Chapter 1

UNSC Destroyer Patton

10.30.2552 (Military Calendar)

0:45 Minutes Into the 2nd Major Covenant Assault on Earth

Position: Holding close orbit with Battle Cluster Omega over Earth.

How can this be happening? Thought Captain James Cupor as he watched the massive Covenant Fleet poured out of slip space. Even though every military officer above and on Earth had known about it he still had to steady himself on the console aboard his bridge as he saw the sight. However even as he had just flinched he soon realized he had a duty to attend to and wiped any sign of fear of his face. There was a civilization to save and he wouldn't be caught dead just sitting around waiting for it to happen.

He turned to his executive officer to get the blood pumping throughout the entire vessel. "Bring the ship up to combat alert Alpha I want everyone ready for whatever the Covenant wants to throw at us." Soon he would have orders and soon all of the human race would be set up on a gamble as to whether the UNSC stopped the Covenant from reaching their goal. Already voices crackled to life over the com channel.

"Attention fleet this is Admiral Loran, we have standing orders to engage immediately, I repeat assign targets and fire with extreme prejudice!" A stern voice ordered from the Orbital Station Pacific. Cupor ordered his navigation officer to set an intercept vector with the closest enemy position. All around the massive Human fleet above Earth took off for their targets. The orbital MAC guns were loaded and firing as well as the safeties of every weapon possible were being removed for one of the greatest matches of all time. Already Fleet Admiral Harper and the George Washington II had obliterated a Covenant Carrier with the Cruisers MAC cannons before the Patton was even in range of anything.

"Bring us to MAC range lieutenant, and prepare a firing solution on the nearest cruiser. Push the reactors to 95." Cupor ordered just as the first ships of his battle group began their assaults. All around the human vessels of titanium and steel raced forward while the Covenant forward ships charged their plasma cannons. Mini cannons fired quickly shredding the Covenant picket craft as the UNSCs ships prepared their bigger guns. The Patton followed suit behind a duo of UNSC frigates starting a spearhead attack on the same cruiser. "Archer pod status?" Cupor asked as a squadron of Longsword fighters soared by engaging a group of Covenant Seraphs. His weapons officer Lieutenant Naphoo, a tan skinned man originally from Mars replied within a minute.

"Sir! All archer pods are ready and waiting. MAC cannon range is estimated around 2 minutes." Naphoo spoke as the Patton's AI Brutis informed Cupor of the weapons on the attacking cruiser. "Enemy Plasma cannons are charging captain estimated launch time imminent." Cupor looked ahead and saw the frigates powering up their MACs already, as well as opening their Archer Pod Launch Tubes. Even at 59 the wizened captain's eyes noted the impending line of Covenant capitol ships getting larger by the second.

The captain's thoughts gave way as he heard a crew member issuing a warning. "Captain Enemy is launching main weapons!" Cupor watched as the cruiser launched a quartet of plasma torpedoes at the human ships.

"ETA on the torpedoes!" Cupor yelled as he saw the forward frigates launch their MAC cannons. The huge tungsten rounds tore clean through the gap as Naphoo replied .

"ETA is les than a minute cap." The officer shouted from across the deck. "MAC cannons live and heating up draining the reactor core at 5 a minute. Range in 20 seconds." Brutis noted, as the frigate's MAC rounds and the plasma torpedoes passed themselves while soaring toward their targets. At the same time the weapons officer informed Cupor that the MAC cannons were primed and loaded.

"ETA in 15 seconds!" Someone yelled as Cupor watched the first plasma torpedo slam head on with the furthest frigate. The ship was sliced right though the middle as the superheated weapon boiled through the titanium layers within a millisecond. Then the second torpedo blasted straight through the other frigate's engines. The smaller ship exploded in a flare of bright light and Cupor had to turn to shield his eyes from the glare but he quickly shouted another order. The Patton passed by the ruined ship and continued onward bearing down on its enemy. Up ahead the two frigate's MAC rounds roared in at their target.

"Fire MAC cannons! Launch all archer pods now! Fire at will! And push the reactors to 105."

The Patton shook as the two MAC cannons fired off. A second after all the archer pods from the tip of the ship to the engines fired off toward the cruiser, however right in front of the destroyer, the last two plasma torpedoes were zeroing in. "Engage evasive maneuvers now!" The captain shouted as Brutis guided the ship in to a dive narrowly missing the first torpedo. However the second did not miss and headed straight for the ship. The torpedo sheered into the Titanium A plating instantly vaporizing most of the lower decks but it didn't quite reach the engines which was of some value to the crew.

Cupor watched as the human weapons finally met with results. The first MAC cannon round was intercepted by a small Covenant vessel but the second careened right into the cruiser. In an instant the massive ship's shields flashed and collapsed and then the Patton's arsenal met the ships.

The faster Archer missiles impacted first breaking up the outer armor and destroying a great number of turrets and then the Patton's MAC rounds hit. The two behemoth weapon rounds collided against the mighty war vessel cracking through the armor and then exploding against the ship's inner core. The huge ship split in two and then was engulfed as its core went critical.

"Captain the last torpedo is arcing around and tracking us. ETA in 30 seconds." Cupor looked at the aft view cam and watched as the deadly weapon started to close in on his ship. "Prepare to fire off the Emergency boosters now."

Volatile chemicals mixed and reacted, firing off and causing the ship to shake and then veer to the left far faster then it was meant to go. "Reactor meltdown in 2 minutes captain." Brutis alerted Cupor as he held onto the safety rail for his life. "Just shut up and fly the ship!"

Even with the boosters sending the ship off in a slight roll the torpedo easily trailed the ship. "Sir target is gaining speed, matching, topping. Sounding impact alarms!" Klaxons blared all over the ship and the crews all rushed for something that was bolted down or even something heavy like one of the ship's Pelicans. The torpedo blasted in. This time through the upper decks and then exploded against the left MAC cannon. The massive weapon ignited and then burst sending the ship reeling into a faster roll.

"Brutis get us out of this roll. I want a damage assessment now, how soon can we have our remaining MAC cannon locked and loaded again." The bridge crew and Brutis quickly got to their tasks moving as quickly as they equipment could take them. Someone started relaying casualties numbers but the voice was soon drowned out by everyone else as Cupor looked out the forward viewport. He breathed a slow sigh of relief even as more ships around him moved pass his ship and engaged the enemy. He and most of his crew had just escaped death by sheer luck but even with that small relief he felt an ominous weight on him. He looked out towards where the two other frigates were slowly breaking apart.

How was it fair, almost three ships for one. He knew that he had been lucky enough to survive the engagement but even so it dawned on him how many men and women had just lost their lives for the sake of so many down below. His focus once again returned to the bridge as the com officer alerted him. "Sir priority alpha signal from FLEETCOM." Cupor made sure his officer cap was straight and then replied. "Put it on the main screen." The image of stalwart Admiral Hood appeared in the Patton's bridge and various crew members chanced a glance at one of the best Admirals humanity had left. "Admiral Hood sir." Cupor managed a strict salute. "As you were James," Hood spoke as Cupor changed his stance. "Captain I have a priority one mission for 3rd Company and I need you to high tail it back to a drop position ASAP. Uploading coordinates now." Hood motioned to an off camera person and then Brutis stroked his holographic beard as he entered the coordinates into the navigation console.

"Coordinates loaded Admiral may I inquire as to what kind situation has arisen to call my ship back from the fight." Hood looked at someone off screen and for a second his expression changed. "Not for your ears captain I need you to switch me over to 3rd company CO. once you drop your charges you're to hold position with the Cairo and get back in this fight. Hood out." The image collapsed just as a Human cruiser broke apart under a Covenant barrage. "Yes, sir." Cupor said softly as he let things go over in his mind.

3rd company was the entire complement of the Patton's ODST. The company was known to have results that were top of the line. They had served at every possible engagement since the beginning of the war taking casualties at every turn but they had always stayed strong. It was also common knowledge that a contingent of 3rd company had been aboard the Pillar of Autumn when it found the original Halo and that the troops had been one of the greatest assets in the hellish ring world. And now they were being ordered to ground the group somewhere at earth even though their was already a huge number on the ground there. Cupor pondered the situation as the remains of a Covenant destroyer started burning up in the atmosphere not far off.