3. Chastened Interlopers (1/2)

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glitters in the dark

chapter 3

"alright, men, quick summary of the

ief," lieutenant iraprak shouted over the din of atmospheric entry. before him, his entire platoon sat strapped into the seats of their heavy duty dropship. "the primitives have a big fuck-off gun on the ground that's spanking our fleet. so they need us groundside to slap them back into their mud huts and lay the red carpet out for siu! the atmosphere is inhospitable to us so keep your helmets on and suit sealed! any questions?"

"yes, sir! what's the barrier bet this time?!" shouted one of his soldiers.

iraprak grinned. "the first dumb bastard whose barrier

eaks is buying the platoon a round when we get back home and will be on extra duty for a month!"

a chorus of groans and cheers filled the bay. they all fell into their usual ribbing and bullshitting while they awaited landfall. he'd let them go at it for a few more minutes.

his battalion was going to be in charge of knocking out anti-air while the fleet sent in more waves. the cannon had ruined the initial plan of dropping the entire 8th khar'shan external division at once. instead, the fleet was microjumping several cruisers in scattered positions to release as many shuttles and gunships as they could before microjumping out. they would also seed expendable comm buoys to ensure communications were at least somewhat timely. the units would be dropped off at the outskirts of the city and were responsible for clearing a path for siu operatives to infiltrate and disable the gun. from there the rest of the division could land.

the pilot's voice suddenly came over the speakers. "

ace yourselves!"

the ship suddenly jerked off to the side, jostling everyone hard. he could just make out the sound of ordnance swinging close by and dull thuds as ships were shot out of the sky. his omnitool chirped after one particular thud, informing him that command of the company was transferred to him. shame, the captain was a good enough guy. however he definitely wouldn't turn down the sudden promotion.

"5 minutes to landing!"

iraprak and his platoon all released the atmospheric reentry

aces, leaving them strapped in with just the normal belts. "mantises will be strafing lzs but they may still be hot, men! the moment that door opens you kill anything that's got less than two eyes, you get me?!"

"yes, sir!"

the shuttle leveled out suddenly and they all jerked towards the front of the craft as it

aked hard. the green light above the hatch turned red and the pilot spoke once more.

"opening doors!"

they all released their belts as one and stood up. the hatch dropped rapidly and they ran out with their weapons at the high ready. the plaza they landed in was torn up by the initial strafing runs that cleared out the hostile positions. dozens of alien bodies littered the ground, many of them in pieces. their barricades and weapon emplacements were shattered by the high caliber mass accelerator fire. the burning wrecks of three mantis gunships were also visible further on. in the center of the clearing was a damaged pedestal that projected a flickering hologram of one of the aliens with its fist thrust up to the sky.

his troopers quickly spread out into a security perimeter as the shuttle lifted back up and flew away to hang out in no-man's land far outside the city. a few men threw open sizable boxes that contained their heavy weapons and mobile barricades. another drop ship came in shortly afterwards and disgorged more troopers. a quick glance at his omnitool told him that first platoon's shuttle was still active and en route.

the relative ease in which they were able to set up a perimeter bothered him. his adrenaline was still pumping, him having expected to take fire immediately upon landing. there was no way the mantises didn't miss even a single alien. the plaza was surrounded by purple, iridescent, organic looking structures that were bereft of life. as he checked to make sure everything was going according to plan, lieutenant dhalea from second platoon jogged towards him.

"i got the notification that you're in charge of our sorry asses now...sir."

"looks like it, dhalea. any casualties on the way in?"

she shook her head. "one of the pyjaks vomited in his helmet on reentry but we're all up and filling in the perimeter. some of my men found alien weapons. if they still work we can use them against them."

iraprak

iefly considered her suggestion before shaking his head. "negative. command wants every last scrap of useful tech from this rock and i'd rather not be the one to explain why we're only turning in

oken and burned out shit. gather it all in one spot."

"understood. anything else?"

he was quiet for a moment before saying, "this is too easy."

"sir?"

"we haven't taken a shot since our boots hit the ground. i don't know about you but i would have troopers all around this park lighting up anything that moved. they're planning something."

dhalea was quiet for a moment.

"or they're just scared, sir. we jumped in with an entire fleet of warships packed to the

im with soldiers. they've probably just begun exploring their own solar system. just because they have powerful weapons doesn't mean they have the will to fight against something this far beyond them."

he rubbed the chin of his helmet as he considered that. objectively it made some sense but it still didn't feel right somehow. he nodded regardless and dismissed her. she was probably right. sometimes things were just that simple especially when facing an inferior foe. no matter how much he tried to internalize that though, something still unsettled him.

his comm-bead clicked suddenly. "this is lieutenant regar from first platoon. we had to divert to avoid getting shot down but we're closing in now. eta two minutes."

that was it then. they had their beachhead. once everyone was accounted for they would leave a platoon here to hold the lz and the rest of them would push towards the gun. he tried to feel some sense of satisfaction at having achieved a normally difficult type of mission but his instincts were still screaming at him that something was off.

the roar of thrusters grew steadily louder as the ship containing the last of their company flew in. as it began to descend and

ake hard to make the landing, two large green bolts flew from the rooftops and slammed into it. the kinetic barrier on the larger shuttle held strong but the impacts violently arrested its momentum.

iraprak grunted as he was suddenly tackled to the ground in time to avoid a hail of plasma.

"contact!"

"they're in the buildings!"

"man down! someone get that gun back up!"

iraprak looked up to see plasma raining down from the buildings surrounding the park. his soldiers were returning with accurate bursts of fire whenever they could afford to stick their heads out. their mauler support guns were tearing up the buildings and attracting hostile fire in return.

his gaze moved over to the shuttle in time to see another four of those green rounds hit it while it was trying to escape. the barrier couldn't hold against another barrage and shattered in time to get hit with the last two bolts. the wing-mounted thruster on the right exploded and the ship began a steady spin as its pilots struggled to keep it stable. it was clearly a vain effort though as it began to rapidly descend. iraprak finally found his voice.

"everyone get down!"

the ship crashed belly-down with a great crunching of metal, fortunately without exploding. iraprak threw himself onto his feet and ran for the nearest barricade, hunkering down next to three of his soldiers. he slapped his omnitool to change to the command frequency.

"this is lieutenant iraprak, acting commander of strength company! we're pinned at lz zero-three and need immediate close-air support!"

there was a moment of silence over the channel before the rto on the other end responded. "negative, lieutenant. any air support we have left is tied up already. you'll have to hold out until they're finished."

a barrier shattered and one of the soldiers near him crumpled to the ground with a smoldering crater in his throat.

"negative! we need support now or we're going to lose this beachhead!"

there was a longer pause. as he waited, the hatch on the downed shuttle blew its locks and dropped to the ground. the survivors of the crash hobbled out under fire to join the fight. from his position he could see the more grievously wounded were left in the hold with the medics who were trying to save them.

"strength company, this is control. order company's lz has been judged indefensible and they are currently en route to your position with armor. hold your position until they arrive."

armor. that meant ironstalkers. the heavy walkers were the hammer of the hegemony external ground forces. if anything could shatter an ambush, it would be an ironstalker.

"understood, we'll hold here!" he then flipped back to his company frequency. "we've got friendly armor en route! don't try anything heroic, just hold the line!"

with that, he unfolded his rifle and peeked over the barricade. he could see the damned pyjaks in the windows of the buildings firing wildly down into the square. his eyes picked up an important detail. the aliens armed only with the smaller plasma weapons could hardly be called accurate. the small green bolts splattered against the ground, the barricades, and only sometimes hit a trooper. however it lacked the power to

each the military-grade barriers before they could take cover.

the real threat was the larger blue bolts that poured like hail from select positions. accuracy was an afterthought when you could merely sweep the weapon onto your target. he clicked his comm.

"take out their mounted gun positions!"

the spread out fire of his soldiers all shifted into focus. a trooper fired off a gutpuncher missile launcher which vaporized one of the positions. iraprak lifted his rifle over the cover and immediately sighted in on an alien gunner that had turned its attention on his trooper with the launcher. a sharp burst from his terminator rifle sent the little mud-squatter to the ground with fresh holes. he tried to zero in on another target three green bolts hit his barrier and made him duck back behind cover on instinct. a reflexive check of his barrier's integrity made him double take. it hadn't come close to

eaking but it took it down by nearly a third.

"sir, all gunners have been neutralized."

"good. take out the rest! barriers will hold for a few shots so take short, accurate bursts only."

"acknowledged!"

iraprak and his troopers whittled away at their assailants for the next several minutes. any attempt by the aliens to resume fire from their heavy weapons was punished immediately. before long the plasma fire petered out as the last aliens either died or ran away in a blind panic.

he panned his gaze over the buildings, trying to catch sight of any stragglers. he finally relaxed when another two minutes went by peacefully. slightly.

"all platoon leaders, get accountability. any medics not currently tasked need to go help the injured troopers in the shuttle."

his troopers complied quickly. as he was compiling the list of casualties a comm request beeped in his hear.

"this is captain kendagar of order company. anyone still alive?"

"this is lieutenant iraprak, acting captain for strength company. you just missed the party, sir."

"actually i think i may have stopped the party before it really began. we intercepted some sort of gravity speeders that were heading for your position."

iraprak grimaced at that tidbit of info. so that's what they were planning. they were going to pin them down and wait for fast attack vehicles to arrive and slaughter them.

"you have my gratitude, sir. what's your eta?"

"two minutes. task out some men to hold this lz. we're going to move out immediately once i arrive."

"yes, sir."

"general bas'narah has reported four of the five lzs have been secured and casualties are manageable. the anti-orbital cannon has been unable to lock onto any of the ships thus far."

"good," dhekon nodded, "have our scouts found any sign of alien warships?" the possibility they had warships had been a negligible concern upon first arriving, but now that a single gun had taken out a dreadnought he wasn't going to risk any alien cavalry rolling in to put more holes in his fleet.

"negative, admiral. local space is clear and probes haven't found anything further out in the system. as far as we can tell, there's nothing more than a few asteroid miners."

"tell them to keep scouting. i want a task force of two cruisers and a frigate wolfpack to board and commandeer those mining ships. if they can't figure out how to pilot it then have one of the cruisers tug each one back. batarian state arms may find something useful from them."

"yes, admiral."

dhekon worked his jaw as he stared intently at the tactical display. ever since he had started the operation seriously he had began to look at everything with a new perspective. as he considered everything they had encountered, he began to realize the glaring discrepancies. for example where was their navy? a species didn't reach for the stars without the tacit understanding that wars would be fought there. especially a species with such sophisticated weaponry.

that also another thing. this level of weapons technology wasn't in line with their planetary development. the smaller plasma weapons could be waved off but gravity skimmers? super anti-orbital cannons? that implied a far greater of development that just wasn't seen anywhere else on the planet. everything impressive about them were their weapons. why would their weapons outpace their infrastructure to such a colossal degree?

it held implications that dhekon dreaded to consider. he needed to finish this up and

ing this information back to the hegemony. hopefully it would occupy their attention enough that it would overshadow his screw-up. his focus was suddenly shattered when an alarm starting screaming from his ship's speakers.

"captain, i'm getting massive radiological bursts two light seconds out below our current plane! it's growing rapidly!"

dhekon snapped into action before the captain could respond. "reorient the fleet towards the signatures! hard burn!"

'hard burn' was simply a turn of phrase as modern eezo ships no longer had rcs thrusters. instead they applied mass effect fields to shunt ships in the direction they desired. a hard burn was an intense application of mass effect that strained the ship's superstructure and caused inertia to bleed through the dampeners. everyone on the

idge was forced to lean as the massive dreadnought swung around.

"new ship signatures have appeared from the bursts!"

dhekon scowled; he was right. the little bastards had a navy. "composition?!" the captain of the ship barked.

"radiation is playing havoc with our sensors! cleaning it up right no- oh pillars, fortify me..."

dhekon slammed a fist against his tactical display. "i need answers, now!"

the sensor officer took another second to reply. "six ships, admiral. two dreadnoughts and...four...super dreadnoughts..."

the admiral rapidly blinked and the captain seemed lost for words. his tactical display beeped with the new information and he immediately pulled it up.

he felt his soul slip out of his eyes. two vessels nearly 1 kilometer in length and four that ranged from 1.6 to 1.7 kilometers. they could rival the destiny ascension in size. they all had the same smooth, organic design of asari ships too. however instead of the deep blue color he was used to seeing they were painted a

ight, arrogant red.

dreadnoughts. the bastard had dreadnoughts. not only that, they had

ought six of the damn things. the abnormal lack of escorts for such a massive commitment was overshadowed by the fact that he had to

ing his fleet to bear against six pillar-forsaken dreadnoughts!

dhekon closed his eyes and took a deep

eath. the situation was bad, terrible even, but it wasn't unsalvageable. they were absolute monsters but they would lack the maneuverability of cruisers and didn't have of their own cruisers to screen them from direct assault. not to mention the lack of detectable eezo on the ships meant they wouldn't have kinetic barriers. he would have to pick them off one by one while taking minimal casualties per engagement. his fleet would be battered but it would survive.

"sir, we're getting a direct transmission from the enemy formation. vis don't detect any malware. it...there's a translation packet included. vis are decoding it now."

a translation packet? that quickly? no, nevermind that. he had larger problems.

"put it through as soon as it's finished decoding." he straightened up his uniform and stood straight. he wouldn't be cowed by diminutive little volus rejects.

a holoscreen appeared before his command throne and dhekon nearly lost his composure. the creature in front of him wasn't one of the primitives they were conquering. it was a towering, saurian beast with fanged jaws and predatory eyes. its somewhat feminine voice still came out gruff and demanding.

"i am shipmistress balo'koham of the swords of sanghelios. you are invading the sovereign space of the unggoy, allies of the sangheili. you will surrender immediately or face summary annihilation."

dhekon waited two seconds for it continue before responding, making sure to let some of his outrage slip through. "i am admiral first class dhekon koskedah of the batarian hegemony. you are intruding in matters which do not pertain to you. these aliens are now the property of the hegemony and any actions taken to impede us will be considered an act of war. leave now or you will join them."

the counter-threat clearly did not sit well with the beast as its eyes narrowed into a lethal glare. "so be it. we shall render your fleet into shattered hulls and

oken bodies."

the transmission cut off and his sensor officer spoke. "hostile vessels are moving. smaller vessels designated ud-01 and ud-02 have

oken off and are heading towards the homeworld. sd-01 through 03 and ld-01 are screening them from approach."

dhekon smirked. they had unwittingly made his job easier. "all ships, direct intercept for ud-01 and 02 on my mark. microjump above their relative plane and fire once you have a confirmed solution. stand-by for targeting assignments."

he quickly assigned his ships their target, made all the easier by the fact there were only two ships. after all ships confirmed orders and reoriented, he gave the command.

in the space of a

eath they passed by the pointless screening force and appeared over the smaller dreadnoughts. the fleet swung their barrels down as one and opened fire. the salvo was

utal. dhekon was shocked to see some sort of barrier appear over the eezo-less ships however it scarcely mattered. one of the corvettes had its shields shattered almost instantaneously and was perforated by slugs from over two dozen cruisers and twice that in frigates before the indomitable spear struck the killing blow.

the other dreadnought apparently had much better reflexes. it loosed a salvo of plasma shortly after they jumped in and disappeared into a dark blue hole that suddenly ripped open into the space before it just as its shields gave out. the unrepentant conquerer's second volley flew through the space it once occupied.

"casualties?" dhekon called out.

"one cruiser and three frigates destroyed. two cruisers damaged but combat capable."

against two dreadnoughts, those were incredibly low casualties. he just had to repeat it another five times.

"can anyone explain how the other ship disappeared like that?"

there was silence for a moment before the sensor officer spoke up. "i'm not sure how, admiral, but one of our probes picked up its signal two light minutes out. it may be their form of ftl."

just what in the hell was going on in this backwater end of space?

however the hell these krogan rejects did that was irrelevant at the moment though. all that mattered was that they were capable of doing. that meant he had to be able to deliver the killing blow before they could react. more importantly, he had to be able to do enough damage to each ship without taking a fair exchange of damage. the presence of barriers complicated things immensely.

he looked down at his tactical display and immediately started formulating a plan.

"no slipspace ruptures were detected amongst the enemy, shipmistress. however scanners picked up traces of their passage over us. they never left real space."