Aboard UNSC Break On Through, en-route to Beta Viperidae

The UNSC Landing Support Vessel, based on the old Phoenix designs, was active as they prepared to exit Slipspace. The first crew of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers boarded their pods, maybe 500 men and women per total in number. This wasn't a drill or training exercise anymore, the Black League was officially at war with a hostile alien nation. Everything they'd practiced, every single tactic and weapons system they'd refined and prepared for battle was now being activated.

The Break on Through, Run Through the Jungle and Back in Black, ships apparently named after ancient songs, were part of Seventh Fleet's Battle Group Moscow, the battlegroup supporting their namesake Carrier in battle. They were approximately 507 meters long, 400 wide and 400 tall, manned by a Navy crew of approximately 200 people, plus shipboard AIs made with the help of the Geth and Quarians.

On board each, there was a Marine Expeditionary Unit numbering around 4,000 Marines, 1,000 ODSTs and 500 armored and support vehicles ranging from heavy-duty Pelican Gunships to heavier 'Condor'-class DH-107 Dropships. They had railgun-armed M900 Scorpion II tanks, multiple Warthog FAVs, scout cars and even the more well-armored descendant of the Warthog, the M48 'Saddleback' MRAPs.

The commander of the ODSTs, major Zeva'Reegar, one of the first Quarians to reach the rank of an officer in the UNSC's service, prepared her men. She spoke to them, her helmet already on her head, "Looks like ONI's Materials Group fucked around a little too close to a Sun! We've got reports streaming in from the defense picket over the planet that the Batarian Hegemony, the slaver bastards we encountered just before our people decided to swing it together, came in! Either they're here by chance, or they got tipped off by someone or something that a somewhat undefended, top-secret ONI facility's nearby... Frankly, I'd bet on the latter."

Her ODST company, the 501st, coming straight off of New Arizona, laughed heartily at the comment. The woman smirked behind her helmet and told them, "Expect resistance when we make planetfall! Batarians apparently decided they'd bring in a raiding party. Our objectives will be simple down there:Save the Eggheads and get the prototype of some Special Weapon they've been developing with a Sakamoto subsidiary..." and she hummed as she saw a new armored unit roll onto the deck. She spoke softly, "We'll also be testing another combat unit down there! A joint venture between us, you human folks and the Geth..." and she motioned to it.

The robot strolled forward, resembling of a more strange geth combat frame. It had a massive central eye akin to normal Geth Combat Forms, but its arms were more mechanical in nature, shielded from damage by a kevlar bodyglove, light titanium plates and even carried a minigun on its shoulder. A few of the men mumbled about the machine, Quarians that still weren't used to the idea of operating with Geth again.

The major dropped down from on top of the vehicle and saluted, stating, "Welcome to the fight, bot. You got a name?"

"Ma'am. Enhanced Tactical Humanoid, Third Revision. Call me Ethan," The robot voiced rather jovially, his voice male. He snapped a crisp salute back and said with a lot of pride in an otherwise calm voice, "The product of Human, Geth and Quarian technology, mixed into a compact, Titanium-reinforced alloy body with responsive hydraulics and thermal, night-vis and active sonar sensors in my head. They had to make me three times to make me perfect, they say, ma'am..."

"You don't think so?" She quipped, giving the bot a bump on the shoulder.

He shook his head, "No, ma'am. I felt perfect when they first made me, but engineers like to be pedantic perfectionists back on Ingalls," and that got a laugh out of her and several of the ODSTs up front. She gave him a nod and showed him to join the formation up front, beside a few human Shock Troopers. The Major climbed back on top of the box she'd been standing on as a Pelican behind her was being set up for launch.

One of'em, a female, quipped, "How in the hell'd they make you, Ethan?"

"Simple. Pulled the brain out of a human farmer and stuck it in me, Sergeant," The robot quipped, causing the group around him to blink in concern. He told them, "Call that a little humor, ma'am. No, they made me from Geth and Human AI code we had laying around. UNSC really wanted our own combat mech ready to go while the Geth were still mustering theirs, so..."

"Huh," The Sergeant, Lin Zhao-Heng, nodded, "Alright. Good to know they gave you a humor subroutine..."

"Wouldn't be me without it, ma'am..." The AI replied. A few more laughs echoed from the ODSTs.

The Major turned around, arms crossed as she spoke, "I think I don't need to brief you kids, this is the first real war humanity's had in centuries! Hell, the first real war we've all had! Let's make our ancestors proud... And let's show these fucking Batarians why you don't just waltz into Black League Space!" Only to grin as she heard, at first, slightly anemic cheers. She called out next, "TROOPERS, WHAT ARE WE!?"

"HELLJUMPERS!" They barked back, proud.

"WHERE'RE WE GOING!?" She demanded, grinning.

"STRAIGHT TO HELL!" They barked back again, prouder.

"AND HOW'RE WE DIVING IN!?" She bumped her chest plate with her fist.

"FEET FIRST!" They bellowed again as the ship's alarms began to blare lowly at first. They all looked around, to which the Major hummed. Her grin grew, "GET TO YOUR PODS, TROOPERS! LOOKS LIKE WE'RE IN FOR A HOT INSERT!" as the ship captain's voice spoke warnings over the com system. They bellowed one loud 'OORAH!' as they scrambled to their pods. The major herself jumped off of the crate and marched over toward her own personal drop pod, boarding it and sliding her rifle into its safety spot to the right.

The Mark X SOEIV was a little different to your old Drop Pod. For one, it had its heat shield reinforced from old designs, meaning to allow the ODST to drop to the planet much more safely and while under a layer of armor. Second was the fact that most of the external windows had been replaced with a full-view holographic screen that allowed them to view the outside world through specialized cameras that included thermals. Third? Her slow-down thrusters were very powerful.

As the pod's door shut in front of her, she saw a light wink on to her right. The holographic communication screens to her left and right lit up, marked by the captains under her, the people in charge of the overall company-strength units of the 501st. Other elements included the 82nd and 101st, reconstituted from ancient units that preceded the idea of Orbital Drops in both technology and doctrine.

The pod turned on its axis as it was being positioned. They felt the ship rumble and Ethan spoke over com, "Captain's reporting that our escort picket has encountered Batarian resistance, ma'am. The UNSC Moscow has also just jumped in-system."

Well, good, that meant a bunch of the enemy was bound to get scared. As the area behind the pods closed off to them and they were positioned over their launch tubes, the pods themselves turned on their holographic screens, revealing the opening bottom hatches through which they'd fall. The Major replied then, "Tell them to watch their fire and contact the Outpost down below. Tell them the Cavalry's coming."

They could see two frigates and the planet below them. One of the Frigates that had been part of the defense picket here, the Red Letter Day, was damaged slightly, her armor slightly cratered by Batarian magnetic cannons. She, however, fired her own MAC in reply, a projectile zipping from the maw of the light MAC toward an enemy ship in the distance as missiles left her VLS tubes. Her laser Point-Defense tracked and zapped away the enemy's own strike fighters and missiles.

When the green light winked on, the Major grinned and said, "ALRIGHT, TROOPERS! WE'VE GOT GREEN ON THE DASH! LET'S SHOW THESE FOUR-EYED FREAKS WE'RE REAL FUCKIN' MEAN!" she felt the Pod's release kick in, the rocket motor aboard activating. She was the first to drop, in the lead of the formation. Craning her head right, she saw the massive Moscow firing her MAC, as well as the distant flash of nuclear detonations as the Batarian raiding fleet came under fire.

As the Pods left the battle AO, various coms began to flood from planetside, ranging from maydays and distress signals to intercepted and decrypted Batarian coms. She spoke, "Adjust course to my heading now," before firing her thruster and angling for a specific oasis near a series of mountains. The other pods replied quickly, adjusting their own trajectories. Down below, Batarian vehicles and drop-ships seemed to be engaged in battle with the UNSC Garrison.

"Ma'am, this is Ethan. Check your twelve, I'm marking your HUD with something interesting..." The Machine offered. Ethan did as he said, placing a NAV Point on top of what looked to be a specific picket of UNSC Troops engaging a Batarian armored vehicle unit. Squinting her eyes, however, the woman realized that one of the 'men' was much, much bigger than the others and was firing what looked like a hand-held cannon.

"Keelah... Holy shit..." She spoke softly, then radioed, "Thanks for the sight, GUNMETAL-1-1. All GUNMETAL Units, direct after me! Attention, ground garrison:This is GUNMETAL, 501st ODSTs off of the Break on Through! Check your fire, friendlies coming in from above!" and she made the final adjustments to the drop pods' courses as Batarian flak started filling the sky.

Down below, in the Highlander, Raf engaged the Batarian Forces with highly-accurate fire from his weapon, sweeping the enemies' cover with hi-ex rounds. He surged forward, firing the twin machine guns. He tracked with his HUD the targets, utilizing his thrusters to avoid the meager Alien anti-tank weaponry. The Batarian troops below fired their weapons fearfully, however, rounds sparking off of the vehicle's body due to the armor. Anything heavier than rifle-fire, he dodged utilizing the directional thrusters.

A Batarian transport of some kind aimed a flurry of missiles at him, firing them from its launcher. He jumped, powering his thrusters to the max as his eyes focused on it. Dodging the missiles and shooting some down with his twin MGs, the man prepared to land on the enemy launcher, adjusting his legs to do so. He'd bury the damn thing in the sand below by landing on it.

And he did...

Loudly did metal scrape metal, the impact kicking up a cloud of dust that was soon dispersed by the detonation of the vehicle's on-board ammunition reserves. It flashed, detonated, then exploded outward underneath the feet of the Highlander, though the Batarian forces couldn't exactly see this, watching simply as smoke covered both their vehicle and the mech.

They turned back to focus on the Marines, some of whom they'd managed to wound. Others yet lay, dead in the sand next to the barricades. A Batarian officer thought to himself that they should retreat. They'd raided one shelter and made off with the slaves they needed. A lot of'em, too. And now that whatever the hell that thing that'd just jumped on one of their tanks was was gone with it, he-

A flash boiled away a Batarian squad. The smoke from the point of fire splayed out like a flower and the impact area was turned to shimmering, boiling glass that slowly began to cool. The officer cocked his head, fearful, to the sight of the mech stepping out from amids the smoke, its armor barely touched. Its scarlet eyes peered at the alien and his own squad with fury as it aimed its plasma rifle.

Like a god of death...

The Batarian's voice cracked. He was about to bark the retreat order, but he didn't have the time. However, it wasn't the Plasma rifle that played the part of the grim reaper. A Drop Pod from above landed, crushing the Batarian footsoldier underneath it. From within said pod, Ethan emerged, the minigun on his shoulder revving up as he tracked Batarian targets. It spooled menacingly, causing the Batarians to turn around and open up on him, rounds ricocheting off of the Titanium plate and kevlar. Ethan snorted, aiming for the first man.

He fired, the Minigun spitting out a volley of lead that cut the first four-eyed bug bastard in half, following up by sweeping it right as he spoke over the radio, "Prototype Pilot, this is GUNMETAL-1-1, we are with the Five-hundred First Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Division and are friendly. Please, do not engage as we deal with these slaving bastards..."

"R-Roger..." A shaky voice replied as Ethan grabbed a Batarian, cocked his fist back and slammed it into the alien. It cracked the skull of the four-eyed bastard wide open, spraying blood onto Ethan's body and armor as the corpse fell to the floor. Ethan watched as the 'Highlander', the secret project meant for the Admiralty to see, sent a high kick that launched several broken batarian corpses forward, then aimed his plasma rifle and shot.

The other ODSTs landed, piling out of the vehicle, with the Sergeant motioning for Ethan to follow her. She radioed, "Major, this is GUNMETAL-2-4, we're on the ground and engaging!" before opening fire. She waved to the mech pilot and called out, "A little support over here, big man!" over the radio to him. The mech pilot gave a thumbs up, knelt and aimed his plasma rifle, then fired a burst that boiled a line of glass across the area, vaporizing another Batarian squad and splitting in half one of their Gunships.

The mech pilot swiveled the plasma weapon toward another target, aiming, before his sensors blared with warnings. Raf gasped, then radioed, "I'm painting an enemy shuttle filled with friendly IFFs! I think they took slaves! Don't shoot it!" before shifting his aim toward an enemy transport that was trying to retreat and splitting it in half. The aircraft, however, sped off as the UNSC Marines and ODSTs dealt with the rest of the enemy's fighting forces.

Watching the transport speed off, Raf exited the mech and dropped down from it, sighing deeply. Zeva, having noticed him, stared with wide eyes and spoke, "Raf...?"

"Hey, Zee..." He sighed deeply, "Welcome to Blacksite Charlie."

"Thought I saw the last of you back on Vesta-10, man. You Zorahs retired to tech creation," The woman spoke as she approached her old friend. She then looked up, watching the battle in the stars up above before stating, "That mech of yours is mighty impressive. But we've got a bigger issue..." before radioing to HighCom, "Battlegroup, this is GUNMETAL... Be advised, shuttles with civilians captured by the bastards are en-route to their ships. Do not engage anything coming from the planet's surface, over..."

Aboard the Moscow, 30 minutes earlier

The Lady Admiral, in her infinite wisdom, had wanted a normal day where she just came over to enjoy the show of something the Eggheads had built on the planet below. Some new, giant mechanoid suit or other that they based off of their favorite animated series, too. Instead, now, she woke up with a god-damned war on her border that had started because a bunch of slavers had probably decided to swing in and try to take the place. They had emerged from Slipspace to the site of one of the Picket frigates damaged by heavy fire, with three enemy vessels' husks hanging beside her, split from bow to stern. Still, that was one of their Frigates out of the fight... For 3 enemy.

She watched with some level of malignant glee, then, when the first Batarian frigate to turn its guns toward them and fire a salvo. She had been there when they retrofitted this almost two hundred-year-old beast. Thus, she wasn't surprised when the enemy's peashooter-sized magnetic accelerators struck the energy shield from their Dispersal Field Generator. A blanket of gold wrapped around the ship as the shell shattered like ice crashing against the frozen soil.

"Plasma Lance 13, fire mission," The woman spoke, her voice rough from years of smoked cigarettes. She glared at the enemy vessel, then ordered "Bisect the enemy dreadnought at the rear. Quarter power. Let's see plasma really works against their Barriers or if we'll have to switch to one of our point-defense Lasers..." as she watched the enemy's Dreadnoughts also swivel about. They'd brought a fleet to overwhelm the defenses, meaning the bastards had expected the Frigates. A dozen Batarian ships and hundreds of support elements like strike craft and drop ships that were moving toward the planet.

She gazed upon the starship ahead. Outside, a turret on one of the Moscow's wings swiveled into place as their point-defenses let loose against enemy missiles. To the backdrop of a pulse laser splitting three enemy fighters, ugly, brick-like and non-aerodynamic things, in half, the plasma lance, a massive two-prong magnetic field generator that was being fed superheated and ionized gas, powered on.

The tip of the weapon began to glow. At first, it was a dull red, but slowly, step by step, it heated to a burning white as it tracked the enemy ship. It let off a second volley from its magnetic cannons before the weapon could fully charge, the shots deflecting off of the shields. Even so, they wouldn't have pierced. The lance now tracked the Dreadnought, then discharged.

A beam of brilliant azure shot forth. The Frigate that was trying to flee was caught in the middle of the shot. Darkness glowed a burning white, then a small second sun appeared in front of the UNSC's command ship. Then, a second. From bow to stern, the enemy Dreadnought in the lead of a three-ship squadron was struck. Its barriers glowed as they overloaded, then the beam bit the armor, then, the hull.

Sweeping forward, the lance punched through the belly of the 1km long enemy dreadnought as more tracers filled the void, the rest of the UNSC fleet escorting the mothership opening fire with even more nuclear fire and MACs. The enemy dreadnought then exploded in a flaring, short-lived fusion of its inner materiel. Its stern was vaporized, bow magnetic batteries ceasing fire moments later, split in half.

The plasma lance ceased firing and began to cool. The Admiral, on the bridge, grinned proudly at the sight of their so-thoroughly-tested plasma weaponry making a good first impression. She'd advocated for a mixed kinetic-energy weapon loadout on all ships, so this gave her satisfaction. The shipboard AI spoke, "MAC Solution at 100%, ma'am. Enemy Dreadnought Two is targeted and aligned."

"Fire..." She spoke gleefully. The ship reverberated as the central Super MAC, refitted many a time in the hundred-years of the vessel's history, fired one of its massive ferromagnetic slugs at the Batarian warship. The shot hit the kinetic barriers and cut through them like a hot knife through butter, entering diagonally and punching clean through the vessel's midship.

The Batarians seemed to be turning and running. The rest of the UNSC force gave chase. Frigates and Destroyers fired missiles that trailed behind the enemy ships, then struck despite their GARDIAN point-def. Amidst them were two SHIVA Nuclear warheads that detonated in blinding flashes. More enemy ships seemed to jump in-system, probably answering whatever scrambled distress call the Batarian raiding party had managed to send.

Magnetic batteries met magnetic batteries as Longsword-II Fighters, the more agile, younger children of their Longsword Bomber Interceptors, engaged. Tactical nuclear payloads were deployed to thin out the enemy's own fighter ranks. More plasma lances shot out through the darkness as their Frigates opened fire, while the Destroyers focused Heavy MACs on the enemy's own dreadnoughts.

The exchange of fire was brutal and dirty, the warships engaging toe-to-toe. A UNSC Frigate swung in for the kill, firing her ramparts and laser point-defense at an enemy's. The Cerberus-class UNSC Frigate was the newest in the New Line Fleet vessels, too. Based on the old prototype meant to incorporate energy weapons, shielding and kinetics together into one package, she was twice the Paris of old in size almost.

Still, she brawled like she was a Destroyer and hit like a battleship, especially with her MAC and Plasma batteries. Her missiles and kinetics were still her mainstay killing power, with the plasma lance itself being a potent addition that created a deadly trifecta, one that was in full view as the Azure Lanes shot both her bow-mounted weapons at an enemy's Frigate.

The MAC impacted with twice the usual force of the normal Frigate MAC, at least, while the plasma lance cut through the center of the enemy vessel and spaced much of the crew. The point-defense and missiles followed up, shots overloading the kinetic barriers as the ship went broadside. Beside her and her prey, a second enemy Frigate aimed and fired, the shot hitting and bouncing off the main line of defense:The shield.

She launched a nuclear missile at the other enemy frigate. A Hyperion arched in and struck the enemy vessel amidships, sending it spinning as the electromagnetic pulse managed to flash-fry the engines. It fired back again, but a volley of missiles cut into its armor, warheads blasting it apart. Shrapnel and shards of metal, molten blobs and other materiel now floated in space.

The enemy dreadnoughts formed a concerted front to cover the retreating forces as the UNSC's own Titan-classes poured in, firing their bow-mounted MACs and VLS systems. The two vessels exchanged fire, brawling toe-to-toe with one-another. Almost. The Titans still bore energy weapons unlike anything the Batarians had seen. Electronic Warfare played as much of a role as anything else here, though. And even there, the UNSC excelled.

The Admiral watched the few remaining enemy ships retreating, before preparing to order the guns to fire. However, she immediately paused as she heard Zeva radio in, "Battlegroup, this is GUNMETAL... Be advised, shuttles with civilians captured by the bastards are en-route to their ships. Do not engage anything coming from the planet's surface, over..."

Indeed, marked with a NAV point, the ship carrying the captured flew into the hull of an enemy transport ship, among the enemy's own surviving frigates. The AI of the Carrier turned to his officer and raised a brow, to which she sighed deeply, "All ships, don't engage ship at Grid Alpha-Oh-Two-Niner... Our civvies are aboard. IF we destroy it, we kill the smartest minds the Black League has."

... As the transport ship flew off into their FTL, the woman sighed and pinched the bow of her nose. She told them, "We're gonna get those people back... Muster the First and Second Fleets. Leave defense pickets within our territories and prepare manufacturing. We're going into DEFENSE CONDITION ONE... We are officially at war with the Batarian Hegemony and I want everything ONI Probes and Spies managed to gather on these four-eyed fucks yesterday so we can make a plan of action."

"We aren't leaving anyone behind..." She ordered.