Well sorry for the very, very, VERY long wait. My collage life was troublesome and my real life responsibility recently spiked. And truth to be told, the ME3 ending partially ended my interest in the Mass effect universe. I am glad to see that the last chapter generated a review so I hope that I will get a few good reviews. As always enjoy the story.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Halo or Mass Effect.
This is AU so do not complain about the storyline being "Non-cannon" or something as like that.
My English is HORRIBOL so please forgive my grammatical mistakes.
Act 1: Nostalgia
January/11/2662
Milky Way/Home Cluster/ Sol system
High orbit above planet Mars
Reyes-McLees Orbital Shipyard, Docking slip 13
Onboard ITSS Reach
Admiral Steven Hackett hides a small yawn as he sat in his chair on the bridge of the Imperial Terran Star Ship Reach. He is in command of the 5th Imperial fleet, one of the main 6 battle-ready fleet of the Imperial Navy.
Two months of this. Hackett muttered underneath his breath. He had spent two months on Mars, waiting for the Reach to finish its routine inspection and overhaul and it was taking a bit of a toll on him. Aside from that, being a person who's been fighting wars for the last 159 years, peace is something very hard to get used to.
He knew better than to wish for something other than peace, so He did not complain about the lack of combat. "Still it wouldn't hurt to have a change of scenery," he thought, "I'm getting tired of either sleeping in space or on a planet as hot as Mars. Maybe I should request for a transfer to the Imperial Border Security Fleet," Hackett than smiled "yeah, like the HIGHCOM will just let a Fleet-Admiral walk off whenever he felt like it."
"Day dreaming again sir?" A voice asked him from behind. Turning his head, he saw Commander David Edward Anderson, the XO of this ship and one of his long time protege and friend.
"What else can I do?" Hackett replied while he stood up and stand in front if his friend. "Ever since the Imperial Border Security Fleet had been established, the pirate raids became their problem; there is no real action for the navy anymore."
Anderson chuckles. "Makes you want to go back to the good old days isn't it?" He asked. "Flying longswords and sabers while blasting Seraphs and Banshees out of space?"
"Yeah." A small smile covered Hackett's face as he remembered the days of Human-Covenant war and the Alliance-Covenant war that followed. Sure it was hell back then, He thought, but now sometimes he really wishes to go back to those days.
Anderson sighed. "Well I'm here to tell you that those tecs of the shipyard are all done looking her up. We are told to make an in-system jump to Pluto to test the newly re-calibrated Hybrid drive system then rendezvous with the fleet."
Hackett scoffed. Ever since the new mass-effect field enhanced slipspace drive became standard for FTL the bigheads of the R&D has gotten into a mania for constantly Upgrade and re-calibrating them. "How long before we can depart?" He asked.
"The shuttle carrying the last of the crew who went on shore leave is entering in the 4th hanger bay," Anderson answered. "Aside from that it'll take some time to warm up the engine and there are always the departing protocols. Sharon will inform you when we are ready to leave."
Hackett nodded and said, "understood Colonel you are dismissed." Anderson shook his head before he turned to leave. The Admiral looked around one more time before he sat down in his chair. It fit a lot better than the old one on the Orionand the new circular CCS style CIC gave a good view of his crew and the surroundings. The seat was real leather too, instead of the standard synthetic imitation.
"She is a beautiful ship but, I miss the old girl," he thought. While this ship is undoubtedly one of the most powerful ships in the fleet, but unlike her elder sisters she's yet to have her "baptism by fire". And in Hackett's viewpoint, a warship isn't a true warship until it proven itself in comber. Anyway, he's got some times before they can depart, and the conversation with Anderson has left him a little bit nostalgic.
So, after sitting in the seat more comfortably, Hackett closed his eyes and start reviewing everything important happened after the Great Schism, the truing point of the Human-Covenant War:
March 3, 2553 The Human Covenant war is declared over, and the UNSC begins to rebuild, although the Great Schism rages on.
March 8, 2553UNSC finish its contact with military bases around Earth and the surviving Inner colonies, revealing that the casualties from the war, although staggering, was not as high as once thought. Billions died in the war, but it was confirmed that the majority of the Inner Colonies were not glassed, and many left completely untouched, as apparently they were "skipped" when Covenant found Earth before them.
October 16, 2555: ONI Prowlerssent to investigate the status of the outer and middle colonies made a remarkable discovery, they found out that, contrary to popular beliefs, most of the outer and middle(Inner colonies that were captured by Covenant) Colonies were either only partially glassed or left completely untouched. However, most of these planets are now colonized by the brutes and other covenant species and they were using the planets resource to organize and launch another massive offensive against the Heretics and Humans. UNSC, understanding that the war is far from over and they didn't have the technological and logistical effort necessary to take the fight to the covenant, took a step which is the Humanity would prefer not to take, and sent an envoy to the Covenant Separatists for assistance. Under the leadership of newly promoted ex-SPARTAN III supersolder Commander Athena-B312, who was removed from field after battle of Reach and was transferred to command due her injuries, the frigate UNSC Dawn of light was sent to meet and negotiate a treaty with the Separatists.
December 10, 2555:The Orion treaty between Human and Covenant Separatists has been signed aboard the Separatist CSO-class supercarrier Eternal Defiance. The treaty stipulates that:
1. If either of the signees is threatened by an outside force that seeks its destruction, the other is to come to their aid.
2. Any and all disputes between the signees are to be resolved peacefully.
3. If alien technology (including Forerunner) is to be found on any world, then the signees of this treaty are to allow each others access to it.
4. In case one of the signed faction become embroiled in internal conflict (Ie: Civil war) the other faction will take a neutral position and will only provide humanitarian aid to the conflicting factions and can only intervene if any of the warring sides take an act of aggression against them.
5. No espionage is to be conducted between the signees.
6. The area of the former Covenant Empire is to be recognized as under the jurisdiction of the Separatists. With the exception of the former UNSC territories.
7. As reparation for the damage done by the Separatist in the Human Covenant war the Separatist will:
Give UNSC full access to their technological advances.
Assist with the upgrade of all existing UNSC Ship & facility's.
Help UNSC to reclaim their lost colonies and neutralize the Covenant-Loyalist threat.
Furthermore, for the duration of the upcoming conflict, the Separatist will:
Allow the UNSC to use their shipyards and other facilities and vice versa.
Share 25% of their resource with UNSC.
Hackett smirked when he remember that day. The Orion treaty was undoubtedly a victory for the UNSC, it was not for the UEG. After the war was officially over, Lord Hood had to agree with the UEG's demands of disbanding his Emergency Dictatorship. When it was discovered that the Covenant has taken over many of their former colonies and using them as a staging ground to launch an offensive, it was obvious that UNSC have to strike first and the UEG once again have to give up their authority to Lord Hood. However, the new UEG senate that replaced the original senate which was wiped out along with the UNSCDF-ODA-147 "Mecca" Orbital Defense Platform at the start of the Battle of Earth during a routine visit, was filled with corrupted and incompetent senators and they had naturally no interest to give up their power. To make sure the UNSC does not get involved in another war, they originally instructed Commander Athena to make a one-sided treaty with the separatist or simply put, they wanted convince a treaty in which the separatist alone would liberate and reclaim earth's former colonies for UEG. Athena, understanding the separatist would never agree to a treaty like that, instead improvised and proposed the Orion treaty which the separatist gladly accepted. While UEG was very unsatisfied with the treaty because it left them no choice but to surrender their authority to Lord Hood once more. The UNSC on the other hand, was extremely pleased and the now supreme commander of the UNSC Lord Hood, a Title was previously held by the UEG President, impressed by Athena's achievement, promoted her to the rank of captain and granted her personal request to oversee the designee of the first hybrid warship of the UNSC.
January 9, 2556: The Orion alliance was officially formed with the UNSC and the Separatists. The alliance officially put the agreements of the Orion treaty to effect. Hundreds if not thousands of Huragok, Unggogy workers and their Sangheili overseers rushed in to upgrade all existing UNSC shipyards and other facilities to Separatists standards, with many Separatists shipyards started to work around the clock as dozens of UNSC vessels docked with them for complete refits, while a number of Separatists ship commander and officers started to exchange knowledge with UNSC ship commander and officers about all known Covenant tactics.
Furthermore, somewhat surprisingly most of the Separatists welcomed Human scientist in their effort to reverse-engineer and most importantly, preserve former Covenant technologies. However not all were pleased with this decision.
And last but most certainly not least, in the high orbit of Sanghelios, inside the royal Sangheili shipyard, a new type of warship prototype, which utilizes both the advance technology of the Separatists and the ruggedness of the UNSC, started to forge in life.
August 9, 2556:After 8 months of back-breaking work, the combined Separatists and human work force successfully upgraded 30% of the existing ships, shipyards and other facilities of the UNSC while repairing multiple crippled Covenant warships over earth orbit into working order. Also, on that they, the UNSC commissioned their first warship that utilizes energy weapons and Shields as standards. It was also the first Human ship to be equipped with an Element zero or "Ezzo" core which utilizes a new form of technology called "Mass effect" by human scientists. The technology was acquired from an ancient alien outpost located in Mars which was discovered during the rapid expansion of the Misriah Armory during 2550. This new technology enabled the ship to move faster than any other ships of its size in both real-time and slipspace, allowed its MAC rounds to achieve twice the velocity than its supposed to be capable of and most importantly, it allowed the utilize a new form of shield named the "Kinetic barrier" by UNSC. In paper, the Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from emitters. In simple terms, Kinetic barriers are a kind of shields that are capable of deflecting solid objects traveling at rapid velocities. While being virtually useless against energy weapons, this new kind of shields is enveloped over the conventional energy shield of the ship for added protection while also working as a low-energy consuming hazard defector. This barrier also enabled the ship to fire its ordnance's like Missiles and torpedoes without completely exposing the ship hull to enemy fire as Kinetic barriers stopped things from getting in, not out. The Banshee, as it was named, upon launch it became the most effective and versatile ship of the UNSC. The ships command was given to Captain Athena- B312 by Lord Hood, currently the youngest captain of the UNSC. This left many of the UNSC HIGHCOM personal unsatisfied and in time, question Lord Hood decisions.
August 15, 2556: Only 6 days after the Banshee was commissioned, the Covenant lunched a massive surprise attack on the Separatists capital Sanghelios. The Sanghelios Planetary Defense Fleet or PDF, while strong, was outnumbered 3 to 1, and had their own communication being jammed by the Covenant thus making them unable to call for reinforcement. The UNSC Banshee, which was still undergoing her final tests in the outskirts of the system however was not affected by the jamming and relayed a distress signal to the elements of the UNSC 5th battlegroup that had just finished its refit in a nearby system and rushed to help the Sanghelios PDF. With the help of the 5th battlegroup forces and the Banshee combined with superior tactics, the SPDF successfully repelled and destroyed 3/4th of the Covenant fleet in the process, while suffering relatively lighter loss to themselves. Furthermore, they managed to disabled and captured the Covenant flagship, a CSO-class supercarrier named Indomitable Wrath. The battle became a great gain for the alliance. For not only it played a very key role in strengthening the Human-Separatists Alliance, the capture of the Indomitable Wrath allowed the Alliance to gain vital knowledge about the yet-unknown new Covenant leadership. The Neo-Covenant, which is now led by a "Prophet of sanity", who was like most of the former Covenant Prophet's, is completely opposite to his title in nature. He calmed that the forerunners has gifted him with the knowledge and powers to activate the sacred rings and allow its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation.
Hackett scoffed when he remembered that. This revelation made ONI and the alliance in whole going batshit crazy for mouths. With the former doing everything in its power to find out if this was true or not. It was however later revealed, much to everyone comfort, the Prophet somehow managed to collect the Installation 04's "index" or the digital storage device containing the access codes needed to activate the rings, which was useless as it was already confirmed that an Index cannot be used to activate any Halo besides the one it is found on and moreover, thanks to Cortana, the index now nothing but a very old piece of paperweight.
The ship also contained information about upcoming Covenant attack plans and their defense strategies which later proved invaluable for the alliance war efforts. Though none of the planned Covenant attacks had ever occurred, possibly due to their devastating ship losses in the battle of Sanghelios. And finally, the battle showed the UNSC how effective a Mass effect technology equipped ship can be in combat. In the battle, the Banshee alone destroyed or knocked out of 2CCS-class battlecruiser, 3 CAR-class frigates, 1 CPV-class destroyer and 1 SDV-class heavy corvette while suffering minimal damage to itself. The Banshee also played a key role in disabling and capturing the Covenant flagship by achieving a direct hit on its shield generator while it was lunching Plasma torpedoes. An achievement that was to no small efforts of Captain Athena, who to this day claims was sheer luck. The UNSC HIGHCOM, highly impressed by Banshee's performance, suspended and later cancelled all of their build order for Supremacy-Class-Cruisers which was a heavily modified and upgraded version of the Marathon-class cruiser and ordered full production of Banshee-Cass-Heavy cruiser as the UNSC's future main warship.
August 15, 2556 - August 15, 2561: The alliance spent the next five years to prepare of an all-out offensive to liberate the Covenant occupied Mid & Outer colonies. In that time, Humanity took a bizarre and somewhat crazy concept to rebuilt there war machine. Named the "Project phoenix" the plan was to review Humanity ancient arsenal of weapons that were simply phased out by time but did not lost their usefulness , and if seems feasible, put their modernized variants into service once again in order to save R&D and ultimately, production costs. This plan proposed by Captain Athena- B312 and backed by a number of admirals, was met with fierce resistance mainly from corporations, who had made many new designs to sell. Despite that, Lord Hood nevertheless authorized some demonstration and all of them prove successful. Production of weapons that were long buried inside the sands of time begun and then put onto service after nearly 5 century of their creations. Needless to say, this made the corporate giants very unhappy, particularly over Athena. During this time, a number of Covenant attack occurred, but all of the attack fleets consisted of small numbers of warships and had poor coordination with each other thus were repelled with relative ease. Also, a number of hit-and-run raids on Covenant shipyards and other military installations using the new Fury-Class Heavy Raiders which were basically heavily upgraded slipstream-capable shielded Longshowrds with an Mass-Effect core, plasma and antimatter weaponries and had limited stealth capability. Those raids heavily limited the Covenants ability to wage an offensive warfare.
Hackett smiled as he remembered those days, as he was one of those raider pilots. They were called "The Banshee raiders" or "Athena's raiders" mainly because of the fact that the banshee was their all-time mobile base of operation and Captain Athena was their commander and the key architect behind the idea of raids. The Covenant, brutes in particular, had never thought that a "coward" race like Human will dare to raid their shipyards, so they took very little to no preparation to protect their installations and shipyards from surprise Starfighter raids. His smiled widened as he remembered his first raid, their target was a Covenant shipyards above Arcadia which was contrary to popular belief, was only partially glassed and then a major Covenant colony with and a number of orbital shipyards. The reason it was chosen for the attack because it was building the replacement for the Indomitable Wrath. The attack was huge success, not only they managed to destroy the shipyard and the carrier with it, they also mange to badly damage two more small shipyards, one CAR-class frigate and crack open one CCS-class battlecruiser into two pieces whose captain was too slow to put up his shields. In the entire engagement, their group of 12 fighters were engaged by only 6 Covenant Type-31 XMF, otherwise known as the Seraph-class Starfighter, and where easily taken out. That raid was also the first time he met with Anderson, who was assigned as his co-pilot/bombardier.
September 1, 2561: The 2nd second Covenant war or Alliance-Covenant war as it was called by then, took a full swing as the alliance launched "Operation Overdrive", a massive offensive to liberate the middle colonies from Covenant occupation. The Covenant was taken completely by surprise as they were amusingly, never anticipated the Humans/ Separatists to attack in such large scale mostly thanks to Prophet of sanity's many "prophecies", which for the most part claimed that the Humanity and the Heretics will hide and cower in their planets, waiting the holy forces of the Covenant to purge them. Overdrive was a massive multi-front offensive, with the opening attacks mounted on no less than 1/3 of the entire Covenant defensive lines. The initial phase of the overdrive was completed with huge success as the UNSC ships proved far superior to that of the Covenant in terms of long range gunnery and tactics, with Mass-effect enhanced MAC guns destroying many Covenant ships long before they even managed to get into their own optimal weapons range. All of the opening attacks were successfully completed in less than 3 months, with Alliance liberating a significant portion of the middle colonies. However, It didn't took long for the Covenant regroup and lunch a series of powerful counterattacks on the newly liberated colonies and soon the entire offensive became a long and bloody stalemate.
September 10, 2561: The ONI prowler Green Lake, while on a deep space scout mission makes arguably one of the greatest discoveries ever found by the Humanity, The Beta halo or Installation 01. Upon discovering the halo the ONI prowler immediately asked for reinforcement from the HIGHCOM. A small alliance task force, under the command of Arbiter Thel 'Vadam himself was sent to recover technology, historical information and if possible, the monitor of the Installation before destroying it. But as soon as they found the monitor of the installation, the 01-Repentant Observer, It informed them something much unexpected…
The Installations main weapons have been long since disassembled and every last flood on the ring has been exterminated.
After some conversation the monitor revealed that it felt very guilty over the deaths of all the Forerunners, and swore to never allow such an occurrence happen again. Approximately 200 years after the firing, the installation's main weapon had been disassembled by Repentant Observers sentinels and all Flood spore on the ring were tuned to ash. The Beta Halo has now been transformed it into a true Eden filled with thousands of exotic animal life which the monitor gathered from the Halos installation's labs or re-created via cloning.
The task force, taken by complete surprise decided not to destroy the ring immediately and to relay this info to alliance HIGHCOM for immediate revaluation of the current objectives. The HIGHCOM, after a quite long and rather heated argument decided that since the ring is no longer a threat and like all Halo is a massive archive of knowledge the ring is to be quarantined by a small alliance fleet while a number of alliance scientists and an entire alliance marine division to be stationed in the ring. The scientists tusk would be to study the Forerunners archives while the marines will make double sure that no flood spore is left on the ring.
December 1, 2561: The alliance successfully managed to break the deadlock after launching a surprise attack on the Covenant's main stronghold of the middle colony's, planet Reach. While the planet itself was glassed by the Covenant during the Human-Covenant war, the systems recourse-rich asteroids and its position among the stars still allowed it to hold a high strategic importance. The attack was led by the newly promoted Vice-admiral Athena- B312, who by that time became as famous in the UNSC as Vice-admiral Preston J. Colewas during the HCW. Her battle plan was quite simple, but extremely effective. Her plan of attack was divided into 3 phases. The phases were:
Phase1: A group of 12 Fury fighters will jump into Reach's High-atmosphere and will initiate a surprise attack on Covenant installations and shipyards. However their attack will be deliberately disorganized and slow enough for the Covenant to successfully intercept and engage them. The fighters will continue to attack Covenant installations until the Covenant managed to shoot down at least 8 of the Fury's of which all but two were actually manned by organic pilots. The rest of the fighters were manned by "Smart AI"s that wouild upload themselves to one of the manned fighters or if possible, nearby Covenant computers as soon theirs fighters get destroyed. As soon as the Covenant manages to shot down 8 or more so fighters the remaining raiders will pretend to panic and instead of using the standard protocol of Disengage-Cloak-Jump, they would just jump into the rendezvous point where the Banshee alone will wait for the perusing fleet. As soon as the Covenant would recognize the Banshee, they would naturally send a large portion of their ships to destroy the ship which was a thorn in their side from the start of the war once and for all.
Phase2: As soon as the Covenant sends a significant numbers of their ships to capture or destroy the Banshee, the main invasion fleet will attack Reach; the AI's whose successfully manages to infiltrate the Covenant defense network will wreak havoc on the remaining Covenant warships and defense platforms, allowing the invasion fleet to achieve a quick and decisive victory.
Phase3: As soon as the invasion fleet destroys a significant portion of the remaining Reach's PDF, a large portion of the fleet would rendezvous with the Banshee and would systematically exterminate the pursuing Covenant warships.
While the first two phases were successfully completed the third phase went horribly wrong as the alliance invasion fleet which was under the command of Admiral Bill MacMillan, later reveled to be under a direct order from the UEG, held its position over Reach instead of going to aid the Banshee. Although the Banshee manages to survive by using the same method Cole used eighteen years ago, firing her entire complement of nuclear warheads inside a nearby gas giant's atmosphere, igniting the super-pressurized hydrogen and escape using a blind emergency slipspace jump just before the gas giant turned into a exploding star. The blind jump, combined with a damaged slipspace drive, forced the Banshee to say in slipspace nearly for an entire year and in that time, a lot of galaxy shaking events started to take place.
December 12, 2561: The UNSC Banshee was declared MIA by the UNSC and Vice-admiral Athena was posthumously Skip-promoted to a Fleet Admiral by Lord Terrence Hood. Thought the breaching of protocol was mostly symbolic and was mainly done for propaganda and moral boosting purpose, made her the only Fleet Admiral aside from Fleet Admiral Harpar and second highest decorated ranking officer of the UNSC.
December 21, 2561: The scientists on the Installation 01, both Human and separatist, discovered more and more data that disproved the Covenant religion, which was still practiced by majority of the separatist races. While fortunately majority of the separatist races accepted that fact and Sangheili scholars resurrected a dead religion from before the time of the Covenant, leading to the separatist worshiping a deity known as Kir'la, some separatist, mostly Sangheilis, refused and accused the humans of spreading lies about the great journey. This again intensified the slowly dissolving tension between the separatist and the UNSC.
January 10, 2562: Lord Hood was assassinated by unknown assailants with evidence (Later proved to be forged) pointed on Admiral Harpar and a number of high ranking UNSC officer that were next in line of succession. The sudden chaos allowed the UEG to take over. The UEG was quick to arrest and detain all of the suspected officers which followed with the execution of Admiral Harpar. The UEG went on to promote and appoint Admiral Bill MacMillan as the commander of the UNSC who was played a key role in the arrests. The removal of the Admirals and his role on the liberation of Reach and the added color on it by the propaganda machine meant his appointment didn't face virtually any opposition.
January 10, 2562-February 15, 2563: 2562-2663 was one of the most disastrous times for the Orion alliance. UEG and their puppet Admiral Bill MacMillan, took multiple decisions that badly hampered the entire war effort and almost ended the Human Separatist alliance. Three of the most disastrous of those decisions were:
The skirmish over Beta Halo: With the religion followers getting more violent about their opinion, the tension between the UNSC and the separatist continues to be intensified. The situation reached its climaxed reached when a certain part of the old religion follower calling themselves the Strom Covenant found out about the Beta Halo and decided to activate it in order to start the great journey. While the Halos main weapons is been disabled long ago, the Strom Covenant either wasn't aware of it or simply refused to believe it. On February 15, 2562 a fleet under the rouge Fleetmaster loka 'Ghadhamee assaulted the Joint UNSC / Separatist Fleet guarding the Beta Halo. Although their Fleet was successfully repelled by the combined Fleet, UEG went ballistics and via MacMillan, declared that the separatist can no longer be trusted, and the halo should be guarded and controlled by the UNSC alone. This led to a diplomatic crisis and a skirmish between the separatist ships and the UNSC squadron that were sent to take over the Halo. Fortunately, the UNSC ships that were assigned to the HDF stayed neutral during the engagement which resulted the numerically inferior squadron quickly stand down. The crisis was later resolved, the incident badly damaged the growing Human- separatist relationship and in particular, MacMillans and UEG influence over UNSC.
The attempt to discredit the Spartans:After the "death" of admiral Athena- B312, there was no active Spartan. After the Spartan IV program was proved 100%safe, the augmentation process became standard for all ODST which eliminated the need of Spartans. Sometime after the Prime Halo incident, a number of meant-to-be-secret-for-good information regarding the Spartan projects was intentionally leaked by the ONI due to the order of the UEG senate. Certain members of the UEG along with the head of ONI Admiral Serin Osman, for entirely personal reason, wanted to discredit the Spartans and Athena-C625 in particular. While the initial response was as the UEG and Osman desired, the UEG pushed it too far and the plan eventually backfired. Both among Humans and separatist the military and civilians were outraged by this attempt and their support for the UEG was greatly reduced. Furthermore, this even created a division inside the ONI with many begun to discretely begun to question Osman's leadership skills.
The Flood outbreak on Kobol: Sometimes after the start of the operation overdrive, the ONI found a number of flood infection forms on a derelict covenant ship. Instead of destroying the forms, the ONI decided to quatrain the ship and study as much as they can about the Flood without risking an outbreak in order to create better defense against the flood. The UEG however, had other plans. As soon it became clear that a slight genetic augmentation allows the humans to become immune to flood infection forms, a number of the senators started to entertain themselves by thinking about weaponizing the Flood to use it against the "enemies of Humanity ", which basically meant every other alien spices . However in order to even start research about something of that scale, they either had to build a research station near the ship or take the infection forms to a research station and to UEG, the latter was more economical, therefore better. The UEG, despite very strong protest from a number of ONI officials, had the forms moved to Kobol, an inner colony planet with no less than 3.2 million inhabitant. The eventual outbreak happened almost 5 days after the arrival of the forms and resulted a death toll of 12.6 million and two entire continent of the planet were completely destroyed. Only ONI's extensive preparation for an outbreak spared the entire planet form being purge. A number of top ONI officials called for Osman's resignation because of her approval of the project who were quickly subdued by her, further expanding the division.
The Flood outbreak was the last nail in the UEGs coffin. The separatist were so angry at the UEG that they declare the alliance to defunct and moved all their forces to their home territory. Furthermore, both UNSC and the ONI became powder cages of mutiny, with waiting for a single spark to blow.
February 16, 2563-February 20, 2563: The UNSC Banshee, after spending one year in the slipspace, finally came back to the reality near the planet Sigma Octanus IV in the Sigma Octanus system. They were immediately intercepted by the local defense fleet which was more than happy to see the Banshee and its commander in one piece. After Athena was informed about the current situation, it wasn't difficult for her understand that the UEG is behind of all this. However, while she knew that she will probably have active support from both that UNSC and the separatist due to her current rank and political situation, she needed some hard proof to turn the civilian population to her side, a necessity avoid a full-scale civil war. Fortunately for her, one of the ships in the defense fleet contained a well-ranked ONI officer who informed the commander about the location of the ONI main space station and also gave her the codes needed to bypass its defenses. Athena, ordered her ship to be rapidly rearmed and repaired and requisitioned an extra batch of marines and the ONI officer to be transferred onto her ship. After both was completed the Banshee jumped to the HQ, bypass it defenses, and boarded the base. The main objective of Banshee was to either capture or kill Admiral Serin Osman and collect evidence against the UEG. While the initial resistance was fierce, the entire operation went better than expected due to the fact the many of the ONI operative actually stand downed as soon as they became aware who was leading the operation. The last stand of the Admiral Osman however, was a very heroic one and the marine assault suffered heavy losses while trying to take her and her personal bodyguards down .After neutralizing Admiral Margaret and accessing ONI database, Athena had all the proofs she needed to take down the UEG.
However, inside the database, she also discovered an ONI/UEG backed Storm Covenant assassination plan which targets were Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum. Apparently, the UEG was planning to assists the Storm Covenant to assassinate Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum and then replacing them by leaders who will favor the UEG more thus reestablishing the alliance . The Storm Covenant operatives involved in this plan were to be swiftly wiped out by ONI as soon as the assassination was carried away.
Hackett let out a small smirk as he is one of the few people who knows that Athena found this to be a perfect opportunity to cement separatists support for her coup, a fact that is still to this day is classified to everyone expect High ranking persons like Hackett. She decided to utilize an ONI stealth prowler to infiltrate Sanghelios alone and stop the assassination on the spot. The plan went flawlessly and she managed to kill both assassins right when they were about to strike on their targets. Both the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum immediately recognized Athena and was both surprised and delighted to see her. After she consulted with them and told them about the UEG involvement in this plan the result was exactly as she expected, both of them were outraged and promised her full military and political support in her effort to overthrow UEG since they technically already violated the Orion treaty.
With her alliance with the separatists secured Admiral Athena lunched what is known to this day as "Terran revolution" a full scale coup d'état against the UEG. The revolution, was executed like this:
Stage 1: Forces loyal to Athena started broadcasting a transmission on all UNSC and Civilian channel which contained proof about the UEG conspiracies against UNSC (Dubbed crimes against Humanity. Which was to an extent, was accurate), about the fact that she is still alive and a call to join her cause to remove the corrupted UEG senate form power. Due to the fact that she is already neutralized the ONI Athena knew that there is little UEG can do to stop the transmission.
Stage 2: In the ensuring Chaos and confusion, a combined Separatists/UNSC tusk force led by the banshee will launch a surprise attack on Earth and will capture the UEG senate before they can escape.
Stage 3: Athena will declare the UEG to be disbanded and will again reestablish martial law for an indefinite time.
While the entire plan went almost as Athena predicted, there was a small unforeseen turn of event, Admiral Bill MacMillan, who was still loyal to the UEG and decided to make a last stand against Athena's tusk force in order to buy some senator some time to escape. While his small flotilla was eventually destroyed (Majority of the Sol defense ship were either suffering from internal mutiny or defected to Athena's faction), it indeed allowed some senators and key leader of the UEG to escape capture. They will later create a paramilitary Pro-Human survivalist group named Cerberus, dedicated to restore the UEG and turn humanity the most dominant race in the galaxy.
Nevertheless, as soon as Flagship of Fleet admiral Bill MacMillan, the UNSC Arrow, was destroyed all the UNSC forces in the Sol system surrendered and acknowledged Athena as the new supreme commander of the UNSC .In the next two weeks all Human civilian and military assets either acknowledged Athena's rule or was taken over by forces loyal to her.
Athena, now the de-facto ruler of all Humanity, Understood very well if she does not introduce even the most limited from of democracy in her new order, she will soon lose the support of the civilian and which will lead to a civil war. In order to avoid such conflict, she introduced the Terran intern council or the TIC , the predecessor of the Imperial council. It was dedicated to handle the day to day affairs and mange the civilian portion of the government.
March 25, 2563-February 20, 2569:With political stability and secured alliance, the UNSC continued to secure its middle colonies, which was done by 2565. After that the alliance, spend the next four years on the defensive, improving logistics and fleet capacity. During this time, frequent raids in the covenant territory were ever present along with small to large fleet skirmishes.
While the alliance was busy preparing for another offensive, the covenant was suffering from internal conflicts. The kig-yer found it more and more economically non-beneficial to fight for the covenant as their trade convoys were constantly devastated by UNSC raids, many Yanme'e queens started to get worried and frustrated by the new "Prophet of sanity's "lack of mental stability, though it would be accurate to call him downright crazy, his disrespect to Yanme'e and Jiralhanae's using their warriors as cannon fodder and literally working their workers to death. And finally, some Jiralhanae, Contrary to their nature, started to wonder if it is possible to rebuild their civilization into a peaceful one on which they can live with harmony with other species a result of their long-time exposer to the concept of a united civilization and its benefits. All in all, these events caused enough political disturbances among the covenant that they were unable to prepare for any major counter offensive for the next five years. Those however, didn't stop them from building up strong defensive fortification for an inevitable Alliance attack.
February 28, 2569: Alliance knew that they cannot secure a decisive victory against the covenant using conventional methods as their fleets still outnumber them in a 3:1 ratio. In light of this, the Alliance lunched "Operation Hurtlocker" later became known as the massacre on Beta Halo, a plan that successfully wiped out 3-4th of the entire covenant fleet. It was a simple but decisive operation that was executed like this:
Phase 1: The Alliance will "accidentally" leak the information about Installation 01 via a moderately secured massage that they know will be intercepted by covenant and will pretend that they have just found it.
Phase 2: As soon as the covenant fleet would lunch their assault on the Installation, the orbiting "exploration fleet" will put up a token resistance and fled the ring, allowing the covenant to take complete orbital control of the "Unexplored" halo ring which is now contains nothing but an army of sentinels programmed to specifically fight the covenant units.
Phase 3: while the covenant will attempt to acquire the Index, a number of small raids will be conducted by the alliance as a guise of force recon. Forcing the covenant to bring in even more ships to reinforce their position.
Phase 4: As soon as the covenant acquires the Index, a fleet of alliance warships will briefly engage the Prophet of sanity's flagship and then bug out, allowing the Prophet to decent to the ring and activate the Index . Although a proper Index would need a human to activate, this Index was intentionally tampered to be activated by the Prophet of sanity's to use it, as he claimed some time ago that "He was blessed by forerunners for this rightful duty and now he is the only one who can activate the sacred rings" .
Phase 5: As soon he would activate the Index, all of the rings power generators would simultaneously self-destruct, creating a supernova large enough to obliterate the entire star system and the entire covenant fleet with it.
The plan was executed flawlessly and the alliance didn't suffered a single causality while the covenant losses' numbered in billions. It was the final decisive victory for the alliance and the last nail in the coffin for the covenant as they lost their entire remaining San 'Shyuum councilors, all but two of their supercapitals, most of their capitals and capable ship masters with them. It also convinced Kig-yar and Yanme'e to break away from covenant and seek peace with the alliance.
March 12, 2569: A single covenant CCS-class battlecruiser carrying the diplomats from Kig-yar and the Yanme'e entered alliance occupied Epsilon Eridani System and started negation. The terms and conditions were given to the Kig-yar and Yanme'e for a peace treaty involved;
Both species must join and remain member of the Orion Alliance and its successor governments for the next 80 years.
Unless given permission to expand, both species must limit their navy to 250 capital ships and 4000 strikes crafts and all new ships must weight under 120,000 tons. However, additional two ships can be built with the maximum tonnage of 320,000 to serve as flagships.
Unless given permission to expand, both species must limit their army to 2.5 million people strong and cannot utilize any equipment that weight over 80 metric tons.
For the next 50 years, both species government must give 20% of their annual income to UNSC as reparation for the damage caused by them in the Human-covenant war. However, both species can petition for a year delay if need arise.
For the next 60 years, both species must limit their new colonization efforts to 150 planets. However, if a planet with significant value can be found after the limit is reached, both species can petition for it to be claimed by the Alliance. In return for that, they will be given a hefty finder fee and 30% of the planets landmasses of their choices.
Both side accepted the treaty and with it a separatist fleet went in and secured their borders, effectively putting both species out of the war.
March 30, 2569: The UNSC lunched "Operation Downfall" a full scale assault on every remaining covenant territory including Oth Sonin III, the home system of the Jiralhanae. The separatist fleet played a small role in the entire operation as they were mostly busy with the occupation of Kig-yar and the Yanme's with and element of their forces only participated in the ground assault of Doisac. Needless to say they were faced with fanatical resistance in the entire operation.
May 25, 2569: The last of the covenant territory was secured and the last of the resisting forces on the Doisac was eliminated. With that the Alliance-Covenant war was finally over. The reaming Jiralhanae's were "Interned" or to be more accurate, subjected by the UNSC.
May 28, 2569: This date will forever be remembered in the history of the Humanity as the Alliance-Covenant war officially declared over and the UN was officially re-organized as the Terrarn Empire.
The declaration of the Empire was address to the Terran intern council and then to the general populace by Lord/Lady Admiral Athena-B312. In her long speech, she mainly said that Humanity has entered a new age of rapid growth and expansion, and in order to keep the Humanity united under a single banner in these unstable times, strong leadership is necessary. And she will provide that leadership with the promise to make Humanity one of the most powerful and influential galactic power ever to be known. Due to her popularity and influence in the UN as a whole, transition was completed relatively peacefully, with only a few riots occurring in the earth and elsewhere, all of which were quickly quelled.
May 28, 2569-May 28, 2599: For the next twenty years, humanity started to expand and prosper rapidly, recovering most of their losses in only twenty years. It was achieved by utilized technologies recovered from Beta Halo. Empress Athena, True to her words, spread Humanity's power and influences over other species to rival that of the Sangheilis. This started a rather friendly "cold war" among them that resulted massive expansion of their both military and civilian assets. By the end of May, 99, both sides' fleet strength reached nearly one and half thousand battle ready ships of various types with a thousand more in reserve. The Empire successfully established 9 more new colonies while the Sangheilis and other species established only 3.
May 29, 2589: The Empire and The Sangheili Fedaration lunched "Project pathfinder" a scientific/military exploration to Installation 00 also known as "The Ark". The fleet that was tasked with this project was surprised to find out that the Installation dose not only been cleansed from flood infestations but it is now somehow fully repaired itself. After landing on the ark they met with 16807 Errant Crucible, the actual monitor of the Installation. It informed them the he was deactivated by the 05-032 Mendicant Bias when the first time the "Reclaimers" visited to the Ark and by therefore unable to provide assistance. With the help of the Crucible, the exploration team successfully accessed Ark's computer core and was disappointed to find out that the explosion had destroyed nearly everything that was contained there. What was left however was still vast and would take decades to examine. When the news of their founding was reported to the Imperial council, a debate sparked about what to do with the Ark. It was ultimately decided that the Ark for the time being, be inhabited by a small group of scientist along with a sizable security detail and be guarded by a small flotilla of warships.
May 29, 2590: After a year worth of research and examinations the scientific team on the Ark successfully managed to catalog 2% of the surviving data stored on the cores. At the same time it was discovered that the gargantuan portal that enables access to the Ark was damaged during the battle of Installation 00 and will soon became too unstable to utilize, and has to be shut down. A plan was formed transport the entire Ark using its recently discovered slipspace drives to transport it to another destination. The journey was started on May 29 and was expected to be completed in one year.
May 30, 2591: Exactly after one year one day after the start of the journey, the Ark's completed its voyage and reached its destination. It's new resting place, named "Serenity Nebula" because of is beautiful, almost sky-like blue gas clouds, is in-between of all seven of the alliance member recess, therefore giving easy access to all of them. That fact encouraged all of the alliance members to consider utilizing the Ark as a hub for commerce and culture for all the member races. Six of the eight "arm" of the Ark was given to the member races to built upon and the other two arms were left empty to accommodate any future species at far future.
June 25, 2591: The Installation 00 was also moved over the ark and was turned into the headquarters of Alliance military. Construction of a huge museum on it followed, containing detailed history of every Alliance races and a large portion of it was dedicated to the two Great wars. After near 66 years on constant fighting, all the surviving races focused on building a new, relatively peaceful future.
June 25, 2591-December 14, 2625: In the next 29 years, the members of the Alliance progressed rapidly. Humanity was however, held the lead in this undeclared race. Their military strength surpassed that of the Sanghelis, their economy began to challenge that of the Kig-yars. By 2520, Humanity has fully rebuilt their ravaged colonies and terraformed many of those that were burned to glass. However, the cost of fully terrafomring Reach was deemed too high as it was one of few planets that were truly glassed to later. A decision was made to turn the planet into an Ecmenopolis, a gigantic city that covered the whole surface of the planet. A few places were rebuilt however, the entire CASTLE Base and its surroundings were recreated to the smallest detail and became and was turned into a memorial for Spartans. It also remained active as the training academy of N7 recruits, an elite group of soldiers whose recruits were the best and brightest of the Imperial military. Reconstruction of Reach was completed by 2015 and within a month the Imperial military moved its headquarters from Earth to Reach. Meanwhile, Humanity began to the "uplift" the Jiralhanae. This involved redesigning the Jiralhanae's savage warrior culture into an honor based one. The concept of brotherhood was implemented on the place of direct rivalry. The concept of Global Nationalism replaced the clan system. All in all, the "reformed" Jiralhanae culture resembled that of the ancient earth Samurai and to an extent that of the Sangheili. A fact that was received by Sangheili with mixed response. Nevertheless, the near systematic termination of all the mature Jiralhanae during the war meant the uplifting process went smoothly without any incident and by 2623, Doisac was fully rebuilt under the banner of Jiralhanae union, and laid the keel of their first colony ships on their newly built orbital shipyards.
The end of 2625 also saw the dissolution of the Orion alliance which was succeeded by the Orion Confederacy. The Confederacy provided all of the member species with much more freedom than the Federation styled alliance hence allowing each member to work with their issues more independently and quickly. The Ark became the seat of government of the Confederacy while the Beta Halo became the headquarters of the Confederate Navy.
March 25, 2645: The Humanity reached the peak of its power. With over 800 colonies and a military that is the biggest of the entire Confederacy, the Empire seemed all but invincible. But with no immediate threat, old problem begun to reemerges. Some of the outer colonies once again started making demand for independence from the Empire. While initially the protests were peaceful, nearly 50 colonies under the banner of system alliance soon begun an armed struggle against federation.
June 30, 2645-March 2646: While initially the empire had the upper hand, soon 20 more colonies joined the System alliance and the war escalated. After nearly a year of sporadic conflicts between both forces The Empress decided that to open negotiations. She offered to recognize the System alliance as an autonomous state within the empire with a seat to represent them in the Imperial senate. She would also allow them to keep a small armed forces and allow them to independently trade with other Confederate member. While many were surprised and protested against this move, Athena knew this was the only way she can avoid a full scale civil war. As all the Confederate members refused to acknowledge the Alliance as a sovereign power with nations like the Sangheili Federation and Unggogy Consortium has declared that they will provide full support if the Empire decides to crush the Alliance meant the Alliance was had no other choice but to accept the proposition. However, when the delegation from the both side arrived to sign the treaty in on board the Sangheili Supercarrier Renewed journey, ships that were carrying the dignitaries from the both were suddenly fired upon by the lead ship of the Alliance escort. Both ships had their shields powered down as a sign of good faith and thus was immediately destroyed. The ship then immediately entered Slipspace leavening all sides stunned and unsure about what just happened. The attack killed nearly all the key leaders of the alliance and a number of prominent senators of the Imperial senate. Empress Athena was fortunately already on board the Supercarrier to talk with the Arbiter hence managed to survive the tragic event. The attack was later revealed to be committed by a splinter group in the Alliance who opposed the treaty and declared that they will fight on till the Empire recognized the Alliance as a sovereign nation. Unfortunately for them, only them handful of planets sided with them and the remaining Alliance leadership launched a joint operation with the Empire to eliminate this rebel faction. When this was done, the treaty was a singed and peace was restored. In the end though, the brief but bloody civil war all but devastated the very concept the Alliance was formed and its lost of nearly all of key leading figures meant it will take Alliance decades to restore themselves into their pre-war status and nearly a century more to actually growing into a noticeable faction.
February 4, 2656: Nearly a decade after the war, the Alliance and Empire decided to create a joint colony in an effort to improve relation. The colony was renamed Eden Prime and the colony soon became to prosper. This led to improving relation with Alliance and Empire but it didn't stopped the Alliance for pursuing their reemerged urge for independence.
December 19, 2661: The Empire slowly stated to begun mobilizing its military. More and more ships began to be pulled out of the mothball and refitted under the guise of "Maintenance Check". "The Empress is up to something and so far, he has no idea what that is. Can't be war, situation with the Alliance is nowhere the bad to even consider such option…"
"Sir, all crews are aboard and we are ready for departure." The soft yet solid voice of Sharon, the ships A.I. pulled Hackett back to reality.
Hackett let out small breath and thought to himself, "Well, I will know eventually," and straighten him on the chair. He noticed that Anderson has already taken his seat on the first officer chair and waiting for his order.
"Take us out, ensign." Hackett gave the order to the young blond women at helm.
"Yes sir." With the reply, the young officer became busy with steering out the 12 kilometer long vessel form the gigantic bay. The process isn't easy as one single mistake may lead to the monstrous vessel crashing though the docks wall. Nevertheless, she skillfully moved the giant ship from the Shipyard and begun moving the vessel away from it at one quarter speed.
"Feels good to be flying again, isn't it sir?" Anderson asked with a small smile on his face.
"It sure dose." Hackett replied Small smile of his own. He then tuned to the crew and ordered Spin up the Slipspace Drive and set course for Pluto.
"Corse laid in, Slipspace drive is standing by." Anderson reported.
Hackett let out a small smile, "Engage" he ordered.
A big, pitch black hole stared to form in front of the ship, with the ship slowly begun to enter in it. As soon as the ship was completely consumed the entire ship, the hole collapsed and the ITSS Reach, flagship of the 5th Imperial fleet disappeared form real time space.
Act 2: Improvised measure
January/11/2662
Milky Way/Minos Wasteland/ Caestus system
Near planet Temerarus
Onboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.
"Well that went well." Cortana commented while staring at the corpse of the dead aliens.
"How many more of them are onboard?" Chief asked.
"Well according to that poor guy's Omni-tool, you just wiped out Team Alpha and Team Bravo, congratulations." The sarcasm was all too obvious on Cortana's voice. "That leaves Team Omega and the four other guy is guarding the shuttle plus the pilot makes a grand total of nine. They landed on what remains of the cargo bay 9."
"Got it." Chief replied as he began walking toward cargo bay 9.
"And exactly what is you plan?" Cortana asked. Someone has to be completely deaf to miss the annoyed tone in her voice.
"Kill them. Grab the shuttle. Get to the nearest UNSC outpost." Chief reply was short and straight to the point.
"Chief I have absolutely no idea where the hell are we, I don't even know if are in the Milky Way!" The heat of Cortana's frustration was no less volatile than that of a plasma discharge. "For all we know we are in another galaxy! And one shuttle aren't going to take us far! We need a ship! And the Dawn will never fly again!"
"What about their ship? How big it is? How many crews?" Chief asked. It's a bold idea but it's the only one on the table.
"It's supposedly a decommissioned Turian frigate but that thing is smaller than most UNSC corvettes." Cortana still had frustration on her voice but seriousness started to take over. "Anyway the Bataraians are bought it as scrap metal and refitted it. It's fast, agile and is supposed to be armed to the teeth for a ship of its size. Standard complement is supposed to be 120 crewmembers but the current captain, Nola, never maintains a crew bigger than 80. Trust issues. Anyway they recently had a fight with the Turian authorities and the current crew complement is less than 42 and nearly all of them are pissed at the captain."
"That's won't be too much trouble to handle, given their weapons and tactics." Chief said.
"They won't but getting on board is the difficult part. Cortana replied. "Unless the ships first mate, Gadha tells everything is ok they won't let the shuttle dock. On the contrary, they'll turn the shuttle into space dust."
"Did I…" Chief didn't bother to finish the sentence.
"No. He's at the shuttle. Don't think about using him as a hostage as the guy is good and…" Cortana tailed off. "Chief I have an idea. Her voice suddenly spiked with excitement. It's crazy but it just might work."
"Let's hear it." Chief said.
*2 minutes later*
"You sure you aren't loosing it?"
Act 3: Identity Nuke
January/11/2662
Milky Way/Minos Wasteland/ Caestus system
Near planet Temerarus
Onboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.
Cargo Bay 9
Gadha is feeling nervous. There is no sign of Alpha or Bravo team. Neither is reported in and neither is responding in coms. "Something's not right," he though. "But what?"
Suddenly, one of his squad member cried out in something that can be only described as total panic. Quickly turning to the entrance to the room, he saw something that for a moment literally froze every muscle in his body. A 7 feet long figure, encased in a dark green armor that is clearly showing signs of battle with a white alien marking on its chest. The helmet has an orange visor that reflects no sign of life. After that agonizing moment has passed, Gadha quickly pulled out his MK-VII Terminator Assault Rifle and aimed at the terrifying figure. Other follows suit but before any of them could fire a shot the figure quickly put its hand up in the air.
"Don't shoot!" A female voice came out of the helmet. "I want to talk!"
Gadhas thumbs around the grip stiffened. "Who…WHAT are you?" He shouted.
The reply he got is short, "Cortana Hal'sy. Special tactics and reconnaissance."
Codex Entry (Humans –Military- Terran Imperial Fleets): The Imperial Navy
After their near-extinction during the Human-covenant-war the Humanity of earth vowed to never to be threatened with such fate again. In order to defend themselves from such satiation, the Humanity needed a large fleet hence was the birth of the Imperial Navy.
The Imperial Navy is massive organization divided into three Fleet branches. Each of them is independent of the other and has separate Command authority. Although in wartime situation, all of the branches are commanded by a single HIGHCOM.
Imperial Border Security Fleet:
The eyes and whips of the empire. The IBSF is responsible for patrolling the Imperial border and policing Imperial territories. They utilize a large number of fighter, frigates and, a few light and heavy cruiser and a single Battleship as their flagship, the ITWS Pegasus.
Imperial planetary defense fleet:
The shield of the empire. The IPDF is responsible for the defense of Imperial planets and installations through the empire. They utilize a large number of Orbital Defense Platform and defensive structure, a considerable number of warships of every classification, and a single Dreadnought as their flagship, the ITCS Preston .
Imperial Armada:
The hammer of the empire. The Armada is actually a combination of 6 standing fleets of all which is geared for offensive. Each fleet is consists of 350 warship of various sizes and are completely self-sufficient with their own support ships. And finally, each fleet utilizes a single Dreadnought as their flagship.
Codex Entry (Humans –Military- Terran Imperial Fleet): Banshee-Class-Heavy cruiser
Profile: (http)(:/ /)(media).(moddb).com(/) images/members/1/580/579031/Halo(_)(Cl).(png) (Remove the brackets and spaces)
Length: 2272 meters.
Height: 226 meters
Weight: 376 meters.
Displacement: 3,09,523 tonnes.
Aviation facilities: 4 two stories Hanger facilities.
Armaments: Block 1, ACW Era:
12x 234 inch Mark 8 mod 3 Gauss cannon in dual turret mount.
72x 78 inch Mark 6 mod 2 Gauss cannon in dual turret mount.
16x 39 inch Mark 4 mod 1 rail cannon in dual barbette mount.
16x Archer Missile pad (400 missiles per pad).
8x Harpoon disruptor torpedo pad (160 missiles per pad)
6x Nova torpedo launcher.
2x 312 inch Hull mounted Magnetic accelerator cannons.
Block 2 Imperial Era:
12x 234 inch Mark 8 mod 6 Gauss/Plasma cannon in dual turret mount.
72x 78 inch Mark 10 mod 1 Gauss/Palsma cannon in dual turret mount.
16x 39 inch Mark 6 mod 2 rail cannon in dual barbette mount.
16x Javelin Missile pad (400 missiles per pad).
8x Rapier disruptor torpedo pad (160 missiles per pad)
6x SuperNova torpedo launcher.
2x 312 inch Hull mounted Magnetic accelerator cannons.
Defenses: Block 1, ACW Era:
32x "Fort" Class fortified defense complex (Each complex consisting of 3x or 4x 50mm dual chemical reactionPoint-defense guns in dual turret mount, 3x or 4x Dual pulse laser turret, 600 Agent V missile in four missile pods)
Energy shielding.
Kinetic barriers.
Block 2 Imperial Era:
32x "Bastion" Class fortified defense complex (Each complex consisting of 3x or 4x 50mm quad GaussPoint-defense guns in dual turret mount, 3x or 4x quad Pulse laser turret, 600 Agent VII missile in four missile pods)
Energy shielding.
Kinetic barriers.
Crew: 800 (5 If operated by an A.I.)
2200 Marine & ODST.
Complement: Block 1, ACW Era
Air /Space:
4x YSS-1000 Sabre-Class Starfighter squadron (8 Fighter per squadron)
Or
4x YSS-1300A Firefox-class Starfighter squadron (8 Fighter per squadron)
2x GA-TL1B Longsword-class Bomber/Heavy Interceptor squadron (6 Fighter per squadron).
Or
2x GA-TL1A Backfire-class Bomber/Heavy Interceptor squadron (4 Fighter per squadron).
160x Dropship 77 Heavy-Troop Carrier/Infantry/Shielded "Pelican" calss dropship.
6x AV-20S Attack VTOL "Sparrowhawk II" Class Gunship.
Or
6 AV-308A Attack VTOL "Shark" Class Gunship.
2x AC-230S "Vulture II" Class Gunship.
OR
6x ACV-224A "Hind " Class Gunship.
2xHAV-10 "Pod" Class Firebase dropship.
Ground:
12x M903 "Tagil" class Main Battle Tank.
Or
18x M809G "Scorpion" class Main Battle Tank (Gauss Scorpion).
5x M-150D Mobile Artillery Assault Platform (MAAP) (Rhino II).
Or
5x M-155C Mobile Artillery Assault Platform/Tank (MAAP/T) (Hammer Tank).
8x M-130A "Coalition"Mobile Artillery System.
10x M12R Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (Warthog).
Or
M13R Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (Puma).
10x M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle (Gauss 'Hog).
Or
10xM13AT Anti-Armor support Vehicle (Gauss Puma).
5x M12R Light Anti-Armor Vehicle (Rocket 'Hog).
Or
10xM13AA SPAAG system (Cannon Puma).
5x M831 Troop Transport.
Or
5x M843 Armored Personal carrier.
10x M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle/Armed (Gun Mongoose).
12x M304 Combat exoskeleton (Cyclops II)
1x Pre-fabricated Firebase.
Block 2 Imperial Era:
Air /Space:
4x YSS-1300C Firefox-class Starfighter squadron (8 Fighter per squadron)
2x GA-TL1B Backfire-class Bomber/Heavy Interceptor squadron (4 Fighter per squadron).
12x Dropship 80 Heavy-Troop Carrier/Infantry/Shielded "Pelican" calss dropship.
6 AV-308A Attack VTOL "Shark" Class Gunship.
6x ACV-224A "Hind " Class Gunship.
1x AC-260S "Pandora" Class aerospace Gunship.
2xHAV-30 "Hog" Class Firebase dropship.
Ground:
12x M903M "Tiger" class Main Battle Tank.
5x M-107H Mobile Artillery Assault Platform/Tank (MAAP/T) (Hammer Tank).
10x M13H Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (Puma).
10x M13ATM Anti-Armor support Vehicle (Plasma Puma).
5x M14AAM SPAAG Vehicle (Blazer Puma).
5x M843M Armored Personal carrier.
10x M280H Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle/Armed (Spooky).
12x M408 Combat exoskeleton (Berserker)
1x Pre-fabricated Firebase.
When I first saw the Banshee, I laughed at its crude and rugged shape. Now, it's became a tradition for our young shipsmasters to visit that ships for good omen.
- Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum.
The Banshee-Cass-Heavy cruiser was a revolutionary design in many aspects. It was the first UNSC ship in century to feature guns as primary weapons. The Banshee was armed to the teeth and had enough armor to take on beating from two CCS-class battlecruiser together. The ship was highly modular and its modules were so standardized that they were interchangeable with any ships of the same class. This meant that any shipyard than can made anything the size of a small transport can made portions of ships witch than be quickly put together even without a need of a spaedock. Although this meant a relatively weak structure compared to that of the Halcyon class, the introduction of shields compensated for this. The Banshee is widely regarded as the "ship that won the war at space". The ships guns were actually weaker compare to that of the ones used in the HCW, but the introduction of mass effect fields meant that they were capable of achieving same velocity of their old counterparts. This meant that each ship was capable of delivering nearly five times more firepower than their predecessors. The cannons used by Banshee were by the biggest caliber of cannon ever put on ships. While this meant the shells were slower, the added mass ensured that the shells will create total mayhem upon impact. A full broadside or a salvo form its entire front cannons was enough to obliterate a CCS-class battlecruiser long before they reached their own optima weapons range. An example of Banshees destructive capability was the 2nd battle of Reach which is now called by many as the "Open season" where more than a dozen captains were credited with destroying 10-12 capital ships alone. A peculiar feature of the Banshee was it's oversized sensor/jamming array. Located at the aft of the upper superstructure, the main purpose of this heavily fortified complex was to serve as a power full jamming array. It was quite successful in this role as it was capable of distracting magnetic lock of Plasma torpedoes by transmitting random magnetic signatures. The secondary purpose was it to serve as the "gun laying" system for the ships main guns for extra longe range firing. A surprising feature of the Banshee was that it is a self sustaining warship. It can provide its crew with fresh vegetables every week from its micro nursery and fresh meat every month from its small livestock shed. It was fully capable of recycle 98% of its water supply and its workshop can make anything form a screwdriver to a starfighter if enough resource is available. More nearly a thousand of these ships were produced till the end of the war and production didn't stop till the formation of confederacy. The sheer number and the upgrade potential of the Banshee meant they are going to serve as the main ships of the Terran navy for centuries to come.
Notable Banshee-Cass-Heavy cruiser:
UNSC/ ITSS Banshee (CL-18): The first of her kind, Famous for being the flagship of Vice-admiral/Empress Athena and for her role in the "Terran revolution". Crippled during the liberation of Harvest, She is now a floating museum in orbit above Earth.
UNSC/ ITSS Dhaka (CL-75): Famousfor her action during the Alliance-covenant war. Currently serving as the flagship of the 75th reserve flotilla/mothballed.
UNSC Arrow (CL-65): Flagship of Fleet admiral Bill MacMillan. Destroyed by the Banshee during the Terran revolution.
Well there you go the Third part. I hope I didn't overdo it. The next part will cover the Chiefs escape plan; I am hoping to finish it soon. Not going to promise anything though. My life is facing more difficulties every day.
PS: If anyone wondering how the Citadel or the Reapers can hope to match the Humans, let's just say, both are going to be their least of their worries. This story for the most part is going to take a road of its own and it is NOT going to follow the ME-3 ending. (Still can't get myself to play ME 3 in story mood)
And again please forgive my grammatical/spelling mistakes.
And finally,
Please R&R.
