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Lryae System - Lryae Asteria
2112.11.10
Matriarch Benezia stood on the bridge next to Matriarch Lidanya as the Destiny Ascension approached the primary relay to the system the humans had designated Zodiac.
Asari parade formation demanded that the dreadnoughts and their Matriarchs led asari fleets from the front, with the rest of the ships following loyally behind as their disciples did on the ground, and this was the formation that the Citadel Fleet had adopted as it approached the relay. The Destiny Ascension leading, with the other ships following loyally behind.
"Can I object one more time to transiting the relay in parade formation Matriarch?" Matriarch Lidanya spoke up as the Ascension approached the point of no return.
"You can, but my decision has been made. I do not intend to get bogged down chasing the turian rearguard all over the Zodiac system. When they see the Destiny Ascension and realise that the Council Bannership has come for them, the size of the feet with us will be irrelevant and they will swiftly surrender. Then we can move on to dealing with these renegades actually attacking the humans."
Matriarch Benezia T'Soni had been appointed ambassador of the Citadel by the Council and had been placed in command of the mission to bring the turian renegades to heel. Though tactical command of the fleet remained with Matriarch Lidanya, it was Matriarch Benezia who decided where, when and how the fleet should move.
Matriarch Lidanya tried to keep her frustration under control. "I don't disagree Matriarch, but what if it is not just the turian rearguard waiting for us? What if they have recalled their main fleet from the human system to ambush us?"
"That would require that they know we are coming. No ships have gone through this relay since we left the Citadel and it is not connected to the comm buoy network, no, they will still be securing their hold on the human colonies in Theta." Matriarch Benezia stated confidently.
Matriarch Lidanya was less confident. Granted, no ships had gone through the relay to take the news that they had sailed out, but several had done so while the fleet was being marshalled. If the turians knew that they were coming, just not when, this relay transit could get very messy. At least she had got Benezia to agree that the fleet should transition at battle stations, just in case the worst happened.
"Relay transit in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Comms reported.
The Destiny Ascension emerged into Zodiac and an alarm immediately started screaming. Multiple members of the bridge crew looked franticly around in confusion and fear, it was an alarm so rarely heard that it even took Matriarch Lidanya a few moments to recognise it as the collision alarm.
"NO, YOU FOOLS!" the scream came from the maiden manning sensors before the Ascension shuddered, and then the collision alarm went silent.
"That didn't feel like something hit us. Sensors: Report!" Matriarch Lidanya barked out, glaring at Matriarch Benezia.
"It was a human frigate Matriarch." Sensors reported shakily. "There were four of them monitoring the relay. When it activated they moved in fast, obviously hoping to buzz the emerging fleet and get close in sensor readings on its capability's."
"They were expecting turians." Helm spoke up with growing horror as the realisation of what had happened began to sink in. "Turian ships are only a couple of hundred meters high, easy to avoid. They weren't expecting us."
Navigation shuddered at the thought of the sheer horror and panic that must have gripped the human fight crew in their final moments, when a 4km x 4km crucifix appeared in front of them. "Their turning circles would never have allowed them to avoid us by going left or right, the guns are too long to avoid us if they turned up. They went down, didn't they. They tried to thread the needle."
The entire bridge crew whispered a prayer for the crew of the human ship. Asari ships were not like those of the other races, all others – including these humans – built their ships so that their main guns faced forwards. Asari built theirs so that their main guns faced outwards, up, down, left and right for their dreadnoughts. Down, left and right for their cruisers, and left and right for their frigates.
This was possible due to the fact that asari ships had two drive cores, they would use one to FTL into the centre of an enemy fleet and use their main guns to engage up to 4 enemy vessels simultaneously while the enemy was left only able to respond with their broadside guns, their main guns left pointing uselessly at the empty space where the asari had been.
Then, when they had destroyed enough enemy ships, the asari ships would use the second drive core to FTL away while the first was still recharging. Then they would dump heat, recharge the barriers, discharge and recharge both drive cores and FTL back into battle again.
The challenge of this design, and the reason that no other race used it, was having two drive cores on the same ship. You could see the effect of interacting mass effect fields in the biotic combos asari commandoes used, like hitting a target under lift with a warp. The results were not pretty.
In space, with drive cores instead of commandoes, the results were far worse. The point where the two drive core's mass effect fields met and interacted was a chaotic maelstrom of dark energy and competing gravity fields, ripping anything there apart.
This was the reason for the oval hole in asari ships, no material could withstand that chaos, so the asari didn't try. They left the interaction point empty and built around it, leaving an oval shaped hole in all asari ships.
It was this hole, and the hurricane of dark energy and gravity at the centre of it, that the human frigate had dived into, attempting to avoid a collision.
"Were there any survivors?" Matriarch Benezia whispered quietly, staring at her hands in regret. She knew that the human frigate would have been able to avoid the cruiser and frigate scouting force that Matriarch Lidanya had wanted to send through first. It was her dogged instance on bringing the fleet through in parade formation that had caused those human's deaths.
"None Matriarch." Sensors reported sadly.
"What were they doing here? The crew of the Trafalgar said that they were the only human ship in the system." Matriarch Lidanya was confused and wanted answers right away. In a battle fleet, unknowns had a tendency to result in a lot of screaming, chaos and death.
"This would explain it Matriarch." Tactical reported as the rest of the fleet continued to pour through the relay behind them. She put the tactical display up on the main screen.
A huge human fleet getting underway in battle formation was suddenly on display to the entire bridge. At its centre was a turian ship, recognised by the sensors as HWS Enforcer, with the symbol of the Systems Alliance painted hurriedly on the side.
"Well, that's unexpected." Matriarch Benezia deadpanned.
"They defeated the turians, they actually defeated the turians!" Damage Control whispered in a shocked and awed voice, saying what the entire bridge was thinking. Turian ships, patrols, even squadrons had been overwhelmed and destroyed of course. But a full turian fleet, even a patrol fleet, hadn't been defeated in open battle since the end of the Krogan Rebellions.
For these humans to have done so, and done so so thoroughly as to actually capture the turian bannership, it was a scenario that had never even crossed the minds of the Citadel Council or any asari in the fleet.
"Prepare for battle! Get the fleet to form up." Matriarch Lidanya called out resolutely, gripping the arms of her chair as she kept her disquiet at the sheer number of human ships carefully hidden.
"Matriarch!" Matriarch Benezia snapped. "We must at least attempt to talk to them, the fact that they have gone on the offensive does not mean they are irredeemably hostile. Indeed, it is a logical course of action if they believe themselves to be under attack from the entire Citadel Council."
"It's too late for talking Matriarch, the human Admiral is already committed to battle, she can't turn back now." Matriarch Lidanya replied regretfully before she noticed the confused look on Matriarch Benezia's face. A horrible thought began to dawn on her. "How much do you know about ship to ship combat Matriarch?" She probed gently.
"This is no time for ego protection Lidanya." Matriarch Benezia snapped out looking at the human fleet on the display. "I spent my maiden years as a very successful commando, but I was never in a space battle, assume I know nothing."
The bridge crew shifted awkwardly. Calling Matriarch Benezia's time as a commando 'very successful' was the same as calling the Destiny Ascension 'a bit bigger' than a normal asari dreadnought. True, but vastly understating things.
The Matriarch was one of the most formidable asari alive, on the battlefield as well as at the negotiating table. The realisation that she was virtually clueless as to know a space battle was fought was reassuring to some maidens on the bridge crew, and deeply worrying to others.
"Space has no drag Matriarch, when you accelerate you will keep going until you decelerate. Or until you hit something." Matriarch Lidanya spoke fast, trying to condense the required knowledge down into as few words as possible. "To change your direction, you have to use long – sweeping – curves. To stop, you have to do a long – slow – burn with your reversing engines or flip over and used your main engines if you want to stop faster.
The small reversing engines most ships have in their bows combine with the gravity wells the drive cores can create behind the ship to slow down, but they can counteract at most 10% of the main drives thrust. It takes a very long time for them to slow a ship to a stop, which is why most ships decelerate from the moment they leave the relay until they make orbit of their destination."
Matriarch Lidanya gestured at the screen trying to explain to her fellow Matriarch what she had seen in an instant, that battle was inevitable. "The human Admiral is burning hard, pulling high acceleration. She obviously wants to advance on our position quickly and hit us before we finish forming up. It's a good plan, but it means that she's already going too fast for her fleet's reversing engines to stop themselves before reaching us.
Her only option to come to a dead stop before reaching a range at which she has to engage us is to flip, that is use the manoeuvring thrusters to flip her ships end over end so they are flying backwards, and then fire their main drives to counteract their momentum and bring themselves to a dead stop."
"I take it that flipping and exposing your stern to the enemy is as bad in a space battle as turning your back is on the ground?" Matriarch Benezia questioned, studying the display intently.
"Worse." Matriarch Lidanya stated bluntly. "You can't have any significant rear facing weaponry because of the space requirements of your forward gun, your drive core, your reactors, the engines and their fuel, cooling systems, and your power distribution system, so you can't return fire. Meanwhile as the engine exhausts have to push out the gas that drives the ship, you can't armour them. So, any shots from your enemy's main guns have an armour free route into the ship, the engines also tend to be fairly volatile and if they're not then the drive core, which is at the end of that armour free route, certainly is."
"Even if, by some miracle, the drive core doesn't explode, the shells WILL blow your power distribution system to Athame, shutting down systems all over the ship including the kinetic barriers, the guardian arrays and the guns. You could probably still launch torpedoes, but only if you were willing to shove them manually out of the tubes. Even if you manage to avoid all of this, your engines are still exposed, and any hits will cripple your ability to manoeuvre properly, and if your unable to manoeuvre then your just target practice for enemy gunners."
"So deliberately exposing your stern is not just risky, its suicide." Matriarch Benezia summed up bluntly.
"It's why no one transits a relay backwards. Going through forwards at high speed, your stern is only exposed to ambushing forces for a short amount of time before you can manoeuvre out of the way. Going through backwards on your reversing engines? You might hide your stern from the enemy if they're in the traditional ambush position. But if they aren't, if they've guessed what you're doing and placed even a part of their fleet in a position to fire on your sterns upon relay emergence? You've just killed your entire fleet." Matriarch Lidanya was equally blunt and to the point.
"The human Admiral can't just not engage?" Matriarch Benezia asked hopefully.
"If they continue on their current course, they'll blow right through our fleet. Even if we get out of the way, the human ships will still be exposed to our main guns while their own are pointed at empty space. That's not a chance you give to an unknown force, even if you don't really want to fight. We have to engage Matriarch." Matriarch Lidanya's voice was regretful but firm.
The tactical display didn't lie, the human ships were still accelerating. Racing to catch the asari out for formation and give themselves a shot at victory by engaging the Citadel Fleet one chunk at a time. There was nothing the asari could do to avoid the battle now.
Codex Entry: Humans – Systems Alliance Marines: Naval Deployments
(Citadel Codex, First Human SPECTRE Collector's Edition, 2183)
Due to the limitations of available space on the navy's warships, several marine officers command more or less marines than they are supposed when on naval deployment. This is accepted in order to ensure that every naval ship has a marine officer aboard to represent the marine's interests and opinions to the naval officers.
Frigate Compliment: Marine squads consist of 2 fireteams totalling 8 marines and 1 Mako IFV.
A squad is the smallest unit placed on naval deployment. Even though they would normally only be commanded by a sergeant, when on naval deployment a squad is commanded by a lieutenant so that every ship has a marine officer aboard to represent them to the naval officers.
Cruiser Compliment: Cruisers have a compliment of 5 marine squads (40 marines) and 4 Mako IFVs. This unit also garrisons small naval and logistics bases. The commanding officer is a Captain to ensure adequate seniority when interacting with naval officers.
Heavy Cruiser and Escort Carrier Compliment: Heavy cruisers and escort carriers have the same marine compliments as cruisers. The additional space that comes with their increased size is all dedicated either to strike craft or fleet command facilities and additional weapons.
**ERROR SHIP CLASS NOT FOUND**Dreadnought and Fleet Carrier Compliments: Dreadnoughts and fleet carriers have a compliment of These marine units consist of 25 marine squads (200 marines) and 20 Mako IFVs. This unit also garrisons repair yards and standard naval and logistics bases. The commanding officer is a major to ensure proper seniority when interacting with naval officers.
Large Fixed Installation Compliment: A major's command is expanded to 50 squads (400 marines) to garrison shipyards and large naval and logistics bases. As they are on space stations these garrisons are not issued with Mako IFVs.
Detachment Compliment: A full strength cruiser detachment has a compliment of 98 squads (784 marines) and 80 Mako IFVs. These units also garrison the largest shipyards and naval bases. The commanding officer is a lieutenant colonel.
Squadron Compliment: A cruiser squadron has a compliment of 232 squads (1,856 marines) and 188 Mako IFVs. They commanding officer is a colonel.
Strike Group Compliment: A strike group has a compliment of 476 squads (3,808 marines) and 388 Mako IFVs. The commanding officer of the marine compliment is a brigadier general.
Fleet Compliment: A Systems Alliance fleet has a compliment of 5,377 squads (43,016 marines) and 4,364 Mako IFVs. The commanding officer of the marine compliment is a captain general.
Timeline Changes So Far
First colony on mars: 27 years earlier than canon
Discovery of Prothean ruins: 64 years earlier than canon
Founding of the Systems Alliance (council of nations version): 63 years earlier than canon
First Contact War: 45 years earlier than canon