Bab 167: Chapter 165
Seeing as how the Ascendency only halted their scout forces in certain areas of the galaxy, causing the Reapers to focus on the areas where the Ascendency didn't try to stop them. This caused more pressure to be put on the Asari, Turians, and Salarians.
Species such as the Volus had lost their homeworld Irune which shattered their government. The Volus government, known as the Vol protectorate, is a client state of the Turian Hierarchy. In return for falling under the protective umbrella of the turian military, the volus pay a tax to the Hierarchy, as well as deferring to the turians in all foreign policy matters and providing auxiliary troops to the turian armed forces.
Because of this, the Reapers didn't face much of a resistance from the Volus especially with the Turians being tied down in defending their own territory.
Among the small races, the Elcor were the closest to joining the Ascendency because of the benefits it brought and the sense of security they wanted to feel after the evidence of the Reapers being real was released to the public. They slowly drifted away from the Citadel politics and had focused their efforts on building their relationship up with the Ascendency.
They had come very close to joining the Ascendency and had learned a lot about the Ascendency government. But in the end, before they could actually join, the Reaper invasion happened. The Elcor fleet was decimated leaving only warriors and civilians to fight off the Reaper invasion.
Cerberus had also started making a ton of moves as the galaxy became more embroiled in war. A few Alliance Admirals who were sleeper agents for Cerberus had been revealed and arrested, while a few managed to provide Cerberus with valuable Alliance military information and resources.
Cerberus had also started attacking various colonies that were vulnerable and forcing the colonists to work as slaves. These areas were still considered hot zones to the Alliance because of the Reaper invasion, so those colonies were left to fend for themselves.
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On Thessia, the Asari were mounting a daring defensive against the Reapers who had showed up with a force of around 700 ships which was more than the Asari fleet could handle. In the beginning, the Asari had done hit and run tactics against the Reaper forces, appearing within their blind spot and destroying a few ships before jumping to FTL, where they could not be tracked.
With this, the Asari forced the Reapers to remain on the defensive. Unfortunately, the Reapers' greater numbers allowed them to accept certain losses, so they soon ignored the attacks against them and began orbital bombardment of Thessia. This in turn forced the Asari to defend their homeworld with a more traditional stance, facing the Reaper forces directly.
Following this, the swift and brutal slaughter of the Asari ground forces began. Thessia's minimal military forces combined with unpreparedness in the face of an overwhelming enemy, resulted in the Asari forces being pushed back. In 24 hours, 75% of the planet was controlled by the Reapers, forcing the civilians to either hide or be harvested.
Admiral Kira'shan was in command of the Asari fleet fighting the Reapers above Thessia. Things were not looking good for them, her fleet, which consisted of half the Asari Navy was now reduced to just under 200 ships.
"Admiral, our supplies are limited, we only have enough left for one more attack before we are forced to retreat" Kira'shan clenched her jaw, staring at the tactical display flickering with red dots representing the Reaper fleet. The once vibrant colors of her homeworld now faded under the relentless bombardment, the landscape of Thessia marred by fire and destruction.
"Status report from the ground forces?" she asked.
"Ground forces report heavy losses. The Reapers are systematically eliminating pockets of resistance. "We've lost contact with several key defense installations," came the response from her communications officer, Lieutenant Nerya.
"Damn it," Kira'shan muttered. "We need to buy them more time. We have to hit them hard, now!"
"Prepare our remaining vessels for a concentrated assault their central ships," Kira'shan ordered. "We may only get one shot, but if we can take down their center, we can open up a path for our forces to start a breakthrough."
Her tactical officer frowned. "But Admiral, we'll be outnumbered. It's a suicide mission!"
"Better to die fighting than to flee and let them ravage our home," she shot back, her biotic aura flaring briefly as her emotions surged. "We owe it to our people. We owe it to Thessia."
Nerya nodded, her expression resolute. "I'll coordinate with the other captains. We'll have to move fast and coordinate our fire."
A few minutes later, the Asari fleet began its final assault on the Reaper ships blockading the planet. And just as predicted, the Asari fleet was unable to make a push through the center of the Reaper fleet. It had become so desperate that a dozen Asari ships had intentionally sacrificed themselves by crashing into Reaper destroyers. But in the end, it proved to be useless.
That was the case, until what the Asari Admiral knew were slipspace portals had appeared all around their current location. "Admiral, we have slipspace portals popping up in all directions. Multiple signatures detected, they're... they're Ascendency ships!" the sensor officer shouted, her voice a mix of surprise and relief. Admiral Kira'shan felt a surge of hope as the Ascendency ships appeared.
"Ma'am we're getting an incoming transmission from the emperor himself" reported the communications officer. Admiral Kira'shan nodded telling the communications officer to accept the transmission.
In front of Admiral Kira'shan appeared the live image of Axel, "Admiral Kira'shan," he began. "Let's not waste time and get straight to the point. We will clear out the Reaper forces and then head planet side to liberate the rest of the planet, I need you and the remaining Asari ships to retreat to a safe distance behind my fleet, where we will began repairing your fleet."
Admiral Kira'shan couldn't even muster up the words to express what she was feeling at this moment, so all she said was "Thank you."
Axel shook his head before he replied, "I don't deserve it considering what has been lost already but thank you nonetheless."
No more time was wasted on a conversation that could be had after the fighting was done. So as ordered, Admiral Kira'shan and her fleet retreated to a safe distance and started getting repaired by the repair Sentinels.
With his fleet of 2,000 ships, Axel had managed to break through the Reaper blockade in a matter of minutes, giving a path for the ground transports to land on the planet and start providing immediate support to Asari resistance forces.
Standing up from his command chair, Axel left the command of the space battle to Imperial Admiral Xytan as he took a transport down to the surface of the planet alongside the Ur-Didact. This would be the first major battle of the war considering the number of ships and soldiers that were present, as well as the first major victory that would be the first of many.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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