Chapter 36
Imir System, October 2164
“What kind of defenses do they have in place?” The Batarian Admiral, Darek Crerbolak asked the Turian that was in charge of the scouting frigate wolfpacks that they had sent ahead of the main force.
“The Mass Relay is clear, Admiral, and we’re detecting only around six cruisers and a dozen or so frigates,” The Turian replied. “Our Wolfpacks can begin harassing the enemy frigates and cruisers at your command.”
“Remain there until the rest of the battlegroup arrives,” Admiral Crerbolak said as he conducted the tactical data he had been sent. “We’ll push in together, see if we can overwhelm them with both superior numbers and technology.”
“Copy that sir, we’re holding on this side of the Relay until your battlegroup arrives.”
“Take us through the Relay, Captain,” Crerbolak ordered.
The Batarian Heavy Cruiser that was serving as the flagship for this fleet was grabbed by the relay and shot across the stars, the rest of the fleet following suit as they exited in a rough parity to what their formation had been beforehand.
“It seems that they didn’t update the star charts recently,” the navigator said as he looked at the brief scans of the system. “Some serious mining operations are going on in the belt according to our scans.”
“You’re sure that they’re mining operations?” the Captain asked as he leaned over the shoulder of the sensors officer.
“Yessir, they’ve been evacuating on unarmed shuttles and moving to Korlus as fast as the shuttles will carry them since we arrived in the system.”
“Good,” Crerbolak said as he overheard the tail end of the conversation. “Keep an eye on the mining stations that they were evacuating from anyway. I’ve seen pirates and rebels use repurposed mining lasers to cause some serious damage to ships in the right circumstances.”
“Aye sir,” the sensor’s officer replied. “I’ll task a VI on it so that I’m given an alert if something suspicious happens.”
“Good man,” the Admiral said before he turned back to his tactical map. “Looks like the enemy has finally started moving,” he muttered. “We outnumber them two to one, and I’m fairly certain that we have an advantage given the age of some of those cruisers and frigates. Now, that doesn’t mean that we can take it easy, we’re going to cautiously push forward, and probe their defenses, get a feel for what kind of opponents they might be.”
“Start with having both our frigate wolfpacks and the mercenaries push forward,” Admiral Crerbolak said as he leaned over the tactical map. “Let’s see if we can bait them into making a mistake.”
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“Hold steady,” Admiral Jewel ordered the largest fleet that had been under human command since the Second Succession War. “Let them probe us, we can afford to bleed them on this, we don’t want them to see our defenses just yet, after all.”
“Aye, ma’am,” the Batarian militia officer that was manning the helm replied. “Transmitting instructions to the fleet.”
The Batarian wolfpacks began to move forward in groups of three or four, making sure that all angles of attack were covered as they pushed forward through the Imir system at what felt like a small pace until the first of the wolf packs shot forward as a group, angling to try and maneuver behind the defense fleet that was waiting for them.
“Group Alpha, I want that wolfpack busy, I don’t need them gone, just kept busy,” Jewel ordered a Cruiser with a group of escorting frigates.
“Copy that, moving to take out the designated wolfpack,” the leader of the small group of dispatched ships responded.
“Admiral Jewel, this is Blaze, we are in position and awaiting authorization to drop the hammer,” Blaze’s voice came over the command channel.
“Copy that Blaze, hold your position until we’ve got the enemy maneuvered properly,” Jewel ordered.
Jewel looked at the enemy battlegroup that was gradually picking up speed and pushing towards her arrayed forces. “Come on, we’ve got fewer forces than you do, we’re the perfect bait for you to sink your teeth into.”
The Batarian Fleet then seemed to wink out of existence for a split second on the sensors before reappearing closer and within the spinal guns of both battlegroups.
“Groups Bravo through Delta, you’re cleared to engage as your CO sees fit,” Jewel ordered before focusing on the big picture. “Captain, keep us alive and in the fight, but do your damned best to take out some of these bastards in the process.”
The Cruisers of both battlegroups were the first to open up and begin firing at the other battlegroup. The lead Batarian Heavy Cruiser was the ship to get the first kill of the space battle as its main gun flashed twice before one of the frigates under Jewel’s command went dark.
“Hold steady for a bit longer,” Jewel ordered as the enemy started to suffer minor losses as well, a trio of her frigates chasing a light cruiser flew past her lone heavy cruiser.
Jewel’s heavy cruiser shuddered as an enemy frigate round bounced off of its shields before the cruiser returned fire, the frigate’s barriers flickered and died right as the Cruiser’s round impacted, causing the enemy ship to drift away leaking atmosphere and coolant.
“Blaze, I need your ASF to begin moving now,” Jewel ordered. “And tell the Stings with you that you have the authorization to use the Peacemaker on that Heavy Cruiser.”
“Copy that ma’am,” Blaze’s voice responded. “Wardog is moving to engage, prepare for a rapid boom and zoom.”
“All Forces, prepare for allied ASF,” Jewel told the rest of her forces. “Watch your fire, and make sure that you’re not in the way as they move past.”
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On the far side of the system, Blaze’s aerospace wings began to accelerate from where they had been waiting for the past several hours, their few Sting gunships keeping them updated on the fight that they could barely see on their scopes.
“Alright people,” Blaze said as he kicked his Stuka’s fusion engine on and threw his Aerospace fighter into an acceleration that would have killed him before the installation of the inertial dampeners. “Remember to watch your targets, we don’t want any friendly fire mishaps. We’re here to make sure that the enemy's barriers go down, and to cause as much damage as possible before bugging out, so make sure that you have a way out because this is going to be the fastest boom and zoom we’ve ever performed.”
“Copy that lead,” Edge replied as she stayed on Blaze’s wing.
“This is the Serenity, I assume we’ve got an escort given that we’re carrying the party with us?”
“This is Hitman actual, we’ve got you covered Serenity,” the no-nonsense voice of Hitman’s Squadron leader came through.
The gunships and ASF soon were moving through the void, steadily picking up acceleration and finally holding course until they had the appropriate firing arcs that were being fed to them courtesy of the Heavy Cruiser that Admiral Jewel was on.
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“All units, get as far away from the enemy heavy cruiser as possible, we have multiple November-Whiskeys targeting it and would hate for you to get vaporized in the process of them detonating.”
Jewel’s small outnumbered fleet then began to see the tide turn as Blaze’s ASF began to zoom past, the weapons they fired overwhelming the barriers on enough enemy ships that there was now a rough parity in the number of forces that the two groups could bring to bear. Then, what seemed to be a series of miniature suns appeared where the Batarian heavy cruiser used to be, the five nuclear weapons that hit the heavy cruiser breaking it apart into fragments that then spun into the frigates that had been escorting it, causing their barriers to pull double duty and defend against both incoming fire and the debris from the once flagship of the Batarian battlegroup.
