Mass Effect: Knight of the Old Republic

Mass Effect: Knight of the Old Republic - Chapter 53

The command bridge of Revan’s flagship was in chaos. Both Quarians and Geth could be seen rushing from one side of the room to the other, passing datapads or messages, or frantically tapping away at the terminals in front of them. But in the middle of that chaos, a robed figure stood stoically in front of a holo-tank listening as Admiral Raan finished her report of the fleet movements.

“...and we’ve pulled back the last of the Recon Fleet using the Relays like you commanded. They are currently enroute to reinforce various system patrol groups until we can figure out where the Reapers are going to attack from. Though I have to ask, why not just use the hyperdrives?”

The Dark Lady of the Sith clasped her hands behind her back as she cooly addressed the admiral.

“Remember that this is likely going to be a long war, Admiral. The Reapers built the Relays. They likely have a way to gather information through them as well. Letting them know we have a way of bypassing the Relays this early would only have them swarm us immediately. Until they make a move towards us I am perfectly happy to let them assume we are reliant on the Relay Network for long distance travel like everyone else. Besides, the Hyperdrives installed in most of our refits are nearly a third slower than using the Mass Relays.”

Shala’Raan sighed. “I suppose you are right. I just get excited thinking about how we can cut right through unexplored space without worrying about where the nearest Relay is.”

Revan understood the feeling, having a tool that could make some of the most basic issues a leader faced was incredibly tempting to abuse. For Shala’Raan it was the freedom of movement the Hyperdrive offered while for Revan it had been the Star Forge’s ability to make logistics a joke. But the Empress also had experienced the result of what happened when your enemies discovered the existence of a tool like that.

For her it had been after her capture by the Jedi and the mindwipe. The Star Forge was such a threat that the Council decided to use her to find the station once it had fallen into Malak’s hands instead of killing her and then rallying entire fleets to destroy it even though they eventually failed.

…or technically succeeded once Bastila had betrayed her and forced her out of the Galaxy leaving the Star Forge in the Jedi’s hands.

Revan shoved those thoughts from her mind.

While the Hyperdrive engine wasn’t nearly as pivotal as an automated shipyard, the Empress was still wary of announcing her advantage to the galaxy and making her empire the main focus of the Reapers.

Not with how few fortified worlds she had or the handful of ships she had that weren’t being torn apart for materials or hastily upgraded to her standards or wouldn’t be completely disabled from a successful virus attack.

“I understand the temptation, but let's keep our best hands hidden for now.”

“Yes, Empress. That concludes my report. Do you have additional orders?”

Revan thought for a moment.

The Reapers’ arrival had forced her to completely abandon most of her mid-term plans. Many of the shorter-term ones – like annexing the planets in her corner of the galaxy into her Empire – were still unchanged if accelerated, but those wouldn’t turn back the invasion.

They needed allies. Allies that could provide actual assistance rather than resources like her deal with Omega did.

The Asari Republic was likely out for obvious reasons. Even if the Jedi Order hidden among them wasn’t out for her head, she had just stolen one of their colonies and had no intention of giving it back. The resources the shielding systems needed were just too precious right now. Maybe she would gift them a planetary shield for their homeworld when she had the ability to spare one, but for now the Republic would be at least slightly hostile towards her.

The Salarians were a possibility but while they had warships, everything Revan was told and could dig up about them was that they were middling at best compared to the other Council races. Top of the line technology-wise, however, the race of amphibians focused on stealth and sabotage. Having small teams infiltrate unnoticed and using their technology to cripple their enemies without them knowing they were there. Their ships simply weren’t designed to trade blows with an enemy. It was possible, probable even, that the Salarians had simply hidden their best warships but they would be too small in number to make much of a difference when outnumbered by a Reaper battlegroup.

That issue extended to the smaller races as well. No matter how advanced their ships were, they simply didn’t have the numbers to offer. And with the Batarians practically annihilated that left the Systems Alliance and the Turians as the only militaries with the numbers needed.

“What is the situation like in Turian space?”

Despite having a better relationship with the Systems Alliance, they were simply too far away at the moment. Practically on the exact opposite side of the galaxy, honestly.

“From what little we know, bad.” Shala’Raan replied. “Unlike the other Council Races, the Turians usually have their fleets patrolling all over the galaxy. Apparently there was only a small defense fleet at Palavan itself that was quickly overrun. We don’t know much more than that.”

Revan hummed as she considered things.

“Cancel the orders for the Recon fleet. Have them and any other messenger ships we have start heading to last known positions of any human or turian patrols or fleets and see if you can convince them to begin gathering up at our southern border. If they refuse, give them the coordinates and move on.”

“And what will your battlegroup be doing?”

“I think three Harrowers and twelve escorts will be enough as a scouting force. We will head for Palavan and either liberate the planet or at least attempt to evacuate the Turian leadership. If they are still alive anyway.”

-o-

“Keelah, the whole planet…how could anything do that so quickly?”

Palavan was burning.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering what was reported to have happened to the Batarians. But hearing a report that planets were being scoured of intelligent life and seeing it in person could just not be equated.

Nearly all of the bridge crew stared out of the main viewscreen, frozen in horror at the fires that covered nearly eighty percent of the visible surface. For such things to be visible from space…

It was a clear sign of just how much power the Reapers could bring to bear.

Even Revan wasn’t fully immune to the sight.

She had seen devastated planets before, ones long dead for one reason or another. She had even seen devastated ones as the result of her own orders or on the orders of Malak once he had seized control of the Empire. But even she had never seen such total destruction.

Under her orders, specific regions of a planet - usually military or infrastructure in nature - would be bombarded until they were no longer capable of being a threat. But in the end it would all be things that could be eventually rebuilt.

Malak, drowning in his sadistic urges, preferred to wipe all traces of civilization off the map and simply leave the handful of survivors to struggle among the ruins,

The Reapers had physically landed on the planet and did their best to scour every last turian from the surface in a horribly methodical way that it chilled the Sith Empress to her core.

But they could not afford to simply watch the destruction forever. They were not the only ones here.

“Scanners, I need a report on all ships in system. What are we facing here?”

The Force laced command jolted the young quarian officer out of his stupor and back onto his console. It would have been more efficient to simply have a Geth man the equipment, but tensions between the two races had still not relaxed to the point that her quarian staff would allow their ships to be piloted by a non-organic if it wasn’t necessary. Revan rather agreed with them if not for the same reasons.

“We’re seeing three dozen capital sized ships and a few hundred smaller escorts, ma’am.” The Sensor Operator reported back. “One Capital and five escorts have broken off towards us on an intercept vector.”

Arrogant.

Or at least that’s what Revan would have assumed if this had been anything else. What little video they had of a single Reaper fighting the human’s Fifth Fleet nearly three years ago proved a single ship could deal with the equivalent numbers of Revan’s battlegroup and the escorts were likely to ensure fewer of them could escape.

It was time to see how the weapons Revan had used to nearly conquer the Skyriver Galaxy compared to the machines that had destroyed theirs countless times before.

“Tell all ships to prepare for battle and raise deflector shields.” She ordered. “Have our escorts accelerate and spread out, and have all Harrowers launch two waves of fighters and set up a defensive screen. Prep bombers for launch after we see how our weapons compare. And get firing solutions for all Ion Cannons on those ships! I want every ship targeted on the first volley once they are in range. We only have one chance to surprise them, let’s make it count.”

The rush of orders snapped the rest of the crew out of their daze as they began scurrying to carry them out and slowly the rest of the battlegroup followed suit. Revan could only lament that she was unable to perform Battle Meditation. Either the Light or Dark version would have eliminated any hesitation. It was an old complaint, but one she was resigned to.

The technique required a uniquely flexible mindset that was simply anathema to Revan’s own and there was nothing she was willing to do to change that.

She would just need to rely on some of her old tricks instead.

While the Sith was barely proficient with divination or future sight, she was almost unparalleled in her old galaxy at Far Sight. Sinking her perspective into the Force it allowed her to view the entire battlefield in detail that most strategists would offer their dominant hand for. Every move both sides made observed in real time and from multiple viewpoints when Revan was completely focused.

That sort of information dominance meant it was almost impossible for a force led by her to be outmaneuvered unless her opponent could perfectly coordinate their own forces such as Bastila had with Battle Meditation and even then it took significant effort.

So the group of eye drones the Reapers had sent ahead of them trying to flank Revan’s battlegroup were swiftly discovered and countered by sending her own interceptors after them. But before the smaller ships could engage each other, the main force entered firing range.

The Empress calmly gave the order to open fire and watched as the brilliant bolts of blue energy slammed into the enemy ships. Cheers went up at the sight of them actually affecting the Reapers, what lights were visible on their hulls flickering wildly, but Revan quickly ordered them to fire the turbolasers. Just as she suspected, the Ion Cannons could disable some of the Reapers’ systems, but their techno-organic nature meant core systems were at least partially unaffected. The weapons systems worked at least, Revan noted, as they quickly – if inaccurately – returned fire.

The Reapers had no doubt been expecting to easily absorb the first few shots from the Imperial Battlegroup on their shields and fire once they were in optimal position to damage or destroy as many ships as possible. They had paid for the assumption and were slowly getting picked off one by one. More cheers went up at what was probably the first Space victory against the Reapers since the invasion started and this time Revan allowed them a small celebration, knowing this would likely be the last time victory was so easy.

The Reapers had allowed themselves to wander fat and happy directly under her guns and were surprised by a weapon they hadn’t seen deployed against them yet. But now the element of surprise was gone and they would no doubt adapt.

“Empress! Five Capital ships headed our way! Fifteen more escorts accompanying them!”

“Reform formation and have the fleet focus on recharging shields.” Revan said calmly. “We surprised them the first time. Now it’s time to see if we can beat them in a fair fight.”