"I have eyes on the turian force. They're using the city's hospital as a FOB. I see ground vehicles and airships. A lot of wounded in the area, likely from the destruction of the spaceport. They've already set up defences. Anti-air and tank guns and fortifications are up, they're smart." Kilel spoke through his headset. He had taken position in an abandoned tower, hiding in the darkness cast by the setting sun. He watched through the scope of his sniper as another troop carrier dropped in the parking lot, dropping off a few more soldiers, most wounded.

"Can your sister give us another orbital strike?"

"Negative. UNSC will want the colony as undamaged as possible. The spaceport was one thing, something she may get in trouble with already. A hospital and the surrounding city would not help her case." He paused when he heard a muffled explosion, likely a few miles away. "How's the defense line?"

"They're doing great. Half the city is already ours and we're keeping the birds at bay. If we hold out like this for a few more hours we'll be in the clear."

"Than let's just hope they won't launch another strike." The turian fleet hadn't appreciated the destruction of the spaceport. It was estimated that around fifty percent of the turian ground forces had been killed in the initial MAC bombardment. They had responded with Mass Accelerator attacks themselves, decimating a good twenty percent of UNSC forces before they ceased. They had attacked other UNSC strongholds on the planet, but the task force bearing down on their forces were too close to attack without catching their own men in the blast. It was essentially a stalemate.

"We just need to keep them cornered." If they were to defeat the ground force the turians in space would have no reason not to fire again. It was a waiting game now.

"Khesa, how's your line doing?"

"We are holding." The Sangheili spoke calmly. "We haven't had an incursion in two hours. They've learned you pay a heavy price when doing so." Khesa's defense line was more heavily fortified than the others after the orbital strikes. The last attack on the line had cost the turians half their vehicles and a few hundred men, losses they could ill afford.

"Anymore of those mages?"

"We had a group hit our left flank half an hour ago." Doc spoke now. "Took fifteen casualties but they lost all four." He frowned. "The casualties weren't pretty."

Kilel could attest to the fact. He'd seen the bodies, some torn to bloody shreds and the others smashed against the buildings. He'd seen something similar to their strange abilities, but even the Empire was unaware of how it came to manifest for how to control it.

He stared down the scope once more, taking note of a turian near the hospital. It was looking at his direction, eyes squinted, as if he was looking for something. Kilel kept his sights on the alien and to his surprise, the turian recoiled before turning and pointing directly at him, mouth open, likely screaming at the others. The Airecantian prince wasted no time, aiming at a fuel tank close to the turian before firing. The tank detonated, sending fire and shrapnel into the air. The turian fell to the floor, left arm now missing while other allies around the tank were in a similar state, with others dead. Kilel emptied his clip, dispatching five more turians before he charged through the window, a missile flying into the room he had occupied. He landed a few stories and an explosion later, the concrete cracking beneath his armored boots.

"They spotted me. Moving to another position. Enemy casualties at twenty-three dead, nineteen wounded."

"Alright. Vigilance, I need as many portals as you can open in front of us and in front of the turian fleet."

"Yes ma'am."

Twelve slipspace portals opened before the surviving UNSC ships and twelve opened before the turian fleet. The UNSC fired weapons, archer missiles, MAC rounds, and a few Shiva-class missiles crossing the void and entering the slipspace portals. A second later the projectiles exited the second pair of portals, slamming into the enemy fleet. MAC round gutted ships, archers critically damaged others, and the three nuclear missiles that made it past the GUARDIAN lasers destroyed many and fatally damaged others. And as quickly as the portals appeared, they disappeared.

"Forty-seven ships destroyed, twenty-five damaged in varying degrees."

"Good." Kelly breathed out. "That leaves a hundred fifty-two ships."

Over the hours, Kelly had kept true to her promise. She was hitting the Turian fleet when she could, keeping them distracted. She had to after the fleet started bombing the planet, destroying military bases. She'd kept the harassment up for the last few hours, attacking any time it looked like they were taking firing positions above the planet. She'd tried to conserve ammo, but they were running dangerously low. They'd have enough for two more attacks of this nature.

"Vigilance, prepare for another assault."

"Yes ma'am. Recharge will take ten minutes."

"Any activity at the Turning Gate?"

"None. I don't believe reinforcements are coming for them. I've heard a lot of chatter between the fleet, and I've blocked all transmissions going out system. Unless they physically send a runner they won't be getting messages anytime soon."

"Slipspace rupture detected!"

Kelly launched herself from her seat, bringing on a bout of pain to her head, but she was concentrating more on the news. Next to the remainder of her fleet the ruptures appeared, the largest of them appearing just a few kilometers to starboard.

And then ships started appearing by the dozen. Destroyers, frigates, cruisers, battleships, carriers, supercarriers.

And next to her ship the UNSC Infinity herself.

"UNSC Arizona, this is Admiral James Barrette of the UNSC Infinity, do you read?"

"Copy Infinity, we read you loud and clear." Kelly smiled in relief. "You have no idea how good it is to see you."

"I can only imagine. Take it easy Gininsburg, the Second Fleet will take it from here. You did an amazing job. I'll have a few ships stay behind and help with your wounded."

"Thank you sir." She watched as the fleet slowly made its way past her battered ships.

"All remaining ships under my command, the Second Fleet has taken over combat operations in this area. Stay behind the gas giant and prepare to revive aid."

She flopped back down onto her command chair as the rest of her crew went about tending to the wounded and preparing for aid.

"I need a nap."

"I think you earned a few minutes of sleep ma'am." Sam replied.

"Sir, we're reading more of those ruptures behind the gas giant."

"All ships prepare for another volley. Spread out." Desolas did not want a repeat of what had just happened. They'd done this a few times already, but the nuclear warheads were new, and many of his ships had paid for it.

"New contacts coming from the gas giant! Spirits, over a thousand ships!"

"What?! Give me a visual!" Desolas ordered. A second later he could see the massive number of ships heading his way. Just as his man had said, over a thousand ships were heading his way, each in varying sizes. The smallest were cruiser size.

"How large is that ship!?" He was staring at the largest ship in the center of the formation.

"O-over five kilometers sir." The turian stuttered slightly.

"Impossible." Desolas said to himself. That was much larger than the Destiny Ascension.

"We can't win. We have too little ships and none that could match the firepower of that monstrosity. Order all ships to retreat to the relay."

"Sir, what about our ground forces?"

"If we stay here any longer we'll be wiped out. We leave now and return with more forces. Get us out of here." Dying here wouldn't serve any purpose.

"Yes sir."

The remaining turian ships that could move under their own power began doing so, turning back to the direction of the relay, weaving through the debris of destroyed ships. Only a few ships had jumped to FTL before UNSC ships appeared before them, blocking their way. Infinity along with a sizable escort opened fire, hundreds of 600 ton slugs racing across space. None of the remaining ships could survive under the amount of fire heading their way, three or four rounds for every ship.

Desolas hadn't seen the destruction of his fleet. His dreadnought was one of the first to fall, two MAC rounds from the Infinity herself striking the command deck, venting the deck into space, and the drive core, detonating a second later and vaporizing the remains of the shattered ship. The rest of the fleet suffered similar fates in quick succession. By the end of the first volley, all turian ships trapped in system had been destroyed, the few ships that had jumped to FTL the only survivors.

"All enemy ships have been destroyed Admiral."

"Good. I want three hundred ships guarding that turning gate, I don't want a surprise." James turned to his comm officer. "Let high command know we are back in control of the system and begin landing operations."

"Yes sir."

"Kelly? What happened? Really? That's good. Thanks for the heads up." Kilel keyed his comms to the entirety of the planet.

"All forces. The UNSC Second Fleet just regained control of orbit. Prepare to receive reinforcements."

"About bloody time." Doc spoke. Kilel couldn't blame his feelings. Empire fleets tended to reach besieged planets in mere hours. Sometimes less.

"Eh, at least they're here." Kilel responded. "Don't shoot a gift horse in the mouth Doc."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Once reinforcements arrive we'll start pushing in from all sides. Khesa, your front will be our main push. You have the most forces on your end, so blitz them hard."

"Finally." He could hear the excitement in her voice.

"Easy, we're still waiting."

"We're getting some strange readings below the Orbital Defense Grid."

"Yes, we're getting anomalies too. As far as the Relay."

"Are you reading this? Multiple unknown signatures!"

"Does anyone have a visual?!"

"They're every-"

Scenes like this played out all across Hierarchy space as slipspace ruptures opened either behind defense fleets or in atmosphere. In all cases the enemy fleet outnumbered them massively, particularly in the orbit of Palavan, where the Emperor's personal fleet made its new home. The tens of thousands of ships made quick work of the turian fleets and orbital defenses before parking above important parts of their respective planets. They deployed their forces soon after, either by drop pods or gunships as the starships themselves saturated military installations and the largest cities.

"We have complete orbital supremacy Emperor. And the Gate has been shutdown."

"Excellent. Continue bombardment on non-occupied areas. I want the least amount of resistance from these turians. GFAPs are to drop first." He wanted them demoralized.

"Yes Emperor."

Keresk merely stared at the display as his fleet began firing antimatter bombs, anti ship cannons and plasma beams at the surface, a small feeling of satisfaction making its way into his body. These turians were paying a high price for attacking his Empire. He was all for making sure that they would never attack his people again for some time. If he could, he'd make sure it would never be a possibility, but such a response was extreme for the UNSC and RAS. So he was doing the next best thing, as they had failed to specify how far he could go short of complete conquest or extinction.

"Any word from Harvest?"

"The UNSC Second Fleet is in orbit. The turian fleet was destroyed and Harvest is being relieved. Your son is helping clear the remains enemy ground forces."

Keresk nodded, a sigh escaping his lips. His son was okay.

He couldn't say the same for the many others that would surely die in the coming battle; on both sides.