Chapter 6: Discovery and Revelations
With the slaves rescued the No Higher Honor heads back to its home. After Ignis is done with his after-action report and overseeing the ship he gives the con to his XO, an asari who was once a member of the Eclipse mercenary band before joining Horus. He acknowledges her salute and leaves the bridge heading for his cabin and a long, by ship standards, shower then bed. Before he can enter a messenger catches him, "Milord, Castellan Horus would like your company in his quarters." Dismissing the messenger Ignis sighs as his chance for the bliss of a hot shower escapes him. He reluctantly turns and heads to a lower deck via the stairs. An important design note of every Matanuska made vessel is that there are stairs as well as elevators connecting every deck.
Entering the castellan chambers it seems to Ignis that he has shrunk, everything in this room is larger to accommodate the size of the fully matured primarch. Clearing his throat he calls out, "You wished to see Milord? Is it not enough that I am forced to spend the majority of my day in your company, listening to every idea and catering to every whim? So when I finally am able to shower and sleep I come running at your call."
Horus walks into his solar from his bedroom clad in dark blue robes he is smiling listening to the veteran turian grumble. "Are you finished Captain? Here I thought it would be polite to offer "one of the finest captains in our navy" some wine and a friendly game or two of chess."
Both beings laugh as they are continue to trade good natured insults. "Horus one of the reasons I joined you and left my position in the Hierarchy is that they are not willing to do anything about the pirates and slavers that prey on the innocents they claim to protect. I also wanted to know why you use swords instead of guns. Every raid we stop is something no Citadel captain has achieved, we have done more in the past three years than the Council in past three hundred."
"That is true," agrees Horus, "But I want more. Once have we enough power both resources and military, I want to join the Citadel so they are forced to enter the Abyss and Terminus Systems. Your move."
Looking at the chess board Ignis moves one of pawns forward. "What if the Council rejects or pays us lip service? Also seeing and training with the knights I have come to appreciate the art of swordplay. It is far different and harder than the books make it out to be. Your move."
Horus moves one of his knights and opens up his bishop and threatens his opponent's rook. "If they do not aid us we will leave and forge our empire in the Abyss based on honor, duty, and honesty. Not like the Councils lack of willpower or its indecisiveness. Also I agree with you on the art of swordplay being difficult to master but elegant and unstoppable once done. A noble pursuit of a warrior. Your turn." Taking the bait Ignis protects his rook and ends up losing his queen. They spend several more hours relaxing and discussing galactic politics.
While in Citadel space rumors of a demon ship are starting to spread. It is said to be massive and appears out of thin air, has no ezzo, and leaves death in its wake. The only constant fact that the Council has that it is human. Their interrogation of Udina and the Alliance High Command reveal that no ship is missing. The STG reports no major arms build or other irregularities. They conclude that it is a pirate or a Cerberus vessel.
Despite the evidence or lack of it Tavos is not convinced that it is what the STG report says it is. A pirate ship could not take on an asari cruiser in straight combat and there was no traces of ezzo from the other ship so that rules out Cerberus. All she has are strange energy readings that have been ruled as a radiation burst from a stellar phenomenon. She walks to her holopad and has the communications center contact the Normandy.
On the frigate, the trail for Saren has gone cold. Shepard is waiting for his visions to get clearer or for Saren to show himself. In the meantime his team have been doing all kinds of odd jobs in order to keep a positive credit flow and hone their skills. Going over all he knows about the Reapers and his visions, Shepard has no idea what they truly are except that he is convinced that they are a threat. "Commander," Joker says over the intercom, "You have an incoming message from the Council."
Thanking Joker, Shepard walks to the briefing room and is greeted by the holographic form of Tavos. Before she could begin Shepard says, "If you called to further question my decision concerning the elimination of the Rachni Queen forget it and hang up now before the link "experiences technical difficulties."
Shaking her head, "It is not about that. It is about the ghost ship. I have an energy signature that I want you to track down. Consider this a priority until a new lead on Saren comes to light. Goodbye Shepard."
Heading up to the bridge he has the energy signature run through all of the Citadel Race's monitoring systems. It takes several hours but he has gotten a large and stable trail heading to the Terminus Systems. He has the information crossed with noted shipping lanes and discover that they intersect repeatedly. Mainly ones used by alien species. That could explain why the Alliance has no reports outside of the rumors Shepard muses.
On the Asgardia Hoeth is wondering if there is any presence of humanity in this universe. All they have encounter over the course of several weeks are xenos races. Each ship was boarded so that important intelligence can be gathered. So far these xenos are weak and pathetic. On one hand it is refreshing to battle an alien that is not the Eldar or the Ork but these asari, salarian, volus, elcor, and turian. At least the last group had some fight and fire in their hearts for they had the audacity to fire at a ship of His Divine Majesty. It was a good test of the shields against their macro-cannons, it did nothing but cause it to flare.
Staring out into the void Hoeth wonders what the Emperor requires us to do in this universe if there is no humanity to defend. "Milord," Speer says, "The navigator is detecting another vessel close to us. He says its physic signature shows humans on border."
"Good a chance to judge their purity. Leave the warp and prepare to hail the vessel."
On the Kowloon class freighter Wall Street, its captain has the ship drop out of FTL to enter the relay network. Re-entering real space they are greeted by the demon ship sitting right in front of them like a specter of death. Nervously the captain wipes his forehead as the ship is hailed, maybe we can talk our way out. The communications flicker to life as he is greeted by the scared, grim, cold visage of Lord Admiral Militant Hoeth. "This is the MSV Wall Street. We are an unarmed ship carrying food and general cargo to the world of Shanxi."
Hoeth smiles at the man and says, "Ave Imperator. Dominus Infiniti Homos." He cuts the communication with the human ship and orders a warp jump. As he does Horus is entering a meditative state to reach the "other" as he calls it. Both the Navigator and Septentrio detect the massive physic pulse on the placid warp. Horus leaves it as quickly as he brushes up against its surface, the realm feels alien not meant for humans to meddle in. For the Imperials it gives them something to investigate. Telling Hoeth he agrees with the two physkers and has the ship alter course. Looking at the space marine he asks, "What did the pulse feel like? Was it a demon?"
"No," replies the Librarian, "It felt purer and inexperienced though powerful. It almost felt like the Emperor. It does recall of the time I gazed upon Primarch Guilliman of Ultramarines. It is worth hunting down and discovering whatever it is."
After the Wall Street safely left the system it contacted the Alliance and give a detailed report of his encounter with the demon ship and how it is command by humans. Also the sample of the language was close enough to Latin that the computer was able to translate the message, the person said, "Hail Emperor, Master forever Humanity." Whatever that means the Alliance brass has no clue but they are certain that this ship and its crew care about humanity and make it a top priority to find the ship and glean from it its every secret. All this information was passed to Shepard who has the Normandy stalking the various shipping lanes in the super dreadnaughts predicated path.
"Drop us out of the warp. I want to compare our position with the star charts these xenos have provided us." Speer commands from the secondary pulpit, even though it is his turn at the watch only the admiral, the true master of this ship, may stand in the command pulpit. Servitor intone the necessary commands and the tech-adepts chant to the machine spirit. Slowly like a submarine emerging from the black deeps the Asgardia re-enters real space. "Discharge any excess power, recharge all drive cores, launch standard combat patrols, and get me an updated position and a heading to the contact." Junior officers snap at the XOs crisp orders. The ship moves into the gravity of a gas giant, in order to hang stationary and discharge their cores into the planet to not foul their sensors. It stays for only an hour but it is enough time for the many detection and listening post of the Citadel races to record a contact.
By the time both the Normandy and the SSV Shanghai arrived in system all that was left was a decaying energy signature. With still no leads on Saren, Shepard has been working with Adams, Tali, Joker, and Tali to try and find a way to track this ship, they have been unsuccessful so far. With both of investigations currently at dead ends, Shepard goes back to doing the odd jobs of the galaxy.
The Asgardia resurfaces in the Neman Abyss, Skeiron and Magos Tyr have asked the Admiral to let them use the technology they gleaned from the asari ship. It was a modification to the engines to allow rely travel. They say if would reduce the stress of the warp engines and Gellar Field Generators, that are still damaged from the in system warp jump and tyranid warp shadow. Hoeth agrees begrudgingly, at least it will stop them from bothering him or Zephyrus. A batarian slaver foolishly tried to challenge the might of the Asgardia, Hoeth ordered its death without a second thought. As the debris field expends they intercept a transmission from the dead ships black box. It said, "Challenged unknown human ship suspected of being a Knight vessel. The messaged ended with a date time group when it was jettisoned.
"Sir we have detected a small occupied escape pod," says a servitor.
"Launch a Thunderhawk and retrieve that pod. These Knights interest me and I want answers."
The pod is taken to the hangar bay and the batarian inside is greeted by the hateful death stares of Hoeth's bodyguard, members of the 5th Kasrkin Company that he helped rescue, the young batarian soldier tries to put on a brave face. Using the translation software that the logic engines have created he begins, "Xeno you have two choices, tell me what I want to know and I give you the Emperor's Mercy quick and painless, or you refuse and we torture the information out of you and then you die slowly and painfully. Who are the Knights and where is their territory?"
His nerve breaks, "The Knights are some assholes who have been messing around with all of the slaver, pirate, and mercenary bands in the Abyss. They "do good" and protect the innocent, mainly humans. They are led by a giant who is supposed to be death incarnate."
"Not bad but I want territory and planets."
"They control a dozen planets directly and have leadership of two dozen more, as for their territory I can locate on a map."
"Good come over to the cognator than and locate it." The batarian walked over to the stylized computer terminal was given a map. He outlined the Knights territory. "That it?" the alien nods in confirmation. Pulling out his laspistol Hoeth places the barrel into the back of its head. "Suffer not the Xenos to live," and he pulls the trigger. A bright flash and the batarian drops dead with two black smoking holes in its head. "Throw it out the airlock and set a course to the area it identified."
In Protectorate space, on its outermost border, the military of the Batarian Hegemony is attacking the planet hoping to enslave the whole population and destroy a large portion of the Knights Protectorate Naval Forces. The distress signal is picked up all over the sector, Horus and Ignis are leading the First Fleet consisting of ninety one ships, about one third of their entire navy, are responding as well any opportunistic pirate, slaver, and mercenary. On the Asgardia the communication officer presents the cry for assistance to the Lord Admiral. "It looks like we have our target Mr. Speer. Jump the ship and prep all combat units for immediate deployment once we get in system. As the Asgardia enters the warp, Horus is leading several orders in fierce combat on the planet's surface while Ignis is marshaling the 1st Fleet efforts in orbit.
The shuttles carrying Horus and his knights zoom low over a smoke choked battlefield. Sighting their objective the shuttles open up with their heavy repeater cannons, as they cover landing zone the Knights jump into the shell craters. Rising they unleash the fury of their Striker assault rifles, the heavy bullets exploding among the machine gun nest of the batarians. The machine guns fire back, the shields of Knights flare as they charge into the fire. Drawing their blades the Knights brace themselves behind their shields and charge. Closing the distance the batarians try to stop the charge, their resistance held for a second before succumbing to the furious onslaught. Hacking and slashing the Knights clear out the heavy weapons position in a wave of blood. In front of them lies the now defenseless artillery support of the Hegemony attack in the valley
In orbit Ignis is using his ships greater mobility to keep the enemy ships scattered. By using his ten cruisers and his single battlecruiser to provide a large volume of bombardment fire he is allowing for the mix of eighty destroyers and frigates to close into knife fight range. Their guardian lasers and heavy broadsides tear into the weakened ships vulnerable flanks. Despite his success the enemy simply has more ships, for each one he has knocked out or damaged, he has taken three times the amount of damage in return. Ignis has sent the twenty of the surviving damaged ships unable continue fighting in orbit groundside another twenty lay lifeless in the void. This has prevented the Hegemony from securing the low-orbit and atmospheric battle-zones. A lull in battle has both sides pulling back to rally and repair their ships.
Looking at the holo-map of the battlefield Ignis can't see a way to win, even if he stripped the entire Protectorate space of ships he would just about break even on the sustained casualties. "Move the remaining forty destroyers and frigates into a single unit and have them head behind the sun. We will use our cruisers to draw the enemy out of the path of the planet, and they will FTL into knife fight range while we charge. Hopefully we can catch them in a hammer and anvil. The panic and confusion we will sow may trigger a retreat. If not then we die with honor like Knights should." His subordinates snap out of their fatigue at their commanders renewed drive and resolve. The smaller ships, all damaged, do a short jump behind the star and wait.
On the ground, the fighting has intensified all along an important valley. The Castellan of this planet has been throwing men and machines into that cauldron for the past few days just as much as the enemy has. Nick has been leading the defense of the heights surrounding the middle of the battlefield. Both sides' anti-aircraft guns do not cover this vital stretch of airspace. Dogfights are occurring constantly from low-orbit to twenty feet off the deck. In this confusion the stealthy shuttles of the knights drop off their cargo right onto a battalion level batarian command post.
As a nearby destroyer saturates the area with a suppression barrage Nick leads his Knights Guards of the Order Thunder right at the command tent. Their Typhoons keeping up a wall of lead that goes unheard except by its victims. Shield flash into existence as they draw their blades and enter the tent. Hacking left and right the command staff is quickly eliminated. The batarian counter-attack quickly losses its coherency and is blunted by the Dragoons. The exposed logistic train behind the armor is savaged by an aerial assault of Order of the Griffins, paratroopers. The Knights and the various Orders of foot soldiers are barely holding the enemy back. The battle on land is at a stalemate it all depends on the outcome of the space combat.
Fine tuning his last gambit, Ignis knows that if word ever reaches Citadel space, his tactics and daring would get him in the history books. Either as an example of cunning and courage or as a cautionary tale of what not to do. Moving out of the shadow of the moon Ignis has all of his remaining aircraft charge at the flanks of the batarian ships. His five remaining cruisers, all of them leaking atmosphere from torn and twisted hulls, form a stately line and advance. The frigates and destroyers check and double check their disruptor torpedo tubes. Their relays crackle with power as they charge their FTL drives waiting for the signal to charge.
The batarians have called up a dreadnaught and its escorting squadron and have placed in the asteroid belt that is flanking the planet. They will wait for the Protectorate forces to fully engage and then hit them from the side with overwhelming force. From there they will destroy the planet via bombardment and continue on deeper into their territory. Ignis ships open fire, all excess power has been rerouted into their main guns. Their four hundred and ninety meter long mass accelerator fires every three seconds, each laying down an impressive barrage from their four heavy cannons. These rounds are fired outside their kill range and the eighty batarian ships dodge easily. The rounds then explode filling the intervening space with supercharged particles of ezzo, blinding the batarians as the cruisers maneuver to close the distance on the right side.
On the sensor screens of the batarian cruisers and frigates their enemy vanished in the whiteout, and reappeared at medium range. Surprised the batarian ships quickly accelerate out of the gravity well of the planet and into open space, three cruisers and dozen frigates are left behind as smoking wrecks. Ignis and his ships charge after them, shooting at their vulnerable rear. The frigates and destroyers jump right into close range combat on the left side as the previously launched fighters charge head on. The batarian ships scatter leaving a dozen ships dead to just five frigates and two destroyers. They quickly shake their pursers as they close at an oblique angle of the asteroid field. Ignis has ships form a crescent and gives chase.
The Endless Domination, the batarian dreadnaught, emerges and opens fire. Its powerful guns gut half of Ignis cruisers on the opening salvo. The rest of the batarian ships move into a thick screen around their capital ship as a tidal of torpedoes are released, they are swatted from the void in a storm of laser fire. Out of the hundreds of missiles fired only a few dozen hit their targets resulting in two dead frigates and a crippled cruiser. The dreadnaught fires again as the batarians charge behind its shells. Ignis has his ship scatter, as he losses another pair of destroyers to the dreadnaught. Pulling back he orders a fighting retreat to the planet, he contacts Horus and lets him know that they are going to lose control of the system.
Horus has had the civilians of the planet leaving in steady evacuation covered by the warships sent from the heavy fighting throughout the system. He orders a planet wide fighting withdrawal to the spaceport in order to protect and save as many lives as possible before leaving. Ignis and the Protectorate fleet lay in near ruins, only two cruisers are combat worthy in addition to his seven hundred and fifty meter long battlecruiser. Counting the damaged ships in the planet's atmosphere, Ignis has a mix of forty escorts left. This battle has cost the Protectorate eight cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and twenty five frigates. This represents forty eight percent of their primary combat fleet has been killed. This in nearly one fifth of their entire naval strength.
On the system edge a tear in reality has formed, and out of the portal glides the scared bulk of the Sword of Asgardia, it will take them an hour to make it the besieged planet. "Is this the location?" asks Hoeth.
"Yes Lord Admiral. I sense the presence on the planet's surface," replies Septentrio.
"Very well, give me ship wide vox. Men, warriors and servants of the Emperor, We have arrived at our destination. Somewhere on that war torn planet a source of physic might that must be examined, if hostile destroyed. There are currently two warring factions in this system, one is the hateful xenos known as Batarians. They are cruel weak xenos who enslave the weak and innocent and have a particular hatred of humanity. We will purge them from this system with fire and faith. The other are known as the Knights Protectorate, they will have to prove their worthiness or will suffer the same fate as the Batarian filth. All guardsmen see to your weapons and souls for the Astrates will carve out a beach head and you will fill it. As the Hammer of the Emperor we will stop the foul xenos on the planet and above it. For humanity are the masters of the galaxy. In His Name we shall cleanse the stars. Ave Imperator, the Emperor Protects." The warriors of the Imperium begin their own prebattle prayers as the massive warship flies into the raging fires of war and turns them into an inferno.
The Batarian admiral and Ignis both detect the Asgardia as it approaches the combat zone. Neither leader has any clue who sent this ship nor how it is so massive. Their communications suites activate as they are hailed. A clear voice filled with fury and clarity of faith begins, "To the xenos scum that is the Batarian you lives as decreed by the God-Emperor of Man, the master of the galaxy, are forfeit. To those that call themselves the Knights Protectorate identify your forces and surrender to my judgment or die as well." The message ends as their sensor screens are filled with the thousands of fighter craft, each one a third of length of a frigate backed up by hundreds of bombers, each of them half the length of frigate.
The Batarian Admiral has his eighty three remaining ships assume a stagger line formation and attack this insolent newcomer. Dozens of mass accelerators fire along with hundreds of disruptor torpedoes. On the Asgardia, Speer remarks to Hoeth, "I believe there are shooting at us Milord." As the mass accelerator rounds hit the shields of the Asgardia, doing nothing by causing a slight flare at the impact point. The six hundreds of disruptor torpedoes are met by the heavy fire of five hundred defensive turrets. Only thirty missile got through and explode, the missiles failed to penetrate the tens of meters of adamantium armor that sheaths the battleship.
"I believe you are correct Speer. All guns open fire." Orders Hoeth. Along the spine, prow, and flanks the massive macro batteries load their kilo-tonne weight shells and charge their super heavy plasma cannons. In a long rolling barrage, they fire. The rounds cross the gulf between the two forces in less than a second. The batarian ships are ripped to shreds, despite their agility the speed of the weapons batteries left no time to react. As the Asgardia readies their second barrage the batarians have lost half of their ships. The Asgardia fires again and only a dozen are spared, they died moments later as several Starhawks unleashed their plasma missiles. It took less than five minutes to kill around eighty vessels. Ignis is stunned at the display of destruction he just witnessed.
The radio turns on with an incoming message, "We will deal with the xenos still on the surface. Do not leave these coordinates and he sends the location of the L3 point between the planet and the moon." The Asgardia slides into orbit and has Ignis relay the location and IFF codes of the Knights in comparison to the batarians. With that information thousands of shuttles, landers, gunships, fighters, and bombers descend on the xenos with no mercy.
Horus and the remaining soldiers have been pushed back to their last defensive line, as the batarians muster their armor for a final push the sky grows dark with strange aircraft. From the largest one a voice booms across the battlefield, "We are the Shadow of Death, Descending from the Skies." The Sky Reavers jump straight at the enemies' lines sowing death in their wake. Tanks are melted with plasma and melta fire. Soldiers are slaughter by holy bolter and purifying flame as the assault and tactical marines cut through the panicking soldiers. The batarians try to rally by the dreadnaughts slam into their flank throwing bodies and tanks aside like they are paper.
The panic spreads and the rout begins. As they run back to bases in the valley they see smoke rising from it as fire pours down from the hills. The devastator marines open fire with heavy bolter and plasma cannon. The batarian soldiers continuing running as the rest of the Sky Reavers charge their rear. Forward is the only way out, they run as dozens are killed every second. They leave the killing fields and are greeted by the massed fire of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 501st Mixed Guard Regiment. What little coherency they had was lost in the storm of lasgun, battle-cannon, and artillery fire delivered from the Cadian Shock Troopers. While the main force of the Guard was wiping out the batarian armored division. The 8th and 6th battalions consisting of the rescued Elysium Drop Troopers are striking at targets all over the planet; depots, slave camps, logistical and command points are destroyed as the some of the Emperors finest descend into battle with their avenging Valkyries.
As the main Batarian army is being obliterated several hundred heavy infantry soldiers and Special Forces have infiltrated the city and are harassing Horus surviving soldiers. The Kasrkin are sent in to deal with this problem along with Zephyrus and the command squad. With little effort they hunt down and kill the members of Special Intervention Unit. "This is easier than fighting Servitors," remarks Olympias as he cleaves through two of the charging xenos.
"I agree," says Skeiron as he destroyers an APC with his Servo Harness.
"Do not become lazy and distracted," commands Zephyrus as he expertly kills a pair of snipers with his plasma pistol. "Become arrogant and your foe will use it against you. Septentrio where is the physic source now?"
"Up head Brother-Captain. I also sense a large number of xenos there as well as."
"Very well. You, Olympias, and Eurus take the left. Myself and brothers Notus and Skeiron will take the center. We are His Fury."
The rest of the squad replies, "Born upon the wings of His Wrath."
In the square Horus and three of his Lighting Knights are pinned down by a tank and twenty SIU soldiers. They are protecting a group of civilians you were unable to get to the space-port in time. "To any units this The Lord Castellan. I am pinned down and request immediate assistance." The Sky Reaver Command Squad heard that transmission and each one of their souls resonated with that voice. A sense of kinship washed over them and a feeling that the Emperor was with them.
The reply Horus receives sends a chill down his spine, "Lord Castellan once we kill that tank charge and we will aid you."
Septentrio unleashes a blast of lighting and the tank melts, two leaders cry out, charge. The Knights and Astrates rush the stunned SIU Batarians and quickly overwhelm them. As the dust clears Hoeth informs the Astrates that the planet has been secured and asked have they found the source of the physic signature.
Zephyrus is unable to response, as the dust finally settles a large figure advances toward them. As a member of the Adeptus Astrates is to a normal man, this being is the same. He towers over the Space Marines. All of them feel his power, so similar to that of the Emperor, they instinctively know what this person is. As one they bow, "Lord Primarch we are yours to command. By the will of your Father the God-Emperor of Man you have our loyalty."
Horus looks puzzled, these warriors are larger than any creature he has seen and armored with strange weapons. His advanced mind recognizes that their behavior is one born of knowledge. "Rise and what did you call me? Do you know what I am?
Zephyrus stands, "You milord are a Primarch, created by the Emperor of Man to conquer the galaxy in the name of Humanity."
"We have much to discuss. Let us speak aboard my ship provided it survived the battle."
"Of course Milord."
A Quick Authors Note: My plan for this story is cover all three games. If the readers would be so kind to give a review they are greatly appreciated and show that you like the story and it encourages Me to get the chapters out sooner and that my hard work is appreciated. Any review comment or criticism is welcome provided it is respectful.