Dedicated to DarkDanny, JustAFerret and SheenWinning. Enjoy guys.
It has been decided that I will make five chapters out of this. Maybe to get you a little bit more informed of this universe and understand some terms.
DarkDanny: Thanks for all your support, your reviews and everything. This is for you pal.
JustAFerret: Thanks man, I appreciate it, and now sit on your ass and enjoy this! Maybe you will get some inspiration to get that chapter of yours out!
SheenWinning: We share something man, me and my dad love science fiction, anything from Star Wars to different universes. This is also for you, enjoy :D
X12 or Lt. Heikki: I am sorry you do not like it, but regardless I will continue.
Chapter 2: Operation Summer Awakening
Sergius was smiling. Hell, he was chuckling at how happy he was! The flexible point had turned into a complete success. The geth were retreating with the Imperial Alliance Army in full pursuit. Main objective, and all secondary ones were achieved with such efficiency that it impressed him.
Sergius was an enigma for most people. He was rated as one of the best generals and greatest tacticians on the galaxy, such a small feat for the son of the emperor of Earth, Julius Sergius. Yet, no one knew his past life, or how he became such a good officer.
While no one had dared to ask him on his face, sometimes Sergius wondered when he would settle down and live a good, happy life with family and children running around the house. 'Not today.'
Sergius was now looking through datapads sent to him by the high ranking commanders in charge of the full might of the planned attack on Ludilmis, the capital city of Rannoch.
He wondered how the city was lost back in 1905, but he was now in charge of taking it back, for the cause, all for the cause…
"Sir?" There was a knock on his door. Sergius had been sitting down for the past two hours planning the attack on that sacred city.
"Yes Lieutenant?" His voice was fully professional, as he tried to hide the fact that he was quite happy with the events that had unfolded in the past three days.
"Sir, Supreme General Gerrel is requesting a meeting with you." The officer sounded a little agitated, perhaps nervous? Sergius couldn't figure it out, so he asked.
"Alright, at what time does he want me to set up a link to his bunker?"
"Sir… he is standing outside… with me." Sergius couldn't help but chuckle at the nervousness of the officer.
"Tell him he can pass Lieutenant." But he wasn't finished. "And next time, do try to let him in even if I am not here."
"Y-yes sir! Of course and I'm sorry sir."
"Don't you worry Lieutenant; all of us are a little agitated at the moment."
Sergius heard a nervous chuckle before the door finally opened. Stepping in was a tall quarian, probably the same height as Sergius himself, six-one, very muscular looking, and his eyes were deep blue, almost like the ocean back on Mare Nostrum. His uniform had many medals and precious stones, everything leading to an exceptional general and soldier. He had command in his presence, and he was a man to not screw with.
"Supreme General Sergius? It is good to see you again." The quarian general smiled.
Gerrel then took a glance at the door, and as it was closed, his body relaxed a little.
"You should make these guys aware of my meeting with you Serge."
The human general smiled as he got up and shook his hand, hard, with Gerrel. It was clear that these two were great friends.
"Oh well, attack has been so good they are all waiting for me to throw a party." Sergius responded, smiling.
Gerrel chuckled. "Wish I could get one of those."
Sergius then gestured Gerrel to sit on a chair, in front of human general's desk, so Sergius made his way to his own chair.
"How is life?" Gerrel asked grinning.
"Oh you know, blowing up some geth here and there, and then launching full scale attacks with thousands of soldiers, pretty basic stuff." Both men chuckled loudly until Gerrel put up a serious face.
"Are we alone?"
Sergius smiled and looked towards the back of his office.
"Alanus, Lucius, Marcus, you guys may go, I have to be alone for this meeting."
When Gerrel was about to ask if he was crazy or drunk, he saw three heavily armed men appear out of nowhere, nodding at Sergius and saluting Gerrel, then walking calmly towards the door. As it hissed, Gerrel's shocked face made Sergius laugh hard.
"Who the hell were those three stooges?" Asked a perplexed and confused Gerrel.
"Oh Arcanii, my bodyguards, you get used to them eventually."
Gerrel smiled. "Damn, and I thought having Urban Cohorts around my bunker was bad enough."
"So, what makes you want to meet, in private, with me?" Sergius put a little emphasis on the phrase private.
"I have received your offer, and it looks damn impressive. I actually don't like but love the idea."
"Give me your thoughts, it can't be that perfect."
"Well, I like the system and everything, most of all the law of the defense. However, the name is kind of… lame."
Sergius chuckled. "Lame? It's great! Well, it was all that came to my mind to describe that kind of thing."
Gerrel grinned. "Oh well, then what do you think? Should we push this to our ruling bodies?"
"We should, war is not over yet, but it will end eventually, no doubt about that."
"Alright then, I will get this to the Enclave, so the name sticks?"
"Yes, it will be impressive, even to the damn politicians."
Gerrel let out a laugh. "It is classic that we military men despise politicians, nothing more that rats trying to get away with it."
"Indeed." Sergius smiled as he looked through his window, the busy flow of soldiers and gunships coming and going. "I think the name is great don't you think? The Tritarchy, the Power of the Three."
Gerrel couldn't help but smile.
Outskirts of Ludilmis, Rannoch. June 15, 1910.
Ludilmis was less than four miles away from the main frontlines. The geth were putting up a stout defense, but nonetheless, were being overwhelmed by the powerful tank divisions and the great air support. The quarians were providing some of their best engineers and medics, which were making the battle easier for the IA Forces. Easier... as in a little less tough.
"Listen up maggots! We are going to attack a geth defensive position, so I expect each of you to do your proper job; otherwise you might see either a geth behind you or me punching you to unconsciousness."
Nax was giving his speech as he and his men prepared for an attack on a heavily armed geth position. Now, this point was really important, as there were geth AA guns and powerful mortars which could cause trouble for the relentless allied advance.
"Now, snipers, you know the drill, scout, give us anything on the enemy. Riflemen, stay close and provide supportive fire in case one of our scouts gets discovered. Engineers, hack into whatever the hell you want, as long as those damn guns," Nax pointed at some huge AA guns beneath a little hill that overlooked the huge battle going on, "don't get to fire to our birds. Understood vermin?"
"Yes sir!" The soldiers cheered as they prepared for the so called 'Operation Summer Awakening'
The radio then roared. "Red Fury One, proceed with the complete destruction of the AA guns, over."
Nax pressed his own radio. "Copy that command, consider it done."
Scouts began to disperse in the deep of the forest-like environment. It was actually a park built hundreds of years ago by quarian researchers and environmentalists. Most of Rannoch was a savannah like environment, but forests existed, rare but they did exist. They were a majestic sight…
Humans had been impressed by them ever since the fist landed on Rannoch back in the 1840s. The human embassy was built close to a forest. Sadly, this one was destroyed during the first days of the Morning War.
Nax had been in the human embassy, and saw how dozens of diplomats were gunned down by the machines as control was completely lost by quarian authorities. One of these diplomats was Nax's friend, and these trees reminded him of that fatidic day. 'You will pay synthetic pieces of shit'
Riflemen kept a close distance within each other while engineers were busy with their omni-tools, messing with them in attempts to hack the guns.
"Sir, I managed to get to the system." A quarian soldier said.
Nax smiled. "What are you waiting for? Share it with your teammates and unleash hell on their software." He then talked through the radio. "Listen up, hacking is successful, await my command to attack with everything we have, we will be supported by Plumbatarii Air Group One so keep it shut until I say so."
The 'yes sir' came in unison. The engineers smiled. 'They did it? That was fast.'
"It is done sir; the guns have been hacked and will be frozen for a couple of minutes, awaiting your command."
It was now Nax's turn to smile. "Hell yeah. Scouts, riflemen, Operation Summer Awakening starts now."
Soldiers began to fire on the geth, which were completely taken by surprise. Snipers took out geth infiltrator units; riflemen provided cover for their engineers as they hacked into the geth units. Geth units turned on each other while the riflemen destroyed them easily with their shields weakened. Snipers were already getting rid of the last geth units standing. Within a couple of seconds, the geth were eliminated, but not before a geth prime emerged.
"Engineers, overload its shields! Riflemen, destroy that asshole! Go!" Nax was enjoying the huge fight taking place, and he was incredibly happy that his men were making a huge mess.
The skies shook as Plumbatarii gunships fired towards the geth camp, leaving nothing but rubble. The geth prime was completely evaporated by the powerful missiles that landed all over the place.
Nax smiled and pointed towards their ally ships. "Thanks for that Air Group One, we are now advancing into enemy territory."
"Copy that Red Fury One, we will now provide cover to Legion South, keelah se'lai." The gunships then flied to their next position. 'I love those shitheads'
"Sir, planting explosives on the AA guns!" Exclaimed a dwemer soldier as he got three small black boxes out of his pocket and began computing the last orders.
Nax paid close attention to the soldier. The difference between humans and dwemer were now evident to him. Dwemer were a little taller in their average appearance, had really colorful eyes and their hair was mostly silver. However, the biggest difference between both species was the ear shape. Dwemer had their ears pointy and a little thinner, while humans had them smaller and round looking. Still, it was very strange… both species treated each other like brothers, no racism, no hate, but teamwork, laugh, and they were very similar, both biologically and psychologically speaking. Cunning, ruthless, adaptable, intelligent and strong all round.
"Sir, explosives planted and set!"
Nax looked into the horizon, and saw the sun beginning to rise through the mountains that were beautifully overlooking the battlefield. This chain of mountains proved to be quite a shield for a flanking move on Ludilmis, protecting the right flank from a full scale invasion. Not enough now though.
"Everyone! Move it or serve as meat shields!"
The fifteen men strong platoon ran to the forest, which was less than twenty yards from the little hill they were running from.
BOOM!
The AA guns were no more, first hacked and then destroyed by Pillum Bombs. These bombs were powerful, capable of destroying an entire floor of a building or a whole street, depending on the power placed on the instrument.
Nax turned and saw his men crouched and waiting for orders. He smiled and shouted, "Okay vermin, it's time to take that city, I am craving for more action. So move it!"
The platoon made its way towards the end of the forest, and the sight was incredible. There was a valley, which overlooked the southern part of the city. Thousands of soldiers marched along the the tank divisions, the Zeus fighters engaging geth drop ships, while the gunships unleashed a hurl of missiles on geth positions outside of the city, which was now within a hundred yards from the main battle line.
"Alright, city is already being attacked. Our objective is to support that damn attack and dismember any stupid geth that gets in our way." Nax was walking calmly, but smiling nonetheless. The radio was screeching with tons of voices shouting orders or asking for support.
"This is Pontus; we are engaging the geth outside the city, requesting air support against catapults! Coordinates, three, zero, four, one, nine!"
"This is Plumbatarii Air Group One, engaging geth artillery position."
"This is Hog One, squads are hungry."
"This is Acadian Three, awaiting orders."
'Acadian.' They were the most powerful artillery units. They had the heavy onagers, powerful artillery cannons capable of turning an entire city to dust after pounding it with enough firepower for a couple of minutes. These units were famous for annihilating a geth infantry division within five seconds.
"This is Shadow One, taking position by the general hospital."
Shadow One. Nax knew who those were. Urban Cohorts, the best of the best in the frontlines, powerful and heavily armed soldiers capable of turning the tide of any battle. Nax had always admired how humans and dwemer were capable of training such bloodthirsty fighters. He had seen them in action many times, and each and every one of those times, they had won…
"Shadow, this is Red Fury One; we are going to take position at the Roman District."
"Copy that Red, we will provide cover for you. Shadow out."
Well, that was easy. Now, it was time to walk into urban fighting, living hell if you ask anyone.
Legion South was making its way into Ludilmis, pounding geth trenches, one by one. Zeus fighters and Colis'tie units were destroying geth drop ships all over the place. Tanks were engaging heavy geth positions or carving a path for the legions to follow.
Colis'tie, the best for anti-aircraft. Quarian soldiers launching massive attacks against air units with plasma missiles and launchers, all produced in cooperation with human and dwemer military scientists and engineers.
Nax signaled with his right fist to stop. His entire platoon obeyed and turned to see, from a distance, the huge battle taking place. The sound of artillery and small arms was heard mightily.
"We have geth armor divisions! Engaging hostiles!" Hog One was now engaging geth tanks, similar in design to quarian armor divisions, but more effective in terms of technology. 'How in the hell did these synthetics armed themselves to the teeth?' Nax wondered.
"This is Buster One, we are on our way."
Suddenly, hundreds of soldiers with red uniforms appeared and launched their beam attacks against the geth tanks. By the dozens, these tanks were destroyed. The geth attempted to retreat towards the inside of the city, but the main highway was blocked by Comitantense Tanks. These tanks, along with the buster regiment, completely annihilated the geth division within minutes. Such a sight for Nax's men, who were cheering silently.
Nax turned to his second in command. "Marcus, who the hell were those buster maniacs?"
Marcus grinned. "Prototypes sir, they are called armor busters. The special Ares plasma launchers just got out of brainy academy. They are extremely effective on armor; heat is so bad that it overwhelms almost any material within seconds."
Nax grunted. "Sure as hell those guys did it in milliseconds."
Marcus chuckled. "Well sir, maybe the air and tank divisions left them soft."
"Maybe." Nax grunted.
"Alright people, let us move out, time to get this shit done." Nax said as he got up and turned his fiery red eyes on the huge quarian capital. 'Hell approaches.'
"Yeah!" Was the response of his men as they marched into battle.
The city was already on fire. Hundreds, no, thousands of soldiers were already inside, fighting their way to the central square, which was the last piece of ground to fall to the geth back in 1905 before the allied armies retreated. Now it had to change.
"Objective is clear boys, clear the way towards the hospital, turn it into a command post and hold positions."
Nax knew it was not going to be easy, but nothing was impossible. He smiled when he got the idea that the place must have been softened by the relentless advance of the legions. He then saw dust clouds forming towards the east, west and north of the city. It was clear now. Sergius was not planning a siege but a complete annihilation of the geth in Ludilmis, crush them before they get under siege.
Romans were good at sieges. Their bloody history, which Nax learned throughout the years he served as a grunt, then officer, and finally centurion, showed him that Romans were masters at it. Some of the names of the old machines used back then for sieges still rang all over. Onagers, ballistas, hell the legions! Now, however, with this flexible army, sieges were not needed. Not for now at least.
"Move on!" Nax screamed as they began approaching the Roman District, founded by the first humans that settled in Rannoch, over a century ago.
The drell soldier pointed his sniper rifle towards the hospital, which was incredibly intact, safe for a few human and dwemer soldiers dead by it.
"Sir, looks like place is deserted."
Nax nodded. "Alright, we move on and establish defensive positions around it. The big man will be here within a few hours."
The whole squad knew who the big man was…
Nax admired the way Sergius fought his father to be in the frontlines. The man had started as a grunt after all, the scars on his face proved that.
"Move out ladies, let us show why we are Red Fury One."
The soldiers scattered around the hospital, inside and outside. Drell soldiers established sniping nests on the roof. The quarians hacking into the system to get enough light while the others simply helped or stood by guarding the outside.
"Red Fury One, this is Shadow, geth opposition has moved northwards, we are moving to protect the eagle."
Nax smiled. "Copy that Shadow, standing by."
The krogan turned to the north to see huge razor bullets raging the sky as Zeus fighters engaged geth drop ships and peppered the area. The sounds of bombs, bullets and artillery plagued the ears of Nax. 'Eat shit and die assholes'
A huge convoy started passing by the street, really wide and completely filled with geth units that had been destroyed. Bodies had been moved to the sidewalks to avoid getting splattered by the tanks and biremes.
'Sergius will love this'
Give me your thoughts on this chapter.
Bireme: Powerful warships in the roman era. Now, they serve as all purpose amphibian vehicles.
Comitatenses: Common legionaries in the late IV and V centuries AD.
Next chapter, I may shout out you guys in the story. Do not ask me how, because I wont tell you, but you will see it!
On a side note, I made this chapter listening to Creed - My Sacrifice, badass song.