United we Stand: (Halo/Mass Effect crossover)

[Mayto]

New Ghent. UNSC outer colonies.
2542:

Michael was in hell.

Just yesterday he had been thinking of picking up a new hobby, when suddenly a Covenant cruiser had appeared in orbit. Then plasma began raining from the sky, aliens methodically slaughtering their way through the streets, city blocks burning, and the stench of death filling everything. As he'd ran to safety, a squad of Marines had shoved a rifle into his hands and those of other refugees fleeing the city, bringing them to the large ONI complex that had served as a base for UNSC forces, and was now where the local resistance was rallying. He was just some ONI bookworm. He wasn't meant for this kind of crap.

They were one of the larger outer colonies and had survived by sheer luck, but that was over now. Now it was time to die.

He gripped his assault rifle as he scanned the barricades. Overturned cars, tables, sandbags, rubble. Anything that isn't nailed down was thrown on the barricades. It was manned by a hodgepodge of civilian "volunteers", conscripts, marines, some retired military men and women. Some of the volunteers held weapons like they had actual training. Either hunters, or perhaps secretly Innies. It wouldn't surprise him with how far they were from the Core Worlds. The actual marines were placed in strategic positions to be relocated as need be. The actual Marines were spread around the Complex, ready to act upon any assault. He and the other milita were there to tell them where the attack was coming from, and then die.

"Incoming!" someone yelled.

Snapping out of his introspection, Michael took aim down the main street that led towards the Complex. Grunts were coming around the corner, and lots of them. He didn't wait for orders and immediately opened fire. His aim was sloppy, but there was no need to aim here, just point and shoot down the street. Grunts fell in droves, gas tanks going off, or grenades exploding as a lucky bullet hit them.

Just as abruptly as the attack began, it stopped. MIchael ducked to reload his rifle, only to feel something very hot pass over his head. The moment he'd ducked to reload, one of those green beams had shot over his head. Pained screams came from all around as those firing at the waves of grunts were picked off in rapid successions. Blue energy balls flew overhead and turned vast sections of the defenses into slags.

The thundering sound of heavy artillery and the pop of mortar fire lit up the night as the UNSC bastion intensified its counter battery fire. Marines moved up to reinforce the defences. Warthog guns blazing away, grenades, screaming, the smell of blood and excrement, the smell of plasma. Michael was frozen in terror and lost control of his bowels as he continued aiming his rifle at the attackers, not noticing the ammo had run out. He was sobbing loudly.

Then something hard and fast hit the ground between the two sides. Dozens of blue man-sized pods. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at the color. It had to be elites. He clumsily ejected his magazine and slid another one in, nearly dropping it twice.

A pod opened revealing a tall humanoid figure in a full suit of blue armor. Its limbs looked to be about the size of those of a human, elbeit shaped like a dog's, while its chest was either incredibly bulky, or its armor was. The figure scanned them, then took a weapon from his capsule and leapt out. But no new death came at Michael. Instead it took aim at the -Covenant- and opened fire with a stream of green rounds that melted the flesh of whatever covenant they touched.

More pods began dropping down, the blue-armored soldiers emerging and opening fire upon the Covenant. Caught completely by surprise, the Covenant fell in droves, a multitude of differently colored rounds being unleashed. Grunts were turned into green sludge, or had their methane tanks explode as red incendiary rounds passed through. One of the new soldiers hefted a large black cannon that shot out an honest to god Black Hole that ripped through the advancing covenant line, shattering their advance.

One of the soldiers took an overcharge plasma bolt that seemed to explode just before it impacted the new arrival. A new weapon? No! It had hit some kind of barrier. The soldier collapsed, grasping at his plasma-scarred armor. It led out a shrill birdlike screech. The sound shook Michael out of his stupor. He got up and ran out of cover, sprinting towards the fallen soldier. He sought a handhold and began trying to drag it behind cover.

The bastard was heavy, and he could barely move it. Only for another of the new arrivals to lend him a hand and help him. No words were exchanged in the frantic firefight.

"Assist them, now!" Came a shout from the ONI facility as the marines saw their opportunity and sallied out, riding shotgun on the tank treads of a Grizzy tank. They advanced through the rubble strewn streets, fireteams advancing under the cover of each other. The alien who'd helped him drag his fallen comrade pushed him into cover and pulled something out, panic went through him for a second, only to see the alien was offering him a pistol. Michael snatched it and took aim at a sewer grate that suddenly opened, a skirmisher leaping out. His shot blew it in half.

"They're coming from below!" He yelled, grabbing the alien's arm and pointing at the grate. Without pause it pulled what had to be a grenade from his belt and threw it down the hole. He saw a squad of marines come to the same conclusion and fire their flamethrower down into another sewer grate. "Cook you alien bastards!" the operator screamed.

Squads of the new arrivals were forming up and advancing through the ruined storefronts and homes, to the sounds of explosions, plasma splashes, and screaming. The arrivals weaponry shot holes through walls, while plasmafire lit up the night. It was so bright it almost felt like day. The Grizzly tank was laying down a withering stream of fire, when an Elite suddenly leapt from a rooftop onto the tank, cutting the barrel in half with his energy sword, then cutting open the hatch and throwing a plasma grenade inside. The Marines opened fire at the attacker, only for it to vanish into thin air. "Spec ops!" A marine shouted.

The Elites were here.

The distinctive sound of plasma rifles and fuel rod guns began lighting up the night, while energy sword began lighting up as the Elites made their play. The Arrivals weapons washed across the Elite's shields to Michael's horror. The alien who'd given him the pistol did something to his rifle, causing a blue glow to appear around it. He took aim at the elites, blue rounds impacting shields, followed by the satisfying pop of a shield overload. The moment the shields popped, the color of the projectiles changed, turning into white, red, or green bolts that frozen, melted, or liquified whatever flesh they hit.

Michael could see the elites taking heavy losses as they advanced, but their weapons took a heavy toll on both the marines and the their unexpected reinforcements. Flesh melted, blood boiled, armor melted. And then the Elites were upon them, throwing grenades and lighting energy swords. Michael felt something hot on his left side, but continued firing his newly acquired weapon. Blowing a hole in the chest of an Elite which had just cut three soldiers apart in seconds.

The fighting devolved in a frantic melee as the streets turned into a close ranged brawl of energy blades, and weird red blades that the arrivals seemed to conjure out of their armor. They attacked in groups. Close range blasts of what had to be shotguns, and weird red energy blades that the arrivals pulled out occasionally. Blood and limbs went flying, walls were blasted out of buildings, and a bolt of wraith plasma took out a score of soldiers. As buildings collapsed in the fighting, they formed cover that both sides fought over tooth and nail.

Michael's pistol ran out, and he looked up into the sky. He could see fast moving pinpricks in the sky, and gunships passing overhead. Clashing with Covenant fighters and dropships. He couldn't make out how the battle was going. Far in the distance he could see the massive Covenant Assault Carrier hovering ominously on the other side of Williamtown, somewhere in the open plains. It was glassing something. He could see large blasts appearing on top of the ship, hitting its shields from orbit, although he could not see where the shots were coming from. It was a constant rain of fire that lit up the shields of the ship. Large wings of new alien fighters flew overhead, delivering their payloads on unseen targets, followed by larger ships which flew towards where the fighters had launched their payloads. They're clearing landing zones. He realized. This was a large invasion.

The fighting was beginning to die down, the final Elite only dying when a Marine unloaded a shotgun into its chest at point blank until it ran out, and one of the new arrivals had stabbed it multiple types with the fallen blade of another Elite. The remaining elites were quickly finished off by the Marines, while the new arrivals began stripping the fallen covenant of equipment, and dragging a couple of the still moving bodies with them. Nobody spoke up about this, too shocked by what had just happened.

An awkward quiet descended across the battlefield as the humans and the aliens looked at each other. Both sides set to gathering their dead, taking their weapons and equipment, and preparing for the next fight. One of the aliens, approached and activated some kind of holographic gauntlet. He pressed a button, playing a message.

"We are the Turian Hierarchy, protectors of galactic peace. We've come to aid you in your fight against the Covenant. Bring me to the leader of this fortress so we can plan our next move." There was a solemn silence amongst the Marines present, and then a sigh or relief. One of the soldiers took the Turian commander and led him inside the base. Michael smiled. Then noticed the Medic looking at him in horror and running at him with a Medical kit. He looked down and saw that his left arm and shoulder had been shot off. As the adrenaline wore out, everything went dark, the last thing he saw being the Turian from before catching him.

----------------------

For months the Citadel had been searching every relay into the Orion Arm to find a clue as to what was destroying worlds and wiping out the so-called Humans. Destroyed habitats, ruined worlds, mass graves of milllions of dead civilians, killed in vast subterranean bunkers. They'd been able to infer the existence of energy weapons, as well as some form of non-eezo based FTL. Normally this would have excited him, but now he could only worry about this being used against them.

When scout ships had reported a Covenant warship attacking a human world, the response had been simple. One of the Turian battlegroups patrolling the Orion arm in force had immediately gone to assist the human world.

Admiral Karandis observed the tactical situation from his station about the Dreadnought Titan's wrath.. He was nervous. This was the first clash between he Turians and the this "Covenant", and he'd not been prepared for just how big the enemy ships were. They were enormous! A Dreadnought two kilometers long, two one kilometer long, and twenty frigate-sized ships, more than two-hundred meters long each. He had three Turian dreadnoughts, thirty cruisers split up in groups of six, and sixty frigates split up in packs of six each. They had numerical superiority, but that did not put him at ease.

The Covenant ships had not detected their approach initially, and had lost several of their smaller ships to a wave of Fighters and drones launched at close range by the dreadnoughts and cruiser. Alas, they had not taken out one of the larger ships, but they had detonated disruptor torpedoes deep inside several Covenant ships. The fighters had then returned to re-arm and reload.

He had expressed worries about the enemy plasma projectile and laser cannons, but put them to the back of his mind. His ships had been briefed to the best of his ability, They had doubled the layers of ablative armor, and the Kinetic barriers had been modified to "catch" incoming plasma projectiles and try to slap them aside. The heat would do horrific damage to ships, but it was better than instant destruction. The enemy ships had an unknown form of FTL, but their sublight speeds were much lower than his own. If he didn't get arrogant, he should be able to just stay out of range and continue hitting the enemy from long range.

After the surprise attack, the Covenant ships besides the super-dreadnought had broken off from the planet and moved to engage his own ships, firing plasma projectiles and their laser turrets at his ships. The Ablative armor on his ships began fizzling and boiling, but held at such extreme ranges. The modified barriers helped, but one cruiser miscalculated the "slap" and was instantly atomized by the plasma impact.

As this happened, the transport ships of his fleet had secretly gone into FTL from behind the star, travelled to the system's oort cloud, and then with a series of smaller FTL hops appeared on the other side of the human world from the Covenant fleet. A force of eleven-thousand Turian troops and armored support were currently landing on the planet, setting up evac zones in isolated cities, while the majority went to the human capital to engage the Covenant there. There was some concern from the humans, even attacks on the Turians, but this quickly stopped when the Turians began attacking the Covenant attackers. The evacuation ships would take them to a safe world in Citadel Space, until another human world could be found. It was good work. The kind of thing someone signed up for in the hopes of doing just that. Rescuing innocents from invaders. It reminded him of the Rebellions in a way.

The Turian Dreadnoughts were currently positioned behind one of the system's many planets, using gravity to slingshot their shots at the Covenant ships, while most of the Frigates and Cruisers were flying massive circles around the Covenant ships, moving laterally and aiming their main guns at the enemy fleet and concentrating all their fire upon a single Covenant ship at a time. They'd fire until the enemy energy projectiles began to close in, whereupon the ships fired up their FTL drives to jump to the other side of the Covenant fleet, this time at maximum range again, where they'd accelerate again, and continue firing laterally.

He had ordered ten cruisers and one dreadnought, The Will of Taetrus not to open fire. Yet, and stay hidden behind the sun as a strategic reserve., with another two packs of frigates waiting behind one of the gas giants. They could be alerted to strike by sending FTL probes to jump to them and give them the order to strike.

The Covenant ships were moving in one group, the larger ships using their overlapping shields to cover the smaller ships after four had been taken out by weight of fire from Turian ships. Clever. Karandis thought to himself. The enemy admiral was protecting the ships which he could take out with relative ease, by using the shields of the larger ships to block them, trusting that they would have a chance to continue recovering. It had taken his technicians some time, but they now believed they could use measure the strength of the Covenant shields by analysing the deflection or destruction of their projectiles.

"Split the cruiser force and have them keep both enemy ships under fire at all times, we can't allow their shields time to recharge. Concentrate the firepower of the dreadnoughts and frigates on the the dreadnought closest to us." He ordered. He put his hand together as minutes ticked by, and the fighting continued like it had before. The Covenant tried to close in, his ships slowly losing ships as they had to withdraw due to overheating, while the shields of the enemy ships kept dropping under continuous fire. He was waiting for an opportunity.

The Covenant fleet suddenly broke apart, and split up in all directions, the frigates breaking from their protective shields and heading towards his cruisers. He could see the plan. Engage his cruisers in a knife-fight with their frigates, allowing the dreadnoughts to come in close and finish the job. Suddenly an officer spoke up. They'd split the frigattes around equally, with one Covenant dreadnought heading for each of his own dreadnoughts. "Primary target shield energy readings are starting to become more erratic." He grit his fangs. Without the frigates, the dreadnought was vulnerable to his plan.

"Deploy Titan's wrath and the Palavan Sunshine at maximum range beneath the plane of the enemy dreadnought, then signal the strategic cruiser reserve to deploy in broadsides at knife-fight ranges and fire everything they have!" They'd take the Sunshine away from the dreadnought that targeted it, then concentrate fire upon the weaker of the two ships. With one dreadnought gone, they could concentrate their fire upon the last dreadnought, while he deployed his frigate reserve to ambush and surround the Covenant frigates.

As the order went out tactical VI's calculated exact timings for each ship to make their move. Then, upon completion, the order went out and ten seconds passed to account for light-lag, and then the plan jumped into motion. His helmsman took him and his ship into a series of quick FTL jumps to get into position, the moment they emerged, they opened fire upon the underside of the enemy dreadnought, ten cruisers appearing at the same time and firing their broadsides. All fighters launched at the same time, going in for the kill. Then, in a crackle of blue light, the shield around the enemy dreadnought exploded.

The outer hull of the Covenant dreadnought rippled and tore as mass accelerate rounds impacted and expanded inside of the enemy hull, followed by streams of disruptor torpedoes from the fighters passing right through the ship's hull. Karandis smiled at the devastation. Then the enemy's turrets began to glow.

In seconds, ten cruisers were turned into slag, and a stream of plasma projectiles flew out towards the two dreadnoughts. "Evasive maneuvers!" He yelled.

The helmsman complied, angling the nose of the dreadnought so it could pass by the Covenant ship, and jump to FTL. His ship's short FTL hop barely managed to avoid the enemy plasma projectiles, but the Sunshine was hit and the front half of the ship was slagged before the FTL drive kicked in. It went out of FTL, completely wrecked. The targeted dreadnought detonated as its plasma core went off. Karandis grit his teeth. His plan had cost him a thousand turians and ten cruisers. If he'd had just a bit more firepower, he might have been able to cripple the ship before it fired back.

The Covenant frigates had began laying into his cruisers and frigates, while the last dreadnought began laying into them with its plasma and laser weaponry as his ships were fighting the frigates at close range. Another seven cruisers and fifteen frigates were destroyed in a close range clash, but half the covenant frigates were taken out when the commander of the cruiser flotilla made a high-G turn and suddenly presented a full broadside at the oncoming covenant ships. Firing on one ship at a time until it died, then switching to the next. Five cruisers FTL-jumped out of the fight as they overheated too much and had to flee. "Break off from the dreadnought , Regroup at the gas giant, do -not- let it get close." He ordered. "Engage at long range only!". They'd have to win this battle slow and steadily. No more gambles.

As his ships complied, he saw that the Covenant ships were breaking off too, the fighting was turning back into an artillery duel, while the Covenant ships were moving to the system's gas giant, he thought they might try to fight with their backs to the planet. He ordered an FTL probe to inform his frigates to stay on the other side of the gas giant. He might be able to ambush the Covenant with them, and he still had his last dreadnought hidden behind the sun.

He'd made his peace with this war being a brutal one, but the enemy ships were quite something. The Hierarchy was currently gearing up to a war footing, taking dreadnoughts out of mothballing, and laying down -ten- more, with plans for the construction of massed dreadnought-construction yards, new anti-plasma barrier defenses, and improved ablative defences. He just hoped it was enough.

"Send a frigate back to Citadel space with all our sensor logs" He ordered. "The Hierarchy needs all our combat logs. We need more dreadnoughts, and fast."

As the two fleets began settling into their long-ranged duels, the next phase of the battle could begin. Neither fleet could approach the planet without the other running interference, so it was down to the forces on the ground to decide this battle. They'd brought enough disruptor, nuclear, and anti-matter missile batteries to hopefully be able to take out the super-dreadnought. If need be, he'd have to order the ruined dreadnought to ram it from orbit, as its engines still worked. Perhaps that could destroy it.

He asked for the spirits to help General Pallonis down on the planet's surface.

-------

I thought i'd post this story here as well, see if people like it!

 

[edboy49]

Awesome intro.
Looking forward to more.

Huh, a first contact between the UNSC and Citadel in good terms, bloody finally another one.

 

[Carstein]

I was listening to polka while reading this. Quite the experience.

Cognitive dissonance aside, this is fantastic. A Mass Effect/Halo crossover that's a story, not a badly written humanity wank, and that shows more than half of Halo's universe at any given time. Good show!

 

[Mayto]

I was listening to polka while reading this. Quite the experience.

Cognitive dissonance aside, this is fantastic. A Mass Effect/Halo crossover that's a story, not a badly written humanity wank, and that shows more than half of Halo's universe at any given time. Good show!

Click to shrink...

That's the plan!

 

[Orez Lanrete]

I'm assuming none of those Covenant Ships have Energy Projectors? Cause those things have effective ranges of 100,000 kms, the longest of all Covenant weaponry.
The only ships in ME that can outrange that are the dreadnoughts with 120,000 kms. Of course, given how much slower Covenant ships are compare to ME ships, that range might be bigger now.

 

[Mayto]

I'm assuming none of those Covenant Ships have Energy Projectors? Cause those things have effective ranges of 100,000 kms, the longest of all Covenant weaponry.
The only ships in ME that can outrange that are the dreadnoughts with 120,000 kms. Of course, given how much slower Covenant ships are compare to ME ships, that range might be bigger now.

Click to shrink...

None of these ships except for the CCS battlecruiser have capital-grade energy projectors.

 

[Mayto]

Five Months before the battle of New Ghent

It started promising. Just two months ago, after years of travel, exploration ships had managed to find the partner of a dormant mass relay leading into the, leading into the Orion arm of the galaxy, a so far unexplored part of the galaxy. Shortly after arriving within the uncharted zone, they found a world, just four light-years from the Relay that had been turned into glass. It wasn't the first world the Council had discovered which had been destroyed by orbital bombardment, but this one was different.

This one had been destroyed just decades earlier. Broken dreadnought-sized ships, and beyond, had been found adrift in the void throughout he system, still leaking radiation. Upon closer inspection of the ship, the explorers had found it to be filled with corpses. Thousands of bodies, as far as the eye could see, crammed together tightly inside of a massive cargo hold. They'd died where they fell, clutching throats and the vacuum claimed them. The final body count had revealed there to be fifty thousand two hundred and nineteen bodies in the ship. The computer systems had been damaged, but they had managed to reconstruct its data core.

This repeated in neighboring systems, orbital habitats destroyed, refugee ships hunted down. A Ruthless interstellar genocide. All of this had been taking place within the last two decades going by radiological and orbital decay. The cycle repeated itself in a few systems in range of the relay. Then, twenty light years from the first world that had been destroyed, they found another.

This world had only been bombarded partially, a large southern continent had been turned into glass, while the others were relatively untouched besides pinpoint orbital strikes. It was in this world that the STG had a lucky break..

An isolated community on the more unscathed northern continent had survived the scouring of the world, although its people were nowhere to be found. During their examinations, the STG team had discovered a small school and it still had some educational materials left. Meant to help teach children, the STG had finally been able to translate the mathematics and language of the so-called "humans". WIth this, they could finally begin deciphering the data they had retrieved.

"From: Captain Donnager of the UNSC Cruiser Are you feeling lucky?
Sent: April 9th 2527

Covenant ships are approaching New Warsaw. Remnants of the battlegroup are holding the line. Move to secondary spacepart to aid in immediate evacuation."

The news had struck a nerve with the the higher echelons of Citadel government. Someone was out there destroying a whole civilization, and committing genocide against a race much more technologically inferior than themselves. All three council races preparing contingencies and making preparations for what was to come, with the burden of coordinating these actions falling to the Citadel Council.

The Council chamber was quite like usual, ever since the word from beyond the Orion Relays had reached them. Tevos sat in front of Sparatus and next to Valern, inspecting the latest scouting reports. This was a small chamber, isolated from all outside noise, and was where the Council discussed unofficially when not in official meetings.

"Valern. Any news from the STG?"

The aged Salarian shook his head. He'd been with her in the briefing room almost every day since the first explorers had returned from the other side of the Relay. He'd even had his bed moved in. "Nearly all our STG assets have been deployed beyond Orion relay. But we have found scarcely more than burned worlds and destroyed ships and habitats. What technology remains is being taken to remote outposts for analysis." Tevos nodded.

Sparatus spoke up. "Our best scientists have been able to determine that whatever destroyed them were plasma and laser weapons of incredible yields. We're currently refitting Turian ships to counter these weapons the best way we can. It's a challenge, and we might need to reach into the private sector for eezo-mining grade heat shields."

He brought up a hologram of a Turian Cruiser on the central table. "We're improving the thermal protection on our ships, and modifying our kinetic barriers to attempt to shunt aside energy projectiles. Our efforts are… adequate, but a retrofit is not as effective as a dedicated ship." He changed the hologram to a large space station, half the size of the Citadel. It was bristling with guns and missile silos.

"We're also currently researching ways to improve our odds in the event we get attacked. Some of the Turian Engineering Corps have proposed that we construct large battle-stations, fitted with weapons too large to place upon any normal Citadel ships. We're bringing over some of the Asari working on the Tirii Supercollider and testing for viability, as well as buying Quarian information on their old Haratar-class stations. We're seeing if such a project is viable.."

Tevos nodded. The cost would be astronomical. "I'll talk to the Matriarchs of the Asari republics. We'll see about the possibility of raising new taxes to finance the construction, if the suggestion proves feasible."

Vallern spoke up, his omni-tool lighting up. "I just received news from Salarian science team." He brought up a helmet camera of a Salarian agent moving through what had to be a human vessel. The ship was filled with plasma scoring, and human bodies scattered all over the decks of the ship. Hundreds of them. The sight was revolting.

He scrolled forward until the agent entered a large room, where a large broken triangular device was located. It appeared to have been subjected to explosive demolitions.

"This ship was discovered broken above a Human world, and shows signs of what we've come to expect. Skeletons, plasma scoring on walls. However, our agents reported this device's peculiar radiation signature."

"Some sort of weapon?" Sparatus asked. "A radiation bomb?"

"Unsure. The radiation signature matches research done into high-energy physics at some Salarian research institutes, mostly research into higher dimensions. Perhaps it could be their power source? Or maybe even FTL via an alternate dimension? "

Tevos thought it over. Perhaps a dimensional power-tap? The concept had been theorized, and could perhaps explain the weapon yields, but she had trouble believing it. "I'll recommend Asari scientists look into these readings, as well as the STG. ."

"The knowledge of the existence of alternate dimensions does not allow access to said dimensions. We'll need luck, or a working device to discover how this works. In any case, the STG will happily accept asari assistance in our research. We have also found some undamaged datapads and logs which we've taken back for a further language analysis. We found what we believe to be a field manual for their soldiers, which mentions names for the enemy ground forces. I'll send copies to your station after this meeting. What's interesting to me, is that the ship's navigational data and computer cores had been wiped clean. Perhaps this race is trying to hide?"

Tevos nodded and brought up the second topic of the agenda. "What about the public? Has word leaked onto the Extranet yet?"

Valern shook his head. "Not yet. But rumors of a discovery beyond the Orion relay as well of an arms buildup are starting to spread. We don't know how long we'll be able to keep things hidden."

"Just do it as long as we can. We need to avoid a panic." Sparatus said, nodding in agreement with Tevos.

Tevos now took control of the holographic display, bringing up the framework of a spacecraft. "In better news, I've received word the Asari republics are setting up dedicated Dreadnought production facilities, allowing new ships to be installed with Silaris armor and modified Cyclonic barriers although the price will be… exorbitant. We'll be making some cuts to their capabilities. Crew comforts are minimal, and they can no long skim orbits. They're purely spacebound."

"Valern. Any news from your government?"

"We've sped up our planned fleet-expansion, and will be installing Ultraviolet GARDIAN lasers on all Salarian warships before the end of the year. The Joint Turian/Salarian Stealth ship development project shows promising results."

Tevos was counting the cost in her head as they discussed. The war preparations were expensive, not unfeasible for the Citadel, but still more than they'd devoted to their militaries in centuries. She was glad the Citadel had been at peace for so long, and therefore had a sizeable warchest to draw from.

"Sparatus, what about the Hierarchy?" She asked him, to which he responded as proudly as a Turian could. "The Primarch is prepared to draft the entire Turian race if it proves necessary. We've also begun breaking out the old planet-killers from the Rebellion. High yield fusion, and fission bombs." There was a pause. "We are also restarting researching the feasibility of antimatter warheads for planetary bombardment purposes."

"The Primarch has ordered that the first retrofitted ships will be deployed through the Orion relay soon to begin looking for Human colonies, or isolated Covenant ships. One fleet every week. We hope to find these "Humans" as soon as possible, and gather intelligence on the Covenant and their technology. We'll try to avoid confrontation, but if we find a world under assault the admirals have permission to engage so they can launch an evacuation. The remainder of the Turian fleet not tied up in peacekeeping will be stationed at the Relay."

Normally Tevos would have been angry at the prospect of the Turians engaging an unknown race, but the sights of the massacres painted a bleak picture of what this Covenant was like. They had to be ready, and forming an alliance with the humans could be vital in defeating the Covenant.

"We'll have a newly colonized world prepared to house human war refugees. They could give us vital intel on what is going on. Any news on their biology?"

Valern spoke up. "Analysis and dissection of bodies revealed Levo-Amino acids, with gravity and atmospheric preference roughly similar to most species." She could see Sparatus look relieved at the revelation. Dextro worlds were rare, and hoarded jealously by the Turians.

"We'll come back together at the next official meeting with everything we've talked about planned out. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

As Tevos walked out of the room, she thought back on how many new initiatives and research programmes they were throwing billions of credits at. Antimatter warheads, Citadel-sized defensive stations, Full fleet refits, research into alternate dimensions. She knew for sure that each of their races was hiding their own secret projects. Her own species was exploring creating a crops of gene-modded and augmented Asari "supercommandos", while the Salarians and Turians undoubtedly had their own secret projects.

She headed out to a private terminal. She had a few calls to make.

 

[Carstein]

Well, this is another first. Two, actually. The Council as Space!America and the Council as heroes. The hype is building, and I doubt it'll stop until we hit the end of this thing.

 

[Mayto]

Well, this is another first. Two, actually. The Council as Space!America and the Council as heroes. The hype is building, and I doubt it'll stop until we hit the end of this thing.

Click to shrink...

Not sure about America, but heroes sure

 

[Carstein]

Not sure about America, but heroes sure

Click to shrink...

America in the "gearing up for WWII" sense, rather than any other era.

 

[edboy49]

Good chapter.
Nice to see that the Citadel is gearing up for war.

Question, among the data the Citadel found, did they find the human history files?

 

[Mayto]

Good chapter.
Nice to see that the Citadel is gearing up for war.

Question, among the data the Citadel found, did they find the human history files?

Click to shrink...

Rudimentary information, not much in depth.

 

[edboy49]

Rudimentary information, not much in depth.

Click to shrink...

So that means they don't know we use A.I.s yet?

Actually question, don't know in canon but in your universe, the knowledge on how UNSC Smart A.I.s are made (not the full technical details but the basic explanation) is it public knowledge or military knowledge?

 

[Mayto]

General Pallonis and his command staff stepped out of his dropship.

They'd set down inside the large complex that the Humans were using as their command and control post. It A large compound with thick walls, towers, and built in such a way each building could function as an individual fortress. He could see what he assumed to be the Barracks, mess hall, supply dumps, vehicle pool, vtol-pad, and a massive fortified building that he assumed to be their base.

As he and his command staff walked through the compound, the Human soldiers eyed him somewhat warily, but quickly returned back to their preparations. They were preparing sandbags, loading ammunition, patching both wounds and armor, and telling stories.

He didn't blame them for their xenophobia after what had happened, but it couldn't get in the way of what had to be done. This was the first "official" engagement between the Citadel and the Covenant, and it would reflect badly on the Hierarchy if they failed. He hoped his translation software wouldnt mess things up.

He'd read everything the STG had been able to gather. Family structures, a sense of authority in the military, and a high focus on attempted evacuations of civilians. The Humans struck him as an empathic species with how worlds had been found glassed, with its last defenders found defending what looked to be evacuation sites. A good way to die, he thought to himself.

He could see that the Turian Engineering corps was already hard at work fortifying the base; they were installing barrier generators, installing defensive emplacements, setting up Turian prefabs, and repairing the human ones. He smiled as he saw a Human holding a metal plate in place while the Turian welded it with his omni-tools. He took note of the ones at work and marked the better workers out for promotion.

All around him the Turian soldiers were in a flurry of movement. Dropships were not just landing here, but across the planet, from isolated communities to smaller cities not yet attacked by the Covenant. His soldiers were reporting across the battlenet of the slaughters they'd witnessed. The first evacuation ships were already underway.

The soldiers seemed eager for this fight. They had seen the briefings, the STG footage of the horrors of the Covenant. This would be a righteous war, one that would define a new generation of Turian heroes, and the soldiers here knew it.

There was some grumbling and the occasional posturing between these Humans and the Turians, mostly the humans not wanting to eat the Levo-Amino nutrient paste the Asari had provided for this expedition. Some of the more experiment humans were trying it though, with their comrades egging them on.

He passed by a freshly assembled hospital prefab where doctors were cutting Turians out of molten armor, and preparing to ship the wounded back out. Some were lucky, and merely treatments against the heat, before they were given new armor.

He was impressed by how stoic the Human Marines were. Their command structure had almost completely been dismantled, they were low on vehicles, running out of ammunition, and looked starving, but still they stood ready to fight. It reminded him of documentaries of the Krogan Rebellions, of Turian soldiers fighting on worlds that had been the victims of Asteroid strikes.

He put those thoughts aside and headed into the large building he'd been informed was the headquarters of the human resistance. He turned to his general staff. "Begin setting up my personal command post in the prefab, I will meet with the Human leaders and prepare our next course of action. They're scared, so I don't want to bring two dozen Turians into their headquarters."

A pair of humans in black suits let him in at the doorway, their faces what he assumed to be grim, but jovial. They let him and his guards inside.

The first thing Pallonis noticed were all the refugees, most of them children and the elderly. He passed through a door that opened before him, and entered a large dimly lit chamber with a massive holographic table at the center of it. There were signs of jury-rigged computers and equipment around the room, and there were humans sitting at portable computer stations that looked like they were transported as suitcase. At the table he could see two humans waiting for him. The first was what had to be a UNSC Marine Corps Major according to the STG briefing. It was an older middle-aged human with dark hair, grizzled features, and eyes that seemed to stare off into the distance. Next to him was what at first he'd thought was a Civilian, until he saw the badge on his tunic. If he'd read the STG briefings correctly, this had to be an ONI "spook". It was an unremarkable man with brown hair and beady eyes, but a strong jawline. He looked scrutinously at everyone and everything in the room.

The Major stood up and gave Pallonis a quick curt salute, which Pallonis returned.

"My name is General Adric Pallonis of the Turian Hierarchy. I am here to initiate contact with the United Earth Government by command of the Primarch, and assist you against the Covenant by whatever means possible."

The Major spoke up. "UNSC Marine Corps Major Leonard Ross, New Ghent Garrison. And this is Lieutenant Commander Rickard of the Office of Naval Intelligence. We wish we'd made contact with your species under better circumstances, but thank you in the name of the United Earth Government."

"Duly noted." Adric nodded, as the STG report had informed him was the correct response in this situation. "I shall be brief with you, formal introductions can come after we've gotten you off this world, or the Covenant invasion has been defeated." Pallonis took his omni-tool and uploaded an image onto the holographic projector, showing an overhead view of the battlefront.

"We are landing forces across your planet to prepare to evacuate your into Citadel Space. I will be stationing my Engineering corps and a small garrison here to aid you in the evacuation of the civilians, while we engage the Covenant give you time to withdraw. Do you still have transport ships, or will we need to provide them?"

Rickard leant forward, pressing a button on the holographic display. "The colonial administration hid a few freighters in the mountains to the south of the colony for this exact purpose. I don't know if we can trust you, I hope we can, but we're dead anyways unless you're trustworthy."

The Major sighed, and explained for the ONI agent. "The roads have been mined by the covenant, and our refugee convoys get hunted down by covenant airpower. My forces are spread too thin, I cant hold off the Covenant, and evacuate the civilians at the same time."

Pallonis nodded. This could make things difficult. "I'll deploy interdiction air-patrols and have shuttles put at your disposal for the evacuation." He activated his omni-tool and sent out the commands. "We'll be bringing in a shipment of Levo-Amino nutrient paste on the first available transport ship."

This seemed to put the two humans at unease, but the spook raised a wary eyebrow. "Why are you so eager to help us, or put yourself in harm's way for us?"

Pallonis didn't know what to say at first, to a Turian, his current actions were only natural. He tried to put it the best way he could. "We have known of your species for several months now, when our scouts began discovering the remnants of your worlds."

"Eventually we managed to piece together information from drifting freighters, partially wiped computers, and ruins on partially destroyed worlds. We have been trying to contact the UNSC for some time now. When I saw the Covenant invade this world, I immediately ordered an intervention to save both your people, attack the Covenant for their crimes, and to initiate contact with your species."

The ONI agent seemed unnerved at the mention of how the STG had put together information on the UNSC. "So this is a matter of religion? Or of Ethics? Don't take this the wrong way, I couldn't be more grateful, but I am confused by your eagerness to help a species not your own." It saddened Pallonis inside to see this kind of distrust upon good deeds. It felt wrong in light of his upbringing.

Pallonis went silent as he thought of the right words. "The Covenant go against everything the Turians stand for. Law. Order. Peace. They are a threat to all civilized races in the galaxy." He slammed his claw into his open palm. "Total war is the only acceptable response to their actions. It is our duty to our family, our state, and our galaxy to destroy their threat, now and forever. Does that satisfy your question?"

There were sympathetic nods, and even a few smiles around the room. The Major pressed some buttons on the Holographic table, turning it off. "I will put my more broken and disorganized forces to work, guarding the evacuation of the capital, and put my But that won't matter if the Covenant fleet returns to the planet."

Pallonis nodded. "As I speak, Admiral Karandis is leading our fleet in drawing off the Covenant in orbit, He has drawn most ships away from this planet, except for the flagship, which remains stationary above the surface." He used his omni-tool to reactivate the table, and changed the hologram to show an overview of the solar system.

"We have so far identified, A single super-dreadnought sized ship, two dreadnought-sized ships, and two packs of frigate-sized ships." He pointed at the designated markers. He could see that one of the Covenant Dreadnoughts had been taken down, although his fleet had started to take losses.

The Major observed the space battle in silence, while Rickard nodded. "Yes. A CCS-Class Battlecruiser, two SDC-class Corvettes, and eight DAS-class Stormcutters. They jumped directly into near-orbit but didn't immediately open fire. I believe its a safe guess they didn't know we were here, and instead arrived for something else."

Major Ross muttered. "Must be some fucking ruins again. Pardon my french." but shut up when Rickard gave him a look that immediately shut him up.

Interesting, their military fears this "Office of Naval Intelligence" A secret police perhaps? He made a note to include this in the formal report to the STG. He took his omni-tool and uploaded the new designations to the Turian battlenet. He put his concerns over these being "corvettes" out of his mind for now. He didn't know what a Corvette meant to humans, for all he knew, to them, it meant a dreadnought-sized ship.

He hoped so, at least.

The ONI agent spoke up again. "The Covenant has been known to wage ground wars when they've won the orbitals, but only if they want something on the surface."

The Major spoke up again, pointing at the hologram of the CCS-class Battlecruiser, and pointing at a torn part of the hull. "The Battlecruiser took damage during the initial assault, that purple beam is its gravity lift, its ferrying troops and supplies to the surface. Rickard, show him the Surveillance drone footage." The spook complied and changed the image to a camera view of the Battlecruiser hovering ominously, far outside the city limits, a bright blue beam connecting to the surface.

Pallonis saw several large large gashes on its hull, the surface seemed molten in places, and there were large craters in the hull. "Your work, I take it?"

The Major nodded. "We've been hiding nuclear missiles around the planet for when this day came. We launched them at close range and managed to drop the bastard's shields, then hit it with the mass-drivers we normally use to transport cargo into space. We didn't take it down, but its not bombarded us yet, which I hope means we disabled its glassing beam. We've also seens it shields behave erratically. Which makes us think we clipped its wings."

The Major continued. "We have plenty of nukes left, we used to export fissionable materials to the UNSC after all, but we don't have anything to deliver our payloads."

"Nuclear weapons are effective against these ships?" Pallonis asked, eager to know if they'd found a weakness. Pallonis would include that in his report, recommend that all Citadel ships begin carrying nuclear ordinance.

"Very." Rickard said. "They've been one of our most effective weapons since this war began. Covenant shields are susceptible to extreme heat, and hitting it in multiple places at the same time. It seems to drain them faster."

Pallonis slowly nodded, an idea forming in his mind. "I was hoping to evacuate as many people as I could, but I'm starting to think we might have an opportunity to try to capture that ship. I can send shuttles to board it."

"You want to attack a CCS-Battlecruiser -by ground-." The Major asked plainly, like he didn't believe him, which he probably did. "We've never boarded a Covenant ship successfully… as far as I know." He said, eyeing the ONI agent who did not respond to the provocation.

"Perhaps my engineers can create a delivery mechanism for your nuclear weapons? Perhaps placing them in empty shuttles and ramming the ship could work."

Rickard held up a hand. "I believe I have something better." He said, straightening up and putting his hands behind his back to improve his posture. "The Office of Naval intelligence has a Prowler in this system. They can deploy Shivas on the battlecruiser and drop its shields. We can then provide your forces with the locations of its shield emitters. Take those out, and we can board it.."

Pallonis nodded at him.

The Major looked at him lividly. "A Prowler! Since when has that thing been in his system!?"

"Major. The prospect of capturing a Covenant ship is worth losing one of the few Prowlers left this far into the outer colonies. Without that, it would have reported our destruction to the UNSC, and the loss of our supplies of Fissionable materials, and Titanium deposits."

Pallonis nodded at the logic. He'd heard of the Turian Hierarchy experimenting with their own cloaked ships. It seems the Humans had them already. Perhaps they could be convinced to share this technology?

Pallonis spoke up before the conversation between the two humans escalated. Tensions were running high, but they seemed fueled by hunger, dehydration, and stress. "The armor of my men is rated for brief deployment in radiological environments. We can wait outside the blast radius and attack the moment the heat wave has died down. Then I will order an aerial assault on the vessel, while my forces and what remains of the UNSC armored forces can attack the main Covenant army on the ground and push on to the Gravity Lift. Possibly even use it to supplement our boarding action."

"But first we must take care of the Covenan Army in the city. Do you have any recommendations? You faced them before."

The Major looked at the holographic map. "I've got a few armored formations left, and enough artillery to count for something. The Covenant army is currently marching into this city to meet you, driven by heir fanatical faith in their gods, and their rabid desire to kill our civilians. We can use this against them."

Pallonis nodded satisfactorily. He liked these humans. Resourceful, tenacious, and an undercurrent of vicious cunning. "Go on."

The Major began drawing on the holographic map. "It's a simple maneuver, but effective. Your forces engage the Covenant inside the city and engage them to prevent them from pulling out. Meanwhile my armored forces will move around the city from the east, while your armored forces move around the right. Then we meet up and encircle the city."

"Their forces from the Battlecruiser will attempt to break the encirclement, while the forces inside the city not engaged with the Turians will try to break out. Our armor will be attacked on both sides. We'd still need to clear the city block by block."

"We'll just nuke the heaviest centers of resistance. I can have some of my troops deploy tactical nuclear warheads in the sewers, and set them off beneath their forces."

Pallonis couldn't hide his surprise at how casually the Human talked about deploying weapons of mass destruction on his own homes. "You'd deploy nuclear ordinance upon your own homes?"

"Won't be the first time we've had to do that." The Major said somberly.

Pallonis didnt know what to say, and put that aside for now. "I see... Well, that makes it easier for us as well, we dont need to worry about destroying your homes. We'll keep the nuclear deployment a secret until the last possible moment. I assume they are at least somewhat "clean" nuclear weapons?" The humans werent a part of Citadel Space. The Turians would -technically- not be breaking the Citadel Conventions if they werent the ones setting nukes off.

The major nodded. "Clean enough, especially when deployed underground."

Rickard spoke up. "I'll have the Prowler move in to strike for when the opportunity presents itself. Give the signal, and we'll do douse the Cruiser in Oppenheimer's light."

Pallonis nodded. "I'll have one of my men provide you with Omni-Tools. Hand them out to your commanders. We can use them to remain in contact and coordinate the armored offensive. Our communication codes are in it." He sent a command over his omni-tool to the Commander of the Turian Engineering Corps. "I'll have my engineers give your officers a crash course in using them."

The Major nodded. "Good. God help us, we might actually win a battle for once."

 

[Carstein]

My prediction has held true. The hype has only grown. I'll probably stop commenting after this, unless something notable or discussion worthy happens, because I have only so many ways to say "this is awesome".

 

[Mayto]

I'm posting this on SB, SV, and FF.net. If you wanna join discussion, try SB. There's a lot more fun talk going on there. But I Will keep updating here.

 

[Mayto]

Gedrus examined his Phaeston rifle one last time before the attack began. His ammo block was fresh, his omni-tool was up to date, his barrier setting were configured for anti-plasma duty, his ablative armor coating had been enhanced. Disruptor? check. Armor-piercing? Check. Rad-rounds? Check. Cryo? Check. Incendiary? Check. He'd counted his grenades, and checked every function on his omni-tool. After the "Elites" had cut into them with their Swords, Omni-Blade programs were quickly distributed to all Turian soldiers. His Armax Arsenal Avalanche shotgun was ready. He'd had to get a replacement pistol after he gave his previous one to a human.

He climbed into the C77 Tyrus IFV that his squad had been assigned to. He hadn't bothered to get to know his new Squad members yet. Not until their first battle was over. Nearly his entire previous squad had been killed or incapacitated by the Covenant during their orbital drop.

Most of them weren't going to make it out of this battle alive, but none of them complained. This was their duty to their people. Victory would be won in Turian blood, as it always was. The devastation around them made it clear to them that the Covenant had to be stopped, at any cost. He'd put his affairs in order before mustering out. He was prepared to die for the Hierarchy. "Die for the cause." As the anthem went.

The squad leader, Sergeant Nialla, stood up inside the C77, her smaller frame probably making the trip a lot more comfortable than his. She activated her omni-tool and began transmitting a message from General Pallonis.

"Soldiers of the Hierarchy! I expect all of you to serve with dignity and valor as we bring the fight to the Covenant. "New Ghent" may not be our home, but it is in our galaxy, and therefore its the duty of the Hierarchy to defend it. Our task is to break the Covenant army on the surface of this world, and drive them into the abyss they crawled out of. Be prepared for the deployment of high energy burst weaponry."

There were mutterings in the IFV about using atomics on a Garden World, but nobody spoke up. They trusted the general.

"This will be an urban war, and a bloody one at that. The first wave will be honored for their sacrifice. Die for the cause."

Gedrus inwardly wished the General was better at speeches. But it worked.

Nialla spoke up. "Deployment in one minute. I've just received our orders. We are to engage in standard building-clearing operations against the Covenant and drive them from this city. Expect heavy resistance and air support. The flyboys are flying interdiction and close air support missions, while our artillery batteries are ready to fire on command." the warning lights went red. It was time to deploy. "VI drone scans will provide you with a 3d map of the fighting area. If we can't take a building due to resistance, call in a missile strike. If that doesn't work, we take it the old fashioned way"

"Incoming mortar!" The driver yelled. The IFV swerved to the side so fast they were nearly thrown out of their seat. The mass accelerator cannon and missile-racks atop the vehicle opened fire.

"Deploy, deploy!" The ramps dropped and they charged out. Immediately they came under fire from spikes of green energy that took out Arturis's skull the moment he stepped out of the Tyrus.

His fellow soldiers ignored him, they'd seen his lifesigns flatline.

Gedrus get into position behind the wreck of a human vehicle, laying down suppressive fire at the window the shots came from. With the window suppressed, his squad could move up.

Tollara prepared their squad's rocket launcher and fired it at the side of the building, bringing it down in a thunderous explosion. With the threat dealt with, Gedrus advanced to a HUD marker designated by Nialla. Grunts began popping out of cover in ruined storefronts, firing their plasma pistols and those weird purple crystals. He had a volley of crystals bounce of his barrier,, and a plasma bolt grace his armor. He and his squad opened fire immediately, punching through the flimsy wood used as cover. Upon further examination, it looked to be some kind of diner, or restauarant. Covenant snipers were firing from the building, and laying down suppressive fire with heavy plasma turrets that shredded an advancing Turian fireteam in seconds.

The city was lighting up in the early gloom of morning, plasma and mass accelerators flying overhead, Covenant dropships and Turian shuttles placing forces at strategic locations, while both armies forces advanced through the city.

"Enemy strongpoint. Designating!" Nialla yelled, and a marker appeared over their hud, designating it as danger close. Seconds later, a missile shot out of their Tyruss's missile racks and wreathed the building in flames. Burning Covenant troops ran out, and were gunned down mercilessly by the UNSC.

The Tyrus moved up behind their squad as they advanced, shooting any survivors that popped up out of the ruined building. The city was filled with Turian infantry formations, each of them moving as a team from building to building, clearing those in their path. IFF signifiers were sent back and forth, while communication passed between squad leaders. Drones mounting combat VI's flew overhead to map the enemy positions and update the real-time maps each Turian soldier had access to.

Streams of missiles flew overhead from the Turian lines, raining throughout the city, hitting tanks, troop clusters, and any buildings offering too much resistance to be cleared easily. The distinct sound of heavy shells hitting the ground rang in the distance. He didnt recall the Turians bringing barreled artillery, so he assumed it to be human.

As Gedrus was covering behind a ruined Covenant… weapon storage crate, charging station? He didn't know what they were, but they were large purple cylinders filled with Covenant weapons. He marked them on the tactical map for retrieval. They continued to advance, going from room to room in search of Covenant forces.

"Ambush!" Tollara yelled and fired a missile at a wall. The wall exploded in an explosion of concrete, and the gore of the enemies hiding behind it. His fireteam took up positions and began laying down covering fire as they prepared to cross a street. The other fireteam advanced, spriting to the other side.

Suddenly a beam of white energy punched through Gellonis's chest, killing him instantly.

The Covenant resistance was intensifying. He could see Elites leading Grunts out into the carnage of the street battles, catching the Turian's attentions while Jackal sniper fire intensified from all directions. His squad was pinned down behind rubble while their IFV opened fire on a squad of Elites that were advancing on their position. Its armor had seen better days, and its coaxial and missile racks had melted to non-existence.

"Damn humans build too sturdily!" Tollara yelled angrily as her missile failed to take out the side of a building she'd shot at. A burst of plasma hit her and Terrolis in the side. Terrolis fell into cover, his armor smoking and melting around the top of his chest armor, while Tollara had taken a round to her leg.

"Outer layer held." Terrolis confirmed across the squad channel.

"Plasma took off my leg, Tollara said in the squad channel." Gedrus moved over to see if he could provide first aid. The plasma had passed through the barrier, hit her kneecap, and melted through her knee. Only a small bit of the armor that remained stopped the whole limb from falling off.

Plasma began raining from the air. Huge bolts of blue plasma that carved melted through buildings, and made the Turians pay a murderous price for their advance. Whole squads pinned down by Covenant fire disappeared from the battlenet at a time. In response the Turians loosened their formation further, reducing some of the casualties taken.

Nialla came over to take a look. "Gedrus, carry her to the Tyrus and swap her with Nallex in the turret!" Tollara nodded and awkwardly hopped her way to the Tyrus with Gedrus supporting her. She quickly climbed into the turret, with Nallex helping her in, then grabbing his rifle and stepping out of the Tyrrus.

Then a barrage of green bolts hit the Tyrrus and ripped through the side, exploded inside, and killed Nallex, the driver, and Tollara instantly. There wasn't even enough left to bury. He picked up the Rocket launcher she'd dropped, and its ammunition. Two shots left. He'd use them sparringly.

Gedrus did not let his anger cloud his judgement. He whirled around and took aim at the advancing covenant. Laying down a stream of Incendiary rounds into the oncoming grunts, while Nialla gunned down the Elite who'd destroyed the Tyruss using disruptor rounds to break down the shields. The moment the shields of the Elite failed, Gedrus switched his fire and hit his chest with a burst of Rad-rounds. The Elite roared in pain and fell down.

Small fast-moving covenant fighters began to fly across the streets, strafing them with plasma bolts and some kind of explosive green plasma bombs.

"Get to cover!" Someone yelled, and fired his rocket-launcher at it. As he did so, the remaining Tyruss's began shooting them out of the air with their own missiles. Quickly learning of their mistake, the small fighters began to shoot the Tyruss's. One took a hit by a green bolt and looked as if it had melted in half.

Nialla looked ready to give the order to retreat, when another squad of Turians approached. Their armored covered in minor plasma burns, with one Turian having a vicious looking scar on his head which had blinded one eye.

The other lifesigns of his squad were quickly going down from intense Covenant sniper fire. He mourned each loss, but did not let them get in the way of his duty. They were in this to the end.

There was no opportunity to pull back squads, instead squad leaders and the battlenet automatically formed fractured groups of soldiers back up into full squads, as the Turian advance continued. They were taking losses, but they were still winning this. He looked up to see the Turian air-interdiction patrols begin hunting down the small Covenant fighters.

It was a glorious thing. Streams of missiles flying overhead, or curving down to hit targets on the ground.

He could see three Tyruss MBT's racing across a main road, firing their cannons and missiles as fast as they could. One being hit by four homing orbs of plasma that melted off half its armor and showed the internals. He could see the Turian driver pull out his service pistol and begin firing through the hole, until a green bolt hit him in the head.

The newly arrived soldiers took cover behind the ruined Tyruss and joined their two squad channels together with a single omni-tool command. "Our squad leader is dead. Elite cut him in half and killed half of us with grenades before we took it down."

Nialla nodded, then turned to look at a large reinforced skyscraped out of which they could see heavy Covenant fire. Those deadly green beams. Command needs that skyscraper cleared. We're going up the service stairs, while fifth platoon airdrops on its roof, and ninth platoon assaults the front gates. We'll be trying to clear it with airstrikes through the open windows, but limited only. Commands wants that building secured for our own snipers. The newly reformed squad quickly advanced through the rubble and towards a small side entrance. They switched to their shotguns and loaded Disruptor rounds. This was going to get nasty. He quickly checked if his omni-blade still functioned. It did.

Gedrus still hadn't read the names of his new squadmates. He decided he could make friends with the ones who survived.

"Terralis. Take the lead." Niadra commanded. He complied and threw a grenade into the building, then charged inside, with Gedrus and a new soldier, Gallis, following closely behind. Terralis unloaded into the chest of a Jackal, only to be tackled by an Elite in white armor, and instantly dispatched with a headshot from a plasma rifle. Gedrus and Gallis opened fire, hitting the Elite's shields, but not breaking them down before it shifted its aim and shot Galis in the throat with a precision burst. The last shot Gallis got off shattered the shields, and Gedrus's final shot before the heat-sink overloaded hit it in the chest. The Elite roared, his chest burning and bleeding, and took a handle from his belt. An unlit energy blade.

Acting on instinct, Gedrus activated his omni-blade and closed the distance quickly, stabbing the Elite in the chest. This did little to phase the Elite, as he threw him aside and into a wall, igniting the energy sword, and leaping forward, only for Nialla to hit him with a spread of cryo-ammo. The Elite froze mid-jump and broke in half at the waist where the shot had hit him when a second shot hit him. Its energy blade embedded in the wall so close to Gedrus's head, he could swear he felt the heat. He quickly took the blade from the Elite's hand and found the button to turn it off. It could be useful.

The Turians continued to advance, firing Shotguns and Phaestons as they moved up the stairs, and began clearing the building room by room, just like they had been trained. Incoming IFF-tags confirmed the presence of other Turian squads advancing through the building, the Turian battlenet's tactical VI's coordinating their advance.

On the fifth floor, Gedrus kicked open a door and saw a Jackal firing down into the streets below, a quick burst of fire from his rifle tore its head apart. He looked out the window and saw a determined Covenant advance heading through the street. Plasma-mortar tanks, full elite Squads, Jackal Phalanxes, and a -lot- of grunts.

Dropships were passing overhead. U shaped dropships with some kind of energy field in between the arms, and large bulbous dropships, both firing plasma-cannons on Turians he couldn't see from the window. A look on the live feed of the battle confirmed they were heading to stop an armored spearhead. He opened the digital copy UNSC field manual the STG had recovered with a few quick commands of his omni-tool, searching for their names.

"Enemy air-transport spotted. Spirits and Phantom dropships supporting a Covenant advance." He notified over the radio.

Nialla immediately responded. "Relayed. Air support moving to intercept. Take up positions at the windows and prepare to open fire. Deploy heavy weaponry."

He took Tollara's rocket and shot a rocket into the turret of a plasma-tank, blowing it off of the tank. He smiled at that.

One of the new squad members, a "Hadrian" according to the squad UI took aim with a M-490 Blackstorm Singularity projector and shot down the middle Phantom. The artificial singularity passing through the ship, crushing it like a can, then returning to normality in an explosion of radiation and heat. Then the squad opened fire, firing down into the advance, enacting a heavy toll.

The soldier next to Gedrus took a burst of plasma to his chest and stumbled, before a stream of pink needles embedded in the molten slag of the armor, and detonated, ripping open his chest and killing him instantly.

Gedrus readied a grenade when Nialla yelled. "Elites heading up the stairwell. Gedrus, Terrolis, block them!" He sent a confirmation ping across the squad network and moved into position at the top of the stairwell. He took most of his disc grenades and set it to remote detonation, and throw a few down the stairwell into strategic locations in the room.

There was nothing down the stairs, nothing he could see at least, when one of his mines gave off a proximity alert. He triggered the grenade immediately in an explosion of fire, revealing a shimmer that caught alight, upon seeing the revelation, he also detonated all the other grenades. The spec ops Elite roared as the explosions ripped him apart.

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of massed footsteps and muffled breathing. "Grunt mine-clearers." Gedrus quickly realized, regretting his decision to detonate the grenades early.

"Massed assault on the stairwell. Terrolis, rig it to blow." He told his comrade firmly. Terrolis took out his grenades and began setting them on the stairs. He had just enough time to set the final grenade when a Grunt appeared around a corner.

Gedrus shot it in the head, then switched to Incendiary and took aim down the corridor. He grit his teeth and shot the next who came around the corner. Then the next. Then another. He fired until the emergency venting activated. He cursed, and tried to override, but didn't have enough time.

The next grunt came around the corner with an overcharged pistol and shot Terrolis as he'd made the top of the stairs. The shot impacted the barrier, overloaded it, and cut the Turian in half. Gedrus dropped the Phaeston and switched to his Shotgun, the rad-rounds turning the grunt into green sludge.

One of the new squad members, Kellana, was dragging Terrolis's still alive upper-body away. The wound had cauterized. Perhaps they could cybernetically rebuild him? He hoped so. Terrolis was a good shot.

When the shotgun overheated, he ducked out of the line of sight, taking his fallen comrade's Phaeston and opening fire with it. Jackals were moving up now, advancing behind their energy shields, he switched to Disruptor. Those didnt go through the shields, but if they went past the shields, they could short them out. Sometimes.

A normal plasma bolt took him in the chest. Knocking him back into the wall, his armor's alarms went off. No catastrophic internal damage, but he'd lost a shield emitter. He activated his omni-tool and deployed a layer of rapidly hardening omni-gel onto damage.

The grenades Terrolis planted exploded, taking out the stairs.

"Sergeant. Stairs secured." He asked as he get back onto his feet. The rubble looked solid, and he went back into position at the window, firing suppressive fire into the Covenant positions.

A heavy Turian formation advanced on the street below the window, spearheaded by Tyruss MBT's. Their main cannons firing as fast as they could, while the coaxial Mass Accelerators blazed away at Covenant positions. Each of the tanks was pockmarked by plasma impacts, and their missile racks were almost uniformly spent. One didnt have a working coaxial anymore due to repeated plasma impacts warping the barrel.

One of the tank was cored by a stream of green energy, that then went to cut a second Tyruss in half. Scores of Turians died when the beams swept across them, burning them to piles of burnt slag and meat. The screams of the wounded and dying were loud enough to hear from several stories up.

"What the hell was that!?" He yelled, his usual calm broken by the curse.

Two… creatures in heavy armor were trudging through the street, some kind of heavy thick blue armor, with a shield in one arm, and a heavy cannon in the other. There was an ominous sound as the creatures charged up their weapons. Their appearance emboldened the Covenant, who continued their attack. Blue plasmabolts and those green projectiles reaping a heavy toll on the Turian soldiers as they tried to advance from cover to cover.

The remaining Turian MBT's turned their cannons to face the new threat, but not before a second volley was fired. Another two tanks died, as well as scores more men due to the beams being swept across their lines. Dozens upon dozens of Turians lay dead on the field, and the armored advance had been turned into slag. He saw a surviving Turian fire a singularity projector, at one of the creatures, which had the horrific effect of ripping its orange organs right out of its body.

Hadrian saw this and aimed his own weapon at the remaining creature and fires. He had just enough time to see it impact before a massive bolt of blue plasma incinterated him, three other soldiers, and melted a massive hole in the building that went several meters in.

The battlenet painted a bleak picture. Move Covenant forces were moving in across the city, moving forces to counter each Turian advance to counteract any encirclements. An army in Citadel space would have disengaged and looked for a better opportunity to attack, but the Covenant were fanatical. It was almost like they were in it for the fight itself. The fight and the soft targets the Turians were protecting. He grit his teeth and took the time to discharge the heat of his weapons. The fighting was only going to get heavier from here on out.

 

[Orez Lanrete]

One of the new squad members, a "Hadrian" according to the squad UI took aim with a M-490 Blackstorm Singularity projector and shot down the middle Phantom. The artificial singularity passing through the ship, crushing it like a can, then returning to normality in an explosion of radiation and heat.

Click to shrink...

I'm assuming you retconned the origin of that weapon considering back in canon that was invented by the System Alliance.

 

[Mayto]

I'm assuming you retconned the origin of that weapon considering back in canon that was invented by the System Alliance.

Click to shrink...

A few weapon origins will be retconned.

 

[Mayto]

Because the story isn't getting many comments here, I'm gonna move my story fully to Spacebattles.com for the time being. Just uploaded chapter six there.