Ch: 7 Shanxi After the Storm
April 8th 10:15, Shanxi Capital City Hospital:
The first thing that Sanders heard when she came too, was the steady sound of machines beeping. Slowing opening her eyes she saw a white ceiling. Taking a quick glance at herself she noted that she was laying on a bed, and was dress in a long white dress. Around her wrist were some tubes that led to a clear bag full of a clear liquid suspended in the air.
Putting the pieces together, she concluded she was in some kind of medical facility. Now the question was how did she get here? Carefully she propped herself up into a sitting position. Her body ached in pain, likely from whatever injuries that put her here, or from inactivity, possibly both.
Her mind was still foggy from her slumber, but bits and pieces started to from her mind. Flashes of a battle against monsters, streets being reduced to rubble, and something about a plan.
"Careful now Sanders. You've been out for a fair bit." The voice almost made her jump out of her bed. Whipping her head around, she saw a woman dressed in a doctor's uniform, standing close by. "You ghouls may be durable, but even you need to rest after what you want through."
"What I want through?" She asked, her memories still trying to form a cohesive picture.
The woman raised an eyebrow. "I see you're having trouble remembering the events of the last few days. We did expect your memory to be a little foggy when you woke up." She said rubbing her chin in thought, for a few seconds. The woman pulled out a pad and began to tap on it several times she then walked up to her bed and handed her the pad. "Perhaps this will jog your memory."
She took the pad and activated it. It showed a document labeled "Battle Report: Dragon Orphan Invasion of Shanxi". Something in her mind clicked and the memories flooded in. The arrival of the Quarians, the message of a galaxy at war, the dragon orphans attacking the colony she had been the governor of, and her fight against the D-Captain. She looks back at the woman.
"Is the D-captain-" She tried to say only for the woman to raise her hand to stop her.
"I bookmarked that information. Take a look." She said pointing at the pad.
Doing as she said Sanders looks back to the document and has the doctor said in the corner was an indicator that said "1 Bookmark". She tabbed the indicator and selected the marked page. A passage was brought up. She read it:
Dragon General, Variant: Captain, Confirmed killed in action
due to the efforts of one Commander Maria Sanders of the
23rd Mobile Assault Squad.
She read it twice, three times, four, before the reality of it had sunk in. The Dragon Captain had been killed and she was getting the credit for it. Looking back at the Doctor. "So does that mean the city is safe?" She asked the doctor. "And who are you?" She added.
The woman nodded. "Yes, the city is safe for the most part. From I gather not long after the D-Captain was killed the First fleet arrive and destroyed the D-Orphan fleet in orbit. After that an entire Marine Legion was deployed, the city was ours in a matter of hours. That was about thirty-one hours ago, right now their performing sweeping operations throughout the city, eliminating any survivors. As for your second question I am Dr. Chakwas, I'm one of the doctors assigned to the garrison here. You might have seen me a few times."
Dr. Chakwas that name did sound familiar, and now that she mentioned it she did remember seeing her a few times when she visited the local base. "Think you Doctor for bringing me up to speed," Sanders said, handing the woman her pad back. "How are my injuries and how long should I expect to be here?"
Chakwas gave her a warm smile. "Not to worry Governor, thinks to your regenerative abilities as a ghoul most of your injuries have been healed alright. You should be alright to leave in a few days. "
"I see that's good." She said, glad she didn't have to spend too long here. "Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, actually. There are two people who are eager to see you. If you give a minute I'll go get them now." Before Sanders could ask the woman who they were, she left the room. Now left alone in her room, she wondered who was waiting for her to regain consciousness. She got her answer when Dr. Chakwas enter the room again, followed by two figures. Both were males, a man that looked to be around her age, and a boy in his early teens.
Sanders gasped. "Joseph, Aiden." She said her voice cracking in emotion. Her husband and her son both smiled at her. In a blink of an eye, the two rushed to her and three hugged each other, tears streaming down their faces.
"Maria."
"Mommy."
They stayed like this for what seemed like hours, not wanting to break the embrace. But all too soon the three had to let go of their group hug. Smiling Sanders looks at the two most important men in her life. Her husband, handsome as the day she met him, flashing that smile that still made her heart flutter. Her son who looked so such like his father, except he possessed his mother's smooth black hair and a Kagune in his right eye that contrasted with his light brown left eye. "Joseph, Aiden." She began regaining her voice. "How'd you get here so soon?"
"Once we heard that Shanxi had been secured and that you were in the hospital, we both took the first ship headed to Shanxi." Her husband began to explain. "We arrived about five hours ago."
"So that means their letting everyone return to their homes?"
"Not right away. The military is still searching the city for any surviving D-Orphans. But they are letting us roam the inner parts of the city where it's safe." Sanders nodded in understanding, protocol says that in the aftermath of an invasion the civilian population would be restricted to secured areas, for their safety. They wouldn't be allowed to leave without an escort.
"That's good to know. So how was your trip to Cronos?"
This time it was Aiden who responded to her question. "It was lots of fun. I met lots of people, even made some new friends." He said happily.
Sanders smiled at her boy in a mischief manner. "Oh, really now." She saw him stiffen at the tone of her voice. He knew that she was going to embarrass him some way, and she was going to enjoy every moment of it. "So does that mean you met a cute boy?" She said with a fox-like smile.
The boy's cheeks instantly turned a crimson red. "No, I didn't… I mean there were some boys, b-b-but I didn't like in tha-" He sputtered out, eliciting laughter from the present adults.
"Oh to be young." Dr. Chakwas said through her laughter. Aiden's face turns to another shaded of red when he heard her spoke. He must have forgotten about her.
"Mom! Why you'd embarrass me like that? Especially in front of a stranger?" He whined his voice cracking.
"Because it's what mothers do. Embarrass their little ones." Personally, Sanders thought of it as payback, for the pain he put her through. Plus her son was just too adorable when he got like this.
"I have to agree with that one," Chakwas responded through a chuckle. "Oh the things my mother did, still give nightmares." Aiden just looked at the older woman incredulously. "Not to worry boy, one day when and if you have your own kids you'll look forward to embarrassing them like your mother is doing here." She said as she walked up to the door. "On that note, I believe I'll give you three some privacy. If you need anything just tap the comm." She left the room, leaving the family by themselves.
Sanders looks back to her son to see him glaring at her. It would have been more intimidating if his face wasn't so red. "What, it was all in good fun." She tried to placate her only child.
"Hmph." He huffed crossing his arms and looked away.
Seeing all of this Joseph smiled in amusement, and waved the boy off. "Don't worry about it Mari, give him a while and he'll get over it." Sanders nodded at her husband, that's about it usually went. She'd embarrass Aiden in some way and he'd brood about it for an hour or two then he'd calm down. "Anyways, to give my answer. Our visit to Cronos was an interesting experience." He went on to explain his talks with a certain Quarian Admiral.
April 8th 11:02, Outskirts of Shanxi's Capital City:
"Contacts!"
Instantly the squad took cover just outside the building. Anderson himself pressing his back to the wall next to the entrance, his Lancer at the ready. "How many and what types?" He said to the soldier across from him.
The soldier took a glance in, and duck his head back to cover. "I identify about three dozen D-Orphans, a mixture of standards, spikers, and some prowlers." He recited off. "The area appears to be a large lobby with a second-story balcony area that stretches all around the room, several of the spikers are up there."
Anderson nodded, absorbing and going over the information in his head. The spikers were in a perfect position to inflict heavy damage coming through the entrance. The funny thing about the D-Orphans, while operating in smaller groups they tended to act more intelligently, then they would in their larger hordes. More than a few squads found themselves wiped out, believing their targets would act like mindless animals. He looks back to his squad about sixteen people plus ten Thor combat mechs. That gave him twenty-seven combatants (himself include) against about thirty-six or more D-Orphans in the lobby of the building. Not too bad of odds, and if need be he could call in the rest of his platoon to assist him. Though that seemed unnecessary.
With the city being secured, it was now the job of the planet's local garrison with aid of the Marines to search for and clear out the surviving D-Orphans. Several Companies had been dispatched, each given several blocks to search. The individual platoons that made up the companies were given a block or two, to search at once, further broken down into the squads that would search each building. They didn't have to worry about their forces being overwhelmed by swarms of D-Orphans, as projections indicated that roughly 99% of their forces had been killed, leaving only a few thousand left to finish off. Still, if a squad or platoon found themselves in a hairy situation they could call in reinforcements.
"Vertigo." He said to the mechs
"Yes, Lieutenant Anderson." The closest mech responded.
"We're going to throw in smoke grenades into the building, I want you and your mechs to charge in using the smoke as cover. Once inside I want you to aim for the D-Orphans on the balcony and secure a perimeter for the rest of our unit move into." He ordered, receiving a nod from the mech. looking back at the rest of his squad he spoke out the rest of his plan. "Once inside we'll clear the lobby of all hostiles, then proceed to swipe the building. Understood?" He received several nods. "Good we began on my signal." He gestured to the soldiers holding smoke grenades, who silently crept up to the entrance. Both of them had their grenades out ready to pull their pins. "Now!"
As they were trained to do the two soldiers quickly pulled the pins on their smoke grenades and in the same motion rolled them into the building. Within seconds smoke was coming out from the entrance, as the whole front of the lobby was covered in a thick smokescreen. Without Anderson having to signal them the mechs charged into the build. The sound of weapons fire sounded, followed by the angry roars of the D-Orphans. Half a minute later received a signal from his comm. With a hand gesture, he ordered his squad to move into the building. More gunfire sounded as his people charge into the room, and a moment later Anderson charged into the building. Once he cleared the smoke he aimed his lancer at prowler that was charging a member of his unit and fired. The creature dropped dead about a foot away from the soldier. Taking a glance at the battlefield he took cover behind a metal bench. The rest of his squad had taken up similar positions and some were behind pillars, taking shots at the enemy. The Balcony appeared to have been largely cleared, with only a few spikers left to contend with. Aiming Anderson shot of them causing to fall over the balcony and into the ground floor with a loud squish. The other spikers were quickly taken care of by the rest of his unit, leaving only the D-Orphans on the ground floor.
With their allies dead, they did not last long, and the room was quickly cleared of all hostiles. "Report!" Anderson shout a few seconds after the last D-Orphan was gunned down.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Came the shouts of his subordinates. "Fan out and secure the area." He orders, receiving a chorus of "Rodgers." Lowering his weapon Anderson stood up and got a good look at the inside of the building, it appeared to be a bank of some kind. It would explain the arrangement of the room. "Vertigo, damage report."
"Minimum damage to my units, sir. Nothing that won't impair their mission readiness." Reported the Synth.
"Good." A soldier walked up to Anderson, the XO of his unit.
"Sir, the room has been secured and no further hostiles have been sighted." He reported with a salute. "Permission to begin swiping the area, sir."
"Permission granted. I want two fire teams each accompanied by two mechs to sweep the second floor, one team to each side. The rest of us will clear the ground floor."
"Understood sir." The soldier walks away to issue the orders.
With the soldier gone activated his commlink, activating its visual settings. He notes several messages had been sent to him, looking them over he saw they all were small reports on sweeps of other buildings. He smiled to himself everything was going smoothly for once. Hopefully, the city would be fully secured.
April 8th 11:30, Shanxi Capital City, Command Bunker:
"How goes the search?" Williams heard Grayson ask.
"Well enough, Grayson." He said turning to the Rear-Admiral, putting down the pad containing action reports. They were in his office. "Most of the city has been secured, and the Companies searching the city have reported they have almost finished their sweeps."
"What of the tunnels and the sewers and the city," Grayson responded as he took a seat in a chair in front of Williams's desk.
"The search teams down there are reporting similar results. Pretty soon the city will be safe enough to let everyone return to their homes." He finished with a sigh. It had been a long few days.
"Tired my old friend?"
"I lost a lot of good people in that battle." He said, a tired look in his eyes. "More than seventeen thousand men and women lost their lives under my command. It's not an easy thing to deal with."
Grayson nodded knowingly. "I know Williams, I know. I lost a lot of people in the fleet battle."
"How many of your people survived?" Williams asked seeing a similarly tired look in his eyes.
"Less than a hundred." Williams whistled, that also meant most of the Synths weren't able to escape to in time. "I try convincing myself that they died for a cause they believe in." He shook his head. "But it is a small comfort to me and their families."
Williams nodded somberly. "That it is. But they did die defending their homes, and lives of their families and friends. By giving their lives, they have given countless others a precious gift. As their comrades in arms and their commanding officers, it is our duty to make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain." He said the conviction in his voice, as he rose from his chair. He stepped out to a cabinet, and opened it and pulled out a bottle and two small glasses. Turning back to his desk he placed both glasses on it. "On that note," He said opening the bottle pour it contents into the glasses. "Let us drink to their sacrifice."
Both men raised their glass. "And let us honor those who will fall in the coming battles." They both drank.
"Good stuff," Grayson said, putting his glass down, only for Williams to fill it again. "Did any of the bastards escape the city?"
Williams shook his head. "It's unlikely, the D-Orphans sent their entire force to the capital city and I haven't received any reports of them leaving the city. But just in case I'll have teams search the nearby valleys and mountains. I'll even have some observation post established to monitor those areas for the next several years." Williams poured himself another drink. "What of things on the naval side. I heard that some of the D-Orphan ships were sent through the relay, to warn the rest of their foul kind. If I remember correctly the commanding officer of the 7th stealth squadron sent two of his ships to intercept them. Where they successful?"
Finishing another glass Grayson spoke. "They did. Destroyed the entire force with their opening volley. The element of surprise will be ours. Further, the 5th Fleet has been sent through the relay to secure the cluster. We'll have a nice buffer zone between us and Citadel space."
"That's good to hear." He poured another drink. "We'll be needing that just in case things go south for us."
"Hopefully it won't," Grayson respond, Williams could already see that his checks were getting flushed from the alcohol. "We are mobilizing our entire military for the fight against the bastards. Pretty soon we'll hook with those Citadel aliens, and buy them enough time to regroup and rebuild their forces. After that, we'll all come out fighting, and I highly doubt that those dragon bastards can take on an entire galaxy."
"You forget Grayson they have been taking on the entire galaxy, minus us of course, for the last years, and have been handing the galaxy its ass," Williams said bitterly. The Dragon Orphans had been a stain on Terran society that refused to go away.
"Ah, that's because," He held his free hand out with a single finger out. "One, the D-Orphans had the element of surprise." He held out a second finger. "Two, they have far greater numbers. Which leads me to my third point." He said, a third finger shooting up. "The Citadel does not have the technology nor the knowledge on how to fight the bastards." He put his hand down. "Once we arrive on the scene we'll nullify two of the three, and after a few years of building up the last advantage will disappear as well."
Williams hummed to himself thinking over Grayson's points, and the most part he agreed with his assessment. "You may be right, old friend. But regardless of how you look at it, the war against the D-Orphans will likely be a long drawn out, bloody affair. We're going to lose a lot of good people." War was never a pretty thing, history proved that well enough. For a moment he wondered the wars of the other races were like. Were they worse or more tamed compared to the wars waged throughout Terran history?
"I know Williams. But the Dragon Orphans have to be stopped, no matter the cost. They are a plague that will consume everything in their path if given the opportunity. That cannot be allowed." Williams could not argue against that, history had shown that the D-Orphans were without mercy and morals. They killed with no hesitation and indiscriminately. There was no negation with them, only kill or be killed. For his part, Williams would rather choose the former.
"How about we move onto something else, all this talk of war and extermination is wearing on me." He said putting the empty bottle down and moved to grab another from his cabinet.
"Fair, enough. How about family matters, haven't heard anything about yours back on Earth."
Opening a fresh bottle, Williams smiled at the man. "Alright." He said pour a new glass for each of them.
April 8th 12:55, Cronos System, Quarian Migrant Fleet, QSV. Rayya:
"How long this President of yours gives her speech?" Rael asked the Terran technicians.
"In about five of our minutes, I believe that what be about four of yours." Came the response of a male technician.
Rael and the rest of the Admiralty board nodded. Soon enough they would see the leader of the Terrans give a formal address on the events that had been occurring over the last few days. It would give the Quarians their first glance at what the highest levels of leadership in Terran society was like. Hours ago the Governor of the planet they were visiting had told them of the successful defeat of the Dragon Orphans. That alone shocked them to silence, in the two years that the Citadel had been fighting the monsters, there had been no major victory. Small ones yes, but nothing major, and aside from the small victories the war had been a constant string of defeats. The Citadel was doing everything it could to slow the advance of the D-Orphans. But here they were now, learning not only had they destroyed the entire invasion force but with comparably lower losses than their Citadel counterparts would have to achieve the same result if that were even possible. Less than forty thousand lives had been lost to achieve the victory, whereas the Turians would have taken almost the five times the losses, and would have been defeated.
They almost missed the governor announcing that the Federation President would be giving a speech in response to everything that had happened since their arrival. Eager to learn more about these strange new aliens the Quarian Admirals had agreed to allow a small team of Terran technicians to come aboard the Rayya to aid Quarians in hooking up their systems to the Federation network, so they could watch the speech for themselves. That had been accomplished about an hour ago, the Terrans had remained to make sure the connection remained stable. Right now the Admirals and the rest of the Quarian people were viewing one of the main news networks of the Terran Federation.
It was rather interesting to watch, as the Federation News Network provided them with a glimpsed at the society of the Federation on a broad scale. Rael didn't know what he expected to see, perhaps something spectacular or perhaps something weird. Either way, he felt simultaneously surprised and disappointed when he learned that their news networks reported on all the same thing as ones ran in Citadel space, which was just the general happenings of the day that would catch peoples interested. Sports, politics, weather, interesting events the works. In fact, the first thing that he and his people saw when they established a connection, was the tail end on a sports story, they didn't know what kind of sport it was, all that they gathered was that one team won by a wide margin. After that, it was just a series of different stories that provided them some small pieces on what was occurring in the Federation. Occasionally the news anchors would give a reminder that the President what be giving a special speech soon. To say the least it proved to be very informative.
After what appeared to be a major story; namely, anything that had to do with politics and major events, Rael and the rest of the Admiralty would discuss what they thought of it. It had even been one story that had caught Xen's interest, something about advances in what was call medi-gel. One quick explanation of its use and the Quarian Admirals made a mental note about negotiating a deal on receiving the staff, it sounded like it would be invaluable in emergencies.
"So we won't have to wait much longer than." He heard Shala say.
"That's right ma'am." The Terran reply politely.
"So what do we know about this President Nader?" Rael asked the other Admirals.
Koris was the first to respond. "From what I gather from the several Terran is that she is a wise and compassionate woman. Very well-liked, even her rivals respect her."
"Additionally, she is likely to win a second term in office if her popularity holds like it is," Shala said.
Rael nodded, at the information. They had learned much about the political system of the Terrans and in some ways, it still confused them. While they were a democratic society like the Asari are, but unlike them, the Terrans had placed limitations on how long one could hold certain positions. Further, the Terrans seemed to hold an almost instinctive fear of authoritarian style rules and had created numerous safeguards to ensure that no individual held too much power. To the Quarians the system of the Federation appeared too messy and unnecessarily complicated. But reading over their history, Rael could understand why the Terrans made their system to be what it is today.
The three admirals look to the last surviving member of their group: they had yet to pick a replacement for Han, Xen who appeared to be uninterested in the conversation. She looked back at them with a bored look in her eyes. "I have nothing to say about her, I'm more interested in their sciences than their politics." She said in a monotone voice.
The rest of the admirals sighed, what else could they expect from her. "So in other words until we see this woman we know very little about the leader of the Terrans. An individual that we could be dealing with for the next several years." Rael said receiving no reply from his fellow Quarians. He took the silence as his answer. "Alright, then I suppose we'll learn more about her soon enough." They look back to the projector, waiting for the Terran leader to appear.
As the technician said it did not take long as an anchor announce that the President was no giving her speech. The screen faded to black, and the Federation emblem appeared a globe with three stars below it, surrounded by what appeared to be a branch of a plant, under it was the words Liberty and life under it. The emblem disappeared with the dark screen and now showed a large impressive white stone building, that had several pillars in front, and behind them, Rael could see a massive statue of a man sitting in a chair. In front of this build was a simple wooden podium that had the federation emblem on it.
Behind the podium stood a woman dress and a dark suit. Rale had to admit she was a rather beautiful looking woman with deep green eyes and black hair that poke out from the cloth that she wore around her head. "What is with that cloth she's wearing around her head? It almost makes her look like a Quarian." Rael asked the Terrans.
"It's called a Hijab, it's usually worn by women who follow an old Earth religion called Islam. Though the meaning and history behind it might be a bit much to explain right now." One responded.
Rael nodded, there was still so much to learn about these Terrans. He looked back to the screen. In time to hear the announcer say. "President Nijah Nader now speaking."
"My fellow Terrans, today I come forth to you not as the leader of a nation, but as another citizen of this great nation. For today is a momentous day that will forever go down in our history, and we, all of us human, ghoul, and synth alike are privileged to see history in the making. Today if you were to ask me how my day has been, I will quote a line from an old show that has inspired so many 'This morning I was the leader of the universe as I know it. This afternoon I am only a voice in a chorus. But I think it was a good day'. Remember this day well my fellow citizens, for years later you will tell your children and your children's children of where you were this day. I have no doubt many of you have noticed the sudden mobilization of our entire military. Fleet deployments changing, reserves called to action, canalization of leaves, increase production in warships, weapons, and other war materials, and a general call to arms sent to all worlds of the Federation. All of this centered around a seemingly unimportant star system called Shanxi. You have heard the rumors and speculation surrounding this system, most of them likely originating from the Cronos system. Today I lay those rumors and speculations to rest. On April 3rd at 15:07 the dormant Mass Relay within the Shanxi system activated, and from beyond it an alien fleet of over forty-three thousand ships emerged. Fear not my people, for they did not come to conquer us. They are a refugee fleet containing the last remnants of their species, what first drove to this sorry state is not important right now but will be explained at a later time. What is important is that they brought with them both great and terrible news. The great being, they told us that just beyond the Shanxi relay is an entire Galactic community made of almost a dozen alien races, most of whom are working together to better themselves and each other. We are no longer alone in this universe, there are others who will share in our journey through the cosmos. What's more those races have achieved the same goal that we the Terran people strive for, co-operation a grand scale, to build a better future for all. But I will be the first to tell you that this community had made its fair share of mistakes and has done some dark deeds. But none the less they have done something truly great and is to be commended for it. But not all is well in the galaxy, almost two years ago, a member of this community opened a dormant Mass Relay, and accidentally unleashed a horror on the wider galaxy. This menace as waged war on the galaxy for the past years, and slowly driving back this community on all fronts. Several billion have already perished in their terrible onslaught. This way the alien refugees known as the Quarians entered our system. They hoped that by activating another relay, they could use it to flee the destruction of the known galaxy and rebuild somewhere else. Instead, they found us, a people who have within their capacity and the willingness to might this terrible foe. You may be asking yourselves this, why is it that we are ones that can fight this menace when a united galaxy is failing to do so. I tell you this my fellow Terrans, the great threat that faces the galaxy now is an old foe that we have faced before numerous times before, and still face to this very day. They are the enemy that was born from our mistakes centuries ago, that has killed billions of our people in cold blood. People of the United Terran Federation the galaxy is fighting the Dragon Orphans. This is why all military assets of the Federation are being mobilized into action, not to repel an alien invasion of our space. But to come to the aid of a galaxy at war, and to save trillions of lives. Unlike the galactic community know as Citadel space, we have the technology and knowledge on how to fight these foul creatures. But we alone cannot defeat the Dragon Orphans, their numbers are too great for us to handle alone. What we can do is relieve the races of the Citadel, and fortify their besieged worlds and halt the Dragon Orphan offensive long enough for the races of the Citadel to rebuild their battered forces. At the same time, we will give them the technology and knowledge needed to defeat the monsters that have plagued our history for so long. Once they have rebuilt their forces they will join us in the fight, and together as a united galaxy we will drive the vile creatures from all the worlds of the citadel, and drive them back to their nest and destroy them where they stand! I come to not as your president or even as a fellow Terran, but as a citizen of the galaxy, we must go to war against our age-old enemy and destroy them once and for all. I ask all able-bodied men and women to sign up for the fight, for we need every boot on the ground we can get. I ask all the corporations and factories to create the ships, weapons, armor, vehicles, and other materials that are needed to fight the war. I ask all the people of our world to welcome the refugees that will surely come with open arms. I ask all citizens of the Federation to stand together for the coming war. For the sake of the Galaxy, and for all the future generations that will inhabit it. We must do this for we are children of this galaxy, and we must defend it against all threats. We must do this for WE ARE TERRAN!" Her final words said the woman stepped away from the podium.
The screen fades back to black showing the Federation emblem, which then disappeared to show a shock news anchor. For several seconds the men stared off to space seemingly unable to comprehend what occurred. Rael had no doubt the same thing was occurring all across the Terran Federation, he even found himself shaken. Then the anchor gathered himself with an almost embarrassed cough into his fist. "There will be a live press conference held at the White House in two hours. Where President Nader will answer any question concerning the speech and the information she has given."
Rael tuned out the rest of the newscast and turned to the rest of the Admiralty board. "Any thoughts?"
April 8th 20:47, Unknown system:
"Were they now." Shouted a voice.
"On the far side of the gas giant, Admiral. Judging by their course and speed they are attempting to swing by our side." Came the Tired reply of a Quarian officer.
"Which means they know we are here." Han'Gerrel lamented.
He looks at the tactical display of what remained of the Heavy fleet. What had once been a formidable fleet of almost seven thousand had now been reduced to two dozen heavily damaged ships. His ship the Neema barely any weapons left to defend its self and probably couldn't take on a Batarian garbage ship, and it was one of the ships in better condition.
Once had become clear that the heavy fleet was no longer a threat the bulk of the 427 fleet left in pursuit of the rest of the migrant fleet. Only a few hundred ships had been left to finish Gerrel's battered fleet. It was a clear sign of arrogance on the side of the genocidal aliens, but one he could not do anything about. The last few days since then had been spent hiding and running from one system to another. Occasional they would have brief skirmishes with their pursuers, losing more ships.
The rest of the time was spent making desperate repairs to their ships and trying to figure a way out of their situation. The way he saw it, there was no way out, only death. He only had two dozen ships left, and less than a third were able to fight. Against an enemy fleet of almost three hundred, and he knew they stood no chance. Worse yet, the FTL jump into this system had fried the cores of the ships, making it impossible for them to escape. This would be his last day alive. The only thing that lifted his spirits was the knowledge that the rest of the Migrant fleet had managed to escape. Hopefully, the 427's would not be able to find them. His people would live on.
It was small comfort for him, but a comfort none the less. He still felt bitter about it though, with the Migrant fleet fleeing to unknown space it meant that they had given up on one of their most important goals, reclaiming Rannoch their home-world. It meant they would never have the chance to destroy their hated enemy the Geth.
"But at least they will be destroyed." He thought to himself. The 427's would see that, along with the destruction of the Citadel races. But that was meaningless right now, all that meant was that their home would fall into the hands of another enemy. An enemy they could never hope to fight.
"Sir the 427's are about to make their maneuvers. What should we do?" He heard an officer say, his voice void of life.
He looks back at the display. There was only one option and it would be a meaningless effort. "Prepare our ships for battle. We make our final stand here." He said. There was no reply or attempts to dissuade him from his orders. Only a grim understanding of the situation they found themselves.
"Damn the Batarians." Was the only reply. A sentiment he could not argue against.
"Everyone," He began to say, getting everyone's attention. "It has been an honor serving with you. My only hope is that-…" He never got to finish as he heard one of the officers shout.
"Admiral, contacts have just appeared right behind the 427 fleet!"
"What? Who are they and how many?" Han shouted his mind race. Who were these contacts, more 427s to join the hunt or something else?
"I can't tell sir, our sensors ar-… Sir the contacts have just fired on the 427's! Keelah, they just wiped out the entire fleet."
The only sound that could be heard was the hum of the Neema's engines. They couldn't comprehend it, even Gerrel had a hard time wrapping his mind around it. For the first time ever the 427s had been on the receiving end of a slaughter. Who were these strange people? There was no way they could be Quarian or of the Citadel.
The sound of a console beeping broke them out of their stupor. "Sir the contacts are hailing us, audio-only. Admiral its in Khelish." Said the communications officer her voices sounding just as surprised as everyone else.
"Let's hear it," Han'Gerrel said without thinking.
"Quarian Vessels, this is Commander Peirce of the 107th Flotilla, representing the United Terran Federation. Are you in need of assistance?"
Did you honestly think I was going to leave Gerrel for dead? I have plans for him.
The line that the president was from the episode on Star Trek: The Next Generation called First Contact (Not the Movie). Speaking of which Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or anything in it. I just borrowed a line from it.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the Chapter. See you next time.
