Chapter 49
"Say again, Admiral?" Shepard asked.
"We've got intel that a massive Batarian task force is gathering around their colony world of Kuu. Its system is two light years away from Cochrane Station." Anderson said.
"Shit." Shepard responded.
"Shit indeed. Make haste to Cochrane, we're staging our response there. Make sure your crew is prepared, this might be the big one." Anderson said. This worried Shepard immensely. Anderson usually made an effort to downplay the danger.
"Aye Sir. We're heading there anyway to drop off Lieutenant Alenko, I'll have Joker increase our speed.
"Very good Commander. Anderson out." He said severing the connection. Shepard wasted no time, she sprinted out of her room, past several concerned crew members as she made her way to the cockpit.
"Increase to full speed, Joker. The Batarians are on the move, we gotta get to Cochrane ASAP." Shepard said. Joker complied without response, executing his orders with the unquestioning speed she'd come to expect from him when shit got real. Shepard manipulated the controls on a console nearby bringing up a ship-wide comm channel.
"Normandy Crew, this is Commander Shepard. The Batarian Hegemony are amassing a task force two light years out from the Alliance border. We're en route to join up with the response. Secure all stations and prepare all weapons. Marines, get suited up and ready to deploy at a moment's notice. I'll keep you updated as we get more information. Shepard out." She said, then stalked back to the CIC.
"Shit, this must be big, she didn't even notice you." Joker said to the holographic Leprechaun next to him.
"Yeah, let me go check on things I'll be back." Rothschild said disappearing. He'd taken a liking to Joker, given that he was one of the few in the Alliance to indulge his ridiculous sense of humor, appearing every few days to trade barbs. He noticed an engine temperature meter slowly crawling from green to orange, the heat sinks were being pushed having the ship run all out while on full stealth. He opened up a channel to engineering.
"Tali, thermal sensors are approaching orange." He said.
"I know Jeff, can't do anything about it running hot and quiet like this. Our sinks are rated to run in the red for five hours, I don't have time to run the numbers but I think we'll make it to Cochrane before that." Tali responded
"Acknowledged. Let me know when to back it off." Joker said.
"Will do, thanks Jeff. Zorah out." She said, returning back to her work. Meanwhile shepard was going over system reports in the CIC, and coordinating with department heads.
"Weapons status?" Shepard called.
"Main gun is on standby and torpedo tubes are loaded and sealed. " a voice chirped from her console.
"Good keep them unarmed for the moment please." She asked.
"Understood, Commander." the voice said.
"Marines?" She asked.
"Awaiting Orders ma'am." Kurg's voice said over the intercom.
"Pressley,, I need every bit of intel we can get from HQ on the double!" Shepard ordered.
"Already on it ma'am. Getting a briefing ready now." He reported.
"Medical?" She asked
"Got everything laid out and all beds clean and sanitized. We've moved regular equipment into the clean rooms since all of our Quarians are out of their suits and we aren't performing research." Dinan reported.
"Ok, I guess we're as ready as we can be. " Shepard said.
"I'm surprised they waited this long to make their move." Williams said.
"I think their fuckup at Shanxi probably slowed them down more than they'd anticipated. Still we can't afford to underestimate them. Our ships, weapons and tactics are vastly superior but they outnumber us ten thousand to one." Shepard said.
"Agreed. Once we're within range I'm going to open a channel to command and keep communications open." Williams stated, Shepard nodded.
They slid into the system so quietly they weren't detected by the Mayhem until they disengaged stealth and started venting their heat sinks.
"Incoming from the Mayhem." Joker said.
"On screen please." Shepard responded. Admiral Xen and Chambers appeared on her screen.
"Commander Shepard, nice of you to scare the piss out of our spotters." Chambers said grinning
"Hey, we spent billions on this stealth system why not make good use of it? Besides, there's no telling how good their sensors are, may as well keep as much element of surprise as we can, sir." Shepard responded.
"Well you're earlier than expected but that's not a bad thing. Until Admiral Hackett gets here you're designated contact for fifth fleet. Please get with the rest of fifth and make sure everyone is prepared, then await further orders." Xen said.
"Yes, Sir. Shepard out." She said and brought up a channel.
"Fifth fleet, this is Commander Shepard, until Admiral Hackett arrives you're stuck with me. Readiness check!" She said, and reports started coming in from the dozen or so Fifth Fleet frigates that had arrived. All except one were green across the board.
"Shiloh, what's your malfunction?" Shepard asked.
"Commander Shepard, this is Commander Spaulding of the Shiloh. Something's in our systems, we have no idea how but something got through the firewall." Spaulding said.
"Do you have propulsion and navigation?" Shepard asked.
"Affirmative, all systems green except weapons and shields." He responded.
"Rothschild, could you please help the Shiloh out? Commander Spaulding, move behind the fleet and be prepared to jump of the system on my command." Shepard said
"Understood. Spaulding out" Spaulding said, severing the connection. Rothschild didn't respond, he simply leapt into action scouring the computer system aboard the Shiloh, finding the problem almost immediately. There was a signal, very faint but clear, something within range was hacking their control systems. Suddenly all display screens across the fleet blanked out for a second and then returned to full function.
"Rothschild, what was that?" Shepard asked.
"Firewall patch. Something was hacking the Shiloh. Tracking it now, will keep you informed." Rothschild reported.
"Thank you." Shepard said. She punched in some commands on her console and got Commander Spaulding on the vid com.
"Commander Spaulding, Rothschild detected a cyberwarfare attempt on your systems, everything should be green now, but we'd like you to stay in place. He's trying to track the source and if you fall back into position they'll know they're made." Shepard said.
"Acknowledged, Commander. I'll keep shields and weapons down for now and maintain course to the back of the fleet." Commander Spaulding said.
"Good work, carry on." Shepard said and severed connection again. Proximity detectors began flashing green as a series of incoming ships appeared seemingly out of nowhere, their IFFs matched Alliance codes so no alert was put up.
"Who's late to the party?" Shepard asked.
"Looks like thirteen more frigates, a cruiser, and.. Oh shit it's the Maverick." Joker reported.
"Oh man glad to have some good news here." Shepard said. The Maverick was a prototype super carrier, entirely unmanned. The systems, fighters, and nano swarms were all operated by Rothschild and the Geth.
"Rothschild, is that you on the Maverick?" Shepard asked.
"Affirmative, but this is still your show, the Geth will follow your orders I'm just here to make sure we don't have any more cyberwarfare attacks, and to make you apes look professional for once. Don't make me regret this, meat bag." Rothschild said.
"Of course, sir. Thank you, sir." Shepard said, this was big. During battle, Rothschild was considered in addition to one of the heads of state, a fully fledged fleet admiral. That he was willing to trust Shepard with those under his command was a huge honor.
"Aww shucks you're gonna make me misty. Go kick some ass, Commander." Rothschild said. Internally Shepard was wondering why on so many occasions she was having so much responsibility heaped on her. Normally Commanders were barely trusted to be in charge of a frigate, now she was in charge of nearly half of the fifth fleet and Rothschild's super carrier and frigates. Shepard spent a while reorganizing her formations with all of the new ships while Shiloh waited in back pretending to be out of commission.
Long range scanners showed the Batarian fleet was increasing in size but still stationary. Back on Earth Prime Minister Shepard was meeting with the Quarian Admirals who were all in attendance, as well as holographic projections of representatives from the Geth, Krogan and Rothschild.
"The rest of the fifth as well as the entirety of the fourth fleet is on its way to Cochrane Half of the first will defend Tuchanka under Admiral Chambers and the other half, under Admiral Xen will remain in the Sol system. Second will defend Rannoch and We've sent elements of the third to support all three groups." Hannah Shepard reported.
"Are you sure about Tuchanka? We're well defended, and the Batarians are nowhere near us." Wrex asked.
"I'm not worried about Batarians hitting Tuchanka. I'm more concerned with whomever is pulling their strings. Cochrane could be a big fat distraction. Plus nobody doubts your abilities in a ground war, but Tuchanka's space defense wouldn't stand up against the Salarians as it is now. We'll be fixing that soon enough." Shepard said. Wrex nodded.
"Any movement from the Batarians?" Xen asked everyone.
"Nah they're hovering around their rally point like like flies on shit." Rothschild said in a deep southern accent. He was currently impersonating an old earth fast food restaurant mascot with white hair, a white suit and a skinny black tie. Everyone in the room knew him well enough to not encourage him by asking about it. Suddenly a private burst into the room, saluting everyone.
"At ease Private, what's going on?" Chambers said.
"Sir, Ambassadors Vakarian and and T'soni wish to speak to you, it's urgent." He said.
"Send them in." Shepard said.
"Prime Minister, Admirals, Battle masters, we have deeply important information for you." Benezia said.
"Our intel has informed us that the Batarians are massing an invasion fleet near your space!" Castis said.
"We're actually already aware, we picked them up on long range sensors amassing a fleet two light years away from our Cochrane station.
"Oh..." Benezia said, embarrassed.
"We appreciate it deeply though. Did your intelligence come up with anything specific? Fleet composition, strength, anything?" Shepard said
"Their flagship will be the D'aako, A dreadnought of Turian design that will be flying Batarian colors. Captained by Admiral Cavitus, a dangerous lunatic. He was drummed out of the Turian military for butchering civilians. Nobody knows how he escaped captivity, but he was scheduled for execution on Palaven.
"That's troubling. Where'd the Batarians get their hands on a dreadnought and an escaped criminal Admiral?" Shepard said.
"There's no official proof of course, but this has the Council's fingerprints all over it. He was on a council-sponsored prison transport when he disappeared." Benezia said.
"You two risk much with the council telling us this information." Admiral Zorah observed.
"We were tasked with passing this along by the Hierarchy and the Matriarchs Assembly respectively." Castis said. That got everyone's attention.
"Well, please pass along our sincerest thanks. This information will easily save lives." Shepard said.
"Of course, Prime Minister." Benezia said.
"In the meantime, I'm going to deploy additional security outside your offices, and I encourage you to increase your internal defenses as well. Commandos, soldiers, whatever it takes. I don't anticipate anyone here going and blabbing that you offered this information, but these things have ways of ebing found out and I want both of you to be safe. At any time, the Guards we provide will listen to your orders if you need them to assist, understood?" Shepard said.
"Yes, Prime Minister, thank you." Benezia said, and with a quick bow they both took their leave.
"Commander Shepard." Rothschild said, materializing in front of her.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Just got some intel to pass along. Their flagship is a brand new Turian dreadnought. It'll be a tough nut to crack. It can easily outmaneuver the Maverick and outguns even the Normandy amongst the frigates here. Keep it contained but don't engage unless absolutely necessary, understood? Cochrane has been evacuated, it's expendable. You and your weak meat-bound skin carcasses aren't." Rothschild said, uncharacteristically seriously.
"Understood sir." Shepard said.
"That'll be all, ya fuckin' ape." Rothschild said before dissolving into nothingness.
"Shit." Ash said from beside her.
"I have an idea. Get the Maverick on the comms." She said, Ashley nodded and brought them up.
"Shepard Commander, How can we be of service?" The mechanical voice of the Geth piloting the ship asked.
"How many Geth programs can you spare? We're going to be up against a brand new Dreadnought that nobody here is able to bring down. Normandy is equipped with five nano swarm units, and You are much better at managing those than Humans Quarians or Krogan are." Shepard said.
"We can spare as many as necessary. There are 1.2 billion programs aboard the Maverick." The Geth ship said.
"Jesus, if this thing goes south I want you out of here, you understand me? 1.2 Billion lives is too heavy a cost to pay for an empty station and some territory." Shepard said.
"We appreciate your concern, Shepard Commander, however contingencies have been planned for. If the Maverick destroyed, the Geth aboard will be able to offload to one of several cloaked server ships hiding in a debris field." The Geth said.
"Ok, good. Our systems are ready for the Geth." Shepard reported, and with little fanfare a million Geth programs swarmed into the Normandy's computer network. The only indication of their presence was the increased load on the the Normandy's computers. Shepard's attention was grabbed by another series of green flashes on the proximity display, this time several dozen tiny ships all carrying Quarian IFF designations. Immediately after, the Normandy was hailed.
"On screen please." Shepard said, and she was greeted by an unfamiliar face with a familiar voice.
"Commander Shepard, this is Captain Kal Reegar vas Hellfire. I got fifty shuttles full of Krogan troops ready to stomp some Bosh'tets." Reegar said, to a chorus of Krogan bellowing triumphantly.
"Glad to have you. Hop in formation but make sure you're spread out." Shepard said
"Acknowledged. Side note, Commander, that Nephew of mine giving you any trouble?" Kal asked.
"Nothing I can't handle." Shepard said, smiling.
"Good to hear. Reegar out." He said, severing the connection.
"Thank God." Shepard said
"What?" Ashley asked.
"I was worried about that Turian Admiral, but there's no way he's going to last against a hundred raging Krogan, I don't care how crazy he is." She said.
On Earth, in Castis Vakarian's office, Benezia and Castis were seated across from each other sipping cups of tea.
"Spirits I hope the Batarians turn tail and run. They don't stand a chance against the Alliance, but they're going to lose a lot of good people proving that." Castis said.
"I agree. These humans perplex me. They have such vast power and resources and their first instinct is to share them." Benezia said.
"That's not instinct. They used to be almost as vicious and ruthless as our ancestors were. They improved themselves, they forced themselves to evolve into something greater." Castis said.
"Our own leaders could learn a thing or two from them." Benezia said.
"I think they're trying. Can you imagine a hundred years ago either the Primarch or the Matriarchs going behind the Council's back to warn a group hostile to the Council of a impending attack?" Castis said
"I can't. I'm just skeptical, Castis. I'm a thousand years old, Castis. I've watched for centuries as my own people grew complacent and started bowing to the whim of the Council. It's heartbreaking." Benezia said.
"I think our peoples are seeing the light Benezia. I think we're going to follow these Humans into a brighter future than the Council would ever offer us." Castis said.
Aboard the Normandy, the proximity alert began flashing repeatedly, this time red. Dozens upon dozens of signals from the other side of the border were approaching at high velocity.
"All Frigates, engage stealth. Maverick launch fighters and deploy defense matrix. All support ships to the rear." Shepard ordered and everyone aboard every ship leapt into action. Prepare to pursue if they run past us. Suddenly a channel opened, all frequencies, no encryption.
"Batarian fleet, naught but suffering and death await you upon these shores." Rothschild's voice boomed in what was actually a fairly decent pirate voice. It had fallen, unfortunately upon deaf ears as the Batarians didn't even slow or deviate course.
"Nanoswarms" Shepard said on an encrypted channel to all nearby alliance ships. They were too tiny to see at a distance, but amongst the equipped ships millions of tiny ships detached from their resting place on ship hulls and enveloped the invading vessels in a cloud of chaos. Immediately some got to work burrowing their way into the hulls creating weak spots, while others got to work on bringing down shields. When the Batarians were close enough to open fire, they did so in a great volley of light and tungsten, which splashed ineffectively against energy shields.
"Fuck 'em up." Shepard ordered, and the alliance returned fire. A dozen Batarian fighters basically evaporated as the frigates opened up with energy weapons pouring gigawatts into the unsuspecting invaders. The frigates behind the fighters broke off course in attempts to take evasive maneuvers, however that was impeded greatly by the Maverick as it unleashed thousands of fighters, all piloted by Geth. A few frigates made it through however, opening up with torpedoes, which had a decidedly greater effect on the defending Alliance. The Normandy narrowly avoided a direct hit thanks to Joker's superhuman reflexes, but was shook when it detonated a few kilometers away.
Shepard went to return fire however the ship that had launched that torpedo exploded once the nano swarm bots had reached the core, and the remaining frigates from that wave were chased off by Geth fighters. Meanwhile aboard the Maverick, the server rooms were approaching dangerously high temperatures as the Geth and Rothschild were hard at work disassembling firewalls and unraveling encryption. It was considerably more sophisticated than Rothschild had anticipated, much more so than the shoddy paper-thin stuff on the last Batarian ships he'd encountered. Still, it was a minor obstacle as soon the Ais were swimming unhindered in Batarian computer systems.
"Shepard, that dreadnought is swarming with mechs. They're armored, shielded and have plasma cannons. Don't let anyone board it for now." Rothschild said.
"Understood, sir." Shepard said. She looked out at the situation map, the Batarian ships were very much weaker than the Alliance but there were just so many of them. Wave after wave of fighters, then a frigate wave, they seemed like their numbers were endless. A bright red light started flashing at the rear of the Batarian's formation on the battle map warning about a massive energy buildup.
"Dreadnought is firing!" Shepard warned, as the giant machine fired its massive spinal cannon. Four frigates happened to be in a direct line of sight and were instantly destroyed.
"Everyone, scatter, I want nanoswarms concentrating on that dreadnought that main gun needs to come down now!" She said. The dreadnought opened fire again this time taking out another frigate and a cruiser.
"Rothschild, status!" Shepard asked.
"The dreadnought's systems are locked down tighter than a Turian's asshole, gimme a few." Rothschild responded. Shepard ignored him.
"Fighter volley on our left flank!" Shepard yelled, and a dozen ships leapt into action, annihilating most of the enemy fighters, however as soon as they were in place the Dreadnought fired again, this time taking out nine more Alliance ships and the remaining enemy fighters. The flanking maneuver had been a ruse to lure them into a cluster.
"Shit, Spread out as much as possible! Support Cruisers except the Winthrop, get behind the big asteroid and stay out of it's line of fire. Captain Marcus?" Shepard said. Captain marcus' face came up on the view screen.
"Yes Commander?" He responded.
"I need you to sneak in behind their cruisers and lay down a minefield. Sloppy and quick, then get out of there, understand me?" Shepard said.
"Understood Commander." Captain Marcus said, and began preparing the Winthrop for a short-distance jump.
"Joker, bring the Normandy in close, we're gonna harass those cruisers and keep them busy." Shepard ordered.
"Understood Commander." He said and began a series of maneuvers that realistically only he was capable of. The Normandy caught minor fire from short-range Batarian defenses, but it didn't do appreciable damage. After a few minutes of Joker's expert harassment, he well and truly had their attention.
"SHORT JUMP JOKER THE DREADNOUGHT IS FIRING!" She yelled, and Joker reacted instantly moving the ship a hundred thousand kilometers away in an instant, however the Normandy had not been its target.
"Commander Shepard, we've lost the Winthrop" Ashley reported
"No..." Shepard said, her heart sinking. She didn't hesitate, however.
"Rothschild, Any news from the fleet?" She asked, barely able to hide the quake in her voice.
"We got a dozen ships that'll put that Turian toy to shame inbound, about forty-five minutes away." He said.
"Shit. Not enough time... Rothschild, how many fighters are still active?" She asked.
"About four thousand, and the nanoswarm are down to 10%." Rothschild said.
"Ok, I have an idea. Toss the nanoswarm and fighters straight into their line, we're gonna follow up behind them with the rest of the frigates, random flight paths and we're gonna push their frigates back into their cruisers. If we're lucky Captain Marcus was able to leave them a little present." Shepard said. She got acknowledgments from everyone listening and all of the frigates started flying random patterns all pushing toward the frigates who began retreating towards the dreadnought. The Dreadnought began firing wildly, and through sheer luck it managed to down a few more frigates but the gamble was working and within a few minutes explosions began rippling across the Batarian fleet as they were backed into the minefield. The crew of the Normandy cheered loudly as they saw the fleet brought down to a fraction of what they had brought.
"Commander, the dreadnought's drive section is powering up." Joker reported.
"Shit! All fighters on the dreadnought! Geth pilots set ramming course and then transfer back to the Maverick. All Mass accelerators aim at the dreadnought now!" She said, immediately after thousands of dots lit up on the map indicating the fighters' reactors were overloading as they hurtled towards the dreadnought. Just as the accelerator rounds started reaching their target a curtain of smaller explosions erupted all over the outside of the Dreadnought's hull as the fighters found their mark.
"Report!" Shepard said.
"Holy Shit, Shepard that thing is still intact!" Joker reported.
"Fuck load up another volley!" she ordered. The dreadnought fired again, taking out several more frigates.
"All ships, fall back to the Beta site!" Shepard ordered, and the remaining ships including the hiding support ships all jumped a few light years back but still in the path of the Batarians.
"Rothschild, are they going back to Batarian Space?" She asked.
"Negative. I'm reading more contacts arriving in that sector. They're not ours. I have no idea where they got all those reinforcements, but they're back up to about half of what they started with, and they're all headed this way." Rothschild reported.
"Rothschild, Go back to Earth." Shepard said.
"What?" the AI asked.
"Take the Geth and get out of here. We can't hold off a force that size for long, not with all we've lost. You and the Geth can get out of her a hell of a lot faster than we can. Go, we'll slow them down long enough for the rest of the fleet to arrive." Shepard said. Rothschild materialized and looked at her, then looked at the rest of the crew, all of whom had the same steely resolve in their watery eyes.
"With all due respect, meat bag fuck you." Rothschild said.
"I beg your pardon?" She said, flabbergasted.
"I don't take orders from you, and I ain't done with these assholes yet." Rothschild said, then disappeared, presumably back to the Maverick.
"Fucking asshole." She said, grinning sadly. "Joker, get ready this is gonna be brutal." She said, he nodded, and she started issuing orders to the other ships. Her strategy was to basically fly around like a bunch of lunatics taking potshots at the smaller ships when possible, and try to drag the fight out long enough for the rest of the fleet to arrive. The Batarians arrived, once again the dreadnought assuming a position at the rear. Shepard was about to order a charge, when Joker piped up interrupting her.
"Commander, we got dozens of incoming ships, definitely not Batarian, but not Alliance either." Joker said. Shepard looked at the battle map, and saw visual representations of the newcomers popping into existence between her ships and the Batarians.
"They're hailing us." Joker said.
"Put 'em on." Shepard said.
"Commander Shepard. I'm Captain D'ella of the Asari Republics Fleet. We are here to render assistance." She said, just before her ship shook and the lights dimmed slightly.
"I'll take all the help I can get. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Shepard said. D'ella nodded and cut the communication, Shepard ordered the support cruisers to come and shield the more damaged smaller ships while she rallied the battle worthy frigates and issued the order that a number of young Krogan in the docking bay had been itching to hear.
"Prepare boarding parties." Shepard said.