Captain Das'Baot vas Imperial steadied himself as his Harrower-class Star Destroyer decelerated from lightspeed just outside the Cerberus held planet's gravity well and immediately started barking orders to get them in formation while preparing their fighter screens for launch.
He felt it was largely unneeded, since the Empress and Admiral had both outlined the plan before the battlegroup had even arrived in the system and his crew knew their jobs well enough without him hovering over their shoulders. But the military loved repetition and redundancy.
Das'Baot didn't mind in this instance however. If there was one enemy Das wanted everything to run smoothly when fighting them besides the Reapers, it was against Cerberus.
An opinion held by most Quarians after the human terrorist group nearly bombed the Migrant Fleet to cover up kidnapping a human biotic the Fleet had taken in, something that would have spelt disaster for countless Quarians before the Empress had managed to secure Rannoch once again and brought the Fleet home.
Das could hardly think of any other group more deserving of a few fullisades from the Imperial.
"Cerberus Cruisers moving away from the planet, Captain." The officer in charge of the sensors reported. "They're going to intercept us before we reach the shuttle drop zone."
"Our orders from the Flagship?"
"Unchanged, Captain." The Comms Officer replied.
Das smiled under his environmental suit. "Well in that case, as soon as they are within range…pluck out their eyes."
Before the Reunification that created the Sith Empire, the Migrant Fleet had been too desperate for any working ships to afford turning their noses up at any that came their way. If it was spaceworthy and could be patched up without a repair dock, the Quarians would use it. But that didn't mean there hadn't been preferences around designs.
Viewports and windows were often seen as additional risks on warships for a multitude of reasons. So when they had the chance, most ship captains would cover or even outright remove them if possible. A trend that most of the galaxy seemed to slowly be following with the Geth logically being the furthest along – simply removing them and any life support systems from their designs altogether and relying solely on sensors to detect things around them.
At least until the Normandy had shown exactly how dangerous that kind of thinking could be when according to Admiral Zorah all it had taken to infiltrate a Geth space station without a single alarm going off was simply flying up to it because the Geth had been fooled by the Frigate's stealth systems.
So when the first few Harrowers started construction no one, not even the Geth, protested the inclusion of cameras or viewports in the design. But there had been several concerns about the primary bridge's location and vulnerability.
At least until the Empress showed off why such a design had survived so long in her own galaxy despite the numerous wars over several millenia.
"Cerberus cruisers in range, Captain!"
"Fire the screamer torpedoes." Das'Baot ordered with an eager wave of his arm. "Aim spot lasers at the cameras on the closest cruiser and begin Turbolaser bombardment. Launch all fighter wings and try to draw attention away from the shuttles."
Space erupted into a cacophony of junk noise as the screamers did their best to overwhelm the Cerberus ships' sensors while high intensity lasers turned the camera feeds they struck into meaningless white voids. Nothing that a dedicated technician couldn't overcome – which unfortunately meant these tactics were largely useless on the Reapers – but Das'Baot could already see the enemy cruisers slow their maneuvers thanks to suddenly being struck blind and deaf from such a 'low-tech' attack, along with the more conventional EWAR measures.
One thing was certain, the humans would not enjoy this battle in the slightest.
-o-
"Air defenses are too tight up ahead even with our new friends distracting them. Looks like this is as close as I can get, Commander." Cortez said as the Kodiak landed just outside the prison facility.
Shepard wasted no time leaping out of the dropship and sweeping for enemies while her team fanned out behind her.
"Roger that, we'll give you a call if we need a lift." She said even as one of the fighters screaming overhead was clipped by the defences and started trailing smoke across the sky.
At this point trying to sneak up to the facility would be mostly pointless, and the longer her team was out in the open the bigger the chance was that they would be targeted they couldn't deal with.
So fast assault it was.
"We're moving fast, people. I want everyone stacked up on this gate as quickly as possible. Garrus, keep an eye out for snipers. Liara, see if you can raise Kasumi. We're going to need her help getting inside if we can't hack the controls."
"Shepard, I'd like to remind you that even like this I retain all my capabilities from when I was solely restricted to the Normandy. Standard Cerberus firewalls will not keep me out for long." EDI commented, sounding almost insulted Shepard thought she wouldn't be able to get them in.
"Not doubting you, EDI. Just covering our bases in case Cerberus used a mechanical switch." Shepard placated. Not that it was needed in the end. Thankfully, Cerberus had used a more conventional mechanism for the gate controls which meant the ground team barely needed to slow down before they were in the facility.
Shepard quickly consulted the map Kasumi had provided and pointed her team in the direction of the control center. Her team would be responsible for releasing the prisoners while Revan's marines would handle securing them and getting them away from Cerberus.
And speaking of Cerberus…
"Contact!"
Shepard turned to see a squad of Guardians round a corner and drive their shields into the ground while several more Troopers used them as cover or moved behind metal barriers that dotted the street.
"Javik, Liara, Pull those shields away, everyone else focus fire!" Shepard ordered as she joined the other Biotics in ripping the heavy metal shields away from the Guardians and leaving them open for her teammates' blaster fire.
Even Cerberus's heavy armor simply melted as dozens of red energy bolts found their targets, their kinetic shields not doing much to them or the thin green beam Javik's particle rifle spat out. To Shepard's amusement though, Javik was forced to stop firing after a few seconds while his weapon vented heat and the rest of the team's weapons could still keep firing.
Maybe this mission would be the thing that actually convinced him to give a weapon that hadn't been sitting in storage for fifty thousand years a try.
Though going by the scowl on his face, it didn't seem like the Prothean was overly impressed by the blasters or all that impressed with Cerberus in general. So perhaps Shepard would hold off on asking him to update his weaponry until they had gone up against some of the Reaper forces and they showed off more of what Imperial tech could do.
"Ugh, primitives. Bringing slabs of metal onto a battlefield and expecting them to be more than a hindrance. What's next, someone using a sword and charging at their enemies?"
"You'd be surprised how effective that can be." Garrus idly commented as the team moved forward.
"Only against a force lacking even the slightest biotic potential. The only way any competent force could fall against an enemy relying on melee combat is if they were drowned under sheer numbers."
Shepard held back a laugh at that. She couldn't wait to see the look on Javik's face after they ran into Revan at some point. That would definitely be something to look forward to, but right now they had a mission to focus on.
-o-
Revan braced herself as the shuttle was struck by the anti-aircraft fire from below. Something practically unavoidable considering they were flying towards one of the more securely defended sections of the Cerberus facility. Unfortunately, that also meant their landing was going to be a bit more exciting than she had planned for…
"Alert: Right stabilizer destroyed, crash landing imminent!" The Geth pilot warned as something tore off the outside of the shuttle.
"Emergency landing procedures. Try and set us down as far away from any defensive emplacements as possible." Revan ordered calmly as she looked over the other occupants of the shuttle.
Both her new apprentice Lymrase and Tali'Zorah seemed relatively unbothered by the news their vehicle was going to crash. The Geth platforms obviously were unbothered by the situation. But even the marines in the shuttle had an admirable handle on any fear they were experiencing.
Good. That meant they might actually survive this.
Revan closed her eyes and reached out to the Force, drawing deeply on her connection while waiting for the precise moment she needed to act in order to preserve her stamina. Possibly unneeded, but the Sith hadn't survived countless battlefields by mindlessly throwing power at her problems.
A soft whisper at the back of her mind let her know the correct timing and then just as the shuttle crashed onto the surface, Revan secured everyone in the craft with a combination of a stasis field and a barrier to cushion them from the impact. A few marines stumbled as Revan quickly released the hybrid technique and turned her attention to the shuttle doors.
A wave of her hand crumpled the durasteel like tinfoil and sent the chunk of mangled metal into a heavy turret that was already turning towards the downed ship.
"Move! Off the shuttle now!" Revan barked as she rushed, lightsaber ignited, out into the heart of the Cerberus facility.
Rather unfortunately, it seemed they had crashed in a plaza leading up to a large 'U' shaped building that must have been either very important or a hub for something, because there were several streets leading to their location and a lot of open space. Useful for moving lots of people at once with minimal disruption, but terrible for defending without barriers and obstacles.
Tali'Zorah and Lymrase moved quickly to catch up with her, closely followed by the Geth troopers and most of the marines. But an unfortunate few couldn't get out of the shuttle in time before a Cerberus trooper armed with a rocket launcher put a high explosive into the belly of the downed shuttle and killed all that remained inside.
The trooper didn't live long to celebrate his kills, however, as several of the surviving marines instantly focused on him and returned fire.
Revan only paid the whole exchange a small amount of attention.
No other shuttles had landed in the area they had crashed and Cerberus had them surrounded. They needed to quickly secure a defensive position and figure out exactly where they had landed. They would need to contact Shepard as well, since it was unlikely they would be able to join her in assaulting the control center as planned.
"Tali'Zorah, get that door open!" Revan ordered, pointing at a nearby building. "Lymrase, once she does, take a few marines and clear out the first floor."
"I can cut the door faster than the Quarian can hack it." The ex-jedi protested.
"And then we have to deal with an entry point we can't close! Do as I ordered!"
Properly cowed, Lymrase moved to support Tali'Zorah, who had the door hacked within a minute and then disappeared into the building. In the meantime, Revan and the rest of the marines dealt with wave after wave of Cerberus troops pouring out of the several streets connected to the plaza.
Revan for the most part focused on blocking incoming fire, directing her marines, and occasionally eliminating a trooper trying to target them with heavy weapons.
It felt awkward. Restricting.
The Sith had always preferred to be on the attack even when she needed to defend a location, but with how exposed the rest of her soldiers were, even a small detour to slice apart a squad of troopers would mean casualties on her side. Something not acceptable while they were cut off from support and surrounded.
Even then, it wasn't like Revan didn't have methods of slowing down enemy reinforcements. Such as flipping one of the APCs Cerberus had used to drop off a squad of troopers with the Force and using the vehicle as an improvised wall to block off one of the smaller streets leading into the plaza. If they were stuck in place long enough Revan was sure she'd eventually end up building a fortress out of the burned out remains of the vehicles Cerberus sent after them.
Thankfully it seemed that wouldn't be necessary.
"First floors clear, Revan! You can pull back now!" Tali'Zorah called over the comms. "Lymrase also found something you are going to want to see for yourself."
"Understood." Revan replied before switching to the wider command frequency and ordering all her surviving forces to retreat into the building. Cerberus obviously saw them moving and took the opportunity to attempt another charge to overrun their position, this time supported by two Atlas mechs.
But before the two massive machines got close enough that they could open fire, the last of Revan's forces made it past the door and the Sith Empress decided that now that the crashed shuttle they had arrived in wasn't being used to provide cover for her marines, it would be perfect as an improvised barrier to the building they had taken over.
The grounded ship plus welding the door shut with a few strategic applications of her lightsaber should buy them plenty of time before Cerberus made it through that particular door.
Now then…
"I'm heading your way now, what exactly are we dealing with?"
"We found the entrance to some sort of lab. Definitely signs of Reaper tech and it looks like Cerberus was… growing things in here. There's vat's all along the walls."
Revan could feel the discomfort in the Quarian's voice and increased her pace. If Cerberus had been playing around with mixing Reaper technology and cloning or anything like that, who knew what monstrosities could come crawling out of that laboratory.
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