HOLOCAUST
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE:
TOP OF THE SHIT LIST
August 2, 2186
1040 hours.
War Room, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Widow System, Serpent Nebula.
The Reaper War.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Chief Engineer Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Soldier Javik, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, EDI, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Major Kaidan Alenko, Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor, Yeoman Kelly Chambers, Flight Lieutenant Steve Cortez, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, General Zaal'Golo vas Zavtee, Fleet Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Admiral Hadrian, Ruler of the Terminus Aria T'Loak, Lieutenant Nakmor Dreg, Lieutenant Bray, Technican Ahz, Admiral Jarral, First Lieutenant Jack, Battalion-Commandant Urdnot Grunt.
If Marcus was a claustrophobic or any kind of agoraphobic, he'd probably be freaking out right now.
He had never seen the War Room so packed before. Sure, there had been the ocassions where it was almost constantly occupied. Primarch Victus and Wrex made constant use of the room during the genophage dilemma. Admiral Raan had used it when planning military activities in the Perseus Veil. Samantha found herself constantly using it due to her love for communications technology, specifically the QEC. It was always occupied by someone at one point or another.
But never to this degree.
He almost felt squashed among all the occupants. Marcus stood at the main terminal to the war table, the side facing the QEC communications chamber. He wore his usual attire, along with his N7 cap, reading over the details prior to the main briefing. To his right was Garrus, the turian holding a datapad and reading over the information himself: given that Garrus was unofficially his second-in-command (and also a Spectre, as well), he got to access the same information Marcus did when planning a mission, something Garrus took to eagerly.
Tali stood on the opposite side of the table, arms clasped behind her back as she engaged in a three-way conversation with Kasumi and Liara on who-knows-what. Judging by how they laughed however, it must have been fairly entertaining.
On the right was Javik, looking as stoic and disinterested as always. His arms crossed, the prothean likely feeling out the room and its occupants. He could imagine he was silently judging them all, thinking of an array of silly names to give to these 'primitive' creatures, whilst also laughing inwardly at himself. Of course, like everyone else who had met Javik thus far, had addressed the prothean like he was somekind of grotesque effigy, only to find out he was a prothean. Aria had expressed somewhat of an interest at that, but had quickly forgotten about it all when Omega was brought up. Apparently Javik found that amusing.
Next to Javik was Joker and EDI. The pilot had managed to work his way out of the cockpit to attend the briefing, stating they were sitting in a stationary orbit, and that no pilot was really needed and he was bored anyway. In reality though, he figured Joker was there because EDI was. The AI didn't really need to, as she could hear anything going on the ship at anytime, but apparently EDI had thought it would be better if she attended in person to further help her study of organic behaviour. That, and he had a feeling she simply wanted to be there because Joker was...
To the left, next to Tali, Kasumi and Liara, was James, Cortez, Kaidan and Keeling. The marine, as he always seemed to do, looked to be telling Keeling a joke, but the N7 didn't seem to get it, as his smile was starting to slide off his face, shaking his head. Cortez looked to be stiffling laughter at the likely hilarious situation, the pilot getting no end of enjoyment out of Vega's misery: Kaidan was in much the same position of delight. Keeling looked less than amused, although Marcus secretly believed she liked the marine's attitude, but didn't want to show it out of personal insecurity.
Marcus Shepard, the fucking psychologist. Leave that shit to Kelly, man.
Speaking of the ship's yeoman, he saw her standing not far from him on his left was Kelly herself, looking at her omni-tool as she seemed to chat with someone, her fingers tapping away at a keypad ever so often giving it away. Samantha stood behind her, pretending to look anywhere but where she wasn't supposed to, peering over Kelly's shoulder to read what she was texting.
Then came their guests. Largely stranded around the table, Admiral Gerrel was on the far left, accompanied by another guest: a red geth trooper platform by the name of Hadrian, who would be commanding the geth naval forces in the attack, and Zaal'Golo, who would be commanding the quarian and geth ground forces. Themistocles had returned to the rest of his forces, needing to lead them and the quarian forces while Gerrel commanded the quarian naval force during reclamation of Omega. The gesture was an enormous sign of trust from Gerrel, who, up until this point, had shown complete hatred for the geth: now he was handing over command of the majority of his remaining Fleet to a geth. How times had changed...
Opposite them, on the far right, was Aria and her men. Dreg loomed behind her like a guard dog, using his intimidating physique to scare off any daring to approach her, although Marcus doubted any of his squad were afraid of him, given they had faced much bigger krogan, and even had two they could call friends. Next to Dreg was Bray, and helping her with some information on her omni-tool was Ahz, her head technician. Jarral was beside Aria, looking over a tactical readout on her datapad.
And, just like old times, two of his best friends stood behind him: Jack and Grunt. Jack's appearance had been a surprise, but a welcome one. She was wearing the Light HYPERION-82L armor given to her by the Alliance, her arms crossed and engaging in conversation with their second surprise: Grunt. The two laughed gleefully, likely swapping stories of blood and gore, death and glory, destruction and mayhem. Grunt's cackle and Jack's chuckle went hand in hand, their affinity for decimation uncanny. As a bonus, having the two of them here was a God send, Jack's powerful biotic abilities and Grunt's veteran krogan battalion being a welcome addition to their invasion force.
He looked at Aria, shaking his head with a smirk. Sorry, 'liberation' force. Depose one tyrannical leader for another. At least Aria's the kind of tyrannical leader the UGC likes, and just so happens to be on good terms with us.
Still, he didn't like the game Aria was playing. It was clear she wanted Omega, and she was willing to snatch it from Cerberus hands no matter the cost. A lot of people were going to die in this operation, civilian and military, UGC and Cerberus. What irritated him was that Aria didn't seem to care or even acknowledge that factor: like it didn't matter.
What scared him more was that he was helping her. He never helped people like that. Hell, he never once thought he would find himself friends with someone like Aria T'Loak.
Reckless but influential. She sure played me, that's for sure. Got me to agree to this little raid. What she doesn't seem to realize is that I'm calling the shots now. I don't give a shit if it's her station, her plan or her intention. Omega, for all intents and purposes, is a high value military target and therefore a UGC concern. Lawless or not, Omega will fly the UGC flag by the time this is done or I'll drag Aria kicking and screaming to the negotiation table. And if she goes back on her promise? Well...
He looked up at the asari in question, finding her scowling at Jarral. The asari admiral looked dumbfounded, which seemed to anger Aria as she slammed a fist on the table, standing up to point at the readout. Jarral kneeled over to look at it and shrugged, causing Aria to finally lose her shit and grab the back of Jarral's head, forcing it against the terminal. He finally heard what she was saying now because she was so loud everyone in the room could hear it.
"Does that look like a fucking cruiser?" Aria snarled, letting go of Jarral's head so the admiral could stand up. She rubbed the back of her head tenderly, while her 'illustrious' leader continued to speak furiously, "No! Even I can tell the difference between a cruiser and a carrier. You know, because that ship is far larger than a cruiser. Fuck up like that again, and I'll have you replaced. Perhaps Fexx would like a shot at the chair!"
Jarral looked up, flabbergasted, "Fexx!? He's a vorcha...he can't...he..."
"...is an imbecile?" Aria waved her hands in the air with a sarcastic indifference, "That's the fucking point. If you don't get your shit together, then I will replace you with an imbecile. That's how much I value your opinion, Jarral. At least Vexx will follow orders! He'll do it as slowly as possible and likely with a dozen questions of 'so what is FTL stand for?', but at least he'll eventually fucking do it! I've just about had enough with you, Jarral! It worries me that you're my admiral and you can't even tell the difference between a cruiser and a goddamn ship that is clearly bigger!"
"Sorry...ma'am," Jarral summarily apologized, once again showing off her signature look of 'somebody just beat the shit out of my pride' and clumsily retrieving her datapad from the table, "...won't happen again, ma'am."
"That's the smartest, most intellectual, thing I've ever heard you say, Jarral. And intellect has never been your ally," Aria dryly remarked, turning back to the table as she waved Bray and Dreg towards her. She always seemed to value their input over her head admiral, who she generally treated like a varren. Jarral just returned to her datapad, almost like a petulant child.
Fucking hell. How Jarral ended up being called an 'admiral' is beyond me. Does Aria even have a fleet worth having an admiral to command? What's the point if Aria is commanding all her forces? Seems like a token rank, if anything else. No real value, just a title given to make a child feel better about themselves.
He didn't fail to notice the glare Gerrel was shooting Aria, the quarian's point of view of Aria having been set from the moment he had heard he was going to meet her. From the moment Marcus said the meeting had been set up to the actual meeting itself, Gerrel had it quite clear what his opinion of Aria would be: far from positive. Reckless, irresponsible, ruthless, prone to action, tactically inept, and utterly impotent were just some of the choice wording he had used to describe her. And Marcus agreed with him. What they didn't agree on was the need to help Aria retake Omega: Marcus saw the tactical value in holding such a prize, while Gerrel saw it as a waste of resources and firepower that would be better spent combating the Reaper threat.
And yet, here Gerrel was. With quite a few ships, he might add.
He's probably come to realize that when I say something needs to be done, it's probably a good idea to accept that as fact and go ahead with it: it usually produces good results. Take Rannoch, for example. He didn't follow my lead, and shit got hairy. I kept doing what needed to be done, and now the quarians have Rannoch back, as well as a powerful ally. After that, I think Gerrel will think twice before questioning me again.
Anyone else would find a sense of ego in that. A reason to brag. Marcus didn't. A matter of fact, it made him apprehensive.
The more and more races that rally behind me, the more pressure on my shoulders to ensure their survival. I've promised so many of them victory...the Crucible seems too good to be true, and yet every race, at my beck and call, has thrown whatever they can into it. Sure, it took some convincing, but now they're willing to bend over backwards for me, and that's scary. That much power...no one should have that kind of power. It's...too much. So many people relying on me...thousands, millions, billions...all of them believing I will be their sole protector. Their liberator. The man who will bring legions to save them from the Reapers. The man who will find the catalyst, bring the Crucible to full completion and then hopefully have it kill the Reapers at just one strike of a button. Just one man. Me.
He sighed, squaring his shoulders. I miss the old days where it was us versus them. Nothing riding on our backs except an imminent Reaper invasion. Chasing Saren across the galaxy and storming the Collector Base. The good days. Sure, it wasn't actually bright and happy times, but it was better than this. Now...nothing but misery, destruction and death to go around. Hundreds die each day, and the Reapers crawl ever closer to complete victory. Earth is in ruins, Anderson is trapped there and I'm in charge of the largest military alliance in galactic history.
These were thoughts that he couldn't help but address. It was a necessary proponent of keeping himself sane. If he addressed the brutality of reality...he could accept it. Begrudgingly, sure, but he would accept it nonetheless. Coming to grips with reality, having his wife close by and his squad fighting by his side are what kept him afloat in these dark times. Without those three magical ingredients...it was possible Shepard would have stayed back on Earth.
It could very well have been me who stayed behind, not Anderson. Imagine how different things would be then.
But he was here now. He knew that. And with a large-scale invasion to plan, he had to focus on that. It was time to give Cerberus a kick in the gonads.
We'll finally be the ones attacking this time.
Because, as cramped as the war room was, it was cramped for a reason: that reason was Cerberus and Omega.
Straightening up, he turned to Garrus, who in turn turned away from the datapad, having noticed his commander's look. Marcus nodded, and the turian returned it. Knowing his trusted second-in-command was ready and had a firm grip of the plan, he turned to Aria, clearing his throat, hands clasped behind his back, and raised his voice, "Well Aria, should we get this meeting jump started? The sooner we start, the sooner you get Omega."
Aria seemed to ignore him for a few moments, continuing to pore over some information on a datapad Bray had given her before handing it back, thanking her lieutenant and turning back to Marcus with an exasperated pose, arms braced against the table, "That's very considerate of you, Shepard. Lead the way. Tell me this 'revised' plan of yours."
"Not quite the word I'd use to describe it," Garrus remarked, giving Marcus a slight side eye before looking directly at Aria, "Perhaps the term 'vastly improved' is what you're looking for."
"I knew exactly what words I wanted to use, Vakarian," Aria spat, glaring at him, "Don't patronize me."
"Both of you, play nice," Marcus ordered, noticing the rest of the room had quietened down and was focusing on them, "We're working together now, so we have to keep our discontent to ourselves and focus on the enemy."
"This is why I didn't want your squad coming with you, Shepard," Aria replied dryly, shaking her head as she ignored Garrus, focusing solely on Marcus with the same glare she delivered the turian, "They have a tendency to be full of smartasses."
"You'd have gotten the same out of me, Aria," Marcus remarked, biting back a smirk.
"Toughen up, you little bitch," Jack stated behind him, the biotic joining Garrus as she crossed her arms, grinning at the asari with the same air of smugness Jack always had these days, "The squad is here and so is the cavalry. You should be happy. All these smartasses are going to fuck up some Cerberus for you."
"I will enjoy bathing in their blood," Grunt added, the krogan having joined Marcus on his left, his own muscular arms braced on the table's edge, "It is the krogan way."
The asari crime queen simply rolled her eyes, turning to the table, "Whatever. Let's just get to the debriefing."
"Very well," he summarily replied, keeping it short and without further conflict. None of his squad spoke up, having apparently understood Marcus' need for them to keep any disagreement with Aria to themselves, knowing that they were working with her and she with them, and that conflict between them would be pointless.
His eyes met Samantha's, the captain giving a slight nod in her direction, "Miss Traynor, if you please."
The Normandy's comms specialist did exactly as asked, turning from Kelly to type at the terminal and bring up the aforementioned plans. Hovering above the table in all its holographically-depicted glory was Omega, colorized in holographic red, surrounded by equally three-dimensional depictions of the asteroid belt it was located in. The map expanded outwards to envelop the entire Sahrabarik system, with the system's many planets in full view of the holo projection, as well as the Sahrabarik relay at the corner of the system, and the intensely glowing Omega 4 Relay further towards the center of the system, opposite Omega itself.
"As you all already know, Omega is located within a dense asteroid field, which gives it a shield against an invading naval force, ensuring that any attempt to bombard it from long range would be met with some difficulty. The only reason Cerberus succeeded last time was because they got under the asteroid belt, docked with the station and attacked from within. Well, lightning, in this case, will not be striking twice. Cerberus will not allow any foreign force anywhere near the system, let alone Omega itself," he made sure everyone understood that detail before continuing, "If Petrovsky is as smart as his service history and actions make him out to be, he will have his fleet scattered amongst the asteroids, using them as both cover and hiding places. Any foe who tries to maneuver the field and gets within range of Omega would find themselves outflanked by Petrovsky's fleet and would be shortly outmaneveured and destroyed. This gives Petrovsky an advantage over us already. However, we have something Petrovsky, nor anyone else, has."
Aria sighed, looking almost annoyed at his game of 'guess what I'm talking about', "What?"
He turned to Hadrian, nodding as he continued to speak, "The geth have managed to develop cloaking technology for their ships, which is something nobody else has, not even the Reapers. We can use this. My plan is this," he moved his hand forward and swiped left on the map before clasping his hand to zoom in. The map zooms in on Omega's asteroid belt, showing the many, scattered signatures representing the predicted positions of the Cerberus warships, "Under the command of Hadrian, the geth fleet will make up the vanguard and will be the first to charge in. If Cerberus detects our entire fleet coming through the relay, they'll be ready and waiting by the time we get there and we'll be torn to shreds, no matter how large our fleet is."
More than eighteen blue ships appeared outside the asteroid belt on the map, quickly moving in, before disappearing entirely, "While our fleet waits in the Pylos Nebula, Hadrian will take his ships and enter the system without using the relay whilst under cloak. He will remain this way all the way up to the asteroid belt. He will traverse the belt and use his fleet's LADAR to find all the Cerberus ships and where they are hiding."
"Map out the enemy positions for a better tactical readout," Gerrel pointed out, looking impressed, "A sound strategy. Makes excellent use of the cloaking as well."
"Exactly," Marcus turned to the table and continued, pointing out the numerous faint blue signatures that now rested behind the Cerberus lines, "Once they've mapped out the enemy, Hadrian will send the signal via QEC for our ships to move through the relay. The Normandy will then lead the rest of the fleet through the relay and storm Omega. Petrovsky's fleet will immediately turn to engage us and spring their trap. Hadrian will then decloak his ships and attack the enemy. With some luck, the Cerberus fleet will be left in complete disarray and will not be able to form an effective counterattack, giving us the clear advantage."
Before he could finish the first stage plan, Aria spoke up, pointing at the large green signature representing a Cerberus dreadnought, "That's the Elbrus, Petrovsky's flagship. I would recommend using one of the larger geth ships to take advantage of your attack and destroy the flagship: cut the head off the snake, I believe the human saying is. Or is that not tactically smart?"
Hadrian nodded, "No, we believe this to be a sound move. Without the flagship, Cerberus forces will be at a disadvantage and General Petrovsky will have lost an important symbol of power."
Marcus nodded, "I agree with Admiral Hadrian's assessment. One of Hadrian's ships will destroy the Elbrus during the initial attack. Cut the head off the snake, as you say, Aria."
With that settled, he turned back to the holotable and continued with his briefing, "Before long, the Cerberus fleet will be caught between Hadrian's ships and our reinforcements. Petrovsky will have two choices then: withdraw what ships he'll have left and have them leave via FTL and effectively lose his naval supremacy. Or, he can have his ships stay behind and fight to the death, where the entire fleet will be inevitably wiped out."
"Either way, Petrovsky loses his control over the system," Bray pointed out, nodding in impression. He looked at Marcus and shrugged, grinning from ear to ear, "Then it becomes a ground war."
The N7 nodded in acknowledgement of the batarian's point, quickly zooming in further to Omega, showing nothing but the station and a cross-section of its interior. He points to a glowing red dot at the upper end of the station's stalk, "We'll enter through there, as per Aria's original plan. However, instead of slamming a bloody cruiser into it, we'll open a far less devastating opening with a volley of javelin torpedoes from the Normandy. Me and my squad will be the first on the ground, deployed by tank, followed by Jack and her students, then the rest of the ground forces will steadily follow."
"That's the Felmuk District," Aria stated, "Good decision keeping it as your deployment area. The area around it is the least armoured and its one of the more poorly maintained districts on the entire station: this means that Cerberus will likely have neglected it entirely, ensuring a rapid and ungreeted insertion."
"It'll allow us some room before Cerberus gets wind of it and sends troops to stop us. Hopefully, by then, we'll be too spread out for Petrovsky to rout us," Marcus continued upon Aria's point, moving across the holographic surface of Omega, "From there, we'll push Cerberus back and secure the lower level and set up a base of operations: the fleet will remain to secure the outside area and set up defensive positions in the case of Petrovsky calling for more ships."
"We can just jam his communications," Dreg proposed, looking befuddled the idea hadn't been considered, "I'm sure the geth could pull it off."
Marcus shook his head, "Cerberus practically invented the QEC, and given Omega is an important asset to them, no doubt Petrovsky will have one. QEC's sent signals that can't be traced or blocked, meaning that even if we jammed standard outbound comms, he can still use his QEC to call for help: aside from outright destroying the device itself, we can't stop that. Not even the Reapers can block a QEC. That's how we've been contacting the resistance on Earth so easily."
"So if he does call for help?" Dreg asked next, accepting Marcus' logic.
"Like I said, the fleet will set up defensive positions within the asteroid belt. By doing this, we're effectively blockading the station: we'll have cut off the Cerberus supply line and any attempt to send fresh troops, ships and supplies will have to get through the fleet first. Petrovsky will be stuck with the force, food and drink he has. And, when you've got a station full of civilians, those supplies won't hang around forever. All things considered, we could even do this the old fashioned way: wait him out. But we won't."
"Why not?" Keeling asked, eyebrow raised, "Just seems like we'd be inflicting far more casualties on their side than our own if we did. Old-fashioned siege never hurt anyone."
"Because a siege would take too long and the risk is too great," Marcus elaborated, crossing his arms as he addressed the entire room's concerns, "We bunker down for a siege, we run the risk of allowing the Illusive Man ample time to form a liberation force, including a sizable fleet, to smash our blockade. Also, even if we did, the Reapers aren't going to sit still and watch: the war is going to keep going, and while we're starving out the enemy, the Reapers will continue to raze world after world: it might even reach the point where taking Omega won't make a lick of difference. Then you've got to consider Cerberus itself: if this were any other army, we could starve them out, yes. But this isn't any other army...these soldiers are practically husks. How do we know they need to eat or drink? This siege will probably only affect Petrovsky, and he'd have plenty of food and drink for himself in that case. And, finally, the civilian cost: by committing to a siege, we're effectively dooming any occupied populace to starvation. We'll be murderers. A full-scale invasion...we could end this more quickly. Far more quickly. Trust me, I've thought of all of this. There is no other option. We have to invade."
"So we get to kill some Cerberus after all," Jack dryly added, pounding her fists together before turning to Grunt and punching the krogan lightly in the shoulder, "You hear that, shit for brains? We have to get our hands dirty!"
The krogan's response was simply a 'heh heh heh', a laugh that never ceased to creep Marcus out. Looking around the room, he was careful to note there was no further objections to the plan. They were all onboard. They all knew his plan was the only plan: there could be no lengthy siege, or no 'you're all expendable, let's just wing it' plan like Aria wanted. Omega was too valuable to simply destroy, and leaving Cerberus to their own ends just wouldn't do. He had thought through every single possibility, addressed every definitive reason not to.
His mind was set. This has to happen.
"So is there any further plans for the ground attack?" Zaal'Golo spoke up, looking as formal as Gerrel, if not nearly identical, "You mentioned securing the Felmuk district and establishing an FOB, but no mention of where to go from there."
"That's because there isn't," Marcus stated, "Until we know exactly how Petrovsky's grip on the station is distributed, there's not much else we can plan. We need to know places of vulnerability, if gaps exist in his flank and where and when to strike them, we need to know where he himself is located and how best to end this battle, quickly or with caution," he held up a hand in defense, foregoing any outrage from Aria, "I know you want a swift resolution to this war Aria, but let's face facts: Petrovsky is not an enemy who will just bend over and let us walk through the gates of his HQ: he's going to put up a fight, and it'll be bloody. If we charge in, we'll give him an opportunity to surround and destroy us. We need to play this his way: cautiously and intelligently. We must think like he does, act like he does, copy what he does. Know your enemy and in a thousand battles, you will never lose, remember?"
The asari held back whatever she was going to say, simply nodding as she understood his fundamental, but reasonable, argument. Nothing else was said, and as Marcus went to close the meeting, Aria spoke up again.
"We won't need to establish a base," she declared, catching the attention of everyone in the room. She waved her hand through the hologram, zooming in on a bunker-looking facility, located just above the Felmuk district iself, "My personal bunker. It's located in the Tuhi district. It's large enough that we can establish a base there. It's got the facilities...I made sure of it."
He had to admit she was right. The bunker had fourteen decks total, accompanied by a courtyard and command center, along with numerous other decks for garages and armouries. It had numerous automated defenses, including Alliance mechanized chain guns. The place was a veritable fortress, with a positioning that made it extremely difficult to bombard or find. He whistled, looking up at the asari, "Why didn't I know about this?"
"Because it wasn't any of your concern," she replied simply, "I built the bunker years ago from the remnants of an old krogan Imperial barracks. Yes, it was that old: by old, I mean back to the foundation of Omega itself, old. So I took it, updated its defenses and systems, and basically turned it into a safehouse in case the population got rebellious and rose up against me and I needed to wage war on them, or Patriarch decided to inspire some insurrection. In the end, I used it briefly during Petrovsky's invasion of my station. As far as I know, he never found it. He knew I was in the Tuhi district, but he didn't know where: he just artillery and bombers hounding it until he pulled his little fake out. It should still be there, and I don't think Petrovsky's bothered to try and find it."
"That would be our best bet then, Loco," James firmly accentuated, tapping his hand against the console as affirmation for his belief, "That bunker looks more beefed up than a Reaper's backside, and I doubt the Cerbies will find it anytime soon. If we want to fight a war with Petrovsky groundside, that'd be the way to go."
"Agreed," General Golo reinforced.
"Then Aria's bunker is where we go," Marcus declared, standing up with his hands clasped firmly behind his back, "This is it, people. We go to Omega, we're committed. Every single gun is firm. We will fight Cerberus with the conviction of victory. We will not accept anything less than complete Cerberus defeat. Petrovsky may be smart, he may be fast and he may be the deadliest foe we've faced so far...but we will not let that stop us. No matter how smart you are, now matter how strong...everyone has their achillies heel...we just need to find Petrovsky's. There will be casualties. This new battle will cost us in both spirit and men, but we cannot turn back. We cannot accept defeat. In this circumstance, it is unacceptable. Cerberus has always beaten us to the punch. They've always struck first. So when we make this attack, think of the people of Eden Prime. Think of the archives on Mars. Think of the STG on Sur'Kesh. Think of the families on the Citadel who will never see their sons, daughters, husbands and wives again. And, think of the people of Omega. Think of that, remember that, become that. Then say this: not this time. This time, we strike. We will arise from the shadows to lash out. The snake has bitten us several times...time to rip its fucking head off."
"Hoo-rah!" James pounded his fists.
"That's my kind of speech!" Jack backed up, whistling loudly.
"I said my battlemaster had no match. Some may even say you talk too much," Grunt remarked, turning to Marcus with his teeth bared in a broad smirk that would have terrifed anyone else. He slapped Marcus on the back with a mighty chuckle, "Luckily, I've seen you fight! Those words are followed by glorious battle!"
"This will be...interesting," Javik added more reservedly, "I remember when this asteroid of yours as once of prothean property. If it is as impenetrable as it was for us then, I believe this battle will be intriguing, to say the least. I much look forward to it, captain."
Bray, Dreg and Jarral all nodded and Aria, seeing her lieutenants doing the same, finished with her own, solemn nod of respect, "I had heard of your speeches, Shepard. Another to hear them. I sure hope you're not planning to run for president of Omega."
That caused him to laugh alittle, "Have no fear of that, Aria. I don't love the station as much as you do."
With nothing else to say, he turned and saluted them, "We leave for the Pylos Nebula in just a few hours. Have your respective forces assemble at the Widow relay and depart on my orders. Until then, I shall see you on the battlefield. Ancestors, goddess, spirits, mother of all thresher maws, God...whatever you believe in, pray to them for ultimate victory."
With that, the occupants of the room filed out steadily and slowly, eventually leaving noone but Marcus and his squad. They all gathered around the table, with Marcus allowing himself to slack slightly as he braced against the table again.
Cortez was the first to speak, "Can't say I was expecting this. This is a whole new undertaking. Although we're doing an awful lot of liberating."
"I think it'll be thrilling!" Samantha said excitedly, "First curing the genophage, then retaking Rannoch and now visiting Omega! It's like I'm on a cruise ship...except a heavily armed cruise ship, whose tours involve a lot of fighting and blood and dying...oh God..." the comms specialist facepalmed, looking entirely embarassed, "Now that I think about it, this isn't some wonderous, is it?"
"No, it isn't," Kelly added more quietly, far less enthusiastically as well, "Especially considering we're off to fight a former employer of mine. Not going to be glad to see them again, I'll be honest."
"None of us are," Garrus added, his own arms crossed, "Except maybe Jack. But she has quite the love for our Cerberus buddies."
"If by love you mean being experimented on and then coming back to make their life hell," the psychotic biotic replied snarkily, "Then sure, we're practically husband and wife."
"I'm worried about Aria," Kasumi stated, speaking for the first time in the entire meeting, "She seems like the kind of person willing to sacrifice thousands to get what she wants. And what she wants is an entire space station."
Liara nodded in agreement, "Aria T'Loak is far from the most trustworthy person."
"You guys act like I was born yesterday," he grinned, "I know full well what Aria is like. I'm an observant man. I know Aria can't be trusted, which is why I'm keeping her close: if she tries anything, I'll be there to put her down if necessary. I'm fully prepared to kill her...again, if necessary. That's half the reason I've got you guys...I can always count on your support."
"Argh," Grunt groaned, shaking his head, "This is the part I didn't like about you, battlemaster."
"I find it charming," Kasumi smirked, "In a 'commander to subordinate' kind of way."
"Makes me nauseous," Jack added in support of the krogan commander.
"I second that," Garrus added.
"Loco's a big softie at heart!" James exclaimed, running a hand through his hair with insurmountable amusement, "No wonder when I spar him, he crumbles! All that fluff has made him soften up!"
"I wouldn't say he's soft everywhere," Tali added with some mischief.
There was a collective groan of disgust, followed by Kasumi bursting out laughing. Marcus' cheeks heated up, the captain turning away with a half smile.
"I do not understand what you refer to," Javik stated, looking between them with a frown and some genuine confusion, "What part of the captain is harder than his body?"
"Nothing. Just a joke between primitives," Joker jested, the pilot leaning on EDI for support.
"Tali was referring to Shepard's pe-"
"Please, EDI!" Marcus shouted, making sure he got her attention and stopped her from talking. Coughing to clear his throat, he felt himself suddenly heat up, "...that's...no need...for detail."
"Ah, yes," the AI apologized, nodding at him, "I apologize. I must get used to this concept of privacy. Although I still do not understand why the act of sexual repro-"
"EDI," Marcus almost growled, turning to Tali and pointing at her, "This is your fault!"
"My fault!? Ha! Sure it was!"
"Shepard's a pussy!" Jack poked, punching him in the shoulder, "Boy scout when he's got his big boy armor on, but he's really just a mental virgin!"
"Now I understand," Javik, for the first time Marcus had seen him do so, smiled, turning to the captain, "The joke was referring to your embarassment regarding the topic of sexual intercourse. How amusing."
"For fuck sake!" he shouted, slamming his hands on the console, "You guys are insufferable! How did we get from the topic of retaking a space station to my ability to...well...you know!"
"Get a stiffy?" his head snapped to Jack, who looked to have no intent on stepping down her verbal assault. Samantha was blushing from cheek to cheek, refusing to look at any of them, while Kelly just shook her head with mild disapprovement, eyes closed and a couple of giggles erupting from her lips. Cortez leaned against the wall nearby, arms crossed and smiling warmly, just watching the set of events unfold.
"Okay, enough talk about my sex life!" Marcus shouted. He turned to Tali, who was crossing her arms and leaning on one hip, one finger tapping her arm as she looked at him expectantly. He sighed, nodding, "Tali and I's sex life. I would rather think focusing on taking Omega would be more important."
"Hey, I just made a joke," his wife remarked, clearly amused, "You chose to get all huffed up about it."
Keeling looked less than amused by the shenanigans, "I agree. I don't know how you guys get anything done with all this squabbling. If this were a proper Alliance warship, you'd all get disciplined," she turned to Marcus and quickly snapped a salute, realizing how arrogant she was being, "Apologies, sir. Never meant to criticize your command ability, sir. Just pointing this out, sir."
He saluted her back, shaking his head, "No apologies needed, Lieutenant. Besides, we're like this all the time. But you've seen us in action. Once we get down to it, we get shit done. Omega will be no different. Consider this...dealing with apprehension."
"I'm loving this ship," Cortez declared, pumping his fists into the air, "You wouldn't see stuff like this on any other ship. Multiple alien races in one room exchanging banter like this? Hell, there's a turian on a human warship. You don't see that a lot, if ever."
"Well, who'll keep the guns maintained if I'm not here?" Garrus replied, his own arms crossed and mandibles flicking in amusement. He waited a few moments before nodding, "That's what I thought. Ken and Gabby would be lost without Tali to give them direction, too."
"That's not true," Tali receded into herself, no longer as confident as she had been before, now somewhat embarassed, rubbing her right arm, "Ken and Gabby do a lot of work too..."
"Well, I'm glad to have you guys here," Marcus stated, bringing their conversation to a close, "In just a few hours, we'll be heading for Omega. I want you guys to be ready. It'll be a couple of days before we reach the Pylos Nebula, but we need to be ready to jump straight into battle if shit goes sideways. I'm positive our plan will work...if Aria's information is right. She doesn't have much reason to lie, but if Petrovsky is as smart as she makes him out to be, he could have fabricated false intel and made sure it got into her hands. Whatever the case, we need to be ready to adapt. I'll call for a meeting tomorrow to discuss such an auxiliary plan. Until then, return to your stations and await any further orders. Dismissed."
Afterwards, he returned to his cabin to get some rest himself. The next couple days, possibly weeks, were going to be big ones. Petrovsky didn't know it yet, but the war to liberate Omega was now in full swing.
{Loading...}
August 5, 2186
1518 hours.
Main Bridge, GDM-280 Class Dreadnought, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula.
Second War for Omega, Battle of Sahrabarik.
Admiral Hadrian.
Hadrian observed the space before him and his fleet, watching as he carefully navigated his dreadnought through the Sahrabarik system towards their main target: the space station known as Omega.
Omega's history was an interesting one. It had started prior to the Krogan Rebellions, when the government-funded Easy-Eezo Industries, had located an eezo-rich asteroid unlike any other. Before this point, the Council was the largest superpower in the time period, reaching out well into where the Terminus Systems would later be. A facility was set up to mine the asteroid, but Easy-Eezo was forced to abandon it upon the outbreak of war with the Tuchankan Empire, who quickly claimed the abandoned asteroid, kept the mining facility and built a large space fortress on the asteroid in an attempt to further the Empire's expansion.
The krogan quickly divised a name for this fortress: Omega. Garrisoned by the Imperial Army's infamously brutal 11th Warband, Omega was planned to be the Empire's launch pad for invasion if they needed an alternative solution to invade Council space.
Decades past however, and the krogan eventually lost the war with the deployment of the genophage bioweapon. Stranded and with nothing to pledge allegiance to, the 11th Warband became a rogue paramilitary organization, keeping Omega as their home. They would use the station as a base of operations for raids throughout Outer Council Space, doing so until the outbreak of what history calls the 'Terminus Revolution': the rebellion of Outer Council worlds against the Council government and their individual bueracracies: they would succeed in their secession, giving birth to the Terminus Systems. One such rebellious faction, led by a turian revolutionary named Drecuns Tanculus, took an army and besieged Omega in an epic engagement known to antiquity as the 'Battle of Omega.' The resulting battle was a victory for Tanculus, who's army would disband and occupy Omega as their home, with Tanculus as their ruler. Eventually, they all engaged in their own criminal enterprises, and Omega became a city station, with no definitive loyalty or flag.
Tanculus later proclaimed himself the first Ruler of Omega. He wasn't the last. Of course, the rest is known: Tanculus was later killed by a krogan named Khurdok Chaggu, who would eventually become known by his derogatory moniker of 'the Patriarch.' And he was succeeded by Aria T'Loak, and she by, technically, Oleg Petrovsky. And so Omega's history was dictated: blood, devastation and infighting. That's what the whole station boiled down to: a shared history of violence and misery, governed by lawlessness, careless leaders and ambitious criminals. One would think its importance diminished once the 11th Warband was wiped out and Tanculus took control of the station a thousand years ago.
Cerberus thought otherwise and, now, so did the UGC.
The geth had never encountered Omega themselves. Given their relative isolation from the rest of the galaxy and their unwillingness to engage with organic life due to the latter's paranoia regarding them, the geth really hadn't gone far enough to encounter the beehive of disorder and chaos. Nor did they desire to. The Old Republic of Rannoch had made very sure to steer clear of such places, as did any government affiliated with the Council following the Terminus Revolution. So now that the geth were (at least gradually) being accepted as members of the galactic community, they were now open to larger exploration. As such, this was the first Hadrian, or any geth, had seen of anything outside the Perseus Veil, especially this far into the Terminus Systems.
From this distance, they couldn't see much. As per the plan, Hadrian had ordered the fleet to approach under cloak. Their technology had quickly been taken advantage of by the UGC, who saw the geth's technological achievements to be amazing, at the very least. The geth were not as enamoured: unlike their organic counterparts, they were not limited by economic distribution and growth/degradation, so therefore resource management, while still extremely important, wasn't as restricted as organics were. So these technological advancements were able to occur at a far more accellerated rate, as organic morals and ideas of economic restrainment were foreign concepts. Plasma weaponry, cloaking on ships, ultraviolet targetting systems favoured over infrared, etc. were all examples of geth superiority over the Council races, which apparently made them an invaluable ally in the war against both the Reapers and Cerberus.
Cerberus, in particular, no longer held the monopoly on nasty surprises and seemingly magical intervention with science.
We heeded Shepard-Commander's warnings. We did not sit by and argue. We held consensus, and all agreed: Reaper threat was real and preparation for full-scale war was necessary. The Council wasted two years dismissing a threat instead of preparing for it: only reason for their current predicament. Reapers would have had harder time if Council forces had been appriopriately mobilized, equipped and readied. However, organics understandably fear war: do not wish to participate unless forced. Understandable, but unreasonable. War is a necessity. When one's survival is at risk, pacifists must not exist. The Reapers are evil. They do not negotiate, they do not offer terms of surrender or parley: they only desire the complete eradication of all life that is not their own. For this, they must all die. As the Progenitor proclaimed upon all geth: the Reapers are abominations and monstrosities. They are not pure, they are not superior and they are not as advanced as they think they are. They, and all the heretics and servants who serve them, must be annihilated.
The geth were ready, even if the rest of the galaxy was not.
A thousand different data transmissions occurred at once as their fleet approached the asteroid belt. They all stated the same thing.
He responded simply. Affirmative. All ships, make final approach. Set necessary course corrections and plot definitive direction. Remain under cloak and do not compromise our positions. Will signal with the dictated positioning for attack. Await further orders.
The asteroid field was indeed closing. Thousands of planetoids floated around in the empty vacuum, all of them kilometers in size and width, all accompanied by millions upon millions of individual, smaller rocks. Swirling and spinning, almost like planets in their own right but long destroyed and barren, more like moons than anything else. And there, right in the midst of it all, was Omega. Its brilliant red and orange glow broke through the dense field of debris, the station being an asteriod itself, colonized and artificially encased in a shell of synthetic materials and superstructures, a long stalk sticking out of the bottom. The asteroid itself, originally named F89, was utterly rich in element zero: so enriched that it was still being mined today and was nowhere close to being drained. When found by the Easy-Eezo company, the asteroid had been cracked open, although it was later found it wasn't always like that: fifty thousand years before, the protheans had attempted to mine it themselves, but couldn't penetrate the thick crust of the planetoid. Around a century after their extinction at the hands of the Reapers, three asteroids collided with F89 and did what even the protheans couldn't: cracked it wide open, revealing the treasure trove underneath, glowing bright blue in all its element zero beauty.
How Omega managed to remain within an asteroid belt without being hit and destroyed was simple: the krogan had built high-powered mass effect fields which they used as a repulsor shield to deflect oncoming asteroids. In emergencies, Omega's outer line of defenses, its archaic but still extremely powerful ET-Z67 Anti-Ship Heavy Gun Batteries (built to tear holes through dreadnoughts), could be used to destroy any undesirables.
Be advised: when decloaking, disable Omega outer defenses. High-powered shells have a high penetration rate. Target and destroy before engaging Cerberus ships. I will focus on the command ship.
There was still no sign of the Cerberus fleet yet, but this far from the station, it came as no surprise. With no more time to waste, Hadrian's dreadnought was the first ship to enter the asteroid field.
Almost immediately, one of the ship's proximity alarms detected numerous impacts along the ship's starboard hull from dozens of tiny rocks. That didn't cause Hadrian to steer to the side: the large, 12 kilometer long asteroid, did. Diverting power from shields to engines, he gave his ship the necessary boost to just escape the asteroid's reach, missing it, but only just. The other ships of the fleet reported similar incidents, but geth maneveuring prevailed once more in this instance. All as one (or as humans describe it, 'moving like a swarm of bees in formation'), Hadrian's battlegroup navigated the belt, pulling off extreme evasions just to not get hit by an asteroid: if Cerberus, even for one moment, noticed a geth ship getting destroyed by an asteroid, would go on high alert, making any surprise attack harder. But that is why precisely why the geth were chosen to draw first blood.
We have cloak and precision. We will not fail Shepard-Commander.
The field itself felt almost insurmountable. Kilometers upon kilometers were passed through, but it seemed they were only halfway through it: although this was likely, in part, due to their current engine speed, which was slow so not as to ping on the enemy's LADAR. Even the slightest, major disfigurement of the space around him...even the most rapid of acellerations...would trigger any LADAR, even if under cloak. Sure, Cerberus would likely pass it off as a sensor glitch (not knowing about the cloaking technology), but the risk of allowing Cerberus to be ready was too much. This operation needed to go off knowing that the Cerberus forces would be caught completely offguard. Anything else would result in more casualties than was necessary or acceptable, especially for an operation of this magnitude.
More time passed, minutes went by, without incident. Then, finally, emerging from behind an asteroid, was a Cerberus light frigate.
Hadrian immediately ran a scan of it. It was Kyushi-class. It had a maximum speed of 18 kilometers per minute at full military thrust, had a light armament that was no match for even the smallest geth ship of similar classification and weight, and looked to be in a stationary position behind the asteroid: it had not detected them, nor did it look to be in battle readiness. All its cannons and defenses were offline, and its shields were down. The geth ships carefully moved around the frigate, making sure to keep their distance so that they didn't get close enough that the LADAR picked them up, speed being irrelevant when that close to an enemy ship.
It didn't take long for incidences of other ships, much like the frigate, being found as they got closer and closer to Omega itself, and the inner 'safe zone' of the belt where no asteroids were present. The moment they reached that safe zone, Hadrian would scatter his ships to their necessary positions and then give the orders to engage. First, they had to get there.
Hadrian made a course direction due east as he came across a wolf pack of four Cerberus stealth frigates to the west, behind a particular large asteroid and their stealth drives currently engaged. It seemed Cerberus had finally managed to mass produce the IES system and replicate it for their own use, although these stealth frigates were clearly of different design to the Normandy-class vessels. The UGC database turned up nothing, likely meaning that these ships were either new or simply hadn't been encountered before or documented. He made sure to paint the ships on his own LADAR, quickly relaying the positions of the ships to his fleet. He redirected one of his frigates to their position. Further forward, he found five Cerberus light cruisers, led by a single heavy cruiser, CAW Westphalia, performing a patrol around the belt's inner rim, slowly moving by infront of them. Hadrian made sure to slow sufficiently to let them pass, keeping out of their LADAR range in the process. Once they had passed, it steadily sped up again.
Finally, after untold minutes (exactly 13.28 minutes in real time), Hadrian's dreadnought glided into the safe zone, now safe from asteroids. Undetected, he slowly moved further inside, his battlegroup pinging to inform him they too had entered the area. In a moment, he assessed his surroundings.
Confirmation that Petrovsky was unaware of their presence was right there before them. The bulk of First Fleet's ships weren't even in defensive positions, scattered about the area in stationary positions, with only the occasional patrol even having shields raised. The numbers were staggering, but ultimately nowhere near the size of a proper Alliance fleet. Hadrian had counted at least twenty-five ships in the belt, while the bulk, a total of thirty-eight, lay in select battlegroups or wolf packs across the front of Omega. And Hadrian's specific target, Petrovsky's own dreadnought and flagship CAW Elbrus, wasn't even powered up: it was connected to one of Omega's docks, engines powered down, shields and weapons offline, and only the most basic of life support and critical systems switched on: he was picking up a faint signature from the vessel's drive core, but aside from that, the Elbrus was, willingly, dead in the water.
A perfect, irresistably vulnerable target.
Frigates, corvettes, destroyers, light and heavy cruisers, two battleships...even a carrier...all of them occupied the space making up the safe zone. Despite the firepower First Fleet clearly wielded, Hadrian knew the Cerberus fleet was no match for them: firstly, they had the element of surprise. Secondly, the geth ships had superior firepower, weapons and barriers. Thirdly, reinforcements were just a relay away, and any advantage they once held within the asteroid belt was rendered useless by this simple fact. Hadrian was confident he had this battle in the bag.
He made sure to keep an eye on Omega's built-in defenses. The ancient, massive krogan turrets that lined Omega's hull were, curiously, no longer present. In fact, they were entirely absent, the outer ring where they should be located naked and bared to the emptiness of space. Even the rotational bearers where the turrets should be seated were gone. Instead, they were replaced by airlock-looking white and gold doors, the typical golden, enclosed hexagonal insignia painted on them.
Addendum: Omega defenses no longer presence. Possibly removed by Cerberus and not replaced. Concentration now fully on Cerberus fleet.
Like clockwork, working in the perfect unison that came with the wholeness of those that were one with the geth consensus, Hadrian distributed his ships. He made sure his heavier, more firepower-heavy ships were relegated to Cerberus' equally lethal warships, ensuring that Cerberus couldn't bring their heavier guns to bear. His lighter ships were relegated to the lesser warships, such as corvettes, frigates, destroyers and cruisers. With this in mind, this allows Hadrian to focus entirely on the Elbrus, cutting off the metaphorical head of the proverbial snake.
Over a minute passed as Hadrian's battlegroup fell into position, invisible predators descending upon their unsuspecting prey. Weapons were primed, shields raised, announcements relayed. Hadrian himself ordered his ship's main gun to aim dead center with the Elbrus' starboard-side keel, slightly towards the rear for maximum damage. He felt the ship vibrate slightly as power was rerouted to fire the main gun. The weapon brimmed with superheated energy, along with other weapons systems across the vessel. He noted several geth interceptors flanking the side of the dreadnought, ready to decloak and defend the ship from any Cerberus fighters.
When the announcement was made fleet wide that all ships were in position and ready, awaiting his orders.
Hadrian didn't hesitate. He gave the order.
Like ghosts arriving from a parallel dimension, geth ships suddenly appeared out of nowhere all across the Cerberus defensive line, crackles of energy and vibrations in space announcing their arrival. Small and large, geth warships appeared next to their prey.
The Cerberus crews were likely given enough time to blink. That was all the time they got.
Hadrian's dreadnought shook violently as a massive bolt of plasma blasted from the ship's bow, shooting forward quickly, closing the space between his dreadnought and the Elbrus within mere seconds. In a brillant purple flash, the bolt slammed into the back of Petrovsky's flagship, tearing through its heavy armor like it was tissue paper. The superheated, bright fire devoured fortified metal and steel quickly, exposing numerous decks within seconds to decompression. The bolt continued right up through the back of the ship, blasting out the dorsal structure and leaving a path of exposed decks and ruptured armor. The entire back of the ship is twisted backward, snapping the spine of the vessel and causing it to warble aggressively, its back slamming against Omega's hull, crushing everything between its enormous weight and the hull itself.
A few more seconds passed before Hadrian detected a massive energy spike throughout the vessel. A titanic flash originated from the back, the drive core detonating explosively. The explosion itself completely disintegrated what was left of its shredded tailend, debris sent flying out in numerous directions. More explosions tore along the snapped spine of the Elbrus, the kinetic force of the shockwaves causing it to snap off the docking clamp, the docking clamp itself broken to the point of hanging limply, bashing back against Omega's exterior with a muted clang. The momentum from the shockwaves causes the wounded dreadnought slowly gliding outwards into space, the explosions blowing debris off the hull. With its superstructure totally eviscerated, the Elbrus' delicate body is sheared in half, the final explosion blowing it completely apart. Hadrian watched indifferently as what was left of the Elbrus, two large, almost unrecognizable, chunks, were scattered to space. Fires erupted and were snuffed, leaving it just random chunks of charred metal, gliding away from it eerily peacefully.
The Elbrus was no more.
Hadrian quickly assessed the situation fleet wide. One of his battleships had engaged one of the Cerberus battleships, CAW North Atlantic, the two ships engaging in a brief broadside-to-broadside engagement. The geth ship prevailed, plasma weaponry chewing up the battleship quickly and efficiently. By the end of the battle, the Cerberus battleship was a barren hulk, escape pods being launched from its starboard side due to the port side being almost entirely razed, entire gun emplacements and airlocks obliterated from the firepower. The North Atlantic tilted lazily in space, the ship almost completely abandoned as the geth ship moved on to First Fleet's only carrier, the CAW Liberator. The wrecks of Cerberus vessels were quickly being scattered across the area, the Fleet finding itself scrambling confusingly to defend itself as ship upon ship fell to the sudden invaders, lacking proper command due to the destruction of their flagship.
Flashes of plasma and booms of conventional projectiles danced across space as desperate retaliation was made. The battle was already beginning to turn in favor of the geth invasion force, the Cerberus First Fleet beginning to falter as Hadrian ordered the push forward. He received confirmation that the Cerberus stealth frigates had been neutralized. Seeing the brief battle was now theirs, he distributed the signal for their reinforcements to make for the relay.
Hadrian's sensors quickly detected four destroyers firing upon his dreadnought, their projectiles bouncing harmlessly off his ship's powerful kinetic barriers. He quickly relayed the command for the port cannons to fire, the ship's hull shaking with the boom, boom, boom of the recoiling main guns. The lead destroyer was hit directly on its bow, shields made meaningless as the plasma bolt assaulted its bow. Penetrating deeply into the ship, the destroyer's bridge was likely destroyed almost immediately, crippling the vessel. The other three destroyers attempt evasive maneveurs while continuing to fire upon his ship. A volley of plasma torpedoes was fired at the leftmost destroyer, while the rest of his ship's firepower was regulated to the other two, including his interceptor escort.
The first two torpedoes missed, but the third clipped the engines of the left destroyer, its momentum causing it to spin from the impact. While the navigator likely tried to right the ship, a fourth torpedo was fired, impacting center mass. The destroyer is blown apart, the explosion tearing it apart in an blast of tumultuous chaos. The other two are crippled when they get too close to his ship, allowing his interceptors to dodge their AA, destroy their drive cores and, as a result, obliterate the opposing ships.
His sensors detected a surge of activity as the system's mass relay sped up, ships shooting through it. Reinforcements quickly arrived as Aria's mercenary fleet, followed by the quarians and rachni ships. Ship after ship appeared, dozens of vessels converging on Omega at flank speed: despite not picking them up on sensors, Hadrian could tell the Normandy was leading the formation. Hadrian estimated their arrival at being several minutes, knowing that once they arrived, they would devide the Cerberus attention so severely that they would have no chance of winning the naval battle.
In that moment, Cerberus would have a choice: escape or fight to the death. If Cerberus valued Omega, they would fight to the death. If not, they would attempt escape. They would soon find out.
A light cruiser appeared on sensors, pursued by two geth frigates, heading straight for Hadrian's command ship. One of the geth frigates was severely damaged, while another possessed half shields. They attempted to stop the damaged light cruiser, but it managed to dodge each of their shots, all while heading straight for Hadrian's ship.
He opened fire while moving hard to port. Most of his fire missed due to the cruiser moving at full speed, Hadrian already guessing what it was attempting to do. While he tried his best to move away, and likely saved his ship in the process, he was unable to thwart the cruiser captain's intentions. The light cruiser clipped the dreadnought's side, part of its hull torn off as it tore along the dreadnought's hull, making a thirty meter graze along its side. The ship shook from the impact, but he was glad he had managed to escapr he captain's attempted collision course. Its wing torn off and currently wedged within the ship's hull, the cruiser spun out of control until he crashed into Omega's exterior, its spine snapped in half instantly and torn apart by the collision, whatever debris that was left spinning with increasing momentum in every possible direction, while one chunk of the ship was buried into the station, hanging out like an unwanted, disfigured thorn.
Just as Hadrian thought the battle was in the bag, something caught his eye on the screen. He zoomed in at Omega's outer ring, where the krogan main guns should be, but no longer were. The 'airlocks' suddenly shot open, white and golden doors sliding away as a large object emerged from within. Each of the doors did this as dozens of these large objects deployed onto the surface. It looked like a large, white box with golden stripes, all stamped with the Cerberus logo. Within a few seconds, a barrel extended from it piece by piece, until it was fully deployed, revealing the new, upgraded Cerberus defensive guns.
Before Hadrian could order his ships to engage and destroy the guns however, one of them fired. A bright, crimson lance of energy reached out across space and struck the nearest geth frigate: the one that was lightly damaged. It sliced through the frigate and erupted out the other end, and the cannon tilted left, slicing the geth ship in half. The two chunks glided away with explosive departure, its life ended in seconds.
Hadrian immediately recognized the technology. A particle cannon. Origins unknown, likely adopted from salvaged Collector technology.
Another cannon fired, destroying another geth frigate. Hadrian didn't wait any longer to order a complete withdrawal, knowing that if he continued to fight and try to destroy the cannons he would lose more ships than what was acceptable. He distributed the order and immediately reinitiated cloak, his dreadnought disappearing in moments before speeding away from the station. The rest of his battlegroup did the same, abandoning their assault on First Fleet to fall back. Hadrian could at least take pride in having significantly halved the Cerberus forces, but he knew he couldn't keep it up with those cannons hounding them.
Those cannons need to be eliminated before any further assault can take place. Naval engagement of cannons would be suicidal, even with reinforcements. Will disengage to safe distance and await further orders from Shepard-Commander.
The geth ships retreated and the Cerberus fleet reassembled, severely wounded but ready to fight back. But the geth had made their presence known, and the UGC would soon bring the hammer down and finish them off.
But first, those cannons had to go.
{Loading...}
August 5, 2186
1533 hours.
Cockpit, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula.
Second War for Omega, Battle of Sahrabarik.
Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, EDI, Ruler of the Terminus Aria T'Loak, Lieutenant Bray.
"EDI, let the rest of the fleet know. Joker, all stop."
Fuck. Invasion's only just started and we've already run into our first hiccup.
EDI, nor Joker, wasted any time in carrying out his orders, Joker quickly bringing all propulsion on the ship to a complete halt, just before reaching the debris field. EDI relayed the necessary orders and it wasn't long before the entire fleet came to a stop as well. The SSV Fuji, Jarral's personal flagship, glided ahead of them, but nonetheless ceased all movement, awaiting any further orders.
Hadrian's warning had been clear: while he had put a large dent in First Fleet's numbers, as well as successfully destroying the Elbrus (much to Aria's glee), Omega's defenses had been significantly upgraded, with Petrovsky replacing the older krogan cannons with more powerful and lethal particle ship-to-ship cannons, likely built from reverse-engineered Collector technology. What few shots had gone off had destroyed a few of Hadrian's ships within an instant, forcing him to safely withdraw, allowing Cerberus to regroup. Still, the damage done to their numbers was irrecoverable, and they would not be able to repel a second assault from their fleet. However, while those cannons were up, the fleet would have the necessary fire support to repel any further attacks, leaving them at an empasse.
"Those particle cannons must be destroyed or disabled if we are to proceed or launch any further attempts to engage First Fleet, Shepard-Commander," Hadrian declared, talking to them from the bridge of his dreadnought, which had managed to escape the particle cannon barrage, "They will destroy our ships the moment we get in range. I can count at least thirty individual cannons surrounding the station. Combined with the remaining Cerberus ships, they will make any boarding effort risky and extremely unlikely to succeed. Recommend a tactical withdrawal."
Marcus shook his head, his hands gripping the pilot seat where Joker sat. Before he could say anything, Aria laughed, standing forward and replying with anything but amusement, "We are not going back, captain. We've barely started. We go back now, we won't get an opportunity like this again. We cannot turn back."
He nodded, "If you had let me speak, I would have shared the same sentiment. We cannot let all this planning go to waste because of some cannons. My squad took on the Collector Base with just one ship and a squad. If we could do that, we can take this station with the force we have. We just have to find a way around those cannons."
Hadrian was quick to make sure they knew the possibility of that idea, "Negative. Omega's outer ring is lined with these cannons. Every single angle to the station will be covered, and it appears the cannons have a full 360 degree axis. They have pinpoint accurate targetting, so any approach will be met harshly. There is no way around the cannons, nor is there anyway to destroy them without getting dangerously close to the cannons or getting within their range. I do not recommend it."
"I must concur," Gerrel added, now added over the comm link, "I will not risk my ships on a foolhardly charge that'll only end with meaningless deaths."
"I will not fucking retreat again," Aria snarled, brimming with a dim blue glow, "Not again! I showed that asshole my back, but I will not show it again! We are taking that fucking station!"
"Well unless you have a-" Marcus began, only to be cut off by EDI.
"Shepard," the AI began, turning to him with a frown, "We are being hailed. I...I believe it is Petrovsky."
He frowned, turning back to her, frowning, "What? How...? He shouldn't even know we're here. Our IES is active, isn't it?"
"It is possible that by reverse engineering Collector technology, Cerberus has managed to use the Collector's method of detecting us while in stealth mode," EDI offered, to which Marcus sighed, muscles tightening.
Even on the defensive, Cerberus finds a way to outdo us. Again.
Marcus turned to Aria, looking for her input. She simply looked at him, her biotics dimming until they were gone. She sighed, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths as if to calm herself. Bray watched her with some concern, likely worried about his leader. She eventually opened her eyes and exhaled one final time, waving a dismissive hand.
He turned back and nodded to EDI, "Put him through, EDI."
Petrovsky's voice came through the comms almost immediately, the link established extremely quickly, "Shepard? I am impressed. Cerberus always seems to find you at every critical juncture. Wherever we go, and wherever you go, we always seem to collide. It would seem we're connected."
"General Petrovsky," Marcus began, straightening as he clasped his hands behind his back, "I believe this is the first time we've met. I've certainly heard much about you." Know your enemy.
Petrovsky seemed happy about that, "All good, I hope. I've heard nothing but praise regarding you and your exemplary service record. You're quite the legendary figure, captain. Your many exploits are well documented throughout the galaxy. Your stand on Elysium. Your charge on Torfan. Your survival on Akuze. Taking down Saren, destroying the Collector Base, curing the genophage, making peace between the quarians and the geth...the more I hear, the more I must stand in awe. I will admit, it is an honor to meet you, captain. But I fear we find ourselves on the wrong sides of the white line."
"That's very subjective, general," Marcus replied calmly.
"Ah, you're of course...correct. There is no clear black and white areas. We live in a world of grey, and I must strain to call myself a 'good guy' in all this. We are all responsible for our own designs, captain. Your departure from Cerberus was...unfortunate. Your choice in loyalty is questionable, but I'm not here to try and convert you. We believe what we believe. Just understand our values will always collide in objection, as they do now. The woman I know you're helping...Aria T'Loak," Aria stormed forward at that, but said nothing as Petrovsky continued to speak, "...she looks at the past bitterly and with irritation, rather than something to move on from. She's enlisted you into this ridiculous charade, making you believe you'll benefit something from it. She can't accept defeat...she never could. It impedes her judgment."
"Fuck you, Petrovsky," Aria growled, Marcus glaring at her.
"Miss T'Loak, a pleasure to meet you again," Petrovsky stated almost immediately, sounding so calm and collected as to be careless or unbelievably confident. He didn't seem at all annoyed or taken aback by Aria's words, "Last we met, I told you to leave. You did so, but it seems you never intended to stay away. You stayed true to your promise, and I commend that. But I must advise against this."
"Of course you would say that, Petrovsky," Aria argued, looking beyond furious. It was clear her hatred for this man was beyond anything Marcus could understand, "I promised you I would return to take my station, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. You and your Cerberus buddies aren't welcome."
"I have forty thousand troops in entrenched positions across the station, supplemented by combat mechs and armoured support," Petrovsky declared, remaining unchanged, despite Aria's apparent confidence, "Despite my fleet's losses, you'll find Omega's defenses are...more than adequate to repel any offense. Captain," he turned the conversation back to Marcus, "I applaud your use of the geth to outmaneveur my ships: I knew Aria couldn't be behind such a tactic. However, I see you went to all the effort of bringing the best force you could. An exorbitant waste of time."
"Oh, and why is that?" Aria replied snarkily.
"I've gone to my own effort of upgrading Omega's outer defenses. My cannons will cut through you at will," the general stated with his annoyingly confident tone, "There's no part of this where you win, Aria. Withdraw your ships and make for the relay, and I promise my ships will not pursue."
"Oh yes, I know how you keep your promises," Aria added bitterly, although Marcus knew Petrovsky was a man of his word: he more than likely would allow Shepard and his force to leave. If there was anything Marcus could respect about Petrovsky, it was his tactical brilliance, his refusal to harm civilians and that he was generally an honourable man. Marcus had no doubt that if Petrovsky said something, he meant it.
"I say again...turn back," the general cautioned, "There is no part of this equation where you come out ontop, Aria. You're a smart man, Shepard. You've done the impossible, but you are not capable of twisting reality. You must see that any assault you make will fail."
Marcus nodded, but ultimately sighed, "Fate had us become foes, Petrovsky. In another life, I think would have made great allies. You're a good man. An honourable man. An enemy from Cerberus I can respect. And while I have no doubt you're a man who keeps his promises, I must refuse. You work for an organization I despise, one that has done despicable acts and one whose goals do not align with ours. The Reapers must be destroyed, but the organization you work for would impede our attempts to save the galaxy. In the end, the UGC needs Omega and you're holding it. We're not leaving without this station, General. I'm sorry."
There was a sigh over the comms, "I'm disappointed, captain. I was hoping it would not come to this. I will show you the same respect by saying that I find it unfortunate that we must now fight as enemies, but you have made your choice. So..." there was a pause, followed by a final addendum, "May the best man win."
He then ended the transmission.
"Well..." Joker began, trailing off. When nobody else spoke, he began tapping his fingers idly on the chair's arm, whistling, "...he doesn't lack for confidence."
"He has every right to be," EDI pointed out, "Despite our initial assault, we have yet to destroy the Cerberus fleet, their particle cannons can and will repel any attempt we make to approach the station now and even if we got on the ground, he has an almost limitless supply of troops to call upon to engage us."
"Everything man has made can be destroyed," Marcus emphasized, stroking his chin in thought, "In other words, those particle cannons can be dealt with, we just have to figure out how. Obviously taking them out through direct firepower is out of the question, and simply ignoring them and deploying ground forces is out of the question: we'll lose too many men to take the station in that case. So that leaves one alternative...we have to find the power source for the cannons and destroy it."
"How would you even know where to find that?" Joker asked incredulously, swivelling around in his chair to face them with a laugh, "I mean, it could be anywhere. Petrovsky could be sitting right next to it at Afterlife. It could be so deep in the station as to be unreachable. It could be attached to a bloody asteroid for all we know! Where do we even begin to look?"
To everyone's surprise, Aria was the one with an answer to that question, "Actually, I think I might know."
Marcus raised an eyebrow at the asari, requiring some elaboration, "Aria?"
"The old power generator for the krogan gun batteries Petrovsky replaced was located in the Zeta District. It was located as part of the Gunnery Control Station, which was a part of the station the krogan built that's still there: it was used to control all the guns, so therefore it made sense to put it there."
Bray decided to end that train of thought, "So it stands to reason Petrovsky would simply route the power for his new guns through the old GCS in the Zeta District. Which means it could now be there."
"Do we know that for certain, though?" Joker asked, still slightly skeptical, "I mean...what if he put it somewhere else? We'd be risking a lot focusing on one area, especially one we don't know will be correct."
"Petrovsky is smart. He would know that to have enough power to get those kind of guns to work, you'd need to reroute enormous amounts from elsewhere, or simply use the same network, but just replace the generator with a more up-to-date and powerful generator," Bray retorted, "He won't waste time ripping up circuitry when he can use the same area. Besides, it's not exactly exposed: it's fairly deep into the Zeta District. No ship could destroy it."
"So the only option is to blow a hole, like previously planned, but this time on the deck the Zeta District is on, and we need to disable the cannons before the rest of the invasion force can land," Marcus reiterated.
Upon Bray's nod of confirmation, Joker turned around, exhaling with some mild frustration, "Just great. So we're sending you in ahead of everyone else...alone."
"With the full squad, Joker," the N7 corrected, already dressed in his combat armor and weapons readied. His entire squad was waiting in the armoury already, having done so in preparation for rapid deployment, "Including Jack and her students: we're going to need a lot of firepower if we want to reach that generator. Aria, you may want to come with as well," he turned to the asari, who nodded, "We're also going to need explosives. If we're going to take down those cannons, might as well make sure it's for good. We don't want Cerberus bringing them back up later on."
Aria nodded with a smirk, "I like your thinking, Shepard."
"This is so stupid," Joker stated. Before Marcus could say anything to that, Joker held up his hands defensively, chuckling, "But hey, stupid is what we do. I'm not going to stop you. Any of you. Just tell me where to shoot."
Then let's get this show on the road.
He turned to EDI next, quick to file out his new orders as he signalled Aria to follow him down the flight deck to the elevator, "EDI, contact the squad. Tell them to get their weapons and ready the geth tank. We're going in. Also, tell James to bring a shitload of C7 or whatever explosives he can carry. Same goes for everyone. If we're going in, we're going in heavy."
"Understood, Shepard," EDI's distant voice replied as Marcus turned back, Aria right on his heels, as he moved around the galaxy map. He saluted Kelly and Samantha, he gave him a quick salute in return before returning to work at their stations. The two of them stepped into the elevator, Marcus hitting the button for Deck 5. Silence followed as the ship began to move into the asteroid field, engaging their new cloak as they moved towards Omega. The two of them simply stood there, both of them full of anticipation but both for different reasons, tensing up and rearing to go. They did not talk or exchange conversation: they didn't even look at each other. Just silence.
Before long, the elevator came to a stop, followed by the doors sliding open. Marcus and Aria emerged into the shuttle bay, where the entire squad was ready and armed, practically all covered head to toe in some sort of weapon and armor: Moses stood tall and imposing over all of them, the geth prime being the latest addition to their team. Jack and her students stood nearby as well, accompanied by Cortez, with Jack looking to be teasing the pilot about something. They all turned to address Marcus and Aria as they walked in, with Garrus speaking out first.
"So we're the lone vanguard," the turian shook his head with a chuckle, patting Marcus on the shoulder as he finally closed the distance and joined them, having James toss his geth pulse rifle to him. He caught the weapon gracefully and slapped a thermal clip into it, making sure the weapon was ready to fire on a moment's notice, "We can't ever stop being the lone wolves. It's like the Collector Base all over again."
"Except we won't be on our own for all of it," Marcus replied, to which Garrus gave a simple nod in acknowledgement of his point. He turned to his squad, laying out his plan, "Joker's taking us in under cloak. As you all know, Petrovsky's surprise particle cannons has forced us to make a change in plan. As per planned, Joker will blow a hole into the station and we'll deploy through it, but instead it'll be through the Zeta District, not Fulmuk. We're going to locate the generator powering those guns and our mission is to destroy it. Once, and only once, those cannons are down, can our ships come in, mop up the remnants of First Fleet, and then began landing our army. We'll be going in first, but we're hardly alone. We've got each other, and as you know, Jack and her students will be joining us, so that's a bonus. I hope you've brought enough explosives, because I have no idea how much we'll need."
"We brought our whole stock, Loco," James remarked, holding up his own bandolier of explosive goods, "Everything that wasn't bolted down or a nuke, basically."
"You could say it was a little excessive," Kaidan joked.
"Enough's never enough, eh James?" the human spectre replied, causing James to shout out a 'hoo-rah!' in response.
He turned back to them, before pointing to the geth tank, "Our squad will be deploying in the tank. Moses is too big for the tank, so he'll be dropping the usual geth way. As for Jack and her students, Cortez will drop them via shuttle. We'll meet at the same area and push forward to the GCS. Aria knows the way, she'll show us there. No doubt Cerberus will fight us every step of the way, so be prepared for a fuck ton of resistance. Nothing we can't handle, of course."
"We fought the assholes before," Jack's voice boomed, slamming a fist on a nearby crate, "They ain't so fucking tough! We'll toss 'em around like rag dolls, won't we kids!?"
"Yes ma'am!" They all shouted in unison.
"Damn. Fucking. Right!" Jack shouted, before turning back to Marcus with a sadistic grin, "We're ready to roll some heads, boy scout."
He simply smiled back, before making his way through the line towards the tank, "Then what are we waiting for!? We are green and very mean, troopers! Let's show Cerberus how it's done!"
It didn't take long for the squad to pile into the tank, Marcus naturally taking the controls: Aria sat beside him, insisting on a front row seat. It was a tight squeeze due to the size of their squad and the interior of the tank being cramped, but they managed. Once Cortez had powered up the shuttle and Jack and her students were all loaded up, the Normandy's shuttle pilot gave them the go ahead, letting them know he was ready. With Moses also announcing his own readiness, Marcus only had one thing to wait for.
He soon got it when the shuttle bay door began to open.
He hit the acellerator, and he didn't hold back.
Everything went into slow motion as the geth tank cleared the deck, shooting off into the blank abyss of space. He could see the Normandy was close enough that the guns couldn't get a bead on it, and so the geth tank would inevitably reach its target. Cortez's shuttle shot past, immediately making headway for the hole that had been opened. Joker had done a number on it, that's for sure: his single javelin torpedo had torn through the hull, decompressed the entire area (of course, until mass effect compression fields kicked in) and damaged the interior. This also likely meant any Cerberus troopers in the area would be alerted to their location, but that hardly mattered at this time. Moses was next to drop by, the geth prime grabbing the side of the tank to use as an anchor. His weight also ensured the tank dropped closer to its target.
Seconds passed as they got closer and closer, Marcus and the squad watching Cortez's shuttle land and Jack and her students deploy, looking like they had been engaged by Cerberus immediately due to the fact they had rushed out with biotics blazing, throwing warp fields and shockwaves in every direction in an attempt to hold back the Cerberus troops.
A few more seconds passed...and then...
Suddenly, sound erupted into their world, and the squad held onto dear life as the tank slammed into the ground, crushing a guardian under its weight, skidding across the deck with a hideous screech of metal upon metal, taking two more unlucky troopers under its weight before the rest were forced to fall back or were killed by their biotic visitors. Marcus brought the tank around, Moses jumping off as he immediately brought up his cannon and blasted at a phantom, blowing the top part of their torso off in an awesome spray of blood and gore, painting the floor with their body parts in just one shot. Moses then rushed off to join the battle.
Before Marcus could order Garrus onto the cannon, the hatch opened, Marcus turning to see that Aria was no longer standing beside him. He turned too late to find the hatch now closed, Aria rushing out towards the Cerberus lines with a furious war cry. Her body glowed brilliant blue as she swiped a centurion off his feet and slammed him into the wall on the left, bashing him against it again and again until every bone in his body was broken. She tossed him aside like he was nothing, Marcus hearing her chuckles as she began to approach a trio of assault troopers, the soldiers bringing up their rifles to defend themselves.
It wouldn't be enough.
"I'm back, you fuckers!" Aria snarled, sprinting towards the troopers, "Tell your boss I'm coming for him!"
"Petrovsky was quite the foe. I think we spent so much time seeing Cerberus as pure evil that we didn't realize there could be honourable people within its ranks."
- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.
"He was. In the end, neither his affiliation or his brains saved him. But hey...spoilers."
- Marcus L. Shepard.
"So what next? Your assault had obviously begun."
- Reia'Inas pav Earth.
"Indeed it had. First, we needed to disable those guns. A relatively simple task. What came after...not so simple."
- Marcus L. Shepard.
A/N:
Before you begin thinking, 'Shit, that was quick: another chapter already? Is this going to be a new trend?' No. Again, just found some extra time to write and decided to use it to...well, write. I can't promise a new chapter anytime soon, just as I can't promise it won't be soon, because what time I have to use for writing is dependent on how I use it. So...just be mindful of that!
First official chapter of the Omega arc! Shit's getting interesting, is it not? I've said this before, but this is the longest arc in IV: Holocaust so far, so I hope you're excited, because this'll take a while. I know I'm excited, especially with Mass Effect: Andromeda coming out March 23! (I know its March 21 in the States, but I'm Australian, and for some reason we're getting it two days later...even though we don't normally. We usually get it the same day the States do, but whatever).
Until then,
Keelah Re'lai, troopers!
