Mass Effect is the property of Bioware. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien/Predator franchise.
!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!
USM Auriga
The concentrated fire of the four alien ships slammed into Auriga. Her shields, never designed to withstand this kind of onslaught, collapsed, and the next salvo impacted directly on her hull. However, it seemed that captain Jankowski's last manoeuvre was paying off. The sloped armour on her bow deflected most of the energy of the incoming rounds away from the ship and, though several of her ablative arnour plates were ripped away, none of the mass accelerator slugs penetrated the hull.
"Activate jammers! Maximum acceleration on all engines, turn thirty degrees to port and thirty degrees down angle!" Captain Jankoski shouted. "All ships, weapons free and fire at will."
Auriga swung through her turn and began to accelerate downward and away from the system's ecliptic. A new salvo came roaring in, but the sudden turn had taken the alien gunners off guard and half the salvo missed. The other two rounds slammed into her hull, but again failed to penetrate.
Return fire from all three ships reached out toward the alien formation and Jankowski swore. The targeting systems were still rotating targets between the alien ships as he had originally ordered, scattering the mass accelerator slugs over several targets.
"Signal our escorts: Concentrate fire on my target."
Precious second were wasted before the targeting systems made the adjustment, then a new salvo roared away, scoring multiple hits on one of the alien vessels.
"Captain, hostile fighters moving in."
On his tactical display Jankoswki watched as the fighter wings that had so far remained between him and the dormant relay started to move. They accelerated rapidly, leaving the frigate that they had accompanied behind. He hesitated a moment. This battle was clearly unwinnable. Escape was the only option and that meant fighting his way out of the trap, but right now there were just too many enemies.
"Signal the escorts to form up on our flank and match speed. Use all available EW on enemy cruisers. We'll let our laser defences deal with the fighters."
He took a deep breath. "Send an FTL message from Auriga to fleet comand Shanxi: 'We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack.'"
HNV Primarch's Pride
Livestian watched as salvo after salvo struck home. The shields on the dreadnought collapsed quickly, earlier than expected, but the armour was a different story and the turian captain felt a moment of despair as he realized that his gamble had failed. There was simply no way for his cruisers to destroy the behemoth quickly enough to stop it from getting at least a few salvoes off. However, the return fire was surprisingly light. Rapid fire of multiple mass accelerators erupted from all three ships, hitting several of his cruisers, but none of them sufficiently to penetrate the shields.
The alien fire increased in effectiveness as the aliens shifted their attention to concentrate on a single target and Livestian saw debris spin away as mass accelerator slugs tore into the hull of Palaven's Glory. Fortunately, the damage seemed minor and the cruiser continued pouring fire into the alien dreadnought that was now accelerating away, clearly trying to escape, rather than fight. Escape? Livestian checked his tactical data.
"Adjust fire! Engage the cruisers first." Incredible as it seemed, the dreadnought's fire was not much heavier than that of either of the two cruisers and he could destroy those a lot faster. Once he had dealt with them, he would be able to take his time with the larger vessel, whatever it was.
Turian fighters swept in, trying to disable the enemy vessels by destroying sensors and engines, but whatever they might lack in offensive weaponry, the aliens' defensive armament was excellent. Two, three fighters exploded under concentrated fire of the GARDIAN lasers. As the fighters broke away, Livestian's cruisers, as wel as his one remaining frigate that had now reached engagement range, resumed firing, this time concentrating on the two enemy cruisers.
Initially the results were disappointing. Enemy jamming systems were filling space with electronic noise and more sophisticated electronic warfare systems were trying to infiltrate his targeting computers. The accuracy of the turian targeting systems was severely degraded and several salvoes went wide, aimed at what appeared to be sensor ghosts. The turian crews tried to respond in kind, but the shear volume of electronic noise that the aliens ships pumped out was difficult to overcome and Livestian ordered his people to cease their efforts and concentrate on defending their own systems, rather than attacking.
With their own systems shielded from enemy interference, the accuracy of the turian gunners increased steadily. As with their larger companion, the armour of the two alien cruisers appeared to be much stronger than their shields. Still, it could not withstand this sort of concentrated fire indefinitely. As Livestian watched, the tactical readouts registered multiple hits penetrating the alien hulls. Return fire was still coming in and several of the turian ships had been struck, but so far their armour was holding.
Suddenly a cheer went up among Primarch Pride's bridge crew. A single glance at the tactical display show Livestian the cause: One of the alien cruisers was falling out of formation, its acceleration severely reduced.
USM Auriga
Jankowski cursed as he saw the data from the RDVs. Galipoli in particular was absorbing more damage than she had ever been designed to take. Now at least one of her engine pods had failed completely and she was slowing down. Bomarsund was in better shape, but with the amount of fire she was taking that wouldn't last long. As he watched, Galipoli suddenly slowed down, more than her lost thruster warranted. the remaining engine pods flared and the RDV shifted in a sharp turn, reversing her heading.
"Sakai, what the hell are you doing?" Jankowski yelled through the command circuit. No answer came and for a moment Jankowski wondered if captain Sakai would simply ignore him. The her voice came over the circuit.
"We're not going to make it, captain. My ship's lost one engine and a second is failing. We have multiple hull breaches already and there is no way to tell how long she will hold together. There is no time to make repairs, and you cannot afford to slow down. Get out of the system. We'll hold them off."
"Damn you, Sakai. Get-"
The connection with Galipoli was closed from the other end.
"Captain! Look at Bomarsund," one of the sensor techs said. Under Jankowski's disbelieving gaze, the icon representing Bormasund decelerated sharply as the ship joined its fellow RDV.
"Incoming signal from Bomarsund."
Commander Dupont's voice was remarkable calm, considering the circumstances. "Captain Sakai is right, captain. None of us are going to make it out, unless someone delays those aliens. Get Auriga out, captain. Warn the fleet."
"Dupont, I'm ordering you to -"
"And if we survive this, you can have me court-marshalled, captain." A hint of laughter appeared in her voice. "It would be worth it, if it means I get to live through this."
The signal stopped and Jankowski watched with burning eyes as the two RDVs turned to face the enemy.
HNV Primarch's Pride
Livestian saw the two ships manoeuvre and understood their intent. Although both were already damaged, it would take him time to finish them off completely and in the mean time their larger companion would be able to open the distance. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it. While he had a considerable advantage in firepower it was not so large that he could afford to divide his cruisers. No matter where he chose to concentrate his fire he would have to accept the possibility that at least one of the alien vessels would be able to escape the system.
"Tell the fighters to stay with the larger ship. All others slow down to match speed with the cruiser." He looked at the damage estimates for the two aliens ships. "Have all ships concentrate fire on the most damaged vessel. We'll finish that one off, then deal with the other."
Mass accelerator fire flashed back and forth between the two formations. The distance was closing rapidly and the alien fire was becoming more effective as they scored hit after hit on Palaven's Glory. The alien's had clearly identified her as the most damaged of the turian crusiers and were concentrating their fire where it would be the most effective. Longer ranged salvoes were still coming in from the larger ship, but their accuracy was diminishing as the range increased.
Even though the individual rounds were relatively small, the weight of concentrating fire began to tell. A first hull-breach appeared on Palaven's Glory, then a second, and Livestian mentally cringed as he thought of the loss of life among its crew.
"Captain!" Lieutenant Tirius sounded exulted. "Enemy power readings are fluctuating. I think we've damaged its eezo core. Its about to-"
Before she could finish her sentence, one of the alien vessel disappeared in an eye-searing flash.
USM Bomarsund
Commander Dupont's face went white as Gallipoli vanished in a massive explosion. She hadn't had time to get to know captain Sakai, or any of his officers well, but still... She made herself ignore the pain. So far her own ship had escaped the brunt of the alien fire, but that was clearly about to change. As the first salvoes came roaring in, she weighed her chances.
"Set up all weapons to fire on automated controls. Same target, rapid fire. Get all non-essential personnel to the lifepods."
"Madam?" her first officer looked confused.
"We're not going to make it, lieutenant. I don't know how these things treat prisoners, but it cannot be much worse than the vacuum of space. Now do as I say."
The alien fire was both devastating and highly accurate. WIth only one ship pumping out noise the jamming and electronic warfare was severely reduced in effectiveness and it showed. Bomarsund took hit after hit, her shields had long failed and the ablative armour plates were being rapidly stripped from her hull, leaving the ship more vulnerable to each following salvo.
Her own mass accelerators fired back defiantly and commander Dupont watched with a sense of satisfaction as one of the alien ships, already damaged by earlier hits, suddenly lurched out of formation as part of her propulsion system failed. Unfortunately, the revenge was short-lived. Several rounds slammed into Bomarsund's hull, which no longer had the means to stop them. Alarms went off all over the ship as multiple compartments suddenly became open to vacuum. Before anyone on the bridge could even begin to deal with the fresh damage a panicked voice sounded over the intercom.
"Power fluctuations in engineering! We're trying to-"
Commander Dupont felt a massive shock, then everything went dark.
HNV Primarch's Pride
Livestian hesitated as he looked at his displays. The remains of the second alien vessel were slowly drifting away. Unlike its companion the explosion had been relatively small. rather than simply vanish the ship had been torn in half, debris spinning away in all directions. Still, its destruction ha come at a cost. Palaven's Glory was out of the fight, at least for the moment. That left him with three cruisers and a frigate plus his remaining fighters to try to bring down the bigger ship that was still accelerating away. If he wanted to make the effort. You have achieved what you wanted, a small voice inside him seemed to say. They won't be opening the relay. It was a tempting thought. He could simply break off the engagement now and watch as the one remaining ship departed. That was the easy way, the safe way. But it wasn't the turian way. Turians fought a battle to the finish, or they didn't fight at all. Enganging an enemy and then letting that enemy get away was just an open invitation for him to come back with reinforcements. Besides, what are these aliens going to tell their people when they get home? a new voice whispered. You are the one that fired first, no matter what they intended. They'll come looking for revenge. Better to stop them now and control when and where the rest of their people learn about it. That way the hierarchy and the council will have time to prepare, send diplomats.
He straightened his spine.
"Lay in a pursuit course, best speed. All ships, target the remaining alien vessel."
USM Auriga
One of the alien ships had taken significant damage and seemed to be out of the fight. The others were moving in pursuit but the aliens had lost precious time in dealing with Auriga's escorts and they were falling behind. In time their superior acceleration would allow them to catch up, but at least for the moment she was pulling away from her enemies. With the increased range their accuracy was suffering as well. The fighters had carried out several attacks, taking out one of her two mass accelerator turrets, but they had paid a heavy prize for it and their weapons lacked the ability to penetrate the main hull. Meanwhile Auriga's laser defences had accounted for another four fighters and the remainder were clearly reluctant to make another firing pass.
It was too good to last. With no further targets the three functional alien destroyers and the frigate could combine their efforts and despite the range their accuracy started to improve again. Aboard the battered research ship electronic warfare specialists did what they could to interfere with the alien targeting systems, but there were simply too many enemies and the increasing amount of damage was taking its toll on their systems as well. Despite their best efforts the frequency of the hits increased once more. Salvo after salvo slammed into Auriga, but still her heavily armoured hull, designed for a fleet carrier rather than a science vessel, held together and her speed was increasing steadily. A direct hit from one of the alien warships took out her last remaining mass accelerator, robbing her of even the token the ability to return fire. The fighters bore in again, this time concentrating on her propulsion, but the engine pods, like the hull, had been designed to take an enormous amount of punishment before failing and yet another alien fighter was wiped out by one of the few remaining laser guns.
On the bridge captain Jankowski's eyes were glued to the count down that showed him the remaining time till FTL speed.
"Hull breach, sector 28!"
"Seal of the area."
"Sir, there are still people trapped ins-"
"Seal it off!" Jankowski snarled. "Or do you want to lose the whole ship?"
Auriga charged onward in what seemed to be the centre of a hurricane of hostile fire. She shook as more mass accelerator slugs tore into her hull, which was finally beginning to give way. Most of her ablative armour was long gone and now even the primary hull was being ripped open. A second hull breach appeared, then a third. Then...
"Captain! Ready for FTL speed."
"Get us out of here!"
With a lurch that said nothing good about the condition of either her engines, or her inertial damping systems, USM Auriga entered FTL and departed the system.
HNV Primarch's Pride
Livestian watched as the alien vessel, by now more wreck than ship, disappeared in FTL. Two enemy vessels destroyed and one driven off with heavy damage. It's not perfect, but still a victory by any standard, so why don't I feel good. about it? He looked at his tactical display. No furher threats were visible, just the remnants of the battle.
"Lieutenant Tirius, what's the status of the squadron?"
"Palaven's Glory has taken serious damage, captain. Half her weapons are off line and she's been reduced to a about sixty percent of maximum acceleration. We've also lost eight of our fighters. Damage to the rest of the squadron is minor at most." She seemed uncertain as to whether she should be jubilant or subdued. Levestain could understand that. The results of the batte had been mixed. They had lost nearly a third of their fighter strength and Palaven's Glory had taken severe enough damage that it would need to visit a dock before it would be combat capable again. On the other hand, the damage to his remaining ships was minor. That gave them some flexibility in case the aliens counter-attacked.
"Signal the squadron. I want this system swept from one end to another. They should pick up anything they can find: livepods, wreckage, everything! We need to find out who these people are, where they came from, what their capabilities are..."
"Captain, shouldn't we send a report to high command as soon as possible?"
"And we will, lieutenant, as soon as we know what to report. For that, we need to recover as much as we can. In the mean time, you and I are going to study the data from the battle. There's a lot here that doesn't make sense. We need information, and quickly. Assuming that that ship makes it home, the aliens will come looking for us and I don't think they will be in a very good mood. The high command needs information, quickly and we're going to make sure they get it.
USM Osawa, en route to LV-758
Rear-admiral van Buren was not a happy man. He had departed from Shanxi with his four available destroyers within an hour of receiving captain Jankowski's initial message, but it would take them nearly two days to reach their destination. In the mean time, the news was not good. A last message from USM Auriga, intercepted after they had left Shanxi, had informed him that the aliens were definitely hostile. After that, there had been only silence. The four ships were straining their engines to the maximum to reach LV-758 as quickly as possible, but it would not be enough. The battle would be over, long before they could come to Jankowski's aid. Two fancy troop transports and an oversized research ship against four destroyers and a frigate! Karel Doorman had better odds in the Java Sea. I guess we'll finally see if that blowhard Jankowski is as good as he thinks he is. Van Buren smiled without humour. He had never been impressed with the likes of Jankowski. That kind talked a good fight, especially when it came to impressing politicians, but when it came to actual fighting... No, this battle could only end one way and there was nothing he could do to change it. Still, if these aliens decided to stick around after their inevitable victory, they would get a nasty surprise when van Buren reached the system. He might not be able to save anybody, he could sure as hell avenge them.
!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!
A/N
Next chapter, round two: admiral van Buren gets to fulfil his lifelong ambition: using his destroyers to blow shit up.
Eipok: I kept Arcturus station primarily because it is ME canon, but I put the military at Arcturus and civilian government on earth. Note that in this universe they didn't actually move the HQ away from earth, because USM headquarters was never there to begin with. As to vulnerability, it has both good and bad points. You can park a station far away from all civilian traffic and put a huge no-fly zone around it. That will allow you to just shoot anyone who approaches without authorization. You cannot do that if you put the HQ on an inhabited planet with lots of civilian traffic. Additional advantages: It's a fully controlled environment, therefore difficult to infiltrate for spies. Also, it's easy to evacuate, because you don't need to climb out of a gravity well, and, finally, if it gets attacked you are far away from any civilian targets, so it limits the collateral damage.
Of course a single attack can have massive consequences, but that is the problem with any centralized command structure. Putting the HQ on a planet doesn't necessarily help, because a ship slamming into it is still deadly (See the end scene of Alien Resurrection). The local relay makes it vulnerable to deep strikes, but that's the nature of the relay system. I suppose you could put the HQ in a system without a relay, but that brings problems for logistics and communications. In this particular situation it's a mess, because of the direct connection to Shanxi. They suddenly have an enemy right in their backyard. Bad luck for them, but good for me, because it justifies the increased tension that makes the whole thing escalate.