General Desolas Arterius was a Turian who liked order in his life, or more accurately a Turian who liked things being kept the way they were; that being, having the Turians at the top of the pecking order. As a result of this mentality, he found his recent assignment to the relay patrol to be perhaps one of the worst things he could be doing at the moment. Mainly because he wasn't able to properly go after those that dared challenge the Hierarchy like Hegemony Slavers or Terminus scum.
So when the message from the STG popped into his feed, he was more bored than anything else; figuring it would be more spook talk of, "Maybe an attack will come his way, maybe not." That was before he read the message; now he was upright in his chair and reading every single word diligently to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
It wasn't often mentioned outside of polite company, but attaining a Flag Officer post was not nearly as difficult as holding it. Without renown in battle, he would soon be relegated to some rear echelon post. "This upstart race may be new, but if this report is accurate they've been exploring our space long enough to have learned the law."
He grinned wickedly as he stood from his control seat. "Comms, mobilize the Second and Fifth Patrol Groups, along with the 13th Occupation Legion. Helm, set your course for Relay 314!"
The crew sprung to action without question. Desolas looked with pride as his flotilla, 30 ships strong, set out to bring these primitives to heel. He might even get a chance to blood his baby brother Saren. That scrapper had his talons dug into the idea of becoming a SPECTER. What better way to accomplish that then by doing the Council's work.
His grin turned more self satisfied as he felt the deck thrum with power. "No one is above the Council's law. And the first law is: you don't open a Relay if you don't know what's on the other side."
X
Yuri Robertson was bored, even as he sat at the bridge of his small freighter.
He had been hauling supplies to Shanxi for the past year and a half. While at first it had been exciting to venture into the mysterious Black Space, it had long since lost its novelty. Now it was just another job of hauling cargo; with the added bonus of death by execution if he told anyone about this new colony.
Noah's Ark as everyone had taken to calling it.
Yuri personally didn't think much of it, since the Covenant were all the way out in the outer colonies. The Navy has the Covies well in hand. It's not like they're ever going to make it past Admiral Cole.
There was a blinking light on one of his consoles. He furrowed his brow. There weren't any arrivals scheduled, so who was-
His question was answered as 30 ships suddenly arrived in orbit of the colony: 24 Corvettes, five Frigates and a Cruiser. They were all angles and sharp planes, like a cross between a Longsword Fighter and a Frigate. He may not have ever faced the Covenant, but he'd had more than his fair share of Insurrectionist run-ins to know a raid when he saw one.
"Гребаная сука" He swore, more out of exasperation than anything else. He quickly powered down his engines to help disguise his signature. A few bursts from his attitude jets put him in a decaying orbit. If he restarted his engines fast enough, he'd slingshot right out of orbit and into a safe place to open a Slipstream portal. The risky maneuver was commonly called the 'Criton Slingshot'.
He saw his comm board light up, but didn't need to know what was being said. "Blah-Blah halt and Identify yourself." Still, he'd be damned if he wasn't going to make a run for it. If his ship was captured he had his shotgun handy for a permanent Navigation hard-drive wipe.
There was a flash from outside, and he watched as the new ships began firing on the navy Squadrons. One Corvette was already breaking up, and a second was drifting, though not without the contrails from their missile payload leading to an equally stricken attacker. He glanced down at his board and saw that his sensors, such as they were, were still recording. He looked up again as one of the two miniscule Stalwart Class Frigates lit up one of the opposing Frigates. To his astonishment, the MAC slug that would have only dented the armor of a UNSC Frigate cleaved the port wing clean off of it's opponent.
The Cruiser moved in at this point and fired... and fired again, and again at a truly absurd rate: nearly one shot every two seconds. The Navy frigate bucked under the assault until the second Stalwart opened fire. The entire starboard side of the enemy Cruiser lit up with some kind of barrier and the ship was physically pushed by the force of the attack. Both Frigates then opened up with missiles while the remaining two Corvettes tried to screen them. That was their last act, as the remaining 27 attacking ships focused fire on one ship after another. In less than a minute, six ships of the United Nations Space Command Navy were reduced to drifting scrap.
He felt his heart in his throat as he turned back to his control board. He was almost at the point of no return when he reactivated the engines. His ship was old, but lovingly maintained recently at the UNSC's expense; so there was no hesitation as the thrusters came to life and accelerated his ship across the horizon and into deep space.
He could hardly believe it; the whole narrative that ONI's propaganda wing had built up crumbled right in front of his eyes. While the Navy gave as good as it got, even proving superior in some areas, it had still lost against the onslaught of enemies. He shuddered at the thought of the Insurrectionists batting the Navy aside, and he slowly realized that these weren't Innies like he was worried about.
No, these were Aliens: different from the Covenant, but just as advanced and ruthless.
He had to get the word out! He could jump to the nearest UNSC Anchorage, but would they get the word out? Or would they just sweep it under the rug to protect their reputation? If he jumped to Elysium he could dump his logs onto the main traffic nets. There was enough traffic to ensure the news would hit the Core worlds and the Colonies all at the same time. But then he'd be a marked man; the UNSC would have the ONI hunt him across known space before dumping his remains in an outer colony gutter for the rats.
But could he trust the military not to sanitize the news to save face? The invincibility of the-
Another alarm screeched on his console, letting him know he was being painted with a radar.
UNSC Anchorage at 26 Draconis it is!
Yuri quickly oriented his ship for the optimal Slipstream angle and programmed the jump. Beyond his sight, but not beyond his sensor range, two more ships were doing the same. Their Slipstream Portals were too faint for him to see, but the new navigational sensors needed to safely jump into a Black System clearly saw the black avian silhouettes backlit by the Jump Portals.
None of this was of concern to Yuri as his Hazard Radar tracked the quartet of ships 10,000 kilometers behind him and closing very fast. His navigation console cheerfully beeped, letting him know the Drive was primed and coordinates were set. He hit -confirm- and watched as the Shaw-Fujikawa drive tore a hole in the fabric of the universe and hurled him onto the three week journey.
X
General Desolas Arterius frowned at the sensor report coming in. "Open a channel to the Commander of that Squadron." He waited impatiently until an icon lit up on his holographic display. "Commander I explicitly ordered you to capture that ship, not blast it into radioactive dust!"
"Sir, we were still 2,000 kilometers outside of firing range when the vessel created a radiation event. Once it was over, the ship was gone." The Commander's tone was more confused than anything else.
Desolus' frown deepened as he remembered a snippet from the STG report about these new people's ships having a different form of FTL.
He shook his head. "Very well. Continue on a close patrol in case there are any other ships you missed." He cut the communications channel before the Commander could acknowledge. He needn't worry too much. These people were clearly newcomers to the realm of interstellar industry if the paltry six ships he had encountered were all they had to protect their homeworld.
Six ships that managed to destroy Frigate 2157, cripple the Cruiser Manelon, and render the Talon of Ophion's primary battery inoperable with a glancing hit. He tried to ignore the almost treasonous thoughts, even as he recalled the deck bucking under him when a Light Cruiser slammed his Command with a Dreadnaught power shot.
Another passage from the STG report flashed through his mind. Brute force indeed. The power behind those cannons was impressive. Imagine what we could do with it... once these people are brought to heel.
He put any concerns but his current operation out of his mind. What did it matter if a single ship fled to these people's colonies; he'd wiped out their Homefleet, so dealing with their reserves would likely be little more than cleaning up pirate scum.
He keyed a direct link to Pacification Legion transports. "General Oraka, you may proceed with your assault."
X
The wailing sirens were terrifying to the young girl as she was carried by her parents towards the bomb shelters. Her family had heard these sirens once before, and what had followed was death and fire; as if God was smiting them like those tales from the old testament her mother always liked reading to her.
This time, at least, God wasn't smiting them with his holy fire.
But the flying craft that flew overhead was no less terrifying, even as they strafed the military defenses; killing many of the local Militia and a healthy amount of the Marine Garrison. "Mommy, I'm scared!" She whimpered even as her mother kept running, her father holding a pistol and running next to them; looking wild eyed as he tried to find some form of shelter as the Craft flew by for another strafing run.
"It's okay Jenny, we'll be okay!" Her mother huffed in reply, still holding her little girl tightly as they took cover behind some rubble while the enemy craft flew by and strafed the street.
Her parents were former militia members, so they were trained in combat, and had survived the Glassing of their old home. They had jumped at the chance to join the 'Noah's Ark Project' to get away from the war that was driving their people extinct; but now it seemed that there truly was no hope for survival for any of them.
There was a humming sound that suddenly grew very loud just before something smashed through the wall they were next to. She and her parents were flung nearly across the street. Jennifer's mother rolled before they slammed into a parked car. Jennifer slowly pried herself out from under her mother and saw a strange hovering vehicle sticking out of a hole in the wall, and spiky shapes moving in the shadows.
She reached down and grabbed her mother's hand. "Momma, Pappa, we gotta go!" Her mother didn't budge. "Momma?"
Jen stared at her mother laying on the ground, her eyes closed; her red hair shrouding her face. "Momma…?" Jen whispered, crawling forward even as she ignored the burns on her arms and her scraped knees. Her mother didn't move, "Momma please wake up…"
Her mother didn't move, even as her four year old daughter lightly shook her.
Looking over at her father, Jen didn't even manage to crawl over to him; the unnatural angle that his body folded repelled the young girl from even attempting to make her father wake up. Turning her attention back to her mother, she kept shaking the woman; even as she heard footsteps behind her. "Momma… please wake up… please…" She whimpered, even as her mom remained still.
As what had happened finally reached her brain, Jennifer felt white hot rage overcome her; and she spun around and faced the group of monsters and screamed. "YOU KILLED MY MOMMY!"
The monsters all seemed to take a step back as Jen grabbed her mothers pistol and pointed it at them, firing as best as she could, only for the weapon to smack her in the face and break her nose. Jen started crying from both pain and fury, and forced herself to her feet and charged forward; smashing the pistol into the nearest monster like a club as hard as she could.
It actually seemed to hurt the monster if the grunts and shouts of pain were anything to go by; then she felt something grab her by the collar and lift her up. Jen kicked wildly while screaming and crying.
"LET ME GO! MOMMY! DADDY! HELP ME!"
X
Castis Vakarian was not a Turian who liked bucking the rules, but just this once, he was going to make an exception. Now, as he held the small Alien child, he felt a measure of guilt crush down on him as the child wailed; likely for its parents, judging by the way it had been sitting beside the two Aliens bodies before they showed up.
Spirits above and below, what are we doing here? Castis had volunteered for assignment to a Hastatim Legion on the expectation that he would be occupying worlds liberated from Terminus Warlords or Slavers in the Attican Traverse; not assaulting the homeworld of a completely new species.
He looked around the city; even in it's ruined state, he could tell things about the people that lived here. The first, and most telling was the lack of defensive strongpoints you would find in any Turian city. These weren't people who built their cities with defense in mind, and the majority of the populace were running away in complete disorder.
These people aren't a threat, so why are we invad- "Ow!" He pried the being's tiny hands off of one of his frills that they were trying to pull out.
"What is going on here Corporal?"
Castis flinched at the harsh voice of living proof that nepotism was alive and well in the Turian Military. "We found a survivor, Sergeant Arterius."
Saren sneered at the wailing pink creature in Castis' talons. "Leave it; we have work to do. If it follows us, shoot it."
Castis desperately resisted the urge to hiss a challenge at the Sergeant. "No, sir," the Corporal heaped as much contempt into the title as he could.
Every soldier froze in place as Saren turned, his fist glowing in biotic fury. "You were given an order, soldier."
"Yes I was," Castis twisted to shield the child from the wrath of an Arterius, "but as that order violates the Citadel Accords, Article Two Subsection Five on the treatment of noncombatants, I am choosing to ignore it." Castis did click his mandibles in an open challenge, "unless you are ordering me to violate Citadel law?"
As suddenly as a spring breeze, the soldiers were now all looking at Saren; some in concern, others flexing their talons in expectation. Turian's almost always deferred to the highest authority, and there was none higher than the Citadel Council; but the Arterius Clan had a long history of Barefaced self interest.
Castis waited.
Saren shivered for a moment as his eyes flicked back and forth until the blue glow faded. "That thing is your responsibility." He spun on his heel and began storming off. "If it gets up to any mischief, you'll be the one held accountable."
The rest of the squad sagged in relief that the incident was, for the moment, over. Vakarian fully expected to be facing subtle reprisals for the remainder of his assignment to this unit.
"What will you call her?" One of his men asked, sounding more curious as opposed to dismissive and cold like Sergeant Arterius had been.
Castis thought it over for a long moment rubbing his jaw where it had clubbed him, before finally saying, "I'll call her Jak, after the Titan of Fury."
X
It was rumoured by many that Ivan Romanovich Karensky had ties to the Russian Mafia; an organization that even those as far reaching and as ruthless as ONI dared not tread upon without good reason. This was not true, as Karensky would never directly associate with or have ties to said organization; however at the moment, Hood was pretty sure that Karensky might have been raised by a Mafia don, mainly because the man was pants-shittingly terrifying when he wanted to be.
Quiet, unassuming, even somewhat self-conscious, he stood out amongst the UNSC security council as an out of his league boy scout who was only there because he knew how to navigate and cut through the nightmares of red tape when the other members needed him to.
But as much as it pained him to admit it, Terrence knew that one did not rise to become a part of the de-facto dictatorship that ran the UNSC and UEG without a form of ruthlessness and practicality. Hood himself mostly turned that ruthlessness against the Covenant, while Parangosky focused most of hers against their own people. But Karensky was just as ruthless as any of them; ironically, it was his lack of overt demands of respect and fear that made him so dangerous.
So watching the Speaker of the House stand at the head of the table, gripping a data-pad so tightly that Hood was pretty sure that it would shatter; and glaring daggers at Parangosky, Terrence knew he was in for a long meeting.
Taking the silence as an opportunity, Hood glanced around the table to get a read on the other members. Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb Deputy Commander in Chief of Naval Operations looked more bored than anything else, though Hood could tell the man was intrigued by the extremely rare display of anger from their civilian liaison.
Major General Nicolas Strauss of the Army seemed to be somewhat worried, which was understandable considering the fact that he was seated closest to Karensky at the moment.
Lieutenant General Robert Dellert of the Air Force was dutifully reading over several reports from the front while pointedly ignoring Parangosky, who had a neutral expression on her face.
The last was General Marie-Hélène Sharpe of the Marine Corps, and she sat with her arms crossed and staring off into space; not looking at anyone as she absently tapped her fingers onto her prosthetic left arm.
After a long silence, it was Parangosky that broke the silence. "It was unfortunate that this breach of security happened. But the traitor shall be dealt with soon enough, and the information has been contained."
"No."
Hood was hearing that word a lot these days, but in this case it was a welcome word. "To which of the Vice Admirals comments are you referring to Mr. Speaker?" Terrence asked, allowing some of his own anger to leak into his voice.
"Both." Karensky replied coolly, standing and pacing around the room. "Mr. Yuri Robertson is a loyal UNSC citizen, without whom we would have had no way to know about this attack on Shanxi. Which brings up the first point of discussion I called you here for: why I had to learn about this attack from a civilian freighter captain, and not from the Office of Naval Intelligence," he leveled a glare on the Director of ONI, "an agency which is supposed to work for the UEG."
Margret gave a chiding smirk. "How could I, when you forbade me from stationing assets in the system?"
Kerensky froze in place by his chair. "You were told not to station Prowlers in the system. There was supposed to be a regional office on the planet with the capability to keep us upraised in any situations like this." He tapped a control on the table in front of his chair. A holographic image of two slipstream portals backlighting a pair of Prowlers blinked into view. "Not that this seems to have stopped you from disobeying those direct orders."
He snapped his head up and speared the director of ONI with another glare. "And before you try wriggling out of this, Third-Gen Smart AI from my own International Intelligence Service as well as technicians from Sino-Viet have already verified not only the authenticity of this sensor data, but confirmed these are the UNSC Laputa and Now You See Me; both of which are stated by your office to be 'on assignment behind Covenant lines'."
Ivan's face relaxed even as Margaret's tightened. "I will ask you again; why was I not informed about the attack on the Shanxi system as soon as it happened, when the Prowler assigned to Regional Director Jack Harper was clearly in the system, and he clearly made it out?"
Terrance Hood could actually see the moment when Margaret Parangosky knew she'd been caught and tried to concoct a lie to save her ass. "Well clearly Jack Harper was running something behind my back. Rest assured I will deal with this harshly and in house." The threat was implicit, despite her precarious position.
Ivan cracked a smile that only turned the corners of his lips, yet almost seemed to split his face in half. "So; you are telling me that your personal pick for the Regional Directorship of one of our most secure and vital projects not only disobeyed your orders, but he also absconded with at least two slipstream capable, nuclear armed stealth ships, and you didn't know?" He huffed a laugh at the venomous look Parangosky shot him. "I should have you stripped of your post and marched out of here in shame for that kind of incompetence."
A beep from the console in front of him caused him to look down at a message, and the smile vanished behind a placid venier. "I am giving you one last chance to come clean with me Margaret: why was I not informed about the attack on Shanxi?" Another tap on the console caused the chamber doors to open, and the hulking form of a Mjolnir Mk IV Powered Assault Armor with the numbers B-183 emblazoned on it stomped into the room. "There will be no other opportunities."
Margaret's eyes flashed with something that had every other officer in the room reaching for their sidearm: desperation. "You think you can bully ME? I own every one of you! There isn't one person in here with secrets I can't dig up and crucify you with!"
Her rant halted when a new hologram popped up of a metal object resembling an Elite Plasma-sword. "What are the 'alien transit devices'? Reports from both the Shanxi and Alpha Bootis systems refer to them," he raised an eyebrow, "back a year and a half. Oh, and here's a standing order from you to Jack Harper on when and how his ships, plural," he held up a finger and glanced at Margaret who was now solidly clutched against the Spartan, "are supposed to make the transit without being noticed by our Patrol groups."
Margaret was almost limp while staring at Ivan. "As soon as I saw the first sensor images of your Prowlers, I assigned a team to crack your files; all of them." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands on his belly. "All those secrets you were going to threaten this body with; doing so, by the way is an act of sedition, they're now mine. In point of fact, I don't really need you to tell me anything; I can just read it all at my leisure now. However, I am a strong proponent of due process, and in not spending lives needlessly. Failing a confession however, I'll have to act based upon the evidence before me and charge you with Sedition and Treason." He gestured to the remaining officers present. "I have more than enough Flag Officers present for a Court Martial."
Margaret Parangosky, one of the most powerful and most feared people in the UEG, slumped in defeat. "The devices are hyperlight accelerators. They create a channel in space where physics breaks down, and an object can be accelerated between systems nearly instantaneously. There are apparently two types: extreme long range fixed target devices, and shorter ranged multi destination devices." Her eyes shut. "All known devices lead into regions of space currently occupied by a multi-species alien coalition. The ships which attacked Shanxi belong to one of those groups."
Karesky nodded, "Good… Your honesty means you'll get a trial." He remarked, giving a short nod to Von Struass. The Army General paled slightly, but hit a button on his desk. The Spartan remained standing where they were, but opposite where the Spartan had entered; four officers and eight enlisted men burst into the room, all in their dress uniforms and holding rifles.
"Hands up or I'll-" General Alexander Schwartzkopf, CINCARMY exclaimed even as Parangosky tried to struggle out of her seat. "Oh." The man grudgingly tossed his MA5 to the Spartan, who caught it with one fluid motion, and walked over and quickly took Parangosky's cane and handcuffed her while two of the enlisted men walked over and took each of her shoulders. "I was hoping it'd be more… fun." He grumbled unhappily as they led her away.
Ivan blew out a sigh and looked around the room. "Now that that's settled, we can focus on reclaiming our system. Lord Hood," Terrence sat ram-rod straight in his seat, "what do we have that can be mobilized in short order to drive out these invaders?"
It took him a second to mentally review his assets. "The only force remotely ready and not otherwise tasked is Cruiser Strike Group 87, under Rear Admiral Drescher. Her force is coming out of the slips in two months after a rotation in Si Serpentis."
Generals Strauss and Sharpe both nodded. The Marine cleared her throat. "Marine Expeditionary Unit 27 is posted with her."
Strauss continued nodding. "As is the 42 Armored Regiment. Between us, as well as Dallert's Air Wing and ODST's, we can put more than 10,200 boots on the ground, along with nearly 2,000 armored vehicles and fighters."
Ivan smiled genuinely for the first time in the meeting. "Excellent. I will leave the planning in your capable hands. Mine," he looked meaningfully at the door Paragonsky had just been taken through, "are going to be full trying to rebuild our intelligence apparatus."