Chapter Three

[Quantum Rain]

First topic message reminder :

As the forum auto-splits topics every 50 pages, the next topics will be named further chapters accordingly. This is chapter three, guys, KEEP IT UP!

Post.
POST.
POST!

~Jediluigi

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--Yaga Minor--

“Unfortunately, they did not have one.” He stated, looking over the janitor’s shoulder to confirm his directions mentally. Now there was just the matter of blending in without magic…

--Unknown World--

Leon walked up cautiously toward the creature, pistol ready in his free hand as he kept himself aware of his surroundings. So it takes a shot to the head to kill them. He thought, as he used the opportunity provided by the creature to learn how to combat his potential enemy.

--Gothis Orbit--

The Hive Ship activates its telekinetic powers once more, managing to deflect the torpedoes utilizing similar abilities to the Rachni. The Collective fleet presses on still, taking light losses via the Thanix cannons by comparison to the Turians.

--Gothis Land--

Despite the Collective Troops hunkering in and luring the enemy to them, several were still dieing, while some managed to put up a fight.

--Charad--

The pilot looked at the kiwi incredulously, as if annoyed. She hands the drawing to the kiwi, as if emphasizing it.

--Konnsallann Station--

Cross was annoyed, at first, to the interruption, but then intrigued by the report she overheard. She remained silent, however, waiting to see if anyone would even remember her presence and what they would say in explanation.

--Bladnir--

(On hold until JL either gets Victoria II or managed to talk to me on Skype to discuss where to go from here.)

[Roach]

--Invictus---

*Travis does a few tricks with his pistols before holstering them. He clicks on his comm to call for extraction.*

Travis: "Travis Farr to Federation Forward command requesting extraction."

*A federation shuttle swoops in flanked by a pair of X-wings and sets down nearby.*

Travis: "You Turians really know how to fight you might even make good mandalorians."

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*Vonak grimaces and lends his shoulder to a wounded female turian as they board the shuttle.* Vonak (grimly): Not good enough to stop the those damn Imps from taking over most of the planet. (to his men) Come on, you flatclaws, hop to it! Are you evacuating a combat zone or just getting out of bed?! Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'll go easy on you--MOVE IT!

*The turians have more wounded than able bodies, and thus take several precious minutes to get aboard.* Vonak: Leave the dead--we don't have time!

*A young private begins to protest.* Private: But sir!

Vonak: I gave you an order, soldier! Get your [censored] on the ship, STAT!

*Finally, all the turians load themselves aboard and the shuttle takes off. Vonak grabs ahold of a balance hanger so he isn't thrown off his feet.* Vonak (to Travis): You make a good case, especially if there are people like you among these Mandalorians. *His eyes linger momentarily on Travis's hips.* But we've got bigger things to worry about. What's the situation up there? *He points skyward with his other hand.*

[Roach]

Travis: Hey my eyes are up here *travis indicates to his face plate before removing his helmet and clamping it to his belt.* Its a total siege we could bust the imperium blockade if they weren't hiding behind one of those damn cowardly compound shields. Can't surround them they dove into low orbit. If we can't break them they will reinforce and we will have to abandon Invictus.

*travis extends his hand*

Travis: By the way i'm Captain Travis Farr third Federation aggressive recon and in my off time I'm a famous gunslinger in the ramius dueling circuit.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

Vonak: Took the words right out of my mouth. And that's not all I'd like you to take out of my mouth. *He shakes the proffered hand with a firm, strong grip.* Lieutenant Vonak Tacitus, of the Palaven Hierarchy's 4th Legion--what's left of it, anyway. Taetrus Clawball Champion.

[Roach]

Travis: A pleasure to meet you.

*The shuttle descends onto a landing pad at the federations forward base, a group of federation medical staff whisk the wounded turians off to the field hospital. Travis leads Vonak down to the federation headquarters nearby flights Of recently assembled oracle gunships begin taking off on sorties and massive battle mech patrol the base perimeter.*

*travis indicates an atlas mech standing near the headquarters it munitions being stocked for combat.* Travis: One of those mechs could level a battalion of more conventional forces. When we need something really dead that what we call in.

*the enter the command center and are greeted by General Brusilov's aide who directs them to the briefing room.*

Brusilov: ... I don't want to hear any more excuses you break that damn line if you have to do it with a hammer and a bucket of rocks! *brusilov shouts at a holo call before slamming his fist on the off switch.*

Brusilov turns around. "Ah so this is the local glad to see you made it out ok things are a bit rough down here but from what we have seen the Imps were no prepare for us to drop on them like this.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

Vonak: Thanks for the help, General, but we don't have a lot of time. *He quickly introduces himself.* You caught the Imps off-guard, yes, but we won't have the advantage of surprise for long. What's the situation?

[Roach]

Brusilov: Could be better, I could use more boots on the ground. But with that damn Imp fleet sitting in orbit we aren't getting reinforced any time soon. Right now we are just keeping pressure on the imps so we have time to dig in for their counter offensive.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*Vonak shakes his head.* Vonak: General, with all due respect, we can't just be digging in and waiting for them to come to us. If we prove to be too hard to destroy on the ground, that fleet will glass us right off the face of this planet.

[Roach]

Brusilov: Thats why that fleet needs to cease to be a problem. I can defeat their army any day but as long as they cower up there ready to commit genocide I can't make a move. Unless you happen to have some way of breaking that blockade It would be wisest for us to just evacuate.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*The turian hesitates.* Vonak: Well...there might be a way. But there are a lot of "ifs" involved. We have about a hundred surface-to-orbit antimatter missiles stored in silos all over the planet. Problem is, all of them are in Imp-controlled territory. Fortunately, as far as we know, the Imps are unaware of their existence. Before we lost space superiority, General Septimus ordered a few of them set off to see if that would break their compound shield, but their damn point-defenses shot them down. That's all the intel I got from the fleet before they had to flee. We've been fighting for our lives ever since--we've tried to form a resistance against the Imps, but it's been almost impossible to fight an enemy with control of the skies.

*He looks around.* The way I see it, General, those missiles are our only option. Retaking the silos' locations will be hard enough, but we'll also have to make sure that the Imps don't find out what we're up to. Furthermore, for the missiles to be truly effective, your fleet will have to keep most or all of their shield's power focused forward at the moment of impact. But the hardest part will be the shield at their back. We'll have to disable it without giving them enough time to redirect shield power. That would give us a 30-second window at best between the planetary shield dropping and the missiles' impact. I personally think we should shoot for 15 seconds, just to be safe. And last but not least, the missiles will have to be cloaked so the Imps' point defenses don't shoot them down.

*The turian pauses to let that sink in.* It's not the best plan. There are a lot of places it could go to [censored]. My superiors certainly wouldn't approve of it...but we don't have a lot of choice here, General.

[Roach]

Brusilov ponders for a moment* "Cloaking the missiles won't be a challenge we can rip cloaks off some of the fighters taking the missile sites won't be easy it will spread our forces thin, We will need to do constant diversionary attacks while we work.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

Vonak: Yes, spreading ourselves out will leave us more vulnerable to their ground forces, but they'll be less likely to just glass us all into dust--they seem to want the planet as undamaged as possible. Additionally, there are other remnant units and civilian resistance groups out there; we can--

*He breaks off, and a distant looks comes into his eyes as he reaches up to his left ear.* Yes? *He nods.* Yes, the Feds are here and have managed to stall the invasion-- *His eyes widen.* You--you're certain? ...very well, sir, I'll relay it.

*Vonak turns back to General Brusilov.* Just got a communication from Hiigaran Admiral Ferin Soban Sha. It's...well, General, you'd better hear it yourself. *He taps a few buttons on his omni-tool, which begins playing back the transmission.*

Soban (transmission): Lieutenant Tacitus, you and the Feds are going to have a hell of a time before long. An additional hostile fleet--this one from those Astrum freaks--managed to slip by us and is headed straight for Invictus. They'll reach the planet in another day and a half. I've sent a combined Rachni-Hiigaran fleet after them, but unless you can turn the situation around at Invictus, I'm calling them back. Repeat, Lieutenant--you and the Feds have a day and a half to give me some results. May the sands shift in your favor. Soban out.

[Roach]

Brusilov: Great get me the locations of those missile silos. I want birds in the air now I want complete air superiority. Now I need Intel i need to know were its going to get the imps interest if i hit them there also I need to know how we can disrupt the communications between the imperiums ground troops the more confusion in their ranks the better.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

Vonak: Intel indicates that their squawk-net structure is pretty decentralized like ours, all the way down to the individual soldiers having comm units. While that means blanket jamming won't work very well, I think they're more susceptible to small-scale disruption as a result. We should try and capture some of their soldiers alive, but they don't surrender...General, can you come up with something that will disable their shields and then knock them out--quickly?

[Roach]

Brusilov: No problem we can rig up an Ion, nadion pulse mine. the Ion pulse will fry any shield and the nadion pulse will knock them unconscious. I can send out a few squads of Pelargir Marines to ambush one of their patrols.

Private: General I suggest we flood their communications systems with something very distracting. Perhaps a load of gay pornogrphy?

Brusilov: Private you are evil.... I like it assemble the raunchiest most rambunctious man on man love making film and audio you can find.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*Vonak chuckles.* Vonak: We should play it to the ones we capture, too. I would love to see their faces. *He reaches up to his wire again.* ...I read you. Lieutenant Tacitus here. I'm with the Feds--divert to these coordinates. ...yep, understood. Spread the word as best you can. (to Brusilov) General, we've got a wing of friendly gunships inbound, but they're under fire from hostile fighters. If you could send them an escort in, that would be nice. Also, if you give me access to a local comms array, I could more effectively coordinate the remaining friendly units on the planet to our location.*

[Roach]

*brusilov indicates a communications console with a total overview of the planet.*
Brusilov: Send out a flight of fighters get those gunship back in one piece.

A few moments later a flight of four X-wings lift off and rocket to the designated coordinates.*

X-wing Flight lead: Alright ladies lets go dance, Lock S-foils in attack position i want this to be quick and clean.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*Vonak proceeds to the console and begins working. Meanwhile, as the X-wings approach the location, the gunship squadron comes into view, lumbering slowly over the Invictus desert while nimbler Imperium drones harass them relentlessly. The friendly aircraft return fire from their turrets, but for every drone they shoot down, two take its place. The X-wings get a hail from one of the gunships.*

Gunship pilot: Feds?! Spirits, are we glad to see you! Give us a hand here, would ya?

*Plasma bolts from the drones overwhelm the rearmost gunship's shields and subsequently breach its thrusters, sending it drifting towards the ground--the ship does not simply plummet from the sky, thanks to its eezo core, but it has no directional control anymore.*

[Roach]

The X-wings break into pairs sweeping in and riddling the drones with scarlet bolts. after their attack run the split of again pulling into several maneuvers before coming around again.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

*The X-wings' arrival seems to catch the drones off-guard, and nearly a dozen are lost to the pilots' gunnery skills. However, the others recover quickly and engage the newcomers as well as their current quarry in earnest. The battle approaches a short, narrow canyon.* Gunship pilot: Hey, feds! We're going to do an about-face at the end of this thing and light the bastards up--you might want to stay clear of our fire. Do us a favor and keep them from climbing up out of here, will ya? It's time for some payback.

*Upon reaching the canyon's opening, the gunships swing about as quickly as their middling agility will allow and blaze away with all their cannons. With little room to maneuver, the drones fall in droves, their pieces collecting in piles at the bottom of the canyon. The turian aircraft seal the deal by pumping a few of their precious missiles into the massacre, sending fragments of metal flying everywhere. When the explosions cease, no drones remain.*

Gunship pilot: Whoo, that was hairy. Theta 3, what's your status?

*A crackly response comes over the comm.* Theta 3: Down and out, Bylaric. Thrusters are toast--no way we're coming out of here without some help.

Bylaric: Stand by, we're on our way. Feds, if you would cover us, I'll buy you some drinks later.

*A few minutes later, the remaining gunships locate their compatriot's crash site. Theta 3 reactivates its eezo core and the other gunships use their tow cables to hoist it into the air.* Bylaric: This ain't the safest plan, but we're not leaving you behind, Theta.

*The gunships resume their journey towards the Federation base.*

[Roach]

The x-wings drop into escot position and are joined by a klingon bird of prey. It drops its cloak fly ahead of the formation in escort.

Klingon Captain: If you Turians want to drop that abandoned gunship we can take your people on board and carry the bird with our tractor beam.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

Bylaric: Thanks, Feds, but we got this. Just make sure nothing else shoots at us, please.

*Gradually, the gunship squadron arrives at the Federation base, depositing their downed comrade and then landing at one of the airfields. The crews and soldiers aboard then get off. Sergeant Bylaric himself looks around.* Bylaric: Anyone got any dextro food?

*Meanwhile, in the base's command center, Vonak calls General Brusilov over.* Vonak: Think I've got something, General. A civilian resistance group in a town a few klicks away just told me about an Imp squad on patrol nearby. This is our chance to catch us a few Imps.

[Quantum Rain]

--Altakiril--

*The avians activate their cloaking systems and hurry inside the open gate just as it closes, with the runnners being careful to avoid leaving footprints in the snow. Once in the Imperium base, they immediately begin seeking out targets of opportunity, avoiding any soldiers on patrol or guard duty. They tag key targets with explosives--burying them in the snow to minimize chances of discovery--and also seize the chance to intimately observe their enemy.* Bularr: These humans are a strange bunch, that much is certain.

So far, things had proceeded as planned. The patrols had not yet noticed the sabotage taking place around them nor the intruders walking amongst them. The same could be said for Cross's team as well. As he watched the patrols carefully, coordinating his team with mere thoughts thanks to his implants, he efficiently completed the task he had set out to accomplish. This was true up until the alarms had suddenly sounded around them. Sirens as loud as cannons.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

--Altakiril--

*The avians jerk as the sirens blare.* Bularr: What the--?! Have we been discovered?! *Immediately, the runners burrow into a nearby snowbank, covering their tracks and activating heat-signature dampeners built into their armor. The darters, meanwhile, fly up as high as the base's shields will let them, save for Bularr, who zips toward the IS team's location.*

[Quantum Rain]

"What are you doing?" Cross whispered through the comms. "Duck into cover!" He almost wanted to yell as he did the same, and so did his team out of reflex. However, the guards had not acted as if they were alerted to their presence. Quite the contrary, they were performing their patrol in a relaxed manner as before. In a moment, the ground rumbled as the middle of the firebase, which was an empty field with the shield generator in the center, seemed to open up, with the shield generator showing to be attached to something below the now revealed hanger doors.

The small tower slowly rose upward as what was revealed underneath seemed to be a missile silo of some sort as it fully rose upward. The alarms silenced, but the lights continued flashing, as more guards arose from the new building followed by an armored, lower-rank commander. Likely a lieutenant of some sort. "Alright, get one loaded onto here quickly." He shouted loudly, ordering the soldiers about.

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