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Against the Odds

The Insurrection killed millions, but Humanity recovered. The Human-Flood War killed billions, but Humanity prevailed. Humanity again stands alone in the face of both persistent and threatening rivals. They are outnumbered and outgunned and are against tenacious opposition, but then again, Humanity has always had the ability for surviving the impossible.

LOCATION - Sydney, Australia Earth, Sol System. December 11th, 2652 Military Calendar

Hood Memorial Park stood for all to see. For all to both mourn and honor those that gave their lives to ensure that the Insurrection didn't bring an end to the UEG. For all to grieve and recognize the heroes that sacrificed their lives to give Humanity a chance to survive the Human-Flood War.

The Memorial depicted a bronze sculpture of a group of men and women from all branches of the military defending a banner of the UEG and UNSC from an ill-equipped group of humans and the grotesque forms of the Flood . The marines represented by three regular grunts and a female Orbital Drop Shock Trooper opening fire on the group of both humans and Flood while a stoic Spartan supersoldier was frozen in mid-melee combat with Combat forms and last but not least the navy represented by Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, the man who led Humanity during those trying times, in the middle of the group wielding a Magnum of old.

By the droves civilians and military personnel alike flocked towards the capital of the UEG to commemorate the fallen of the Great War the ended exactly a hundred years ago. The UEG had declared the day a state of mourning since it had been a century.

There were many people of prominent standing attending as well, military officers wore their dress blues to honor those that had fallen. Politicians had suits and dresses that were tailored just for this event to also pay their respects.

An intercom announcement indicated that a speech was about to be given by the current UEG president, William J. Melina. Many people began a steady walk towards the ceremonial grounds in order to witness what was no doubt a historical event.

A white stage that was presented as both powerful military figures and prominent political heads took their seats. Surrounding the stage were ODSTs in full battle regalia with their weapons holstered and stowed away but, standing in a rest position, ready to be drawn to combat any threats in a moments noticed. People began settling down as an older gentleman with graying hair that was neatly combed and a fine black suit took to the podium. His face was without blemish but lacked the suppleness of youth. His eyes usually showed the signs of stress that was the usual for someone of his position but right now they looked as if a great burden had been lifted.

President Melina waited as camera drones stopped and hovered. He didn't need to wait for the crowd to quiet as they patiently waited for him to address them. He cleared his throat and began. "Welcome citizens of the UEG, those that are both here in person or are viewing this honorable ceremony from home." He paused for a second before beginning again. "As we all can remember, from either personal experience or stories passed on, a little over a hundred and fifty years ago the Insurrection began. Millions of families torn apart with the rise of rebellion. In 2524, the United Nations Space Command was making leaps and bounds defeating the rebels while the UEG was finishing revising a new draft of a charter that embodied all of Earth's colonies and their interests creating the foundation for a new United Earth Government that you see here today." Throughout all of UEG space, every single person was glued to their screens and grasped onto every word that was said.

"In 2525, the Insurrection had all but dissolved into dust. A mere whisper of what happened but Humanity would always remember what almost drove us apart into senseless anarchy. For a moment, the newly made UEG, done away with the Colonial Administration that was polluted with corruption, enjoyed a sense of peace. But that sense was shattered as a more virulent and hostile foe emerged from the void of space. The Flood." Everyone felt a chill run up their spine at the mention of the foul green Parasite.

"Harvest, Ground Zero for the Great War, was battled over for five years as the brave UNSC military fought for every inch of UEG soil on the garden world." He took a breath. "But we were driven back. The never ending horde of Parasites that infected every single world that they took. Billions were being slaughtered and after twenty eight years of a fighting retreat, of constant vigilance and security measures being placed, Earth, our homeworld was found."

"For the first and only time in history, we fled. We scrounged up what meager ships we had and left through the Mombasa Portal to a safe haven."

"And in the year 2552, with the cunning and strength of our remaining military forces, we had found our salvation. With a single fell swing of the sword, the Flood was no longer attacking Earth. In six years we rid them from all our planets, every asteroid and every single rock that floated in our space. The Flood were wiped off the map and we returned."

"Then for a hundred years, we rebuilt our cities...our worlds and expanded. Our way of life improved. Our military grew stronger. Our technological prowess continued unimpeded and new innovations contributed to everyone's benefit. But today we honor those that paid the ultimate sacrifice and even today we still root out Flood infestations on every world we encounter." He paused once again. "However they would want us to continue the legacy and not let their deaths be in vain."

"Never again will we be at the mercy of an outside force!" There was a few shouts of approval. "Never again will we flee in the face of overwhelming odds!" There were more shouts of approval. "And never again will we be shattered and splintered for we stand united!" He shouted into the microphone and the crowd roared their approval. Many of the officers and officials behind him also stood up and began clapping. He nodded and went to his designated seat as Fleet Admiral Thomas Lasky took the podium.

LOCATION - UEG Colony - Shanxi, December 11th, 2652

Captain Irdinna Aimes, a woman that appeared to be in her early thirties with a fit figure and her shoulder length brown hair in a ponytail and onyx colored irises, looked on her wall of commendations in her quarters and reminisced on the Flood outbreak that got her this posting.

What was supposed to be a simple patrol turned into organized chaos when a distress call about a Flood outbreak. To put it simply, a textbook containment occurred with minimal UNSC casualties. By the time an actual containment fleet arrived, most major Flood concentrations had been destroyed with precision airstrikes and orbital bombardment.

Now instead of a Dominion-Class Light Destroyer and two Hood-Class Heavy Frigates, she commanded a five kilometer long Preston-Class Heavy Cruiser, The Howling Wind. She remembered the first time she laid eyes on the ship and how she admired the honeycomb superstructure it shared with its predecessors. Also under her command were several Zodiac-Class Light Frigates, which were about five hundred meters in length and were mostly used for supportive roles, while their heavier comrades, the Hood-Class being at about six hundred meters in length, were mostly used in offensive roles.

She sighed. It wasn't much of a posting but it came with the promotion and the only real excitement came from the alien object that was frozen in one of the moons that was orbiting a gas giant.

However, the pay was good so the only thing she was griping about was the lack of action but given that the UEG was currently enjoying a long-awaited peace and the last major Flood outbreak was at a discovered shield world thousands of light years away, but even that was about seventy five years ago, she really had nothing to complain about.

"Captain, we have a situation." The shipboard AI, Charlie, stated, distracting her from her thoughts. "The alien artefact is reacting to the scientists presence."

"How so?" She further questioned. "Is it hostile?"

"From what we've gathered no but all of the research ships have disappeared. I'm currently running simulations on everything and so far the best explanation I have is that they have been displaced."

She gathered her thoughts quickly. "Bring the fleet to readiness level 3 and alert HIGHCOM and General Williams to have the garrison on alert as well." She quickly said as she made her way out of her quarters and to the bridge.

As soon as she entered the bridge a resounding "Officer on Deck!" by the bridge security hit her ears. She quickly ordered everyone to work as she went to the battle-map, which projected the system they were in. Charlie appeared on the map as well sporting his lab coat with a collared shirt and tan pants underneath. "When did they disappear?"

"I alerted you the second we lost contact with them." He said as he made the map zoom in on their last known location. Which was a massive structure silver structure surrounded by dozens of smaller ice chunks and decently sized asteroids that were the remains of a moon that orbited the gas giant in the system. Since the object was the literal core of the moon, no one had suspected anything to be there until ten years later, when the colony was fully underway, a mining company had decided to set up a base on there to harvest helium-3 from the gas giant and minerals from the moon. When the deeper scans penetrated the moon the object was discovered. From there the UNSC defense force took over.

"Looks like a tuning-fork." Aimes said once again. "Definitely not Forerunner."

"Of course. But energy output is off the scale," He said.

Aimes nodded. "Yes, but the teams are not here." She turned to the comms officer. "Tell the Redemption at Dusk and the Locust to investigate but stay at a safe distance from the fork."

"Yes, ma'am." He responded. A few moments later on the display, two of the ten frigates peeled off from the defensive cluster and headed towards the artefact.

"Ma'am, transmission from General Williams."

"Patch it through."

In a second the hologram of a middle-aged man with short black hair and in the BDU of the Army appeared on the battle map."Captain Aimes, my men are ready. We've begun to deploy in and around the city and have AA batteries up and running. I am also sending a two platoons to secure the spaceport as well as the orbital elevator. I can almost guarantee that whatever comes won't be landing in the city. I have also issued a mandatory evacuation to the emergency bunkers. I have also deployed our contingent of armor and aircraft. A wing of Gladius are on standby to launch and we've have now secured the entire city. It'd be nice to have a few extra hands though."

"We'll deploy what we can spare. It's not much but any help is enough." He nodded in response.

"Send what you can to the defensive cluster in Imes. They are short-handed. " He paused before saying. " Wish you the best of luck, Captain." And with that the General saluted and his hologram fizzled out.

The mood turned grim. No one wanted to fight especially against the unknown. But if push comes to shove, then they would kick.

"Hey, at least help is on the way." An officer straight out of the academy said, referring to the message they sent and also trying to lighten the mood.

The Captain offered a smile to the morale booster albeit a little hesitantly. In the Academy, the simulations always depicted the fight against anyone with either an even force or heavily outnumbered, to prep just in case a situation like it happened. Never did the officers ever have overwhelming force on their side. But even then, she knew the ships and the tactics the Insurrectionists liked to use. She always had prior knowledge on the enemy and this time she wouldn't be afforded that luxury.

"Contact!" Charlie shouted, snapping her from her thoughts. "It's one of the research teams!" On the battle map, a small corvette sized ship appeared near the device. Though, from the readouts they were getting, it was heavily damaged. The two frigates that were moved over oriented their prows to it.

"Any transmissions?" Captain Aimee asked.

"None, they are just sitting there. It looks like their comms may be damaged." Charlie said observantly. Suddenly, dozens more, unknown, ships jumped in behind it all around the tuning fork object. The smallest being about a large corvette size while the largest being a kilometer long.

Immediately, the nearest unknowns opened fire on the already wounded defense ship outright destroying it. The captain of the defense fleet quickly sprung into action. "Have the Dusk and Locust perform emergency slipspace procedures and get them back here! Unlock Gemini missile pods A though F and get us between them and the elevator!" She shouted. In response the ship lurched forward as the engines kicked in. "Prep the MACs and energy projectors and get me firing solutions on those ships! Notify High Command!"

"We're being jammed!" The comms officer shouted in response as organized chaos ensued.

"Didn't expect this posting to go like this." The previously jovial officer muttered. You and me both. Aimee thought to herself. "Charlie get me numbers!"

"102 very light frigate analogues! 52 heavy frigate analogues and two destroyer analogues!"

"Oh my god..." She muttered.

LOCATION - Batarian Dreadnought, Torfan's Talon, CE 2180 (UNSC Calendar December 11th, 2652)

Admiral Udasin Dapporok sat leisurely in the chair at the bridge. He viewed the battle map from the comfort of it and watched as the Hegemony funded 'pirate' fleet prepared to activate Relay 314.

Normally, this would be considered illegal by Council law but considering they were 'pirates' Council law didn't technically apply to them. The fleet funded by the Batarian Hegemony would make headway into new space and hopefully find more planets to settle but what was more attractive to the Hegemony was the possibility of a fledgling race to 'annex' or rather enslave.

The fleet was merely an insurance that a race like the Ranchi didn't appear. If there was, the fleet would stamp out the nuisance from the comfort of orbit.

The Admiral was chosen for this by the Minister of himself to lead this expedition and it also helped to have a number of blackmailing and the lining of pockets to move things along in his favor. Either outcome of the mission would be appealing to him as it would allow him to curry favor with the other more elitist Admirals in the Batarian Hegemony and hopefully garner enough support to become the Director of Information. Merely a shipment of fresh slaves to anyone that stood in his way would help.

"Admiral, the relay is coming online. We are not the ones that started it." An officer stated from a nearby console. This statement brought him from his thoughts. Now if the slimy Salarian bastards are watching us they will know that we didn't violate Council law! This mission just keeps getting better!

"Several frigate sized vessels have came through."

"Disable them quickly and board them!" He barked out. Immediately, several of the nearest Batarian frigates opened fire and outright destroyed most of them with only one surviving. Quickly, the remaining ship turned and left through the relay once again. "Damn fools! All ships forward!" He resounded.

He knew they were most were just pirates but he was used to the military discipline that usually accompanied a fleet of this magnitude. But since he was commanding an armada of pirates he couldn't expect that of them.

In a few moments, the bridge filled with light as the fleet moved through the relay. The Admiral spared one look at the battle map and bared his mouth into a smile. Like I said, this mission just keeps getting better!

LOCATION - Reach Fleet Command Military Complex, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System; December 11th, 2652

In a chamber beneath a mile of rock, a six inches of reliable titanium battle plate, and a layer of experimental hard-light shielding, a meeting of twelve individuals either present in person or in hologram form sat at a horseshoe shaped table. All were dressed in some form of ceremonial uniform ranging from ONI's preferred bland black BDUs and lab coats to the ornate and highly decorated uniforms of the Navy.

President William Melina was the first to speak, he was present via hologram at the HIGHCOM Facility in Sydney. "What is this about? Right now the UEG is celebrating a hundred years of unperturbed peace and a military meeting is taking precedence over that."

Admiral Serin Osman responded in cold and calculated tone, in her black uniform that represented her as the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. "Right now is not the time for securing a second election, Mr. President." That earned a glare from the politician but had quickly quieted him. "You are only here due to policy and right now we may have a hostile First Contact on our hands."

That garnered everyone present in the room attention. "What do you mean First Contact?" The Admiral internally sighed, the entire Security Council already knew what was going on they were having this meeting to decide a course of action.

"I mean exactly what I said. Exactly 25 hours ago, a mining company discovered an alien artefact above the colony world of Shanxi, our furthest and most recent colony. I dispatched several research teams to investigate as soon as it was reported. They arrived and activated the structure." She said to the President. "From the Flash FTL message, 156 hostile alien ships appeared opened fire, killed and destroyed the research crews and vessels. We lost contact soon after and are now deciding a course of action."

Fleet Admiral Lasky interjected and his tone brooked no argument from no one. "The 21st Fleet above Reach is combat-ready and awaiting further orders. Though since we do have a hostile alien force to contend with I suggest a full-scale mobilization and an immediate counterattack. We have to be swift and precise if we want to win."

The other heads of their respective branches voiced their agreement. "Immediately following the commemoration of our victory in the Great War, we seek to start a new one?" The president exclaimed. "The public will be outraged."

"What choice do we have?" Osman responded, tone unchanged. "Let them rampage across, UNSC space uncontested?"

The president was at a loss of words. He shook his head after moment and sighed in resignation as he realized he was caught between a rock and a hard place. "Do what you must." And with that his hologram fizzled out.

"Never liked that man. Worries too much about his reputation rather than what is going on." The Air Force General, Henry Yolt said.

"Peace makes you soft." Lasky stated in reply. "And sadly we have too much of it. Not many experienced commanders are left since they retired. We are going to need all the help we can get."

LOCATION - Classified

Within a heavily defended ONI facility, behind a company of battle-hardened ODSTs and a pair of Aegis Main Battle Tanks, electric chain linked fence, six inch titanium ship grade armor and state-of-the-art defense turrets and behind a labyrinth of security checkpoints and vault doors that have been graded to stop a nuclear explosion, Doctor Catherine Halsey, Head of ONI Section III received an alert on her personal data-pad that she kept on her person at all times.

The order came in. Wake them up.

"It's about time." She muttered to herself and in a rare moment she allowed herself a smile.

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New concept. Credit goes too gaara king of the sand for providing it!

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One thing to say, the Covenant do not exist here.

Until Next Time!