Chapter One Hundred And Thirty-Three

The Enduring Triumph. Lera System.

Upon stepping on to the bridge I saw that the command centre of my cruiser was frantic with activity as the Collector vessel we'd been expecting had suddenly appeared close enough to the planet that it was able to enter the atmosphere and hang above the colony in such a way that any fire from my Lunar-class cruiser would also destroy the entire colony.

The Collectors, or far more likely the Reaper controlling them, had correctly guessed that I would not destroy the colony to get at them, and I wouldn't because that would make this entire operation rather pointless, not due to any real concern over the lives involved since letting the Collectors take the colonists would be no better than killing them. Actually it would be kinder to incinerate them all in nuclear fire than let the Collectors use them to make a baby Reaper.

I could only assume that when the Collectors or Harbinger, if I remembered the name of the Reaper controlling them correctly, planned to get the Collector ship to flee by keeping it within the atmosphere until it was out of range. If the Collector vessel was nimble enough it might work since firing at moving target that's inside at atmosphere is not that easy for an IOM vessel and it would need to put some distance between itself and the colony before I'd risk use my ship's weapons

Imperial starships such as mine are meant to fight other big warships such as Ork roks and Chaos renegades who normally use repurposed Imperial vessels. When it comes to hitting fast and small targets that's the work of small escort vessels, as well as bombers and they need fighters as escorts so I'd be sending in both fighters and bombers.

"The fighters we have deployed are engaging some sort of drones" my first officer let me know.

The Oculus, they were some sort of fast-moving devices used by the Reapers as a space and atmospheric superiority craft. If my memory serves, the Oculi possess powerful beam weapons, similar to the Reapers only much smaller in scale, and they can invade an enemy ship by cutting into its hull. I doubted they'd break into the bigger Imperial made ships, but they would be a threat to the fighters and bombers.

"I took the liberty of sending out further wings of fighters so as to clear the skies," my first officer informed me "The bombers are being prepared to launch with the remaining fighters serving as escorts".

So far I was pleased with how this was progressing even though the Collectors had been able to reach the colony despite our efforts.

"We don't want to destroy the enemy vessel just yet" I reminded those on the bridge who could hear me. "The Collectors will most likely grab who they can and run like they did before, and if we cripple the ship while it is directly above the colony it could crash into the very people we wish to save".

It wouldn't fall far but given its sheer mass it would still kill everyone one the ground as the ship was large by local standards and even from a distance we'd managed to get some information on the vessel thanks to decent sensors that the Ad-Mech had installed.

I knew from the data gathered and my own experience that the Collector vessel easily dwarfed both the original Normandy and her larger successor. As is typical of Collector technology and design, the vessels are hybrids of organic protrusions with a metallic superstructure.

Should we get the chance to get people inside I knew that the interior of the vessel would consist of cave-like hallways, similar to an insect hive, and vast open areas traversed by floating hexagonal platforms.

While this vessel was floating above the colony thanks to some impressive use of Mass Effect fields I knew that despite their huge size, these ships are capable of landing on the surface of a planet (resting vertically), although they require an enormous thruster engine in order to take off quickly.

The cruisers are armed with a large particle beam weapon which is capable of multi-directional fire. The weapon is capable of firing either multiple shots in quick succession or a single devastating blast. Being a particle beam weapon, it ignores kinetic barriers, and it is powerful and accurate enough to critically damage an Alliance Navy frigate in only a few shots. However my vessel should be able to withstand that level of firepower easily enough since Void Shields are very different that the barriers and my vessel has a lot of armour.

The cruisers also appear to be equipped with sensors capable of detecting a vessel with a heat retaining stealth system (such as the Normandy). Also of importance the Collector ships are equipped with an Identify Friend/Foe (IFF) system that allows them to traverse the Omega 4 Relay without harm. Shepard would need one fo those in order to complete her mission.

"In that case I'll order the majority of the bombers to hang back" said my first officer "The fighters can pick out targets, anything that looks like a weapon's battery will be a priority. We'll send a single wing of bombers to damage the enemy vessel".

There was more to the plan.

"Then when they start to run we'll throw every bomber and fighter at them with the intent of cripping the Collector ship. If we get lucky, the xenos build their ships well enough that it will remain intact enough to board so we can liberate any captives". .

If possible we should recover any colonists taken and return to them to their people thus earning some goodwill, if not well couldn't let the enemy escape and better some lost than whole colonies.

"We'll need to send in parties to contest them on the ground," I said.

No doubt the Inquisitor and the Kill Team of Space Marines were already on their way. I would send some of my people as planned to secure important parts of the colony and to protect any pods so that the Collectors couldn't get themselves more people.

"We're prepared for this operation," my first officer assured me.

Soon we would see for ourselves.