Frigate Benelux (FFG-124)
Captain Daniel Roosevelt had just risen from his seat when the alarm went off. The crewman manning the COM station quickly silenced it and immediately opened the transmission. Captain Roosevelt massaged his brow as the crewman scrolled through the transmission. At 67, the Captain was nearing the mandatory retirement age for naval personnel, but with a war raging between a dwindling human colony network and a xenocidal alien empire the UNSC needed every man and woman it could get. Quietly, Daniel drew a cloth from his breast pocket and used it to wipe his brow. The crewman frowned, and Roosevelt suddenly grew concerned. The Ensign turned around until he was facing the Captain.
"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from Scanning Station Fujikawa. Seems they're getting some funny readings just outsystem."
The Captain almost sighed in relief, but caught himself in time. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of subordinates. Still, for one moment, he had been afraid that the Covenant had somehow found the Aidenn system.
He'd been in almost half a dozen skirmishes with the aliens, and he'd seen firsthand what happened to civilians caught in the area. There were millions of civilians on Aidenn, and they would be slaughtered if the Covenant launched a serious assault. Captain Daniel placed both his hands behind his back to conceal a brief tremor, and replied to the waiting COM officer.
"Forward the report to Victor Station, and bring us up to Combat Alert Charlie."
"Yes, sir."
The Ensign typed the message out, and there was quiet on the bridge for almost a minute. Then, the alarm began to blare again. Captain Daniel was beginning to feel very uneasy. A simple reply would have taken less than a minute, and the screen showed the transmission was a priority Alpha. This time, the Crewman visibly blanched as he read the message, and he spoke in a near whisper.
"Sir, I've just received a reply from Victor Station. The outpost...it stopped responding. They recommend preparing for immediate Covenant presence insystem."
"Do it. Upgrade the Alert to Alpha. Lieutenant, push the reactor as far as you can. I want the MAC gun charged at once."
The Beneleux's engines flared to life, and the entire ship shook as it struggled to break its position in low orbit. A hundred kilometers away, the rectangular Orbital Docking and Defense Station Victor hovered serenely, its thrusters occasionally lighting up to push the massive complex slightly higher. Suddenly, a circle of bright light appeared in a patch of stars, and the targeting computer flickered as the anomaly's distance flickered to an impossible height. Then, an all too familiar, bulbous shape emerged from the patch of distorted space. Moments later, the rest of the scout Covenant frigate emerged from Slipspace.
There were quiet oaths and much muttering from the command deck.
"Shit, there really are Covenant here. Oh shit..."
"Get a hold of yourself, Ensign. Send a distress signal to all ships in the Octanus and Dorado systems. We'll need the backup."
United Nations Space Command ALPHA PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 0322s-21 Encryption Code: Red Public Key:
From:Captain Daniel Roosevelt, Commanding Officer, Captain of FFG-124/ (UNSC Service Number: 00205-14200-DH) To: ALL UNSC warships in AIDENN, EL DORADO, and OCTANUS systems,
Subject: COVENANT FORCES DETECTED IN AIDENN SYSTEM Classification: Classified (BGX Directive)
/start file/
Space-time distortions detected in Sector S-34 by Remote Scanning Outpost Fujikawa at 0621 hours (Military Time). File attached. Contact was subsequently lost with Outpost. Single LRS-class Covenant vessel sighted at 0625 hours (Military Time). Cole Protocol enacted at 0628 standard time. Request immediate assistance from all vessels in AIDENN and EL DORADO systems. ALL SHIPS are to group at rally point SIERRA.
/end
No one mentioned that it would take at least an hour for the first reinforcements to arrive. By that time, they would either have destroyed the ship...or Aidenn would be yet another ball of molten glass.
"Get me a firing solution, and point us right at that bastard."
Roosevelt's voice was steady and loud, but he was shaking inside. These "scout" ships had three pulse lasers and a single plasma torpedo launcher, not enough to take on a large defensive fleet but more than enough for a lone frigate.
"MAC at 100, Captain. Firing."
The frigate shook violently from nose to stern as first one, then another of the depleted uranium slugs were fired. They slammed into the oval-shaped Covenant frigate, sending its shields down in a spectacular burst of electricity and tearing a huge hole in the vessel's side. A series of secondary explosions silently erupted along the ship's cleaved flank, and plasma drifted into space. The frigate, however, continued to move towards the planet.
"Launch Archers A through G, then recharge the MAC cannon. Pull it from our engines if you have to."
"Yes, Captain."
Hundreds of Archer missiles streaked from their pods on the Benelux's side, leaving thick trails of white in their wake, and spun as they homed in on the enemy ship. The enemy vessel continued to slowly cruise towards Aidenn, but there were flashes of amethyst from its starboard side and nose. All but a dozen of the Archer missiles were reduced to a cloud of debris and flame by the pulse lasers, and the remaining missiles impacted harmlessly on the scout's reestablished shields.
Dozens of dots streamed from the scout's sides: Spirit and Phantom dropships. A quartet of these, flanked by a pair of boarding craft, flew towards the seemingly inert Victor Station, while the rest sank into Aidenn's atmopshere. Things were about to get very unpleasant for the planet's residents.
There were bursts of light as the Station opened up on the four remaining dropships with its autocannons, filling the void with high explosive rounds. The Phantoms used their maneuverability to great effect, avoiding the vast majority of the rounds, but one of the shells impacted the lead dropship. It violently flew apart into a debris field, and the shrapnel tore the troop transport immediately behind it to pieces as well. By this time though, the survivors had made it through the killzone, and hovered into the Station's hanger bay. ODDS Victor had been boarded. Battle-hardened Majors dropped to the hanger bay floor, only to be torn to pieces by heavy machine gun positions and M-19'S. There were only four Elites left from the first group to come down by the time the survivors took cover.
Following orders barked by a silver-armoured Ultra Elite, the dozen or so Grunts in the group threw clusters at each stationary gun while the dropships provided cover fire. The turrets were consumed by clouds of blue electricity, along with those Naval personnel unwise enough to cluster nearby. With the odds suddenly in their favor, the lances of Covenant quickly massacred the remaining humans and stormed the area immediately beyond the hanger. The human presence was unexpected, and the vermin were putting up a real fight, but the Shipmaster had told them their duty. They had no intention of failing to fulfill it.
As the Station's crew attempted to fight off their unwelcome guests, things outside the structure were getting worse. The Covenant frigate had let out its second and , thankfully, final group of dropships and was now turning its attention back to the Beneleux. The UNSC frigate had deployed its fighters in an attempt to distract or destroy the Phantoms, only to see the scout frigate vaporize them while they were still out of weapons range.
Now, the Covenant captain had turned his attention back to the human attack ship that had wounded them so grievously in the battle's opening shots. Pulse lasers hissed through the vaccum as they intercepted Archer missiles. Captain Roosevelt watched grimly as the frigate came ever closer, cautious after the damage it had taken earlier.
Although there was no way the Covenant could know it, he had no way of taking the ship out. He only had a single MAC round remaining, and his Archer pods were all but depleted. The Beneleux's autocannon's wouldn't even dent thick Covenant armour, let alone their shields.
"Firing solution online. Last round, Captain."
"Fire."
The bullet shaped projectile hit the Covenant ship dead center, sending waves of energy rippling across its shields from the point of impact. The ship was pushed back slightly by the hit, but its energy shielding held. Daniel had noticed that their earlier hits had scrapped the enemy's plasma torpedo launcher, meaning they'd have to get close to do any real damage to the human frigate. Small satisfaction considering the overall tactical situation, but it was still something.
If the Beneleux had still been equipped with the standard Shiva missiles, they could have won. However, the missiles had been removed from the ship several weeks earlier for reassignment to vessels taking part in the Verin skirmish. It had made sense at the time.
The Covenant ship loomed larger in the tactical screen, and the projections along its side flickered from light blue to a dull crimson as it prepared to fire. Even as the Captain directed his crew to fire the frigate's last few Archers at the hostile ship, he knew it was a futile gesture.
Then the ship suddenly came apart as the Victor's mass driver flared, then fired again. The energy that had been collecting along the ship's energy projectors dissipated, sending crackles of static across the bridge's screens. There was a moment of stunned silence, then the bridge and COM broke into cheering as the crew expressed their relief at their miraculous escape.
The Captain allowed himself a small smile. However, he knew that the battle for the system had only begun. Covenant standard procedure dictated that ships report the presence of "infidels" in systems on sight, and the enemy's ships were several times faster than their UNSC counterparts. They'd had trouble fending off a lone , light warship. If a task force or ,worse yet, a fleet came, not amount of maneuvering and tactics would save the planet.
The mood suddenly faded as a panicked transmission played across the bridge.
"This is Commander Ferix, UNSC Colonial Militia. Covenant forces have landed in Eva. Repeat, Covenant forces in Eda. Main barracks destroyed by hostile air support. Request immediate reinforce..."
The transmission cut off midword, and the bridge fell silent. After a long moment, Roosevelt addressed his crew.
"Take us into a geosynchronous orbit above Eva, and tell all Army personnel to prepare for immediate landing."
"Yes, sir."
Over the next few minutes, hundreds of Pelican troop transports roared from the Benelux's hangers and dropped out of sight below the clouds. Moments later, hundreds of black, oblong pods fell from the frigate's belly and began to glow from reentry heat as they fell. Each pod contained an Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or "Helljumper". These would come as a nasty shock to the Covenant. That, or they'd be blown out of the air.
Daniel put the cynical thought out of his mind and turned his attention to the black patch of space the first enemy ship had emerged from.
"Those reinforcements had better get here soon..."