SUMMARY
A butterfly flaps its wings in China, and a hurricane hits New Mexico. Small changes in the past, can produce massive divergences in the present. Planet Reach, for now, is spared. Humanity strikes back. Operation Red Flag goes forth. The die is cast. The wings flapped. And nothing is ever again, the same.
DISCLAIMER
→ This author does not own the Halo franchisee. It is the property of 343 Industries.
→ This story is meant purely as a work of art. Any resemblance to a person, alive or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional.
→ This author makes no profit from the publishing of this story on this site.
→ Yes, this has been inspired by Havoc-Legionnaire's Halo: The Art of War; but while the beginning is similar - Operation Red Flag is canon after all; it just wasn't carried out - the end is not. I have plans, oh so many, many plans. *Cackles*
→ No, there is no Spearhead SPARTAN III team in this story. This is going to be a bit more realistic, although a bit less funny. Spearhead team, while they take away the realism, they do make me laugh.
→ Havoc-Legionnaire made one prominent mistake in Halo: The Art of War and that was the presence of SPARTAN IVs. This is because the first class of SPARTAN IVs (145 SPARTANs) went active on January 7th, 2553, while Art of War took place in 2552.
"A dozen Covenant superior Battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser. Given those odds, I'm content with three...make that four kills."
– UNSC Smart AI Serial Number CTN 0452-9 'Cortana', during the Battle of Installation 04 –
CHAPTER III: The Pillar of Autumn
1130 Hours; 25th August, 2552 - UNSCDF Military Calendar; Onboard ONI Shuttlecraft Tricarnaq ferrying Captain Jacob Keyes; UNSC Naval Mothball Shipyard, Extremely High Orbit; Planet Reach; Epsilon Eridani Star System…
The shuttlecraft Tricarnaq, registered to the Office of Naval Intelligence, made its way through the UNSC Mothball Yard orbiting Reach. It was located far away from the traditional shipping lanes, and few outside of the military had ever laid eyes on it.
Ensconced within, laid out in neat concentric circles, was a sea of ships centuries old. They were ships that the Navy had had no need of at the time of their retirement and decommissioning, but did not wish to scrap in case they were needed in the future. That forethought was now paying off.
From the centuries old Odyssey-class colony ships, the first of which had colonised Reach, retrofitted for military duty ages ago, to the newer Daedalus-class heavy cruisers that had been retired just a decade before the Covenant war; taking a trip through the yard, was akin to taking a trip through Earth's centuries old, proud spacefaring naval history. Many ships from the United Rebel Front's ever-elusive Navy could claim to have originated from this very yard.
Not so long ago, even with the occasional thefts by Insurrectionists, the Yard had been even bigger, containing thrice as many ships, but as the war became increasingly desperate, capable ships had been refitted and sent into battle, while the rest were scrapped for parts, freeing up docking spaces for constructing newer, more capable warships.
Jacob Keyes stood on the observation deck of the Tricarnaq as it wove its way through the armies of fleet tenders, and other shuttlecraft. As was tradition, a Captain would observe his new command thoroughly from the outside first, before stepping aboard and taking command.
As the Pillar of Autumn came into view, with massive numbers of shuttlecraft and technicians and engineers in EVA suits along its length and breadth, he noted that it looked exactly like a Halcyon-class cruiser. Those cruisers had been retired at the start of the war. They were the butt of countless jokes in the Navy for they were slow and ungainly and were hideously underpowered. The only thing they were known for, was their durability. Halcyons fighting the Covenant, were known to have continued to be combat capable even after losing ninety percent of their armour and hull integrity. 'Probably why it was chosen,' he mused thoughtfully.
As the shuttlecraft moved closer, he saw that the similarities ended at the shape of its hull. The cruiser's secondary MAC appeared to have been stripped out, and the primary one had been downsized. In addition, along with the traditional dual mounted 50mm point defence guns, odd single gun mounts were present too. The normal Archer missile pods were present, but between them were scores of tinier missile pods looking like seriously downsized Archer pods. They didn't even appear to be able to hold a single Archer missile, let alone the twelve normally in a pod. There were additional emergency thrusters fitted on, and the maneuvering thrusters had much thicker cowls. The armour also, was different. It shone in the light of the distant sun, much like Covenant hull armour, and was brown in colour rather than the normal Vanadium and Titanium-A alloy's grey. He idly wondered why ONI couldn't have told him more than - 'Hey, congrats on your victory and promotion! Bravo! You're a hero! Here's a brand spanking new prototype ship. You should be honoured. Now get out so we can brief other people more important than you.'
Okay, that wasn't exactly what they said, but that was pretty much the gist of it. He hoped they hadn't dropped the ball and had someone onboard to explain everything to him as they said they would, because a Commanding Officer knowing nothing about his ship, other than it being new and powerful, wouldn't exactly instil confidence in his subordinates.
Then he noticed the most interesting thing. There were what looked like cannons, along all the sides of the ship - port, starboard, top and bottom - only about eight of them on each side. The UNSC had experimented with mounting 'mini' MACs along the sides of a warship for a devastating broadside capability before, but the idea had failed due to the massive amounts of space that would be required to store the rounds, the massive reloading mechanisms, and a general lack of power.
"Are those MACs?" he asked of his companion, Colonel George Yang of Section Three. Yang followed his gaze, before chuckling. "Have you heard of the 320mm Zeus-class plasma cannon?"
Keyes' eyes widened. "Aren't those mounted on the Rhino tank? The M145D variant?"
Yang grinned. "Right in one. Those as you know, were first deployed in 2531 on Harvest. We've since been able to make it more power efficient and oversize it enough to mount it on a spaceship."
Keyes' eyes widened in awe.
"So that teeny-tiny fly of a MAC at the front of my ship is actually a big and honking elephant of a PAC?"
"I'm afraid not." At Keyes' disappointed look Yang smirked. "Fear not Captain, we've got plenty of other toys for you."
The shuttlecraft landed in the Autumn's cavernous hangar bay. "Now, as you know, the Autumn is a prototype. If she does well in battle, we'll make the 'Autumn package' standard for all UNSC cruisers. Now, previously, all the ship had was a new reactor type and new MAC design. I convinced the top brass to allow my people to mount other, more, shall we say; sensitive technology. And I don't mean just the 'classified' type of sensitive, but also the 'if it goes wrong, it blows up' kind of sensitive."
Keyes blanched.
"Don't worry," assured Yang. "I was just exaggerating. Mostly."
Keyes wasn't reassured.
"Let's go check this baby out, shall we?"
Yang grinned and made his way towards the cargo elevator. They waited as the elevator made it's way towards the back of the ship, crammed in with varied dangerous munitions in wooden crates all around them. From the looks of it, the Marines had gotten to them before the cargomen for they were marked with various labels that were definitely against regulations.
He grimaced at the drawing on a box of what were apparently grenades, that depicted an Elite bending over, and a Marine shoving a grenade up its butt. The next drawing in the series showed what happened when the grenade went off. It wasn't a pretty sight. Whoever drew it, was a damn good artist, and had a vivid imagination. Much too vivid.
Yang saw it too, and snickered before turning towards him with a grin. "As you know, in the twenty third and twenty fourth centuries, the UNSC experimented with ship borne energy weapons like plasma cannons, electron guns and spinal lasers. They were, obviously, a massive failure. They were ridiculously short-ranged and required a massive amount of power which wasn't feasible outside the massive underground laboratories that Section III works in. So we hit a dead end and pioneered the MACs. We remained stuck for nearly two centuries, and were ready to give up. The little alien tech we had found in ruins scattered across various planets, was so far ahead of our own, there was no way for us to understand, let alone reverse engineer it. And then the Covenant showed up using primitive versions of the tech we already had scavenged, and worshipping its makers. And so, REAP-X was born."
"Reapix?"
"R-E-A-P-X," corrected Yang. "The Reverse Engineering And Prototyping - Xenotechnology Department of Section III. They're the ones who created this ship, after I successfully petitioned HIGHCOM to allow me to mount that 'sensitive tech' I told you about before."
"Quite a mouthful."
They exited the elevator, and began walking down a corridor, that was narrower than it should be, considering he was on a cruiser.
"Yeah. Any information about them is covered with planets worth of black tape, so don't tell anyone I told you this. They receive literally unlimited funding and are in charge of reverse engineering alien tech, both Covenant and Forerunner - that's what we're calling the Covenant's gods - and much of the technology aboard this ship, is their decades worth of hard work. This ship could, theoretically go toe to toe with a CAS-class Assault Carrier, which is obviously why HIGHCOM chose her to be Red Flag's vanguard."
"Unlimited funding?"
"Out of everything I said, that's what you're nitpicking on?"
"Well, yeah. We're at war. Where does the money come from."
Yang shrugged. "Everywhere. Since the war started, every department in the UNSC, 'donates' three to seven percent of their budget to supplement REAP-X's already considerable one, and if they somehow end up going over-budget, the other departments will shoulder the costs."
Keyes gaped at him.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Yang laughed at his own joke. "Here we are. Engineering Bay One, containing Powerplant One."
Keyes emerged into a voluminous chamber, three decks high, at the center of which was a massive fusion reactor. It's manifolds into the core were massive, and were suspended on the second deck, as opposed to the first. Behind it, was another reactor, that was half the size of the first.
"There are two Engineering Bays; one here; and one at the front of the ship. We cleared out the secondary cargo storage bay for that, containing Reactor Two."
"Why does it need two?"
"It needs two because your ship is a massive power hog. You need more power than those Mark II ODPs deployed above Earth to function at optimal capacity. The power is distributed like so; Reactor One for life support, communications, navigations, maneuvering thrusters, interior electricals like lights, your ECM screen and the rest. Reactor Two is for weapons, main engines, and the slipspace drive. If any reactor destabilizes and is about to blow? You've got a minute and a half to either shut it down or abandon ship because it will cause one hell of an explosion when combined with the other one."
"How big?"
"If I put it in Denver, and allow it to blow? Say goodbye to everything from Las Vegas to Chicago. If the shockwave and massive earthquakes don't get them, the radioactive fallout will. Of course, that's only if the atmosphere doesn't catch fire first."
"That's...explosive. Do I have any backup reactors?"
"No kidding. And yes, you do. One. The same as your primary reactor. Don't start it up when your main reactors are on, you'll blow yourself skyhigh before you can say 'Covenant'. Anyways, come closer," said Yang beckoning him towards the massive reactor. "Look at the reactor ring."
Keyes squinted through the glow of the reactor. A standard reactor possessed a single reactor ring which emitted an electromagnetic field to maintain reactor containment. The ones in the Autumn however - "There are...three of them?"
"Two of them side by side, encircled by a third, yes. When kickstarted, they boost reactor power by over 300 percent for ten minutes. With both the reactors on, you can boost it by 600 percent for five minutes. After that, you risk damaging the power conduits, so the reactors automatically stabilize. Overriding this function activates the self-destruct."
"What's it use for fuel? I'm assuming it's not the standard Tritium-Deuterium hybrid fusion-type?"
"Negative Captain. Helium-3 sustained hybrid fusion."
Keyes raised his eyebrows. Helium-3 sustained fusion had been first pioneered a century and a half ago by a Doctor Edward Pei. Compared to the standard hybrid fusion of deuterium and tritium, it was massively more efficient and ton for ton, produced thrice as much power." But there was a catch.
"As I recall, ships equipped with He-3 fusion reactors have an unfortunate tendency to blow up."
"Advances in technology, and theoretical understanding render that statement moot. Trust me, this thing won't blow up unless it's told to."
Keyes frowned but accepted that. "Alright. I see no coolant pipes, so I'm assuming that you have some new, prototype gizmo for that and it is not a design oversight."
"There aren't any coolant pipes because it doesn't need coolant. It uses a laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize any and all waste heat. Essentially, the reactor cools itself, maintaining a constant average temperature."
Keyes whistled. With the extra reactor power, and with no worries of it overheating, he would have massively reduced MAC charging times, and the engines too would be much more powerful. He would have to rethink his strategies, to take into consideration a heavy cruiser with the speed and agility of a frigate.
"What are its MAC charging times?"
"We've changed the MAC design. This ship has the latest Mark II Light Coil: 56A2D4 MAC gun."
"I'm a soldier. Not an engineer. That means absolutely nothing to me."
"It can fire three shots every forty five seconds, or one shot every fifteen seconds. There is a gap of one second between multiple shots. The normal iron and depleted uranium rounds have been encased in tungsten carbide. They work like shredder rounds. Against an unshielded vessel, they'll penetrate the hull, before the shells break apart, increasing the damage done. Against Covenant shields, tungsten carbide disrupts the energy fields, weakening them quickly. At least the infantry level ones we have in our possession do, although it's a pain to make them. We're hoping it will be the same for their ships."
"What the hell did you build this ship to kill? Gods?"
"No. A CAS-class Assault Carrier and its escorts," deadpanned Yang. "It gets better. You have 250 M58 Archer Missile pods, with 26 Archers in each pod. That's a total of 6500 missiles, each with a yield of fifty kilotons each. In the other 50 remaining pods, we have the M71 Electronic Countermeasure Missiles, with thirty two missiles a pod equalling 1600 missiles. For every four Archers you deploy, deploy a single M71 and then we'll see how effective their pulse lasers are." Yang's smile was pure evil.
"What about those mini Archer pods I saw coming in?"
"Those? They aren't Archer pods. They're shield emitters."
Keyes felt his eyebrows rise. "I have shields?"
"Yes. And no. It won't be a shield like the Covenant possess, the emitters for those are at a premium. What you have is more simple. It's just a powerful electromagnetic field that will hopefully repel, but more likely disperse plasma torpedoes out over a larger area, which your new armour can withstand. But like Covenant shields, they need to recharge too. You can't connect them directly to the reactor, so they have capacitors that are charged and then disperse their energy. The Misriah Armoury Factories on Reach are already churning out this stuff like crazy, but for now the only ones in existence are on this ship. You wouldn't believe how many favours I had to pull to get HIGHCOMM to agree to this. When you deploy your 'shields' the capacitors will be drained within twenty one minutes and will take seven minutes to recharge completely. But while they're active, they will be effective against plasma."
"Can I reroute power to the capacitors while the shields are in use to make them last longer?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it long term. You might burn out the capacitors, or the conduits, and start a flash fire."
Keyes exhaled. "This is one hot, spankin' war machine."
Yang's pager went off, a repeating beep that cycled through every three seconds. He consulted it, and looked grave. "Come on Captain, I'll show you to the bridge and then I gotta rush."
The bridge had been relocated. Unlike other UNSC ships which had their bridges at the edge of their hulls with windows looking out onto space, a design flaw for sure, the Autumn's bridge was at the centre of mass for the entire ship, while the backup reactor had been placed in its place and designated the Tertiary Engineering Bay.
Keyes wasn't sure what to think of it. On one hand, he was glad that someone had finally come to their senses and ensured that a UNSC ship couldn't be taken out in a single shot, but on the other hand, he would miss the feeling of watching space go by, knowing that he wasn't looking at a hologram but seeing it with his own eyes. During battle, blast doors would seal shut over the windows of course, but still.
"Quite cramped," he noted. "And not the traditional layout."
Yang had left on the same shuttle they came on and was soon out of range of their sensors. Upon his request, the crew of the Iroquois had been transferred to the Autumn except Lieutenant Jaggers who had been replaced with Ensign Lovell. Jaggers was back at Camp Hathcock, paying the price for his insubordination.
"The entire ship is cramped, to make space for the larger hangar and extra reactors and weapons, and crew," said Lieutenant Aki Hikowa, his ever-trustworthy XO. She looked like she hadn't slept for days. But then again, everyone in the UNSC Defense Forces looked like that these days.
"Extra crew?"
"Yes, sir. All the SPARTAN IIs and IIIs and a battalion of ODST's. The Marine Corps will be joining us too, with the 79th Infantry, Combat Team Alpha, Combat Team November, Combat Team Sierra, Combat Team Victor, Fire Team Charlie, Fire Team Zulu, Fifth Platoon, Fourteenth Platoon, and Twenty Second Tactical."
Keyes whistled. "That's what? Two thousand Marines?"
"Almost sir. One and a half thousand to be precise, along with eight hundred ODST's and forty four SPARTANs. Total of two thousand, three hundred and thirty four extra soldiers, in addition to the three hundred strong Marines for anti-boarding operations."
"Almost makes me sorry for the Covvie bastards. What's our Shiva stocks like?"
"Twenty one Shiva's in total. Twenty ship-to-ship missiles and one mounted on a remote controlled longsword."
Keyes nodded satisfied. Mounting a Shiva on a Longsword, and then detonating it in the middle of the Covenant's fighter contingent was a recent tactic being employed by the United Nations Defence Forces. The brainchild of Admiral Stanforth, the Covenant had once lost three hundred Seraphs and Banshees for just thirty one Longsword losses.
Keyes looked critically at his XO. "How long have you gone without sleep, Lieutenant?"
She hesitated. "Three days sir."
Despite himself, Keyes was impressed. Three days without sleep and still standing? He wondered how many cups of coffee she had consumed.
"Continue your duties Lieutenant, and finish your shift. And after that, return to your quarters and sleep."
"But sir-"
"No buts Aki. Finish your shift and sleep. No overtime. That's an order."
She deflated. "Yes sir."
He turned towards Ensign Lovell. "Any messages from FLEETCOMM?"
"Nothing important sir, although Admiral Stanforth will be arriving in two days."
He nodded. 'Keep me informed."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
→ This chapter just did not want to come out.
→ I don't particularly like it.
→ But I've been sitting on it for two weeks, so; enough is enuff.
→ C u l8r
Signing off for now;
~ Apex113