clyde

@thelightanditsshadow @bordercrssing

The defense fleet was not known for the unconscionable amounts of engagements, what suited Arix in his quest to defeat his Admiral in some way. And so, the Staff Sergeant was not the most thankful NCO when an alarm sirens woke his team up.

Who am I trying to trick, he was happy as a lark.*

‘The Ascendant Justice’ arrived on site in time to blockade the raiding fleet. Ships were enormous, even for organised pirates Raivvin had dealt with, but surprisingly opened no fire towards first frigates. Of course the Adrmial’s strength could hardly be matched even by a sheer amount of units at his disposal, but firepower was not taken under consideration up against abducted people aboard; a clever move to channel the imminent combat to an uneven ground.

Knowing their scores in hostage situation training, Raivvin’s team started their prepares right after the leader got a word of a position. And so, the Sergeant himself awaited an officer, fiddling with his equipment in what scarce of a spare time he had.

“Enough games you mistake for an intelligent race.” Pherios grumbled as he grabbed a sidearm from one of the Marines holsters and pointed it at the humans head.

“The Admiral is not your asset or your Turian. Insult my patience again and you are going out of the airlock behind you.”

Around that time Sergeant Raivvin managed to make his way through the crowd. Seeing short human left shock and awe on his face, as businessman spot him sticking out of the crowd.

“Speaking of the devil,” he raised his voice through the clenched teeth, “Dante, my dear, could you please tell Mr. Kuril here to GET OFF OF ME, please?”

“Sergeant Raivvin, you know this human? And he thinks he can demand anything from the Hierarchy because of that fact? Truly, humans will amuse me to no end!”

“Do I know you… Sergeant Ravvin? And why would you like to speak on the behalf of this… Human.”

That is when he heard Fenruix’s laugh and oddly it soothed him rather than strike him as overly odd. He collected himself and took a deep breath. Trying to focus his center, he re-engaged the safety on the gun in his hand and handed it back to Pengian.

“Make sure this finds it’s proper owner, please”

He turned back to the human.

“You are lucky we have actual interrogators and I’m not going to bring myself to your people’s level of extra-judicial killings. It’s your lucky day”

Pherios turned to the Marines he brought with him and spun a claw in a circular motion.

"I'd like to see that one coming," the human responded quickly. "Dante! You with me!" He ordered with little hesitation.

The Sergeant followed said command still agape due to recent events as the businessman argued he will be able to walk wherever he was needed on his own. He did not remember Pherios to lose composure so badly, as well as he wasn't expecting Fenriux's reaction.

@thelightanditsshadow @bordercrssing

The defense fleet was not known for the unconscionable amounts of engagements, what suited Arix in his quest to defeat his Admiral in some way. And so, the Staff Sergeant was not the most thankful NCO when an alarm sirens woke his team up.

Who am I trying to trick, he was happy as a lark.*

‘The Ascendant Justice’ arrived on site in time to blockade the raiding fleet. Ships were enormous, even for organised pirates Raivvin had dealt with, but surprisingly opened no fire towards first frigates. Of course the Adrmial’s strength could hardly be matched even by a sheer amount of units at his disposal, but firepower was not taken under consideration up against abducted people aboard; a clever move to channel the imminent combat to an uneven ground.

Knowing their scores in hostage situation training, Raivvin’s team started their prepares right after the leader got a word of a position. And so, the Sergeant himself awaited an officer, fiddling with his equipment in what scarce of a spare time he had.

“Enough games you mistake for an intelligent race.” Pherios grumbled as he grabbed a sidearm from one of the Marines holsters and pointed it at the humans head.

“The Admiral is not your asset or your Turian. Insult my patience again and you are going out of the airlock behind you.”

Around that time Sergeant Raivvin managed to make his way through the crowd. Seeing short human left shock and awe on his face, as businessman spot him sticking out of the crowd.

"Speaking of the devil," he raised his voice through the clenched teeth, "Dante, my dear, could you please tell Mr. Kuril here to GET OFF OF ME, please?"

@thelightanditsshadow @bordercrssing

The defense fleet was not known for the unconscionable amounts of engagements, what suited Arix in his quest to defeat his Admiral in some way. And so, the Staff Sergeant was not the most thankful NCO when an alarm sirens woke his team up.

Who am I trying to trick, he was happy as a lark.*

‘The Ascendant Justice’ arrived on site in time to blockade the raiding fleet. Ships were enormous, even for organised pirates Raivvin had dealt with, but surprisingly opened no fire towards first frigates. Of course the Adrmial’s strength could hardly be matched even by a sheer amount of units at his disposal, but firepower was not taken under consideration up against abducted people aboard; a clever move to channel the imminent combat to an uneven ground.

Knowing their scores in hostage situation training, Raivvin’s team started their prepares right after the leader got a word of a position. And so, the Sergeant himself awaited an officer, fiddling with his equipment in what scarce of a spare time he had.

Pengian was speechless. He was aware of who Pherios was, being one of the primary officers who answered to the Dreadnought’s second-in-command. He had never seen Pherios in action, but what he saw now reminded him of the stories he sometimes heard from veterans of the Relay 314 incident. Pherios was by no means a mere analyst, no turian worth his weight ever sacrificed their ability for self-defense just to excel at their assigned task; but this was the first time Pengian witnessed the larger turian in action. He was certainly no contender to take lightly.

Fenriux, for his part, decided to hold to his subordinate’s discretion for now. For Pherios it was a clear demonstration of their difference in might, and certainly an opportunity for him to show solidarity with his subordinates. He stayed at the back of the crowd, watching events unfold. He sharp gaze narrowed further when he saw the human’s abrupt change in behavior. He cared nothing for the entitled personality that he saw at first, but at the cold aggression of the second, he found himself stepping forward from the crowd.

“My name is Pherios Kuril and you are on my ship, and I will not let the likes of you disturb my admiral or bother my Marines.” Pherios said in a low growl

His face turned into a painted scowl as the human tried to injure his pressure point.

“Have it your way.”

Pherios turned and grunted to throw the human towards a wall across the hall with a single step. But instead of sending the human flying he was suspended in mid-air seemingly moving in slow-motion. As Pherios activated his unique brand of biotics slowing down his immediate vicinity to a snail’s pace but avoiding his allies.

“Ok human, now that pleasantries are out of the way. This is the situation you have doing yourself in.” Pherios paced around with a refound calmness with his hands behind his back.

"And so, I politely ask you," these words were uttered like the worst of all curses so far, "Mr. Kuril, to kindly put me down and tell present here General Modalius to guide me to his brother's whereabouts!"

@thelightanditsshadow @bordercrssing

The defense fleet was not known for the unconscionable amounts of engagements, what suited Arix in his quest to defeat his Admiral in some way. And so, the Staff Sergeant was not the most thankful NCO when an alarm sirens woke his team up.

Who am I trying to trick, he was happy as a lark.*

‘The Ascendant Justice’ arrived on site in time to blockade the raiding fleet. Ships were enormous, even for organised pirates Raivvin had dealt with, but surprisingly opened no fire towards first frigates. Of course the Adrmial’s strength could hardly be matched even by a sheer amount of units at his disposal, but firepower was not taken under consideration up against abducted people aboard; a clever move to channel the imminent combat to an uneven ground.

Knowing their scores in hostage situation training, Raivvin’s team started their prepares right after the leader got a word of a position. And so, the Sergeant himself awaited an officer, fiddling with his equipment in what scarce of a spare time he had.

Nodding curtly, Fenriux obeyed his orders and fell in behind Pherios and the two fully armed and armored marines that he picked to follow him.

***

Pengian heard the commotion from the nearby shuttle shortly before Raivvin directed his attention to it. He gave a glance to his peer, followed by a curt nod and a brisk jog over to see what the commotion was. Being back in the relative safety of the dreadnought, he had since holstered his collapsed rifle, but kept his claws close to his sidearm in case it was needed.

“Who the hell are you and why are you on my ship, yelling at my Marines. I wasn’t going to kill you but by the spirits you aren’t making things easy for yourself. ” Pherios paused and thought to himself

"I will not bother you with my name you are unlikely to even spell properly," he started quickly. "I firstly got abducted from this hellhole of a planet, then from those friendly gentlemen's ship, so my presence here is your fault, frankly speaking. And who the hell are you, beast, I haven't got the slightest, and I know every single officer on this God forsaken vessel!"

With simple movement the man pressed on Pherios' tendon, using other hand to keep the Lieutenant's arm steady. Effect was painful. Very painful.

"Don't consider yourself in control with me around, space warlock," the businessman barked with utterly different, quiet, omnious voice. "I'm here to save my skullface's* sorry ass from certain death, as well as to rescue my investition from literally falling off the sky. Now, why wouldn't you introduce yourself, and more importantely, me to you superior?"

“Not bad, all things considered,” Pengian murmured to himself. “Good work guys. As soon as we’re aboard we’re getting the wounded and the hostages to the medical bay for full evaluation.”

***

Fenriux stood at a distance, having quickly realized that Pherios had returned to his element once again. Despite his injuries and at-times imprudent desire to push his limits to unsustainable degrees, the tactical officer could not help but notice the lieutenant’s ability to seemingly bounce back from any setback, not just in intention but also in his ability to realize them. It would be better for him to observe Pherios’ performance for now, and let him grow as the challenges they faced tested him.

Upon their return to the bridge, Providentius turned to Pherios with a look of concern. “Are you well enough to serve, Pherios? You haven’t spent all that much time in the med bay. Do not push yourself if it will carry repercussions for you later. I won’t allow it.”

There was a raised voice arguing in soft, alien language with security personnel also. There were few things that raced across a mind when talking with owner of such voice, most pleasant of which included scratching metal bar in one’s teeth, or sketching on a glass panel with one’s very own talons. Rarely a tone of voice can properly define someone’s appearance, but that one gave an impression of highly agitated man of high rank. One that walks in a morning suit in a most terrifying of manners: With pleasure.

It’s fully understandable if Pherios would be a little disappointed with troublemaker. After all, human of below average height, messy dark hair of problem drinker and... suit, yes, even if dirty and damaged during his rescue, did not made a good first impression. Or second. Or good impression in overall, now outright screaming at one backed to the wall soldier.

“...and finally we get to speak with an actual commanding officer, rather than some incompetent pushover not worth of any further insult!” The businessman finished, turning to meet the Lieutenant.

Judging from the reaction, he’d expected someone else to appear. The human backed out slowly, pitched, as if he encountered a wild animal.

“You! You’re not this dreadnought’s officer!” He screamed in shock, making even more of an abstract show for his involuntary audience of troopers and ex-hostages. “He’s going to kill me!” he turned to his recent victim of vocal violence. “Do something!”

***

“Your latent ability does you justice,” Fenriux growled. “Keep yourself in good condition, Pherios. There is yet greater potential in you that is not yet discovered. We will speak of this later.”

“Bridge to engineering,” Providentius’ voice suddenly broke through the intercom. “Damage report.”

“We are fine,” Fenriux replied, glancing to his subordinate and the others in the crew who took the place of the injured, who themselves were carried to the medical bay. “I’m sure we have damage to our hull, but most of our internal systems are still functioning. Targeting functions are still online but our shields will take some time to recharge. Keep us out of the main fray until then, and we’ll deliver the killing blow.”

***

“Incendiaries, we can manage.” Pengian snarled. “I may not have a cabal team, but we’ve got the tools to improvise.

With a flash of his omni-tool, the turian quickly set to work modifying his grenades and his firearms to arm them with incendiary munitions and ordered the others to do the same. When the shudder of the cruiser rocked the bulkheads of the ship, he immediately pressed a talon to his earpiece.

“Talon Actual to Justice, cease fire! We haven’t extracted the hostages yet!”

“This is the Justice, that isn’t from us,” one of the dreadnought’s comm officers replied. “They’re firing on their own ships to cover their escape. Strongly advise you complete mission or bug out!”

In Arix's opinion, it was a somewhat successfull deployment. All hostages made it out, as well as his team, and only the presence of unusual enemy was going to trouble him during the report. He put his weapon down in blissful ignorance of incoming encounter.

***

"Sir, we have a situation," communications officer reported. The battle was slowly wrapping up, as with all personnel secured 'The Ascendant Justice' could go all out on the remaining vessels. "One of the rescued is insisting on meeting the bridge crew personally, as we are. They're calling us by names and ranks, all of us present here."

That was an impressive feat for visitor lacking access to omnitool. They had to have some connection to the Navy, and know all of those people* privately, what was quite unlikely. Lion's share of present officers could not identify who could it be, chance for their relatives to be kidnapped with that raid was incredibly low.

Signalman listened for a brief moment, checking the list of avalible personnel again. "Sir, the guest does not seem aware of Lieutenant Pherios' presence. I'm keeping them on hold, how should we proceed?"

At that moment, the intercoms broke through the chaos again. “All hands, brace for impact!”

With no free claws with which to brace himself, Fenriux widened and lowered his stance, digging his feet as tightly as he could into the metal floor and clawing deep gashes into the unyielding material, clenching his legs and core muscles with his full strength to steady himself and Pherios as the dreadnought was rocked with explosions.

Providentius himself tightly gripped the railings as the disruptor torpedoes fired from the pirate fleet struck the shields of his dreadnought and affected the tight formation of his own armada. Despite their formidable GARDIAN defenses of his vessels, a few of the torpedoes managed to break through. The mass effect barrier shielding the Hierarchy ships flickered as they struggled to hold their integrity against the rapidly-fluctuating gravitational fields and cause additional stress on the bulkheads that formed the backbone of their chassis. “Report!” he barked to the helm.

“Our shields are holding, but our power distributors have been put through unusual stresses. The EMP blast have taxed our systems and we won’t be able to hold the shields with another volley.” “And the destroyer?”

“Breaking up, sir. The ship is drifting apart in two pieces and the slavers are in full retreat.” Providentius growled and jerked his gaze back to the main threat. “Reform battle lines and get our main guns realigned with their retreating fleet! Signal our team to finish up their rescue operation before their extraction becomes too difficult.”

***

Pengian waited for the period in which the Claymore shotgun would burn through it’s thermal clips and no longer fire. No matter how long he waited, it didn’t seem to come. Still, they had managed to suppress the pirates enough to allow some of their team to split off and perform their rescue operation; that was one positive thing that he could be thankful for. But the majority of his attention was fixed on the immediate threat.

He ran to support anyone that needed help or in danger in the command suite. And as suddenly as Pherios created is field upon the impact. It vanished and time caught up with everyone.

Second measure was not easy for him to get along with, and it showed even in a manner of speech. Thankfully there was no opportunity to explain it, as the cruiser shook under friendly fire, rumbling thunderously. Little time they all had left. After quick evaluation the krogan-like opressor decided to put more value on his own life. Things seemed to go wild anyway, and profit was a very distant from where he stood.

Wasting no time he retreated towards the exit walking in between turians with no big deal. Fireteam kept putting pressure on him, with no effect whatsoever. With little luck escape pods should remain effective enough to bring him to lower parts of atmosphere. He fired for the last time, running out of thermal clips. Shotgun should be painfully hot, but reinforced gloves kept him away from that inconvenience. He decided not to dump it. Maybe suit could do something about it as well, he thought, running away.

“Good. Maneuver the dreadnought against the destroyer,” the admiral growled to the helmsman. “Don’t let them break off; force it off course, and then engage our secondary batteries it at point-blank range!”

Fenriux, meanwhile, recognized that Pherios spoke to him on his individual comms, and without a word left in a beeline towards the sick bay. “Pherios, I know last words when I hear them,” he warned with a snarl. “Keep your focus on yourself first. We’ll manage the rest.”

Switching quickly to the comm channels for the main reactor, Fenriux spoke quickly. “Engineering, this is Tactical. What’s the ETA on that eezo charge? Will the reactor be able to handle a second firing without any averse effects on the ship or crew?”

***

Pengian steeled his resolve and crept up close, he and his fireteam stacked up around the corner behind the sergeant. “Get your shit together and think fast,” he snarled, motioning to his team to ready a flash grenade. “We’re on your six and will flash and clear your position. Try not to look at the blast and we’ll make our move the instant after.”

Pherios made his way struggling to make it to engineering. Barely outside of the sickbay against the hallway walls, And promptly cut in.

“Don’t bore the commander with details. Do you have a shot.”

“Y..yes sir.” The helmsman spoke

The human Raivvin was afraid of, however, didn’t seem to notice a flashbang. Immediately after flash grenade banged, with no hurry we moved towards squad, picking up the beast of a weapon from bleeding out partner in crime.

Phaestons are loud, sure, but no rifle could match the roar of Claymore echoing in closed space. Sound reached squad’s ears not through isolated helmets, but ground vibration instead ominously breaking silence so far disrupted only by breath. Not limiting itself to the psychological offence, pellets blasted in general direction of surprised crew. Few of them reached their target ripping shields in no time.

“Focus fire on my target!” The Sergeant commanded. “We’ve got…”

Another bellow from wide barrel interrupted his words. Cover adaptation of random metal crate broke down with drilling ammunition hitting operators behind. Let’s disregard the legality of said mod, as neither side gave much care about it at the time. Cyborg with machine-like apathy on his face loaded another heatsink way quicker than it should be possible.

“Wounded!” Someone called. Another burst cut the air and ship’s interior preventing medic from closing the distance.

***

“The Anthem of the Hierarchy commands us to die for the cause,” he lamented. “It doesn’t say anything about how we ought to live for it.”

Putting a claw up to his jagged maw, Fenriux opened up a channel to engineering from his omni-tool. “Engineering, you are not authorized to fire. I’ve had enough of these gimmicks and double-edged swords. Focus on keeping our power distribution nominal.”

After cutting his comms, Fenriux grumbled about having to micromanage and look after his suicidal subordinates, but never once did his tight grip on Pherios loosen or clench harder.

The bulkheads of the ship shuddered as the Dreadnought’s lumbering mass continued to press insistently on the much smaller destroyer. The helmsman followed Providentius’ order with little difficulty, as the much smaller vessel couldn’t contend with the sheer power that it’s opponent could output at normal operation. Slowly but surely the crew angled the ship and the trajectory so that the destroyer would be nudged off-course and create the distance needed for the dreadnought’s secondary guns to reacquire their lock on the vessel.

***

Pengian had taken an immense risk in attacking at such close quarters. He counted on surprise, speed, and sheer application of all the force available at his disposal to overwhelm the enemy and secure the ground they would cover. It almost worked; most of the opponents in his field of vision seemed to fall, save for the human nearest Sergeant Raivvin. The human’s shields were down, that much was certain, but it was almost as if that didn’t matter, like a complete disregard for his own well-being. The way that the human could so effortlessly operate a shotgun built for Krogan gave Pengian pause, but only for an instant.

"Doc, leap forward, on me." Raivvin commanded, giving hand sign inbetween predictable waves of shrapnel. "Two of you, 'round and exfil with hostages," he pointed at closest soldiers. They responded with a nod, getting around the most dangerous zone keeping as close to the hull as possible.

***

There was not a lot to say about the state of destroyer, as it's efforts to throw 'Justice' off course have proven useless. Remaining ships clustered in final attempt of reaching system's boundaries, ditching both rammer and permanently disabled cruiser. Only when when the carrier opened fire towards the dreadnought's attacker to its crew's astonishment, did several shuttles make an attempt to left dying vessels.

Extracting slaves from downed units was a reasonable tactic. Destroying unsalvageable destroyer for making pursuit harder seemed like one as well, though crew remaining aboard would dispute if not for the breathtaking sudden lack of atmosphere.

Good to know how raiders valued profit in comparison to brothers in arms.

“Good. Maneuver the dreadnought against the destroyer,” the admiral growled to the helmsman. “Don’t let them break off; force it off course, and then engage our secondary batteries it at point-blank range!”

Fenriux, meanwhile, recognized that Pherios spoke to him on his individual comms, and without a word left in a beeline towards the sick bay. “Pherios, I know last words when I hear them,” he warned with a snarl. “Keep your focus on yourself first. We’ll manage the rest.”

Switching quickly to the comm channels for the main reactor, Fenriux spoke quickly. “Engineering, this is Tactical. What’s the ETA on that eezo charge? Will the reactor be able to handle a second firing without any averse effects on the ship or crew?”

***

Pengian steeled his resolve and crept up close, he and his fireteam stacked up around the corner behind the sergeant. “Get your shit together and think fast,” he snarled, motioning to his team to ready a flash grenade. “We’re on your six and will flash and clear your position. Try not to look at the blast and we’ll make our move the instant after.”

Pherios made his way struggling to make it to engineering. Barely outside of the sickbay against the hallway walls, And promptly cut in.

"Don’t bore the commander with details. Do you have a shot.”

“Y..yes sir.” The helmsman spoke

The human Raivvin was afraid of, however, didn't seem to notice a flashbang. Immediately after flash grenade banged, with no hurry we moved towards squad, picking up the beast of a weapon from bleeding out partner in crime.

Phaestons are loud, sure, but no rifle could match the roar of Claymore echoing in closed space. Sound reached squad's ears not through isolated helmets, but ground vibration instead ominously breaking silence so far disrupted only by breath. Not limiting itself to the psychological offence, pellets blasted in general direction of surprised crew. Few of them reached their target ripping shields in no time.

"Focus fire on my target!" The Sergeant commanded. "We've got..."

Another bellow from wide barrel interrupted his words. Cover adaptation of random metal crate broke down with drilling ammunition hitting operators behind. Let's disregard the legality of said mod, as neither side gave much care about it at the time. Cyborg with machine-like apathy on his face loaded another heatsink way quicker than it should be possible.

"Wounded!" Someone called. Another burst cut the air and ship's interior preventing medic from closing the distance.

***

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Providentius, meanwhile, kept his focus on the unfolding battle, and relayed his orders accordingly as the destroyer neared. “Take evasive action and get our GARDIAN lasers to destroy their bridge! All hands, brace for impact!”

***

With the cover that Raivvin provided, Pengian rushed forwards with the rest of the squad as the Sergeant took point. It was not obvious to the Lieutenant what Raivvin’s intentions were in taking the hostages, and when they had run into additional hostiles with no immediate plan, he froze. 

“What the hell, Raivvin,” he hissed back, motioning for one of his men to ready another grenade. “What do you expect command to do about our need for biotics? Stand by, we’re making our way over to you. You better get ready to run back real fast.”

“All auxillary power to sheilds. Prioritize the bow. ” His voice was slow and deliberate. “Prepare for impact. Everyone I want those Element Zero charges ready. My priority is getting all of you home. This should stop any vessel in it’s tracks long enough for us to take them offline for good.” Pherios sank into his bed and brought up a private comm channel with Fenruix. “Sir, this isn’t good. This is all I can do from here.” And he sent the firing solution for the Element Zero charges. “I feel something bad is coming. And for what it’s worth, Fenruix I have been honored by your mentorship and care. I just don’t want to leave that unsaid.”

Quarian looked scared. He looked to the side too, to a degree that implied he hadn't usually looked that far. From the looks looking further would not result in a nice look.

Things weren't looking* as good in closed communication. "Fuckdammit, Pengian, sir, we don't stand a chance." Raivvin barked in desperation. "One near hostages is my armor!"

Said human stood tall among fellow criminals. Technological armour shone upon him with bright orange, but aside from some basic protection of selected joints he seemed to wear no armour at all. Arix hadn't had an opportunity to enchance dark cracks on man's face, but less precise visual cues were obvious to anyone who had interaccted with humans more than twice in entire life.

Under normal cicumstances such individual would be easily considered a cyborg. Something about what Raivvin said didn't make sense though, as well as his reaction. His attitude shown that he cared little about rest of the raiders, or at least that they weren't partially as troublesome as man watching the situation play on with his arms crossed.

"Will go on you." Arix added, notified about round countermeasure prepared by Pengian. "But at least send someone for hostages, please. Doubt we can hold it long enough."

***

The cool, even if a bit anticlimatic thing about space is absolute silence when one huge vessel crashes with second, even larger vessel. Missing the bridge, main engines and significant portion of mass the collision wasn't as harmful as predicted. Some cups fell off the shelves and hole in 'Justice's' hull wasn't even that big. Evacuated personel seemingly made it in time making the fixture only casualty. Lots of it - incoming fire managed to switch trajectory of the destroyer that instead of reaching the bridge landed near the cargo bay.

"Shield generators overheated," the staff reported. "Ablative layer’s efficiency at 68%. Admiral, we get reports that their charge wasn't lethal. Medical teams are on their way to the injured personnel.”

As he watched Pherios attempt to form a field, he urged him again, “Don’t push yourself now; a good soldier knows his limits and when to rest and recuperate from your wounds. That’s your sole objective now. That shouldn’t be so hard to disappoint me in, eh?”

He looked to the doors as the ship shook from another kinetic impact from the enemy fleet. “I need you well too. Don’t do anything to jeopardize that,” Fenriux reminded him, and then sprinted back through the door. As he reached the CIC, his eyes instantly registered the destroyer in question approaching the ship, and soon after Providentius’ tactical officer made a beeline for the intercom.

“Admiral, they’re moving into knife-fight ranges with that destroyer of theirs.” he warned. Providentius motioned with a claw for the communications officer to open the bridge channel.

“I’m well, aware” he growled in reply. “Every meter they get closer they’re risking the combined fire of our own formation. They’re either overconfident or suicidal.”

“They might have something else up their sleeve,” Fenriux warned. “Keep caution.”

“We’ve still got artificial gravity, so there’s still some power in this boat,” Pengian supposed, keeping near the corner but not risking a peek out into the open just yet. His caution was duly rewarded from the suppressive fire that came down the hallway. 

“For now, keep our priorities in check!” he snarled, taking a grenade from one of his pouches and arming it. “Rescue the colonists, and then get the hell off this ship! We move on my mark!”

"Let's go for a walk." He snapped to the quarian shield afterwards, dragging it to the further section. Subordinates followed him not without hesitation; apparently the maneuver was not included in training.

Leaving rest of the squad behind solid cover, Raivvin emerged from the connector alone. Rest of the troops connected to his HUD interface, analysing layout of enemies. Over dozen targets with equally nasty weaponry as their companions'. The most actual threat took form of M-300 Claymore in hands of a krogan in high dudgeon. "Cool plaything," Arie commented on an internal channel, remaining silent to the raiders. "An old version." Likely to blow a hole in me through three guys like this one, he thought.

Oh, and there were also the hostages. Gathered in a small control room by the other end of the hold, Arix could grasp just a brief glance until the view became obstructed by silhouette of another approaching opponent.

And the cold sweat runned down his back.

"You are surrounded. Lay down you weapons and relase the hostages." He commanded the raiders with not-sounding-false confidence. A ridiculous call raised few sniggers among the enemies.

They couldn't hear Raivvin almost whispering through the comms. "Fuck. Lieutenant, pass me to the command," he asked, hiding any emotion in subvocals. "We need backup, ASAP. Biotics, of any sort."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"All of hostile destoryer's power goes to the front shields." Tactical officer reported to the Admiral on the bridge. "In that amounts, they won't be able to fire a single accelerator."

Not like firing accelerators was part of raider's plan from the start. After slight corrections of a course the ship's crew sent part of acumulated energy to the engines. Single blast of all remaining fuel accelerated the vessel that met no resistance in vacuum.

"They are communicating with somebody from outside the system."

"At their speed, the collision is unavoidable!"

Corvettes took their chance, turning to follow the destroyer. They made an attempt to protect it from attacks of rest of the fleet, though being damaged themselves it wasn't the brightest idea. Unless there was something more to it, what was tested in previous thrust of lightweight ships.

Some turians would prioritize many over the few. In fact, most of turians would prioritize many over the few and would give an order just to gun down the corvettes regardless. Fact that some random raiders used such turian-inefficient tactic proved that someone had very good information that Providentius will be the one commanding the fleet. Maybe even about Providentius' unwillingness to sacrifice the poor kidnapped colonists.

Pengian kept his Phaeston tight in his grip and pressed the stock firmly against his shoulder, keeping just behind the sergeant as directed. As soon as the pirates opened fire he backed up quickly and replied with several rounds of his own, backing up quickly but never showing his back to the enemy. It was a brief affair for the squad that Raivvin led to put several holes into their counterparts after their point man took down the first. 

“We’re found out now,” Pengian murmured. “We should move fast in case they decided to start executing hostages.”

Meanwhile, Providentius kept watch over the unfolding battle on the bridge, and noted the pirate fighters engaging his larger vessels. Their torpedo salvos quickly withered under the combined defensive fire of his escort’s GARDIAN lasers, the formation of ships around his dreadnought ensuring a multi-layered defense that made it difficult for all but the most saturated attacks to break through and affect their shields.

Pherios returned his gaze to Fenruix . “I don’t want to disappoint you sir.”

"Pengian, sir, if may I..." He added after a while, taking a break to look around. "How long should the 'Justice's' EMP last? Usually by this time, at least the emergency generator should kick in."

Momentarily soldiers arrived to the cargo hold, welcomed by the inaccurate fire of raiders. Pure power of their weapons could easily be measured by how heavily damaged the squad's shields were. Thankfuly, no bullet made it through so far. Open space was dangerous nevertheless, and scarce cover in form of scattered crates weren't of any help.

Lighter vessels finally start to go down, as Hierarchy pilots prove their primacy. Remaining ones make an attempt to retreat, leaving the damaged corvettes on their own. Silent destroyer proved useful in such maneuver, being close enough to block with it's hull the GARDIAN lasers and conventional point defence alike.