DISCLAIMER – I do not own Mass Effect franchise, the story, or any of its characters. All rights go to Bioware.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry for the bit of a wait for the new chapter. But, hey, it was the New Year, and I'm on vacation till the 10th of January, so I partied hard for a few days. Felt like the cumulative hangover wanted to kill me when that was done, though…
Anyway, thanks to all the reviewers! As per MidnightDusk2104's advice, I've begun using Grammarly as an assist tool to proof my chapters, though not in absolute capacity. I'll also use it to proof and edit the previous chapters in the following days. If you're the type to pay attention to grammar and have done so with the previous chapters, then be so kind and tell me whether it bore fruit.
Chapter posted on 7.1.2017.
Tags: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure, Friendship building, Love.
Rated M – for mature and adult themes.
Enjoy…
Chapter 12 – The Battle of Feros – Pt. I
The Normandy jumped out of the FTL with the lensing effect of its mass effect curving the backdrop of the distant stars and glided smoothly through the void of deep space.
"Primary jump sequence complete, Commander," Joker reported. "We have overshot Theseus system by 100000 AU-s, as intended; we're on the far side of the star from Feros."
Jaina was standing on the command platform, clad in full battle gear even though she would be staying there for the foreseeable length of the mission, her eyes riveted to the three-dimensional tactical display in front of her.
The view was anchored to the close-up 3D tactical render of the Normandy as it flew through the system, its status depicted on several holographic gadgets and status bars that hovered in an unobtrusive HUD around it – shields, power reserves, weapon capacitors, armor integrity, mass effect, life support, among others.
She reached out and rotated the camera view with her hands, panning it to and fro as she examined the strategic overview and readings of the Theseus system that surrounded the representation of their ship.
"Bring us about, Joker, directly toward the star," Jaina commanded. "Engage FTL when ready, and proceed with the second stage."
"Aye-aye, ma'am," he replied.
The view gently started shifting as the Normandy changed course, and Jaina motioned with her hands through the air, rotating the view how she liked it. The ship aligned itself carefully toward the star, taking a few moments to steady the course and movement as much as possible. Then, there was a slight jolt and a sense of vertigo as the FTL drive engaged. Jaina watched the tactical display how the ship raced toward the inner system.
Navigator Pressly was at his post on the central CIC console desk, monitoring the systems carefully.
"The transverse aligned," he spoke. "Drift negligible. Reaching destination in… three, two, one, mark!"
The ship jolted just as Pressly marked the final moment. There was a sense of baited breath as everyone waited to hear the warning klaxons screaming about critical proximity to the star's corona.
"We are steady at oh-point-two AU-s from the sun," Pressly spoke calmly with a nod. "The sun's glare would have masked any emissions from the FTL exit."
"Should I bring out my sunscreen lotion now, Commander?" Joker asked over the comm with a slight tinge of sarcasm in his voice. "Cause it sure looks pretty sunny out here."
"Don't worry, Joker, we're not sticking around," Jaina replied. "Bring up the stealth systems online. Helm to starboard; take us in a broad arc out toward Feros.
"Assuming vector 2.15-127.3-0, initiate five-second burn at minus 97% mass effect," Pressly relayed to Joker, waited until the maneuver was performed, then nodded. "Ascending node at point-zero-one percent, periapsis stable."
"I want all passive sensors at maximum as soon as we clear the area of the sun, and I want them directed toward the planet," Jaina directed. "I want to see what is going on there."
"Ma'am, we're not picking up the transmission signal from the planet," one of the operators reported from her workstation. "Elevated broadband static noise on all channels."
"Sweep passive receivers over all frequencies," Jaina ordered. "Correlate with the signals we had picked up from Eden Prime, and the bands Tali'Zorah has provided."
She raised her finger to her ear and spoke: "Marcus, you better come here, I think Geth are already in the system."
"Ma'am, I've got a match," the operator spoke. "Clear signal isolated at frequency 3-14 delta, running it through software."
"Belay that!" Jaina snapped sharply. "The Geth are capable of above-average hacking. Their signals might have Trojans inside. I want scans ran only with isolated processors off-grid."
"Captain's on the bridge!" a stand-at-guard crewman called out as Marcus stepped through the doors, clad in full battle gear.
"What's the situation?" he asked as he stood off to the left side of the command post and observed the tactical situation with his arms folded across his chest.
"The colony is jammed, Geth signal confirmed," she reported. "If we isolate their signal protocols, we can piggy-back our communication through it. It would give the ground team a few minutes of communication before they change frequency."
"Enough to assess the situation and ascertain the plan of action once we're down," he nodded, then tapped his own comms. "Shepard to the ground team: assemble in the cargo bay, over. Jaina, you control the situation from here," he said, then moved off toward the cockpit.
"Understood," she replied, then turned her attention back toward the tac-screen and magnified the display of the Feros and its moons. She debated the possibilities, then spoke:
"Course correction: target goal – the moon Orcan's dark side. Take us at point-five light speed."
"New course assumed," came the response. "Acceleration constant. Achieving trajectory in five, four, three…"
"Shut down all engines, assume drift," she ordered.
There was a sudden sensation that shifted through the ship's framework as the minute, barely perceptible thrum ceased.
"All engines offline and on standby," came the report.
"Ma'am, we're detecting engine signature remains of increased ship traffic around Feros. Lag: six light minutes."
Jaina activated the overlay and a series of vectors appeared, consistent with what a group of ships would leave behind.
"Detecting Geth signal source," a crewmember reported. "Multiple sources around the planet."
Jaina watched as several dots appeared on the tac display. "Thermals and visuals, correlate search parameters."
"Thermal readings confirmed," the crewman reported.
"Detecting changes in the visual spectrum, but too far off for clear resolution," the other operator added.
Jaina just nodded, her eyes riveted to the tactical situation.
"Course correction," she declared. "Maneuvering thrusters only. I want us to peek from behind that moon toward the planet after we have reached it."
"Calculating," Pressly replied. "New parameters prepared. Joker?"
"Got it," the pilot reported.
The Normandy slowly drifted into the moon's gravity well, and glided through a parabolic path over its dark side, until Feros's full sphere appeared from behind the moon's curve. The ship then swiveled, applying engine brakes and entering a hyper-altitude hover state above the moon aided by inverted mass effect field. All passive sensors opened up and began absorbing every shred of info they could catch from the planet and its surroundings.
Jaina's tac-display flared with new signals.
"Geth ships confirmed," came the report. "ten confirmed signatures: two cruiser-sized in orbit and eight frigates in the atmo – all clustered in the zone of the Zhu's Hope colony – and I'm detecting an additional unknown dreadnought-sized signal in orbit."
"Jesus, that's a whole task group," Pressly muttered. "How are we supposed to deal with that?"
"We'll find a way," Jaina stated. "We're soldiers. We took an oath and we will not just sit and watch a thousand people get slaughtered. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Pressly replied readily and firmly.
"Good," she said, then tapped the largest signal on the display, sending the ping to other systems. "Now – visuals, direct all lenses onto that signal, I want a render."
"Understood," the crewman replied. "CCD stable… I've got clear resolution. Displaying."
Jaina tapped the incoming notification, and the image appeared in front of her. The squid-like shape of the alien vessel was unmistakable. She tapped her earbud and spoke:
"Marc, we've got that super-dreadnought present in orbit."
"I'm coming over," he said and walked back into the CIC from the cockpit at a brisk pace.
He went around the central command section and climbed the command platform, standing right to the side of Jaina, and then examined the live cam feed of the enemy vessel that was in geosynchronous orbit.
"What's the situation groundside?" he demanded.
"Sending data now, Commander," crewman spoke.
Jaina modified the situation display, showing the disposition of enemy ships that were in the vicinity of Zhu's Hope. A multitude of smaller signals could be detected next to the colony, the myriad of them popping out right next to the larger signals of geth ships, marking the deployment of ground forces.
"We're late," Marcus growled.
"Not by much. The enemy forces' disposition is consistent with initial grouping and deployment," Jaina assessed as her eyes scanned the readings.
"Yeah, but they're all clustered on this one mega-tower," Marcus noticed as he circled it out with his forefinger. "What's the story with that?"
"Sir! Might be because of a pair of your standard colonial surface-to-air GARDIAN turrets I'm detecting on the other tower – that's where the colony proper is. The geth ships seem to be trying to keep beyond the turrets' angle of acquisition."
"That other tower is the local ExoGeni corporate headquarters, then," Jaina said.
"Well, they're as good as dead," Marcus said, then went silent for a moment. "I bet you a million bucks that that Cipher artifact Saren's looking for is somewhere in the residential area of the colony – that's the only reason all those geth frigates aren't blowing the mega-tower out of the sky right as we speak."
"No bet," Jaina said. "It's clear they're preparing to storm the colony. We have a small window of opportunity here."
"And we're gonna have to get down there, fast!" he said as he quickly moved to descend down the command platform and leave the CIC, issuing orders as he went. "Get us down there for a combat drop, Jaina. I'll take all of the ground forces we have available and assist the colony as much as I can. Estevez, Davis," he commanded the two marines on CIC guard duty, "you too – helmets on and join Miller's team!"
"Yessir!" the two men reported readily, immediately storming out of the CIC and down toward the cargo hold.
"Jaina," Marcus said just as he was about to step out. "You distract their vessels however you can and keep them from pummeling us from the skies. I don't think that those two GARDIANs will be enough if they all decide to attack at once."
"Roger that," she replied, then started issuing orders just as he left the CIC. "All engines engage. Joker, take us on a direct course toward the planet. Pressly, get us the ground nav-data for a suitable combat drop."
"Aye-aye, ma'am," Pressly replied as the engines roared to life.
Jaina pressed a button on her console, and her voice echoed over the intercom:
"Shepard to all ship personnel: battle stations!"
Each crewmember tapped the designated command on their post, and the mechanical crash webbing unfolded, enveloping them snuggly in their seats. For Jaina, a mechanical arm rose up from the command platform's floor behind her and grabbed her around her armored waist and extended an ergonomic spinal support up her back, securing her snugly against any possible crash impacts while giving her full liberty of movement.
With the mechanical crash protector secure, Jaina tapped her earbud.
"Jaina to Adams – what do we know of geth ships' weapons systems?" she demanded from the Chief Engineer.
A moment later, the answer came:
"Eden Prime data suggests standard coaxial guns, smaller broadside turrets, as well as guided missiles."
"What type of guidance?"
"No specific data, but it doesn't really matter, Commander," he reported. "The IES stealth system can absorb any directed radar or ladar sweeps that missiles use, and they can't detect our heat emissions either. They can only detect us with CCD-type visual scanners, but guided missiles can't rely on those because they need a distance gauge which the visual detection can't accurately provide in combat condition."
"You're kidding!" Jaina called. "That's the best news I've heard this day so far. Jaina out."
She then switched comms:
"Marcus, Addams just assured me that the IES could help us a lot more in combat situation itself; we just might pull this off! What's the status of your ground forces?"
"I've taken everyone not needed on the Normandy – the specialists, Miller's six-man team, as well as those two from the CIC – sixteen in total."
"We might not be able to perform a soft-drop for those troopers on foot," she cautioned as she carefully scrutinized the tactical situation.
"Our stealth system might confuse them long enough for us to perform a soft-drop, and then you start evasive," Marcus replied. "But in case it's not feasible, we have the Mako and a pair of Tritons that are certified for a combat drop. Miller and one of his men are already in the cockpits."
"Understood," Jaina replied with a nod, then cut the comm. "I want to know what those ships in orbit are doing!" she called out to the CIC.
"Nothing, ma'am," the crewman replied. "They are maintaining formation."
"No additional engine, energy, or mass effect emissions," another one reported.
"Any sensors directed our way?"
"Nothing, ma'am," the sensors operator replied. "They are maintaining active omnidirectional radar and ladar sweeps, but our stealth system's absorbing the bounce-back right up, just as Chief Engineer reported."
"Good. Prepare to launch a cold probe on standby," Jaina ordered. "Set it to passive scans toward those ships and a narrowband transmission in our direction so it's not detected, and eject it on my mark."
"Probe set and ready," an ensign reported.
"Launch!"
"Probe away," the report came back. "Probe active and scanning."
"No change in enemy ship's behavior," another crewmember reported.
"Proceed right past them," Jaina ordered, and observed the tactical situation with baited breath.
The Normandy passed not five thousand kilometers off the alien superdreadnought's side, and not a peep or shift was detected from the enemies.
"Transitioning into the upper atmosphere in ten," Pressly called.
There was a slight shift in perceptive gravity as the ship started traversing the upper layers of the atmosphere.
"Stealth systems absorbing entry emissions with 98% estimated efficiency," a crewman reported.
So far so good, Jaina thought. Her full attention was riveted to the situational awareness.
"Pressly, transfer the ground tactical display and cloud coverage to me," she said, and a moment later, she had the relevant display in front of her. Her hands flew over it, twisting the view and assessing the approach relative to the enemy's location.
"Joker, I'm marking the approach and sending it to you," she said as she moved her hands over the display, marking the points of the flight path. "I want it done!"
There was a moment of silence before Joker acknowledged confidently, "You got it, Commander!"
"Get us as low as possible, Joker," she cautioned.
"Aye-aye, ma'am," he replied.
The Normandy stormed down through the clouds and descended straight toward the layer of thick dust that permeated much of Feros. Just as the ship seemed that it was about to slice into the dust, Joker leveled her up and it glided between the skyscraper peaks.
"No indication of enemy detection," came a crewman's voice.
"Inbound to Zhu's Hope in thirty seconds," Pressly declared.
Jaina glanced to the 3D render of the approaching colony on the display. The twin mega-towers that the Zhu's hope was built on were by far the largest planet-based structures she had ever seen. Each towered at over four thousand meters of altitude with an eight hundred by five hundred meter base, connected with an equally broad skyway bridge. They were so huge that the rooftop itself held a pair of smaller, five hundred meter tall towers on either side. And it was here, on this rooftop, where Feros's naturally elevated atmospheric pressure was comfortable, that a large, sprawling colony established residence.
"Enemy frigates in sight," the operator called as the red marks appeared on the tac display.
"Are they looking at us?" Jaina demanded.
"Negative! They're not scanning us with any actives."
Jaina immediately tapped the intercom:
"Ground team, prep for the soft-drop!" she called.
The Normandy whooshed over the broad and spacious rooftop of one of the absolutely massive mega-towers, pitching its nose up and performing a powerful aerobraking with its wings as it entered into a hover above the colony, its cargo bay doors opening even before the ship was fully stationary.
The Mako surged out of the cargo hold at full throttle, launching into the empty air and activating its retro thrusters as it entered a controlled descent. The Triton mechs ran right after it, full speed, jumping off of the platform and dropping down like a ton of bricks, sending a mighty tremor through the solid ground. The remaining troopers jumped into the air right after Tritons, being caught by the ship's infantry descent mass effect field that dropped them quickly and harmlessly onto the ground.
Jaina glanced at the time: twelve seconds.
"Ma'am, the Geth ships are orienting our way," a crewmember called out. "They are performing directed sensor sweeps, but nothing else!"
"The IES is absorbing the bounce-back of their active scans; they must be detecting us only with their CCDs," another one reported.
"They are confused!" the electronic warfare specialist called out in sudden realization. "The geth are VI-s, they see us in visual, but nothing else – it'd confuse any VI!"
For half a heartbeat, there was an utter silence in the CIC.
"Joker!" Jaina called out over the comms, her voice a deadly edge of steel that sent chills down the crew's spines as she focused a death glare at the enemy's projections. "Strafe to port, prep for Viper assault on my mark!"
"Aye-aye, Commander, strafe to port, preparing for Viper," Joker reported professionally.
The ship spun around, orienting toward the enemies, strafing and swaying gently to the side like a serpent ready to strike as the geth frigates followed their movement as if confused and mesmerized.
"Ma'am," Pressly called in grim consternation, "There are eight frigates in total down here. Eight! Not even a cruiser can handle that many alone."
"We don't need to handle them, we need to keep them off the ground team's backs," she said, her voice bearing a deadly edge that brooked no argument, and then called out over the comms:
"I am assuming direct control! Joker, it's you and me now. I'm marking priority targets – Bandit 1 through 8 and Waypoints 1 through 4. "
"Receiving."
"I want tone on all marked Bandits at all times," she commanded.
"Tone on all Bandits – confirmed," targeting station reported back, followed by a flat beeping sound of established weapons lock.
"Bandits still following and reducing distance," sensors reported.
"Bandit-1 firmly in my aiming funnel," Joker reported back. "I got the tone and the reticle dead on in."
Jaina's deadly gaze turned predatory as her hand reached out and hovered above the haptic control that combined the IES and the heat sink venting switches.
"Joker. Viper," she called and pressed the button.
Instantly, the IES field went down like a light switch, flashing all of the stealth system's heat vents wide open, just as the engines roared at full power and the ship's main axial gun discharged its first salvo in a one-two-three combo.
The combined flare of the venting heat, the antiproton fuel combustion, and the EM discharge of the rapidly-firing main gun instantly overloaded the geth sensors that had been sweeping in high-sensitivity mode, completely crippling the geth ability to see a damn thing.
The first of the three rounds from the Normandy's main gun punched straight into the Bandit-1's shields, the second one ripped right through them, and the third one completely gutted it like a fish, bow-to-stern, blasting it right out of the sky.
Before any of the geth frigates managed to fully reset their sensors, the Normandy sped right through their formation at full throttle, the few blindly fired geth rounds scratching against its superior kinetic barriers as it passed, leaving no mark.
Jaina instantly flipped the IES switch back on, shutting off all of the heat vents and reactivating the stealth system, robbing the enemy of their ability to target them.
"Bandits 2-through-6 turning about. They're accelerating right after us!" the report came.
"Joker, evasive actions down the route I've marked for you," Jaina called. "Drag these fuckers away from the colony! Our boys and girls need breathing room."
"Understood! Diving!" Joker called back as the ship spun hard around its axis, doing a reverse- dive at full speed toward the cloud cover as the rounds fired from enemy ships zoomed all around it.
"Assume bearing one-nineteen! That forest of skyscrapers fifteen klicks out – get us there!" Jaina commanded.
"You got it!" Joker affirmed readily as he pushed the engines to its limits, using his maverick skills to veer and swerve the ship away from the geth frigates' firing lanes as the rounds zoomed around him.
"Ma'am, Bandits 7 and 8 are not following! I repeat: they are not following! The ships have remained stationary at the sides of each of the towers."
"They must be still discharging troops," Jaina assessed, clenching her teeth. "Nothing we can do about that now with these five on our tail."
"Missiles incoming," the crew member alerted, then added, "going wide – no lock!"
"Good! Joker, stop playing tag with those sons-of-bitches right out in the open and get us into that skyscraper forest NOW!"
The Normandy suddenly jerked under controls, leveling and going full throttle as it broke into hypersonic speeds, charging straight toward the skyscraper city.
"Well, when you put it that way…" Joker's cheeky voice came through a moment later.
The ship stormed thunderously into the skyscraper forest, the sonic boom fracturing the ancient, crumbling facades into a swirl of debris, followed quickly by another group of thunderous booms as geth frigates stormed into the city right after Normandy.
The ship weaved through the dense groupings of tall buildings, banking left-and-right sharply as it made evasive maneuvers, repeatedly breaking the visual contact the geth had on it – the only manner in which the geth could track or target it – making their rounds strike nothing but ancient structures.
"Two geth ships going high," the sensors alerted. "They're going for the strike from above."
"Not this time," Jaina retorted, switching her tac display to targeting and taking direct control of the GARDIAN arrays from the automated VI.
The four rear-mounted GARDIAN array turrets spun upwards under Jaina's control, surging to power and discharging invisible rays of hyper-concentrated light straight into one of the high-flying geth frigates that were shooting down from above.
The lasers tore into the frigate's armor with impunity, forcing both of the frigates to bank hard before taking critical damage before they dove back into the relative protection of the skyscraper forest they were all flying through.
"That'll teach them," Jaina said, then, "Take over," she commanded one of the CIC operators as she flipped the GARDIAN control layout back to the broad tactical display. "If those ships try it again, you know what to do!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the operator reported readily from her seat as she assumed direct command over GARDIANS.
The chase continued, and the whole minutes ticking by as the Normandy played tag against the enemy vessels – an eternity in an aerial dogfight – keeping the enemy busy and as far away from the colony as they could. The battle conditions forced the geth to work all they were worth only so they could keep visual of it – the only manner in which they could track the stealth ship.
Jaina's steely calm gaze never veered off the tactical display and the over-the-top representation of the city Normandy weaved through, doing a million tactical calculations in a second on the comparative position of their ship toward the enemy, assessing the optimal direction, position, and timing for the perfect counterattack.
"Heads up!" She called suddenly as her hands flew over controls. "Geth losing visual in ten! Hard to port, make a bank around that mega-tower, then an MEA backflip and hover. Targeting – I want predictions to targeting solutions! Arm all Javelins!"
"Arm all Javelins – aye!"
"Targeting prediction established."
The Normandy banked hard, making geth lose the visual, and spun behind the massive Prothean mega-tower that dominated the forest of skyscrapers. Right on cue, Joker activated full Mass Effect Assistance, backflipping the ship and placing into a level hover.
He stopped breathing, his finger on the trigger as he followed the moving targeting reticle – the advanced VI predicting the incoming geth frigates' position from behind the massive skyscraper – as the two seconds head start they had over them ticked down.
Just as the final hundredth of a second dropped to zero, the whole geth frigate group burst at full speed past the mega-tower's edge, banking hard toward their position and straight into the Normandy's weapons envelope just as Joker pressed the trigger.
Sixteen javelin missiles burst out of their launch tubes in a machinegun-like barrage and flew in a swarm straight toward the four Bandits. The laser arrays of the geth ships surged to action, knocking the Javelins down, but the distance was short. Too short.
Eight of the Javelins punched through the laser curtain, slamming into two of the enemy frigates and detonating the powerful warp explosion crescendo. Each of the massive resonating mass effect fields ripped through everything in a hundred meter radius, twisting and breaking military-grade metals like they were wet tissues.
The combined warp blast effect launched a massive shockwave, striking all remaining ships including Normandy, knocking them all out of position and putting heavy pressure on their barriers. Alarms blared across the Normandy's CIC, and the ship's render on Jaina's command console showed a massive drop in shielding, with several symbols to the side flashing yellow.
"Shields down to 40%! Warp effect had a 15% barrier pierce-through," the crewmember barraged the report.
"So it peeled off the paint – ignore it," Jaina dismissed.
"Geth ships still active! Reorienting toward us!" another one called.
"Joker, full throttle – straight between them, then spiral up around the tower!" Jaina directed, and the ship instantly jerked forward, its powerful engines roaring at full power.
The two surviving geth ships swiveled from where the massive explosions had knocked them to, discharging their main cannons in rapid volleys without any hesitation. Five rounds struck the Normandy as it streaked by – three glancing blows and two direct hits – before it passed beyond the enemy ships' weapons envelope as it rushed between them.
"Shields down to 19%!" the crewmember called tensely. "Gaps in coverage forming!"
Jaina reached out and flipped the shielding switch. "Purging capacitors and recharging."
"Shields down! Ten seconds to recharge!" the crewman reported.
"Enemy ships separating! One of them is spiraling up the tower in opposite direction! " another one called.
"Smart bastards going for the intercept," Jaina muttered as she tracked the command HUD closely. "Don't let them hit us, Joker!"
"Don't worry, I'm not the best pilot in the Galaxy for nothing!" Joker's called back through the coms. "Watch this flying!"
The ships surged up in a spiral around the several kilometer tall mega-tower, Joker's wild maneuvers leaving the geth wanting as the myriad of wild shots from the three geth ships blazed all around the Normandy as they ascended toward the top.
"Joker! MEA backflip once more on my mark," she called, her hand hovering over IES controls as the rooftop's edge approached quickly.
The ship surged over the rooftop's edge, straightening out when Jaina called: "Mark!"
Joker pulled on the controls, making the Normandy's nose pitch up hard under the mass effect assistance, sending ripples of vapor as its engine nacelles cut violently into the air. The vessel flipped over its back, the momentum carrying its nose downward while the ship still soared up, and aimed it straight toward the geth that were seconds behind it going in for the kill on a defenseless ship.
For a split second, everyone's heart pushed into their throats, and in everyone's mind, time slowed. This was it. The ship's shields were off, and the geth were almost on top of them.
And then a blue symbol flashed on Jaina's console and pinged its activation loudly for all to hear.
"Shields back up!" an operator exclaimed victoriously.
Jaina clenched her teeth predatorily and slammed down on the stealth controls.
The IES went off and the heat vents split wide open, blasting the concentrated energy straight into the oncoming geth ships' detection sensors, oversaturating everything but the robust targeting systems of their main weapons that were this time fully active.
All that the enemy sensors could see was the bright ball of energy – the one that the geth programs interpreted as a this-time-failed repeated attempt from the Normandy to blind them – and they fired straight into the blazing target for a quick kill, not bothering with evasive maneuvers.
None of the geth could detect that the Normandy's shields were fully back up. None of them could see that the frigate had backflipped and that its main gun was now trained straight at them. None of them could see the moment the main gun fired the first shot.
"Eat this," Joker growled as he squeezed the trigger.
A rapid salvo of rounds exploded like a whiplash from the Normandy's maw, delivering a series of vicious punches straight into the closer geth ship, punching its barriers, armor and superstructure in a lethal combo.
As the momentum that still drove the Normandy upward drained out and the ship began to dive, the flaming wreckage of another geth ship was falling together with it, never to rise again.
"Full throttle, Joker, low dive," Jaina called as she controlled the ship's secondary systems.
"I understand, and am able to," Joker reported regally as he punched the throttle, then added, "Is it just me, or is it getting a little hot in here?"
Jaina wiped her sweaty brow, noticing the increased heat.
The Normandy, meanwhile, accelerated straight toward the ground down the mega-tower's side, going supersonic within moments now that it was on the straight line and pulling up hard barely meters above the dust cloud.
Jaina's comms beeped with an incoming message.
"This is Adams!" the voice came in her earbud. "Commander, I can give you only ten more minutes of IES combat action at this rate – any more and it'll start to cook inside the ship!"
"Noted! This will be over in five!" Jaina declared as geth frigate rounds zoomed around the ship, striking into the surrounding Prothean sky towers and launching bursts of ancient stone and mortar in all directions. "Two ships aren't a match for us! We're finishing this! GARDIANs – target Bandit-5! Joker, Kollen maneuver – spin, now!"
The mass effect fields surged, lightening the vessel as it made a hard to port and an 180-degree turn toward the enemy as it opened all aerodynamic brakes. Lightened by the mass effect, the aerodynamic pressure stopped the ship within a dozen meters, rapidly closing the distance to the two charging geth frigates and entering the GARIDAN's lethal range.
Four of the forward-mounted GARDIAN arrays surged to action, the needle-thin laser rays digging deep into the Bandit-5.
An explosion rocked the section of the vessel where the laser beams sliced through its armor and struck at important systems. The vessel quickly disengaged, climbing high up in an attempt to leave the atmosphere as it trailed smoke. The other frigate engaged in covering fire from its own GARDIAN arrays as it followed its friend up, its shots meant only to prevent Normandy from targeting the crippled vessel with its main gun.
"They're falling back," an operator called.
"Bandits 7 and 8?" Jaina demanded.
"They never followed," one of the crewmen reported. "Both were parked on the sides of each of the Zhu's Hope mega-towers, but Bandit-6 is rising up right now while Bandit-7 is still there!"
"It looks like a full retreat," Pressly called.
"They don't get to retreat!" Jaina commanded. "After them, Joker! I want these sons of bitches down before they leave atmo!"
"You got it, Commander!" Joker called as he stopped dodging the enemy's shots and steadied the ship toward the enemy for the main gun to fire.
Suddenly, a loud whizzing sound reverberated through the air as a massive red beam descended from the skies and carved a deep gouge through the ruins right next to the Normandy.
For the tiniest split of a second, Jaina's eyes widened, and her heart stopped beating.
"DIVE!" she screamed. "Into the dust cloud, DIVE!"
Joker scrambled to move the ship just as the second crimson beam of destruction gave them chase. He pitched the ship downward, straight into the dust, just as the beam sliced through the Prothean sky tower they were passing by, slicing the building's upper half off like a guillotine.
The humongous chunk of steel and concrete slid right down the sloping cut, descending straight down after the hapless ship that flew straight down into the dust cloud as more red beams descended all around them, trying to cut their path.
Flying on luck alone, Joker dove into the murky clouds, giving full throttle and leveled the ship up just before they hit the ruins beneath them. He gunned the engines, narrowly evading the falling building that crashed into the ground right behind them, fracturing into numerous chunks that were sent flying in all directions.
Swerving around the first few steel and concrete protrusions of the ancient ruins in the dust cloud, Joker stepped onto the brakes, managing to give it a full stop before it collided with the thick wall an ancient building.
Just as he did, the thick dust cloud that surrounded them lit up in red as a series of several prolonged red beams bombarded the location behind them where the building had crashed down, melting and carving everything and everywhere around it relentlessly. Some ancient volatile substance from the ruins got caught by the beam then, creating a massive explosive shockwave that blanketed the area. The Normandy barely held on with its mass effect field as the debris fell all around, peppering its barriers and straining their strength until finally everything seemed to settle down.
There was absolute silence throughout the ship. Nobody breathed for what seemed like an eternity. Despite the increased heat, everyone on the CIC had turned dead cold and frozen, all eyes looking slightly up, and all heads tucked deeply between the shoulders.
Jaina released a breath she had been holding for the past minute.
"I think we had gotten the big daddy's attention," she breathed. "And he seems to be angry."
There was a moment of silence.
"What now, Commander?" Pressly asked.
"We've sent a cold probe in orbit just for this eventuality," Jaina reminded him after a moment, then nodded toward the specialist. "Any readings?"
The specialist shook himself off, then tapped the screen and watched it for a few seconds.
"That dreadnought and its escorts are angling away from the planet and accelerating," he said. "Bandits 5, 6 and 7 are breaking atmosphere and assuming course toward the formation." A few more seconds passed. "The frigates have assumed formation –" he trailed off, and his shoulders slumped in relief. "They've jumped into FTL."
There was a collective sigh of relief.
"I guess the geth thought they had destroyed us with that explosion," Pressly said.
"Guess so," she agreed.
"Ma'am, Bandit-8 seems to have remained in Zhu's Hope!" the probe operator suddenly called, leaning forward toward the display. "It's… parked vertically against the side of the second mega-tower and I'm pretty sure I'm still seeing geth down there."
"Why did they stay behind?" Pressly wondered out loud.
"To pick up their armies, most likely," Jaina assumed, frowning and clenching her jaw. "Saren must've obtained the artifact he was after." She then nodded toward the operator. "What can you see of the colony?"
The operator shrugged, shaking his head. "They look fine and well from what the probe is seeing. There's next to no damages, and people are milling about."
"That's odd," Pressly commented. "That superdreadnought tried to destroy us with its weapons, but it left the colony standing. They could have leveled it to the ground easy! Why didn't they?"
Jaina growled deep in her throat as she ground her teeth, thinking. "We don't have enough hard data to answer that. We need to get out of here and regroup with our people," she said and activated the comm to the ground team. "Ground team, this is Normandy, do you copy?"
There was a crackle of garbled sounds. Jaina looked questioningly toward the comm specialist, who was working her console.
"The geth jamming signal is still present, ma'am," she said. "Try again."
"Normandy to the ground team: do you copy?" she repeated.
A garbled, but recognizable sound came from the other side.
"This is Shepard, glad to – crackle – we could use – crackle – the Geth ship – static – ExoGeni building."
"We're on our way, ground team," Jaina replied. "I repeat: we are on our way! Joker, take us out of here and toward Zhu's Hope!"
"With pleasure," he replied. "And may I say for the record that this ship is not designed to fly through the ruins of ancient cities? Gigantic concrete constructions tend to bypass our barriers and crush our armor. Just saying, you know…"
"Noted," Jaina said dryly as she reached to the IES controls and shut off the stealth system, allowing the ship to enter into a cooldown cycle. She then tapped the ship-wide intercom and spoke:
"This is Commander Jaina Shepard to all personnel: I am proud to declare that this ship has successfully battled against six enemy frigates completely on its own, of which it destroyed four, crippled one, forced the rest to retreat, and has dodged a highly-advanced superdreadnought's bombardment. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just had our true baptism of fire. HOORAH!"
"HOORAH!" A cheer exploded amongst the crew as the ship slowly rose from the dust clouds, then turned and throttled toward the colony.