Chapter 2: First Contact
Captain Kepler's attention was immediately grabbed by the flashing lights on his tactical console indicated the presence of well over fifty ships, an impossibility in this region of space. Unfortunately, the viewscreens were unable to see past the veil of the nebula. His Republic intelligence liaison assured him, however, that the CIS research base was beyond the confines of the nebula. Still, it was a precarious situation, and the blasted scanners weren't helping by providing false readings.
The ship emerged from the nebula, into a small packet of space surrounded on all sides by the same celestial body. Intelligence, for once, had actually been correct. In the center lay a CIS docking station, with seventeen ships of varying classes currently docked or in orbit, including one of the massive Lucrehulk-class battleships. However, there was also a sun and a lush planet in the system. Kepler's single ship did not possess nearly enough firepower to challenge an entire CIS battle group, let alone an entire CIS planet.
The prowler shook violently as if it were a sailing ship back on Earth in the middle of a hurricane. Brian managed to anchor himself to the deck. Just as quickly, the shaking stopped.
"Lots of contact!" screamed a marine.
"Stealth systems are offline. Shields are offline. Recommend evasive maneuvers." Caesar calmly announced.
Someone with a distinct English accent spoke up, "Of course, Caesar."
Brian realized that he had actually never had a chance to meet the captain before, but he marveled at the skill with which he piloted the cruiser, swinging it underneath a very large circular ship that appeared to be some sort of battleship.
"I've never had the pleasure, Captain..."
"That'll be Commodore Day to you, Lieutenant."
Commodore Day was extremely young, only in his late twenties, surprising for someone of his rank. He wasn't very tall, but was somewhat intimidating nonetheless with his piercing blue eyes. It was rumored, though, that once he was off duty, he was a hell of a comedian. Brian supposed that the man must have had very high up ONI connections to land him this job.
"Caesar, hack into the systems of those ships and translate their languages. I'm fairly certain their computers still use binary." the Commodore ordered.
Captain Kepler stared in awe at the gaping blue maw rending in space above the CIS planet. The planet itself seemed almost superimposed with massive, glowing blue circuitry for a moment, before a vessel appeared to just fall out of the hole. He was then even more surprised when the ship pulled of a succession of quick maneuvers to avoid collision with the CIS ships in orbit, with a speed and grace seemingly impossible for a ship of its size. It looked to be about 600 meters long, about half the length of the Venator that Kepler was commanding, but it was still a large ship. Then, he saw the CIS ships locking into battle formations.
"Sir, it would appear that the enemy fleet is locking into battle formations and launching fighters. We are massively outgunned, and though I have managed to restore some shielding functionality, out chances of success are one to thirty-seven." Caesar reported.
Commodore Day thought for a moment. Decisions such as these over the lives of the soldiers under his command were never easy. "Caesar, charge the MAC guns and load missiles. We're going in."
The strangely named stealth cruiser Kitten carried a wide assortment of next generation technologies, most of which were about to undergo their first practical field test. The ship was outfitted with three MAC guns, pointing forward and taking up much of the length of the ship. Each one was capable of accelerating a projectile to a small percentage of the speed of light. The ship was also outfitted with the new longbow missile. Unlike the traditional composite explosives of the old Archer missiles, the longbow carried a shock impact conventional chemical explosive as a starter, not as its main payload. The explosion from the initial detonation would activate the plasma explosive in the second stage, a much more powerful weapon than any previous UNSC missile ordinance loads. The third and final stage was a carefully mixed balance of chemical explosive designed for maximum hull damage. The theory was that the first two stages would weaken or destroy the shields, and the third stage would cause catastrophic hull damage. However, like the Archer, the Longbow missile was smaller than its Covenant counterparts and had to be fired in great quantities to cause any significant damage. In addition, new energy efficient pulse laser designs replaced half of the old 50mm autocannon for anti-fighter use. Like all UNSC ships, the Kitten was outfitted with an more primitive variant of the Covenant shielding technology.
All of this massive firepower was loaded for combat as Commodore Day prepared for the first battle of his life.
Captain Kepler could only sag deeper into his command chair as he watched the spectacle unfold. The newcomers were charging straight into a CIS battle formation.
The Kitten fired its MAC cannons first, at the lead CIS ship. The Providence-class ship was one of the backbone battleships of the Separatist Navy. That didn't make the MAC rounds any less devastating. The first two rounds shredded the shields instantaneously. The third then slammed into the bow of the Separatist ship, traveling straight through and out the other end, gutting the insides. From inside the Kitten, Brian could see the explosions rock the large battleship as it struggled to stay together. A handful of longbow missiles ensured that it did not.
Aboard the Republic ship, the clone commander on the bridge had only one remark, "That's damn impressive."
Captain Kepler, though he was by this time rendered completely mute by the mesmerizing events before him, could only nod in agreement.
Commodore Day wasted no time on cheering, unlike the rest of his bridge staff. He immediately targeted the next ship in the battle line. Their directed energy weapons, akin to plasma bolts or bullets made out of light, were already pummeling his shields. The MAC cannons were still recharging, so he would have to rely on the experimental longbows. His ship was armed with 45 such missile pods, and he unleashed over one hundred missiles in his first salvo. Enemy point defenses picked off a few, but they seemed to be designed to counter different threats than missiles. The rest impacted against the shields of what appeared to be a cruiser. The plasma warheads did their work, and the shields were disabled. The next salvo opened up multiple hull breaches and disabled all critical systems. Commodore Day watched the ship explode spectacularly with no small amount of satisfaction. The battle was going unusually well; it seemed as though this new enemy was not equipped to deal with the kinds of weapons employed by the UNSC.
One of the Republic ship's resident Jedi made his way up to the bridge. "Don't you think we should help these newcomers?"
"It seems they can handle themselves." the clone replied.
"Dammit soldier! I said get down to deck seven and help with those fires!"
Commodore Day's elation disappeared as soon as hid had arrived when the enemy cannon wiped out his shields and began chipping away at his hull. The external plating was stealth armour, it wouldn't stand very long against prolonged bombardment. On the bright side, his MAC guns were recharged.
"Caesar, target the enemy flagship, the donut shaped one. We're going in."
The Kitten ignored enemy fire on all sides, charging straight towards the enemy flagship. Its MAC cannons tore into their target, but only succeeded in bringing down its shields. Commodore Day quickly revised his strategy.
"Caesar, I'm going to slingshot us around the planet. Make sure all are guns are hot again when I come out of the loop, and do your best to recharge the shields. Lieutenant, grab your Spartans. I want you to board that ship."
In the years since the Human-Covenant war, humanity had realized the necessity of a dedicated boarding craft. Thus, the Mosquito was born. Much like its biological namesake on Earth, the Mosquito parasitically latches itself onto its host, and is very difficult to destroy. Unlike the larger and more vulnerable Covenant boarding craft, Mosquitoes were smaller and carried fewer men, so each one lost meant a much smaller hit to the overall boarding crew. Not to mention, the damn things were quite fast. They were the perfect insertion craft for a team of four Spartans.
This particular Spartan squad was modeled after the later tactics of the Spartan-III program. Each member specialized in a handful of areas, and the team worked together as a cohesive whole, unlike the Spartan-IIs, who could become one-man armies at a moment's notice. Their leader was Brian-768. He specialized in marksmanship, engineering, and advanced infiltration/scouting. Charles-767, Brian's childhood friend, specialized in explosives, heavy munitions, and vehicular combat (read: blowing stuff up). Kim-812, the youngest, and the only female, specialized in electronic warfare. Finally, the most quiet, Matthew-785, specialized in close quarters combat and deep solo insertions. Rumour was that his entire family was killed in one of the Jiralhanae raids that occurred from time to time when some ships escaped from the Sangheili blockade. This squad was one of the newest groups of Spartans to be deployed, and they were about to be tested in their first major battle.
The Mosquito dropped with a lurch out of the fighter bay and rapidly accelerated into the blooming space battle between the UNSC naval fighters and CIS droids. After its decorated service and proven performance, the Longsword multirole fighter had been deemed too important to mothball in favor of new designs. Instead, it had been radically upgraded with more modernized technologies while still retaining classic characteristics. Four of these Mark II Longswords surreptitiously slid into formation around the Mosquito, protecting it from any potential harm as the Kitten moved away, taking its AA batteries with it.
The Spartans on board felt a jolt. "Alright boys, you're in the clear. From your position, I'd say your fairly close to the bridge. Caesar's uploaded stolen schematics of the ship's interior to your HUD. Good hunting."
Brian watched as Charles planted a powerful directional charge on the door. "Right. We're good to go. How bad do you think the bodies will be mangled?"
"Charles, must you always take such a perverse pleasure in destruction?" Brian groaned.
"Of course, Brian. Clear the door."
The door exploded outwards, and the four Spartans leaped out, weapons drawn, to find... Shattered machines. Brian picked up a handful of pieces. "They seem to be fully mechanical soldiers. Bipedal. Same directed energy weapons as the ship. Their guns probably drain our shields, so take cover often."
-Aboard the bridge of the Confederacy of Independent Systems vessel Liberator-
"Sir, we have intruders on deck 57, not far from this location." a droid called out in an almost comically mechanical voice.
The Nemoidian commander of the CIS task group stationed in the middle of a forsaken nebula to defend a science team was having a very, very bad day. First, a Republic ship arrived, which meant the Republic had at least some knowledge of their secret project. Then, when he was going to derive a small amount of satisfaction from destroying that ship, a massive hole was torn in space and another ship came through, that he was forced to immediately attack to defend the Confederate investment in the forsaken system in the forsaken nebula in a galaxy at war. Then, that mysterious ship proceeded to destroy two of the ships in his fleet before pulling of a maneuver the likes of which he had never seen. And now, to top it all off, there was an apparent team of commandos boarding his ship.
"Order some battle droids there and activate shield barriers to lock off the hallways." he ordered.
-Spartan Wolf Team-
Brian stopped just in time to avoid being sliced in half by the energy wall that had just appeared in front of him. He called out to Kim, "Can you knock these things out?"
"Working on it!" she replied.
Matthew wordlessly flung Brian to the ground as an explosion burst uncomfortably close to the team.
"We've got incoming!" Charles yelled. "My motion tracker's picking up fifty-plus combatants at twenty-five yards!"
As the first droids rounded the corner, Brian noticed that the machines were similar to the remains they had found outside of their boarding craft. They also appeared rather flimsy, an appearance that seemed to be an accurate description of their durability when Wolf team opened fire and shredded the entire advance group in seconds.
"Well, that was fast." Kim remarked. "I've also cracked their code and deactivated their shield barriers."
"Excellent work. Team, move out." Brian commanded. "Objective is the bridge of the enemy vessel."
-UNSC Stealth Vessel Kitten-
"Caesar, ready those MAC guns. I want a targeting solution on the other battleship right away, we know we can take it out. Also, get thirty of the longbow pods locked onto one of their frigate. I'm sure it'll be sufficient." the Commodore ordered.
"As you wish, sir. Slingshot around the planet complete in three, two one...
-Spartan Wolf Team-
"We're right beneath the bridge. LT, have the team cover me while I plant these charges." Charles said.
-Bridge of the Liberator-
"How did they knock out the ray shields? How?" the Nemoidian commander was screaming. None of his droids could answer him. A massive explosion interrupted his tantrum.
"Up and over, Spartans!"
Brian and his team quickly destroyed most of the machines in the room and moved towards the commander, who quivered in fear.
"Magna Guards! Destroy these intruders!" The Nemoidian did not understand how four soldiers could infiltrate his massive battleship. His bodyguard of the elite Magna Guard droids would quickly rectify the situation, however.
"What are these things? They're way more difficult to kill than those other scrap heaps!" commented Charles.
Brian observed that Matthew was having an easier time of things, since he had been trained in close quarters combat. A quick draw of his shotgun blew off one of the machine's heads. To Brian's extreme suprise and consternation, the machine continued to attack Matthew, who drew two energy swords.
"Where'd he get those?" Kim asked as she struggled with a magna guard.
"A Sangheili Honour Guard gave them to him as a token of respect after Matthew beat him in one of our joint Spec-Ops/Spartan training sessions." Brian replied.
"He beat an Honour Guard and never told us?" Kim asked while ducking beneath a swing of the blasted machine's energy staff.
"Since when has he told us anything?" asked Charles, as he stuffed a frag grenade into the chest area of one of the robots. To his delight, it actually killed the damn thing.
The Nemoidian could only watch in horror. These commandos were holding their own, and the one that appeared to have two strange lightsabers was slaughtering his elite magna guard.
Matthew sliced open the last magna guard attacking Kim and turned towards the Nemoidian.
-UNSC Stealth Vessel Kitten-
Commodore Day watched as his attack plan unfolded magnificently. He was inflicting superior losses on the enemy. As the ship righted itself into a standard attack stance once more, he gave a command that the Marines onboard were no doubt ecstatic to hear.
"All troops to you embarkation areas. We're assaulting that planet. ODSTs, get ready to jump feet-first into hell."
Across the ship, there was a unified response: "Oorah!"
Then, the Commodore's comm unit beeped, "This is Spartan Wolf team, we have gained control of the bridge of the enemy vessel. What would you have us do with the captain?
"Keep him. He's a prisoner of war now." he replied.
"Caesar, can you remote control that battleship?"
A/N: Well, that ended up being really long. It's my first real attempt to do action and dialogue, I sincerely hope all of you liked it. And someone, anyone, please review!
