's significant naval forces are the Salarians." Jack said as he transitioned to the schematics of a Salarian warship. "The Salarian navy is probably the smallest of the three, but are highly specialized for what they do. The Salarians are the only Council race to field stealth ships. Thankfully, the schematics Councilor Toraph leaked to us gives us the opportunity to understand how it works... and how to build them ourselves after sufficient study."
Jack swiped left on the holprojector and showed schematics for different types of Salarian ships.
"The average Salarian warship is undergunned and underarmored by our standards, but frontline fighting is not their role. They carry the most advanced cyberwarfare suites, sensor arrays, point-defense weapons, and strike craft out of the big three naval powers. Most concerning, however, are their 'Hive Ships'."
Jack switched pictures again to that of a large wing shaped vessel, stark white and with multiple strike-crafts of the same color screening it.
"For all intents and purposes, Salarian hive ships are spacecraft carriers which exclusively carry combat drones." The ACI agent continued explaining. "All the drones are controlled via a command and control station within the hive ship itself. If we can take out the C&C station within the ship, the drones should be neutralized."
"These drones, are they FTL capable like the ones the Turians are dealing with?" Drescher asked.
"To our current knowledge, no. The drones shouldn't be large enough to mount a Mass Effect drive of said capability, but be prepared with countermeasures in the off chance that they can go FTL."
"Them going FTL really would complicate things." Drescher responded. "I'll have my staff draw up some plans."
"Good. That's all the relevant information we have on hand right now." Harper concluded. "Once we've translated and deciphered more of their documents, we'll have it sent to you. This meeting is concluded, everyone is dismissed."
-000-
Archive Update:
Lexington Class Assault Ship:
Introduced too late to serve in the Alliance-Batarian War, the Lexington class Assault Ship (L-AS) was the Systems Alliance' first attempt at expanding their carrier fleet. The Assault Ship class of vessels were carriers converted from the hulls of Systems Alliance cruisers and fills the role of a light carrier. Unlike their massive sister ships, an Assault Ship is primarily designed with the role of supporting ground engagements whereas fleet carriers like the Jerusalem class were meant to be to be the lynchpin of a fleet. At just a little over 600 meters long, Lexingtons are armed with two dozen point defense guns, 12 autocannon batteries and 16 missile tubes on both the top and bottom of the ship, as well as a flight deck fielding where the spinal cannon should have been.
The air wing contingent of a Lexington are usually comprised of 24 multirole fighters, 16 VTOL Attack Gunships, 14 Kodiak light transports, 6 Mammoth vehicle transports, and 4 Goliath heavy transports carrying prefabricated firebases. Despite this, the loadout of these light carriers may vary depending on the mission they are assigned. A Lexington which was assigned to patrol shipping lanes may slash its transport and gunship contingent in favor of carrying more fighters.
The Lexington Class Assault Ship would serve admirably during the opening months of Humanity's entry in the Great Galactic War. The flexibility and many roles it could fill made it indispensable and an instant favorite among both Alliance and Turian ground forces alike for the quick and easy access to fire support which a Lexington provides.
-000-
A/N:
This chapter got delayed by a couple of days because I finally built myself a new gaming rig. Stupidly, I failed to get a wifi adapter for it which meant I had to use my phone to work on this as my laptop was already being serviced by the time I had realized my mistake.
Anywho, there's going to be a timeskip between this chapter and the next one so that we can get right back into the action. Hopefully I can capture both Council and Alliance points of view right. I believe I made a mistake when writing the Batarians as looking back they kind of feel like one dimensional cartoon villains.
My current goal is to finish this story by the time I graduate from university, which while still at least a year away does mean I now have a timetable to work with. God willing, we'll all live to see the day I can pull it off.
As always, write down your thoughts on a review or PM them to me if you feel like it. I appreciate feedback, though admittedly I don't always reply to it directly.
Thanks for reading, good luck, and Godspeed to you all.