Chapter 4 – Katabasis
Admiral Viticus was no stranger to boarding actions, his youth had been filled with daring raids on slaver ships, himself a young gunning ensign gouging out Batarian eyes and getting into the thick of it. However, his youth was long behind him, and it was usually them doing the boarding not the other way around, an unsettling prospect but one he would not falter in the face of. His duty was to his crew, their survival and to Hierarchy in attaining the best possible outcome on the field of battle.
So Viticus gave an order for the first time in his career, it was almost exiting in a sense. "All talons, prepare to repel boarders!" The intercoms blared his deep flanging order and the panicked crew bound by duty and desire for survival fell on their years of conditioning for battle. Overseeing the hull breaches on his ship and countering the enemy while managing the fleet would be simply too much for a single Turian, and Viticus knew his limits.
Viticus turned to his old comrade Korlus, a familiar sight of faded yellow paint and pristinely manicured mandibles snapped to attention "Crew Sergeant! Be a dear and head down to security, would you? I dare say the crew down there will need your experience much more than I do."
"No problem Vitti, they'll be swimming in voidspace before you know it." He made a crisp turn and marched off the bridge. Having someone Viticus could trust leading the defence of his ship was a heartening thing, his focus could remain on the battle at hand, though he felt there was something he had to say to his old friend.
"Oh, and Korlus, take some luck".
Korlus face plates twitched slightly, only years of friendship let Viticus know it was an amused one. "Appreciated Viti" He left the bridge, Viticus could only wish for the simplicity of a nice face to face fight to the death, the responsibilities of ensuring an already battered fleet survives is usually and he supposed currently unpleasant experience.
Corporal Saren Arterius of the Percussor of Dayut's marine detachment alongside his brother Lieutenant Desolas jumped in surprise as the ship shook with a terrible fury. Sudden gunfire rung out from a room down from their barracks, shouts and roars like that of an animal could be heard. For a moment the marines stood like stunned mullets, confusion gripping for that moment.
"What are you waiting for? With me!" Desolas roared, the marines moving crisply to his command, he passed Saren a look, he could almost hear his brothers voice in his head 'don't do anything stupid'. He would endeavor to listen to his brother, he was the one among them who'd actually fought before after all. Quickly breaking into their barracks weapons locker, only kept in the cabins of marines or security forces, the marines were within moments fully equipped already on alert due to entering combat, however the unexpectedness of a boarding action in this day and age had clearly startled many of the marines.
The marine detachment, thirty strong poured out of their barracks only to find the door from the room down from them blown wide open, a sailors faceplates cracked into bloody mulch in the jaws of a huge furry armoured beast. Its lean body packed with muscle coiled preparing to unleash a roar, it was never given the chance, the marines unloaded their mass effect rounds in one immense barrage. The beast had its vocal cords immediately torn to shreds as the mass effect rounds tore through its armour and hide with ease. The following dozens of rounds being tanked as it rushed forward ripping through two marines with ease before succumbing to the fire of the leading guns.
"By the spirits what was that!" A shocked marine exclaimed; his sentiment was evidently shared as Saren couldn't help but think the same thing. "Your mother maybe?" some wannabe comedian decided to interject, they brief reprieve was pleasant and gave Saren a moment to think on this new species. They were quite vicious, but couldn't they have been more sexy Asari-likes or something? Just his luck to be part of the brutal murder furball first contact.
The marines gathered around the door preparing to charge in, covering eachother firing at the beasts within. The room within was a bloodbath, literally in this case as the shredded bodies of sailors having had little chance defending themselves covered the floor. Once a lounge cabin, a luxury of Turian dreadnaughts now its upturned tables and fallen sailors lead to a gaping maw in the room, an outwardly spayed four-pronged tube jutting into the bloody façade. Within were eight more beasts which rapidly barreled towards the door. Desolas had them throw grenades into the room before quickly moving back down the hallway and form into double firing line. Five of the furred horrors vast maws and surprising speed saw them smash through the durasteel walls of the room and into the corridor as shrapnel and smoke bellowed behind them, pouring straight into the fire of the awaiting marines. Mass effect rounds ripped into the beasts as they charged, bullets piercing through two or three at a time, their piercing power unfortunately did not make for good stopping power.
The forward line six abreast, pulled back far to slowly and saw them torn to ribbons or crushed under vicious maws as the two leading monsters finally succumbed. Desolas motioned for a fighting withdrawal down the corridor, but as his arm raised to motion the order a mind stunningly loud roar tore down the hallway. The beasts must have had amplified voiceboxes as Saren's ears rang and he felt the pooling of blood, no fool though he raised his gun and kept firing. Saren could barely make out the blaring alarm only known in drills, a boarding action
The beasts pressed on under the withdrawing Turians continuous fire, as they did so sailors poured from the gun sleuth of support rooms, gun decks and the berths along the corridor. The upper deck was in Turian ships where most accommodation, support and operations were located, many obviously intending to make way to the Armoury. Of the three remaining beasts two split off to attack the surprised sailors, screams filled the corridor as an unarmed sailor was jumped, the room where he came from shutting its door. Sidearm fire peppered the other as it rushed a distant security officer.
Saren could see Desolas' mandibles distend in distress an order obviously given but unhearable to the shattered ears of the marines, his talons raised then to signal for omni-blades. Only it was a moment to late the roaring demon carved through the Turian beside him, Saren stood dumbfounded, time seeming to slow as the maw of death closed on his head.
The maw exploded in a dazzling display of gore and viscera, a fuzzy mass of muscle and blood knocked him flat on the cold floor. Dazed, he lay there a moment the world drowning out in a confused haze before he felt the beast above him shuffle off. It was a marine, he couldn't make out who, gunfire reverberated alongside his ringing ears, as his vision came back, and his hearing began to recover so slightly he made out the visage of the Crew Sergeant anti-material rifle in hand, good choice if odd for normal ship combat, not that this was though. With that thought Saren passed out.
Admiral Viticus focused his attention away from the ship he desperately wished he could attend to as he took stock of the situation. The enemy barrage had been weathered and he was ashamed to have been so dismissive of this fleet earlier, most ships maintained their firing cycles even as boarding pods struck them and missiles seemed to overwhelm their GUARDIANs. Thirteen functioning enemy ships had been arrayed before him, one already damaged from the initial assault, the recent exchange left the enemy with eight before him. The numerical advantage remained his, from the initial thirty-nine, a full section was lost to an unknown explosion, 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers, 3 frigates, 5 corvettes, now cooking with radiator paint, their temperatures un-survivable. Three more corvettes were lost to the latest barrage severely diminishing his once grand fleet by a heart wrenching twenty ships, including those of Nihlus' expedition. Viticus now found himself with twenty-five combat capable ships and burning desire for vengeance that always lit when battle was met.
Having entered the traditional long-range engagement distance upon the enemies display of rapid and deep precision strikes, perhaps to his detriment, the admiral moved his core heavy ordinance across from the enemy to the most effective striking range. The enemy fleet had proven ill suited to the massed fire of two full Turian sections, Nihlus' had effectively engaged the enemy onslaught with his picket section, holding off a significant amount of the enemy's missile swarm with his corvettes and frigates. Though around half of the remaining fleet had been boarded by enemy pods, their combat efficiency certainly would be diminished. He found that this would be likely minor to the rapid annihilation of their enemy, the sustained heavy mass accelerator fire had crippled many of the smaller enemy craft including one of the cruiser grade ships.
Viticus made his move, corvettes may be outdated to modern fleet battles, relegated to patrol, but corvettes still had torpedoes and Viticus did not make admiral without making do. With the enemy assault now weathered, he sought to take advantage of the major disadvantage of missiles, their limited use. His comms connected to the Nihlus' "Vice-Admiral you are to jump into knife fighting range, I main targets are the Dreadnaught, the cruisers and the boarder ship, spirits with you" the order was clear and Nihlus' eyes gleamed and with wicked pleased stretch of his mandibles he replied "Yes Sir! I suppose I'll just have to get into the thick of it, the Councillor did ask after all". He gave the officers salute, right arm raised with the two upper digits splayed across the left shoulder brace and the third held inwards. Vitticus returned his own, the honour was shared as the comm's cut and Nihlus' section glowing significantly now jumped into knife fight range.
The enemy fleet had dispersed further with several of the smaller ships jumping to FTL and appearing within, literally, Vitticus' section, his focused turned to them, keeping an eye on Nihlus' ships flanking the enemy dreadnaught and its cruiser escort. The two enemy missile boats without ammunition had flung themselves in suicidal strikes on his fleet, specifically targeting unboarded ships. A destroyer disappeared as strange shifting fractal light and electric sparks saw both ships fizzle out of existence in a sparkling vortex. One of his cruisers seemed to warp, its much stronger kinetic barriers flaring then collapsing as a vortex appeared on its left wing, the area twisting unnaturally before settling into a bizarre fractal state and shattering. The cruiser remained combat capable if severely damaged and though likely confused and running a lot of diagnostics continued with a lower firing cycle.
Then enemies sacrifice proved insufficient, the four smaller ships, likely frigate and destroyer equivalents were quickly overwhelmed with torpedoes. Their deflector shields proving very effective against torpedoes and notably weakening and distorting guardian lasers, but their hardened armour no match for incoming broadside mass effect rounds. Ripped to shreds and overwhelmed by numerical superiority and the immense fire rate of his fleet, though their larger ships now remained but only for a moment. The enemy dreadnaught, having taken heavy damage jumped away, lost to sensors alongside the boarding ship that had jumped away the moment Nihlus' forces entered close quarters. The cruiser was not so lucky, its shields had seemed to 'harden' when faced with Percussor's main gun and admirably absorbed it, though it left it open to the annihilating damage of torpedoes that actually made contact with it. The cruiser was obliterated, evidently the torpedoes hit something important as it exploded with bright chemical orange rocking the attacking frigates and corvettes.
Vitticus was one happy admiral, a decisive end to the engagement, while brutal and tense as ever it had been a hard-fought victory. The Percussor rocked violently, an internal explosion the deck crew reported, ah yes, the boarders, spirits damn them!
Codex Entry: Hierarchy Naval Command Structure
Note: terms here are translated for ease of use by Human readers using Human or Citadel Pan-Naval Standard terms to best inform a Human reader. Terms here may not have the subsequent specifications or accuracy that native terminology would provide.
Founded following the unification wars, the Naval command structure was a significant reform adapting what was believed to be the best elements of Turian doctrine and deeply integrated into the new Hierarchy Government and Navy. The great reforms would be tempered by both the Rachni wars and the Krogan rebellions where much of pre-first contact philosophies and elements of its structure were either added onto, removed or restructured once tested in the realities of interstellar war.
The modern standard Naval command focuses heavily on command flexibility, most fleets are led by an Admiral and their own Vice-Admiral though Vice-Admirals often command patrol fleets independently. Within each fleet are up to four to five sections with each around ten to twenty ships in a section at the discretion of the admiral and its purpose. These sections are often led by their own Commodore or in some cases a Vice-Admiral, these are the basic fleet maneuverer unit in space battles for effective tactical flexibility. Commodores will be expected to manage various captains, their section flagship included who are placed in command of ship level operations. Within a ships command structure are Operations Chiefs who command a certain department of ship operations, be it gunnery, security, engineering or any other dedicated ship operation. Their subordinates being among the junior officers and higher ranked NCOs.
Of the Junior officers and non-Commissioned officers are the fleets lieutenants commanding gun sections or tasked with managing squadrons alongside NCOs in the day-to-day activity of the ship. In combat they command their men at battle stations, while Ensigns aid the Chiefs in the specific functioning of their operations. Among enlisted Turians they range from the highest, the ship Crew Sergeant who is usually the most experienced career soldier often on their third or fourth tours and is the highest a sailor can reach often having returned for remedial officers training. Below them are Sergeant in chiefs who act as seconds to the Operations chiefs, then Senior Sergeants, Sergeants and Corporals, and Sailors. Occasionally a corporal or junior officer will be assigned to a high-ranking officer as a Signum (A uniquely Turian role, similar to Batmen in old European armies), these Signums are in effect all purpose assistants and are tasked with aiding in the care for the crew and communications for their officer.
Codex: The Turian Salute
Three official forms exist with specific interactions by rank and service. For the rank and file it is the simple right arm across the chest with three fingers splayed out on the left shoulder, the traditional salute. Each digit is said to represent different things, often dependent on the unit though it is shared across almost all Hierarchy Naval, Army and Civil institutions and among C-Sec (though with versions for different species). This is the basic salute and is likely derived from many pre-unification cultures though its root is a matter of significant academic debate. Officially the government leaves the traditional salute up to interpretation, though it has its own official meaning tied to the officer's salute. The officer's salute was a post-unification addition where the bottom digit is curled inwards, meant to represent the officer's loyalty to their men, the middle as loyalty to superior and the top being the Hierarchy as a whole. The officer's salute was made with the purpose of recreating a narrative to the traditional salute that had taken hold naturally across the many institutions of the unification war era and many alternative salutes were phased out in this time. It is also used in response from an officer or superior when saluted by subordinates and return salutes are expected of all, though it can be maintained when moving along arrayed Turians or given to a group.
The Hierarchy officially states the traditional salutes meaning to be the bottom digit splayed out as the individual in service to the whole, the second being the superior who leads them and at last the Hierarchy they serve. The Final salute, the Primarch's salute which has only the middle digit curled in with the outer and upper digit splayed, representing the Primarch's giving of the self to the whole, the middle curled in as duty to his administration and the outer played in giving to the Hierarchy. This was also a post-unification war adoption, the curling used to represent the necessary restraint of power as its bond is in duty to one's subordinates, the splaying as that of sacrifice. Those who serve give all to the Hierarchy and in turn the Hierarchy honours those who give into the great social network that brings all into prosperity, the placing of the talon on the shoulder symbolises promise or a guarantee that one shall give and in turn receive even at the highest levels of power.
AN: The battle in space may be done, but the battle within is far from over. Wrote some codex stuff as is always the case with any mass effect fanfic. Got a little carried away but it is what it is, the battle will rage on in the next chapter. Also did some major story restructuring got rid of the old timeline (really doesn't help with reading I don't think) and added some minor stuff to the other chapters, little edits and a few small additions here and there. See you whenever I post next (whoever you are) - edit added line breaks