The Intergalactic War, Revised

A.N: Okay, explanations, explanations. I have mixed feelings about this chapter, as I found that I now write ground battles far better than space ones, and easier to boot. Weird, eh?

I suppose that I'd better say something first. It's a bit rant-ish but since nobody reads this it'll be alright, right? Anyways, since someone asked about romance, I'll make my feelings pretty damned clear about it: I very much dislike to the point of hating some sections in . All I see there is story after story after story after endless story of the same damned pairing. And to top it off, it's written about the very pairing that I hate and would love to see burning. All the while, these generic run-of-the-mill stories are getting truckloads of reviews while the perfectly well written stories about other, less used characters are standing in the background ignored.

Enough of my ranting, and let's get this show on the road. As always, make damned sure you click the purple button down the bottom and leave a few words in return for me! How fast I update actually depends on how many reviews I get (in a way. The more reviews means the faster, obviously. I'm looking at you alerters who haven't reviewed right now…) But still don't expect weekly or even fortnightly updates.

And also, I stuffed over believability and accurate behaviour to let in room for fun and to set up something more exciting. If I wanted everything to be accurate to a tee, I would have gone into historic novel writing. Come on, have some fun and loosen up.

Disclaimer: I don't own them. Both of them.

Chapter 2: Neutral to Hostile


The deep, inky blackness of space, the second last great unknown (the honour of first great unknown was death), became distorted. Rippling across the sea of black like a pebble thrown into a pond, a hole was torn in the fabric of that very unknown, as a one, then two, then three, followed by a entire flotilla of majestic warships entered the real dimension of space.

Nearly two hundred warships of differing design, colour and appearance slipped out of the alternate dimension of Slipspace. Human warships, blocky and geometrical in design were interspersed with Covenant ships, sleek and predatory in their design. Within minutes of leaving Slipspace, the warships formed up into separate battle groups, with Human and Covenant ships mostly staying apart from each other. Mutual distrust still lingered, even if the majority of the hatred had dissipated over the few years. Even now, in an attempt to promote relations between the two, several ships had been assigned to each battle group, two human destroyers to the Covenant battle group, and two Covenant heavy frigates to the human battle group (the heavy frigates outgunned most of its human counterparts and could rival destroyers in any case).

In the lead of the Covenant battle group was an Assault Carrier. The gleaming, silver hull of the titanic vessel dwarfed every ship in its battle group and indeed, the entire joint UNSC-Covenant fleet. Numerous vessels of every shape and size gathered, ranging from support ships to massive carriers, who in turn were swarmed around by its wings of teardrop shaped Seraph fighters.

The lead vessel for the UNSC battle group was a ship not-too-dissimilar to the Assault Carrier. The latest design and the most technologically advanced UNSC ship, the Aegis-class experimental battleship was a force to be reckoned with. Unlike other UNSC ship designs, the Aegis-class battleships had a sleeker and smoother design, more reminiscent of a Covenant ship than a UNSC one. It lacked the bulkiness of a normal UNSC ship, and instead was somewhat flatter. It still kept the human preference for straight lines and hard angles: it was shaped like an arrow, thinner and longer than most UNSC ships.

At two kilometres in length, it was one of the largest human-built ships. Its armament was unique: it had twenty Archer missile pods mounted around the hull and a large number of point-defence guns but completely lacked any MAC gun of any shape or form. Instead, it carried ten railguns, mounted on five turrets with two railguns apiece. Three of the massive railgun turrets were mounted on top of the ship, with the other two on its underbelly. The turrets had a large view, and the ones mounted on its underbelly could point almost vertically downwards.

The ridiculously high costs of constructing a new Aegis-class battleship however, had restricted their deployment, along with a multitude of officers who opposed its deployment, citing that it was better to remain with what they had instead of diverting resources to create a new experimental one.

But the Admiralty, comprised of a panel of veteran admirals and at its head the rapidly aging Lord Hood, had overruled their concerns to a certain extent. Production of the new Aegis's had been slowed, and more funds were diverted to construction of more ships. As such, only three Aegis-class battleships were in existence: the Aegis, the Nimitz and the third, as-of-yet unknown Aegis.

This one, the Aegis, was commanded by Admiral Jack 'Thunderbolt' Thompson, a veteran of several conflicts against the United Rebel Front and veteran of many battles against the Covenant. He was tall man despite his age, and the only betrayal of his age was several streaks of silver in his hair. Fiery, hot-tempered and a quick thinker, he was renowned for his ruthlessness in battle which had led to minor victories against the Covenant on other, less major colony worlds.

"Status?" he barked to the bridge crew around him.

"All systems are green sir. Reactor is operating within normal limits, all Archer pods are hot and railguns are fully charged. Their officers stand ready for orders," the operational officer, Lt. Kinsburg, reported.

"And the fleet?"

"They're forming up," his communication officer replied, looking up from her station.

"Good. Open a channel to Fleet Master 'Kaisemee," the admiral ordered.

Fleet Master 'Kaisemee appeared on one of the screens. "Greetings Admiral."

"Skip the small talk. How's your battle group?"

"Straight to the point, I see," chuckled 'Kaisemee. "My fleet is operating at maximum efficiency. We'll be ready for the blasted apes when we do see them."

"Good. Then let's get hunting."

Together, the two hundred combined ships slowly rumbled off into space, their engines flaring.


It had been nearly three hours since the combined battle groups had entered real space, and three hours of constant searching and scanning had revealed little to the hunters, human or otherwise. Three hours had gone by without so much as a flicker on their scanners, apart from the odd rogue asteroid.

On board the bridge of the Aegis, which was in the middle of the fleet along with the Assault Carrier Merciless Dawn, Fleet Master 'Kaisemee's ship, Admiral Thompson was in the middle of a discussion with the Fleet Master.

"So tell me, where exactly are we?" he questioned.

'Kaisemee grunted as he looked onto a screen. "This region is the boundary line of known Covenant space. The closest known planet we occupy here is only less than half a lightyear ahead of us."

"So why didn't you bastards expand?"

"Had our holy war with you not gone ahead, then undoubtedly, we would have expanded our territory here," 'Kaisemee.

On the holographic view screen, Admiral Thompson watched another asteroid float by. The bridge of the Aegis, along with the bridges of every other Aegis-class battleship, was located deep inside its armoured hull, yet another feature 'borrowed' from the Covenant.

"Are asteroids common around here?" he asked.

A deep frown settled on 'Kaisemee's face—or at least, what Admiral Thompson presumed to be the Elite version of a frown.

"No. They are not a common sight around here. Bring the fleet's alert status up to combat levels," he ordered. "Make sure our weapons are prepared to fire immediately on my command."

"Something wrong, Fleet Master?"

"A growing suspicion. A warrior does not survive a war by technology and training alone," 'Kaisemee said.

"Alright. We'll continue this later," Thompson said as 'Kaisemee nodded.

The screen with 'Kaisemee flickered off, and showed a holographic representation of the area and the entire combined fleet in its place.

"Tag all the asteroids that have passed us larger enough to potentially shield a destroyer," he ordered.

The ship's AI, Cynthia appeared on the holotank. "Aye aye, captain."

"Admiral," he corrected.

"If you insist," Cynthia said with a mock sigh. She could replicate human expressions amazingly well for an AI. "Done. Next time, task me with something harder, will you? A girl like me gets lonely fast."

"Good. Calculate attack vectors to target both sides of the asteroids and give the railgun crews a hand," he ordered.

Cynthia gave a salute, and dissolved into a haze of particles, which swarmed back into the projector before disappearing completely.

"Orders, sir?" asked Lt. Erika, his communications officer.

"Tell the fleet to prepare for attack. Get the carriers and support ships in the middle of the formation; we can't afford to lose them."

"Yes sir," she replied, her fingers flying over the keys.

"Weapons?"

"Archer pods are hot and awaiting targets. Railguns are at full operational capacity. Cynthia has control of point-defence guns," Lt. Tom Chen, his weapons officer, said.

"Then whatever's coming, we're ready for it," Admiral Thompson sighed. He walked back to his command chair, and sunk into it with a sigh.

On the holographic tactical map, he watched as smaller versions of Covenant ships arranged themselves in a similar formation; the support ships clustered in the middle, with the heavier warships themselves covered by a series of smaller frigates and corvettes.

"Energy spikes detected in Fleet Master 'Kaisemee's ships," calmly reported Cynthia, appearing on the holotank once again. "They seem to be preparing for something."

"So are we," Admiral Thompson said.

Their precautions soon proved to be their saviour when the asteroids around the battle group suddenly rocketed towards it. The entire bridge burst into a frenzy of shouts as their officers reported the readings on their screens. The act was carried out on all the ships throughout the entire combined fleet.

"Energy spikes detected all around us!"

"Asteroids accelerating! Collision imminent!"

"Enemy ships appearing!"

"Railgun officers requesting targets sir!"

"—collision in ten seconds! Mass approaching at high speeds!"

"Order the railgun officers that their primary targets are the asteroids!" roared Admiral Thompson. "All ships, break formation! Spread out!"

The railgun turrets quickly swivelled around on their mounts, until they were pointed at the asteroids. It only took the massive guns a second to lock onto the fast approaching rocks. The barrels glowed with power as electricity coursed through them, charging the twin rails with power. A single large tungsten spike was accelerated between the rails, before bursting out. A thin blue line traced its path, courtesy of several chemicals added to the spike for the officers to get a better visual sense of where the spike had gone.

There was very little recoil from such a weapon of destructive power. The single spike, quickly joined by its twin from the second set of rails, sliced through space and slammed into the asteroid. It shattered through layers of rock and pockets of metal, before eventually slowing to a halt three-quarters of the way into the mass of space rock.

The asteroid seemed to slow and spun around slowly. A large part of the asteroid had been destroyed, and it slowly collapsed on itself, throwing bits of rock everywhere. The other asteroids met the same fate from the standard MAC rounds or were melted by massed plasma torpedo salvos.

However, several vessels did fall to the asteroids. Two UNSC frigates and a Covenant destroyer were crushed under the impact of an asteroid, shortly before the offending rocks were obliterated by fire from the combined fleet.

But the asteroids weren't the killing blow. Within moments of the asteroids being obliterated, plasma torpedos raced into the fray, impacting on shields and hulls. Three UNSC ships—a frigate and a pair of destroyers—boiled away from the assault, leaving little behind apart from several bits of metal. The smaller Covenant ships that had been caught in the attack had their shields drained from the assault. They tried to pull away, but were vaporised by several long, thin beams of energy striking out.

Fleet Master 'Kaisemee watched with a clenched fist. He had been a highly talented and skilled officer within the Covenant before it had fallen apart. But his promotions were hampered many times because of his reluctance to accept the Prophets reasons for the slaughter. Others were promoted in his place, him being passed over many times simply because others were more devoted to the cause and could accept orders without question.

"Where did the beams originate from?" he asked, as several other Elites and supporting Engineers worked on the consoles in front of and below the command platform where he stood.

"Our cowardly enemies hide behind the rocks!" the Elite manning the scanning station reported with anger. "The fleet is moving to engage them."

"Order the fleet to halt pursuit," 'Kaisemee ordered. "Fall back and take positions behind the CCS-battlecruisers."

"As you wish, Fleet Master."

The orders were quickly issued, and the rest of the frigates near the edge of the fleet quickly moved back behind the stronger shields of the larger vessels. Several more plasma torpedos rocketed out, as the humans fought back against the aggressors over their side.

"All ships, forward! Burn the filthy apes from existence!" roared 'Kaisemee into the open communication lines once the frigates and smaller ships had taken refuge.

As one, the mighty Covenant battle group surged forward, plasma conduits glowing as plasma collected at their sides. The smaller Brute fleet, attempting to ambush the collective fleet, quickly recognised that they were heavily outnumbered and outgunned and tried to flee.

Plasma torpedos and Energy Projectors fired, cutting swathes of destruction through the Brute fleet. The smaller vessels instantly exploded under the barrage, and the larger ones were heavily damaged. But still, they managed to return the favour, with several CCS-battlecruisers exploding into nothing from multiple plasma torpedo impacts.

"Fleet Master, this is Ship Master 'Okyosee of the Avenger. I request permission to pursue the Brutes."

"Denied 'Okyosee. Wait for our human allies to rally together first," ordered 'Kaisemee.

"No need Fleet Master. We're just itchin' to kick some hairy space ape ass," the voice of Admiral Thompson came over the communications panel.

"Very well then. If you would as kindly form your battle group alongside ours, we shall continue our endeavour to wipe out this little band of Brutes," 'Kaisemee said.

Admiral Thompson made no reply, and instead, on the holographic screen showing the visual representation of the area showed that the human fleet, which was slightly bruised over the loss of four frigates and a pair of destroyers moving to join his fleet. The two distinct battle groups hooked up, and once the Aegis was alongside the Merciless Dawn, they surged forward, intent on snuffing out the last of the Brute Loyalists.

But by now, the remains of the Brute fleet, comprised mostly of smaller vessels had fled well beyond weapons range. As a small benefit, the fact that they were using their engines at full power meant that they were easily traceable.

'Kaisemee sighed as he watched the rest of the fleet continue through the holographic screens.

"I shall retire to my room," he announced. "'Nyamee, you have the bridge."

His second in command, a female Elite dressed in black armour with white edging walked forward. "Thank you Excellency."

'Kaisemee nodded, and walked out. Females within their armed forces were now a slightly more common sight than they were during the war. The war, and the Civil War within the Covenant, had left a great deal of the Covenant's military dead, among them countless legions of Grunts and Jackals and exceptionally high numbers of Elites dead. Considering that all the Elites serving were male, it left far fewer numbers to be recruited, even with the spread of the Covenant. Recognising that if such losses continued, there would be a greater number of females than males, the Elite Councillors changed the strict doctrine of the military to allow females to serve, albeit reluctantly. But with the support of the Arbiter, Rtas 'Vadumee and several other esteemed Zealots, the notion was passed and ever since, the Elite's military had been bolstered.

Reaching his quarters, the DNA sampler checked his DNA and when it had verified that it was him, the doors slid open without so much as a hiss. The quarters of the Fleet Master weren't quite as lavish as most people would imagine: in contrast, it was quite Spartan, containing only the necessary items. The only luxury that he had was the private bathroom, connected to his quarters. He would take one later: family to him came first.

Walking over to the communicator, he tapped a few buttons, and waited to connect to his family, using a series of relay probes to gain the signal necessary. Within moments, he had been identified, and the call was passed through.

The face of his sister came up and needless to say, she was quite shocked at his sudden call.

"Brother!" she exclaimed.

"Hello Rysem," he chuckled. "How is everything at home?" His sister was still too young to be mated and as such, stayed at home to take on smaller duties.

"Father is still angry at you," she said, almost apologetically. "Everyone else is in good health."

'Kaisemee sighed. His father, also a decorated war veteran, was more than displeased with his decision to join Rtas 'Vadumee in assisting their human allies. His father had eventually let him go (there was no way that his father would stop him in any case), but very clearly expressed his disapproval of the decision.

"I would apologise a thousand times to him, if I did not know at the bottom of my heart that the course of action I chose was the right one," he told his sister.

"I know. But, there is very little you can do in any case. None of us here blame you for it," she replied.

As his vocal cords began to formulate a response, there was a beeping from the communications console next to him.

"I'm sorry, but I am needed elsewhere. I will try to contact you again," he sighed apologetically.

She nodded, before the unit switched off, and allowing the face of 'Nyamee to take her place.

"What is it?" he barked.

"Excellency, our pickets have caught up to the rest of the Brute's fleet."

"What is so important about that requires my attention?"

"The Brute fleet is preparing to enter the alternate space. They request permission to destroy."

"I will be there soon," he said, standing up.

If the Brute fleet was preparing to jump to another system, then he would be required to be up on the bridge, to make sure that the rest of the battle group would follow. Something else remained at the back of his mind. A small feeling that whatever the Brutes were up to, it wasn't going to be something that was routine.

Touching the magnetic clip at his waist, his fingers curled around the hilt of the Energy Sword that was a symbol of his status. Countless enemies had fallen before he had been bestowed the position of Fleet Master, and he swore to himself that one way or another, the Brutes who had betrayed them would fall.

Stepping into the bridge, he glanced around.

"What is the matter?" he demanded, as 'Nyamee stepped off the command platform to let him stand there.

"The Brute fleet is preparing to enter the alternate realm," she responded. "But none of the coordinates match anything in either our space or Human."

"Follow them," he growled. "They will regret the day they ever betrayed us!"

"Excellency? The human leader asks about our decision."

"Tell him that we are pursuing, and his forces can stay behind if he wishes them to," ordered 'Kaisemee.

The face of Admiral Thompson came up on the screen, a sneer on his face.

"Yeah, like we'd run from a perfectly good fight. Mind giving us the coordinates?"

"Of course."

A series of flashes later, and the ships gathered in space started to accelerate forward into numerous holes torn into the fabric of space, leaving the realm of real-space and into the realm of faster-than-light travel.

They were headed for a journey that would see the war to end all wars.


Captain Bai had seen his share of battles, and his face and eyes showed it all.

The entire left side of his face was scarred, deep creases running from brow to chin, ones going horizontally, others going diagonally, and general scars everywhere. His eyes had lost their gleam, and now more resembled those belonging to a corpse.

In front of him raged an intense battle between the forces of the Confederacy and the Alliance. The battle had been raging for little over an hour now, and ruined hulks littered space. The smaller starfighters dodged in between giant ships, chasing after one another in a deadly game of hide and seek.

"Are there any new contacts?" Captain Bai asked from his seat. His scars served to remind him of how a CIS fleet, disguised as civilians had ambushed his own fleet, wiping out virtually all the ships. In fact, a torpedo had struck a K-wing bomber right outside the bridge. The explosion had sent fragments and shrapnel tearing into the bridge. It was only luck that he had turned to the right to address one of his officers that only his left side was struck and peppered with hot metal. He had since learned to keep up continuous scan of the area, to ensure that the CIS couldn't sneak a few ships into the battle zone.

"No sir," the officer manning the station dutifully replied.

"Keep scanning."

A burst of fire lit up the bridge as an X-wing exploded, its frame torn apart by a Tri-fighter. The point-defence guns near the bridge started booming, lasers streaking the sky as the automated fighter tried to avoid meeting the same fate as the X-wing.

Outside the atmosphere sealed bridge, the vacuum of space was filled with fire. A pair of Alliance frigates pressed forward, their minimal armament blazing, distracting several Confederate ships from the two Star Destroyers that approached their lines, amidst bombers, fighters and lasers.

A single Providence challenged the duo, its own heavy batteries ablaze with firepower. The rest of the Alliance fleet moved up, pressing the advantage they had: superior ship design, armour and weapons compared to their CIS counterparts. a maelstrom of lasers obliterated the Providence seconds after it had blasted one of the frigates out of action and torn the other one apart.

"Have Theta Squadron form up and proceed to coordinates ZX-225 at flank speed. We're smashing through their lines," Captain Bai ordered.

Theta Squadron: a pair of heavy frigates, two destroyers and a Scythe-class battlecruiser all formed up behind his own ship. They broke away from the main group of Alliance ships at their maximum speed, many of which were deadlocked with the Confederate fleet, and manoeuvred to the Confederate Navy's flank. The few CIS ships who had noticed quickly reacted, forming up in their own battle group, and charged across space to wipe the Alliance battle group out before they could mercilessly shell the Confederate fleet from their position. The computer quickly labelled them as 'Enemy Battle Group Alpha'.

"Shift all fire to Battle Group Alpha!" Captain Bai ordered, as a round of turbolasers rocked the shields.

Their own batteries sent off a salvo of turbolasers streaking across space before they fell into a steady thumping rhythm which reverberated throughout the ship. The Confederate battle group not being distracted by the mass of Alliance ships mixed up with their own responded. However, tens of thousands of kilometres away, a multitude of 'holes' opened in space, and sent a massive energy surge that was picked up on virtually every ship in the battle.

"Sir, energy spikes! We have unknown ships entering the battle zone!" the scanner officer shouted, his voice penetrating the dull murmur that always hung over the bridge.

"What? Show me!" demanded Captain Bai.

"They're on screen!" another officer shouted.

One of the viewing screens mounted near the top of the bridge view ports fuzzed into life, displaying the unknown warships. Half of the ships had sleek and curving lines, and were silvery in colour. The other half consisted blocky, angular shapes, save for one, who had the hard lines of the others, but had a similar silvery colour.

"Sir? Squadron is requesting orders for new vessels," one of the officers said.

Captain Bai furrowed his eyebrow. If he assumed they were friendly when they were not, it would leave them wide open to be wiped out. Memories of the day he had stared death in face and seen virtually all of the fleet destroyed flooded back.

"Sir! Unknown vessels have a massive spike in power to other sources apart from engines! Requesting orders!"

The spike in power confirmed it all.

"Fire at unknown vessels!" he ordered. He didn't know that moments earlier, their leader aboard the flagship had been killed, a Providence ramming the ship. That left him in overall command, and the fleet followed his orders.


"Well, I'll be damned," Admiral Thompson said, staring at the battle through the holographic screens.

"What do we do sir?"

"Give me a link to the Fleet Master," he ordered.

"Aye sir. Link is active."

"'Kaisemee. I trust you can see the dilemma we've got?"

"Of course," the Elite rumbled. "We're powering our weapons. There's no need to unprepared in the face of a potential enemy."

"We call it 'caught with your pants down'," Admiral Thompson said. "Very well, prepare for battle."

The Fleet Master tilted his head as a sign of acknowledgement before the screen winked off.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, you heard the scaly bastard. Full power to railguns; I want a firing solution given to the officers yesterday! Arm all Archer pods, alert other ships!" barked the Admiral.

"Aye sir! Archer pods warming up!"

"Firing solution calculated, Admiral," came Cynthia's smooth, melodic voice. "It is being transmitted as we speak."

"Give me ninety-five percent power on reactor! Sound decompression alarms in all non-essential sections!"

"Aye sir! Reactor at ninety percent and rising!"

"Alarms sounded!"

A steady blaring started throughout the ship as people, both personnel and Marines hurried.

"All hands to battle stations, I repeat, all hands to battle stations!"

"Marine counter-boarding parties, to your posts. This is not a drill," Cynthia's calm voice floated throughout the Aegis, calm despite the chaos raging as people hurried to their positions.

"Alright Marines! Sound off!" barked a Marine sergeant.

"Sanders ready!"

"Markinson, ready!"

"To your posts! Double time Marines, go go go!" shouted the sergeant once the calls had been finished. Boots clanged against the deck as the Marines rushed around, passing other squads. They hadn't seen combat for a long time, and many of them were simply itching for a fight.

Outside, similar scenes could be seen throughout the entire UNSC-Covenant fleet. Motes of blood-red light gathered at places on the Covenant ships as the infamous plasma torpedos were readied. Several Energy Projectors were charging up, ready to dispel their destructive energy through space. MAC guns, Archer pods were readied, as the railgun turrets aboard the Aegis powered up.

The CIS fleet, seeing this along with the Alliance battle group, assumed the worst. They too fired, joining the Alliance in sending a barrage of turbolasers across to the newcomers. The turbolasers struck a UNSC frigate. Armour exploded off it, as the relatively thin sheets were blasted off, exposing the interior to the cold void of space.

Twenty seconds later, the frigate exploded.

"Goddamn son of a bitch!" Admiral Thompson snarled, brining his fist down on his command chair and leaping onto his feet. "Open fire! All units: pick your targets and blow them back to the Stone Age!"

"Admiral, I must stress more cautious action," 'Kaisemee advised as he appeared on the screen. "We still do not know if that was intentional or not…"

"Intentions be damned! They wiped out one of our ships without provocation! And one of yours as well! If that's not intentional, then I'm a squiddy bastard like you!"

'Kaisemee sighed. "I do hope you know what you are doing. But we will defend ourselves. We came here to slaughter the Brutes; I intend on doing so."

"If we live through this, then maybe," Admiral Thompson said, sitting back down. "Order railgun crews to concentrate their fire: we'll show these bastards what it means to fuck with us."


Lt. Jesina Brage jerked her starfighter throughout space, dodging torpedos, lasers and debris: the silent killer. They had lost many a good pilot because a simple piece of space junk had torn shields open, allowing it to tear the frame of the spacecraft to bits. The pilot/s would meet a messy end after running out of oxygen and asphyxiating in the cold realm of space.

"How's it going Four-Two?" she asked.

"As well as it can be, Four Lead," her wingmate replied, before unleashing a full salvo from his own laser cannons, tearing a droid fighter apart.

"Bombers, 12 o'clock high!" she shouted suddenly, the new information having just scrolled across her screen. "Four-Two, follow my lead."

"Copy that."

The two X-wings pulled up sharply, dodging a pair of A-wings that swooped past. The formation of bombers was ahead, headed on a bombing run. She flicked the arming switch for her proton torpedos, and started to manoeuvre her fighter closer.

"I got 'em: proton torpedos aw-…"

Before she could finish, a blue streak flashed across the bomber wing, shredding all five apart in an instant. The shockwave of the streak sent her fighter spinning out of control, but had a deadlier consequence for her wingmate: his X-wing was actually closer to the bombers than hers, and was also torn apart from the tremendous stress suddenly exerted on it.

"This is Four Lead, I'm losing control!" she shouted, as her fighter was bucked about.

The streaks continued on their destructive force, shattering everything in its way without so much as slowing, before smashing into an Alliance destroyer. The shields held out for a moment, before shattering under the tremendous force. The second streak, unopposed by barriers, smashed into the ship, coring it.

The railgun spike tore armour, flesh and metal apart as if it wasn't there, before exiting on the other side, leaving a gaping hole in the destroyer. The stresses were too great, and the destroyer slowly tore itself apart, drifting away in separate pieces.

Jesina could hardly tear her gaze from the silent spectacle, until her comlink blared. "Four Lead, do you copy?"

"This is Four Lead, go ahead," she said, tearing her transfixed gaze away.

"Four Lead, form your wing up and engage new enemy contacts!"

"What?" she asked, before glancing over in the direction where the streaks had originated from.

A whole new fleet of ships had appeared, and were launching large blobs of light and even what looked like oversized slugs into both the Alliance and Confederate fleet. Either way, they were really making their presence felt: ships exploded under the long-ranged barrage they were outputting as swarms of what could only be fighters were released.

"Four Wing on me!" she shouted into the comlink.

A chorus of 'roger's met her, as the surviving pilots of Four Wing formed up, along with other squadrons of X-wings and TIE Fighters and Interceptors. The new fleet seemed to grow tired of simply staying out of the fight, and began to move forwards.

"Sound off!" Jesina ordered.

"Four-One ready!"

"Four-Four ready!"

"Four-Six rea-…look out!"

Four-Six exploded, as Droid Starfighters suddenly swarmed upon them, laser cannons barking.

"Engage!" she shouted.

The fighters drew deadly lines against the void as shields flared against impacts. Missiles flew across space as they found targets, locked on and mercilessly pursued them. Jesina's X-wing completed a barrel roll to avoid a pair of missiles that flew past her, before pumping a Tri-fighter full of lasers. It joined the numerous other explosions of destroyed fighters.

"Enemy contacts, dead ahead!" a pilot shouted.

In front of them flew a wing of the new fighters. Longswords and their Covenant Seraph counterparts joined the fray as part of the picket forces while the UNSC-Covenant fleet advanced. The Alliance pilots quickly found their new adversaries to be very capable combatants. Flying in formations of two to even ten, they added a new element to the battle.

"Come on," Jesina mumbled as she followed a Longsword. "Stay still you bastard…"

The enemy fighter was proving to be remarkable agile. It rolled, dove and rose to shake her off, but she was still on its tail.

"Got ya!" she said, letting loose a pair of bursts.

They tore into the Longsword's rear, biting off metal and circuitry, but failed to destroy it. To her surprise, a gun suddenly started to flash to life, sending bursts of 120mm shells into her fighter. The shells exploded against her shields, wearing them down. Swearing, she dove, and then fired a proton torpedo. The Longsword erupted into a fireball.

"Four Lead, I have a bogey on my tail! Requesting assiss-…" the comlink was unexpected cut off with a scream followed by an explosion.

"Four-Three!" she shouted, jerking her fighter about to see one of the teardrop-shaped fighters blast Four-Three into oblivion.


Rsku 'Katumee, a veteran pilot, smiled triumphantly as another one of the X shaped fighters was destroyed by his hands. He dove, narrowly avoiding a torpedo as another fighter came to challenge him.

No doubt to exact revenge for their fallen, he thought to himself as a pair of lasers streaked by. Pulling his mind away from thoughts, he concentrated on obtaining his fourth kill so far. He flew directly up, hoping to bait the other to following him. It didn't disappoint.

With the fighter still following him, he casually let loose a pair of shots from his plasma cannons, clipping an enemy fighter and causing it to lose control. He activated the gravity brakes, bringing his fighter to a massively reduced speed and then strafed to the left. Had it not been for the advanced compensators within the cockpit, he surely would have blacked out. The other fighter overshot him, and he instantly powered back on the thrusters, chasing after his hunter.

With another grin, he depressed the firing controls.


Jesina was mentally cursing herself as she became the prey. How could she have been so stupid?

Then the plasma started to flash by, and she stopped worrying, and tried concentrating on evading her attacker, to no avail. Several blips struck the shields, and within a few shots, had brought them down.

The next rounds warped the metal of her fighter, fusing components together as well as doing severe damage. The R2 unit took a direct hit and was destroyed.

Warning lights started to flash as more and more of her fighter was chewed away.

"This is Four-Lead, taking fire! I'm ejecting!" she shouted, before ejecting, moments before her fighter was destroyed.

By now, the Covenant frigates had arrived, and were using their highly accurate pulse lasers to destroy the remaining fighters. Shielded or not, X-wings, TIE Fighters and Interceptors, A-wings and Confederate fighters were all boiled out of existence.

A tear came to her eye as she watched the rest of the Alliance fleet, who had been the victorious between them and the Confederates, driven away. Ships that remained to fight were quickly smashed out of space by MAC rounds, plasma torpedos and railgun spikes. The new fleet sent out other ships which started combing the area.


"What now?" 'Kaisemee asked as he faced Admiral Thompson over the screen.

"We've achieved a victory, but it's meaningless if we don't have a base of operations," the Admiral said. "I think we need to grab a bit of the planet for ourselves."

"Surely you aren't suggesting we invade it?"

"Just a small portion," Thompson snapped. "If we don't, we'll be whittled down up here. We won't need the entire planet."

"Can we not establish a space station?"

"We don't have the resources for that. We need to get some crew planetside. If not, all these soldiers we have onboard will be bored to death."

'Kaisemee sighed. "Since you make such an eloquent argument. I'll have a Special Forces team on the planet within the hour. They will scan the planet ahead of our main forces."

A single Phantom shot out of the Merciless Dawn's massive hangars, bearing down on the desert planet. Meanwhile, a Pelican floated through the debris, searching for survivors. A floodlight was on, sweeping thought rubble. The beam fell on the motionless form of Jesina Brage, as the crew hurried to get her out of the vacuum. The crew donned suits as the airlocked doors of the Pelican slowly slid open.