Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Warhammer 40k, Stellaris, Kaiserreich, HoI4, Clannad, Star Wars, Star Trek, or Mass Effect. This is a fanfiction, and I don't have ANY monetary reward for making it. Any political or religious beliefs mentioned in this story do not reflect my own. This is purely for fun.
This story is mainly a Halo/Warhammer 40K/Mass Effect crossover. Other disclaimers are noted because I have a few ideas pulled from their Universes.
WARNING: This is an M-rated fanfiction. Sexual content and graphic depictions will appear from time to time.
A/N: If you read my first story, this chapter will seem familiar. Erwin has his men behind him, along with a Halo Array; he's going to be far more aggressive. The Imperials in general see glassing a planet as the beings in Mass Effect might see an airstrike, and Erwin is extreme by Imperial standards. Hope you enjoy the ground combat portion of the battle.
Thanks for all the support, reviews, and suggestions!
Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
I'm also going to add description to clone weapons and a review response at the bottom.
Chapter 7
The Phoenix Spreads its Wings
A massive triangular starship loomed over Khar'Shan. Distributed on the sides of its belly were eight massive plasma cannons. A single large cannon extended from armored turrets.
The plasma cannons didn't fire a lightweight stream of plasma, like the lances, rather they fired large and heavy bolts of superheated sticky plasma. The composition, velocity, and mass of the bolts could be changed based on the target.
Their current target was the Batarian homeworld below them.
Normally the plasma cannons would be set to fire a slow-moving and heavy bolt of plasma to assist in glassing operations. However, one of the primary goals of the mission was the emancipation of all slaves on Khar'Shan.
You couldn't really emancipate individuals that were turned into base elements.
Instead, heavy plasma cannons would only target rural areas and secluded military bases. It was a limited bombardment by Imperial standards.
The heavy plasma cannons let loose large bolts of plasma that streaked down onto the planet at over Mach twenty. The thick bolts of plasma were guided to their targets with the assistance of directed magnetic fields.
A large bluish-white ball of plasma disappeared into the planet's atmosphere, leaving a trail of bright orange behind it. Behind the trail of orange was a light blue vapor trail that eventually dissipated.
The burning ball of super-hot plasma seemed to disappear, but its existence was made known in the form of a massive explosion that could be seen from orbit.
The vibrant blue explosion dissipated into a dull orange and left the area clearly scorched.
All eight of the heavy plasma cannons let loose with similar plasma bolts, and the regular plasma cannons fired smaller bolts for more precision firepower.
Khar'Shan was quickly engulfed in explosions from the superheated dense plasma bolts. However, the casualties were abnormally light for an Imperial bombardment. The main cities and some rural residences had large numbers of slaves.
The bulk of the Batarian ground forces was decimated before they even had a chance. The Xenos followed their doctrine of abandoning their bases to engage in guerrilla warfare. However, they couldn't run fast enough from the blast radius of the plasma-induced explosions.
The heavy plasma cannon mortar rounds made primitive nukes look like simple fireworks.
What the Imperials would consider a relatively light bombardment, would already be considered excessive and unheard of by the primitives.
They wouldn't have time to debate the use of such destructive weapons on a garden world.
Commander Blitz walked down the large hangar observing the clones loading into the pelican drop ships.
Each one was fully armored with suits that vaguely resembled the ancient MJOLNIR Mark VII. The armor plates were slightly smoother and thinner due to their nanolaminate construction. However, the slightly thinner armor plates covered more of a clone's body than the ancient armor it was based on. The primary color was a greyish blue, and the secondary was a dirty gold. The colors of the Klonarmee des Geistes.
The clones were making last-minute equipment checks. Most were equipped with plasma carbines, but some were given exotic weaponry such as rocket launchers and plasma throwers.
The clones weren't afraid to die, but they did experience a level of natural fear. The practice of triple-checking equipment helped ease their nerves.
The ones that were fully suited up and satisfied with their equipment checks loaded aboard their assigned dropship.
Blitz loved the Pelican-II KG. The side wings were removed due to the dropship not needing the lift, and the body was a bit sleeker. The body was also changed to include a larger crew compartment and two side doors. Instead of the traditional dark gray, the original Pelican was known for, it was silver. Silver was the natural color of the nanolaminate armor.
Like the warships of the Klonarmee des Geistes Navy, the new Pelicans were mainly dull silver with a few greyish blue patterns. Blitz wished the Pelicans could be fully painted in the Klonarmee des Geistes colors, but that'd needlessly increase production times.
The hangar was wide and had many different levels. The level Blitz was in was towards the top of the stacked hangars. Dozens upon dozens of Pelicans could fit in the large hangar.
Blitz looked out of the hangar door that was protected by an energy shield to keep in the warship's atmosphere. The view would probably be disorienting to primitives.
The surface of Khar'Shan was in clear view from low orbit, and Blitz had to admit it was a beautiful planet.
The gravity of the hangar was perpendicular to the planet he was looking at. So, some primitive would probably try and grab onto something. Eons of evolution would tell them the planet was going to pull them from the hangar.
Blitz got a ping from his communicator from Supreme Commander Wolff.
He quickly cleared his throat and stood up straight, then raised his left hand to answer the call.
A holographic image of SC Wolff appeared above his upturned hand.
"Commander Blitz, what's the status of your men?" SC Wolff asked.
"We're prepared for deployment, Your Majesty."
Supreme Commander Wolff was also known as König Wolff, so many of the clones referred to him as such. However, many forms of respect were appropriate for his superior due to his many titles.
"Good, Commander Blitz. The operation is yours now."
"Rules of engagement, Your Majesty?"
"Unrestricted. Don't kill any slaves."
Blitz tried to hide the vicious grin marring his face. His Majesty just gave him permission for anything. Not even the non-combatants will be spared his men's wrath.
Commander Blitz gave Erwin an Imperial salute.
"Your will be done, Your Majesty."
The transmission ended, and Blitz shared the good news with his men through neural lace.
There were various cheers and hollers of approval.
"Men!"
The hangar became silent as they listened to their Commander. The ones on the far side of the hangar used their neural laces to hear by transmission.
"No survivors! Kill every slave owner and Xenos you see!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Was the thundering reply of thousands of clone troopers.
The side door to the Pelican opened, and Invert looked at the partially glassed section of the city. The roughly half-kilometer section of the city was flattened to create a landing zone for the clones. A radius of a few hundred meters of the destroyed city surrounded the LZ.
The plasma cannon that created such destruction wasn't firing the plasma very fast, but the pure destructiveness of Covenant-based plasma was enough to level multiple city blocks.
"Go, go, go! Secure the LZ, and create a perimeter!" One of Invert's brothers yelled as the Pelican landed.
He jumped out of the dropship and raised his rifle at the tall buildings. Many of his brothers bolted out behind him and from the Pelican's other side door and rear ramp.
Invert saw someone look out a window in a far-off tower, and quickly snapped his rifle to the figure. He let off a bolt of blue plasma towards the figure.
The figure was a few hundred meters away, so the bolt was shaped thin and flew fast.
Invert grinned when the Batarian fell to the ground with a white-hot helmet. The plasma's kinetic energy seemed to be deflected by the Xenos shields but it did nothing to stop the searing thermal energy.
It was only one bolt, but Invert could tell it would be all that's needed for the Xenos soldiers. Whether the shielding technology was capable of holding up against multiple plasma rounds was irrelevant. The first shot transferred so much thermal heat, that the Xenos armor's systems short-circuited.
Invert relayed the information to the Collective; any information about the enemy was useful for his brothers to know.
Once all of his brothers were out of the pelican, Invert followed them towards the surrounding section of ruined city.
The Pelican he rode in on lifted into the air with its eerie whine. It was quickly replaced with another one dropping off more clone troopers.
Invert could hear the cracking of a glass-like substance under his feet. He looked around and saw puddles of coolant and steam rising from the ground.
For the LZ to be usable, the area had to be cooled off with a large amount of coolant. The supercooled liquid was deployed by specialized missiles, and simply 'rained' down on the glowing hot LZ.
"The Batarian military is on its way, brothers! Take up positions in the rubble!" His squad leader shouted.
"Sir, didn't we glass their military from orbit?" A confused brother asked.
"We couldn't target the forces that were deep within the city, now get into positions!"
Invert was excited about the possibility of upcoming combat.
He had memories of his past brothers fighting the Covenant and instinctively knew how to handle combat situations. Inver even knew how it felt to be under fire and die; however, nothing beat the real thing.
Hell, he wasn't even the first clone to hold the name 'Invert.'
This was to be his first time killing Xenos as an individual.
Grolo Keg'pamon was what would be a rough equivalent to a commander in the Alliance military.
There was a mixture of emotions flowing through him at the moment. Fear, for his and his family's safety. Anger, for the Humans that dared to attack them so ruthlessly. Anxiety, for the hard fight ahead.
His men were loaded up into armored personnel carriers and heading towards the outskirts of the city. One of the places hit in the illegal bombardment was a suburb. The enemy was using the flat ground as a landing zone for troops and vehicles.
"Sir, our head vehicles just got taken out!" One of his men screamed from the comms.
Grolo was shocked. The enemy was just landing, how'd they get so far into the city already?
"Everyone, out!" He screamed, and the order was relayed to the other armored vehicles.
The road he was on was wide, long, and flanked by many buildings. His vehicle was the fourth from the lead, and he dismounted quickly taking in his surroundings. He saw three of his armored carriers destroyed. A large hole through the center of the first two and the third seemed to be partially melted from the front. It was hard to tell what happened, all three vehicles were burning wrecks.
Grolo could vaguely make out a rectangular hover vehicle with some kind of large gun on the top.
His eyes widened when a large blue projectile was launched in an upward arc.
"Take cover!" He yelled.
His men scurried behind cars and into buildings.
Grolo managed to get into the first story of a side building. He looked back and saw the glowing blue projectile engulf his armored carrier in a bright blue explosion. It left his vehicle in what could only be described as a warped mixture of burnt metal and slag.
"Get fire onto that enemy tank!" Grolo ordered the drivers of the rear APCs to advance.
Once he walked out into the street he saw the far-off forms of enemy infantry. They looked to be heavily armored and carrying odd-looking weapons.
Two APCs flanked the destroyed vehicles and opened fire.
The first round bounce off a blue bubble of some kind, but it seemed to disappear.
Grolo hoped the shields were down now, and the second shot would get through. The second round came from the other APC, but instead of destroying the enemy tank, the blue bubble appeared again.
The third shot gave the same result.
Before the fourth could go off, the enemy tank returned fire. A bright bluish-white beam cut through an APC like butter.
Grolo didn't have time to think of the tank engagement, the enemy infantry was advancing.
His men were firing on the armored Humans, but they also had the same blue shield around them. The ones hit a few times quickly jumped to cover.
That gave Grolo hope, their weapons were doing damage to the shields.
He jumped behind a car when blue bullets of some kind started to pepper his position.
One of his men wasn't lucky enough to reach cover.
The blue bullet seemed to go through the unfortunate man's shield, and literally melted his armor. He was hit on the shoulder, and the blue bullet turned the entire area into glowing hot metal. The man inside only had a few moments to fill the comms with his blood-curdling screams before he died.
Grolo just stared at the dead Batarian in glowing armor. It had to be a very painful way to die, and panic overtook Grolo when he thought of being hit by one of the blue bullets.
He looked around him to the burning vehicles, then saw more of his men getting torn down in the most horrific of ways.
One of the Batarians was rolling on the ground screaming. Grolo looked at the man on the ground and saw his upper right arm glowing red. It looked to be a near miss, and Grolo knew it would have been quicker if the Batarian was directly hit. The armor was so hot, it was malleable.
"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" The man screamed while desperately trying to pull off the red hot armor piece.
Grolo felt like throwing up. The man's arm was probably scorched beyond all recognition. If he wasn't a goner, then he would definitely be crippled.
"Sir, they're tearing us apart!" One of his subordinates screamed next to Grolo.
That snapped Grolo back to reality.
"Concentrate fire on one soldier at the time, and fall back to the rear of the column!" Grolo ordered.
He popped up from the car and fired at a Human that was being targeted by four of his men. The Human's shield broke and bullets started to crash into its armor.
A few bullets hit the gaps in its armor, and it fell down. The Human was rolling around, clearly in pain.
The men were going to finish off the Human when they started getting torn apart by blue bullets.
Grolo and the other Batarian got behind cover again, but the two other men were cut down.
The man next to Grolo was hit and fell down with his helmet glowing whitish-red. It was quick, but Grolo didn't dare think about what was under the now deformed helmet.
"Fall back!" Grolo ordered as he laid down suppressing fire.
Once most of his men fell back, he turned to run; only just noticing the front of the car he was behind. The front of the car was literally melted down into glowing hot slag.
The Humans somehow got their hands on advanced weaponry. If Grolo was to guess it was some kind of plasma, but that didn't make any sense. No plasma this hot could be weaponized effectively.
When the Council found out they hoarded Prothean technology for the purpose of attacking the Hegemony…
Their clear favoritism was about to come to an end.
Grolo and a few other men zigzagged from cover to cover.
He ran behind a second defensive line, the men at the rear of the column made by moving cars into the streets for cover.
Grolo just took cover behind a car when a blue ball slammed into the other side of the Batarian line. The ball exploded in a hail of blue plasma. The men who weren't lucky enough to instantly die were screaming from their burns.
That odd hover tank was picking them apart, and the enemy infantry was effectively pinning them down. Luckily they stopped advancing after they took a few casualties.
However, Grolo knew the battle was lost; he had to get his men out of there. Their best bet was to retreat until the Batarian Hegemony surrendered.
"Fall back! Full retreat!" Grolo yelled.
A large explosion came from behind Grolo's position. He looked back and saw a rising cloud of smoke. Their rear APCs were being ripped apart.
"Sir, they're behind us too!" A frantic soldier exclaimed.
They couldn't retreat.
Grolo had to surrender.
Unfortunately, he saw the result of a group of Batarians surrendering.
A few blocks down, some wounded Batarians and men defending them were overrun.
The Humans mercilessly executed them.
Then he noticed a few Batarians behind him wildly firing their rifles.
"They're behind our lines!"
"Shit, I can't see them!"
His men frantically yelled over the comms.
Rage would be the last emotion he felt before he coughed up blood.
The area's surrounding his stomach felt like they were on fire, and he could hear sizzling.
Grolo looked down to see two blue prongs sticking out of his chest, and noticed he was a good foot off the ground.
His life started flashing before his eyes.
His childhood.
His parents and siblings.
Then he married the girl of his dreams.
He had many children.
He worked his way up the ranks.
He desperately wished his family was okay.
"Sordes Xenos." He heard the Human behind him say. Grolo knew English, and that was definitely not the dominant Human dialect.
It was the last thing Grolo heard before the darkness overtook him.
A boy no older than thirteen, stood obediently by his master. Puberty was just beginning to transition his body into a man, but the boy never felt empowered.
His master just got done 'enjoyin'" himself with his mother and the fellow Asari slave he liked.
He could do little but grin and stand by. The chip embedded into his neck kept him in check.
"Boy, more liquor." He snarled.
"Yes, master." The boy bowed before heading for the liquor cabinet.
He filled the empty glass with the high-priced liquor.
The boy couldn't stop the tears from forming, the master's son was even harsher. He rubbed the tears away, he was born into slavery. It was his fate, but he could help but wonder why?
The boy made his way back to the Master, but the front door mysteriously opened.
He looked over to see a Batarian soldier with dark yellow patterns walk in. Two more followed behind him. They carried oddly curved guns he's never seen before.
Now that the boy thought about it, the visor wasn't shaped very well for four eyes. The man was tall and we'll build, and his armor made the man even more intimidating.
"What are you doing here!?" His master yelled.
Instead of answering, the unknown soldier aimed his weapon.
Then a dull zapping noise filled the room; along with a flash of blinding light blue.
The boy looked over to see the Master with a large hole in his chest, dead on the floor.
The hole was shallow for a gunshot wound but was much more gruesome. His entire chest area was charred, and the surrounding flesh of the hole had various fourth to first-degree burns. The hole seemed to burn halfway through the Master's chest cavity, leaving the rest of his chard lungs exposed for all to see.
The boy dropped the glass, and it shattered on the floor. His legs started to shake as fear overtook the boy.
"Is this how I die?" He thought.
The Master's son came out naked with a gun. He didn't get far, as another flash and dull hissing noise filled the room. The bastard was dead with a similar large hole in his chest.
At least if he died, those bastards would be coming with him.
"But what about Aleena and Mom?" The boy thought in horror.
The man walked up to him. The boy was expecting a quick headshot, only for the man to place the gun on his back and take off his helmet.
The boy's eyes widened.
The soldier was Human.
He never saw a man standing with such pride and strength.
"It's okay, son. We're here to set you free."
All the fear left his body, and for the first time in his life, the boy cried with happiness.
"Alter duo reperi. Reliqua interfice." He told the other soldiers.
"What?" The Humans spoke in a language he's never heard before.
"Don't worry, son, everything will be okay." He spoke in the Batarian dialect the boy was fluent in.
A few more loud dull zapping noises and he could hear a woman screaming, then a final noise filled the room.
His Mother and Aleena were covered in sheets.
The boy looked away in shame.
He looked up at the man, and wished he could stand with such pride.
Rav and his squad were in a firefight with some of the Xenos. They were in a thick forest, assaulting a fortified Batarian base.
The only reason it wasn't turned to glass by orbital bombardment was due to the slaves held within. The base was an entrance to a bunker deep underground. The bunker held some of the most prominent Batarians and was designed to protect them in any situation.
It was impressive.
The bunker was deep enough that the Xenos inside would survive a glassing.
However, the bunker wasn't immune to a ground assault.
The Batarians were being torn apart, and the clones haven't taken a single casualty. The clones didn't have any tanks, so they used their cloaking systems to evade any Batarian fire.
The Xenos armor only seemed to have basic sensors and very primitive ones at that. They were left blindly firing into the forest in hopes of getting a lucky hit.
The technological inferiority of the Xenos was laughable. However, his Commander ordered them to treat the Xenos as a major threat.
The threat purely came from the primitive's weaponry. They used the Ezo to create a form of kinetics that fired small grain-sized projectiles at a significant portion of c.
Sustained fire could crack the clones' shields, and eventually crack their armor. However, the amount of fire it'd take was substantial. By the time a clones' shields took significant damage, the Batarian shooting at them would be turned to charred flesh.
Besides their capabilities to inflict damage, the Batarians were woefully inferior in almost every aspect of warfare.
The whole operation felt more like a live-fire exercise. Rev was happy he and his Brothers got to spill Xenos blood, though.
The Xenos were picked off left and right, the blue bolts of plasma melting through their primitive shields armor like butter.
"Rav, we've got incoming armor!" One of Rav's brothers yelled.
He looked to see an armored vehicle approaching the Xeno barricade, it looked kinda like a primitive tank with wheels.
Rev placed his repeater on his right thigh and shouldered his rocket launcher. It was most likely overkill, but it'd clear out the pesky fortified Xenos.
He jumped out from behind the tree and kneeled.
The rocket instantly locked onto the large vehicle. Rev pulled the trigger, and a rocked created a large backblast before zooming downrange at Mach fifteen. The small nuclear explosion destroyed the tank and most of the fortifications.
"Good job, Rev!" A brother yelled.
"Let's go! Move it troopers!" The lieutenant yelled.
His brothers started to quickly advance. Members of his squad ran past him. Sprinting towards the base.
The four other squads of the platoon were assaulting from other directions.
Rev placed the rocket launcher on his back and grabbed his repeater again.
He saw two Batarians pop their heads up.
Rev quickly blasted both of them with fat bolts of plasma. Each shot was a clean headshot that left the dead Batarians with deformed and glowing white helmets.
A brother ran up to him.
"Come on, Rev! Let's kill these Xenos dogs!"
He got up, off his knee, and ran into the base with his brother.
The base already had multiple of his brothers cleaning out the buildings.
Rev was slightly disappointed. Sure he got to nuke a few Xenos, but his Brothers got to have all the fun.
An explosion rocked a nearby barracks, and a few Xenos jumped out of the building on fire.
He raised his plasma repeater but was stopped from firing.
"Let them burn, Rev!"
A dark grin formed.
It's a good thing his brother stopped him, those Xenos were whaling in pain. The filth tried to rub their bodies into the ground, but that fire wasn't going out.
That was flame jelly.
He could tell by the green flames. It was impossible to put out and emitted a lot of radiation. Rev loved the flame jelly, he was fortunate to be given a few of the anti-personnel grenades; each one loaded with flame jelly.
The base was filled with gunfire but quickly died down. Rev and his Brothers made quick work of the Xenos.
A group of Batarians came out of a tunnel system. They had no helmets or weapons and waved a white flag. Some of the Xenos had to be non-combatants due to the complete lack of armor.
Rev and five of his brothers walked up to the Batarians. There were twelve men in the surrendering group.
"We surrender." One of the Xenos said.
Rev's translator converted the ugly Xenos tongue to Gothic.
"Who do these Xenos dogs think we are? The Alliance?" One of his brothers joked.
His squad leader was one of the clones standing in line formation with Rev.
"Lay 'em low, boys!" The squad leader commanded.
Rev was not going to be told twice.
All six clones raised their plasma weapons and fired into the Batarian group.
The fast pace, dull whining of the plasma weaponry filled the air. The bolts of plasma melted the Xenos like butter; making the firing squad seem more like a massive furnace that broke down the Xenos bodies to nothing more than charred remains.
The result was twelve Batarians dead. Their bodies were mangled and missing large chunks of flesh. Parts of the Batarians' armor was white-hot and fused to the Xenos. Dirty vapor was slowly rolling off the Xenos bodies due to the heat inflicted by the plasma.
Rev gleefully admired the growing puddles of Xeno blood. Some of the cauterized wounds were too large to hold back the blood pressure. Especially the areas of missing limbs.
The Lieutenant approached Rev's group of clones that just executed the Batarians.
The head clone looked over at the gruesome scene.
"Good work, brothers." The Lieutenant praised.
Invert ran down the street, along with two other brothers. He was the one put in charge, they were looking for a slave. A nine-year-old girl; bronze skin, brown eyes, brown hair.
Her owner was supposed to live in a penthouse with his family.
Invert turned the corner and found the tower. The building was only about twenty stories. It could hardly be considered a tower.
He saw a few people leaving the building. Males and females, and a few adolescent Xenos.
"Take 'em out!" He commanded.
Invert and his men fired into the small crowd. The four rapid-firing plasma carbines made short work of the unarmored Xenos. Civilians are what the softer First Child called them, but he's never seen any difference. They're just Xenos who couldn't find a gun or future Xenos soldiers.
Then men walked up to the building, stepping over the bodies.
Invert heard a whimper, and saw a small Xeno adolescent shaking.
Tears leaked down her ugly black eyes.
"We missed one." One of the brothers said.
The brother lifted the plasma carbine and aimed at the Xenos. He squeezed the trigger, and a bolt of plasma ripped through the little primitive's head. The intense heat caused her head to be violently turned into burnt flesh. The front half of her head was completely gone, bone and charred brain matter were visible.
For some reason, a small spark of regret flashed through Invert. Then quickly shook them off, she was just a future Xenos factory.
If these primitive Xenos wanted to live, they shouldn't have enslaved members of a lost tribe.
They were given a chance to bend the knee and chose to make an enemy of the Empire.
Invert and his four brothers walked up to an elevator and called it down.
A few seconds later, it opened. Except there were five Xenos in it. Two females, two males, and an adolescent. The four Xeno adults raised their hands as if that'd spare them. One only had a single hand up, its free hand was shielding the adolescent.
Invert and his two brothers took aim and lit the elevator up with rapid-fire plasma.
The Xenos fell to the floor dead.
Covenant plasma weaponry was very hot. The heat doesn't just cauterize wounds, but causes the water in its victims to rapidly undergo vaporization; the life-giving substance becomes an explosive under such rapid temperature change. The wounds created by plasma weaponry are normally too large for the cauterized flesh to hold back the blood pressure.
That's what happened in this case. The plasma bolts caused vapor explosions and fourth-degree burns, and large sections of the Xenos bodies were missing.
Blood started to pool in the elevator.
"Great, they dirtied the elevator." One of his brothers complained.
The five bodies with many scorched holes littered the elevator floor.
Once again that pesky blip of regret raised its head when he looked at the little one's face.
The elevator finally reached the top floor; the primitive lift was way too slow.
The elevator door opened to a short hallway, with a door at the end.
"Let's go." Invert told his brothers.
They stepped over the bodies and made their way to the door.
The sound of armored boots filled the quiet hallway.
Once in front of the door, Invert raised his Omni-tool.
His Majesty found it necessary to equip him with such a tool. It used a primitive hologram, and the inside of his glove would vibrate to emulate touch.
The tool allowed for a quick connection with Invert's neural lace. He quickly used his suit's hacking program to crack the door's security.
They walked inside the penthouse, only to find the area empty.
"Nice place." One of his brothers complemented.
"Na, remember some of the places the Ilythiirian nobility had?" the other countered.
"Cut the chatter. We have a job to do." Invert intervened.
"Right." One of them agreed.
"Split up, and search the place. Ares said they were here." He commanded.
"Yes, sir." His two brothers acknowledged.
Invert walked up to a door, and kicked it down. The door slammed into the ground from the excessive force.
The room looked like a large bedroom. He noticed a smaller door across the room and another adjacent to the main door.
He walked to the door closest to him and kicked it down. Like the last door, it slammed into the floor hard.
This room looked like a bathroom. It was also empty.
Invert never understood how people needed such large facilities for cleaning and sleeping. Perhaps it was him being a clone.
His thoughts were interrupted by shuffling behind the door across the room. He could only hear it thanks to the suit's sensitive sensors.
He walked up to the door. The blueprints identified the room as a closet. It was small, so he couldn't bust down the door. Not if the girl was in there.
Plus it was hard to kick down a forward opening door.
He raised his carbine and used the other hand to open the door. With a quick motion he threw open the door, his helmet's flashlight lit up the small room.
Invert grinned, he found the girl.
Unfortunately, there were a few Xenos with her. A male shielded a female, two adolescent Xenos, and the girl.
Invert couldn't kill the Xenos, the girl would also be killed. He wasn't going to harm a child, and he wasn't going to fail his Lord.
He used the hand that was holding the front of the carbine and took off his helmet.
He was furious he'd have to talk in a Xenos tongue.
"I'm just here to liberate the girl. Give her to me, and I won't harm you." He told the male Xeno.
"H-Human!?" The male Xeno was scared but furious.
"Yes, now give me the girl. She's under the Empire's protection." He said a little more firmly.
"You promise you won't hurt her and leave?" The male Xeno asked in a revolting scraping voice.
How could this filth enslave a member of a lost tribe, and be worried about her?
"We're her people, Xenos. No one's going to harm the girl, and live to tell about it." He sneered.
"Okay, fine." The Xenos reached for the girl and pushed her towards Invert.
The little girl looked scared.
Invert placed the carbine on his back, it wasn't like the Xenos was a threat.
He got on one knee.
"Hey, little one. Come with me, we're here to help you." Invert said in a genuinely compassionate voice.
"I-I don't wanna." She answered in the dirty Xenos tongue.
Part of him raged hearing that; not at the girl, but the Xenos. She was a slave and lived with Xenos. Why wouldn't she want to live among her own?
"Why not, little one?" He spoke in a gentle tone. One that was the polar opposite to the one he talked with a second ago.
"They're nice." She quickly answered.
"Little one, what's your name?"
"Fakis."
Invert hid the new wave of rage well.
The Xenos gave her a savage name. She'd have to be given a new name later.
"What about your parents, Fakis? We can get you back to them."
She shook her head.
"Mom hates me because she hates Dad." The little girl somberly spoke in a tiny voice.
Invert heart yearned to help the little girl. It sounded like she was the outcome of breeding. He prays that his Majesty burns the planet after they liberated the slaves.
"Fakis, you're Human. There will be Humans who will befriend you, and care for you. You're a Human child, we're here to protect you, care for you. Humanity protects and loves its children." He compassionately explained.
Invert hoped the girl accepted the childish explanation. It may have been childish, but every word was true.
He opened his arms hoping the girl would accept his protection.
Every Clone was fiercely protective over children. They were the reason their creators pushed forward, they themselves were defenseless creators. She may not have been one of The Creators, but she was nonetheless Human.
Invert would never have children, he was fine with that. You couldn't have millions of clones out producing children, hell he didn't even find girls attractive. Yet that human instinct to protect children was still a part of Invert, he was also a member of Humanity.
The girl seemed to accept his protection. She walked into his arms.
Invert embraced the little girl, careful not to hurt her.
She was fragile; her weakness only provided more motivation to protect.
He stood up, carrying the girl.
Invert walked out of the bedroom, and made it out of the penthouse. He passed one of his brothers and nodded. Sending him silent commands through the neural lace.
Invert waited in the hallway, holding the girl.
His brother walked towards the bedroom. A second later, rapid blaster fire could be heard coming from the bedroom.
After the Xenos were dealt with, both of his brothers walked out of the penthouse.
"Fakis, close your eyes." Invert quietly whispered to the girl who clung to his armor.
"Why?" She asked with a hint of fear.
"Please, for me? I promise nothing bad will happen."
"Okay…"
"If you keep them closed, then I'll see if I can get you some ice cream." He offered the girl.
"What's ice cream?"
"It's the best thing ever! It's a sweet food, you'll love it." He playful answered
"Okay." She hopefully answered.
His other brothers took point. They still had a no-witness order from their Commander to uphold.
They walked the quiet streets, the Xenos not dead on the street were hiding like rats.
The clones soon reached the Puma they used for most of the journey.
The Puma was a light reconnaissance vehicle and used gravitics to hover and for propulsion. The vehicle normally had room for only a driver, passenger, and gunner. However, this one had the heavy plasma repeater replaced with more space for passengers.
Invert sat next to the diver and held onto the girl as they drove to the LZ.
Eventually, they made it to the landing zone, and a few Pelicans were on the ground. One, in particular, was used to transport the slaves to a heavy starship.
The rest of the slaves in the sector were already in the pelican. They were the last ones.
"You can open them now, Fakis."
He walked up the pelican's ramp and placed the girl in a seat.
"What's your name?" Fakis asked him.
He finished buckling up the girl, checking to make sure the harness was secure.
"It's Invert."
He stood up and gave the pilot a thumbs up.
Invert walked off the Pelican, then the ramp started to rise.
Fakis waved to him, and he waved back. Then the ramp finished closing. The heavy interlocking of nanolaminate could be heard.
Invert watched the gunship fake off, the heat exhaust glowed an eerie blue. The impulse engines loudly whined, quickly propelling the pelican high into the atmosphere.
"Let's go, Invert. We still have some stragglers to finish off." One of his brothers told him.
He placed his helmet back on.
Invert saw one of his brothers walk down a pelican ramp. He was carrying a plasma thrower.
"A flamer?" He asked his lieutenant.
"Some of the slave owners left their homes and their slaves. They're held up in a bomb shelter for the ruling class."
Invert met his Lieutenant's malicious gin with his own.
"So… burn the Xenos out." Invert concluded.
Thrawn patiently waited as the last Pelicans returned to the medium warships. The slaves were already safely secured aboard a few heavy warships.
Most of the force guarding the Mass Relay already returned to the main fleet. Specifically, the heavy warships, their heavy lances would be needed for a thorough glassing. Only a few light warships guarded the Mass Relay.
The fleet was already in glassing formation above Khar'Shan.
A glassing formation in the Klonarmee des Geistes consists of every warship pointing down at the planet, over specific locations. The warships looked down towards the planet to ensure all the plasma lances in the fleet were aimed at the planet.
Very soon, Khar'Shan would be rendered uninhabitable. The fifteen billion Batarians, rendered to ash.
Thrawn was called into a virtual meeting by Supreme Commander Wolff.
Supreme Commander Wolff was flanked by Thrawn and Ares. It looked like everyone was teleported into a large decorative room, but in reality, they were light-years away closing their eyes.
Commander Blitz appeared in front of the three leaders.
"Commander Blitz." SC Wolff greeted.
"Your Majesty, the operation is complete. No casualties, only a few wounded."
"Good, Blitz. What did you think about fighting against an Ezo adversary?" His Majesty asked.
Thrawn was asked a similar question by Supreme Commander Wolff and had a feeling he knew why. Normally, the Klonarmee des Geistes fought on a system scale. There was a very real possibility of the Klonarmee des Geistes fighting a Galactic war alone against a foe using exotic technologies.
The clones would need to be more autonomous.
"The Batarians were unorganized and were poor fighters. Though that says more about the Xenos rather than their technology. If we fought against the Alliance or Turians, then we'd probably take substantially more casualties."
"True, the Alliance is much more advanced, organized, and motivated. They would probably put up a much more coordinated resistance. But, what are your thoughts on the technology itself?"
Commander Blitz was quiet for a moment.
"Your Majesty, it seems Ezo technology heavily favors mobility. The ability to change the mass of an object with such little energy favors equipment produced for speed. I'm not sure why they don't use more armor, Ezo could potentially be used for heavier equipment."
"That's how this Galaxy developed. The technology needed to produce armor strong enough to shrug off relativistic projectiles is beyond them; the Ezo kinetics they use is too powerful to make armor practical. The armor they do use is only designed to take a shot or two, and defend against the occasional laser weapons system." His Majesty informed Blitz.
"The primitive's shield technology is pretty advanced, but it didn't protect them against our plasma weaponry. However, if their only opponents solely use kinetics; the shields are strong enough, they don't need armor." Blitz stated.
"They use Ezo to produce deflectors, so it's not due to any Bastarian technical knowhow. Those deflectors were able to deflect smaller ship-based plasma weaponry, but like you've experienced planet-side, the thermal energy put the Batarian warships out of action." Thrawn added.
"So, they have good deflectors, but everything else is so primitive it's useless," Blitz concluded.
"That Ezo is going to become very annoying. The Alliance is only a few centuries out of the Second Weltkrieg, and they've already obtained Apex weaponry." Ares said in an annoyed voice.
"What do you mean? We've slaughtered these primitives, and the Alliance would only fight a little harder. The results would be similar." Blitz asked perplexed.
Thrawn didn't fault his less capable brother. He was just simply born with less biological computing power.
"Think about it, brother. These primitives are just now venturing into the stars, yet they're capable of producing such weapons. What if a true Apex race got their hand on such technology?" Ares encouraged the clone to figure it out himself.
"Doesn't the Mass Effect technology cause stagnation? Just look at the Asari." Blitz asked.
"More along the lines of slowing technological progress down. They'll need to develop a few dozen millennia before they'll have any reason to augment the technologies reliant on Ezo. The initial technologies are just very advanced, and give the impression of stagnation." Ares answered.
"So, if a species is left to develop long enough with Ezo…"
"It depends on the species, but yeah," Ares confirmed Blitz's epiphany.
"Do you think a sufficiently advanced species would transition away from the preferred mobile doctrines Ezo tends to promote?" Thrawn asked.
The Batarian warships were far more mobile than the Klonarmee des Geistes warships, but they seemed to be made up of paper. However, Thrawn knew it was only due to the Batarian technological inferiority. If a species like the San'Shyuum got their hands on Ezo…
"Doubtful. Every race that uses Ezo is going to use some kind of armor, just not enough to hold up against sustained fire. The type of armor needed to effectively hold up against Mass Effect weaponry is very hard to produce. To give you an idea, the nanolaminate armor the Klonarmee des Geistes uses is barely acceptable; and the only other armor known to be superior is Imperial Adamantium." Ares informed.
Thrawn was glad to hear that. It meant any future enemy was going to fight a certain way. Mobile-focused doctrines had a clear disadvantage when it came to direct engagements. If they had to defend something, like their homeworld, they'd have to engage.
Having effective armor when the enemy didn't was a massive advantage.
"That's good to hear." Thrawn happily said.
"Right!?" Ares gleefully exclaimed.
"Commander Blitz, have all the men update within the collective. It'll be good for future clones to have experience against Ezo forces." His Majesty ordered the Commander.
Thrawn could see the excitement in Commander Blitz, and couldn't blame him. He was also excited whenever their creator was proud of the Klonarmee des Geistes.
"Understood, Your Majesty. Before I forget, some of the men put in some odd requests. I understand if it's not possible to facilitate them, but it'd be much appreciated."
"I'll take a look at them. I'm proud of the Klonarmee des Geistes' performance. Get some rest, your dismissed."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm sure the men will be ecstatic." Blitz said before snapping a salute and disappearing.
Thrawn could feel the tension between himself and Ares once Blitz left.
"Sir, the fleet is prepared to glass Khar'Shan. We're just awaiting your order." Thrawn broke the ice and poked at the elephant in the room.
"Now, hold on a minute. We shouldn't just start glassing planets." Ares rebuked.
"Why? These Batarians have defiled a lost tribe. If an example isn't made, other Xenos might try similar actions." Thrawn argued.
"They didn't know about the Empire. Plus the Batarian civilians, especially the children, are innocent. Glassing the primitives would be a breach of the Mantle."
"Last time I checked, it was the Anglians who were the inheritors of the Mantle; not the Ancilla." Thrawn looked over to SC Wolff for his input.
His Majesty seemed to be thinking for a moment.
"Erwin, they're innocent. We've killed every slave owner, and already glassed a tenth of the planet. We should be setting a good example for the primitives under us." Ares tried to convince their creator.
However, Thrawn knew what His Majesty's answer would be. He had the memories of previous clones within the Klonarmee des Geistes.
Countless worlds were cracked and glassed during the war. The only reason the Ayleid homeworld wasn't cracked was due to her, but every other elven world was left in multiple pieces in Supreme Commander Wolff's ruthless campaign across Elven space.
The Elves were close enough to Mankind to warrant Humanic protection, and they still let Supreme Commander Wolff kill a significant portion of the Elven population. These Batarians didn't even have the basic Humanic protections; their civilization was doomed from the start.
"Admiral Thrawn, the Batarian Hegemony has broken Imperial law. They were given ample warning and willingly defied the Empire. You are hereby ordered to glass the Batarian planet known as Khar'Shan." His Majesty ordered Thrawn.
Thrawn knew the meeting was recorded for any potential court cases, even if that was irrelevant now.
"Now hold on! I know some of the Batarians did horrendous things to a lost tribe, but they're just primitives. They didn't know better, and were already sufficiently punished." Ares desperately argued.
The Ancilla was the more compassionate of His Majesty's legacies. Thrawn was in favor of glassing the planet but felt no need to debate the Ancilla.
Supreme Commander Wolff was going to show these primitives why he was feared by all who defied the Empire.
"My decision is final, Ares." His Majesty firmly told the Ancilla.
"Erwin, the Mantle-"
"Is an old and vague religious doctrine. It's a guideline, not a strict set of laws. The Batarians will not become extinct, and I've followed Imperial law." His Majesty cut off the Ancilla's moralistic grandstanding.
Thrawn didn't think much of the Mantle. He was to enforce his Creator's will. How His Majesty chose to rule was not something Thrawn really cared about. Sure he tended to argue for harsh actions, but ultimately it was up to the Supreme Commander.
To question His Majesty like Ares was doing was insulting.
"Ares, His Majesty has spoken. The glassing of Khar'Shan will commence immediately." Thrawn interjected.
"Thank you, Thrawn. Iusto igne Batarian cremate." SC Wolff ordered.
"Wait, th-"
"Your will be done, Your Majesty. Gloria aeterna Imperium." Thrawn purposely interrupted the Ancilla.
Ares didn't seem too happy about it but didn't have time to respond.
"You have your orders, Admiral. Dismissed." His Majesty gave Thrawn permission to leave and begin the glassing.
Thrawn opened his eyes and found himself in the bridge again. He made sure to double-check the planned glassing pattern.
All the major cities would be covered by the eight heavy plasma lances of the fleet. The regular plasma lances and secondary weapons would help with general glassing. Despite the firepower two battlegroups could output, Thrawn only had a few days to glass an entire planet.
The planet wouldn't be totally rendered uninhabitable as Thrawn hoped, but he'd ensure every Batarian on that rock was dead.
Thrawn placed his hand on a blue holographic display that appeared over his right armrest. Once his hand engulfed the armrest and sent the required code through neural lace, the display turned red, along with every other holographic display in the bridge.
Within the Chimaera's engine room, the Solid State Batteries were being consumed at a heightened rate. The loud moans of the conversion chamber could be heard as they struggled to control the conversion of mass to energy.
The engineering team didn't have to worry about running out of batteries. They were hyper-dense, and the Chimaera had enough for decades worth of nominal burn rate.
On the surface of Khar'Shan, the Batarians breathed a sigh of relief when the Humans left. Their thoughts drifted to grieving family members, diplomatic responses, and rebuilding their world.
However, those thoughts would be cut short when a bright light lit up the night sky over a Batarian city.
A brilliant bluish-white beam slammed down from the heavens.
The city was totally destroyed within a few seconds, but much to the Batarians' horror it didn't stop. The destructive beam of light continued in a seemingly random direction towards the countryside.
In its wake was a path of black and glowing red. Every second the beam was on was the equivalent of dozens of nuclear weapons going off simultaneously.
Around Khar'Shan, seven other large beams descended from the heavens. Less destructive beams and hundreds of blue explosions rocked the unprotected planet.
The Imperial fleet above received countless messages of surrender and desperate cries for mercy.
After the first day, all sentient life was eradicated.
After the second day, the average surface temperature rose by more than twenty degrees Celsius.
After the third day, almost a fourth of the oceans evaporated.
After the fourth, Khar'Shan would never be ideal for traditional carbon-based life.
Where once stood Batarian cites; was replaced by a black glass-like substance.
Once the infernos on the major continent died down, an engraving of a bird would be seen from orbit. The same bird that was shown to the Batarians in the warning message given to the Hegemony.
The Imperial Phoenix spread its wings on Khar'Shan.
Clone Equipment:
Plasma Carbine: Imagine the plasma carbine from Halo Infinite, but shaped slightly different for Human use. The carbine is bluish-grey, not the purple as in the game. The Carbine is capable of firing smaller bolts of plasma at relativistic speeds for armor penetration and ranged combat. The alternate firing mode fires much larger bolts of plasma at slower velocities for soft targets; the velocity of the bolts in this mode are only going four and a half thousand meters per second. The clones are using the fire mode for soft targets in this chapter.
Plasma Repeater: Ironically this is basically the Plasma Rifle from the original Halo games. Like the Plasma Carbine, it's designed for Human use and bluish-grey. It only fires large slow-moving bolts like the second fire mode of the Plasma Carbine. The Plasma Repeater is traditionally given to rear echelon clones, spacemen, and clone troopers that go into battle with specialized weaponry. The size of the Plasma Repeater is similar to a heavy pistol for the clones, and there are no odd wings on the back of the rifle.
Plasma Thrower: Consist of a large-bore barrel accelerate the plasma. Instead of firing single bolts, the Plasma Thrower emits a stream of relatively slow-moving plasma. The plasma it fires is also exotic; it fires high-energy flame jelly. Flame jelly is based on Covenant fuel rods but is specially designed to burn hot and long. The stream of green plasma emitted by the weapon is very effective against soft targets. The design of the Plasma Thrower makes it look like it belongs next to the Plasma Carbine and Repeater. The Plasma Thrower is also called a flamer by the clones.
Rocket Launcher: Basically the Rocket Launcher from Halo 5. It fires from two round magazines, but the clones are able to load a rocket before reloading, giving the rocket launcher three rounds. The rocket launcher is basically just a rifled tube; the smarts come from the ammunition. Rockets are just simple rockets that have a fission nuclear payload. Missiles are specially designed for anti-air or anti-ship; they have directed anti-matter or directed fission payloads. The process of changing matter into energy through fusion, fission, or anti-matter reactions is called "atomics" by the Imperials.
Review response:
I was originally going to private message P34 my response due to it containing spoilers for the Halo Infinite campaign. However the website didn't give me that option for them, so I'll respond now.
The question asked me for my thoughts on the Campaign, so again, stop reading now if you don't want the Campaign spoiled.
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Response to P34:
My thoughts on the endless are varied. It depends on how 343 will handle them. I saw one theory video that theorized they were dangerous because they were immune to the Halo Arrays firing. If 343 goes down the path of them being dangerous due to the threat of them being consumed by the Flood, then I'll be okay with it. However, I don't think 343 should throw in an enemy that's actually more dangerous than the Flood. The Flood was able to singlehandedly destroy the Forerunners and were smart enough to use Percuersor Star Roads. I think if they go and just add a new baddie, they'll fall into the trap of Dragon Ball and Star Wars.
Star Wars just copies what it did and gives the bad guys a power boost.
Dragon Ball is a bit more original, but still just keeps bringing in stronger opponents.
I think 343 should try and end this story arc we find ourselves in with Halo Infinite, and look into expanding the universe given to them. Reach is one of the best Halo Campaigns, and it had very little to do with the original three games. A future game about the Headhunters behind Covenant lines could sell even better than a game similar to Halo 5, and they wouldn't have to worry about totally fucking up cannon. It seemed like they understood they fucked up big time, and basically just washed their hands of Halo 5.
I was hoping they'd do more with Cortana. I think saying the Flood Gravemind gave a logical plague to Cortana would have saved a lot of Halo 5. However, I think they did tease that in the game. One of the memory fragments was when Cortana said something like, "you came, but it might be too late." I always thought that was her way of realizing she had a logic plague.
Overall, I think it's the best game since Reach. I honestly was impressed with the Campaign. I'm even okay with the Infinite getting dominated, but it should have taken down multiple Banished ships beforehand. The UNSC Infinity was able to damage the Mantles Approach, they have to state somewhere that the Infinity took down an equivalent to a Banished Supercarrier.