21
In Orbit of Manhattan
New York System
"My God," breathed out Perkins in awe. "They're real."
"What are?" Aela asked curiously.
"Those," Perkins said pointing to a pair of rather fearsome looking ships. Sleek, avian looking ships, with a very predatory look. It almost reminded her of a Turian ship, with its avian appearance and the fact that it looked to be very heavily armed. "I've never seen an Avenger before, let alone two." he said with a little bit of disbelief. "Those things are strictly reserved for LSF and Liberty Navy aces. Only the very best of Liberty get to pilot their best ships. Our own Very Heavy Fighters pale in comparison to those…"
"Very Heavy Fighters?" Aela asked.
"Let me put it this way," Perkins replied, "If I were to unload everything I had onto one of those ships till my reactors practically stopped to prevent us from overloading, I wouldn't put a significant dent in it."
"Mr Perkins, Dr. D'Avo," the coms suddenly blared out. "I'm LSF Commander Robert O'Neil. We've been tasked with escorting you two to Curacao. The President will be following tomorrow aboard the Victory."
"Thank you Commander O'Neil," Perkins replied on the comms. "I guess I'll take point then?"
"Up to you Mr Perkins. From Liberty space to Curacao, we have jurisdiction to act in whatever the situation demands." O'Neil replied.
"Right then," Perkins said, clearly going into what Aela suspected was his 'I'm leading a flight now' mode. "I'll take point Commander. You gents will cover me, and we'll be going through California first."
"Roger that, Mr. Perkins." Commander O'Neil replied.
"Never thought I'd be leading a flight of Avengers, especially in a dinky old Crusader." Perkins said out loud.
"I'm sure it'll be interesting," Aela replied. "What will we find in California?" she decided to ask.
"Well, there are a few ice clouds we'll be passing by before we hit the Cortez system. Aside from that, there are two inhabited planets in that system, Planet Los Angeles, and the terraforming platforms of California Minor."
"Terraforming platforms?"
"Yeah, Planetform Inc. has been contracted to terraform that planet by the Liberty government. They think it'll be a good place to start a new colony. It's their only other project I think."
"I'd like to see that at least. It'd be nice to see in person a terraforming project on this scale."
"It's a little out of our way," Perkins replied. "Are you sure you want this?"
"Yeah. We don't have anything like this back home. It's simply much easier for us to explore for new systems than to try and terraform."
"All right then, we'll make for California Minor before heading to Curacao. Though I'm rather interested in hearing how it's easier for one to go explore than terraform."
"I'll explain after seeing it for myself. I just need to make sure," she finished. Time to settle for the ride to California Minor
___
New London Jump Gate,
Manchester system
Travel through the Jump Gates was… interesting to say the least. All attempts to get even nominal readings within the wormholes for analysis had failed. One attempt by one of the attending Salarian frigates nearly destroyed their sensor systems. It was baffling to say the least.
The Humans themselves knew nothing about went on inside one. They said they didn't even bother with attempts on non-specialized ships these days, and even those only get tiny bits of usable data. Probably a reason why this Liberty held a monopoly on building the Gates.
"We've arrived at the Manchester system," one of the bridge officers said. "All systems are green."
"Excellent," Captain Geron finished. "Proceed with going through the Trade Lane."
"Affirmative," replied another Deck officer.
Yet another interesting piece of Human technology. A system of machines that automatically compensate for the orbits of the planets they connect to. Very useful for in-system travelling, and could potentially allow eezo to be used for strictly out-of-system ships. Traveling through the Lanes was not as fast as travelling with standard FTL, but it was certainly an interesting experience. Not something she'd recommend to replace militarily though.
Human space on the other hand… was very interesting. Travel through Leeds had certainly shocked many aboard, especially with the sheer amount of pollutants and acids that they passed through, and they had apparently avoided the most concentrated clouds of smog.
New London had treated them to several entire scrap fields of old ships. A gold mine for them if they luck out and find some of even their old technology to use. The detritus of centuries of industrialization would certainly help them catch up and maybe understand the underlying principles of the sciences they used.
"Receiving a signal coming within system. Translating." the communication officer said suddenly. "Receiving a hail from the Stirling. Shall I patch it through, sir?"
"Go ahead." Captain Geron replied.
"Captain Geron, Matriarch Benezia," Captain Dunbar said. "We've received a distress call from BPA Newgate, a prison within the system. They're under heavy attack by a large flight of Mollies, probably trying to liberate one of their leaders. We must divert."
"I've translated the signal that Captain Dunbar is talking about," one of the other communication officers said. "But I don't see the urgency in it. It goes I quote, 'This is BPA Newgate to all ships within system. We're in a spot of trouble, so a little assistance would be nice.' The man said it in a calm voice, sir."
"Colonel Gates has always been a model officer of Bretonia," Captain Dunbar replied. "We Bretonnians have a gift for understatement and calm, and that was the most vocal plea for aid I've yet to hear from the man. The Stirling and Norfolk will be making full-speed to the prison."
"We'll be happy to assist as well Captain," Benezia replied. It would be an opportune time to help with relations with the Bretonnians. "Give us the coordinates and we'll make full speed for it."
"Are you sure you want to assist?" Dunbar asked, his voice tinged with hints of worry. "I've seen the aftermath of that engagement of yours in the Tau 30 system and it wasn't what I would call pretty."
"I insist, Captain," Benezia replied. "I believe that if we are to truly become friends in the future, we must be able to help you in some form." Incidentally putting us into a better light. "Besides, I think we are better equipped for this. I'd like to think that we've managed to learn a thing or two."
"If you must insist, then at least take what fighters of mine with you. I imagine your FTL would require they dock with you?"
"Yes Captain." Benezia replied.
"I'm sending you 1st and 3rd squadrons. I think it'll be faster for them to dock with you. Take them with you then fly to these coordinates. Good luck Matriarch, Captain. These Mollies are smarter than most give them credit for. Be careful."
"We've received coordinates," the communications officer replied. "Orders?"
"Captain Geron, I'll leave the details to you. Relay to the rest of the fleet to go to FTL and head to the station."
Once orders were relayed throughout the fleet, it took only a few minutes to pick up the fighters that Dunbar assigned to them and then fly towards Newgate.
Based on what she could make out on the visual feeds, the BPA Newgate was essentially a giant cube in space, surrounded by a literal sphere of mines. According to what Dunbar sent, there was only one way into the station, and the only things that were preventing any more Mollies from entering the station was them, and a few heavily damaged weapons platforms. She could make out certain portions of the station to be segmented, likely as a means of easy detachment in the case of prison riots. Right now though, one of the docking ports was open and smoke was leaking out.
"Open a line to the prison, and tell all ships to deploy all interceptors to cover the passage. I need a report immediately!" Geron commanded.
"Aye sir. Opening line now. Fighters are being deployed."
"This is Colonel Gates of the Bretonia Police Authority, I trust you are the help Dunbar promised?"
"Affirmative. Captain Dunbar of the Stirling sent us. Report please." Geron replied.
"Right. About a half hour ago, a riot broke out in cell block A, where we're keeping who we suspect is one of the Mollies' top men, Patrick Ryan. A few minutes later, largest swarm of Mollies I've ever seen comes out of the Sheffield Ice Field and attacks us, taking down what escorts we had. A few of them managed to break through and land both weapons and reinforcements to the prisoners aboard. I'm beginning to suspect that they're not only here for Ryan, but plan on liberating the whole station. I need both Marines to help with the station, and fighters to prevent any more Mollies from breaking through and entering the prison."
"Right, we'll be dispatching marines to assist once we clear the area around the passage, Newgate."
"Be careful. What weapons platforms we have left aren't going to last much longer so you are all that stands between the Mollies and Newgate. Good luck."
"Captain," Benezia said after he broke off communications. "I offer the use of my Commandoes to assist. They will be of more use there than sitting here."
"I agree, and thank you Matriarch." Geron replied.
Benezia settled in for the wait. She had done all she could. This was out of her hands now.
__
Around BPA Newgate Prison
Manchester system
Kevin Blake was not having a good day. If everything went to plan, then he and the several flights they had scrambled from Aranmore to save Ryan, would have taken over Newgate and liberated the prisoners within, swelling their numbers.
Instead, some weird military convoy pops up and throws the rest of the boys into a panic, effectively stranding the few Molly fighters to run through the weapon platforms guarding the passage through the minefield, and into the prison. Not that he could blame them, there was a Battleship sitting on the entrance to the passage, and it brought along a lot of friends to tangle with them. So much for his lucky horseshoe. Still, as the defacto leader of the Molly fighters that had yet to breakthrough to Newgate, he had to at least try to take out a few of the fighters.
"Right boys!" he shouted into his comms. "Form up! We can't abandon Ryan and the others without a fight. Form up on me, and we'll see how many of those bastards we can take down."
Which if he was being honest with himself, wouldn't be much. His Wolfhound was the best equipped ship around, and a lot of his equipment was jury-rigged pieces bought from Junkers, and occasionally, taken from ships he shot down. They might take down a couple of fighters and maybe the rest of the weapons platforms, but the Battleship would live on to terrorize Dublin.
Sure the weird looking Battleship looked all delicate like, but it was probably because it was some new design, or worse, a Liberty dreadnaught visiting the King. The damn spindly looking fighters that it deployed, along with some Crusaders, sure looked mean too. After all the planning to bypass the Bounty Hunters on Sheffield too…
"We're no use to him dead!" roared one of his lieutenants, and he really couldn't argue with that. It would be hard for a corpse to run a prison break after all.
"We could at least make a pass. See if we can liberate him, and whoever he can squeeze into a Wolfhound!" he argued back.
"Too risky," most of the men argued. "We're running for the ice fields. We'll lose them there."
"They're forming up for a pass!" warned one of his wingmen.
Kevin cursed at that. The rest of his men were disorganized and out of formation in open space. Easy pickings for the Bretonnians and whoever they were flying with.
"We've got to reform," he said, putting as much conviction he could into his voice. "It's our only chance!"
"Bugger that, I'm running for it!" screamed Green, one of the other veterans of the operation. That quickly convinced quite a few of the rookies with them to flee as well.
Kevin couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. While they were simply being pragmatic, a large part of him was angry at them for not taking the opportunity to try and kill more BMM lapdogs.
Soon enough, the wedge of firepower that was the Bretonian flights passed through the still disorganized mess of Mollies. While Kevin was trying to make a pass on the flanks of the wedge, he was caught in the open by a pair of those spindly fighters. They approached his 3 o'clock at full speed,rapidly firing some sort of gun according to his sensors. Which was completely weird. No one used guns in space because well, no has managed to develop a rail gun that could fire both rapidly, and fire fast enough to make a decent enough dent in a shield. These however, while not exactly what he'd call top of the line, were slowly nicking away his shields. Best get rid of them now.
He quickly made use of his turrets and launched a well aimed volley of neutron beams at his target.He was surprised to see it's shields go down so quickly though, only a single volley was enough to break them and allow the subsequent shots to quickly disable the fighter, causing it's wingmate to veer off.
Well that removes the Liberty fighter theory.
"Guys," Finn, one of his lieutenants replied, "Try shooting at them spindly lookin' fighters. Use your turrets if you insist on runnin."
While there were a few grumbles amongst those already running, a few of the braver ones who decided to stay were making their own individual attack runs.
"Their shields are hardly there..." said Green, a little disbelieving once the others were calling in kills.
"And their armor is shite." Kevin finished for him. "We can still free Ryan boys!" he shouted joyously. "Form up! Let's take the fight to 'em!"
__
Aboard the Jaelor
Manchester system
Captain Geron hoped that his initial push with the fighter screen against the Mollies would've caused more enemy casualties, especially with his plan to split the Bretonnian squadrons and have them lead the Citadel squadrons. It… hadn't worked as intended.
While the Bretonnian fighters had certainly helped, expertly organizing the interceptors into wedges and targeting the best concentration of Mollies, enemy casualties were comparatively light. The Bretonian fighters were dealing the most of the damage,while the machine guns of the Citadel interceptors were simply too ineffective to break through their shields. Now the Mollies were forming up and organizing, and were definitely going to try and break the fighter screen.
"Order all Interceptors to fall back to around the fleet. Let's make use of those UV GARDIAN batteries." Geron ordered. "Link all ships targeting to concentrate fire on whatever we aim for."
"Aye sir. Relaying orders." replied one of the deck officers.
"Tell the Asari and the Turian ships to move further from the Jaelor, their GARDIAN batteries won't have as much range as the Salarian ones." he added as well. " They'll be able to fire sooner that way."
"Aye aye sir." the deck officer replied again.
Now it was a matter of waiting and trusting his men to do their jobs. They were some of the finest throughout the Union, and the men and women of the Asari and Turian ship were also some of the best. He could only hope that his tactics and UV GARDIAN batteries would make a significant difference.
Soon enough, the Mollies managed to organize themselves and began their own attack run. Mimicking their own attack earlier, the Mollie flew in a wedge, clearly aiming for one of the frigates, the Solik.
"All ships, concentrate fire on the targeted ship," Geron said, indicating the first ship in range of the Jaelor's GARDIAN batteries.
Soon dozens of laser batteries began opening up, quickly igniting the targeted ship's shields. It still took a distressingly long minute before any sign of the shield dissipated, and by then the Mollies had managed to get in close enough to open fire on the Solik itself.
The Citadel fighter squadrons quickly began to engage and distract the Mollies, hoping to buy time for the GARDIAN batteries to destroy the Molly fighters. It was quickly becoming obvious though that Citadel interceptor weaponry was mostly ineffective against the Mollies. It was only when a few of the fighters of Spoton flight decided to forget doctrine and jump directly to using their heavy cannon instead of using the machine guns to wear down the Molly shields did they do any sort of appreciative damage. Even then, the Bretonian fighters were doing the majority of the work fighting the Mollies, doubtless due to their superior weaponry and experience in dealing with these
A single Molly wing managed to evade the fighter screen though, and headed straight for one of the outlying alarian frigates, the Solik.
"All ships, target that flight! They're headed for the Solik!" he ordered.
Soon, he could see in his display that only a few ships were able to respond. Those Molly fights would break through.
He could see for a brief moment the Mollies unleashing all their weapons on the Solik's engines, and for a brief moment, the barriers ignited visibly, then broke as the sheer firepower behind that flight broke through and hit the engines, before the Molly flight broke off. One flight of interceptors then managed to meet the Molly flight, ensuring that they won't be able to make another pass at the Solik.
"Reports are coming in sir, the Solik is reporting heavy engine damage. They won't be able to move her." reported one deck officer.
"Spoton flight reports heavy casualties. Half the squadron is either KIA or too damaged to continue." reported another
Report after report continued to stream in, and while the damage wasn't as bad as he feared, it was not as well as he hoped. The Bretonian squadrons had managed to help divert most Molly attention, helping save many a Citadel interceptor.
It was with a sigh of relief that Geron welcomed the arrival of the Norfolk and Stirling arrived, along with a few more foreign looking fighters. The sight of the two Battleships quickly drove the Mollies into an organized retreat, fleeing back into the ice field.
"Receiving a hail from the Stirling sir," reported the communication officer.
"Put the Captain through." Geron ordered.
"Captain Geron," Dunbar greeted, a little bit of gruffness in his voice. "I see you've managed to hold off the Mollies. How bad is the damage?" he asked.
"Better than I feared, but worse than I hoped," Geron replied. "My own fighters have a distressingly high casualty rate, and the Solik, one of my frigates is reporting critical damage. She will have to stay here to perform repairs,."
"Understood." Dunbar said. "We can go handle the Prison if you do not feel up to it. You and your men have done enough today."
"I understand Captain, and thank you for your concern," Geron replied. "But Matriarch Benezia insisted that she allow you the use of her personal guard in retaking the Prison. I honestly believe that they cannot hurt. They have centuries of experience, and would be welcome in any operation back home."
"Thank you kindly," Dunbar replied, appreciation clear in his voice. "I'm sending you coordinates for where to rendezvous with my own marines."
"Understood Captain." Geron said, ending the line. Now he could more or less relax. The only thing to worry about now was the repairs to his fleet...
__
In Orbit of California Minor
California system
Really, compared to what Aela had seen so far, she hadn't seen as many sights in Liberty space. The most visually astounding sight she had seen was the Kepler system, and as far as she knew it wasn't technically Liberty space.
The California system on the other hand, provided a sight that, while not what she'd call beautiful, was certainly interesting.
California Minor was a planet that was being terraformed. While terraforming was something entirely plausible by Citadel standards, the costs were entirely too prohibitive compared to simply searching for new planets. It was thought that it would take well beyond an Asari lifespan to make a planet habitable with what they had available
She had of course learned some of the details on human terraforming from King Alexander, but seeing Planetform Inc. in action was something else.
Formerly an ice planet entirely too cold for habitation, Planetform Inc. had actually managed to get the temperature of California Minor to more tolerable ranges. While this simply translated to being on average a few dozen degrees under freezing, it was now entirely plausible for one to stay outside for short periods in one's flight suit without freezing to death in seconds during daylight hours.
And to think, that according to what she had picked up, the company had managed to do this in a mere few hundred years. Compared to the best estimates of experts in Thessia, was well ahead of schedule.
"You know, these guys are actually behind schedule." Perkins replied, as if reading her thoughts.
Aela could only shake her head at that. She could hardly believe that this was behind schedule. She had specifically asked to take a look at this planet upon hearing about it. As the only other project of Planetform, she had thought it was important she at least see the planet herself, so that she could get her own readings.
Dotted with a few bases and outposts, likely where the meat of terraforming happens, the planet was still a long way away from colonization, but she figured that within a few more decades, small settlements may start to pop up.
"It's still well ahead of anything we have back home," Aela replied. "Terraforming on this scale… would've taken significantly longer than what Planetform has achieved here."
"Huh." Perkin said a little introspectively. "Didn't think about that. I alway figured we'd be the ones learning from you."
"I think, that if anyone is going to be any learning, it'll be all of the other races back home." Aela said. "What I've seen here tells me your people have a better understanding of the sciences than we do. Energy weapons, your engineering, terraforming, jump gates… It's all so much more than I think we have to offer."
"There must be something your people can teach us." Perkins asked, a little disbelievingly.
"Our computers I think, and maybe Artificial Intelligence, but I'm no expert on that…"
"Nonsense. I'm sure you have plenty to teach us. Like that trick you pulled off in Kusari, can that be taught?"
"Biotics is a… complicated issue. You have to be born with it, and only the Asari are naturally biotic. The other biotics have been a result of… industrial accidents."
"Exposure to mutagenic compounds, that sort of thing?"
"More like an essential resource. Element zero, the basis for much of our technology… Accidental exposure to those in utero leads to… side effects. The fortunate ones get biotics. the unfortunate ones…"
"Either die in the womb or live deformed lives."
"Sadly yes," she replied. "Since we Asari are naturally biotic, these problems are non-existent for us, though eezo exposure can kill us."
"Huh." Perkins said. "I guess space magic had to have a catch."
"Nothing is ever simple, Perkins." Aela relied.
"Too right..." Perkins said sadly, as he took the Trade Lane to San Diego. Soon, Aela would finally arrive in Curacao.
New York System
"My God," breathed out Perkins in awe. "They're real."
"What are?" Aela asked curiously.
"Those," Perkins said pointing to a pair of rather fearsome looking ships. Sleek, avian looking ships, with a very predatory look. It almost reminded her of a Turian ship, with its avian appearance and the fact that it looked to be very heavily armed. "I've never seen an Avenger before, let alone two." he said with a little bit of disbelief. "Those things are strictly reserved for LSF and Liberty Navy aces. Only the very best of Liberty get to pilot their best ships. Our own Very Heavy Fighters pale in comparison to those…"
"Very Heavy Fighters?" Aela asked.
"Let me put it this way," Perkins replied, "If I were to unload everything I had onto one of those ships till my reactors practically stopped to prevent us from overloading, I wouldn't put a significant dent in it."
"Mr Perkins, Dr. D'Avo," the coms suddenly blared out. "I'm LSF Commander Robert O'Neil. We've been tasked with escorting you two to Curacao. The President will be following tomorrow aboard the Victory."
"Thank you Commander O'Neil," Perkins replied on the comms. "I guess I'll take point then?"
"Up to you Mr Perkins. From Liberty space to Curacao, we have jurisdiction to act in whatever the situation demands." O'Neil replied.
"Right then," Perkins said, clearly going into what Aela suspected was his 'I'm leading a flight now' mode. "I'll take point Commander. You gents will cover me, and we'll be going through California first."
"Roger that, Mr. Perkins." Commander O'Neil replied.
"Never thought I'd be leading a flight of Avengers, especially in a dinky old Crusader." Perkins said out loud.
"I'm sure it'll be interesting," Aela replied. "What will we find in California?" she decided to ask.
"Well, there are a few ice clouds we'll be passing by before we hit the Cortez system. Aside from that, there are two inhabited planets in that system, Planet Los Angeles, and the terraforming platforms of California Minor."
"Terraforming platforms?"
"Yeah, Planetform Inc. has been contracted to terraform that planet by the Liberty government. They think it'll be a good place to start a new colony. It's their only other project I think."
"I'd like to see that at least. It'd be nice to see in person a terraforming project on this scale."
"It's a little out of our way," Perkins replied. "Are you sure you want this?"
"Yeah. We don't have anything like this back home. It's simply much easier for us to explore for new systems than to try and terraform."
"All right then, we'll make for California Minor before heading to Curacao. Though I'm rather interested in hearing how it's easier for one to go explore than terraform."
"I'll explain after seeing it for myself. I just need to make sure," she finished. Time to settle for the ride to California Minor
___
New London Jump Gate,
Manchester system
Travel through the Jump Gates was… interesting to say the least. All attempts to get even nominal readings within the wormholes for analysis had failed. One attempt by one of the attending Salarian frigates nearly destroyed their sensor systems. It was baffling to say the least.
The Humans themselves knew nothing about went on inside one. They said they didn't even bother with attempts on non-specialized ships these days, and even those only get tiny bits of usable data. Probably a reason why this Liberty held a monopoly on building the Gates.
"We've arrived at the Manchester system," one of the bridge officers said. "All systems are green."
"Excellent," Captain Geron finished. "Proceed with going through the Trade Lane."
"Affirmative," replied another Deck officer.
Yet another interesting piece of Human technology. A system of machines that automatically compensate for the orbits of the planets they connect to. Very useful for in-system travelling, and could potentially allow eezo to be used for strictly out-of-system ships. Traveling through the Lanes was not as fast as travelling with standard FTL, but it was certainly an interesting experience. Not something she'd recommend to replace militarily though.
Human space on the other hand… was very interesting. Travel through Leeds had certainly shocked many aboard, especially with the sheer amount of pollutants and acids that they passed through, and they had apparently avoided the most concentrated clouds of smog.
New London had treated them to several entire scrap fields of old ships. A gold mine for them if they luck out and find some of even their old technology to use. The detritus of centuries of industrialization would certainly help them catch up and maybe understand the underlying principles of the sciences they used.
"Receiving a signal coming within system. Translating." the communication officer said suddenly. "Receiving a hail from the Stirling. Shall I patch it through, sir?"
"Go ahead." Captain Geron replied.
"Captain Geron, Matriarch Benezia," Captain Dunbar said. "We've received a distress call from BPA Newgate, a prison within the system. They're under heavy attack by a large flight of Mollies, probably trying to liberate one of their leaders. We must divert."
"I've translated the signal that Captain Dunbar is talking about," one of the other communication officers said. "But I don't see the urgency in it. It goes I quote, 'This is BPA Newgate to all ships within system. We're in a spot of trouble, so a little assistance would be nice.' The man said it in a calm voice, sir."
"Colonel Gates has always been a model officer of Bretonia," Captain Dunbar replied. "We Bretonnians have a gift for understatement and calm, and that was the most vocal plea for aid I've yet to hear from the man. The Stirling and Norfolk will be making full-speed to the prison."
"We'll be happy to assist as well Captain," Benezia replied. It would be an opportune time to help with relations with the Bretonnians. "Give us the coordinates and we'll make full speed for it."
"Are you sure you want to assist?" Dunbar asked, his voice tinged with hints of worry. "I've seen the aftermath of that engagement of yours in the Tau 30 system and it wasn't what I would call pretty."
"I insist, Captain," Benezia replied. "I believe that if we are to truly become friends in the future, we must be able to help you in some form." Incidentally putting us into a better light. "Besides, I think we are better equipped for this. I'd like to think that we've managed to learn a thing or two."
"If you must insist, then at least take what fighters of mine with you. I imagine your FTL would require they dock with you?"
"Yes Captain." Benezia replied.
"I'm sending you 1st and 3rd squadrons. I think it'll be faster for them to dock with you. Take them with you then fly to these coordinates. Good luck Matriarch, Captain. These Mollies are smarter than most give them credit for. Be careful."
"We've received coordinates," the communications officer replied. "Orders?"
"Captain Geron, I'll leave the details to you. Relay to the rest of the fleet to go to FTL and head to the station."
Once orders were relayed throughout the fleet, it took only a few minutes to pick up the fighters that Dunbar assigned to them and then fly towards Newgate.
Based on what she could make out on the visual feeds, the BPA Newgate was essentially a giant cube in space, surrounded by a literal sphere of mines. According to what Dunbar sent, there was only one way into the station, and the only things that were preventing any more Mollies from entering the station was them, and a few heavily damaged weapons platforms. She could make out certain portions of the station to be segmented, likely as a means of easy detachment in the case of prison riots. Right now though, one of the docking ports was open and smoke was leaking out.
"Open a line to the prison, and tell all ships to deploy all interceptors to cover the passage. I need a report immediately!" Geron commanded.
"Aye sir. Opening line now. Fighters are being deployed."
"This is Colonel Gates of the Bretonia Police Authority, I trust you are the help Dunbar promised?"
"Affirmative. Captain Dunbar of the Stirling sent us. Report please." Geron replied.
"Right. About a half hour ago, a riot broke out in cell block A, where we're keeping who we suspect is one of the Mollies' top men, Patrick Ryan. A few minutes later, largest swarm of Mollies I've ever seen comes out of the Sheffield Ice Field and attacks us, taking down what escorts we had. A few of them managed to break through and land both weapons and reinforcements to the prisoners aboard. I'm beginning to suspect that they're not only here for Ryan, but plan on liberating the whole station. I need both Marines to help with the station, and fighters to prevent any more Mollies from breaking through and entering the prison."
"Right, we'll be dispatching marines to assist once we clear the area around the passage, Newgate."
"Be careful. What weapons platforms we have left aren't going to last much longer so you are all that stands between the Mollies and Newgate. Good luck."
"Captain," Benezia said after he broke off communications. "I offer the use of my Commandoes to assist. They will be of more use there than sitting here."
"I agree, and thank you Matriarch." Geron replied.
Benezia settled in for the wait. She had done all she could. This was out of her hands now.
__
Around BPA Newgate Prison
Manchester system
Kevin Blake was not having a good day. If everything went to plan, then he and the several flights they had scrambled from Aranmore to save Ryan, would have taken over Newgate and liberated the prisoners within, swelling their numbers.
Instead, some weird military convoy pops up and throws the rest of the boys into a panic, effectively stranding the few Molly fighters to run through the weapon platforms guarding the passage through the minefield, and into the prison. Not that he could blame them, there was a Battleship sitting on the entrance to the passage, and it brought along a lot of friends to tangle with them. So much for his lucky horseshoe. Still, as the defacto leader of the Molly fighters that had yet to breakthrough to Newgate, he had to at least try to take out a few of the fighters.
"Right boys!" he shouted into his comms. "Form up! We can't abandon Ryan and the others without a fight. Form up on me, and we'll see how many of those bastards we can take down."
Which if he was being honest with himself, wouldn't be much. His Wolfhound was the best equipped ship around, and a lot of his equipment was jury-rigged pieces bought from Junkers, and occasionally, taken from ships he shot down. They might take down a couple of fighters and maybe the rest of the weapons platforms, but the Battleship would live on to terrorize Dublin.
Sure the weird looking Battleship looked all delicate like, but it was probably because it was some new design, or worse, a Liberty dreadnaught visiting the King. The damn spindly looking fighters that it deployed, along with some Crusaders, sure looked mean too. After all the planning to bypass the Bounty Hunters on Sheffield too…
"We're no use to him dead!" roared one of his lieutenants, and he really couldn't argue with that. It would be hard for a corpse to run a prison break after all.
"We could at least make a pass. See if we can liberate him, and whoever he can squeeze into a Wolfhound!" he argued back.
"Too risky," most of the men argued. "We're running for the ice fields. We'll lose them there."
"They're forming up for a pass!" warned one of his wingmen.
Kevin cursed at that. The rest of his men were disorganized and out of formation in open space. Easy pickings for the Bretonnians and whoever they were flying with.
"We've got to reform," he said, putting as much conviction he could into his voice. "It's our only chance!"
"Bugger that, I'm running for it!" screamed Green, one of the other veterans of the operation. That quickly convinced quite a few of the rookies with them to flee as well.
Kevin couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. While they were simply being pragmatic, a large part of him was angry at them for not taking the opportunity to try and kill more BMM lapdogs.
Soon enough, the wedge of firepower that was the Bretonian flights passed through the still disorganized mess of Mollies. While Kevin was trying to make a pass on the flanks of the wedge, he was caught in the open by a pair of those spindly fighters. They approached his 3 o'clock at full speed,rapidly firing some sort of gun according to his sensors. Which was completely weird. No one used guns in space because well, no has managed to develop a rail gun that could fire both rapidly, and fire fast enough to make a decent enough dent in a shield. These however, while not exactly what he'd call top of the line, were slowly nicking away his shields. Best get rid of them now.
He quickly made use of his turrets and launched a well aimed volley of neutron beams at his target.He was surprised to see it's shields go down so quickly though, only a single volley was enough to break them and allow the subsequent shots to quickly disable the fighter, causing it's wingmate to veer off.
Well that removes the Liberty fighter theory.
"Guys," Finn, one of his lieutenants replied, "Try shooting at them spindly lookin' fighters. Use your turrets if you insist on runnin."
While there were a few grumbles amongst those already running, a few of the braver ones who decided to stay were making their own individual attack runs.
"Their shields are hardly there..." said Green, a little disbelieving once the others were calling in kills.
"And their armor is shite." Kevin finished for him. "We can still free Ryan boys!" he shouted joyously. "Form up! Let's take the fight to 'em!"
__
Aboard the Jaelor
Manchester system
Captain Geron hoped that his initial push with the fighter screen against the Mollies would've caused more enemy casualties, especially with his plan to split the Bretonnian squadrons and have them lead the Citadel squadrons. It… hadn't worked as intended.
While the Bretonnian fighters had certainly helped, expertly organizing the interceptors into wedges and targeting the best concentration of Mollies, enemy casualties were comparatively light. The Bretonian fighters were dealing the most of the damage,while the machine guns of the Citadel interceptors were simply too ineffective to break through their shields. Now the Mollies were forming up and organizing, and were definitely going to try and break the fighter screen.
"Order all Interceptors to fall back to around the fleet. Let's make use of those UV GARDIAN batteries." Geron ordered. "Link all ships targeting to concentrate fire on whatever we aim for."
"Aye sir. Relaying orders." replied one of the deck officers.
"Tell the Asari and the Turian ships to move further from the Jaelor, their GARDIAN batteries won't have as much range as the Salarian ones." he added as well. " They'll be able to fire sooner that way."
"Aye aye sir." the deck officer replied again.
Now it was a matter of waiting and trusting his men to do their jobs. They were some of the finest throughout the Union, and the men and women of the Asari and Turian ship were also some of the best. He could only hope that his tactics and UV GARDIAN batteries would make a significant difference.
Soon enough, the Mollies managed to organize themselves and began their own attack run. Mimicking their own attack earlier, the Mollie flew in a wedge, clearly aiming for one of the frigates, the Solik.
"All ships, concentrate fire on the targeted ship," Geron said, indicating the first ship in range of the Jaelor's GARDIAN batteries.
Soon dozens of laser batteries began opening up, quickly igniting the targeted ship's shields. It still took a distressingly long minute before any sign of the shield dissipated, and by then the Mollies had managed to get in close enough to open fire on the Solik itself.
The Citadel fighter squadrons quickly began to engage and distract the Mollies, hoping to buy time for the GARDIAN batteries to destroy the Molly fighters. It was quickly becoming obvious though that Citadel interceptor weaponry was mostly ineffective against the Mollies. It was only when a few of the fighters of Spoton flight decided to forget doctrine and jump directly to using their heavy cannon instead of using the machine guns to wear down the Molly shields did they do any sort of appreciative damage. Even then, the Bretonian fighters were doing the majority of the work fighting the Mollies, doubtless due to their superior weaponry and experience in dealing with these
A single Molly wing managed to evade the fighter screen though, and headed straight for one of the outlying alarian frigates, the Solik.
"All ships, target that flight! They're headed for the Solik!" he ordered.
Soon, he could see in his display that only a few ships were able to respond. Those Molly fights would break through.
He could see for a brief moment the Mollies unleashing all their weapons on the Solik's engines, and for a brief moment, the barriers ignited visibly, then broke as the sheer firepower behind that flight broke through and hit the engines, before the Molly flight broke off. One flight of interceptors then managed to meet the Molly flight, ensuring that they won't be able to make another pass at the Solik.
"Reports are coming in sir, the Solik is reporting heavy engine damage. They won't be able to move her." reported one deck officer.
"Spoton flight reports heavy casualties. Half the squadron is either KIA or too damaged to continue." reported another
Report after report continued to stream in, and while the damage wasn't as bad as he feared, it was not as well as he hoped. The Bretonian squadrons had managed to help divert most Molly attention, helping save many a Citadel interceptor.
It was with a sigh of relief that Geron welcomed the arrival of the Norfolk and Stirling arrived, along with a few more foreign looking fighters. The sight of the two Battleships quickly drove the Mollies into an organized retreat, fleeing back into the ice field.
"Receiving a hail from the Stirling sir," reported the communication officer.
"Put the Captain through." Geron ordered.
"Captain Geron," Dunbar greeted, a little bit of gruffness in his voice. "I see you've managed to hold off the Mollies. How bad is the damage?" he asked.
"Better than I feared, but worse than I hoped," Geron replied. "My own fighters have a distressingly high casualty rate, and the Solik, one of my frigates is reporting critical damage. She will have to stay here to perform repairs,."
"Understood." Dunbar said. "We can go handle the Prison if you do not feel up to it. You and your men have done enough today."
"I understand Captain, and thank you for your concern," Geron replied. "But Matriarch Benezia insisted that she allow you the use of her personal guard in retaking the Prison. I honestly believe that they cannot hurt. They have centuries of experience, and would be welcome in any operation back home."
"Thank you kindly," Dunbar replied, appreciation clear in his voice. "I'm sending you coordinates for where to rendezvous with my own marines."
"Understood Captain." Geron said, ending the line. Now he could more or less relax. The only thing to worry about now was the repairs to his fleet...
__
In Orbit of California Minor
California system
Really, compared to what Aela had seen so far, she hadn't seen as many sights in Liberty space. The most visually astounding sight she had seen was the Kepler system, and as far as she knew it wasn't technically Liberty space.
The California system on the other hand, provided a sight that, while not what she'd call beautiful, was certainly interesting.
California Minor was a planet that was being terraformed. While terraforming was something entirely plausible by Citadel standards, the costs were entirely too prohibitive compared to simply searching for new planets. It was thought that it would take well beyond an Asari lifespan to make a planet habitable with what they had available
She had of course learned some of the details on human terraforming from King Alexander, but seeing Planetform Inc. in action was something else.
Formerly an ice planet entirely too cold for habitation, Planetform Inc. had actually managed to get the temperature of California Minor to more tolerable ranges. While this simply translated to being on average a few dozen degrees under freezing, it was now entirely plausible for one to stay outside for short periods in one's flight suit without freezing to death in seconds during daylight hours.
And to think, that according to what she had picked up, the company had managed to do this in a mere few hundred years. Compared to the best estimates of experts in Thessia, was well ahead of schedule.
"You know, these guys are actually behind schedule." Perkins replied, as if reading her thoughts.
Aela could only shake her head at that. She could hardly believe that this was behind schedule. She had specifically asked to take a look at this planet upon hearing about it. As the only other project of Planetform, she had thought it was important she at least see the planet herself, so that she could get her own readings.
Dotted with a few bases and outposts, likely where the meat of terraforming happens, the planet was still a long way away from colonization, but she figured that within a few more decades, small settlements may start to pop up.
"It's still well ahead of anything we have back home," Aela replied. "Terraforming on this scale… would've taken significantly longer than what Planetform has achieved here."
"Huh." Perkin said a little introspectively. "Didn't think about that. I alway figured we'd be the ones learning from you."
"I think, that if anyone is going to be any learning, it'll be all of the other races back home." Aela said. "What I've seen here tells me your people have a better understanding of the sciences than we do. Energy weapons, your engineering, terraforming, jump gates… It's all so much more than I think we have to offer."
"There must be something your people can teach us." Perkins asked, a little disbelievingly.
"Our computers I think, and maybe Artificial Intelligence, but I'm no expert on that…"
"Nonsense. I'm sure you have plenty to teach us. Like that trick you pulled off in Kusari, can that be taught?"
"Biotics is a… complicated issue. You have to be born with it, and only the Asari are naturally biotic. The other biotics have been a result of… industrial accidents."
"Exposure to mutagenic compounds, that sort of thing?"
"More like an essential resource. Element zero, the basis for much of our technology… Accidental exposure to those in utero leads to… side effects. The fortunate ones get biotics. the unfortunate ones…"
"Either die in the womb or live deformed lives."
"Sadly yes," she replied. "Since we Asari are naturally biotic, these problems are non-existent for us, though eezo exposure can kill us."
"Huh." Perkins said. "I guess space magic had to have a catch."
"Nothing is ever simple, Perkins." Aela relied.
"Too right..." Perkins said sadly, as he took the Trade Lane to San Diego. Soon, Aela would finally arrive in Curacao.