*****
The Migrant Fleet Marines had died fighting, but the turians were ready to make the Reapers pay for it, with no intention of allowing the quarians to have died in vain. The Marines had gotten the vital intelligence in Carratine District, and now the final pieces of the grand strategy had finally clicked into place. Flash-briefings were given to orbital unit involved to the operation, followed with orders to make immediate preparations for deployment. No more than sixteen hours had passed since the quarians uploaded intelligence on Carratine District that the final authorization was given for SLENDER SCALPEL, and the fleet began its offensive operations. For the ground troops, it meant amassing at the carrier’s hangar bay in preparation to land from shuttles, drop pods, and gliders. Men and women began to assemble in a stunning gathering of manpower across hangars nearly a kilometer long.
In the hours before the operation was executed, Risithi managed to make contact with the krogan commandos on the four carriers. The commandos had only been told that they needed to hand off key assets to waiting turian resistance members at a specific time and place, but at Cerivix’s insistence, they had not been told of what they had been carrying or what it was going to be used for. It was argued that this was for operational security, that secrets were best hidden when as few people as possible knew about them, and that it wasn’t discrimination against their krogan allies. Risithi, who had been fighting a losing battle against this policy, unilaterally contacted the krogan commandos to fill them in, informing them of the warp bombs they’d be carrying that’d be used to destroy the Reaper ships and how important they’d be to the entire effort to the offensive campaign. The turians were far less appreciative of the news than the krogan; HDI discovered the leak very quickly, and a furious Coronati had Risithi thrown into the brig of the Defender. But the damage had been done, so CIC was given new directions to work around the new set of circumstances when coordinating SLENDER SCALPEL.
The carriers, responsible for delivering the core manpower element for this operation, was bustling with activity as legions and battalions made final checks on armor, weapons, and ordinance. With the impression that they were not going to return to space anytime soon, the turians were armed to the teeth, carrying as much weaponry as they could. Even Blackwatch, known for eschewing extra equipment in favor of speed and improvisation, was no exception in this particular instance of preparing for every conceivable emergency. [Gunnery Chief Torin] Fidellin, like many in 2nd Platoon, was carrying a Phaeston assault rifle, a Krysae sniper rifle, a (contraband) Carnifex handgun, a Hydra missile launcher, strips of thermal clips, homing grenades, anti-personnel and anti-armor mines, several kilograms of remote explosives, two monomolecular serrated combat knives, stimulant packs, three days of rations, medigel, and several radio beacons, all of which he carried on combat armor with propulsion packs. All of it was practically heavier than his body weight, “Yet it was still light compared to all the shit the engineers or the meatshields in the heavy assault legions were carrying, to say nothing of the krogan.”
Quite a number of special operations-capable units, prominently Blackwatch but also including the 52nd Reconnaissance Legion, had armor that included propulsion packs. This caused much grumbling amongst conventional forces who would be riding in gliders, as they felt they needed the rocket thrusters to safely land in case something went wrong with their gliders (which, in the minds of virtually every turian riding the gliders, was almost certain to happen). This, of course, was a great source of amusement to the units that did have propulsion packs, as the majority of them were riding down to Palaven with the krogan on shuttles.
Blackwatch 2nd Platoon rode in the same shuttles alongside several of the Malgus commandos. To Ravakian’s surprise, Urdnot climbed into the same shuttle as 2nd Platoon’s command staff, seating the commando leader apart from E Company’s commanding officers. An awkward silence descended upon the turians, who sized up their krogan allies as their counterparts did the same. Helsrang could’ve swore his hand hovered no less than ten centimeters away from his handgun. Urdnot asked Ravakian if there was anyone she had to go back to once this was all over; the turian explained she had a husband with three underage children. “Most krogan don’t get to be fathers,” Urdnot rumbled, his voice stern but surprisingly non-hostile. “This only changed lately, but I passed up my chance because I was told I was needed here. I’m only saying this because you’re supposed to be the best the turians have to offer, so now that we’re all here about to save your planet instead of mine, do not fuck this up.”
Ravakian replied, “We’ll do our part to the last man. You get the precious cargo where it needs to go, and you’ve got an entire planet in your debt.”
“And just like that,” Helsrang recalled, “the tension in a shuttle full of super-lethal turian and krogan motherfuckers deflated like a balloon.”
It may have been just Scradius, but the turian could’ve sworn that the krogan had mysteriously warmed up to him in their own way after the whole incident with Urdnot spacing the commando who tore off one of Scradius’ mandibles. The other Malgus commandos took to calling him “the Half-Jaw”, which initially caused him to bristle at first, not knowing whether they meant it as a compliment or an insult. But with FORWARD FLAME kicking off and the odds of his survival dismally low, Scradius decided to go with the former, figuring it wasn’t going to hurt anyways. It didn’t spare him from ribbing from the 85th [Assault Infantry Legion], though, who saw fit to remind him every now and then that “krogan women like scars”.
Ordinix developed a cough that wouldn’t stop. He insisted that he was absolutely fine otherwise, no sign of discomfort or dizziness, but Lieutenant Sevihierax told him to sit the operation out. The 52nd [Reconnaissance Legion] was special operations-capable, so it was accompanying the krogan commandos to deliver the warp bombs to the resistance covertly; Sevihierax didn’t want Ordinix compromising something so crucial. Fuck that, the corporal thought. This was the largest, most pivotal operation that he would ever participate in, and he wasn’t going to miss out because of a little cough. As the shuttles began leaving the Example, Ordinix waited until Sevihierax had jumped aboard his own ship before the corporal dashed for another vessel to take him groundside with his buddies. It wasn’t until the shuttle closed its airlock and began taking off that Ordinix realized he had jumped onto the wrong shuttle, joining up with the 163rd Assault Infantry Legion instead.
On the bridge, Ixius emerged on the bridge, where Castellus was already waiting for her with status updates; it would be five minutes before the first phase of SLENDER SCALPEL began, and the entire operation was waiting for the go-code, “Ayreen”, from Admiral Coronati. The executive officer jokingly suggested that it would be enough time for a quick speech. Despite expectant stares from the bridge officers, Ixius – never having been one for grandiose speeches – simply gave them the encouragement they needed, saying, “You don’t need an old hag like me telling you how to do your jobs. You keep up everything you did for the last few months, and – spirits willing – we’ll get to the other side, one way or another. I expect to watch this ship dance tonight.”
In spite of Ixius’ words, as far as the combatants were concerned, this was it, the moment of truth. More than two hundred ships were assigned to participate in SLENDER SCALPEL, encompassing the 3rd, 9th, 12th, and and 13th Fleets under the authority of 3rd Fleet Commander Admiral Coronati. The turian ground force, reorganized under the 220,000 strong 27th Provisional Army commanded by General Resvirix, would be deployed to Palaven from the Eternal, Example, Resolute, and Whirlwind, and their respective carrier task forces. Their landing and operation would be supported by fourteen air divisions from a combination of aerospace superiority fighters and gunships. The 27th Provision Army would then join the krogan ground forces, numbering around 90,000. Accurate numbers for turian resistance fighters that were assigned to participate in supporting FORWARD FLAME are impossible to ascertain accurately even to this day (especially given the difficulty of defining the blurry line between the resistance members supporting the offensive operation and those holding the line at resistance-controlled territories), but most historians put the figure between six to ten million planetwide. Assuming the primary objective of SLENDER SCALPEL was achieved and the Reaper ships destroyed, the 3rd, 17th, 29th, and 35th Armies stationed on Menae and Nanus would be transported groundside by capital ships no longer in imminent danger of being shot down on approach by grounded Reaper ships. In the face of diminished Reaper presence on Palaven, the entire Hierarchy military would then focus on reconsolidating turian positions on Palaven and implementing new defensive strategies they learned over the past months.
Logistically, this wasn’t the make-or-break point for the Hierarchy, but it felt like it. “At no point was the turian war machine so motivated beyond professional expectations to win,” Siritii spoke of the moment. “The quarians had cleared our wounded and cleared the way, we had somehow warmed to the krogan over the last week without even realizing it, and now the allied force was descending to Palaven itself to take it back. It was dicey, and everyone knew how badly the war was stacked against us, but if we could not emerge victorious from this, then spirits help us, we couldn’t win anything at all.”
*****
-More Updates To Arrive-
That's the latest of the posted story, with the upcoming snippet being the next "chapter" in the "book". Can't wait
