Hey guys, TheDoctor1998 here with another chapter! Last time we saw Humanity and its allies clean up what was left of the Turians on Shanxi, as both the Citadel and the Systems Alliance are preparing for a full blown war. Now, on with the show!
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08-07-2657
Destiny Ascension
Interplanetary space
System 314
Septimus was feeling a mixture of extreme pride and concern as he sat in the throne-like chair that Matriarch Lidanya had sat on for the past few decades commanding this ship and its fleet, the Asari glaring at him from the chair she was currently commanding the Ascension itself from.
On one talon, Septimus was in command of the largest fleet ever assembled within his lifetime, with new ships being added to the fleet constantly from all over Citadel Space. The last time a fleet like this was assembled was during the Geth Uprising, largely to try and contain the synthetic beings into their own little corner of the galaxy in case they'd try to expand. Thankfully, that had yet to happen, and the fleets surrounding those chokepoints had dwindled over the centuries.
On the other talon though was the reason why this fleet had been created. He'd seen the reports, Desolas making a hostile first contact with a species beyond Relay 314, a species with AI and technology straight from a science fiction story, including a superdreadnought that dwarfed the Destiny Ascension itself.
Septimus understood why the Council would authorise such a violent reaction. If it was just the extremely advanced tech, they could be reasoned with. A call for peace could be made, reparations for their colony could be paid for, and these people could ultimately become a boon for the wider galaxy.
But then there were the AI. From what the reports said, there was a 100% guaranteed chance that these Humans had created at least one fully functional AI, and that there was an enormous chance that there were more. If and when those AI decided to overthrow their organic masters, the entire galaxy would be screwed. The Human fleets could appear anywhere, and bring destruction not seen since the Rachni Wars or the Krogan Rebellions.
From the footage he'd seen of the battles against P-Alpha and the freshly arrived Human fleet, it became obvious that the only way he could win against these ships was with overwhelming numbers, speed, and range. The Human ships were powerful, there was no doubt about that, but they were slow, and their weapons lacked the effective range of an Eezo gun. So, theoretically, as long as they kept their distance and dodged the attacks to the best of their abilities, their ships would be able to take down their Human counterparts in great enough numbers.
But Septimus wasn't an idiot. He knew how quickly their ships could get decimated when up against the Humans, and he knew that it would take a lot of effort to destroy the Human ships, P-Alpha alone was a testament to that. He also knew that it was only a matter of time until the Human forces used the Relay for themselves to get here, meaning that the fleet had to be ready at all times.
Too bad they weren't the only ones here.
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08-07-2657
UNSC Hidden Dagger
Interplanetary Space
System 314
The Shipmaster of the Hidden Dagger stared into the monitors, watching yet another batch of ships drop out of that strange FTL. "How many does that make?"
Bond immediately popped out of his holographic emitter. "Enough to outnumber the collective fleet ten to one, sir." The old spy actually started looking concerned. "At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if their entire navy would outnumber ours."
"You have a point, Bond. Their ships may be crappy, but quantity is a quality of its own." The Shipmaster hummed. "What about the probes?"
Sauron's flaming eye appeared next to Bond, the AI refugee helping take some load off of Bond's back. "The majority of the probes are in position. We've got live feeds of all homeworlds, sans Rannoch, as well as the Citadel and various other important locations." The AI showed the feed, showcasing everything he could see from those locations. "One of them has been lost in transit though, current location unknown. It was most likely destroyed by a stray micro asteroid its sensors didn't spot."
"What was its target?" The Shipmaster asked, his voice steely.
"Merely a minor shipyard of the Hierarchy, sir." Sauron replied.
"I guess this will have to do then." The Shipmaster nodded. "Any updates on our own forces?"
Bond piped up. "They should arrive within the hour, sir."
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08-07-2657
SOS Shadow of Intent
Slipspace
En Route towards System 314
Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum. A name nothing short of legend within the Systems Alliance, one on the same sort of level as the late Admiral Preston Cole and Lord Terrance Hood. A name second only to near deific legends such as Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and John-117, the Master Chief.
Rtas's exploits were well known. From his more horrific actions in his days with the Covenant, to his critical role in containing and eradicating the Parasite in High Charity and Installation 05, to the Glassing of Africa, and even what few battles his people had with the Decepticons when the Alliance removed them from Cybertron.
But Rtas was not the youngest Sangheili anymore, far from it. He was well into what the Humans called "retirement age" for his people, and his physical capabilities had dwindled to the point where he couldn't even give his blade a good swing without pain erupting in his spine. Even with the advantages of modern medicine, which his people had stagnated in before they'd even left their cradle, he'd be lucky to have a few decades left. Were his people still part of the Covenant, he'd have committed honourable suicide the moment he realized his days as a warrior were truely over.
Now though, his people had grown out of such hindering traditions, and Rtas's mind was as sharp as ever, commanding a fleet from a supercarrier more powerful than anything the Covenant could create. He still remembered the days when the Shadow of Intent was but an assault carrier within the Fleet of Particular Justice, under the command of the then Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee. Now, it was rebuilt, its spirit carried over into a supercarrier of its own, leading the Fleet of Retribution with a Slipspace drive like those found in the Infinity Class Supercarriers. Rtas would be a fool to give this up for something as petty as age.
Seeing the timer in the corner of his eye, counting down to the battle to come, Rtas thought it best to give a speech to the fleet. "Warriors." He said, grabbing the attention of every Sangheili in the fleet. "Our people owe Humanity a debt we can never repay, a debt which we've never been able to repay. The older ones among us remember what we did to them, the atrocities, the oceans of innocent blood spilt." He breathed, lost in memories which he once held dear, but were now nothing more than the greatest regret of his people. "And the elders also remember the treachery of the Hierarchs, and the Great Schism which followed. Remember how we stood side by side against those who stayed with the Covenant and the Parasite, and how we and Humanity helped each other rebuild. For their help in trying to save what little honour the Sangheili had left, for opening our eyes to the truth, we had never been truly able to return the favour."
He looked around, many faces hanging in shame, but there were some smiles at the mention of them and the Humans working together. "Now, our time has come. Humanity's hour of need has arrived, and all of our people will finally start to repay their debts! Sangheili, Unggoy, Jiralhanae, all of us! The blood of these aggressors shall flow! In the names of our forefathers, in the names of our children, in the names of those whose lives have been snuffed out by the Turians! To victory!"
The Sangheili in the fleet roared, their hearts pumping for battle. Rtas himself simply sat down, and sent the signal to those left behind at Shanxi.
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08-07-2657
UNSC Eternity
Gargantua's orbit
Shanxi System
Drescher was watching the Mass Relay like a hawk, the doorway between the territories of the Unified Earth Government and its new enemies representing the pain and suffering the people of Shanxi were forced to undergo. If at any point a ship without an Alliance IFF came from the other side, the Eternity and the various other ships orbiting Gargantua would strike it down with the wrath of God Himself.
Still, the Fleetmistress had to give those Raptors credit where it was due. Like the Alliance, they and their allies at the Citadel were preparing for a full scale invasion, unwilling to go through the Relay until the full fleet was assembled. And just like the Alliance forces in Shanxi, so too did the Citadel forces at System 314 point every weapon at the Relay in preparation for an invasion.
Unlike the Citadel's Fleetmaster, however, Drescher knew exactly what was going on at System 314 due to the prowler that snuck in with the retreating fleet. The live feed she got showed her the exact positions of every single ship in the system, down to the tiniest of fighters. She'd be able to tell whenever any individual Turian went to take a shit if she wanted to, provided the Hidden Dagger was paying special attention to that ship and that Turian.
Still, it was unlikely that this combined fleet would be able to take on the Alliance. Maybe they'd be able to take down the Second Fleet with some significant losses, but not with their allies having their backs.
Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum had seen a major flaw in their tactic, however, which the Alliance was about to exploit, which was the very reason the Fleet of Retribution had gone ahead through Slipspace.
"Fleetmistress." Shepard said, her voice cutting Drescher out of her thoughts. "We've received a message from the Shadow of Intent, they're about to exit Slipspace."
"And so the slaughter begins." Drescher mused. "Attention all ships, prepare for combat! Take us through the Relay!"
And so the fleets moved, all ships following the Humans into battle.
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08-07-2657
Destiny Ascension
Interplanetary space
System 314
Matriarch Lidanya, captain of the Destiny Ascension and admiral of the Citadel Defense Fleet, was pissed as she was going over the battle plans with Admiral Oraka once again.
She was angry at this whole Turian fuckup that she got dragged into, angry that she had to take orders from some random Turian who wouldn't even last as long as her own youthful rebellious streak did, angry that said Turian had taken control of her own damn ship.
Regardless, she did try to keep this professional, even if she made her opinion on the matter well known to her colleague. "Look, if these Humans really do have some kind of wormhole drive, what's stopping them from just bypassing the Relay entirely?"
"Nothing, really." Septimus admitted. "But considering how vast the Universe is, there must be some type of navigation to get any accuracy with those things, meaning they need to know where they're going in order to get there. The Mass Relay is the only real method they have to find us, so we need to turn this system into a fortress."
It had been a discussion the two of them had been making for the past few days. Lidanya believed it was best to reinforce critical areas instead of this would-be wasteland, such as the Citadel, the homeworlds, and other systems that would be vital to any war effort, while Septimus thought it best to gather up any forces they could spare in this system for an invasion, whilst also firing at the area the Relay was in at the first sign of any activity from the ancient megastructure. Thankfully, other than the fact the Relay has been turned on, there have been no such signs after the Turians retreated from Human space, meaning that not even a stealth ship had gone after them.
"Sir!" One of the Asari on the bridge called out. "We're getting Human FTL readings. They're massive!"
"On screen, now!" Septimus barked.
The viewscreen gave the Asari and sole Turian on the Ascension's bridge a zoomed in view of the spatial anomalies the Humans used to traverse the Universe. Just like in the footage that the STG forces lost at Shanxi managed to send through, the wormholes opened up seemingly out of nowhere. Swirling clouds of almost biotic-like energy around an opening that showcased a darkness only surpassed by the event horizon of a black hole, many of them large enough to allow any regular dreadnought to go through them, with one of them being far larger than the others.
That said, what came out of the wormholes were definitely not Human ships. Human ships, from what Lidanya had seen, were ugly and blocky, yet practical warships. These ships were works of art, purple and curved things that shared a few similarities with the ships of her own people. Yet, she could tell there were significant differences. Asari ships were works of art that could fight, showcasing the mentality of a peaceful and diplomatic people that were willing to defend themselves if struck first. The Human ships were ugly, but functional, showcasing the mentality of a pragmatic people that considered beauty to be secondary to functionality.
These ships, however, were works of art with an edge. Gigantic, and covered in weapons that, if Lidanya had to guess, were equal parts beautiful and deadly. It was clear to her that, whoever these people were, they considered combat and warfare themselves as art.
"Sir." One of the Asari swallowed uneasily. "Their largest ship is approximately 29 kilometres in length."
Septimus froze at the ridiculously high number, and Lidanya couldn't blame him. The flagship was over a dozen times bigger than the Ascension herself, and nearly six times bigger than the superdreadnought the Humans used. Even the Mass Relay within the system was tiny compared to this thing. 'By the Goddess, it's over half the size of the Citadel itself!'
"I-incoming communications." One of the ensigns said, showing an image on screen.
The creature that was shown was not a Human, but rather a large reptilian lifeform in ornate armour. The most distinguishing feature it had were the four mandibles making up its lower jaw, with the two on the left side of its face clearly having been lost in battle. "Turians." It growled. "You have spilt the blood of our allies. Surrender, or be destroyed." The signal cut off, leaving an image of the behemoth currently staring down the fleet.
"All ships, open fire!" Septimus roared.
At his command, all ships in the fleet turned away from the Mass Relay and fired their follies at the titan. Unfortunately, the bullets and grains firing at such an extreme velocity only splashed harmlessly on their barriers, doing practically no damage whatsoever.
Then the new ships fired back, lances of some type of energy weapon cutting through entire dreadnoughts as if they weren't even there, with even glancing blows against the Ascension's kinetic barriers dealing massive damage to the hull.
"Hull integrity failing!"
"They're using plasma weapons! Our barriers are useless against the heat!"
"Detecting fighters!"
Swarms upon swarms of fighters and other smaller ships came from the hull of the gargantuan ship, each of which firing plasma at their Citadel counterparts, melting the hulls even if the kinetic barriers managed to hold up.
Unfortunately, in the chaos, Septimus forgot about one crucial detail. The Humans had yet to arrive through the Relay themselves. Something that the near hairless mammals decided to rectify.
Ships of all kinds came through the Relay. Human ships, brutal looking ships that tore the Citadel ships apart by ramming through them, sleek ships that glided through the aether, massive ships that led out swarms of fighters, ships that reacted with such speed that they were almost alive. The Turians, Asari, and Salarians were caught between them, effectively being surrounded.
Bullets swam through space, slamming into Turian ships with such force that it overloaded their kinetic barriers. Plasma came from many of the ships, melting through the hulls without even having to break the shields that were supposed to protect them. Even lances of pure energy came from what looked like customised ships with their customised individual fighters, each bolt bypassing the kinetic barriers as if they didn't even exist.
The Citadel forces did as best as they could. At the previous command of Septimus, all ships did their best to keep their distance, dodging weapons whenever they could. And though they outnumbered the Humans and their allies by a significant amount, and even managed to take down a few ships, it was clear that they were losing. The Ascension even took a glancing blow from one of the regular Human dreadnoughts, barely keeping its kinetic barriers up. "Septimus, we have to retreat!"
"I will not retreat from these barbarians." The Turian growled, watching as some of the more unique fighters transformed into large mechs, which proceeded to tear an Asari dreadnought apart with their bare hands.
"We need to regroup! Obviously the Humans are more powerful than we thought, especially with their allies." The Matriarch gestured to the screens, showing several ships being cut in half by a beam of plasma from the behemoth commanded by the half jawed alien.
After a moment of thought, Septimus nodded. "Perhaps you're right. We didn't have the time to fortify System 314 like we have with our own border worlds. We'll stand more of a chance there."
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08-07-2657
Unknown ship
Interplanetary space
System 314
Saren groaned, awakening to the worst pain he'd felt in his life. He tried to rub his eyes with his hand, but when he opened his eyes he saw the place where his arm used to be.
"Brother." A familiar voice breathed, gently but sternly keeping him on the bed he was laid on. "Please, you've been through enough. Rest."
Focusing his somewhat blurry eyes, Saren saw the face of someone he thought to be dead. "Desolas, you're alive." Saren breathed, overjoyed to see his brother alive and relatively well.
"Yes, but for how long that remains so is anyone's guess." Desolas muttered, looking to the side.
Saren followed his gaze, and his eyes widened at what he saw. They were in a prison, cells filled with naked Turians, with Human guards patrolling between the cells and a few floating fleshbag looking things acting in a way that eerily reminded Saren of the Keepers back on the Citadel. "Where are we?"
"In a brig, obviously." Desolas snarked. "Some of the guards are a bit more talkative, called this ship the Eternity, which is apparently an "Infinity Class Supercarrier," whatever that is." He then knelt next to his little brother, looking at where his arm used to be. "What did this to you, Saren? Human? One of those mammalian Krogan? A worm pile?"
"A worm pile?" Saren asked, his voice in disbelief.
"Some of the men who got caught claimed to have been attacked by a walking pile of worms." Desolas shrugged.
Saren shook his head. "None of those. It was some kind of reptile, four mandibles for a lower jaw."
"Oof." Desolas winced, having heard enough of those things to know that they were as tough as a Krogan with Turian training.
Then, a slight tremor shook the ship. "What was that?"
"I'm guessing we're back in Citadel Space now." Desolas said gravely, having overheard some rumours between the prisoners. "What have I done?"
"You did what you thought was right, brother." Saren reassured. "You are not to blame for this situation, it could've happened to anyone."
"But I am." Desolas said dejectedly, the brothers falling into an uncomfortable silence.
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08-07-2657
UNSC Eternity
Interplanetary space
System 314
"And that's the last of them." Dresher said, watching as the final Citadel ships either blew up, got disabled for later boarding, or fled the battlefield entirely. "How's the score?"
"About 36% of enemy ships have been destroyed, with an additional 15% disabled." Surtur easily replied. "The remaining 49% have retreated out of the system."
"And our ships?"
"In most cases, the shields remained operational for the duration of the conflict and are already recharging." Surtur nodded. "Several ships have been damaged though. The damage is superficial in most cases, with repairs already underway, courtesy of the Huragok. Several dozen ships, however, have been disabled or outright destroyed, with casualties being reported from the more heavily damaged ships."
"Something that couldn't be avoided, I suppose." Dresher sighed before looking at the woman next to her. "So, think we've rattled them enough Anita?"
"Yeah, I think so." Anita Goyle replied. Anita was an ambassador for the UEG to the other members of the Systems Alliance, usually travelling to try and settle any disputes. Now though, she was there to represent both the UEG and the Alliance as a whole towards a new group of species. "This should've hammered in the point that we won't take their crap, while satisfying the bloodlust some of our people have."
"We've shown these bastards the stick, time to show them the carrot." Dresher nodded. "All hands, prepare for Slipspace entry."
A moment later, after performing the necessary calculations, the Eternity dove into the esoteric realm of Slipspace, leaving the allied fleet behind for its mission.
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09-07-2657
Face the Galaxy Headquarters
Citadel
Widow System
A pretty looking Asari was looking at a camera, holograms of various planets and systems around her. "Good day to all our viewers across the galaxy, my name is Tiala B'Nyx."
"And my name is Nakar Jar." A rather handsome Salarian next to Tiala said.
"And this is Face the Galaxy." Tiala finished the introduction. "In today's news, unconfirmed reports indicate hostilities between the Quarian Flotilla and Batarian pirates seeking Quarian slaves." The holograms behind her showing an artistic rendition of a space battle.
"Is your varren meat on the Citadel partially cut with pyjak?" Jar said, the holograms showing the two Tuchanka native species.
"A scandal involving several highly respected Matriarchs." The holograms showed several older members of Tiala's species.
"And the Asari Republics placing further restrictions of migration towards Thessia for all but citizens of the Republics and their bondmates." The hologram switched to the Asari homeworld.
"But first, some breaking news right here in the Widow System." Tiala said, the holograms behind her showing some severely damaged ships, including the Destiny Ascension. "Earlier today, the portions of the Citadel Defense Fleet that had been called upon for training by the Council races had returned home, but with half of the ships missing and the other half being severely damaged. We're now going to Dara Sur, who's reporting live from the Citadel docks. Over to you, Dara."
The holographs showed a Volus, typical looking of his kind. "Thank you, Thessia-clan." He nodded to his colleague, periodically taking a breath as he talked. "I am standing here next to the THV Speartip, but all crew so far have declined any commentary, stating the matter is highly classified. And from what I've been able to gather so far, any questioning about this matter from anyone outside of Citadel Council officials has caused similar results."
"Thank you, Dara. Be sure to contact us if you've got any updates." Tiala said, cutting the call off and turning to her fellow host. "Jar, do you have any theories about how the Destiny Ascension and all those other ships got so damaged?"
"There are several theories, yes, but none with enough evidence behind them to give a definitive conclusion." Jar replied. "The most obvious theory is that there has been some kind of terrible accident. Perhaps some experimental weaponry was used that had more of an impact than predicted, perhaps the exercise happened near a newly formed supernova that has yet to be reported. Perhaps there was a battle with a large group of pirates, or a Geth incursion, or a violent first contact with an unknown race." The Salarian chuckled. "Of course, some of these theories are little more than conspiracies, but just as we don't have enough evidence to know what happened, we also don't have the evidence to rule such things out."
"And what can you tell the audience about the damage the ships had taken?" Tiala asked. "I'm not an expert, but I don't think normal weapons would be able to melt through a ship's hull."
"Indeed." Jar nodded. "For those of you watching at home, allow me to explain. With normal weapons, we use Mass Effect fields to lower the mass of a sliver of metal, as big as a grain of sand, and use magnetic coils to accelerate them to speeds that weapons without Element Zero simply cannot achieve, effectively giving us weapons with incredibly tiny bullets that have a lot of kinetic energy. However, they are still just bullets in the end, and would be just as likely to result in molten hulls as the weapons of a species that just invented gunpowder."
"Then what could've caused this type of damage?" The Asari asked.
"There are several possibilities, though I believe that they simply came too close to an unexpected coronal mass ejection." Jar said, the hologram behind him showing the image of a star. "A natural phenomenon, and just some bad luck. Of course, there is always the possibility that it did come from a new kind of weapon. There are rumours within the Salarian Union that the STG is busy developing some type of plasma based weapons, which would make any kinetic barriers practically useless against the sheer heat."
A Batarian then walked up to Tiala, and whispered something in her ear. The Asari grew pale, and frantically whispered back before the conversation grew to a close. "B-breaking news, an unknown warship just appeared in the Widow System via an unknown means of FTL."
The holograms behind the news anchors shifted, showing a recording of some tourists looking out of a viewing platform at the arms of the Citadel and the beautiful nebula. "In awe: It was true what my mother in law said, the Serpent Nebula is an amazing sight to behold." The Elcor in the recording said in the monotone voice his species was known for.
"This one is in agreement." A Hanar next to him agreed, its body glowing. "The Enkindlers have chosen an excellent location to put the Citadel in."
"Wait, what's that?" A Turian asked, pointing at a spot in seemingly empty space. Zooming in, the recording device spotted a strange thing pop up between the arms of the Citadel. Something that turned into a swirling vortex of energy, from which came a behemoth of a ship before it closed.
The recording ended, leaving a gobsmacked Tiala and Jar, the latter of whom quickly managed to gather his senses. "To anyone watching this, this is not a hoax as far as we're aware. We've already received similar recordings from all over the Citadel from various independent sources, and some of our own journalists have already spotted the alien vessel.
Then, all communications devices on the ancient space station started glitching out, and a single Asari-like voice came from it, translated into every major language of the Citadel species. "Citadel Council, we have come to bargain."
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And that's a wrap. The Systems Alliance has given the Citadel species quite the bloody nose at System 314, with even the Ascension barely surviving the fight.
Also, for those of you who say the Infinity Class can't make the speed to reach the Citadel without the Mass Relays in that time, the Eternity simply took a route within Slipspace that made the journey a lot faster. Which is something that's canon to Halo lore, look it up.
TheDoctor1998 here, signing out!