Chapter 2: Home Base Brawl

UNSC Supercarrier Indomitable

October 2nd 3235 0942 hrs

Over Earth Orbit, Luna

The UNSC Indomitable appeared out of thin space, the white Slipspace rupture opening to admit them to the human universe. They appeared close to the Mere Tranquilitie Moon Settlement. Earthling refugees were sent here if the UNSC rescued them unfortunatly only a million were at the base, the rest were still on Earth, Trapped like rats. Admiral Gerome Andsworth checked the radar scans for enemy ships. "We clear, Velo?" Andsworth asked his navigational officer. "Aye, sir. No enemy ships in the radar's spectrum." "What about comm signatures, Jaffa?" The African Comm officer ran a quick scan on the areas near thier position. "Got one, a BattleCruiser by the looks of it, they're outside the radar scan distance. Shouldn't be a problem." The admiral wasn't taking any chances. "What's that ship's acceleration speed?" Velo checked scans. "Estimated 100 metres a minute. They're pratically standing still. Andsworth nodded his head thankfully. "Excellent. That's the way I want it to stay. Where's our target?" Velo answered. "We chose the correct moment to appear, sir." He pointed forward out of the main viewport. Earth stood ahead. Humanity's homeworld that was covered with flickering lights of civilization, seas teaming with life, and fires spread across the surface that signalled destruction and death. "At our current speed, sir, we should reach a gyosynchronized orbit over New Mombassa within two hours." Velo calculated. The admiral nodded again. "Excellent, take us there."

At the Terran Battlecruiser hundreds of miles away, the now-promoted Fleet Commander Irov Geralski stood on the BattleCruiser's deck with as much authority as his predecessor, Fleet Commander Alexi Andrekov. His Junior Lieutenant Ursula Iraski went to him. "Sir, you requested me to inform you if anything passed within our scanning radiuses after you asked me to push the limits on how far we could scan?" Geralski looked at her. "Yes, what of it?" Iraski checked her data-board. "Well, sir, my people took our existing range, and ampliphied it usng some of the intact communcation dishes of the Earthling defense platforms we destroyed. Using the ampliphied radio waves, we located a ship." Geralski smiled within himself, but showed no external featres. "And?" Iraski cut to the chase, puching in a serise of keys onto a keyboard. A screen usually used for Comms flickered and displayed the entire space between Low Earth Orbit and the planetoid that the Earthlings refered to as the Moon. Geralski chuckled to himself when he read the planetoid's name. Moon! The Earthlings weren't much for names now were they? "I want a detailed analysis on that ship, Junior Lieutenant!" Iraski nodded, "Within the minute, Fleet Commander." She said. She gestured towards another Lieuteanat, who uploaded the data. "Data uploading." He reported. "Stand by..." A red dot appeared on-screen next to the moon roughly one hundred miles outside the gravitational field. "The ship is of human make, and by eye-witness accounts of the prisoners taken, is one of the most powerful in the Earthling fleet. They call it a supercarrier. It carries a full three squadrons of what the Earthers call F-29 Hellcats, ten C710 Longsword Interceptors, five C710 Longsword Bombers, and twenty D77TC Pelican Dropships." Iraski said. Geralski looked at the holographic image of the supercarrier. "I heard rumors of this ship, piloted by one of the greatest human commanders. How she managed to take several Yamato blasts and come out standing, and I realize how close we are to loss when we see this." He said, dismissivley. "Sir, if I may," Iraski said. "The Earthlings believe that we are outside the necessary radar range needed to pick up our signal or else they would diverte course and engage us." Geralski nodded. True. "I suggest, with your permission sir, that we run silent and allow the Earthlings to continue on with thier course, wait for them to empty thier cargo, then, we attack them. A ship with no one to deffend it would be like shooting fish in a barrel." Geralski smiled. "That is a good plan. And I agree with you one hundred percent. We'll make sure that they will never see us." He gestured to his helmsmen. "Prepare to shut down weapons, we need the extra energy to cloak entirely, minimize engine activity by seventy percent. We don't want any emmisions given off that could give us away. There are still plenty of Earth ships out here that are policing the area." The helmsmen obeyed, and soon, all could feel the BattleCruiser shivering to a halt. The ship seemed to melt away from the outside. They were unseen, unknown, and unheard.