SWTOR and ME belong to Bioware and EA, Star Wars in general belongs to Disney, and OCs belong to me for whatever that is worth.
Before we begin, a clarification; I may have mislead you, my dear readers, with an oversight on my part. When I said that General Williams was wearing an all black supercommando armor set, I meant the trooper variant and not the bounty hunter variant. Williams is not a Mandalorian, he's a soldier, albeit with some very advanced armor.
Reviews:
heartfanglives: Fallout = swift and painful, Council reaction = Panic.
rollynolly: They certainly do.
Azai Jin: Next chapter is now, you are welcome, and read on.
Guest#1 from 12/14: You're welcome and thank you.
Guest#2 from 12/14: Retribution has come.
HadrianCaesar: I had considered that, though it really wouldn't affect the story. Perhaps I'll do a oneshot after the episodes are done as a what-if.
Altarius: In short, yes, that is very close to what i have planned.
Coment9: YES!
Jctherebel: Hope you brought your can opener.
kite15663: Crystals aren't really in short supply for them, they have a whole planet filled with them, they just have to impose their will onto them to bleed them. Even if the turians could find a way to reverse engineer them, they lack the resources to actually make more.
Fishcake 147: He's an easy antagonist, and I need him alive.
EricFreak: Yeah this episode is more about establishing the setting and players than diving into the characters, that has been left to the subsequent episodes. I hope this naval battle is sufficient.
scyfly: the force is pretty important to the Sith so it needs to stay, when the were attacked they had next to nothing established on Earth so they couldn't hide their stuff there, the relays mess with gravity wells so they can't transport them through hyperspece and destroying it means they lose their home system plus it is safer than hyperspace. There is some plot pushing on my part, you are correct and I apologize for falling short on that end.
Guest#1 from 12/15: Thank you. So the think keeping the lightsabers at bay for brief periods is less the silicon-carbide construct and more the ME field holding it together. Yes, the saber will absolutely melt through the blade, but the ME field repels it for a while.
Guest#2 from 12/15: How powerful are the Force users? That varies heavily but if you're talking about the strongest in the Alliance right now... to put it simply, The Dark Lords are generally as strong as the Sith classes for SWTOR at the end of their final journeys, though in raw power some are definitely greater than others. Remember, most of the Sith Lords have equal access to most of the Old Empire's secrets, mostly because they all haven't been established long enough to start stabbing each other in the backs yet, so they all have access to the most powerful secrets and lore of the Sith Empire. None are stronger than Vitiate, but they are definitely more in Vaylin's weight class. However, most Sith Lords in this fic will never be close to their power so there won't be legions of planet killers walking around. Hope this makes sense.
Hamilton406: Unfortunately, even with the knowledge of building a lightsaber, they lack the crystals to do so, even more, they lack the actual ability to use them in any effective way. Melee is still to them a method of last resort and it is not worth dedicating so much time to train their soldiers with it when a Sith Lord will destroy them in melee for most cases with nearly no effort.
Mandalore the Survivor: This Victus is going to be much more justified in his methods because of the Sith and their challenge to turian combat doctrine. Drescher is just fun to write and Hackett is definitely her grounding force in this episode. There are level heads within both sides so atrocties won't get too out of hand, it should also be noted that what the Sith consider to be atrocities is very different to what the turians do. As stated above Williams is not a mandalorian, sorry for that confusion.
Korija2029: Force abilites won't get too crazy here but I hope that doesn't detract you.
Mkfhda: Not in one consolidated place, no, but the Sun Razers should output enough materials to match them in time.
FerunaLutelou: I thought it would be better safe than sorry. Plus these rounds are faster than blaster bolts and it would be easier to dodge them anyway.
Bariy: He's definitely in for a reality check much like how the turians are facing one now.
OscuroSignore-51: There will be other superweapons, though not The Gauntlet because no other race uses hyperspace and it wouldn't be worth investing into. In a sense Harper forms his own Pyramid, just not a sanctioned one. Since the Dark Council doesn't manage the civilian or most of the ministry's affairs, they have less pyramids and I'm not planning on making any of the others right now. Most of the duties of the Pyramid of Ancient knowledge are divided up between the Pyramids of Arts and Alchemy, and the Pyramid of Assassins acts as the Order's intelligence and secret keepers branch so that's covered.
Guest from 12/18: Don't worry, haven't dropped it.
Ardyn 1997: It's not dropped yet, and I will at the very least finish the episode.
haseosamaa: Thank You.
Now onto the show!
The Bridge of Septemus' dreadnaught, Palaven's Hammer, erupts with panic and activity as the Sith fleet advances undeterred by their mass accelerator slugs, "Enemy fighter craft incoming, and fast."
"Launch fighter screens, protect the cruisers and the Palaven's Hammer and cruisers!" Victus commands.
"Sir, cruisers are taking heavy fire, we've lost four already in their wild volley. These vessels have four times the firepower of the previous vessels we've faced."
"Our slugs aren't even slowing them down, even dreadnaught shells can't pierce their shileds."
"Concentrate fire then," Spetemus orders, "Separate into battle groups of five cruisers and all of them concentrate fire on a single target. We still outnumber them over 4 to 1, if we can leverage that, we will be victorious."
On the other side of the battle, aboard the Judgement of Marr, Admiral Drescher stands hunched over at the holo-table, her mind racing with how to dismantle the larger invading force. Beside her stands Hackett, also deep in thought and around her are projections of her subordinates throughout the fleet. Officers rush to and from their leader's station, dropping off data pads and carrying out her orders.
"Ma'am, their focusing fire upon us, our shields are steadily dropping," one holographic captain reports.
"My ship's under heavy fire, I need to pull behind!" shouts another.
"All ships rotate positions on the front lines and double our ships' advance. Their primary weapons rely on range and they're guns are fixed. Once we engage them broadside, we will hold the advantage," Drescher orders, "And priority one will be cutting them off from the planet. Have the vanguard of the left flank undercut their position and begin encircling their forces.
"It will be done, Admiral," another hologram responds.
"Admiral, these spikeheads are forming up to make an attack run at my position, permission to consolidate a few more ships for a counterattack," one commodore says.
"Granted, you'll have command of the Kalig's Return, Krayt Dragon, and Infernal to bolster your forces. Send in fighters to thin their defenses and take out their point defenses while our Star Destroyers provide supporting fire. Once their defensive screen is down, we will bomb their frigates and cruisers into oblivion. That will leave their command ships unprotected from boarding."
"What about on the ground, Admiral," another of the holographic captains speaks up.
"Once we've cut their fleet off from offering any support, we will locate their base of operations and bombard it from low orbit. After we've effectively cut off their head, we will land troops to finish the job. Any more questions?"
When no one speaks up, she dismisses them and turns to Hackett, "Vice-Admiral, the Judgement of Marr is yours to command while I monitor the battlefield."
"Yes, Admiral, thank you," he replies with a salute as he takes his leave.
As she analyzes the positioning of both sides, another woman approaches her, "Admiral."
Drescher turns and narrows her eyes at the woman, "Watcher, to what do I owe this interruption?"
"I would like to amend your plans for the enemy command ships," the woman replies, "While I admire your zeal and fury, it will do us no good if it blinds you to the opportunities that present themselves."
"Out with it!" Drescher demands, "Kressh, can you intelligence types say anything that isn't slathered in pretention?"
The watcher takes a deep breath, "Destroying and capturing their ships outright would give us a definite win in this battle, but we can gain so much more in the war by letting a few of them go."
"Let them Go?!"
"Perhaps better wording is required," she puts her hands up, "I mean let them lead us back to their systems. We can track the turians as they travel through their space, marking the stops they make and provide the military with further targets once High Command declares war on them. It would cost us little in the battle and deliver us so much more in the war."
Drescher huffs in place of agreeing with the intelligence officer, "And how would you go about achieving this?"
The watcher smirks, "I came aboard with my field agent charge, Cypher 14. He is an expert in stealth operations and is more than capable of setting a tracking beacon on their ship where no one will find it for some time. All you need to do is order your forces to escape with the captives that are most certainly on board and allow them to flee through a 'break' in formation."
Drescher hums to herself, giving the watcher woman a sidelong glare, "That is… reasonable. Very well, we shall implement this strategy."
"Grey Wing Squadron, form up for an attack run," the flight leader says.
"Copy that, Grey Leader," an ensemble of voices replies.
Grey Leader leads the charge with his squadron falling in beside him. Their Supremacy starfighters zip through space alongside dozens of other squadrons. Their radars light up as they close in on their targets. The fighters unleash a storm of plasma on the approaching turian ships.
The turians veer in every direction, dancing to avoid the sea of red bolts. The sheer number of shots blows many turians to smithereens, while the remaining fighters take aim at the Sith ships. As they draw near, the Supremacy fighters push their twin ion engines to the max and rush right passed their screen. They fly over the cruisers and frigates faster than their GARDIAN defenses can track them. A few shots hit home but the squadron regroups for a second run.
"Maneuverable little bastards," Grey Leader grumbles, "Grey Leader to Grey Wing Squadron, these things can spin circles around us, but they can't take a hit worth a damn. One or two shots should be enough so get as many shots off as you can. They know we're faster than them, let's show them exactly how much faster."
The squadron makes another attack run, gunning down more turians as they twist and turn through space. After a few more passes, the screen is thinned enough for the second phase of attack.
"Grey Leader to Fire Strike, you are clear to make your attack run," he announces over the comms.
"Copy, Grey Leader, moving in," someone replies.
As the fighter squadron makes one last pass, a line of Extinction bombers descend upon the larger turian vessels. Turian fighters regroup to repel the attack, but the Sith squadrons swoop in and break their formation. The turians can only watch as the Sith drop proton bombs onto their ships.
The bombs hit the barrier and detonate their payload: concentrated, high-energy protons. The ship's barrier collapses in on itself as the positively charged particles distort the cruiser's mass effect field. As the core's mass expands, so does the gravity, crushing itself and going critical. After a second, the core implodes then expands in a brilliant explosion.
The Sith comm frequencies fill with shouts of joy at the display as the Star Destroyers move in closer towards the center of the turian formation and cut off their line with the planet. Admiral Drescher looks across her holodeck at the battle unfolding, her eyes tearing through the images, looking for any weakness, opening, or fault to exploit. A turian detachment approaching her own vessel catches her eye the instant they move.
"Vice-Admiral, what is the status these ships?" she asks her loyal officer.
"A pack of frigates that's separated from the main group, is bypassing the front line, and headed right towards us, ma'am. I believe they mean to attack us," he says with the beginnings of a grin.
She scoffs at the audacity of such a maneuver, "They underestimate our Star Destroyers at their own peril. Let them come then, fire turbolaser batteries and quad-laser turrets the moment the are within range."
As the frigates close the distance, the Star Destroyers do just that and their 32 turbo laser batteries tear them apart one by one. At close enough range, the Judgement of Marr launches proton torpedoes at one, causing it to detonate. The last few surviving turian frigates launch their disruptor torpedoes at the battle cruisers. Some are intercepted but most impact the deflector shields, flaring to life to repel the singularity producing bombs.
The remaining frigates are destroyed, and the Star Destroyers on the left flank cut between Shanxi and the turian fleet, dipping lower into the atmosphere than the turian cruisers can and destroying any frigate that comes close. The turians stop firing as firing solutions point them towards Shanxi. Turian command continues its efforts to patch up their lines as the news reaches Septemus via his comms officer.
"Admiral, some of the enemy vessels have come between the cruisers and the planet. They're too close to the planet for our cruisers to undercut them. Some of the captains are requesting permission to continue firing despite the planet's position."
"Denied, we still have troops on the world and a stray shot could wipe out our own forces."
"Sir," Victus speaks up, "Their shield was able to withstand concentrated fire over an extended period. If they attempt firing solutions that keep them in line with their shield, then the troop margin of safety should be well within acceptable parameters."
"I said, denied, commodore," Septemus growls, "Have the cruisers pull back and acquire a firing solution away from the planet."
"Sir that will separate them from the rest of the fleet. Not only does that make them easier targets, but by giving up their position, our enemies will encircle us without resistance."
"Where they are now, they'll be doing nothing and I'd rather them be in a position to attack rather than just holding ground. Now relay the orders."
"Yes sir," Victus salutes.
As he leaves, the commodore massages his forehead and grumbles.
The cruisers move and Star Destroyers move in to take their position and fire upon the retreating ships. Out in the open with no support, the turian vessels succumb to the barrage of turbolaser fire. With that, the Sith fleet holds the space between the turians and the planet and tighten their formation around the turian fleet. Star Destroyers consolidate on the flank and scout the battle planet side, reporting their findings to Hackett and Drescher.
"Admiral, their forward operating base has been located, they are evacuating the planet," the Vice-Admiral reports.
"Thank you, Hackett. Make certain their shuttles never make it home," Drescher orders, "Is their base shielded?"
"It does not appear so, mam," Hackett replies.
She smirks, "Then order Captain Virion to bombard them immediately. I want it wiped out. Also, order our transports to begin deploying troops, battle droids, and vehicles to the surface in full force."
"Yes, Admiral," Hackett salutes with a small semblance of a smirk.
The message is sent, and one Star Destroyer leaves the formation, pointing its split prongs towards the planet as several dozen transports follow.
Desolas is panicking, scratch that, he is beside himself with fear. The enemy fleet had come, they had come far quicker than anyone could have anticipated. While the Sith had fewer numbers, that hadn't stopped them from putting his men on the defensive while on the ground, what is to say they cannot do so in space with their advanced technology. With all other options leading to the eventual death of his men, Desolas orders his troops to do the one thing no turian had ever been ordered to do in many centuries. Evacuate the planet in full retreat.
As the first shuttles full of troops fly up, his officers approach, "Sir, are you not going with them?"
"My place in here, so long as there is a single turian on this world that can brought off of it, I will be here waiting for them on the last shuttle off this spirits forsaken rock."
The officer nods, "Permission to delay my departure then."
"Granted," Desolas says with a grin, "Let's get the wounded up first."
"Yes Sir!"
After some time, the first of the shuttles are filled and fly into the upper atmosphere. However, the encroaching Sith fleet fires upon the shuttles as they break the atmosphere, each blasts apart in an inferno from the bolts of plasma. Desolas gasps at the destruction of his men and shot off commands.
"Stop all shuttles and hold this ground," he orders, "What the hell happened to the fleet?"
One of his commanders rummages through the combat feed, "The cruisers on the planetary flank pulled back for a better firing solution and the Sith moved in."
Desolas rests his head in his talons, "It's just like their message said, we can only choose where we die. In space, in the air, or on the ground."
"Sir, one of their heavy cruisers has broken off with several of the other cruisers following behind, it's descending into low orbit directly above us!" another officer reports in a panic.
The base goes silent, knowing what this means for them, "That's impossible for a ship that large to survive being so far into a planet's atmosphere."
"Obviously they don't rely on mass effect technology, what makes you think they have the same limitations?"
"They wouldn't fire upon us while we're so close to their city, right?"
"Idiot! Their shields could withstand prolonged bombardment from our cruisers. Why would their own weapons be a concern for them?"
As the situation sets in, Desolas sighs in resignation and looks at each of his subordinates, "Gentlemen… I thank you for your service. It's been an honor to fight beside you."
He approaches the comms officer and grabs the transmitter as a shadow looms over them, "To all turian forces on the ground, the enemy is upon us, our fleet is being torn apart and they've locked on to our forward operation base. They have made it known that they are not accepting surrenders or extending mercy to us. If the Spirits be willing, I would greet each and every one of you in the next life knowing that you gave your all till the bitter end. This enemy we are facing is ruthless, their technology is incredibly advanced, and their powers are beyond our understanding. However, we are the greatest military this galaxy has ever seen, and I expect you all to die as the soldiers you were trained to be. Spirts guide you and give these bastards Hell!"
He hangs up the comm as his men around him salute, "In a way, I'm glad Saren got injured. He only lost his arm, if he didn't, he'd have certainly lost his life here," a Star Destroyer becomes visible from the ground as its weapons take aim, "I wish I would have told him I was proud of him."
In another second, a bombardment of plasma rips the base and the surrounding area apart.
The sight of orbital bombardment on the turian base does wonders for the diminishing Sith morale. Despite their dwindling numbers, the troops, lords, and madalorians cheer as though they've won the battle. The turians, now backed into a corner, fight with increased zeal, determined to take as many of their enemies as they can with them before reinforcements arrive. The front lines at the outer districts of the city become a blood bath on all sides.
At the forefront of the Sith forces, General Williams leads any who follow him on an assault of a turian holdout. The combat feed rings in his helmet as he fires upon the turian troops. His X-3 cannon blows every turian apart along with their cover. Dozens are killed trying to cover themselves as shots crack against the general's advanced trooper armor. The walker support behind them tears into their more fortified defenses and crushes anything in its path.
Seeing the walking armored vehicle, the turians concentrate rocket fire upon it. Most of the rocketeers are shot as they launch their ordinance but after about a dozen or so rockets, a lucky hit cracks the lower leg joint, and the walker goes down. It crashes into a building and brings the structure crumbling down with it, crushing a few troops in the process. Undeterred, Williams continues blasting at the turians but the aliens, emboldened by the loss of the Sith heavy support, advance on Williams and his troops.
Williams guns down the charging turians, but a kabal vanguard charges him. Williams crashes backwards, still clinging to his cannon. The turian biotic blasts him in the chest with a shotgun, the heavy armor chest plate taking most of the damage but cracking apart as Williams grabs his sidearm and puts a blaster bolt into his assailant's unarmored right arm, blowing it off.
As the general hoists himself back up, the turians overrun his position and swarm him. He blasts away as his armor is chipped and broken. A shot to the leg brings him low as the turian kabal pulls himself up with his one arm next to him. The alien ignites an omni-blade and swings up at Williams. The blade cuts through his helmet and only just cuts at the general's face as Williams lets out a painful cry. The loss of balance slows the turian's follow-up strike. Williams slams his cannon into him and blows him into two.
Williams continues to fire upon the encroaching enemy on one knee and with one eye covered by blood. His cannon overheats and he returns his hand to his sidearm. With only one good eye at the moment, he can't make the necessary headshots to end the turians in a single hit. Williams takes another round to the chest, a higher caliber, which breaks through his damaged chest plate and sends him to the ground. He attempts to return to his feet but his injured body refuses to comply. As his enemies close in, the buzz of a lightsaber whirls over his head.
The saber spins and cuts down two turian soldiers as Lord Shepard dives into the fray. He recalls his saber and leaps forward, slashing every turian he passes in two. A turian primes a grenade, but Shepard grabs hold of him with The Force and throws him into his nearest comrades, blowing them up. A small group takes shots at him from behind a skycar, but Shepard pushes the vehicle into the building behind it, crushing the aliens. A surviving kabal charges him, but lightning surges from the Sith's fingertips, and causing the charge to lose momentum and crash into the ground, screaming in pain. A second later the life leaves the agonized turian and Shepard turns his attention to a new threat.
He leaps forward, decapitating a turian that pops up from cover and rushes his comrades near him in a sequence of attacks that takes down a turian with each slash. A turian gets the drop on him from behind but gets yanked from his position and flies towards Shepard. Shepard reveres his grips and plunges his saber into the turian as he is pulled close. From the next line of soldiers, a turian launches a rocket at Shepard, who raises his hand. The rocket stops in the air and a push of Shepard's hand flings it towards where it came. It impacts the side of a thin, five story building, blowing a huge chunk of the wall off and causing the building to lean.
As more troops fill the street in front of him and a tank rolls towards him, Shepard looks to the crumbling building and grins. He stows his saber on his belt and reaches out with both hands. The building creaks and groans as Shepard pulls. With a resounding crack, the building falls into the street and upon the approaching force. A soldier stands in front of the wreckage, his rifle damaged. He aims at Shepard, but his throat closes up before his head spins and snaps as the Sith Lord approaches.
Shepard leaps over the fallen building and slams into the ground behind it. He blows several turians away with The Force and electrocutes a kabal that shielded herself. As more turians converge on his position, jetpacked maldalorians swoop in from above him and lay down fire upon them. Their leader, Zaeed, lands beside Lord Shepard and fires upon their enemies.
"Mandalorian, I had this covered."
"I figured as much, but it looked like fun, so we decided to join you."
Shepard rips a door from a sky car as a makeshift shield, "General Williams is back in the other direction, and I assume he could use some help extracting."
Zaeed fires a carbine burst at a turian diving for cover, "Just came from there, the poor bastard's already getting bloody dragged back to a safe zone. Then everyone heard that stunt you pulled with the building and are rushing here for some action."
Shepard throws the door at another turian, cutting him in half, "Then do try to keep up."
Shepard launches himself forward and crushes a turian beneath him as he lands. The mandalorians move forward as well boosting higher and firing down on the turians that can't find cover. A turian launches a rocket at Jessie, who dodges but the rocket hits the building just behind him. A chunk of duracrete falls on top of the unfortunate commando and crushes him on the ground.
"Jessie!" Zaeed looks away at his comrade as a turian gets the jump on him.
His armor withstands the mass effect rounds but his carbine does not, and Zaeed throws the broken weapon at the offending turian, knocking him down for Shepard to deal with. Zaeed rushes to Jessie's body, only his head, arms and upper torso peeking out from the slab of duracrete. The rest of the squad forms up around their leader and fallen comrade as Zaeed removes the helmet and beholds Jessie's lifeless eyes, opened in shock at what had happened. The yellow armored commando shuts his comrades eyes.
Nilsson steps beside them, "Zaeed, I have bacta-"
"Save it!" Zaeed snaps, "He's gone, Jessie's gone."
She looks away and holds her gun back up, "I'm sorry sir."
He ignores her and returns his gaze to his first fallen comrade, "You died fighting and outnumbered ten to one my friend, the kote kyr'am will await you back on Earth. But for now…"
Zaeed grabs Jessie's rifle and returns to the fight, blasting away at any turian in his path, "Come one, Jessie, let's get these aruetii!"
The Sith continue to fight on, but their momentum is lost against the numbers of the turians. A new solider stepped up with each turian lost, but a Sith loss leaves an open gap and soon, the defenders whittle down to only the most experienced and skilled on the front lines. However, above all the soldiers, the shield goes down. The turians celebrate, but so do the Sith as the sound of repulsorlift engines and starship thrusters hums from the sky.
From above, dropships descend through the clouds and spread out among the lines. The first wave offloads legions of battle droids that march headlong into oncoming fire. The scattered turian holdouts take scores down with them but the wave of synthetic soldiers marches over all their fallen kind and press the attack. The isolated turian groups withdraw from their positions as the droids overwhelm them.
The next wave of shuttles drops the troopers, mandalorians, and Sith Lords. The turians of the main force hold out against the sheer numbers of droids but the living soldiers join the assault and coordinate their attacks. The front lines crack as the more intelligent and flexible warriors put pressure on the turians.
The last wave brings the vehicles, more specifically, the walkers. The only remaining holdouts of turians are those entrenched in superior positions. He walkers stride through their covering fire and blast their emplacements apart. The front line crumbles as turians are slain left and right. Many officers give their lives with their men, but most found are captured alive, even if not entirely intact.
As more Sith forces land, more Turians fall, and the battle turns into a slaughter of the turian army. As the front line recedes back towards the edge of the city, Williams gets treated for his injuries. The medics tear off his compromised armor and pump his chest full of bacta. His eyes flicker back to consciousness as he beholds the troops around him.
"About damned time, you nerf herders," he groans, "What took you so long?"
"Lay still sir, your organs are barely staying put as is," the medic says.
Victus takes a series of calming breaths and then sighs his final exhale as he approaches Septemus in his command chair, a behavior that has become all too common in the last several hours. Being the second of a battlefleet meant that information pertaining to the status of their forces came through him before anyone else. While he appreciates the ability to stretch his mental muscles in strategizing, it amounts to nil when his commander refuses to listen. Pile on the fact that the Sith so flagrantly defy all hereunto known combat conventions, and it makes reporting to Septemus a rather unpleasant experience.
"Admiral…" Victus hesitates.
"Give your report," he says through clenched mandibles.
He nods, "General Arterius and the forward base have been wiped out via bombardment from a capital ship. All attempts to reach any living member of the chain of command has been futile, therefore we can reasonably assume that the battle planet side has been lost, especially with reinforcements enroute to the surface. Our shuttles are being shot down, and they've surrounded us. We're losing ships on all sides and our formation has been broken."
Septemus squeezes his command chair's arm, "Spirts damn them… How are our cruisers faring against theirs?"
"Ours are falling fast," he replies, "These heavy cruisers' barriers are much stronger than the ones their smaller ships had, and their hulls are thicker. Once barriers go down, they are durable enough to retreat behind their comrades and focus on support. At such a close range, our cruisers don't stand a chance."
"Their tactics spit in the face of centuries of established doctrine," Septemus grumbles, "Instead of trying to win a firefight as fast as possible from longer distance, they advance defensively and wear their enemies down with coordinated attacks from different vessels."
"It is intriguing to say the least," Victus comments, "Perhaps the Hierarchy could adapt out fighter doctrine in the same way. It's certainly effective and the cost of replacing even several dozen fighters doesn't compare to that of a cruiser if all goes wrong."
"You're complimenting them?!"
"Of course not, Sir," Victus deflects, "I'm merely looking at how they have adapted their tactics to naval warfare around their available technology. While they may not have the millennia of experience that we do, as far as we know, their approach to combat incredibly effective and I would be a fool not to take note."
"You believe they will defeat us?"
Victus considers his words, "I think that they have the ability to, if they utilize all their advantages against all our weaknesses. If we employ the correct counters and enjoy an optimistic amount of good fortune, we could still achieve a pyrrhic victory, though a lasting occupation of the planet will have to be put off until we receive further reinforcements from Palaven."
"Sir…" the scanning officer begins, "Their fighters have engaged our ours. They're preparing for a bombing run on us."
"Order them to scatter and regroup only to when bombers are incoming," Septemus orders.
"All due respect sir," Victus speaks up, "That would leave us vulnerable to other forms of attack. I would suggest perhaps a more aggressive approach and go after their bombers directly with what fighters we still have. That way the bombers can be managed, and our fighters can be ready and in formation for other attacks."
Victus stands from his seat and gets into Victus' face, "Are you questioning my orders, Commodore?"
Victus remains stoic, "No sir, merely offering a suggestion."
"I am the Admiral here," Septemus presses his talon onto Victus' armor, "You listen and obey, that is how the chain of command works, that is how the Hierarchy works."
"I understand and apologize sir," Victus replies, "I was not attempting to undermine your authority."
"Good," Septemus growls as he returns to his seat and sees the bridge crew staring at the two commanding officers, "Anyone else want to defy my orders?"
The officers return to their attention to their stations as Victus sighs and walks away, "Perhaps I should request a transfer once Septemus goes down in flames. Maybe the army would be a better fit for me…"
The turian fighters do as ordered and break formation, scattering around the cruisers and dreadnaught. Turbolaser fire brings down ships by the dozen but Harrowers begin limping to the front lines as more suffer damage from the prolonged fight. The Sith fighters engage in dogfighting around the cruisers, but the cover provided by the GUARDIAN lasers wards them off from prolonged combat. The Sith bombers are sent in to deliver their payloads on the gunline but are driven back when the turian fighters form back up and engage them. After a couple attempts the Sith commanders catch on.
"They keep waiting for our bombers to get into range before they form up," Hackett says.
Drescher huffs, "They've realized our strategy and are making it more difficult to finish them swiftly. Regardless, we will wear them down eventually."
"Perhaps we can use this to our advantage," Hackett muses.
"Oh?"
"If we can draw them away with by sending our bombers on a diversionary attack run near the back of their command vessels, we can launch boarding pods safely while their attention is elsewhere."
"An excellent idea, Vice-Admiral," Drescher says, "Give the order to the strike squadrons and launch the pods once their fighters are distracted."
"One more thing, Admiral," Hackett continues, "We now control the space around Shanxi's orbital station, but the station itself is still crawling with turians. The Midnight's Dread, Foreboding, Exar Kun's Blade, and Crimson Honor are requesting permission to deploy troops to retake the station."
"That many troops are beyond necessary," Dresher replies, "Give the Midnight's Dread the all clear to deploy but order the others to ready their troops for boarding actions against the enemy cruisers."
After bringing down a few dozen more ships and thinning the gunline of the turian fleet, the Judgement of Marr rotates to the front line. The Sith bombers then circle around the main battle and approach from the rear for a direct attack on the Palaven's Hammer and her supporting cruisers. The turian fighters form up after them and the Harrowers launch their boarding pods directly into the heart of the enemy fleet.
"Incoming torpedoes, GARDIAN lasers are doing nothing, they look shielded!" a deck officer says.
"Why would they be shielded?"
"Brace for impact!"
The ship rocks, but not with the force of explosions and the ship stabilizes in moments. The crew breath a sigh of relief until alerts come in from across the ship.
"Engineering reports soldiers and synthetics assaulting their position! They're all over the lower decks."
"We've detected hull breaches but no atmospheric loss. These things are anchored onto the hull of the ship."
"Other vessels hit by those torpedoes are reporting the same thing."
"They actually launched boarders at us in torpedoes?" Septemus asks, "How the hell did they manage that?! Where were our fighters?!"
"They regrouped to attack the incoming bombers as they closed in from the rear of the ship, by the time they broke off their attack, it was too late."
"Mobilize any marines we have on this ship; I want these boarders stopped!"
The marines are deployed across the ship, meeting heavy resistance from the Sith Troopers. Assault troopers clear the way with rapid fire heavy guns and lay down suppressive fire when the turians take cover. These teams hold the turians at bay while others stalk deeper into the bowls of the ship. The second teams are led by Sith Lords, stopping often as they are guided by The Force. The occasional turian marine in filled with lightning, lightsaber, and blaster fire as they meet the Sith boarders.
They make their way to the brig to find the Sith navy men littered throughout the cells, "Milord!"
"The Alliance came for us, just like I said."
"And less than twenty-four hours in the cell, you owe me fifty credits."
"Everyone on your feet," the lord orders, "If you don't have a weapon find one, take one from the spikeheads for all I care."
"Are we taking over the ship?"
"No, the admiral and her intelligence liaison have something else planned, we're to escape with the lot of you, but the spikeheads won't make it easy on us."
Victus braces himself for the consistent bad news from their situation but he reports none the less to his superior, "They seem to have gone straight to the brig and freed the ones that we picked up from their escape pods. Some of the other cruisers are reporting similar."
"They must be planning to target us and the rest of the command ships, they're rescuing their comrades so that they can fire upon us unimpeded. Order all marines to secure the boarding pods, don't let them escape."
"Sir the Sith have broken through our formations, they're coming into short range combat, this ship isn't built for this kind of fighting."
"What of they ram us too?!" another officer panics.
"They're troops are on board you moron, they'll probably try and capture us."
"And that's any better?!"
"Silence!" Septemus roars, "Everyone be silent! Just do your duty and not another word!"
Everyone gets back to work, fearful of their commanding officer's wrath.
Septemus buries his face in his hands, "Spirits damn them... Even if we can hold the boarders here, it's only a matter of time before they trap us. We may even need t retreat..."
On the upper levels of the ship, a transparent shadow steps with dampened strides through the ship as fighting goes on elsewhere. He pokes his head through every opened room he crosses and dodges the marines that march across the corridors. After a good amount of time sneaking, searching, and skulking; he enters into a doorway proper. The room is large, large enough to accommodate dozens of troops with training equipment and machines lined up in tight order. What draws the agent's attention, however, is a panel a few paces beyond a drawn combat circle.
The panel itself is indented and damaged, not from battle but from a sparing match gone wrong. For the agent, it is perfect. A training room isn't high on the list of damage repairs after a battle, the damaged panel should be noted prior to the battle, and it is just loose enough to pull it out.
The stealth field falls as the agent becomes visible, "Perfect."
He pries the panel off and removes his backpack. He presses a few buttons and the whole thing comes to life. He presses it into the inner workings of the wall, and it latches itself to the metal and wires. He presses a few more switches and buttons as the beacon transmitter pulsates with light.
The black clad agent sets the device, replaces the panel, and seals it shut before leaving the training room looking as untouched as possible, "It's done, give me two minutes and then give the command to withdraw the remaining troops."
"Consider it done, agent," his handler replies.
"Going silent, Cypher 14 out," he says as his body is cloaked in projected light and his form vanishes.
As he returns from whence he came, three turian soldiers are standing near his boarding pod. He growls while he slips close to the group with steps drowned out by the mayday sirens. His cloaking field falls as he pulls his vibro-knife on the first soldier.
With a quick slash of his throat, the alien gurgles away his last breath and his comrades level weapons at Cypher 14. He throws the knife, disabling one of the soldiers' rifle and holds the turian corpse as a shield. The armed soldier fires and the agent throws the body him as he draws his blaster pistol. 14 blasts the stunned turian between the eyes and nails his companion in the leg as he goes for another weapon. The turian falls with a crash as he taps his communication piece but 14 puts a blaster bolt into the back of his head before he can speak.
His work done, the agent hoists up and drags all three bodies into his pod and closes the hatch. Seconds later the order to retreat from a select few of the ships is given. A few cheap infantry droids are left behind to cover the escape and self-destruct when the pods are boarded. All the pods close and jettison off of their hull anchors back towards the safety of the Star Destroyers as they open up their lines and charge forward.
"It looks like you were correct, Admiral. The pods have detached and now those cruisers are moving. Looks like they're making an attack run on us," Victus reports.
"Yes, but in doing so they've made an opening in their line, give the order to any remaining ships to withdraw to relay and set course for the Gaulium system," Septemus orders.
One of the ensigns scrapes together enough bravery to speak up, "Sir, this would mark the first time a full turian force has retreated in the last-"
"I know!" Septemus snaps, "But what good does dying here do anybody. We have samples and data from the battles here, the Hierarchy needs those if we want to win this war before the Council discovers it. Now give the order before I shoot you for insubordination!"
The ensign relays the orders and every ship still in operation turns and flees. The Sith fleet takes wide shots as they retreat, leaving only Septemus' dreadnaught, a few dozen frigates, and less than one hundred cruisers of the original 854 ships. Drescher watches with stone cold eyes as the ships vanish from sight. She turns to the officer beside her.
"Are we tracking them?"
Hackett nods, "Yes ma'am, the hyper-transmission is coming in clear. The enemy dreadnaught is moving towards the relay, albeit slowly by FTL standards."
"Good, get slicing teams on their captured ships and move more troops down to the surface; I want every last spikehead off Shanxi in a body bag or in chains three days from now, and prepare a message for the Minister of Warfare."
"Yes Ma'am."
Drescher looks out from the bridge into the fields of mobilizing Star Destroyers, captured turian cruisers, and space debris. She lets herself smile and drink in the first Sith victory over a foreign power, the first of many in this galaxy. With nothing to report, her officers leave her to her own thoughts until…
"Admiral, a priority one holo-call for you," the comms officer says.
She sighs and rolls her eyes, "Very good, I'll take it in my quarters."
"Ma'am… It's it is marked as High Command ASAP… and it's from Korriban."
In an instant, the fearless and furious Admiral Drescher goes pale in the face, "I-I see. What are you waiting for them? Put them on, Now!"
The officer does as ordered and Drescher rushes to the holocomm. Five figures appear before her; four men and one woman, four in robes and one in armor, and each with a lightsaber at their side. She takes a knee and bows her head to them as the stand above her, "My Lords, to what do I owe the privilege of speaking to the entire Dark Council?"
"Admiral Drescher," the center man with a long, lightly armored robe and a high armored collar begins, "How is the battle faring?"
"We are victorious, Lord Tempestus, their forces are either dead, captured, or in full retreat," she reports.
The armored man scoffs, "You let some of them go? After what they did to our people?"
Drescher's body tightens as a weight presses down upon her, but the farthest man right, wearing ornate robes speaks up, "Oh, knock it off, Ferrus. You're just upset that you didn't get to go along with her, and we both know you'd never kill a loyal Alliance soldier. At least, not when you would have done the same in her stead. I'm sure the good admiral had her reasons for jumping before she was supposed to and letting the enemy return to their masters. Isn't that right?"
The Force relents in crushing her, but her body refuses to relax, "Of course, Darth Vafrem. Alliance Intelligence allotted us the service of a Watcher and one of their Cypher agents. We came up with a plan to track them into their space so that we would not fly in blind into unknown space."
"Logical, I can respect that at least," says the holographic woman with spines poking out of her chin and wearing a technology enhanced robe.
"Naturally, Lord Chemos. Like I mentioned, we've also secured their officers for interrogation for the Pyramid of Assassins. You shall be receiving them soon, Lord Atrior."
The last man in dark robes, a large hood, and a ghastly six-eyed mask inclines his head in acknowledgement.
"Very well, Admiral," Tempestus says, "Get your intelligence attaché to work slicing their ship data. You've done quite well for an officer."
"You've driven the enemy back, now make certain your troops are ready for to push against them," Ferrus growls, "We've gained momentum, don't waste it."
"Of course, Milords," Drescher bows again, "I will get to work immediately, we will be prepared when the time comes."
"See that you are," Darth Vafrem replies before all five of them disappear.
Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to get this one out before the new year, hope everyone likes it. I hope my take on proton ordinance vs ME fields is acceptable. Theoretically, the massive amount of positive charge introduced by detonation should overload the core, at least if my understanding of ME fields and cores stands true, though I am not the biggest tech expert here. I tried to make this a back and forth between the two admirals: Septemus holding to a failing combat doctrine while Drescher pushes in aggressively. Victus in ME3 was considered a wildcard and exception to the normal turian commander for not adhering to traditional turian combat tactics, which makes me think his ability to adapt and think outside the box would be an incredibly rare exception to normal turian leaders. The Dark Lords have made their debut! These guys are mostly the reason why OC is listed in the characters for the fic. I think from their names, descriptions, and outright mentions it is obvious which pyramid they all rule over. Not much else to say concerning this chapter except that if you want the exact armor sets and outfits for the Dark Lords, they are as follows:
Darth Ferrus- Ruthless Oppressor armor set
Darth Tempestus- Belsalvis Inquisitor set
Darth Chemos- Sovereign Executioner but red and maroon
Darth Atrior- Shadow Disciple's armor set (all black) with Wayward Warrior Mask
Darth Vafrem- Callous Conqueror set
note: none of them, save Darth Atrior, are wearing helmets or masks right now, and only Darth Ferrus will be putting one on in the foreseeable future. Anyway, if you liked the chapter or are new to the fic, please leave a review, it is always appreciated.
See y'all Next time!