Note: I now know that it is the Haliot ancestral fortress, not the Wrund ancestral fortress.
The Warrior Queen's mass accelerator guns lit up, pouring fire into the advancing army, which consisted of a vorcha vanguard backed up by some heavily armored krogan. Like experienced soldiers, the front few ranks broke and took cover from the weapons fire.
Over the comm network, everything was going to hell fast. A looped message from Abel was broadcasting, telling the ground forces to be prepared for the State army, which had discovered the corporate spec ops before they had finished preparations. Fawkes was shouting their position to anyone who would listen. "…Repeat, we have a massive State force headed south and west down the main thoroughfare. Contact immanent! Get the men ready!"
Ground command was slow to respond. Skirmishes were popping up all over the combat zone as the State forces became aware of the situation. Corporate forces were being stretched thin as everyone was requesting reinforcements. "Fuck!" Fawkes cussed as he shut off the comm "So much for smooth and painless."
To top it off, the cruisers in orbit were being challenged by a large State fleet of frigates and fighters. As Dhazil was encased in darkness, reinforcements were being called for from corporate forces waiting beyond the mass relay in the Valhallan threshold. What had been a subtle coup was now a pitched battle for survival for the corporate forces on the ground.
Fawkes strafed to the left, dodging several SAMS and taking a smattering of mass accelerator rounds on his kinetic barriers. The gunship's guns doggedly assaulted the source of the fire, cutting several vorcha and krogan to pieces. "Fawkes get us out of here before we have to dodge every missile on this rock!" Tracy yelled, and Fawkes opened the throttle wide, raising the ship several hundred feet and retreating from the now-entrenched army.
Their VI's advanced warning system went silent, telling Fawkes their opponents weren't about to launch another attack. So he spun and flew quickly back to the command post in the industrial park. He spotted the rest of Raven squadron, noting their weapons were in fire position. "Hey Tracy, we have a mission," he informed his co-pilot, seconds before his ship's VI told him that orders were being uploaded.
He recognized the voice of the XO from the Eclipse; "Raven One, Abel's transport was shot down over a residential area on the east side of Dhazil. He's requesting evac, and the Excelsior has given the go ahead. Take your squadron south first and cleanse the area of State air forces, then head east to Abel's last known location."
"All right Raven Squadron, fall into arrow formation," Fawkes commanded the other gunships, turning his craft south and cruising over the buildings. He was immediately flanked on either side by the rest of his squadron, and the Mantises flew south in a tight formation.
Their first warning of the enemies was the ship's VI warning of incoming fire from 7 o'clock. "Break up and engage!" Fawkes ordered, and the gunships scattered moments before an enemy formation tore through them. The VI highlighted nine enemy gunships in the viewport. Fawkes continued shouting orders. "Don't let them get above or behind you! Watch each others' six! Raven Three, you're too low, don't be a sitting duck!" He banked left, just dodging two missiles that passed beneath the Warrior Queen's wing. "Tracy on your left!"
"I see 'em!" Tracy responded, his mass accelerator guns up and firing, tearing at the shields of two enemies. One flew lower to evade the fire, while the other attempted to reverse and spin around. Fawkes followed this one, boosting higher to keep away from return fire and to give Tracy a clearer shot. After another moment, the gunship's shields gave out and the guns tore through the armor beneath. The craft exploded, and now there were only eight enemies to worry about.
The comm was alive with chatter, as Fawkes' squadron gave the enemy's positions to each other. Two more enemy gunships were shot down by Raven Three and Raven Five, working together to harry their opponents with mass accelerator fire before finishing them off with missiles. "Hey Fawkes, watch Raven Four," Tracy said.
The Heartbreaker had roped three opponents, and was leading them on a merry chase. By way of strafing and random directional changes, the pilots kept themselves out of direct fire from their pursuers, who doggedly kept up the game of cat and mouse. Suddenly, Raven Four made a break for the buildings below, on a direct collision course with an apartment complex. Two of the pursuers followed, while one, smarter than the rest, put on the breaks. At the last possible moment, the Heartbreaker boosted to the side and slid between two darkened buildings. One of the gunships managed to repeat the maneuver, while the other slammed headlong into the apartment, its shields useless against the building's solid bulk.
From within the labyrinth of apartments there was a second explosion, but Fawkes couldn't see who was still alive because a swift evasion of enemy fire took the scene from his viewport for a moment. The remaining enemy gunship was making a sweep of the wreckage when he returned, when suddenly Raven Four popped up above a nearby building and fired two missiles. The first took out the gunship's shields, the second connected with the cockpit and sent the craft crashing into the ground below.
Tracy whistled in praise as the Heartbreaker moved to engage the three remaining enemies. Fawkes grunted in response as he flew directly across the sights of another gunship. Turning to engage him, the enemy was ambushed by Raven Two and shot down. The remaining gunships tried to disengage and flee, but they were pursued and brought down by the rest of Raven squadron, who hadn't lost a single ship.
"All pilots check in, in sequence," Fawkes ordered, turning the ship to face his men.
A grizzled voice went first. "Raven Two, shields down, but we're okay."
Next was a young man's voice, sounding thoroughly unconfident. "Raven Three is all right. We're still at 50% shield strength."
"Raven Four is at full shields, and we're ready to get this show on the road," an impatient female voice shouted over the comm, making Fawkes wince.
"Raven Five is in the air. Ealos says he also wants to keep going," an asari voice lilted.
"All right, we're headed out. Back in formation everyone," Fawkes ordered, turning the craft east now, towards Abel's position. As before, he was flanked on both sides by his squadron.
As they approached Abel, the comm suddenly came alive with chatter. "Abel, this is Raven One. Can you read me?" Fawkes spoke clearly, wanting to be heard over the other voices.
The voice from earlier, now sounding harried, blared back at him in response. "This an exctract? About damned time! We're pinned in a large mansion, taking fire from the north and east! Can you get to us?"
Cresting a large bank of tall buildings, Fawkes could see the mansion and gunfight in his viewport. The mansion was surrounded by a high wall on the south and east side, and the south side opened onto a clearing with a landing pad, probably for a hovercar. "Abel, there's a hovercar pad on the south side of the mansion where we can land. Can you get to it?"
"Hang on a moment," Abel said, and a few seconds later several green pins popped up in Fawkes' viewport. The men below had activated their IFF's, allowing the pilots to see where they were. Four pins were located in a guest house on the west side of the mansion grounds, in what looked like a guest house. Snipers or wounded, most likely. Seven more were in the mansion proper, exchanging fire from various windows with enemies in another house on the northern side of the grounds. And the last five pins were strung out along the wall on the east side, fighting off a large group of krogan who were behind some wrecked vehicles. "Raven One, confirm you can see us."
"I see sixteen pins Abel. Looks like you guys are pretty spread out," Fawkes told him. "Our cargo bays can't hold more than four people maximum, so you need to pick and choose who you want out first." While Abel deliberated, Fawkes passed out orders. "Raven Four, you support the men along the wall where you can. Raven Five, you and I will demolish the house on the north side. Raven Three, land and pick up whomever Abel sends your way. Raven Two, cover him."
Everyone assented via comm, and the squadron broke off to their separate assignments. Raven Five fell in a little behind and to the left of Fawkes. "Seranni, you know what to do?"
"As always, sir," came the dutiful response. The two gunships broke off and engaged the enemies in the house separately. Fawkes kept his ship back, and let Tracy pick off individual targets with the mass accelerator guns. Raven Five went in fast and unloaded two missiles directly into the enemy's teeth, quickly flying high and away from a possible counter-attack.
Elsewhere, Raven Four was strafing away from enemy fire, retaliating with punishing volleys of their own against the ground forces. The darkened streets below were lit by carcasses of grounded hovercars, ripped to shreds and smoldering by sustained weapons fire. From out of nowhere, a mass accelerator cannon started shooting, ripping into the gunship's shields. Raven Four immediately shifted and dropped, slipping away from the devastating fire before the shields gave way. The gunner responded by sending a volley of missiles screaming towards the cannon, and was rewarded with a light show featuring severed vorcha limbs and armaments being blown to pieces.
"My cargo is full sir!" called Raven Three, taking off and closing their narrow bay doors. "Requesting further instructions!"
"Right! Switch places with Raven Two!" Fawkes instructed. "Abel, send the next four men to the southern landing pad."
"Copy that Raven One! Keep up the close air support!" All five men along eastern wall fell back into the mansion itself. Noticing the lack of opposition, the pinned krogan in the street pressed their advantage. The walking tanks rushed to cover behind the wall, heedless of the Heartbreaker's suppression fire. Several SAMs flew to meet the lone Mantis, and from somewhere another mass accelerator cannon was up and firing.
"Seranni, go and support Raven Four," Fawkes ordered, rising above an approaching rocket while Tracy shot the vorcha who had fired it.
"Copy that sir." The other gunship spun and zoomed off to assist the harried Heartbreaker, who was still evading the mass accelerator fire.
"Sir! My cargo bay is full. Send in the next transport." Raven Two took off from the hovercar pad and moved to join Raven Three.
"All right. Abel, send your next four men over. Raven Five, change in plans, come and pick up this batch. Everyone else, protect the mansion. Don't let a single enemy inside until Seranni is away."
The lack of ground support was starting to show, now. With only four men covering the mansion from two directions, the enemies were getting bolder, rushing forward more before getting behind cover. On the northern side of the mansion, vorcha sprinted from the now-demolished house towards the, unhindered by the defenders and unfazed by what few rockets the Ravens had left to throw at them. "We're all out of rockets," Tracy informed Fawkes.
"So is everyone else," Fawkes responded, banking and going low, while Tracy kept the trigger down. Mass accelerated slugs raining over the goblins, forcing them to take cover for a few moments before rushing forward again.
On the east side, there were now two mass accelerator cannons up, and no one had enough shields to risk taking one out. All the defenders could do was strafe away from the fire and keep harrying the advancing krogan, slowing their advance across the estate grounds to the mansion itself.
"Sir, that's four more safe and sound," Seranni's voice sang over the comm as she rose from the ground.
"All right Abel, get the hell out of there," Fawkes ordered, turning and booking it toward the hovercar pad. "Everyone fall back to the pad and cover their retreat. I'll land myself this time."
Fawkes pointed his ship toward the pad and accelerated, then pulled up and shut off the eezo core at the last moment. The added mass of the ship, combined with the lack of propulsion, served to make a quick, if rough, landing for the two pilots. The doors behind the cockpit slid open, waiting for the arrival of the last four troopers. Up above, the four gunners kept their fingers on the trigger, suppressing the state troops now inside the mansion.
Four figures in black combat armor sprinted towards the gunship, the only thing marking them as friends being the green pins on Fawkes' viewport. They scrambled into the cargo bay and yelled for the pilot to take off. The doors slid shut as the gunship lifted off the ground. Swiftly banking left, away from several rockets, Fawkes climbed rapidly to rejoin his squadron.
"Raven One to ground command. We've secured Abel and are headed back to the Echo rally point."
"Rodger that Raven one, we'll have a space cleared for you."
The squadron made a hard burn back to safer skies, and was soon above their command center. The ship's VI told him where ground command wanted him to put down. After landing, the ships were surrounded by maintenance drones refitting weapons and charging the shields. The pilots were swarmed by the rescued troops, who all wanted a look at their saviors.
Abel strode over to Fawkes and shook his hand. "That was some brilliant flying you guys pulled off. I hope I get to work with you in the future." Abel's skin, hair, and eyes were tinged green. Fawkes had heard of humans experimenting with pigmentation, but had never seen someone actually go through with the procedure.
Grinning, he returned the handshake warmly. "Don't sell yourself short, your men could've held out all night if they needed to. But still, I appreciate the praise."
"Abel! Captain Fawkes! Ground Command has new orders for you." Both men rolled their eyes, then turned to follow the messenger.
They went into the commandeered warehouse, up some stairs, and into what looked to be a foreman's office. A viewing screen along the wall had real-time positions of all the corporate forces inside Dhazil, as well as where the known State forces were located. Combat zones were tinged orange. From the looks of things, The west and south-center sections of the city were in corporate hands. The central and center-north were in dispute, with State forces sending reinforcements into the combat zones. The entire east side, where Fawkes and the Ravens had just been, was in firm state control. That wasn't even mentioning the pockets of resistance within the corporatist territory. All along the west side, orange dots indicated a firefight. The meaning was clear enough to Fawkes: Dhazil was going to be an uphill fight.
It was clear Abel and Fawkes were the last to arrive in the room. Several other ranking officers were seated around the office, and the ranking official in the room, an armor commander from Sonax, looked eager to get things started. "Right! Everyone, here is the situation. Our cruisers in space managed to get a call out to reinforcements before the State forces took down the comm buoys around Paz. Two more Sonax cruisers, three Guanghui frigates, and a Binary Cruiser with three extra fighter squadrons managed to break into the system. We're due to get reinforcements within the hour."
He touched the viewing screen, and the map zoomed in over the center of the city. "We can't keep up pressure in the center. We just don't have the manpower. The trouble is," he continued, scrolling to the left, following a street across the city before stopping at their current location, "we're doomed if they take it now. It gives them a spearhead right to our heart."
"Are we the only command center in the city?" Fawkes asked. "I thought five gunship squadrons were going to drop into Dhazil."
The armor commander shook his head. "Two of those came in too close to the fortress and were shot down. But we managed to set up a southern command post here," he indicated on the map, "in an old mineral processing facility. But they're in as bad a spot as we are. Look," he showed them, scrolling across from the southern command post to the fighting in the southern portion of the city. "They're only a few blocks short of being wiped out."
Fawkes nodded. The situation was pretty dire at this point. Without a command center, modern infantry tactics and organization were impossible. The corporate forces would be reduced to roving guerilla bands, easy pickings for the more numerous and well organized State army.
"Seeing as how there's no other options," the armor commander went on, "I'm going to organize a strategic withdrawal into the mountains." The screen scrolled to the southwest, coming to a stop over a valley in the mountain range. "There's enough space here to land shuttles and gunships, as well as drive APCs in and out. Once the advance team gives the all clear, we'll start hauling ass over there to get the hell out of this frying pan."
Fawkes stepped forward. "Permission to be part of the advance team," he stated. "We can be in and out before anyone else."
The armor commander shook his head. "No, I have a special assignment for your squadron. Abel!"
"Sir!" the spec ops man immediately snapped to attention.
"Get a couple of Makos for your team. I'll download a route onto your datapad. I want to know what's out there before first light."
Abel nodded and strode quickly from the room. The armor commander continued handing out assignments for the assembled brass. As the room thinned out, Fawkes was conscious of being ignored. He signed, and waited calmly in a corner, knowing the commander would talk to him once everyone else was gone.
After telling the last of the officers left, the armor commander turned to Fawkes. "As I said, I have a special mission for you."
Fawkes pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against and stood at attention, waiting for orders.
"How much to you know about vorcha?" the commander asked.
"Not a lot. They seem to like hitting each other more than talking, though."
The commander laughed. "Well, I hope you like getting hit."
Thanks go out to Swordsman of Shadow for being my first reviewer! Everyone else should try to be as cool as him and review a whole ton!