And here is the conclusion to Chapter 3. I hope you all enjoy and remember to post any criticisms you have regarding what I wrote. I do read them all and so far many of them have been helpful.
Read and Enjoy
Chapter 3
Boom City Part II
Admiral Paul Robinson, commander of the Union First Fleet, gazed at the view screen which displayed the assortment of colors associated with mass space. This scene was about the only redeemable event in mass space when compared to the waiting that they all experienced. He sat in his chair glancing at his various displays showcasing the status of nearly everything about the VS Courier Six, the fleet's flag ship, as well as all the other ships. He chair was the captain's chair while Captain Jenna Sarath sat to his right. She occasionally ordered the bridge crew around or inquired about the status of different ship related subjects. She was an effective commander Robinson thought she might very well be his predecessor one day. He hoped that that day would not come anytime soon.
As waited he thought about the unique way the Union fleets worked together to create an effective fighting force. All three nations were so different from one another that it was impossible for one to be entirely cohesive with one another. So when the First Fleet was formed the Board decided to use the differences to their advantages.
Vegas had the most advanced technology and manufacturing capability so it produced nearly all the ships as well as the brave men and women who crewed them. This was also allowed Vegas to play a critical role in the Union even though it had the smallest population. The only person that could hold the title of admiral and not be a citizen of Vegas was the Union Supreme Command, Admiral of the Fleets and for the moment that was Admiral Belmont of the Brotherhood. Robinson knew the man well and trusted him in his orders and actions.
The Brotherhood also had a role best suited for them. On every ship in the fleets there were always Brotherhood. They were the equivalent of pre-war marines aboard ships at sea. They not only provided security onboard the ships but also acted as the first responders in any situation. Those assigned to the fleet were some of the best the Brotherhood had to offer and that said most used power armor. They were the first one out to fight and there armor gave them much potential. They could do anything from maneuvering and engaging enemies in space to using droppers to land on the ground and provide quick relief for allied forces. The Brotherhood's technological level also insured that they could operate around the advanced star ships without need to much help or being a bother. They were also Vegas' best ally and Robinson trusted their men to always have their backs.
The NCR performed the largest role in the Union which was enabled by the size of their population. Their soldiers formed the main army of the Union and were quite proficient at it. Lacking the technological advantage that Vegas and the Brotherhood employed they relied on their numbers to overcome difficult situations. The NCR soldiers used high grade combat armor and kinetic weapons and while they could not compete with either the Brotherhood or Vegas one on one, their force size as well as effective, if antiquated, weapons ensured that they would be nearly impossible to be defeated. Most importantly, the NCR was the best at extended ground campaigns and performed their role astoundingly.
While the fleets and the Union performed very well so far they had yet come across an alien species. To date the only major duty the fleets had performed was stopping a string of rebellions of NCR colonies a few years ago. While it had been a victory Robinson felt that his fleet had yet to be tested. He worried what would happen during the upcoming engagement and prayed that the fleet would come out victorious over the new enemy.
"I think we are going to do well against these aliens," said Captain Sarath as if she could sense the current worries of the admiral. "We have spent a long time preparing for this. All of our training since the Prothean data cache has been about this moment and I have faith in us to do this." Her confidence was contagious and the Admiral wiped his worry from his mind.
"We have no other choice but to win. The fate of Vegas and the other nations is in the balance," he said receiving a nod from the Captain. Then the navigation officer reported that the fleet would be leaving mass space in ten minutes and counting. The Admiral quickly began thinking of their plan of attack. It was a simple one with them opening up with the laser cannons as soon as they exited space following with a plasma wave. He hoped to take as many of these bastards out as quick as he could. He did not want any to escape.
"These reports of yours are good Colonel. I am glad to hear of your success following the trap," said General Larquin Arton, commander of the 7th and 22nd Turian Fleets onboard his flagship Last Will. He was talking to Colonel Victus who was now in charge of the ground assault on the planet, following the passing of General Arterius in the city's command center when it went nuclear. The colonel had just alerted him that his forces, or what was left of them, had surrounded what remained of the city's population in the northern part of the city.
"Thank you ,General. I estimate that after we hold here for a few days these natives will surrender. They can only have so many provisions with them and soon will run out. If their armed forces attempt to leave the area in an attack or retreat they will be targeted by the fleets and be neutralized. We only have time now, and our scavenger teams are collecting all the native tech they can. Overall this will be counted a victory," said Colonel Victus. The General could easily see the pain of the loss of him men during the attack and paused for a second as if he did not truly consider it a victory. "Sir, any word sighting yet on native reinforcements. I know there shouldn't be many, if any, but the way these creatures fought it leaves me somewhat worried? It's like they were buying time in everything they did since we landed. They could have easily armed the civilians and used them but they didn't. I worry that they did this because they believed that this was not their last stand and there was hope," said Victus causing a small new worry to rise in the General's mind. Behind the colonel stood the native city, smoke rising out of many parts and the specks of gunships in the flying quickly in the background.
"Nothing as of yet , Colonel. We are on standby incase..." a warning signal flashed on his terminal causing the General to pause in mid sentence. "Colonel it seems we have some company. Keep those natives secured and I will alert you when we are through. General Arton out." Excitement coursed through his veins. He had been waiting for this and hoped he would not be disappointed. None of the native ships originally here were able to be salvaged and Arton wanted those energy weapons.
"What do we have?" asked the General to the navigation officer. The bridge was quite and tense ready for whatever was coming.
"We have just detected ships on our scanners sir. There are fifty seven ships and they are..." The navigation officer was interrupted in his report as the ship shook violently shaking him from his seat. Many were not strapped into their seats and either fell to the floor or held on for dear life. Arton grabbed onto the chair's arms and managed to stay himself. It continued for a few more seconds before it stopped.
"Report!" he roared wanting to know what exactly just happened. One of the bridge crew brought up the view screen showing the fleet. "Dear spirits," he said as he watched the devastation. Debris from his own ship drifted in front of the cameras, but his ship was not the only one hit. A cruiser passed in front of them, scorch marks dotted its hull. She was spinning with no lights or any sign of power showing. As she rolled over and the general saw that the cruiser was missing large portions of its hull. He could see fires burning on the inside where there was still some oxygen for fuel.
"We have lost seventeen ships sir," said the navigation officer. He said this in shock, for nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the Turians. He then brought up the view of the enemy fleet as another round of laser fire slammed into the turian fleets. This time the bridge crew was fastened into their seats and maintained their duties over the few seconds of hits. "Another eleven ships are down, General."
The General then began ordering the fleet into a offensive formation. They lost another few ships during this period and were soon ready to begin firing effectively. With an order from the General nearly every ship left in the fleet of over two hundred opened fire. He could feel the vibrations as Last Will's main gun fired. He watched on the view screen as the slug, much slower than the lasers, made their way to the enemy fleet. He took a second to observe the ships. He was stunned to see three ships rivaling the size of Council dreadnoughts present. Then he watched as the slugs impacted the enemy fleet causing bright flares to appear over the opposing fleet. A few seconds passed by before the enemy fleet was clearly seen again and the General's eyes went wide.
Every last one of the enemy ships was still whole and none were disabled. Slugs were still slamming into the alien fleet but it didn't seem to stop them. He did noted that some of the ships were damaged but that only eased his worries minutely. Unless he could think of something to stop them he knew that the combined forces of the Turian 7th and 22nd fleets as well as all souls were in great danger. Another wave of laser fire stuck once more causing even more ships to go dark on the Admiral's fleet list. Fear made its way through the General. This was not fear of dying or even failure but fear that they may have started a war with a superior enemy capable of doing great damage to Council Space at the very least.
As the impacts of lasers once more penetrated the ships barriers and made direct hit the General felt a large explosion somewhere towards the aft of the ship. "We have just lost our FTL capabilities, General!" yelled the engineering officer.
"Can they be repaired?" asked the general worried about not being able to jump if the situation called for it.
"Yes sir, but we will need to cease combat and allow the fleets repairs ships up to, um, thirty two hours predicted. I don't think we have that time." The engineer was right, they did not have that time. The General did not even know of a way to buy time. Another minute passed this time without an attack by the alien fleet.
"What is the status of the enemy fleet?" asked the General.
"They have ceased firing their laser weapons general," reported the navigation officer. "A few seconds ago we detected a large surge in power from their ships but could not ascertain what it was."
"Wait," shouted the weapon's officer. He quickly adjusted the main view screen showing numerous glowing green dots streaking towards them. "Sir, our computers can't identify these but those are plasma projections. Just like the natives used for some of their handheld weapons. At the speed they're moving we can't avoid them."
"All ships brace for impact!" yelled to the general after activating ship wide communcations. Never before had the Turians encountered plasma weapons and the natives using them had been a shock. But the General still know what effect these weapons could have on their ships, and it was not good.
A few seconds later the bolts began hitting his fleets. He felt his ship being impacted as he watched other ships take hits. They melted right through the armor with some ships splitting in tow or more. His terminal loss contact with over half of his fleets as thousands upon thousands of plasma bolts made contact.
To the General's confusion his personal terminal went dark. As he began to wonder why the bridge burst into chaos. Terminal stations began shorting out causing sparks to spray his men. Numerous fires broke out wrapping some of the crew in flame. The fire suppression system failed and men donned with personal infernos ran around the room, painful screams flooding out of their mouths. The lights on the bridge failed leaving only the main view screen to light the large room. Multiple explosions ran through the ship causing the dreadnought to violently lose artificial gravity flinging some crew, those out of their seats trying to quench the flames, into the air. Only a second later the gravity kicked back on slamming them into the ground. The General heard many bones break as the crew fell down and winced. He tried to communicate with the med bay but internal communication was out. To the General's worry all communication was out. He used is omni-tool in attempt to reach out to others on the ship but none would answer.
He felt the ships shake again as another bolt slammed into in. Immediaetly the atmosphere in the room began venting. He knew there the leak was not coming from bridge itself but somewhere else. Looking to the main entrance the bridge he noticed the bulkhead was open, only partially closed. He unfastened his seat's harness and jumped up making his way to the entrance. Over the shrill of escaping air he order some of those around him to assist. Together they made their way to the entrance and begin to manually force the bulkhead close. Finally both sides came together and one man activated the manual lock sealing the door. The air ceased continuing to vent from the bridge. The general looked back feeling slightly lightheaded and knew they lost most of their atmosphere. Making his way over to the engineering station he pushed the now dead engineering officer aside. Burn marks covered his body from damaged parts of his station but he say the man actually die when the ship lost and quickly regained gravity. But now was no time to think about the dead.
He ducked down and pulled of the paneling's cover so he could access underneath. After a few seconds he flipped the stations emergency power supply causing it to come to life. A terminal screen was projected and he began his work. He brought the bridge's emergency power supply online, something the engineer failed to do during the chaos. Lights began coming back on as well as terminal stations now with power. The bridge took a haunted look as some light flickered casting strange shadows. Next he activated the bridges emergency environmental systems and he could feel air beginning to return to the room easing his headache.
The one good thing about the atmosphere leaking out of the room is that it quenched many of the fires. What was left was quickly put out by the remaining bridge crew. After a few minutes of helping the crew get the bridge under control, the General returned to his chair and activated his now restored personal terminal. His station gave him all information pertaining to every ship in the fleets. First he looked at Last Will to see its damage. He was saddened to see that the engineering section was completely dark. No life signs were detected anywhere in its vicinity. Sensors also indicated large portions of the ship's hull was gone. Over sixty percent of the crew was missing and presumed dead by the ship's computer. Fires burned all throughout the ship and many levels were dark and unresponsive. Unfortunately his ship fared better than most.
Of all the ships in fleets only two were capable of a FTL jump, both of them frigates. Every other ship was nearly destroyed. While some retained propulsion abilities most were dead in space. He was confused by the reading of the 22nd's Fleets dreadnought. It completely offline but it should have fared as well as his at least. He adjusted the main view screen to look at it personally, thankfully the cameras necessary were still functioning. He cursed as he looked at it. It was in multiple pieces. It was clearly without power and almost blended in with the darkness of space with only the burning fires of some areas lighting it. Soon the fires went out as the oxygen necessary was vented into space giving the ship a long dead look. Using the view screen the General continued to look around. He was happy to see that some made it to escape pods and now waited for pickup, although it was doubtable that pickup would be a friendly one. According to his terminal some crews were still waging wars inside the ship in attempt to contain their various situations and save the ships.
Then he looked at the alien fleet. It was now at the edge of his fleet but luckily it had stopped firing. Some ships entered orbit of the planet and he noticed thousand of ejections raining from the ships onto the planets. A few seconds later he saw numerous transport ship beginning their decent as well. The General waited for the enemy to finish them off but it just sat there, watching.
"General we have fleet wide communications back up as well as internal ones," reported the communications officer. Suddenly the ship lurched to its side and he could feel it picking up speed, if slowly.
"Sir, we are beginning to be pulled towards the planet," said the navigation officer. "A number of other ships are also experiencing the same. We have no ability to alter course, sir." The General understood what this meant. Without the power to move the ship would continue crashing through the atmosphere eventually crashing on the planet. In that moment the General realized that they had not only lost to the enemy, but lost without a chance and without honor.
Seeing the two frigates that were still capable of FTL travel he ordered them to jump back to Valen and alert the Hierarchy to the event here. He watched as they began making speed to jump. The alien fleet and immediately notice. It fired on the ships as they were escaping, their lasers ripping into one crippling it. The other frigate managed to only take small damage and jumped away to the relief of the General.
The General then ordered a fleet wide order to abandon all ships still online. He ordered for their crews to scuttle their ships as well preventing the enemy as much they could from getting their technology and data. Some ship did not have communication abilities and some did not seem able to perform the order but some did. As the Last Will picked up more speed heading for the planet he watched ship after ship explode internally, their last defiant act towards the aliens. Then when he did as much as he could for the fleet, the General ordered the bridge to their escape ship. He gave on last look around the bridge and then followed the bridge crew as they began their preparation to leave the ship forever.
Colonel Victus watched with awe at the lights flashing in the already bright sky. With hoots and whistles his men watched along with him as their fleet engaged whatever small resistance these natives could throw at them. Victus like many of his people marveled at battle. He wished he was up there now, observing the battle personally as his people secured another victory. After a few minutes dense clouds began moving in and covering the sky preventing him and his men from seeing any more flashes.
He returned his attention back to his present situation dealing with the natives. He had them surrounded and while his people were outnumbered by the natives, they had yet tried to break free. With the fleet above them there was little these natives could do and that was just how Victus liked it. No more fighting, no more bloodshed, just simply waiting till his enemy gave up saving those on bothe sides.
He was going over reports from the scavenging teams. Everywhere they looked they found treasure troves of technology. No known experience outside of Prothean artifacts yielded as many possibilities as what they found here and the entire army was ecstatic. Victus just wished that more of his men where here. While this was a victory for him, the loss of two thirds of his forces would haunt him for all of his years to come.
While he reviewed his reports various loud noises came from the sky. It caused him and nearly all of his men to look up in surprise. It sounded like ships entering the atmosphere hard. He wondered what the alien ship would look like as it plummeted toward the ground.
He counted five objects breaking the clouds over various points as the ships came streaming in, and lucky for him and his men they were all a good distance away. All of the ships were smoking as they plowed through the clouds covering the sky. He could not make out much except that they had taken a lot of damage. Some of the turians raised their arms in the air in excitement over the scene. One of his aides came to him, his face full of fear. As he handed Victus a magnifying scope his hand trembled. Looking at the falling ships with the scope Victus exclaimed to his men: "Those are our ships!". Quite quickly came over his men as they realized what this meant. They all stared to the sky, unmoving.
Victus ordered his men to hail the fleet for a report. While the signal was sending there was no response and after a few more tries it seemed there would not be. They would have to wait and see. A much louder boom echoed across the land as something else entered the planet's atmosphere. Victus feared what would come next and hoped it was not too. He hoped in vain.
Suddenly a ship busted through the cloud cover at such a speed the clouds themselves separated in great distance around the ship. He and his men immediately recognized the ship and watched as their fleet's flag ship descended from the heavens. Chunks of the ship were missing and most of the armor was burned by some unknown weapon and atmosphere. Fires were breaking out all over the ship as it fell. Pieces of the ship, no longer content to stay together, began breaking off and joining the fall to the ground. Victus watched in horror with the scope as he saw bodies, turian bodies, being sucked out into the air beginning their long fall to death. The ship twisted as though it was in agony as its main structure began breaking down sending ripples along the ship. Then there was a large explosion from the port side causing the ship to convulse to his horror. Thankfully escape pods began jettisoning off of the ship. Some were damaged or hit by debris and exploded as they left killing even more of his people.
The ship ripped through the air as it flew above the city along its decent. Victus and his mean watched as it went further and further away getting ever closer to the ground. Finally they watched from the distance when it was little more that a speck as the ship crashed into the ground. A rumble similar to a distant earthquake rocked them slightly.
After a few minutes of the Last Will's crash something else decended from the heavens. Small black dots in the thousands rushed down to the ground. Impacts were seen all around them as these creations landed caused dirt to rise in the air. Victus soon received a report that out of these creations rose Armor Powered enemy soldiers and he could hear the sound of battle rising as his men were fired upon. Behind him he heard the natives cheering. Their voices were deafening and he saw the morale of his men plummet as well, knowing there were in trouble. Then Victus saw larger ships numbering in the thousands descending. These we easily identified as troop transporters and far larger than what him and his men used when landing on the planet. It seemed, much to his dismay, that the natives were more than capable of answering to the attack. He knew that command was wrong and that this was not a small, insignificant civilization. He knew that the only reason that his superiors started this war was because they believed they could easily defeat them with minimal losses. With what he just witnessed of his own fleet and of the ground combat so far he knew they were all in trouble. Not only that but that these natives were in the right. They were attacked without warning and all fault would go with the Turians no matter how many of them were killed in response.
As the transport ships began landing around them Victus did the only thing he knew to do to save his men. The situation was lost and without Fleet support they would be wiped out. Hopefully these creatures knew mercy. With that thought he ordered all of his men to report to him and to not engage. Then he used to translator to sent the natives a message. He told them he surrendered.
The next day passed quickly for those on both Ellen and the Fleet. Admiral Robinson was pleased to hear of the aliens surrender and they were quickly disarmed and collected by groundside forces. They had also begun rescue operations of those aliens stuck in space in their escape pods. They were moved down to the planet and placed in secure locations outside of Insignia. They were now guarded by the NCR forces stationed there. Luckily most of the city's populace was alive and while there was much damage, repairs had already begun. Most of the civilians were the city's builders initially and they reported that it would only take them a few weeks time to repair a majority of the city's damage.
It was fortunate for these invaders that they had surrendered before they were butchered. The leader of the ground forces surrendered first followed by the leader of the invader's fleet while onboard an escape ship. Since then any of those hurt were given medical treatment after they were taken into custody. Many of the bodies that were recovered were sent back to Big Mountain on Earth so that they could be studied. The ships medical bay had already performed their own examinations and learned valuable information from those that were wounded and treated. New data was sent back to Arcturus every hour. Engineering teams were also being sent to all the ships still left of the enemy fleet to mine as much information as possible. All the enemies weapons were collected and studied. Robinson was glad to know that they did not find much of a threat in this enemy, except when it came to numbers.
Following the capture of the invader's ground leader, the Union begin integrating the translator data into their pipboys. This allowed them to have conversations with the enemies as well as issuing orders to the captives. It was a great help that the invaders, who called themselves Turians, had already created the program. His fleet would not have to waste hours examining their language and figure out what it meant, which caused the whole process to go by easily.
What little they could gleam for the Turians was that they were a large civilization and part Council. The Admiral did not know what this meant but would find out soon with any hope. These Turians would reveal very little, and while admirable, it was vastly irritating.
Robinson was in his office, just off of the bridge waiting for his guest. His guest was the Admiral of the Turian Fleet and while he was quite with others, Robinson was hoping he would be able to get him to talk. If not he was to report to Admiral Belmont and be given his next set of orders. He hoped that the Turian would talk, if not... then well, they would see.
Through the doors of his already opened office three figures walked through. Two were Brotherhood assigned to his ship and were fully suited in power armor. The last one was the Turian admiral, or General as he was called. Even though he stood small in front and between the power armored soldiers who both had weapons on him, he acted calm and collected and did not show fear.
The Admiral stood as the General entered the room. Robinson gestured him to sit in front of him, thankfully these creatures could use human chairs. After the Turian was seated Robinson followed. One of the men left the room taking guard outside at the door. The other guard took position on the inside with the two fleet leaders and closed the door, sealing it from the ears outside.
"Thank you for coming to see me General," said Robinson in a polite and respectful tone.
"It is not as though I had much of a choice. Your men were quite persistent," responded General Arton. He also returned the polite and respectful tone.
"To be direct General, I need to know the capabilities that your people possess. I need to know your numbers and your military and fleet size. I also need to know what your countermeasures are in an event like ours and how they will respond."
Arton took a moment to think before responding. "As with those under your command, I cannot tell you our numbers or anything in relation to the capabilities of our forces. I can tell you however that we are large and possess many numbers. We also possess many allies. If you plan to start a war with us, then you will be in for a long and deadly fight and you will lose. As for our response, well we will begin preparing for all out war. Your only chance to surrender. We have conquered many others and you will be treated fair if you don't put up a fight. We cannot allow you to go on, especially with this technology you possess. You are a threat to the greater good." His voice was full of pride and confidence as he threatened the conqueror. From Robinson's standing, the General seemed to believe all that he said, even though they had lost horribly during the battle. Robinson hoped that it was simply a bluff.
"You and your people have already started a war, General. You attacked us without warning even though we did nothing to you people. You didn't even offer us a chance for diplomacy but instead launched an invasion onto one of our planets. You killed our people and since we wiped your sorry asses out we have done nothing but treated you kindly. And here after all that, after your dismal display, you threaten me. General I am trying to save the lives of your people. I do not want bloodshed, but I will create it if necessary. So I am asking you, will you give me the information I need?" Anger was bubbling inside the Admiral as he said this. This race of being was so idiotic. He considered them, especially after what their defeated general said, to be nothing more than elitist.
"I have nothing further to say Admiral," said the turian. Silence followed his words and the two sat there, staring the other in the eyes.
With a sigh Robinson activated one of his offices view screens. Soon after the image of Admiral Belmont appeared. Belmont watched the turian, anger in his own eyes.
"Did get all that, sir," asked Robinson to the only man who outranked him outside of the Board.
"Yes I did and as did the Board." He took a second before continuing. "Because of it they have put the go ahead on my plan." Both of the Admiral's were saddened by this. It was not something that they wanted to do, but failing to attain any useful information with an assumed alien attack, they had to act while they could.
A map of the known galaxy appeared in the room. It quickly centered on a system and then a live feed was brought up broadcasted by a Union scout ship. The turian general's eyes went wide when he saw this.
"This is the system that your fleet originated from, General," said Belmont. "From what we had gathered it is a large industrial planet with over a billion souls living on it. By what we have gathered it goes by Valen, doesn't it General?" The general nodded his head and was clearly confused by what was happening. Robinson wondered what was going through his mind.
"Good," said Belmont as the turian nodded. "Admiral Robinson, your orders are as followed. You will take as many ships as you deem fit to this system. Once you arrive your fleet will begin destroying all space born structures that are deemed either military or industrial. Once you have finished with them you are to begin a nuclear bombardment of the planet." The turian's eyes went wide as he said that. He went to move but the Brotherhood soldier on guard held hip in place by placing his hand on his shoulder. "You are to target the planet's military and industrial structures. Use everything from nukes to electromagnetic pulse weapons to disable that planet. I want you to avoid killing as many civilians as possible during your attack, we need as many left alive as possible when you are done. Following that you are to return to Ellen and take part in the defense. The Board is putting all their nation's assets behind you in preparation for this war the General speaks of. You are to leave as soon as possible. God be with you, Admiral." With that Belmont terminated the connection.
The General finally spoke. "Why Admiral, why are you going to do that to Valen?" His voice and eyes were full of confusion. He did not understand their intention. Most would wipe out the planet and its people striking a serious blow to the Turians but the Union wanted to leave them all alive.
"Are your people heartless, General? If some of your people were in trouble and you had the ability would you save them? Will your people help this planet's population from starving?"
"We would," answered the general after a pause.
"That is our goal, General. We need time to prepare and get our defensive ready for this war. From what we have gathered, to get us your people have to pass by that system and planet. Do you know the logistics required to feed and save that many people. Thanks to our bombardment there will be no way for them to care for themselves forcing your nation to provide everything for them. With this we will tie up your resource for weeks or longer while your people rush to save over a billion lives from starvation and death. We are going to use your own people against you. Hopefully after this your nation will want to negotiate and hopefully so to, for them they do not try to test our defenses. You make take the general back to his quarters now." The General rose and was escorted out by the soldier.
Robinson then began to make preparations to move out. He would take most of his ships but leave about a third behind to guard Ellen. Even though these Turians were his enemy, he hoped that they would come to the table. He was not thrilled about a war.
The Council Gardens was a buzz of activity. All councilors were in attendance and discussing the rumors that had be spreading. In front of them a view screen showed one the Citadel News Network. It had reported that two Turian fleets had been wiped out with only one ship, a frigate returning alive though it was not unharmed. The Turian councilor, Kleen, was as confused as the others. None knew what was going on. Once again the news station showed footage supposedly from the frigate. It presented a Turian fleet with over two hundred ships as well as two dreadnought being wiped out as though they were nothing. The only thing that was shown of the enemy was blurry. The station also gave detailed images of the planet that the fleets were above. It showed a city that was in some images scarred and in others intact. This city used architecture unfamiliar in Citadel Space. The reporter, an asari, proclaimed that this was a new civilization that the turians not only encountered, but invaded. It also reported that Turians had not comments dealing with this issue.
The Council was also just alerted that the Turians had begun mobilizing many of their fleets, and they were most likely preparing for and unknown war. The Council wanted answers and was doing everything to retrieve them. Suddenly a flurry of movement took place at the entrance to the Gardens. Walking up towards the councilors was the Primarch, leader of the Turian Hierarchy. He was surrounded by his many security personnel and aids, all serious looking if a little worried.
"Primarch," began Tevos, councilor for the asari. "Thank you for joining us for this meeting. We would like to know the validity of these reports we have been receiving." The Primarch had been on the station and about to leave as the news station first reported these events. The Council immediately requested a summons by him in order to figure out what was going on. While it was clear he did not want to, the Primarch agreed.
"All I can tell you councilors at this time is that we have encountered a hostile race who managed to greatly damage our fleets," he said. "I am afraid that all other information is classified until we ,ourselves, know more."
"That isn't very satisfactory, Primarch," responded Councilor Kinron, the salarian. "This reports indicates that you lost two fleets to this enemy who you had outnumbered. There is also evidence of a ground invasion conducted by your military on this planet. In the interest of our greater security, we need to know more about this potential enemy."
"We are also requesting you to stop your plans for retaliation, Primarch," said Tevos. "Whoever these newcomers are this is not the way to handle this situation. It must be handled with diplomacy and done carefully. We do not want another war to come to our lands."
"I assure you all that we have attempted all forms of diplomacy that was available to us, but we had no choice. I also have no comment on anything else at this time." He said this even though the Council knew he was lying, or at the very least not telling all of the truth. "Now I must be going. There are many situations which require my attendance at this time."
As he turned to leave, the Turian councilor, Ravek, spoke up. "Primarch, sir. It is imperative that we know what is happening. If these reports are true this could be the start of a very serious conflict. I urge you to let us, as a unified body, deal with this situation before it spreads any further. I don't want to see anyone, especially our own people to be further hurt by an avoidable consequence."
The Primarch hesitated for a moment, giving a long look at the Turian Councilor. The Primarch was fighting a battle in his own mind. He did not want to it to be known how they had handled the situation with these aliens. But he also did not want to lose anymore of his people, especially when he was not sure if they could handle this new threat alone. After another moment he responded. "Thank you, Councilor," he said with sincerity. "And all of you, but I assure you all that we have this situation under control and will give you as much information as soon as possible. But right now it must remain need to know for our own security." With this he began to leave from the Council's Presence.
"Breaking news from Valen!" reported the news station on the view screen above causing even the Primarch to stop and take notice. The asari reporting continued. "We have just received reports that Valen has come under assault by unknown forces. According to our information all space faring structures of military and industrial purposes have been destroyed and the enemy fleet has just entered orbit above the planet. Wait, we have just accessed a video feed broadcasting from one of our ships in the area. It has reported being passed over by the fleet as have all other civilian ships. There is somewhat of a delay due to the distance. Hold on... Here it comes." The ship had a good view of the ships and the planet. The ships were of very strange design. They were more block like than the streamlined vessels in citadel space. "It appears as though they have come to a stop above the planet. We have not detected any forms of communication emanating from any of the ships. They... It appears they are launching items that appear to be missiles towards Valen." said the asari as hundreds of missiles left the ships. The Council's was deathly quite as they waited to see what happened.
Suddenly large flashes of light began appearing all over the planet. The camera on the ship zoomed as far as it could showing multiple mushroom clouds taking the place of the numerous flashes. "The fleet is bombarding Valen with nuclear weapons," said the reporter, her voice full of fear and yet awe. "According to those on board the observing ship, it appears that the weapons are avoiding all major cities and focusing on military and industrial centers. Wait, they are launching another wave." This time the weapons did not impact the ground but exploded in the atmosphere. Webs of blue energy covered the planet and area by area, all lights went out. "It appears they have employed EMP weapons against Valen. These weapons have to be unlike traditional ones because the power grids should be resistant to this type of attack. Whoever this enemy is they are strong and possess advance technology."
Those in the Council Gardens continued to watch the scene unfold before their eyes as the Turian planet was wiped off the table. "The crew on the ship is reporting receiving a video message from the enemy fleet addressed to all turians. Hold on," the reporter said as she waited from someone unseen. "We have been given permission to show this message. Here it is now:"
The screen switched from showing the planet to showing a creature dressed in white with matching hat standing on board what appeared to be the bridge of a star ship. When he began speaking it was translated. "I am Admiral Robinson, Commander of the Union First Fleet on board the Vegas Ship Courier Six. I am here with a message for the Turian Invaders: You have attacked our ships with no warning or explanation. You have also attacked and invaded one of our colonies, again without warning. You landed your forces on our planet and assaulted our city. When our defenses proved too good for you used your fleet to rain down destruction upon our people. You killed our people and all so you could get your claws onto our technology. You did not try to negotiate, you did not want diplomacy you would have not only stolen from us, but enslaved us if you could.
Then we retaliated. We destroyed your fleets with ease while not losing a single ship. Now we have come to your planet and returned what you did to us. We could have easily wiped out all of its people but we choose not to. Instead we only targeted military and industrial centers. We most likely killed millions of your people during the attack and we understand that and are sorrowful, but understand that we could have done much more. Instead we will show you mercy. We consider ourselves even after this attack. We have also shown you that we are capable of destroying you should we choose. With this attack we signal to you that we are ready for war. If there is war then you will pay a high price. We are going to burn your planets. We will flatten your cities. We will kill all of your people.
My fleet is now returning to Ellen, the planet you tried to take from us. I have been ordered by the Board to give you these next few days to come to your senses and prevent this war. If you want peace then come to us. If you come you will be given a chance to speak. While we are ready and willing for war, we are also ready and willing for a peaceful solution. We are not a people quick to violence but we will do whatever necessary to ensure our safety. But know that this will be your only opportunity for this course of action. If you delay, we will not." With those words the message ended and went back to the reporter.
"There you have it people. We have contacted the Turian..." the noise of the news dipped off as the Council burst into talks. The Primarch continued to stare at the screen as it showed one of his planets burn.
"Primarch, will you now tell us exactly what happened?" asked Tevos. With slight hesitation he began to tell them everything that had transpired within the last few days. From what he said the Council viewed the newcomer to be telling the truth. The Council then ordered a team of diplomats from all three races to Ellen to begin negotiations.
The council had to stop this from becoming a war. They also wanted to bring this new race under the influence of the Citadel so that they may have access to this technology. They also need to bring this race to a heel. As did all others, they too would soon understand that the Council is the supreme voice in the galaxy.
I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was a long one but I feel it was worth it. Next: Diplomacy! I wonder how the Union and Citadel will react to each other.