Late 3081

Location: Terra

"Helmsman. Status?"

"Jump coordinates set, Commodore."

"Engineering?"

"Jump drive fully charged, sir, as are the reserve batteries."

Commodore Andrew Benavidas smiled and replied, "Glad to hear it." He tapped a command into his chair, engaging the old warship's public address system. "All stations. T –30 seconds to jump. Start strapping yourselves in people." His crew immediately began to obey. "That means you, too, Colonel," he added, directing the comment to the commander of the unit's ground forces.

"Your ship, your rules," the big man replied as he buckled himself into one of the jump-seats at the back of the bridge.

The two of them had worked cheek by jowl for the past five years. Benavidas buckled himself into the Captain's chair and counted down. He was the officer who gave the final order to jump. "5…4…3…2…1…Jump." The last word was slightly drawn out as reality and the fabric of space warped around the ancient Du Shi Wang battleship. The secrets of the universe were open to Andrew's examination for a split second.

A second later, space resumed its normal shape, closing off access to all of those secrets…for an instant, and then the ship jumped again. This jump wasn't planned. One of the crew began to yell, "Wormhole!" but the word was too drawn out by the jump for anyone to understand. Several of the jump-seats were torn from their mounts; fortunately, they weren't occupied. Unfortunately, one of the flying seats caught the helmsman in the head, which flew off in sympathy, and another seat caught the crewman who had connected the dots.

Tumbling out of his seat as the jump ended, the Colonel roared, "Where are we, and what the hell happened to us?"

"Navigation!"

"According to the positions of the stars, we're currently orbiting Epsilon Eridanus III, circa late summer, 2552."

"Sir, I'm picking up encrypted communications from further in-system. I'll put 'em on speaker as soon as I crack the encryption."

"Epsilon Eridani? We were jumping toward Tukayyid. How did we end up here?"

Andrew tried to massage away his growing headache. Then he stopped as realization hit him full force. "Of course. We hit a wormhole."

"Meaning?"

"We jumped right into the middle of a natural tunnel through space and, seemingly, time."

"You have got to be kidding me."

The navigation officer added her two cents to the conversation. "Confirmed. Remnants of our wormhole are dissipating off our port-aft."

"Great."

"I hate to admit it, but having Comguard personnel pays dividends."

Andrew didn't answer immediately. "Engineering. Damage report."

"Nothing we can't fix without a hammer and a few peaceful hours."

"They've certainly proven vital again and again, Jeremiah."

"Sir, I've cracked the encryption."

"Put it on speaker."

"—flagged a Corvette-class vessel on a predicted docking track with our target. Get our makeshift bomb on that Corvette, and we have our delivery system."

"Want to lend them a hand?" Colonel Jeremiah asked.

"If they need it."

"—As she's already donated her slipspace drive to the cause, the Savannah will be joining you to provide local fire support."

"What's a 'slipspace' drive?"

"Sir, encryption just changed. They know we're listening."

"Radar."

"Several contacts at maximum range, three capital ships among them. All unknown."

Andrew climbed down to the helmsman's station and started the engines. "We need to get a visual on this situation," he stated to answer the unspoken question.

"Entering visual range in 3…2…Blake's blood!"

"What is that?" Jeremiah asked as he caught sight of an immense ship that had to be at least four times the size of the battleship they were in.

A deep rumble reverberated throughout the hull as the ship accelerated to its maximum speed of thirty-two thousand, four hundred kilometers per hour. "Gunnery officer. Warm up all batteries and prepare to fire…" He was interrupted by a bright orange fireball as it blossomed beneath the unknown ship. "Magnify." Flying out of the fireball was a large piece of starship. When the magnification kicked in, the ship's name, painted on its prow, became clear: Savannah. "Radar. Did you isolate that ship's IFF signal?"

"Yes, sir."

"Model our IFF transponder signal output to parallel it. I only want one enemy during this battle. Colonel, you may want to prepare your men for a combat deployment. I have a feeling that this battle will end on the ground." He keyed the intraship comm unit. "Angels. Prep for launch." He turned off the radio, keyed the PA, and announced, "Battle stations! All hands, prepare for battle!"

"Commodore! We're being hailed!"

"By the vessel?" Jeremiah asked as he climbed down to the holotank.

"By the planet."

"Patch it to the tank."

Rather than a visual representation of the person on the other end of the conversation, a disembodied voice, the commander from earlier, rang through the holotank. "Unidentified warship. State your designation."

"This is the RAS Templar Knight."

"Who is this?"

"I am Colonel Jeremiah Biddix, founder and commander of the Righteous Ascent mercenary unit. To whom am I speaking?"

"Colonel Urban Holland, commander of the UNSC's defenses here at Reach."

"UNSC? Reach?" Jeremiah asked himself.

"Commodore! We're in range for the forward batteries."

"Fi—" He never got to finish the order. A sphere of violet energy materialized beneath the enemy ship and expanded until the vessel was engulfed. A couple of seconds later, the sphere collapsed and the central half of the ship disappeared.

"What was that?"

"They…initiated a jump. Right beneath the enemy ship. The technique I pioneered. Well done," Andrew supplied

"Colonel Holland, do you require assistance against the remaining enemy forces?" Colonel Biddix asked

"Negative. We can mop up the remaining Covenant—"

A new voice, a computerized female voice, intruded, "Slipspace rupture detected."

"Colonel, get your men onto the Overlords and get to ground, now! Angels, deploy, deploy, deploy! Gunner, fire at will!" Andrew shouted.

Jeremiah looked up and saw the reason for the rapid orders. Innumerable 'Covenant' ships had just jumped in-system…and more were coming every second. He leapt out of the holotank and bolted for the docking collar of Alpha Battalion's dropship, radioing for the battalion to muster as he ran.

Andrew began decelerating to allow the two dropships to disembark safely. A few minutes later, he heard the two familiar clangs that signaled that the Excaliburs had disengaged from their docking collars. As he laid his hand on the throttle control, he heard:

"Excalibur Alpha. We are away."

"Excalibur Omega. We are away."

"Roger that. Templar Knight moving to engage Covenant fleet. I'm gonna see if I can take out their flagship," he stated as he throttled back to full speed.

A new voice intruded on the radio. "This is Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. Delay the Covenant fleet for as long as possible."

"Yes sir." He keyed the PA. "We have some simple orders today, gentlemen. We are to carve our way into the heart of this 'Covenant' fleet and raise as much hell, sow as much chaos as we can. This is a suicidal mission. I'm sorry that none of you were able to say goodbye to your families one last time."

"Comes with the job," one of the bridge crewmen quipped.

"Yeah. I do, however, know this. When we are finally brought down, I expect to find the shattered wrecks of at least forty of the bastards' ships burning in our wake! Hurrah!" His voice had risen to a crescendo and he threw his fist into the air at "hurrah."

Several voices came in over the radio; the dominant voice, neither Whitcomb's nor Holland's, promised, "Templar Knight, you won't be making this run alone. UNSC Trafalgar coming up from your 7 o'clock."

"UNSC Musashi approaching from your 5."

"UNSC Minotaur. We got your back."

"UNSC Iroquois. We'll do our best to keep your sorry ass alive."

"In addition to those four carriers and destroyers, four frigates' commanders have asked to accompany you. They are the Aegis Fate, the Alliance, the Euphrates, and the…" Whitcomb was cut off.

"UNSC Gettysburg. Let's bring the pain."

Andrew listened to the combined cheers of the UNSC crews and his own and wept, knowing that most, if not all, of these men and women would be dead by the end of today.