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"I used to think that the Geth were a major threat to the galaxy. After fighting against the horrors of the multiverse, not so much." - Cmdr. Shepard

"Never before in the history of combat has the arrival of a new opponent been more welcomed than when the flashlight heads came to town. They were like a breath of fresh air in an elevator, while the Orks were a rank-ass fart that wouldn't go away." - Chieftain Cassius

The first two weeks between the Coalition and the Orks were quickly settling into a stalemate. While Orks had been concentrated to Manehattan and parts of the Griffon Kingdoms, the Orks had enough numbers to keep their holdings and just whittle the allies down. The allied ships were demolishing the WAAAGH! fleet, but the ships were getting closer and closer in attempts to board them. If even one ship boarded them while troops were down below, it was game over for our valiant heroes.

It was slowly turning into a war of attrition, and one which the Orks were guaranteed to win unless reinforcements showed up. Fortunately, backup did arrive. Unfortunately, it wasn't the backup they were hoping for...

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Day 13 of Equestria War

Despite her prior nausea and vertigo, Twilight Sparkle still felt giddy about being one of the first ponies to ever go into space. She, Trixie and Rarity had been selected by Celestia and Luna to represent the EDP in the latest Alliance meeting. The Princesses would go, but they were talking with Adam and the other Royals on the merits of using the sun and moon to destroy the Ork fleet.

Twilight looked at her fellow unicorns as the shuttle docked in the Imperial Hangar bay. Rarity's horn was still bandaged up from her attack, but had otherwise healed from her trauma, physically speaking. This was actually the first time she had been allowed out of the hospital, and seemed agreeable enough for going to space. She was a bit worried about Spike going into combat (as Twilight was too), but from what they were hearing over the coms, Spike was getting almost as many kills as Chief or Shepard on his own. Clearly he could handle himself.

Trixie, on the other hoof, seemed to be really enjoying herself. She had her full outfit from her first day back in Ponyville, with her hat, cape and vest. She had even brought along an Equestrian Saber, although it was probably for show today. Twilight figured that now she could finally put Luna's training to practice, and be a representative for the Equestrian races. Twilight didn't bring anything with her - she was the Element of Magic, she could handle herself just fine.

Due to the nature of the meeting, the Wrath had parked itself behind the moon, while the Normandy and Task Force ships kept on the Ork Kroozas. The Imperials kept on talking about how crappy the Ork ships were, but every Cerberus worker or UNSC marine just felt that they were plenty awesome enough to destroy these pesky greenskins - a way to say that they were just as kickass as the Emperor's men, even if only in space.

The three unicorns got off the shuttle, and were greeted by Captain Lema and a squad of Servitor guards. Twilight thought that the practice was rather disturbing: Even in death, you were made to keep fighting, as more and more of your body was replaced with machinery.

"Welcome, ladies," The Captain greeted, "The meeting is about to start. If you'll follow me, please." She gestured them down the hall out of the hangar, leading the ponies through the corridors of the massive ship.

Looking to one of the cyborgs in particular, Rarity asked, "Captain, since when have the Mechanicus started using ponies for Servitors?"
"What do you mean?"

Rarity pointed to the shortest of the Servitors, a blue earth pony with a musical note cutie mark and a mini-laser attached to his head. "That pony there? He used to be Noteworthy. He was a musician in Ponyville, and a friend of Lyra, Vinyl and myself. What happened to him?"

"Oh, that." Lema said quickly. "He had been killed in one of the latest Dark Eldar raids, over in Dodge Junction I believe. He survived long enough to reach a hospital, but upon death the AdMechs decided to try their magic on one of you 'blessed xenos', starting with him. So far, it looks promising."

"And who gave them permission to do this?"
"That would be the Emperor and the Princesses. When you run out of soldiers, it helps the living to use the dead."

Rarity gasped. "Princess Celestia would never allow such desecration!"
"You'd be surprised how much influence our Emperor has. And quite frankly, even if they didn't like it, they still trust his judgement, and who're are you to say no? All is fair in love and war, regardless of who you are."

After a few minutes, the captain and ponies arrived to the bridge, where the meeting was being held. The Captains Numitor and Gideon of the Space Marines were there, as well as Lt. Osburran and Magos Kriel, and Inquisitor Creighton. The holograms of Captain Brogan and Shipmaster 'Valuum were also there, looking a great deal more stressed out than the rest. Even Commander Shepard was in attendance, with a hololink attached to the main system that established a link to the quantum entanglement system, giving the Illusive Man his first appearance. All of them were standing around a astromap of the system, with the planet, sun and moon, and all the ships in orbit.

Simply put, it didn't look good. There were still dozens and dozens of Ork ships surrounding the planet, even as the wreckage from the hundreds of busted ships were forming a ring around the globe. None of the ships were running out of fuel or ammo, but they had to take care to all attack at the same time, lest one of them gets isolated and surrounded. And the battle on the ground wasn't doing so well, either: While most of the Orks were focused on the battleground cities, some warbands were starting to raid griffon and dragon territories to find new opponents.

And the biggest problem? While Orks had the ability to create new troops via spores, everyone else had to wait for reinforcements to arrive. While fatalities had remained low so far, the Alliance was beginning to feel the pinch, and the locals were having to fill more and more gaps. But Equestria was overall a very peaceful place, and the members of the Pact weren't up to snuff against creatures born to fight.

"I believe that a frontal assault on the the Warboss's ship is still our best option." Captain Brogan stated. "Based on the files you've provided, if the Boss is killed, the WAAAGH! will quickly break up and retreat."

"No." The Inquisitor countered. "The bulk of the fleet is centered around his ship. Attacking it with our limited numbers would be a fool's gambit."

"What about using the sun and moon to smash them?" 'Valuum pointed out. "The Princesses have displayed great control of these celestial bodies, and the Kroozas haven't demonstrated much in the way of maneuverability."

"That's not a good idea." Numitor corrected. "Even if the alicorns were to agree to this - which we can't guarantee - the WAAAGH! still has enough firepower to destroy the sun and moon. Losing either would risk ravaging the planet, or perhaps even destroy the entire system, including both fleets."

"What about these so called 'Elements of Harmony'?" The Illusive Man asked. "Supposedly, these items have the power to exorcise demons and turn gods to stone. Perhaps we could use them to annihilate the fleet. And perhaps we should take a few for ourselves to study, find a way to use them without some useless primitives interfering with us."

"Excuse Me?" Twilight snapped. "And just who are you supposed to be, suggesting something like that?"

"Perhaps I should do some introductions." Shepard spoke up. "Ladies, this is The Illusive Man. He runs Cerberus, and is the guy who funded my mission, my ship, and my resurrection. He is not, however, the guy I take orders from."

"Pleasure to meet you." The hologram said politely. There's something off about this guy, Twilight thought. It wasn't just the weirdly colored eyes, or his voice, or the way he sat in the chair. No, there was a strange aura around that guy, even when he was just a figment of light. Maybe that was the reason why his hologram was off in the corner, while everyone else was giving him space (not out of fear, but out of the sense that people avoid someone with a cold in a crowded room).

"Sir," Shepard said with an edge, "Allow me to introduce you to the Equestrian Envoy: Trixie Lulamoon, personal student of Princess Luna; Rarity Belle, Element-Bearer of Generosity and survivor of a Dark Eldar raid; and Twilight Sparkle, Personal student of Princess Celestia, Element-Bearer of of Magic, and one of the most powerful telekinetics we have."

"Now that we have that out of the way," Trixie said rather angrily, "Let us clear up a couple of things right now. One, we are not some race of mindless creatures with cool abilities for you to study. We are the people everyone here is fighting to protect, the one ace in the hole we all have should something truly horrible go down."

"Two," Rarity continued, "We can't make more Elements. These are magical constructs, thousands of years old. Its not like they just grow on trees, with replacements given in little boxes." Trixie coughed, but Rarity continued. "They can only be used by myself, Twilight and our friends."

"And three," Twilight finished, "the Elements are not tools of destruction. They freed Luna from her oppression, and Discord was petrified. In both cases, the Elements didn't kill or destroy, but purified and imprisoned. We can't use the Elements to destroy an entire fleet. Further, from the files provided by the Inquisitor, the need for the Orks to fight goes down to the genetic level, and would be highly unlikely to work on them. And even if it did, it would only work on their spores which could maybe -maybe- water down their violent behavior. Either way, that won't help our situation now."

"Then what would you have us do, xeno?" Lt. Osburran said, sounding rather annoyed. "Everyday, our forces grow weaker and they grow stronger. We are four ships against 500, and 30'000 soldiers against over 750'000 monsters. Our reinforcements aren't coming for another month. If things don't change soon... we may have to start the Westeros Contingencies."

This raised some eyebrows among the non-Imperials. "What're those?" Shepard asked.

"They are plans recently given to us by the Emperor." Captain Gideon explained. "Should Equestria become undefendable, our new mission will be to evacuate the planet of its populace, and commit Exterminatus on the sun, destroying our enemies. Under plans Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen, We are then to make our way back to one of our home galaxies, or failing that, find a suitable system to establish a colony."

"We will know that time has come," Creighton explained, "when the Emperor says the phrase 'Winter is Coming' in the minds of all allied forces."

"Seriously?" Trixie scoffed. "We're already planning on abandoning the planet? I thought you men were the best warriors in your galaxies! Why are you so apt for turning tail like foals?!"

"Oh, you're one to talk!" The Inquisitor challenged. "Its not like your troops are dying left and right fighting for an ungrateful race!"
"No, its not. Its our families that are dying, our brothers and sisters, our friends and lovers. You are losing some soldiers, but we are losing everything!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Twilight ordered. "Arguing with each other won't solve our problems! Now, let's think about things rationally, and-"

"Alert!" Magos Kriel reported. "Abnormal readings being detected from Mass Relay."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed. The meeting turned its attention to the display in the middle of the room. The Mass Relay was glowing brighter, as the circles around the reactor began spinning faster and faster.

"Commander," EDI reported over the radio, "I'm detecting five hundred fifty-six vessels approaching an exit vector to our location."

"Wonderful," Shepard cheered, "The Citadel finally got off their asses and showed up early for once. Now you guys are going to see what my world is like in action. Not as spectacular as some of your weapons, true, but still -"

"I hate to interrupt, Commander," The Illusive Man informed them, "But Cerberus operatives report that the fleet is still gathering up around Illium."

Shepard paused. A curious expression came across his face as it slowly dawned on him.

"Hold on," Rarity asked with confusion, "If your people are still gathering, then who else would use a Mass Relay?"

Then the ships began popping into existence in front of the Relay. They were long, thin things, with attachments that looked like legs sprouting out. They were forming a veritable swarm of vessels between the allies and the Orks. Everyone was silent, and all ships in orbit stopped what they were doing for that one moment in time.

And all across the comm channels, a strange, electronic chittering filled the airwaves.

"Geth? Here?!" Shepard exclaimed, dumbfounded. "But that's impossible. We converted all the heretic Geth, they should be free. What are they doing?!"

"There must be other heretic Geth bases out here." TIM concluded. "If the Collectors had three bases, the Geth would likely have more as well."

"Compared to the Orks, perhaps not." Shepard conceded. "But they were a threat in my world, and will certainly complicate things here. We should be okay, though, if we stay out of the way..."

Mass Relay jump successful. Destination reached. All platforms and programs operating at maximum capacity. Warning! Anomalies detected.

Anomaly #1: System consisting of unusually small yellow dwarf star and satellite in orbit around Garden World.

Anomaly #2: Approximately 504 vessels are stationed above Garden World. One SSV Normandy detected.

Initiating contact sequence with other vessels... Greetings. We are Geth. Identify yourselves.

WE 'ERD YOU DA FIRST TIME, GIT! DIS BE WARBOZZ CURBSTOMPA, MIGHTIEST O' ALL DE ORKS! WOT'S YO' BUSINESS 'ERE?!

Responding... We seek the termination of SSV Normandy. We have no conflict with you.

ITS! WARBOZZ! CURBSTOMPA! SAY IT WRONG AGAIN, I KRUMP YE GITS LIKE TIN CANS!

DAT'S IT! BOYZ, EVERYONE FIRE ON DA NEW GUYZ! SHOW 'EM WHY NO ONE CROSSES WARBOZZ CURBSTOMPA N' LIVES!

All at once, Ork ships - followed almost immediately by the Geth - fired upon each other, Dakka and lasers and missiles and mass accelerated rounds flying fast and furious. Within the first 30 seconds, over a hundred ships on both sides had been blown up, adding to the growing field of orbital debris.

"Everyone, evasive maneuvers!" Captain Lema quickly ordered. "Let's get some cover!" The other captains quickly gave similar orders to their ships, and together the small flotilla began heading behind the moon.

"Captains," TIM asked quickly, "why are you retreating? Surely you have enough firepower to take out the Geth?"

"Man," The Inquisitor snapped, "there is almost a thousand ships out there fighting each other. We are only four, with most of our troops groundside. Emperor willing, we'll be able to hold onto our territories for Him to resurrect and fight them. Otherwise, it would be prudent to let these 'Geth' take a whack at the Orks, and see what they're made of..."
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1 hour later

"This is the best job ever." Spike declared with proud finality, as he snapped his helmet into place.

"I'll admit, Spike," Cortana complimented over the coms, "you look rather impressive."

The dragon couldn't help but smile at that. Here he was, part of a squad with the Master Chief, Legion, Cpl. Faber, Grunt and Jack, along with a dozen others on an assault of an Ork base near the Crystal Empire. Spike himself was no longer a little baby dragon, a sidekick to all his friends and family. He was a dragon astartes, upgraded by the Emperor Himself into an unstoppable warrior of awesomeness. He went through a trial by fire against the likes of the Dark Eldar, and came out a victorious champion. The Orks wouldn't know what hit them.

He was still in the armor from that fateful night, now customized to match his uniqueness. It now shown with green and purple, with trims of gold and black and blue. The helmet had been given a muzzle for his extended jaw, and a tail and wing holes had been added for comfort. Spikes and spines had been added along the back, adding to the draconian look.
His body too had been changed. His body shrank a tad after the fight, but he remained at the same height as a pony - the days of riding Twilight were done. His scales and bone, already strong enough to break rock and survive lava, were now stronger than the adamantium he wore. His teeth were longer, his claws sharper on demand, and he had the strength to fly himself and armor across the battlefield.

The humans had given him a new name; The Salamander - a name shared with massive dragons, and a mighty legion of Space Marines. Can't get a greater compliment than that.

"Everyone ready?" Chief asked. He was answered with a series of "yes", "affirmatives" and "hell yeahs". "Alright, let's move out."

To the tune of Shoot to Thrill, the door to the Pelican they ride in opens up, revealing a cold and snow-covered landscape, with a city of reflective rock just below them. Everyone drew their weapons as anti-aircraft fire shot this way and that, striking some shuttles but mostly missing their mark. The Pelican rapidly descended, stopping a few feet above the ground. The team jumped off, scanning the area for any hostiles, but finding it bare.

"What a quaint little city this is," Cortana mused briefly, before instructing, "The Gargaunt station is a few blocks north of here. Maybe a couple of dozen hostiles manning the place. Can't get a positive reading, though: the magical radiation here is five times the ambient level. Its messing with the sensors and all comlinks. Better stay within range, Chief."

"Everyone, form up." The Spartan ordered. "Legion, head up to the top of those buildings, keep an eye out for us."

"Affirmative." The robot responded, and began running off for the tallest building.

"Faber, Jack, you two stay in the back, hit them hard with your rockets and biotics."

"'Bout fucking time I got some action." The convict complained. "I was getting bored being stuck on that damn rust bucket."

"Spike, you and Grunt will be up front with me. Blast anything that crosses your sights."

The Krogan and Dragon pulled out their weapons - a machine gun turret and an Astartes plasma gun, respectively - stepping next to the Spartan with his M739 Light Machine Gun, or "SAW". With everyone in formation, and the robot rapidly reaching his post, the team began heading in the direction of the Ork base.

Crystal ponies were running past the team and out the city. Now that Alliance troops were here ("under authority of Princess Cadence", or so they claimed), their opportunity to escape their former enslavement had arrived, and everypony was fleeing for their lives, Crystal Heart or not. The team let them pass, giving them plenty of room and staying close to the walls.

Legion reached the top of a building just as the team was rounding a corner down the street from the base. The greenskins were arguing amongst themselves about who would get the new Stompa when it was finished, or if Gork was better than Mork, or whatever else it is that Orks fight about. The biggest one of the bunch sat in the middle of everything, wearing a pirate hat while drinking a Bloody Mary - most likely made from actual blood.

"Location reached." The construct announced. "Cover secured. Proceed with caution."

Chief gave the signal, and the team advanced. Legion fired at the Nob, aiming for the eye. The bullet wasn't enough to blow the head off, but it was small enough to go through the eye and bounce around inside his skull. It also helped that it was an incendiary round, burning the brain as it went along. The Nob spazzed out of his chair, twitching on the ground as he died.

Faber and Jack used their rockets and Warp abilities to take out the sentry towers, causing them to crash into each other, forming an archway above the main entrance. As Orks started realizing what's going on, Chief, Grunt and Spike let loose with their bullets and plasma, taking down several within the first couple seconds.

"Move!" He shouted, and the squad ran forward, shooting their way into the base. Their destination - the giant hangar in the center, where the Mechboyz were building a new Gargaunt. Once inside, they'd use the titan to blow up Ork installations around the city, and then cause a self-destruct sequence. All they had to do was shoot their way through several dozen more giant green monsters with guns and clubs. No problem, right?

Legion was the first to notice, hearing the incoming chatter from the transports. "Alert!" He warned. "Incoming Hostiles detected. IFF transponders register as 'Heretical' Geth."

"Yeah, annoying shits." Jack said, making an Ork levitate before shooting it in the face. "Somehow, they thought working with the Reapers would spare them, and they sided with this guy called Saren, and the Reaper Sovereign. They fought humans, there was a huge battle at the Citadel, and we kicked their asses."

"I wouldn't worry about them." Grunt scoffed as he ran out of bullets and began swinging his turret like a hammer. "As long as they don't deploy any Primes or Armatures, we'll be fine."

A spaceship passed overhead, and several drop pods came crashing down around them. From these pods, Geth troopers, several Primes and Juggernauts, and even a massive Armature, emerged with weapons at the ready, chittering in lightspeed binary.

The Orks, Geth and Alliance soldiers looked at one another, appraising and awaiting their opponent's moves. Things were quiet, as if the city itself were holding its breath. It was just as quikcly broken when one Ork shouted, "YAY! MOAR GITS TA KRUMP!" The other Orks cheered, and charged the puny robots.

"Great, more for me to kill!" Grunt also exclaimed, as he grabbed hold of a Prime and made it shoot into the crowd of machines and aliens. The accelerated pellets tore through the other Geth, but for the more formidable xenos, it did as much damage as paintballs would do to a normal person - it bruised, it drew blood, it stung, but overall it just made them angry. Well, angrier, anyway.

Some of the larger Geth troops were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their equally sized green counterparts. While Primes and Juggernauts were strong, the Orks were living avatars of power. Metal caved under fists, cooling liquid was spilled as limbs were torn, and flashlights were smashed under boots.

The Armature, however, was much more successful. When it fired its rockets, each shot would get a kill, blasting them apart when it hit dead on. It wasn't very fast though, and that made it a tempting target for an Ork to jump at.

A lesser Nob grabbed hold of one of its legs, pulling on it as if to lift it up. Spike, seeing this, holstered his gun and grabbed the other leg. When asked about it later, he couldn't say why he just didn't shoot them, but he felt his instincts made him grab the machine, and engage in a game of tug-o-war with the alien.

"No," Spike countered, "You big green booger! You can't have it!" The dragon reached down inside, fueling his strength with his natural greed and rage.

The Armature buzzed in binary, basically saying, The hell is this?! Let go of me!

Chief, witnessing this odd sight, rolled behind the Ork, and fired his gun into its knees. Losing all support from his legs, the alien crumpled, and Spike used all his strength to lift the robot and Ork still holding onto it. He began spinning, whirling them around in the air as the monster berated him for cheating. When he reached full speed, he released, and the duo crashed into the crowd of machines and monsters.

"Goddamn!" Jack swore, smashing a Prime into a Nob, "Who pissed in his Wheaties? He's like a combo of Godzilla, Wolverine and a Spartan!"

"You mean Space Marine." Faber corrected.
"No, I meant Spartan. I don't see any yellow or blue 'ass-tard-ees' around here, and Chief has been doing twice what they've done."
"I think the Space Marines would beg to differ. They were made by the Emperor Himself, have had thousands of years of combative training and experience, and have saved the Imperium countless times."
"And how many have done that individually?"

"In fairness," Legion interrupted, shooting a ammo container and making an explosion, "the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines have totaled 4'693 kills, with only 7 casualties. John, Master Chief has made 956..." SPLAT! "957 kills. John, Master Chief, do you have any input for this conversation?"

"I! Don't! Care!" He snapped, punching in the face of a Mechboy. He didn't understand why people had to compare and challenge the combat capabilities of different fighting forces. His fellow Spartans were as different from the Astartes as a knight was to a samurai. Different methods, different enemies, different worlds made comparisons impossible to do quantitatively. Besides, he was sure that if all the Spartan IIs and IIIs got together for a mission, they could be just as successful as any one Legion.

"Heads up, boys and girls," Cortana announced, "we've got a crashing spaceship heading our way."

The team looked up to the sky. A Geth spaceship was indeed incoming - a flaming hole in its center, already starting to break apart. On the plus side, when it lands, it'll destroy the Titan. Along with everything else within a quarter mile.

Spike, momentarily snapping out of his rage, spots a Warthog that had been "orkified" - painted red, given spikes and horns, four extra turrets added to the sides for MOAR DAKKA!, stuff like that. "Hey guys, come over here." Spike told them over the coms. "I found a ride. It looks big enough for all of us."

"This unit is far enough away to survive the impact." The Geth agent answered. "You can pick this one up when you reach it."

Not needing any encouragement, the team evaded bullets around them, and reached the car as Spike manned the turret. Grunt, Faber and Jack jumped into the extra seats as the Spartan got into the driver's seat. Chief was starting up the car when he was violently ripped from his spot, dangling up in the air and face to face with the monster whose face he broke.

"WHO DA YOU FINK YOU IS!" It shouted, "OI AIN'T SUM COMMON GRETCHIN TA PUNCH AN' TOSS ASIDE! OI'S AN ORK, AN' OI'M -"

"-dead." John finished, a shotgun extending from his hand into the alien's mouth - now complete with a back entrance. In what must've been less than a second, he had pulled out the shotgun from his back, circling it around in front of him, shoved the gun into its giant mouth - pushing the pump of the gun with its lower jaw - and blasting the back of its head out in a visceral spray. He dropped down to the ground as the Ork fell, casually holstered his gun, and got back in the car, driving away as everyone - Spike included - stared in awe.

I could do something like that... I think. Spike thought enviously. The others nodded sagely. A giant armored man with a quickdraw faster than the blink of an eye wasn't the strangest thing they've been through lately.

They drove out of the base, passing by the building Legion was at. The machine jumped off, aiming for the moving car. Spike reached out his arm as far as he could, and the Geth agent grabbed hold just before crashing into the ground. "You're welcome." Spike said happily enough, not expecting the robot to say any gratitude but not demanding it either.

Behind them, the Geth ship crashed into the Gargaunt's hangar, breaking both apart, and causing a chain of explosions along the base and its section of the city. A massive plume of blackened smoke rose into the sky, and bits of metal rained all across the crystal towers.

"At least it took a lot of Orks and Geth with it, thank Celestia." Spike conceded, reclining back in the turret seat.

"Negative." Legion said. "Upon destruction of a platform, Geth automatically get uploaded into a central hub, where they then await reinsertion and redeployment."

"Wait, seriously?" Spike asked, dumbfounded. "We have monsters that make more monsters when they die, and machines that get new bodies when they die. How are we going to fight enemies like that?"

"Simple." Cortana solemnly told them. "Have them fight each other, protect the civilians, and stay out of the way..." No one else said otherwise as they drove out of the city, and into the frozen wastes...

And out there, a column of black smoke watched humorously with red-green eyes, laughing at this interesting twist of fate... and far behind him, a far more menacing laugh could be heard, full of madness and loathing, coming from a grin-stretched mouth with far too many teeth in it...

Peace and Isolation

by McKnight93

7.3 - Geth vs. Orks