Joker swore as a laser from the Reaper nearly hit the Normandy, he manipulated the controls and danced the frigate around several wrecked ships, the Reaper filled the main view, it's shields were taking a beating from multiple Turian, Asari and Alliance vessels, the Geth ships were almost destroyed and the collectors had been driven off.
The Normandy's Thannik cannon played a blue laser across the Reaper as it flew by, the small reaper fired again and speared a Turian cruiser on it's ruby laser.
Joker was in the middle of maneuvering through the wreckage of several Geth ships when the commander called.
"What's the situation Joker?". joker was annoyed by the distraction but did his best to reply without showing it.
"It's uh, fine, the fleet is holding out quite well, Retribution B is being hit hard and it's support fleet is at 47%.".
"Good, we are heading for the command. Center, the station is crawling with Geth and Collectors, so it might be a bit before the defense grid is active again.".
"Great, just hurry.". Joker shut the comm off and turned around for another pass. This time the Thannik cannon's laser hit armor and left a glowing scar on the Reaper, not very deep but a scar nonetheless, the fleet admiral's voice formed on the comm channel.
"Its shields are down, all ships focus fire and bring it down!". The remaining ships turned away from everything else and began to pour fire onto the reaper, the Geth ships took this opportunity and began to attack the alliance ships that had once been beating them back, this forced a third of the fleet's firepower to be diverted.
The reaper recovered from the onslaught and resumed firing, two more ships died as their shields popped and their armor boiled away. It seemed like the reaper would win anyway until the orbital station flashed to life and it's weapon systems came online.
Hundreds of missiles, pulse lasers and kinetic rounds raced toward the Reaper, it seemed to absorb the massive amounts of destruction and turned, it accelerated away, disappearing into space along with the six Geth cruisers that had survived. The humans and their allies had won this round.
Joker wiped the sweat off his brow and slumped in the pilot chair, he sighed when the commander contacted the ship.
"Can't get a few minutes rest before someone calls around here.". He muttered before receiving the call.
"Joker, send the lander to pick us up.".
"You got it commander.".
A few minutes after David and the away team were back on the ship Councillor Anderson contacted Shepard. David received him in the comm room.
"Shepard, how did the battle go?". David grinned.
"We drove them off, but we'll need some new ships to defend this colony, we lost a bunch in the battle.".
"No problem, we can send thirty fresh ships over immediately, on a different note, the council is calling all Specters to the citadel for some sort of unveiling, you'd better hurry back.". Anderson signed off, and Shepard ordered the Normandy to return to port.
The Citadel, one day later.
Shepard and twenty other specters were clustered inside an observation room, holograms of the council were projected in front of the window, on the other side of the clear alloy were two ships, covered in large white sheets, the Asari councillor was the first to speak.
"In this time of war we need our specters more than ever, that is why, with the help of the Human Systems Alliance, we have developed a new breed of ships, we present the Normandy class stealth frigates!". The sheets were pulled off the ships, revealing two ships similar to the Normandy but less angular and smooth, the assembled specters murmured amongst themselves, david just chuckled to himself.
"Joker is going to love this.". He thought, the Turian was he next to speak.
"As you all know, he original Normandy, and the SR2, their crews and commander have preformed most admirably, but they cannot be everywhere, so we have created this new class of frigate for the specters and their teams, they are equipped with the latest technology and are equipped for specter level missions, now all they need are commanders, and a crew.". A Turian specter by the name of Tuthik was the first to step forward.
"My crew and I will take on this great honor, does the ship have a name?". The asari councillor shook her head.
"Not yet, you must name the ship yourself.".
"Very well, this ship will be named, Infinity.". The council nodded their approval, the second specter to step forward was an Asari, she named her vessel, Pride. The two specters left to gather their crews and vacate their old ships, the council members answered the question that was on everyones mind.
"There are already more Normandy class frigates in production, they will be assigned by status, the next three should be ready for duty in three days, until then, resume your duties.". The meeting was dismissed and Shepard headed back to the Normandy.
"No way!". Joker was laughing as David told him of the new frigates.
"We did such a good job hat they named a ship class after the Normandy? Cool!" he leaned back, both men were sitting at a table in the Normandy's mess hall nursing a drink, possibly the last drink they would have for a while.
Over the next three days, the Normandy and her crew were sent to various locations in and around the Scorpio systems, trying to anticipate the Reapers next move, there were only a few sightings but each one was closer to the citadel, finally the council contacted Shepard. Anderson spoke on behalf of the council to Shepard.
"The time has come, we have no other choice but to assume that Retribution is heading for the citadel next, we are calling all the warships we can spare back to the citadel, there is already a joint species fleet assembled and ready to defend.". Shepard shook his head.
"I have one more thing to do before I can come back, I'm heading back to to try and speak to Vigil again or get some data on the reapers.". Anderson nodded.
"Alright, we'll continue to gather our ships, good luck.". Shepard and Anderson saluted each other and closed the channel.