Chapter 1_

1645, March 10, 2551 (Military Calendar) /Aboard UNSC Frigate Avenger, two hundred thousand kilometers above . . . anomaly name for planet not found

"Exiting slipspace . . . Now!" Lieutenant Long shouted as normal space appeared on-screen. There weren't very any stars to see because there were hundreds of covenant ships in the way, that were surrounding a small planet that used to be a UNSC colony. All eyes turned from their stations in awe for only a moment before Captain Perkins interrupted.

"Hank all power to port," she yelled over the COM, and they narrowly missed hitting a covenant Destroyer class ship. "Lieutenant Zao, have we been spotted yet?" Perkins had to keep her soldiers in line one slip-up and they were all going to die.

"Not yet ma'am," twenty year-old Zao replied as he combed the sweat off of his head with his hands. "Should I convert some power to active-cameo?" he asked.

"Yes," Perkins answered and the ship almost immediately disappeared. "Long get us to the dark side of that planet on the double." Long nodded and started to rapidly adjust and calculate at her station. The avenger dodged and swerved just missing most ships.

"Ma'am there is something wrong here," Zao said as he stared at his console questioningly.

"What is it?" Perkins asked a tinge of curiosity in her voice.

"Well according to our scanners none of these ships' shields are up," Zao told her. "Although in every other encounter we have had with the covenant their shields have been up."

"Are you suggesting that these ships aren't online," she voiced her thoughts of what he had just told her. "And this is only a ship junkyard."

"Not entirely ma'am," he started again. "Our scanners are picking up millions of life forms on that planet all of which are Covenant and one last thing."

"What would that be?" Perkins now very interested in what he was saying.

"It would seem most of these contacts are gathered in one spot of the planet," He said. "And that spot isn't glassed."

Weird, Perkins thought, almost all planets that the Covenant defeats is completely glassed. She snapped to, "Load MAC rounds and be ready to fire all archer missiles. This might just be a . . ." She was interrupted by plasma just missing by a hair. "Evasive maneuver Delta now!" she ordered.

The Avenger moved under a Covenant ship that was then tore to pieces by the plasma that had been tracking them. "Damien fire MAC rounds when we get a clear shot time it so it hits when their shields are down then all archer missiles. Damien nodded, he was in deep concentration. They came above a carrier class vessel and saw that it was a covenant flagship that had spotted them. The MAC rounds fired Perkins eyes locked on the screen. The covenant fired three times only half a MAC round made it inside but it tore through the hull like it was papier-mâché.

"Release the team now," Perkins ordered. "Cover them from above, we got lucky there and don't bet that it will happen again." The pelican flew out and raced under the covenant ships. "Match speed with the pelican."

"Yes ma'am," Long replied. Out from behind the ship was another covenant destroyer it fired all cannons. Three rounds caught their hide, and detonated. The Avenger span out of control. Red lights winked and an alarm whaled.

"Damien same orders," Perkins yelled as she gripped her seat. "You know what to do."

She then opened a COM channel with Hank. "Status?" she asked there was a bit of strain in her voice.

"Main engines destroyed, diverting power to backup!" Hank shouted. There was a rumble in the ship's hull as five MAC rounds pierced through space. One MAC round going through the shields two taking the shields down and the last two tearing the rest of the ship to shreds.

"Lieutenant Damien Pondren, fire all aft archer missiles and turn us around!" Captain Perkins shouted over the alarms.

"Aye ma'am," Pondren yelled back. He made some split second calculations. He fired all of the archer missiles, the Avenger slowed to a stop. The red lights stopped, normal lights came back on, and the alarm silenced.

"Damage report?" Perkins looked around the bridge. All her staff was still there and alive. The other battles with the Covenant the UNSC had been as lucky.

"All engines offline, power drained to fifty-four percent. One quarter of the archer missiles are left along with sixteen MAC rounds," Hank replied over the COM. "And over half of my staff was killed," he finished sweat dripped down from his hair and to his face. The water heaters had been damaged too but they weren't an issue at the moment.

"Can what's left of your staff get those engines back online?" Perkins asked him.

"Yes, but it would take about six hours," Hank told his Captain.

"Get on it," she said and clicked off the COM. Then she summoned the ships AI, Lasting Spring.

"How may I be of service?" the AI asked.

"Do whatever Lieutenant Hank Stilles asks of you for the next six hours," Perkins told the AI.

"Yes, Ma'am," Lasting Spring nodded and faded.

"Good luck, soldiers," she said as she watched the pelican disappear onto the surface of the planet.