Chapter three is now up. A big thanks to everyone for their feedback and especially to those who pointed out my spelling mistakes. Hopefully there aren't too many errors this time, I posted the last two chapters the same night I wrote them.
Anyway, enjoy.
Update: Just changed the spacing.
3: Dumat's revenge
Nurel was board out of his mind. After questioning Vanrick's actions one time too many he'd been assigned to watching the scanners for any enemy ships. It was probable the dullest post on the ship but he could still find way to pass the time. One way was to quietly laugh whenever Vanrick got a bad report of the battle groundside. The captain had been getting a lot of bad reports lately.
The large capital city on the planet's surface had turned out to be an entrance to and even larger underground city, and trying to fight the locals in the confined, pitch dark tunnels was proving to be difficult. The Turians were still winning but they were encountering sterner resistance the further in they pushed.
Nurel hadn't seen any of the indigenous people himself but he had heard descriptions from some of the others. Apparently they were, vicious, primitive and seemingly fearless. One officer had described them as "Nightmare versions of Asari". Some of these reports were no doubt exaggerated but they all had things in common so some parts must have been true.
Nurel's musing was interrupted by a loud beeping from his console. The mass relay was activating and there were signatures incoming.
"Sir!" called Nurel.
"What is it this time?!" demanded Vanrick, in no mood for more 'questions'.
"The relay is active sir. Enemy ships inbound."
"Excellent." said Vanrick, his demeanour suddenly cheerful. "Order all ships into a defensive formation. I doubt that whatever forces they've scraped together will pose much of a threat."
Six small frigates and eight cruiser size ships dropped out of FTL and began moving towards the Turian fleet in orbit.
"Impressive for a rushed response." muttered an officer next to Nurel.
"All ships, lock on targets and prepare to-"
"Sir!" Nurel interrupted Vanrick's orders "More ships inbound."
"How many?!" demanded Vanrick, none too pleased about being cut off.
Nurel stared at the screen in front of him. One of the readings said 'Number of incoming signatures: 120'
"Lots" he replied.
Every turian in the room stood where they were, transfixed as they watched the darkspawn fleet pour through the mass relay. They were massively outnumbered and from the size of the guns on some of the ships they were outclassed to.
"Orders sir?" asked Nurel, still staring at the enemy fleet. If this was what they could bring in an emergency, what forces could they muster in a full war?
"S-start falling back to relay three fourteen. Tell all craft to use covering fire and-"
"Sir!" Nurel interrupted again.
"What is it his time?!" yelled Vanrick.
"There's one more signature heading our way. It's a lot bigger than the others, likely dreadnaught class. Arriving in three...two...one."
The darkspawn fleet had parted to allow the new ship to pass between them. It was gigantic. At least three kilometres long. As it passed by the other darkspawn ships they could see the ships name 'Dumat' written in bright golden letters on the hull. The dreadnaught was practically bristling with weapons but it was the four main guns arranged around the prow that looked the most intimidating. The prow itself was shaped to look like a high dragons head, complete with curving horns that went almost all the way back to the bridge near the middle of the ship.
Then the ships 'mouth' started to open. At first Vanrick thought it was revealing a fighter bay. It wasn't. Inside the ships prow was a gigantic cannon. And it was pointing directly at the turian fleet.
Vanrick didn't even have time to yell out his orders before the Archdaemon class ship fired its Blight Cannon.
Codex: Archdaemon class Dreadnaught
The Archdaemon class ship is the pinnacle of darkspawn weapons technology. Close to three and a half kilometres from prow to stern it rivals even the Destiny Ascension in size. Most of the space inside the ship is taken up by the Blight Cannon, a massive anti ship weapon capable of killing even other dreadnaughts in one hit.
Codex : Laser Cannons
While all races have laser technology only the darkspawn developed it into more than a point defence system. Each cannon has its own independent power supply so it doesn't drain any energy from the ship it's mounted on. Laser cannons have a higher rate of fire and more destructive power than mass accelerators but they do overheat if fired constantly.
There was a bright bloom of light as the cannon fired, launching its sixteen tone projectile at the nearest turian cruiser. An unlucky frigate crossed it's flight path and disintegrated like a gnat hit by a bullet. The shell continued onwards through space, hitting the cruiser square on the prow. It didn't stop or slow, it ripped the ship vertically in half. It continued on through the next ship, and the next ship and the one behind that, finally coming to rest buried in the centre of the fifth ship in.
Any surviving turian crew members hopes for rescue were sort lived. Inside the metal shell a small computer registered that it had run out of kinetic energy and sent a signal to the large nuclear device it was attached to. The explosion practically disintegrated the ship, sending shards of metal scything through space and into nearby turian ships, causing horrific damage to the fleet.
That was when the rest of the Darkspawn fleet entered weapons range.
It was less of a battle, more of a nug shoot. Turian ships were shredded like paper by Darkspawn mass accelerators, torpedoes and (in Dumat's case) experimental laser cannons. Agile frigates, piloted by shrikes, weaved their way between the bulky turian craft to deploy all manner of cyber warfare devices, while fighters and bombers (launched from carriers that had hung back from the main engagement) targeted weakened and damaged ships.
It was all over quickly. Five turian ships survived, including the command cruiser, none of them were in good condition. They were currently retreating towards the mass relay they had arrived through, on the other side of the system. Six Darkspawn frigates and two cruisers , the Highever and the Ameranthine, were hot on their heels. The rest of the fleet settled into orbit around Rivane.
More vessels were arriving in system, not warships but transports, carrying the Darkspawn army to the surface. Leading this flotilla were the Grey Warden ships. As they began to make planet fall, two of the Warden's cruisers began to descend with them. It would take them longer to reach the planet's surface than the shuttles passing them by, but with the payload they were carrying it would be worth the extra wait.
Codex: Darkspawn ships.
The darkspawn take the same view on naval warfare as they do on ground battles. Quantity beats quality. Darkspawn fleets normal outnumber their enemies many times over. They also poses many redundant and backup systems along with protective runes and glyphs etched into their hulls. This all makes Darkspawn ships difficult to damage and almost impossible to destroy.
The Darkspawn made landfall in the forest just outside of Rivane's capitol. Mainly, this was too avoid the turian anti-aircraft fire, which was heaviest in the city, but would also allow the Darkspawn access to 'backup'.
The turian's , in their arrogance, had thought they could meet the Darkspawn head on and destroy them at their landing zone. This turned out to be a bad idea.
The Grey Wardens were on the ground first and were instantly greeted by a barrage of gunfire from the turians. They quickly took cover behind trees and boulders and started shooting back. Soon the whole area was filled with bullets flying back and forth between the two armies.
One Genlock ducked as a bullet tore through the tree bark above him. "Missed!" he yelled at the turians. He turned to face the emissary, who was crouching behind a large rock a short distance away. "Any time now!"
The emissary, a Hurlock, grunted then began to call on the taint inside him to power a spell. Reality seemed to shift slightly as the veil weakened around them, allowing spirits and daemons to enter the world. The spirits began to posses the nearest bodies they could sense. The trees.
The turians began screaming and running as the very forest itself came alive and attacked them. Other emissaries began casting as well and soon the entire forest was heaving with sylvans, marching directly towards the turian's position.
As soon as they realised their attack had failed the ranking turian officers had ordered their troops to take up a defensive position in a ring around the city. As plans went it was up there with the maggot line but it was the only card the turians really had left. It didn't work.
The Darkspawn already on Rivane had known from the start that they couldn't beat the turian invasion, so they'd gone underground. In some cases' literally. Upon hearing that help had arrived these guerrilla groups began rising up out of sewers, abandoned buildings, secret tunnels and basements. The turians organised defence soon became a few scattered groups desperately trying to hold out.
The local militia were not one organised group and their equipment reflected that. Different groups were using everything from scavenged military gear to kitchen utensils. One unit in particular were fighting with weapons and armour they had scavenged from the local museum. The same museum in which they were currently having a fire fight with turian soldiers.
Bullets and arrows were flying left and right with both sides taking cover behind overturned bookshelves and tables. The museum curator, a Shriek, was none too pleased about the level of destruction as he surveyed the battle from his office on the upper level.
A bright flash caught his attention and he saw a turian sniper crouching on a walkway in front of him, taking pot-shots at the Darkspawn below. He grabbed the nearest weapon to hand, a solid marble statuette of a naked Andraste and began to creep up behind the sniper. When he was right behind the turian he lifted the statue and ,muttering a brief apology to Andraste, brought it down on the snipers head.
The turian dropped like a sack of deep mushrooms and the Shriek picked up his rifle. "Let's see...trigger, scope, barrel. How hard can shooting be?" He lifted the rifle, aimed at the turians below and...missed.
Instead of hitting the enemy soldiers he hit a fire extinguisher to their left. It exploded in a blast of foam that left the turians so stunned they didn't see the rest of the darkspawn charging their position until it was too late.
Somewhere else in the city
In one of the cities abandoned office blocks a small Genlock looked down at the turian patrol below him. The aliens had gathered chunks of debris around themselves forming a makeshift fort and were now engaged in a long rage skirmish with the darkspawn.
The Genlock looked back at his five friends, two other Genlocks and three Hurlocks, all of whom were holding a very large piano between them. Perched on top of the instrument was a bust of a Hurlock composer, staring out with a stern glair almost as if he knew what was about to happen.
"Alright, they're in position. Three. Two. ONE!" they rushed forward and threw the piano out the open window.
The sound it made when it landed was like a bronto trampling an orchestra. Any turians that weren't killed were wounded or knocked out.
Along the central highway
The tank had been trading fire with the darkspawn for what felt like hours. It was all that was left of the 8th armour division that had landed with the rest of the turian invasion, the other five had been pulled apart by living trees. It was currently serving as a fire support platform for a turian infantry platoon who were taking cover in front of it.
"I knew this was going to go badly. I just KNEW it!" said the tanks gunner for the millionth time.
"Will you stop going on about it." replied the driver, who was staring intently at the viewing screen. "Those things are still out there, they may push any second."
"They brought the trees to life for the love of the spirits! That's not biotics, that was magic!"
"There is no such thing as magic!"
Several fireballs rocketed over from the darkspawn's position and landed close to the tank.
"Then what was THAT!"
"Enemy is pushing!" yelled the driver. "I'll start reversing the tank, you just shoot anything that comes after us."
The gunner didn't respond. He was too busy staring at the monster that had just walked into view.
The monster was an Ogre named Arvaarad. He'd heard the tanks gun firing from a block away and he'd decided it would be a good opportunity to test the experimental laser cannon he was holding.
An Ogre would look terrifying if it was wearing a pink dressing gown and covered in koala bears. Arvaarad was wearing a massive set of power armour and holding a glowing red laser cannon the size of his arm so you can imagine the effect all this had on the poor turians inside the tank.
Arvaarad flipped a switch on the cannon, changing it to 'rapid fire mode'. In this state the laser sacrificed most of its stopping power for a massive increase in its rate of fire, perfect for mowing down platoons of infantry.
The Ogre grinned as his suites targeting computer locked on to each turian soldier in front of him. Before firing he yelled out a quote from one of his favourite plays. "And Lyna said unto Urthemiel 'EAT IT YOU SCALEY BASTERD!" Bright beams for red light lanced forwards from the laser cannon's barrel, each one striking a turian, each one fatal.
With the turian infantry dead, Arvaarad switched the cannon back to anti-armour mode and took aim at the hover tank. That was when the laser blew a fuse and went off line. 'Well, it was experimental' thought Arvaarad. He threw the malfunctioning weapon aside and bellowed a challenge at the tank.
The turians inside finally snapped out of their fear induced inaction. The first thing they did was fire off a shot at the Ogre.
Despite the heavy armour and its protective runes the round still hit with enough force to push Arvaarad back a few steps but that was all. The ogre gave a gargling chuckle, then started running towards the tank, planning to ram it head on.
Face with the sight of an Ogre charging straight at him the turian gunner panicked and fired the main gun before he had a good shot lined up. The round that would have taken Arvaarad's head off simply sailed between his horns and off into the distance. The was a loud metallic crunch as Arvaarad slammed head first into the tank, pushing it backwards. He then brought his arms up underneath the tank, impaling it on his armours forearm mounted blades and tipping it on to its side.
With the tank now neutralised it didn't take Arvaarad long to peel open the armour and pull out the two occupants.
"Not so high and mighty now are you, you avian ingrates."
Codex: Pheastron class tank.
The Pheastron class hover tank is a light raider tank employed by the turian military. It's fast and highly manoeuvrable but it lacks the armour and firepower present in most other tanks. It's mainly used for infantry support and harassing enemy positions.
Turian command, near the centre of the city.
"I want contact restored with the fleet NOW! Tell all remaining ground forces to begin falling back to the spaceport!" roared general Desolus. There was a round of 'yes sir's as his staff set about carrying out his orders.
The turian general pinched his nose and began to strategise. This battle had gone completely in the enemies favour. The turians were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers and from the looks of it the flood of enemy troops wasn't going to stop anytime soon. On top of all that he was getting reports of the locals using 'otherworldly' abilities and it seemed that Vanrick had taken the fleet out of orbit, leaving him and his men stranded.
Desolus knew that the only way any of them would survive was to hunker down and wait for reinforcements so he'd ordered all his remaining troops to pull back to the makeshift spaceport the turians had set up to land their shuttles.
Then Desolus heard it. A loud 'boom', like a thunderclap. He'd been in enough war zones to know what that sound was. A large ship had just entered the planet's atmosphere.
The skies above Rivane
The Grey Warden cruiser 'Vigil' had been the first to make planet fall and was now settling into position just outside the city. A soon as the ship had come to a complete stop it began opening every hanger bay, cargo door and hatch. Moments later the air was filled with the sound of wing beats as dragons poured out of every opening in the ship.
It took the fire breathing lizards about ten seconds to reach the city and they instantly began char boiling anything that wasn't a Darkspawn while their Grey Warden riders opened fire on the fleeing turians.
Codex: Dragons
Dragons are large, flying reptiles native to the Darkspawn home planet of Thedas. Intelligent, powerful and capable of breathing fire they are the planets apex predator. Dragons are used as the mounts of the Grey Wardens and are mainly used in urban environments. Although they are less durable than a fighter craft they can outmanoeuvre anything else in the sky.
Back at turian command
Desolus watched as the winged beasts blasted their way through his remaining forces. This was the final nail in the turian's coffin. There was simply now way they could win against all this.
As if to illustrate this point a dragon flew past the window, carrying a screaming turian in its talons.
Desolus breathed a heavy sigh. He'd never had to give this order before and doing it now felt wrong.
"Comms officer. Send out a general order. All troops are to lay down their weapons and...surrender." the turian sitting at the transmitter was stunned for a moment but he dutifully carried out his orders.
"Soldier" Desolus motioned to a private standing guard nearby. "Check on the troops in the lower levels of this building. Make sure they all get this order."
The private saluted and made his way to the door. It wasn't a second later when Desolus heard a loud clang from over by the door. He spun round to see what had happened and instantly regretted it.
There were about five of the locals, standing in a line, all pointing bows and arrows in his direction. The private was lying on the floor in front of them, and standing atop his unconscious body was one of the short ones, holding a frying pan in one hand and what looked like a bottle of cleaning solution in the other.
Desolus raised his hands in surrender. Around him his staff did the same.
"You don't think they eat their enemies do you?" asked the man next to him.
Desolus shuddered at the thought. "Well, judging by their teeth, they don't eat vegetables."
In space, close to relay 314
The relay 314 incident was fast becoming the biggest military bungle in turian history. So far almost an entire patrol fleet been lost, complete with hundreds of soldiers, vehicles and a ranking general. And things were still getting worse.
Four of the five fleeing ships had made it to the mass relay and had successfully escaped the Rivane system. The last ship, the one that hadn't made it, was the command cruiser. A lucky shot from the 'Amaranthine' had destroyed the ships engines, leaving it virtually dead in space. The darkspawn frigates were circling it like wolves, blasting away and weapons such as gun turrets and GUARDIAN lasers, leaving the ship defenceless.
It didn't take long for the two pursuing cruisers to catch up. Merideth's ship, 'Highever' was the first arrive and pulled up along the turian ships starboard side.
"We are in position admiral." announced the tactical officer "Shall we prepare for boarding action."
Merideth leaned back in her chair. She seemed very relaxed and casual as she gave her orders "No. A little torment first I think. Side guns!"
All over the 'Highever's hull, gun turrets swivelled round and began unloading into the turian ships side. The cruisers kinetic barriers were already down so every shot blasted away a section of hull plating in a fiery explosion.
Merideth's fun was interrupted by an incoming communication from the 'Amaranthine'. Reluctantly she put the call through. The view screen in front of her changed from a view of space to the bridge of the 'Amaranthine'. "Merideth! Stop shooting. We need prisoners to interrogate. Which tends to work best when they're alive!" demanded Captain Watchguard.
Merideth reluctantly ordered her crew to cease fire. As an admiral she techniquly outranked Watchguard but he was a Grey Warden. Their order wasn't part of the regular chain of command, they only answered to the Omega himself. "So Watchguard, how will this work."
"We will both send our forces in through the enemies hanger bay. From there my Wardens will take the bridge while your forces seize the engine room."
Merideth nodded in agreement. "Any additional support?"
"A shriek frigate is already latched on to their underside. Their strike team will go straight for the security hub and take over the ship's systems."
"Understood." she pressed a button and ended the transmission. "Tactical! I want every trooper we have sent over to that ship. And tell the Ogres to get into their torpedoes."
Inside the turian ship 'Victory'
Watchguard's plan had one major flaw. The darkspawn didn't know the layout of the turain ship so they only had a rough idea of where they were going. This gave the turians a home field advantage, allowing them to set up traps and ambushes. But as soon as the turians set up any kind of barricade or strongpoint the Highever would fire a boarding torpedo containing an Ogre straight at them. If any turians did survived the pods impact they would defiantly be killed by the rampaging Ogre that would emerge seconds later.
Inch by inch, room by room, the Darkspawn were taking over.
Outside the ships security room three turian guards were standing, nervously listening for approaching enemies. The ship had been boarded five minutes ago and from what they'd herd on their radios, the battles were going in the invaders favour.
One of the guards herd a muffled noise behind him. He spun round just in time to see a tall, slender figure throw something at him. That something turned out to be a knife. The lyrium etched blade passed right through the turian's barriers, armour and lodged in his windpipe.
The other two guards herd him fall but before they could even sound the alarm they were killed in the same way by the rest of the Shriek strike team.
With the guards down the assassins gathered outside the security hub. Pinpointing the hubs location had been a matter of both guesswork and mapping the general layout of the ship. One of the team prepped a demo charge to blow the door off. He was stopped by a hand sign from the teams alpha. The alpha motioned for the team to line up on either side of the door. Once everyone was in position he simply knocked on the door and then quickly flattened himself against the wall.
The door slid open and a single turian stepped halfway out. "Yes? ARRRCKKKK!" Two shrikes impaled him with their blades simultaneously, lifting the turian off the ground. There was one last turian sitting in front of a bank of monitors inside the room. He was dispatched with another blade to the throat.
As the bodies were being moved the teams tech specialist plugged a data spike into the computer, connecting it to the hacker waiting back inside their ship.
Back in the shriek's ship the hacker watched as a flood of new data crossed over his computer screen. "Time to work my magic." he said to no one in particular. He started typing away furiously while relaying tactical info to various teams.
"Team beta, you've got five hostiles waiting in the room on your left. Team echo, there's two of them round the next corner, circle round to flank 'em. He he he, you can't catch a digital shadow."
"Hello, anyone out there hear me?"
The hacker was interrupted by a transmission from inside the ship. He taped a few keys and focused on of the ships security cameras of the source. It was a Genlock in the engine room. He was standing atop a turian, holding a war hammer.
"Reading you Genlock. Status?"
"We're in control of the engine room...Well, what's left of the engine room." a bullet fired from somewhere off screen flew past. The Genlock ducked slightly and threw a fire rune in the shooters direction. The hacker heard the explosion a few seconds later accompanied by the sound of screaming.
"Understood. The Grey Wardens are almost at the bridge. With luck this will all be over soon."
Outside the ships bridge.
After about half an hour of solid fighting the Grey Wardens had finally made to the bridge. At first they hadn't really known where they were going but once the Shrieks had taken the security room their hacker had guided them straight to their destination.
"Alright, here's the plan." said the alpha leading the Wardens. "We kill the lights and go in hard and fast, take them all down before they can retaliate. Support! Did you get that?"
The question was directed at the hacker still monitoring the operation. "I be reading you. Now may be the best time, looks like the captain's having a fight with his officer."
Inside the ships bridge
"Get back to your position Nurel!" road Vanrick.
"Not this time Vanrick." yelled Nurel.
The bridge crew was arranged in a semi-circle around the entrance, pointing their guns at the door. They all knew the enemy was coming or them but with security down they didn't know when. Most of the officers were staring at Vanrick and Nurel, wondering who would shoot who first.
"It's CAPTAIN Vanrick!" continued the captain.
"To be a captain you need a ship. Your utter incompetence has lead to all this. You have single headedly got sprits know how may turians killed and dragged the Hierarchy into an interstellar war." It was sort of inspiring to see Nurel venting all his repressed anger, even if it was likely to get his executed.
"Vanrick you are probably the dumbest, most over confidant, arrogant excuse for a turian I've-"
Then all the lights went out, coupled with the sound of the doors opening. Darkspawn are a subterranean race, they can see better in the dark than they can in broad daylight. Turians have no such advantage.
It was utter chaos. There were bright flashed that illuminated the ship for brief moments as people fired their weapons, and the air was filled with the screams of the wounded and the roars of the darkspawn.
The lights flickered back on.
Nurel was still standing where he had been. He gun had been taken off his and there was now a very angry looking Hurlock pointing a rifle at his face. As he looked around he saw that at least half of the bridge crew were dead, the rest were in the same situation as he was. Vanrick had slumped back into his chair, three bullet holes in his chest leaking purple blood. He was very clearly dead.
Back on Rivane, near the spaceport
After the order of surrender had been given the turian forces had...well...surrendered. They were currently being herded towards the spaceport so they could be moved up to the ships in orbit for interrogation. While the fleet prepared for its new arrivals the turians just waited in a line with the darkspawn standing guard.
Desolus looked around at his battered troops. He spotted one woman that was shivering uncontrollably. "Soldier"
"S-s-sir!" the trooper in question recognised Desolus instantly and made a shaky salute.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"One of them t-t-threw a rock that exploded like a b-b-blizzard." she explained.
"You think you had it rough." said another soldier that had been listening in. "I saw three of those flying lizards carry off a tank!"
They were interrupted by a scream from further away. Everyone turned round, the Darkspawn brought their weapons to bear, thinking they may be under attack.
A single turian ran out from round a corner. He was unarmed and was defiantly panicking. Seconds later two full grown drakes skidded into view and began chasing the turian. The darkspawn lowered their guns, a few even started laughing. The soldier was saved from becoming dinner surprisingly by another dragon. A large female decided to land for a rest on some rubble close by and the drakes thought it would be a better use of their time trying to impress her than chase the small screaming scaly thing. The turian made it to (relative) safety unscathed but no less frightened.
"Alright that's enough, back to work people." said the Hurlock in charge. He looked up and saw the first shuttles descending towards them. "Do we have any shapechangers?"
Two Genlocks stepped forward. "I want both of you to fly as high as you can and keep an eye out for any stragglers. First sign of trouble, roar really loud."
The Genlocks nodded and started running off away from the spaceport. Once they'd gotten far enough away they both began to glow with an inner light, then they changed into dragons and took off.
The turians watched this with both amazement and disbelief.
"Did you just see that?" asked an officer next to Desolus.
"You mean the two short ones turning into flying lizards?" he replied.
"Yeah, that."
"No. I didn't."
"Good, neither did I."
Codex: Ogre Power Armor
The first armored Ogres appeared during the Darkspawn Civil War. While the armors appearance has changed very little over the centuries the technology behind it has. Originally made of steel, modern Orge armor is made from an alloy of steel, veridium and a small amount of volcanic aurum. Other modern features include an advance heads up display and a portable shield generator all of which serves to make Ogres even more dangers on the battle field.
I take it everyone enjoyed it when a piano feel of the Turians? This will be the last chapter for a while but once I've gotten some other projects out of the way I'll come back to this.
TTFN.