"Sighted"
The bridge of the U.N.S.C. frigate Waterloo was quiet, but not silent. The buzz of low conversation as officers and techs went about their duties mixed with the distant hum of the engines, it was peaceful. The war with the Covenant had been raging for over two decades as the U.N.S.C. was slowly being pushed back. It was the Waterloo's mission to patrol the outer fringes of human controlled space and look for any sign of the covenant. That's why she was now orbiting over the small colony of Brackoner awaiting the arrival of a second frigate,the San Juan, as an addition to their patrol's firepower.
The Waterloo's Captain drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair as he stared out the viewport. "As pretty as the view is, I am getting tired of watching the planet spin. Where is the San Juan?" He asked turning to his communications officer.
"She's just cresting Brackoner's western horizon" the lieutenant at the comms station replied, "Her Captain estimates they will be on station in twenty-five minutes."
The Captain nodded his thanks to the lieutenant and looked around his bridge. Everyone was busy with their tasks, techs were checking up on maintenance crews around the ship, and officers were switching from screen to screen as they analyzed every system in the ship and scrutinized the space around them. Bur one crewman looked particularly puzzled by what he was reading and kept shaking his head and squinting at the display in front of him.
The Captain stood and walked over to the man's station. "What seems to be the problem Ensign?"
The crewman shook his head again and said "I'm chasing a ghost sir. The slipspace rupture from the San Juan jumping in system is shown here," he pointed at his screen "but I read a second rupture thirty-seven degree off their track. I tasked a sensor suit to scan that area but it shows nothing."
The Captain felt his gut clench into an ice cold knot as the possibility of a covenant ship in the system passed through his mind. Before he could regain his composure though the sensor's officer shouted "Sir! Slipspace rupture! Two-hundred kilometers off our starboard bow." All eyes were on the viewport as a new shape resolved itself in the space between them and the planet's eastern horizon. The knot in the Captains gut nearly imploded as he recognized the sleek curves and glistening metal of a Covenant destroyer.
"Sound battle stations! warm up the cannon and arm the missile pods. Engines to full reverse, I want us to link up with the San Juan ASAP. And send her a warning."
"Sir" The sensor's officer Shrieked, "Destroyer's weapons are firing!"
...
Gunnery Sergeant Eric Donnelly took a deep breath as he left the barracks and held the clean air in his lungs for a few seconds, savoring the taste and feel of it. Even if he had been on the plant for two months fresh air always beat out the canned air of a ship, always. In his mind, of the eight years he spent as a marine most of he had spent cooped up on ships, breathing their fake air. It was good to be able to breathe real air again, even if it meant babysitting a colony while the battalion rearmed and reorganized.
He exhaled with a regretful sigh as he remembered why they were there. The battalion had seen some action and after several lengthy patrols, combat insertions and one lengthy siege they had at roughly three-fourths strength, including the walking wounded. So they were ordered to Brackoner for some rest- a luxury these days- and to reorganize. With only a handful of transfers and new recruits coming to them the Major decided to fold the heavy weapons and support company in with the other three line companies. Now each platoon was twenty-five men strong and contained its own heavy weapons, adding a considerable amount of firepower to each of them.
But while this increased each platoon's firepower it still harbored problems, the platoon commanders at first had no idea how to properly deploy their heavy weapons specialists effectively in the field. Endless drills and lengthy discussions brought everyone past the learning curve, tough they were still adapting. Not to mention how the combination had the support troops having to familiarize themselves with their new offensive and defensive roles. They were still learning but things had gone well so far and it was time to leave.
Eric walked through the afternoon sun and took in the sights while he could. A forest of firs and pines made a carpet of green past the fence to the east backed by purple, snow-capped mountains made for a picture perfect sight. A contrast of tastes, but not beauty, was the city of Vellum some five kilometers to the north. He was going to miss this place.
He passed the armory and motor pool where the men and women of Alpha Company were busy packing weapons, gear and personal items into warthogs as they prepared to follow Bravo Company to the spaceport in the city, where they were to be ferried to the Waterloo and San Juan. Walking up the steps of the base's HQ he spotted Lieutenant Mixer of 2C talking with Capitan Flock and nodded in her direction as the officer looked his way. Scanning the room Donnelly found Lieutenant Elahi behind his desk studying something on his computer screen and scratching his wiry black hair.
Tied platoon's commanding officer saw him coming and turned to look at his platoon sergeant and smiled. "Yes Eric?" he asked casually as he leaned back and scratched his short beard.
Eric smiled at his Lieutenant's friendly attitude. "The platoon is ready to start packing up, sir."
"Captain," Elahi called across the room "Charlie third is ready to move.
"Be patient, Alpha is moving slow today." Captain flock replied before turning back to the young woman in front of him.
The junior officer rolled his eyes in annoyance when he was sure the captain was focused full on Mixer again. "When do they ever move fast sir?" Smiling at his own joke he turned back to Eric. "Thank you. Tell everyone to hold on, they'll have their turn. Maybe run them through the shoot house a few more times while we still have the chance."
"Yes sir."
Stepping out of the HQ Eric ran his hand over his short red hair and looked back to the east, taking in another deep breath. He stopped short as he registered the ship moving slowly over the mountains. A sleek vessel of glistening purplish metal with a hooked prow, surrounded by dozens of smaller dark shapes that moved independently of the ship. By the time he consciously recognized the shapes he was halfway up the front stairs of the HQ. When he reached the door he grabbed onto the door jam in order to keep from running right into Captain Flock. "Covenant Ship to the east! Banshees and drop ships inbound!"
Everything went quiet for a moment. The major stuck his head out of his office and looked out of a window facing east. Baring his teeth in a scowl that made him look more like an animal than a man he snapped out orders on the fly. "Tell Alpha to speed it up. Get Charlie out of the barracks and armed, I want them ready to knock anything over the base out of the sky. And call Bravo, Have them ready for action and start getting civilians out of the city. Gear up and get to it Marines!"
Everyone in the command center snapped to their tasks, the major had not specifically assigned anyone to a task but it was clear who he had mean to do what. So Eric turned and sprinted out of the HQ, across the parade ground and toward Charlie third's barracks as alarm klaxons began to wail all around the base. Sergeant Yambrick burst out of the building struggling to put a gun belt through the loops of this BDU bottoms.
"What's going on Gunny?"
"Covenant! Get everyone geared up and to the armory. Have all the shooters carrying extra rockets for the SPNKrs."
Yambrick's eyes shot wide but he nodded and went back through the door, hollering at troops inside. Having said all he could for now, Eric made his way to the armory quickly. Passing by the motor pool again he saw Alpha Company packing the hogs in a frenzy. Those that were ready were driven out onto the parade ground or simply onto the drive to the below ground structure with gunners ready and waiting. He made it to the concrete bunker they used as the armory and found Lieutenant Elahi was already there handing out weapons and passing on munitions to some of the men from Alpha. He let a corporal take over as Eric ran around the table in the middle of the room to stand in front of the Lieutenant.
"The men are on their way. I said for every many to carry extra rockets." The Gunnery Sergeant reported reaching for one of the double barreled rocket launchers lining the back wall.
"Good thinking. We'll need to-"The rest was cut off by a long burst from an M41 mounted on one of the warthogs. More weapons began fire as banshees screamed over the building and the sound of covenant plasma weapons entered the mix." We have to get everything out of the armory fast!"
Eric grabbed a launcher from one of the racks and shoved into the hands of a marine from Charlie third as he entered. Without slowing to think Eric handed a weapon, ammo and rockets to every marine that entered the building. Outside explosions boomed and the whoosh of rockets was answered by fuel rod cannons. But Eric went on clearing the armory as fast as he could. As long as there were marines or munitions the armory was a big and very dangerous target, liable to explode if even one fuel rod breached its walls.
As he handed an assault weapon to another marine a portion of the wall to Eric's right crumbled in a flash of green light. The shock wave spread through the building and threw him to the ground. His ears were ringing, his head was spinning and he couldn't open his eyes from some time.
Dazed, he got to his knees and looked around. Fortunately fuel rod had hit the wall fronted by a row of workbenches, so instead of lighting of large secondary explosions a section of wall was now ruble. He couldn't quite see through the smoke but he knew some marines lay dead under the fractured concrete. Closing his eyes to shake off both the dizziness and sorrow he felt a launcher shoved into his hands then he was pushed out the door.
The skies were full of covenant craft. At least two dozen Banshees sped around the base, looping and diving to avoid being hit, firing off plasma and fuel rods when a target presented itself. Phantoms threw fire down onto groups of marines. Eric winced, the Phantoms carried heavy concussion and plasma cannons and were tough to take down, a good mix for covenant firing platform. Several warthogs had been destroyed, but many more were out in the open and firing, even more were still in the safety of the motor pool. He shook his head again and ran to his left, taking cover behind a burning warthog.
With a constant stream of marines still running in and out, the armory made a lovely target for covenant pilots and despite the best efforts of the marines, several banshees were making strafing runs on the building. Eric checked the launcher, flipped off the safety and sighted in on one of the vehicles lining up for a run. He held his aim for a few seconds, letting the rocket get a lock, then pulled the trigger. The pilot saw it coming and managed to roll out of the way, but Eric was already focused on another target. His second rocket hit the wing of another banshee and exploded, shearing off the wing and sending the craft crashing to the ground. He reloaded and fired another two rockets, then another two.
Reloading for the third time by touch he was looking for another easy target when he saw something large move in the west. There, moving high over the plains was was the dark hull of a U.N.S.C frigate heading straight for the covenant ship. As the frigate pushed itself over fields and forests the Alien vessel started to turn towards it. Then the frigate fired.
Eric's cheer could not be heard over the sound of the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon firing. The six-hundred ton ferric tungsten round reached a speed of nearly thirty-thousand meters per second before leaving the ship's cannon. Since it was in atmosphere the shot lost some speed but in the blink of an eye it traveled all the way across the plains and impacted the covenant vessel's side, causing the shields to flare. The San Juan – her name clearly printed on her prow- sank closer to the ground hoping to put the covenant drop ships and fliers between them as she recharged her main gun.
Unfortunately the move didn't work as planned. The San Juan had already been lower than the destroyer and the upward angle of the MAC round had lifted the covenant ship, which now had a clear shot at the top of the frigate. Plasma lit up the sky between the two ships and left several burning gashes in the frigate's side. To make matters worse for the ship, several banshees peeled off and headed for the frigate. Even with AI controlled defensive auto-cannons several managed to get close enough to use their heavy weapons.
Suddenly the frigate surged forward and passed over the marines' heads, leaving a cloud of banshees and falling debris in her wake. As she neared the destroyer the MAC cannon fired with a deafening roar and dozens of Archer missiles followed the shot. Again the slug hit the destroyer, this time near the engine. The combined momentum of the ship and the gun's acceleration pushed the slug to near forty-thousand meters per second. When it hit, the ship's shield flared and died leaving it vulnerable to the incoming missiles, and the slug itself put a massive dent in the destroyer's port engine.
As the missiles closed with their target covenant anti-missile batteries fired, destroying most of them but some managed to impact. Most of the ones that hit took chunks out of the destroyer's engines, but a few others hit elsewhere and only caused minor damage. But as the crippled ship sank to the earth it unleashed one last salvo of destructive energy at the San Juan, and at that range there was no way to miss, moving target or not. The front of the San Juan's cannon melted and clogged, the bridge took a direct hit and was reduced to molten slag, and the port engine was nearly sheared off.
Eric's elation turned to horror as he watched the Frigate sail right over the descending Vessel and slam into the side of one of the mountains, collapsing into itself and spreading wreckage across the entire slope of the mountain. Wide eyed, he stared at the wreckage in shock. After what felt like ages he managed to move his gaze to the covenant Vessel. It was falling slowly, clearly a controlled descent, but it couldn't hold itself up. Eagerly he watched it fall, waiting for it to show sign greater wounds.
"Come on you son of a bitch, break up, crash, explode, anything." He growled.
The ship continued to fall slowly, and somewhat smoothly, until it touched down out of sight at the base of a mountain. Eric snarled and held back a scream of pure rage. The crew of the San Juan paid with their lives to destroy that ship and all they managed to do was ground it? It just wasn't fair. It didn't solve anything!
As if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, the phantoms over the base fired a few more shots, turned and headed east, back toward their wounded ship. Eric couldn't understand why. They had air superiority, why not attack now and scatter the marines while they were still off balance? It just doesn't make sense he thought as the rage began to clear from his mind We can't have… Shit, the banshees!
The thought struck him as the air was filled with an all too familiar wail. He turned, rocket launcher at the ready and saw it, a mass of purple metal headed right at him. He began to pull the trigger but stopped when he saw the green blob fly from the banshee. He flinched as the fuel rod hit nearby and exploded.
...
Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter. It's a stage setter more than anything. I promise it will pick up, there is a lot more to come. :)
I have neglected editing this chapter for far too long, so here is the updated version. Some of the wording has changed but not much.