Chapter 7: Retaliation

29 May, 2398; 1058 Hours

London, Earth

Ansel sat inside her office, named the The Lookout for its position on the top floor of the Imperium, a massive skyscraper that stretches high into the atmosphere and acts as the home for the National Diet. The Lookout itself was the home of the Premier. Between The Lookout and Luna CENTCOM Ansel must have spent the majority of her adult life, mulling over emergency briefings and various power plays in the Diet below her.

Right now, though, she was waiting for perhaps the most reclusive person in the Empire: The Director of Cerberus. She glanced at the clock: 11:00 AM.

"Right on time", Ansel thought as she was approached by the infamous Jack Harper. Instinctively, the Premier stood up and held out her hand, which the Director deftly grabbed and shook.

"Director Harper," Ansel started respectfully, "what is the status of the alien 'codex'?"

"We have finished decoding one of the alien languages and several cyberwarfare AIs are in the process of adapting the code to our systems." Harper replied.

"Languages?" Ansel reiterated, "Plural?"

"Yes. From what information we have currently garnered from the Codex, we have determined that we are dealing with a coalition of alien races called the Citadel Alliance. The one that attacked us is known as the Turians."

"A coalition... this just keeps getting better, we had enough trouble with the Ethernians alone. We can't handle this the same way, can we? From General Williams' report, these Turians" Ansel spoke the word unsurely, the alien word foreign to her tongue, "have already proven more adept than those savages. What is your take on this, Jack?"

"We need to deliver a counterstrike fast and hard. Cripple their ship production capabilities before they have a chance to respond." The Director replied, resolutely.

Ansel sighed, "I agree... How powerful is this Citadel?"

"They have several advantages over us, but we have several over them too. Based on combat data from Shanxi, pound to pound our ships outmatch Citadel ships by leagues, but on the ground our soldiers are horribly outmatched."

Ansel raised an eyebrow, "Why is that?"

"The Turian infantry appears to have some form of personal shielding. The kind of thing that our techs are only just starting to miniaturise to the personnel level. We will probably have personal shielding built into the S7 MK III Armour within a year or two, but it will take decades before we can hand it out to regulars. There is also the matter of their weapons, it seems that they use an extremely small version of their 'Mass Relay' devices to propel a tiny projectile, typically no more than a gramme, at several thousand feet per second. Much faster than our coilgun slugs." Harper informed regretfully.

"I see. And if we are to counter-attack we will have to launch planetary invasions which will incur a high casualty rate?" Ansel queried.

"Not necessarily." He replied.

"What are you suggesting?" Ansel asked, tilting her head slightly.

"We don't need to invade them. We just need to render them... incapable of making meaningful resistance."

Ansel thought that over for a second, "So we nuke them into submission?"

"Not specifically nuke, but that is the general idea, yes." Harper confirmed.

"...consider your suggestion approved. Inform Luna that I am authorising the employment of wartime orbital bombardment protocols. Is there anything else, Jack?"

"Yes, our intelligence indicates that the Ethernian Civil War is nearing its end. The Republican movement seems to be winning. They may start trying to breach the quarantine soon."

The Premier massaged her temple tiredly, "Do what you have to do to make sure that that doesn't happen. And tell Commodore Vicit, Commander Hackett, and General Williams that they are to report to Luna CENTCOM immediately."

Harper nodded, "Have fun with the politicians, Zi." He said, a slight smirk playing on his lips leading Ansel to groan. She was still a soldier, not a politician, at heart.

"Shut up, Jack."

XXXXX

3 June, 2398; 1200 Hours

Citadel, Serpent Nebula

Councillor Valern read over the report from the Salarian STG for a third time, making sure to memorise every detail before activating a program on his omnitool, the scrubbing program erasing every trace of the report. If someone looked close enough, they would be able to tell it was scrubbed, but what then? That information would be useless. A Salarian civil official scrubbed a report for the thousandth time. It was hardly a rare occurrence.

Valern raised his eyes towards the door of his office as the Asari councillor, Tevos, walked in. Without missing a beat Valern started rattling off, "Ah, Tevos, good. Concerning report from STG monitoring stations, Turian fleets mobilising towards the Attican Traverse."

The Asari blinked in confusion for a few seconds before her eyes widened, "The Turians are mobilising? What in the Goddess' name could have happened?"

"Too many possibilities. Could be Terminus, could be Geth, could be Rachni."

"You think it could be the Rachni?" Tevos asked, scared at the thought.

Valern simply shook his head, "Unlikely, but still possible. The STG are currently decoding Turian communications, we will know what has happened in a few days but... there is one way we can know sooner."

Tevos nodded and activated her Omnitool. A minute later, the Turian Councillor appeared on it.

"Tevos," He started, "What do you need?"

"Something has come up, Sparatus. The Council is assembling." Tevos stated coolly, not betraying any of her thoughts with a face honed over centuries.

"Understood. I will be there soon." The Turian replied, cutting the comms.

Tevos sighed, "This is going to be a long day."

XXXXX

Less than an hour later, the Citadel Council was assembled in the Council Chambers above the Presidium.

Sparatus was the first to speak, "So, what was this meeting convened for?" He asked, half-feigning ignorance.

In truth, he had a feeling about what it was. Primarch Fedorian had informed him of the events at Relay 314 and given him permission to share what they knew with the rest of the Council, they both knew that there was little chance that the STG would miss something as big as the mobilisation of the Turian fleets.

Valern immediately gave him an answer, "STG reports indicate that the Turian Hierarchy is mobilising towards the Attican Traverse. Reason is unclear. Need answers."

Next to Valern, Tevos mentally facepalmed. Only Sparatus himself could have stated this less tactfully than Valern just had, though perhaps the Turian would respect the bluntness and, to his credit, Sparatus only nodded and started explaining.

"Eleven days ago, the 22nd Patrol Fleet, led by General Desolas Arterius noted unusual activity around Relay 314. General Arterius determined that an unknown species had illegally activated the Mass Relay and took steps to bring the species in line with Citadel Law."

It didn't take a genius to work out what the Turian meant by that, "The 22nd Fleet attacked an unknown species at First Contact?!" Tevos exclaimed in shock. Her shock wasn't helped by how calmly Sparatus continued.

"We believed that these aliens were new to space flight due to the lack of element zero detected on their ships."

"You were proven wrong?" Valern asked, furiously typing on his omnitool.

"Yes. A large fleet appeared in the alien's system after several days of fighting, backed by multiple dreadnoughts. The scans cannot be trusted though." Sparatus said.

"Cannot be trusted? Why not?" Tevos asked.

"The scans indicated that one of the ships was seven kilometres long." Sparatus replied, "Either the transmission was corrupted or the scanners were malfunctioning."

Valern nodded, "Yes. A seven kilometre long vessel capable of FTL is impossible with all known fundamentals of FTL travel. Sparatus is likely correct."

Tevos sighed once more, "Regardless, we must at least attempt a diplomatic solution before escalating." Tevos spoke, Valern nodding along in agreement.

"Very well," Sparatus started, "Primarch Fedorian has said that a single Asari diplomatic vessel can be attached to the fleet."

"Good, we need to move before the aliens counter-attack-" Tevos was interrupted by the beeping of Sparatus' omnitool followed by the Turian's cursing, "Sparatus, what is it?" Tevos asked, fearing the answer.

"It's too late. The newcomers have attacked... somehow they have circumvented the Mass Relay network and hit Haliat!" Sparatus exclaimed.

XXXXX

3 June, 2398; 1250 Hours

It had taken some time, but the Zero Fleet had been assembled and Phoenix Station had been used once more. Due to the huge distance between Phoenix Station and the Zero Fleet's target, Haliat, the journey was deemed safe, though this time the Zero Fleet would have to deal with problems that the Second Fleet didn't have to contend with. Namely: getting back. When the Second Fleet used Phoenix Station to turn a two week journey into a two hour journey, it had done so with the intent to stay and defend Shanxi from further attacks. The Zero Fleet had no such luxury. The fleet would be turning a three week journey into a couple hours but then would be severely displaced from the rest of its support. It would have to get back to friendly territory over the course of three weeks using the shipborne drives and any ships that could not enter the wormholes would have to be abandoned and destroyed.

The other problem was the ships that made up the Zero Fleet. Unlike the rest of the Imperial Navy Fleets, the Zero Fleet was not actually real. It was assembled in times of crisis out of whatever ships were available at short notice. This led to a fleet made up of thirty ships from the First Fleet, two ships left behind by the Second Fleet, a couple ships from the Third and Fourth fleets, and a few independent patrol ships. In total, the Zero Fleet was a mishmash of forty-five ships of a composition that was not geared to work together.

The hope was that the lightning attack planned would negate most of this disadvantage. But then again, it was a mystery what they might find at Haliat. They could find two-hundred ships or they could find no ships. Either way, everyone in the Zero Fleet was eager for payback after Shanxi.

As the time ticked down, the Zero Fleet exited the wormhole deep inside of the Haliat System, far too deep. It took less than a minute for the Terran admiral to realise that the wormhole exit had been calculated incorrectly and the Zero Fleet had exited far too close to the Turians, negating the range advantage of their energy weapons. Quickly adapting, the myriad of hails from the Turian defence fleet were promptly ignored as a hastily constructed alpha strike began. Beams of iridescent light mixed with coilgun slugs struck across the relatively small distance between the forty-five ships of the Zero Fleet and the eighty or so ships of the Haliat Defence Fleet. In short order, the Turian flagship, an impressive dreadnought, was obliterated by the concentrated fire of several ruby red lasers, the former warship now nothing more than a floating husk. Many more ships also fell to the alpha strike, but numbers were not on the Terran's side and the Turian ships - though down a dreadnought and a quarter of their ships - were still capable of inflicting a damaging retaliation, albeit a disorganised one.

Though not as impressive as the Zero Fleet's opening barrage, the Turian ships soon brought their spinal mass accelerators to bear on the Zero Fleet. The Turians, concentrating the fire of several of their ships on singular targets, manage to bring down many of the Terran's smaller vessels, but, just like numbers were not on the Terrans' side, firepower was not on the Turians' side and Terran ships continued to carve up Haliat's defences.

Less than an hour after it began, it ended. Seventy Turian ships had been neutered and a dozen more had managed to flee to Haliat's mass relay. In return, the Zero Fleet had had its numbers quartered and nearly half of the ships that remained had some form of battle damage, mostly due to how close to the Turian fleet the wormhole had deposited the Zero Fleet. The remaining undamaged ships positioned themselves in orbit of Haliat and began carrying out their orders: the complete destruction of Haliat's ability to wage war. The orbital shipyards were destroyed beyond repair, space stations shattered and the remaining civilian ships that had not fled interned. Haliat itself got the same treatment: ruby beams of light and coilgun slugs fell upon military bases, power plants, factories and other industrial facilities, uncaring for the civilian workers caught in the crossfire. The only reprieve for the Citadel species living on Haliat would be the apparent ability of the Zero Fleet to refrain from targetting population centres.

Meanwhile, the damaged ships picked up lifepods and planted nuclear mines amongst the Terran shipwrecks, intent on catching any potential scavengers in the crossfire in the process of asset denial. By the time Turian reinforcements arrived, Haliat would be devoid of Terrans and left with nothing but devastated infrastructure and Terran booby-traps.

Codex Updated:

HADM: The MK 55 Mod 1 Heavy Atomic Demolition Munition is a nuclear mine carried by most ships in the Imperial Navy. The HADM is powerful enough to vaporise a Terran Cruiser and several linked together in strategic locations can destroy a Terran battlecruiser beyond all recognition. The HADM is mainly used for asset denial in situations where Terran ships are wrecked and must be abandoned.

XXXXX

Replies to reviews:

CheesusChrist15 & The Tea Sorcerer: The 15 km/s for the coilgun was based on the UNSC's MAC guns from Halo (which if I recall correctly was stated at 30 km/s) and, at the time, I didn't realise how appalling that actually was. I fully admit that 150 km/s is a more appropriate speed.

MM995: This is a Mass Effect continuity error. Sovereign is stated as being "larger than any other ship in any known fleet" and is 2km long, but then the Destiny Ascension is stated as being "four times the size of the largest human ship" which would make it 5.5 km minimum (presuming the 1.1 km length is accurate for Systems Alliance carriers). Unless, of course, they are referring to mass in that statement which makes assigning the length sort of redundant... and also really weird because a dreadnought's strike power comes from a spinal gun so the Destiny Ascension's main weapon would be underpowered compared to, say, a Turian dreadnought.

tldr; I have no clue.

As for the people arresting the Turian Commander being killed... it just seemed realistic to me. Where would Vyrnnus be? The Turian Command Centre and the highest concentration of Turian vehicles and troops on the planet. Where would the orbiting fleet strike first? The Turian Command Centre and the highest concentration of Turian vehicles and troops on the planet. Ergo, dead Abrudas. I only slightly regret killing them off.

Blaze1992: The FTL is more like slipspace (though with enough power the 'bridge' can be held open indefinitely). As for humanity wanting to enslave and/or kill aliens... I don't plan for that. Humanity will be brutal in fighting, but humans still have a conscience and won't sponsor the wholesale slaughter of entire sentient species for no reason other than 'hurr durr filthy xenos'

I also saw that someone asked what X-Ray 0 was. I thought I made it obvious, but in case it wasn't, X-Ray 0 was the designation given to the Mass Relay in the Shanxi System by the Terrans.

AN: Sorry about the delay. I've been dealing with illness for the past week and couldn't find the motivation to write. Also because I am terrible at writing aliens but we don't talk about that.