New Mandalore, Orbit
Alren looked at the Geth fleet attacking his home with a cold, calculating gaze. He was beyond angry but knew it wouldn't help him to just rush in there. He may have the technological advantage but he was vastly outnumbered. Sure he could use the Ion cannon that was the Malevolence's trump card but he wouldn't be able to take out the entire fleet with it and he would lose the element of surprise.
What he needed was more ships but the Geth were putting up a very powerful jammer that even his technology was having trouble bypassing. Then something struck him. The shipyards had been working on recreating the old Mandalorian Cruisers along with a new ship design that his favorite scientist had cooked up. By his knowledge the ships should have been completed over a month ago.
"Get me in contact with the shipyard commander now!" Demanded Alren as his people got to work on doing just that. They may not be able to contact anyone outside the system but his people were able to contact those inside the system easily. So it wasn't a surprise when Commander Veeto'Xaer vas Sohala, a male Quarian with a dark grey suit and standard Mandalorian armor.
"Commander are the ships still docked in the shipyard flight ready?" Asked Alren hoping he was right.
"Of course sir and the crews for them are ready as well." Responded Veeto with a hint of pride in is tone.
"And what of the experimental Naak kyramud class ship?"
"That is ready as well sir what are your orders?"
"I want those ships in the air in the next ten minutes and I also want them to engage the Geth ships attacking our ships in orbit. I don't want any survivors Commander."
"Consider it done sir." Responded Veeto with a salute before cutting the connection.
Turning to the crew on the bridge he saw them awaiting his orders as well as Benenzia and Liara. The two Asarii women were curious as to what the Mandalorian leader had planned.
"And as for the rest of you, well lets give these clanker's a Mandalorian welcome! Charge up the Ion cannon and move us into position! Target the center of the enemy fleet and prepare the main guns! As soon as the center of the fleet is disabled I want them turned to space dust!" Ordered Alren getting a collective affirmative from the bridge workers as they set about their task.
A barely two minutes later and the Malevolence was in position with it's Ion cannon charged. The weapons operator glanced back at Alren for the conformation to fire. The young warrior looked one more time at the enemy fleet that despite it losing many numbers were beginning to overwhelm his other ships slowly but surely.
"Fire."
And like that the Malevolence's Ion cannon fired releasing a large purple ring of energy that sailed through space heading for the center of the Geth's fleet. Some of the Geth's ships saw the incoming ring and were momentarily stumped on what it was. This moment of hesitation spelled their doom as the ring had reached them and while from the outside it looked as though the ring passed harmlessly through the fleet in reality as soon as the ring had struck every electronically based device was shut down including the Geth themselves leaving their ships nothing more than lifeless husks in space. This left the Geth fleet shocked at the devastation this new weapon had caused to their fleet as by the end of it nearly three hundred of their ships had been taken out by that one attack.
Then if that wasn't enough the guns on Malevolence opened fire on the defenseless ships destroying them easily and leaving nothing but chunks of scrap metal behind.
Sovereign, Bridge
The former Turian Spectre sat in shock as he watched a large ship that served as the flagship of the Mandalorian's fleet fire a ring of energy that disabled a significant portion of his fleet in one shot and then be blown to bits by the same ships cannons. That shock quickly turned to anger though as he realized he had yet again underestimated these.. lower lifeforms.
Because of them, or more specifically their leader he had his Spectre status revoked and was made into what he was now with Geth technology replacing his missing arm and eye. The very same ones taken by Alren. So when Sovereign had told him to retrieve the Beacon on the Mandalorian's new homeworld he was more than happy to attack the Mandalorian's and maybe even kill Alren.
He had planned this perfectly! He had assembled an overwhelming fleet of Geth ships and waited for the moment that the Mandalorian's guard fleet was at its lowest before attacking. Sure those damned Orbital Cannons were proving to be a major nuisance but nothing he couldn't handle.
Now this monster of a ship that dwarfed even Sovereign possessed a weapon that was not only deadly to any ship it came into contact with but to synthetics as well. These Mandalorian's were becoming more annoying with every passing second to him.
He was about to order all ships to attack the Malevolence in hopes that his numbers would overpower the much larger ship. But before he could give the order he saw something that made him pale just a bit further if that was possible. From around the planet came over fifty ships of unfamiliar design along with another one that was almost as large as Sovereign itself! (I'm not gonna describe the Mandalorian Cruisers. Just look them up and you'll see what they look like.)
The large ship looked similar to the arrowhead shaped ships that were dubbed as a Republic Cruiser, but he had heard that they had been renamed Mandalorian Warship's. Only this ship's entire center was replaced by what looked like a large cannon. This did not bode well at all.
He watched in shocked awe as he saw the large ship's cannon charge with a dark blue energy for about half a minute before releasing a concentrated beam of energy! This beam struck the left side of his fleet going straight through twenty ships before dying off. When the beam had cleared he saw that all of the ships it had struck were still intact but now had large holes burned straight through them leaving nothing but melted metal around the edges. The ships struck by the attack stilled for a moment before erupting in balls of fire.
Cursing to himself Saren knew that if he was to scavenge anything from this battle he would have to go planetside and retrieve what he was supposed to from the Beacon while he still had the numbers to do so.
"Get me five battallions of Geth troops and Armature's! We're going after that Beacon!" He ordered as the Geth rushed to complete their orders and Saren himself made his way to the hangar to get ready to head planet side.
Bridge of the Malevolence
"I guess the prototype is working fairly well." Commented Alren as he looked at the after effects done by the experimental ship and it's new weapon. Amazing what a mad scientist with near limitless resources could accomplish in such a short amount of time.
Liara and Benenzia though could only stare in utter shock at seeing the weapons of the Malevolence and this new ship in action. Malevolence alone put any and all ships to shame and could no doubt take on an entire fleet with little problem but with this new ships weaponry could rival the flagship of the Mandalorian fleet.. If they had any doubts about the Mandalorian's being able to conquer the galaxy before they were put to rest.
"Sir, that enemy Dreadnaught is sending down shuttles to the planet and a lot of them. Their just small and fast enough to avoid the fire from the cruisers while our fighters are too busy fighting off the enemies forces and will approximately land within the next twenty or so minutes!" Said a Mandalorian at one of the console's.
"Are our ground forces already in position?"
"Yes sir. All the civilians have also been evacuated to the bunkers as per protocol." Answered the man.
"Then they must be either looking for something on the planet or looking to take out our Orbital Cannons to land more troops. I want a platoon of Basalisk riders and three platoons of Commando Droids to meet me in hangar four. Bring us as close to New Mandalore as needed to make a space jump. Have the droids brought down in shuttles. Liara I want you coming with us in one of the shuttle's." Ordered Alren. But as his troops went to follow his orders Liara and Benenzia were demanding to know why he wanted her along.
"Why do you want my daughter to go with you into a warzone? Granted she has been trained to handle herself but this is something entirely different." Asked Benenzia wondering what Alren was planning.
"Simple Benenzia, your daughter is a powerful biotic for one and second I have a feeling they came here for the Prothean Beacon. Call it hunch. If they do go after it I want her expertise in case the Beacon gets damaged in the crossfire then she may be able to prevent it from being destroyed. But don't think you'll be sitting idly by Benenzia as I want you to alert me if there are any changes up here while I'm planet side. Your gonna be my eye in the sky so to speak. Now lets go, I want the Geth off of my planet immediately!" Said Alren as he and Liara headed towards the hangar.
On the way Liara kept taking glances at Alren trying and failing to figure out what was going through the young Mandalorian's head. She wondered how one so young could lead an entire people so efficiently and seemingly without problems. The Asarii herself was still treated like a child and wouldn't be trusted with leading her own expedition into Prothean ruins no matter how well versed she was on the extinct species.
During her musing's though they had arrived at the hangar where Alren's requested troops were already there and waiting. Turning towards Alren Liara saw him hop into the saddle of the same mechanical beast she had seen in front of her mothers home.
"See you on the ground Li." Said Alren as he moved Tal to the front of the other Basalisk riders.
Liara on the other hand was escorted by one of the Commando Droid's to one of the shuttles and handed a Chimera pistol but without any attachments which was fine with her as she preferred small firearms.
Alren waited for the Malevolence to get close enough to the planet and when the bridge operator gave him the green light Alren urged Tal forward who was followed closely by the other riders. All of them leaping from the Malevolence's hangar they began to fall towards the planets surface while behind them the Mandalorian shuttle's flew from the hangar keeping a safe distance from the Basalisk riders.
New Mandalore, Planetside
While they fell Alren pulled up his Omnit-Tool and that was currently giving him a map of the area's that the enemy shuttles had landed. Most of them had landed near the Capital but there was a substantial amount that had landed a couple miles away from the mine that contained the Prothean Beacon solidifying Alren's hunch that the Beacon was their main target.
As they broke through the planets atmosphere Alren got a better look at the planet and saw multiple firefights occurring all over the landscape that he could see. Taking in the situation quickly Alren then opened a channel to his fellow riders and the shuttle's.
"Alright I want two riders and two shuttles to stay with me as we're gonna be heading towards the mine's to secure the Beacon. The rest of you I want supporting our forces on the ground. First priority is to take out those Armatures and then move in to mop up the Geth troopers. You have your orders now move!" Ordered Alren getting a collective 'yes sir' before his forces split up.
Alren and his two remaining riders deployed their mounts wings and ignited their thrusters controlling their descent. Angling themselves the Basalisk riders land a little over a mile away from the mines with the shuttles landing quickly after. As the shuttles occupants departed Alren pulled up a pair of binoculars and checked the surroundings. Ahed about half a mile he spotted a small force of three Geth Troopers and an Armature.
He was broken from his observation by Liara who had walked up to him after getting off of her shuttle.
"So what now Alren? Why didn't you land right at the mine?"
"I want to corner our little visitors not myself. There is only one way in and one way out of those mines so as soon as they go in they are as good as trapped. Unless they decide to make their own exit. But first we have some unwelcome guests to take care of." Said Alren as he and his two other riders drew one of their now standard issue Chimera pistols.
Next to them a small hatch opened up displaying what looked like few black boxes of differing sizes. Picking up one of these boxes revealed on one side an opening designed to fit over the front of their Chimera pistols. Sliding the front of their pistols inside a clanking sound was heard as the pistol was locked in place. From there the black box seemed to break apart and reconfigure itself into a new form that now included an elongated barrel with a bipod like attachment towards the front of the barrel and a decent sized scope on top. Meanwhile the back of the pistol jutted outwards to create a stock for the newly formed sniper rifle. The entire process taking less than five whole seconds to complete while Liara sat there in awe.
Pulling the rifles up so they could look through the scopes the focused in on their selected targets as the scopes automatically zoomed in on their targets. They waited a few second before in perfect unison Alren and his two fellow riders fired and watched as their shots connected with the chest of the Geth leaving a smoking hole behind as the synthetics crumpled leaving a lone Armature unit.
Seeing this Alren looked at Tal's controls and selected her Shatter-missile launchers and selecting the Armature as a target. Smiling to himself ALren fired a single missile sending it hurtling towards the Armature. Just as the missile began it's descent on the lone Geth the missile as it's name implied 'shattered' to become various smaller missiles that struck with earth shattering force. When the explosions finally died down there was only scrap pieces left of the Armature and the three Geth that had accompanied it.
Pressing a small concealed button on the barrel of the sniper rifle said rifle collapsed back into the black box that then detached from the Mandalorian's Chimera pistols. The boxes were then stored back where the riders had gotten them from. Being pleased with the new weapons success Alren made a mental note to increase his favorite scientists pay once more. At this rate that genius loon would be the richest man on New Mandalore.
"Alright enough gawking let's get a move on before those bolt buckets make off with the Beacon. Liara hop on." Said Alren as he held his hand out for the Asari to take. Said Asari looked at the man as if he was crazy.
"You can't honestly expect me to ride that thing right!?" Exclaimed Liara as she was even more wary of the mechanical beast than before after it displayed some of it's weaponry.
"Well I don't expect you to walk the entire way to the mine. The Droid's don't get tired but you will. So come on Tal won't hurt you unless you try to hurt me first." said Alren as he gestured to the twenty Commando Droids still awaiting orders and continued to hold his hand out knowing that they were wasting valuable time.
Hesitantly Liara reached out and placed her smaller hand in Alren's larger one. Then with minimal effort Alren hauled the Asari up into the built in saddle behind him getting a surprised squeal out of the Prothean expert that made hum chuckle under his breath. After she was secured Alren urged his forces forward at a sedate pace while constantly scanning the area for enemies and even using Tal's built in radar to just to be sure.
The young Mandalorian didn't even notice as Liara slipped her hands around his waist and leaned into his back all the while a small bit of purple painted her cheeks. Liara wasn't even sure why she was doing this but couldn't deny she enjoyed it.
Capital of New Mandalore, random street
While all of this was going on with Alren Tali was having an enjoyable time slaughtering Geth forces atop her own Basilisk mount A'den with her own Chimera pistol in it's shotgun form. She and a small unit of Commando Droid's had wiped out a good portion of Geth that had tried to lay siege to the city only to be swiftly put down by the Mandalorian's superior technology and numbers.
But the Quarian girls happiness soon gave way to rage as she felt that something was happening to Alren that she did not like. What it was she did not know but she would definitely find out once this farce of an invasion was over.
Well there is the next chapter guys. Review and/or PM me. Until then, Nicranger out!