Here are a couple of changes that I have decided to make on part of yall pointing them out.
1. When imagining the Master Chief's armor, It is more like from the cover of the re-released Fall or Reach book, I like how it looks more menacing looking.
2. The UNSC Falken starfighter is the Falken fighter jet from the Ace Combat series
3. The Grizzly II is more or less a combination of the Predator tank from Command and Conquer 3, and the Scorpion tank. Plus I am making it to where the tank is a normal tan color, black while cool makes little sense.
4. The LAAGs on the Grizzly II's are 20mm, 50 caliber rounds would be useless to anything but a Banshee.
5. The Wolverine is armed with two thirty millimeter cannons between the missile launchers
Also for the upcoming battle scene use the battle scene and the landscape from the Halo Reach mission Tip of the Spear as something to imagine and help form a mental image.
Cienna
Aldara Plains
50 Miles west of Ft. Longston
"Enemy assault ship has finished offloading its forces, reads as another armored and mechanized division, brings total of enemy forces deployed in theatre to 40,000 troops, a Corps." Brigadier General Alexi called off as the computers and sensors on in his modified Gremlin Command Vehicle gave a tally on the Republic forces marching towards him.
"Damn, and they are attacking from two fronts, though thanks to the wind patterns and the fact that they were kind enough to land in the middle of no where, we can simply saturate the second group with fusion missile strikes." his superior Major General Hudong informed over the radio that was but one of the many pieces of command and control equipment and holographic displays that transformed the repair vehicle into a mobile command centre.
He was positioned on one of the rocky hillsides that were part of a dry mountain range that all led to a vast desert plain where the Republic army was currently marching towards him.
His enemy had deployed shield generators around their ships once they landed to protect them as they offloaded their forces, the loss of one of their "Stardestroyers" to Ft. Longston's orbital guns and MAC enough for them to not take any chances.
He had in total ten thousand troops under his command, and he was currently standing down at least three times that number.
However from what he was seeing through his sensors he was not too impressed.
If the Republic had a concept of armored and mechanized warfare then they sure didn't show it.
Aside from small hover tanks which were lightly armed called TX-130 fighter tanks (whatever that meant) he saw no dedicated mobile armor.
What they used instead were walkers, and lots of them.
Ranging from admittedly impressive AT-TE walkers covered in weapons and a large Coilgun in a turret (though for its size ONI was surprised to find it underpowered when compared to those on Grizzly II Tanks), to what were apparently their mainline armor,
chicken like AT-STs with two laser canons and anti infantry cannons, to eight legged SPM-A artillery walkers, Eight legged Anit-Air variants and three legged Artillery walkers.
He did have to give the Republic Credit for their LAATs, they could prove problematic but they were nothing that his Sparrowhawks and Wolverine Anti-Air vehicles couldnt handle.
Looking at the Republic lines he couldn't help but get a since he was looking at a picture out of the Napoleonic Wars or the American civil war by how almost half of their Infantry were deployed in honest to god infantry squares out in the open, marching behind the Republic Armor.
They were such a juicy target, and for the gunners on his Rhino mobile Artillery and his more Conventional Fox Artillery, they were already on it.
Looking at his display he smiled as his forces began moving.
All of his artillery and half of his anti air units were currently deployed on the large ridge like the command vehicle. And the rest of his forces were on either side charging the Republic lines.
The plan of battle was for his ten Cobra anti Vehicle killers positioned with him to use their Railguns in lockdown mode to take out as many of the Anti-air vehicles that they could, they had already proven deadly against the couple of Shortsword UCAVs they had deployed to attempt a bombing run on the Republic line.
The object was to allow the Sparrowhawks a clean airspace aside from the LAATs, which they would more than likely have to combat, the Wombat UCAV fighters were doing an amazing job at keeping the airspace clean, and the Longswords and a dozen Falken starfighters were doing their part as well, though it did mean that neither side had air superiority or support aside from low level ground attack ships, so the battle was a full on ground war.
The Artillery would then pound away at the exposed infantry while the main elements of his force, his Grizzly II MBTs supported by Couger IFV's (Armed with twin 50 mm Gauss Cannons and a Coaxial LAAG ) , Wolverine Anti Air Vehicles, and Cobras to engage the main armored vehicles of the Republic.
His 8,000 Infantrymen and Marines would then support the armored elements and attack the enemy troopers, half of them either being mounted in Cougar IFVs, Pelicans or Warthogs before dismounting. The Warthogs would only be used as fast attackers and skirmishers but the Courgars would provide direct fire support and the Pelicans would switch to their secondary role as gunships with their Thirty millimeter chin guns and missile pods.
The other 4000 Marines and Infantrymen were dug in in a trench and various defensive foxholes and positions on the top of a low hill, loaded with heavy machine guns, Sniper Rifles and Missile Launchers. Their job was to take the brunt of the Republic assault, but that was to merely draw their fire, and with a minefield in front of them they could hold out for a while unless the Republic managed to get their artillery to fire on them.
To deal with the artillery his Sparrowhawks would take them out, and to top it all off he had two gleaming Vulture gunships with a full load of 16 Slyver missiles to complement its dreaded armament of quad 50mm auto cannons, 20mm chin gun, and Argent V missiles.
He looked at his radio as his superior contacted him, "This is command, ordinance targeting the southern enemy landing zone, distance is far enough away to authorize WMD use."
"By God they are going to do it?" he thought with a grin as
He looked on his screens as his forces began their charge.
He keyed his mike to the Artillery, "Fire."
Outside of the Gremlin the entire ridge turned into a gout of flame as the world trembled.
Republic All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE)
Mobile Command Centre
327th Star Corps
Bly wanted to pound his fist into the holoscreen.
"Can you confirm that?" he asked the communications officer.
The clone, wearing the usual Phase II Trooper armor but with the unmistakable yellow stripes that identified the Star Corps answered.
"Yes sir, the Hurlania went down with all hands, we are unable to attack the base directly. Scans show that the enemy force is deployed directly in front of us." the officer answered as the AT-TE rumbled beneath their feet, the modified walker at the back of the armored column that was marching towards the enemy forces crunching over the rocky and sandy terrain at a steady 20 mph.
"Blast, and the enemy droid aero fighters have proven that they can swat LAATs and even starfighters out of the sky with ease in an atmospheric dogfight , so aside from out LAATs we have no air support." he sighed.
Bringing up the screen of his forces he indicated the LAATs that were loaded down with troopers, "Our LAATs will attempt to flank the enemy and land troopers close to their positions and then provide added firepower while our primary force draws their fire..."
He was cut off by the comm officer.
"Sir we have just lost all contact with the beta landing zone 40 miles south of us!"
His brain spun.
"What! how..."
"External cameras online sir, pointed at the direction of the Beta landing zone!" the commander of the AT-TE called off as the holo screen projected an image that he did not want to see.
The southern horizon was lit up with a second sun for five seconds before gradually dissipating to reveal an ever expanding mushroom shaped cloud.
"Holy Kryff... They used a thermo nuclear device in atmosphere?" he muttered stunned.
As primitive as nuclear weapons were there was no denying that they were indeed powerful, and in a planet's atmosphere they could devastate armies and cities in one fell swoop. After the Great Galactic War and the Mandalorian Crusades the weapons had almost all but disappeared, until now.
10,000 Of his soldiers and Troopers were now gone just like that, and they were unable to do a thing to save themselves.
Completely helpless.
He had a sinking feeling that the Terrans were going to be much more cruel and heartless at waging war than the CIS.
"So that's how they play the game. Guess Aayla's worries about this war are proving true, what happened to the fleet alone..." his thoughts trailed off as Lieutenant Galle called out.
"The enemy forces are advancing, we have a visual."
The screen changed to show hundreds of tan colored armored vehicles charging his lines, clouds of dust kicked up behind them.
Leading the charge were hundreds of tracked tanks of some sort, they were far larger than any of his fighter tanks and they were armed with a single large cannon mounted in a turret just behind the center of the main hull and with four track pods and also armed with heavy repeating projectile weapons called machine guns. He was taken aback by how much armor the thing was covered in and how oddly powerful it looked, but what worried him was how mobile it looked despite its size.
Next were six wheeled armored vehicles that had twin cannons, these much smaller but as with all examples of Terran weapons were most likely powerful, as well as several of those machine guns. They had what looked like a troop compartment, so they were APCs of some sort that could fight as well.
Following those were strange war machines with two wheels and tracks in the back. They had two light cannons fixed between two missile launchers, no doubt anti air vehicles, that would give the LAAT's problems.
Then at the end of the armored columns were six wheeled vehicles with what looked like a single oversized Mass Driver or Rail gun, the twin prongs of electro magnets surging with power, most likely anti armor units.
"They must have all their troopers mounted in vehicles or at their main defensive line." Galle noted.
"Enemy aircraft inbound, around 200 contacts."
Bly didnt mutter a word as the screen panned to show two separate waves of aircraft coming from behind and beside the two pincers of Terran armored columns.
Half of that number were their Dropships called Pelicans, which as the disaster that happened at Kashyyk had taught them those dropships were deadly by themselves, an exact counterpart to the LAAT.
The other half was what looked like heavily armed gunships that were bristling with chin guns, twin cannons and missiles. They had next to no information on them, but judging by their speed and their profiles he couldnt help but grimace as he thought about the damage those could deal his forces, luckily he had his anti air AT-AAs to deal with those.
He turned to Galle, "Have our LAATs move to engage those Dropships, draw them off from deploying their troops, our triple A will handle the gunships. Have our fighter tanks move to engage the enemy armor and draw their fire while our AT-STs engage those tanks head on. Our AT-TEs will provide support while our infantry and the AT-TEs will continue advancing to the Terran's main defensive line."
Suddenly the screens began to shimmer and the sensors began to fade in and out of existence.
"Enemy ECM has skyrocketed." Galle noted.
One of the other officers turned and all but yelled, "Sir! Enemy artillery on the main ridge! They are firing!"
Bly felt his mind go numb.
He had led his forces into a killbox..
Shells began to scream through the air outside and around the terribly exposed infantry, exploding with balls of fragmentation and hellfire as entire Clone Trooper platoons were engulfed and ripped apart like rag dolls.
"Get our artillery into position to fire on that ridge..." he didnt get to finish his sentence as one shell hit not six meters away from the front driver's compartment, shattering the exposed window and painting the drivers compartment with brain matter.
Bly and his command staff were thrown down.
Grizzly II Main Battle Tank
3rd Armored Platoon
Foxtrot Battalion
12th Marine Armored Expeditionary
"Grillpanzer, enemy light combatants are moving to engage, followed up by some ugly ass bipedal walkers called AT-STs. Lets blow them apart." Taylor called off to his fellow Grizzly II Commander in his MBT which was flying over the sand and rocks at 40 mph right beside him, followed closely behind by the other 12 tanks in his command.
"I cant believe command nuked the other landing zone." his driver Peter Summers chuckled as the enemy neared the 3 mile optimal engagement range, though the 120 mm gauss main gun could go up to 20 miles, you needed a very flat terrain and an almost unmoving target, a surprise he was holding up his sleeve .
Taylor grunted in agreement as he watched on his screens the entire UNSC Army and Marine force engage, the lightshow of explosions, missiles, and laser fire lighting up the entire massive canyon.
He grinned savagely as yet another artillery barrage shredded and maimed more Clones. The explosion of one of the enemy triple A vehicles signaled that he would now have close air support.
A flight of four Sparrowhawks flew overhead to emphasize that point as they fired their missiles and twin 50's at the now exposed Republic artillery, immediately taking two out along with a AT-TE and a low flying LAAT as they then pivoted and fired on more troopers with their 20mm chin guns before being forced to evade a barrage of laser fire.
One of them was not so lucky and got hit by a flak burst from one of the Republic Anti Air vehicles, sending the attack gunship into a tailspin as one of its ducted fans were shattered, however the pilot was able to more or less safely crash land the stricken bird near the advancing UN forces.
"I have a shot!" Grillpanzer called out as the UN tanks cleared a ridge that led to an open plain.
As his tank bounced over the ridge he rotated his turret to see some thirty small hovertanks and ten of those AT-ST walkers heading for them, the hovertanks pulling away at around 80 mph as the range closed.
"Enemy, target one mile! Engage at will, take them out!" he called as he aimed the main gun at the lead hovertank.
"Engaging!" Grillpanzer called as his Grizzly II fired its main gun, sending a 120mm tungsten penetrator through a AT-ST's head at hypersonic speeds, the AT-ST exploding as it flopped over.
Putting his targeting reticule on the hovertank he pulled the firing studs as the Gauss cannon roared, sending a round into the front of the TX-130 and out of the back as the fighter tank shattered.
Inside the armored cocoon of the Grizzly he couldnt hear the hypersonic cracks that would make him go deaf without protection, but the hell of battle had set in.
The rest of the Grizzly's fired, outright destroying nine more TX-130s and two other AT-STs before the Republic forces could even fire back.
"Reloading and recharging, ready again in five." Grillpanzer called out as the tanks formed into a classic line perpendicular to the approaching enemy.
The UNSC tanks slowed to 20 mph as their turrets almost all rotated as one to face the Republic AT-STs and the remaining TX-130s, which as they neared half a mile they began to return fire.
Taylor clenched his teeth as blaster cannon bolts slammed into and around the armored column. throwing up dirt and debris.
The Grizzly II's designed to take hits from Wraith Plasma Motors, Particle Cannon Wraiths, Plasma Beams and cannon fire, shrugged off the hits as the armor deflected or absorbed the kinetic energy and heat of the bolts.
"Pathetic." another of his Grizzly commanders laughed as a twin bolt hit his turret with little effect.
"All stop. Pick your targets and fire at will." Taylor ordered as his targeting computer locked on to the lead AT-ST.
The line of Terran battle tanks disappeared in a wall of electric fire and superheated air.
The AT-ST he target had its right leg snapped in two as his shot went right through the reverse knee joint. The Republic charge was halted as fighter tanks and AT-STs were blown apart or disabled.
The remnants were finished off as his tanks began advancing again as the Cougar IFV's came up and began offloading their troops as Republic troopers had secured a rocky hill that needed to be cleared.
"This is Alpha Bravo to Foxtrot One do you copy?" his radio crackled.
Answering as his tank plowed through some small trees and debris he looked on his display to see that so far the assault was going well, but the Republic forces were not pushovers, there had been some casualties, mainly from the AT-TEs.
"Yes sir this is Foxtrot One. I copy over." he replied as a damaged Sparrowhawk flew overhead trailing smoke, but that was compensated by a LAAT crashing into the earth aflame, a Pelican flying victorious overhead as it shifted its 30mm fire to another location.
"Roger Foxtrot. Those AT-TEs are giving our primary defensive line problems with their long range cannons. We need you to take them out as our artillery is already engaged and long range counter artillery has forced some of my Cobras to move positions. Air support is all engaged so you need to take the lead three out. Be advised those large mass drivers of theirs while not as advanced as ours are large enough to still take a Grizzly II out or disable it in a single hit. So stay mobile."
"Roger lead."
Turning on his comm as Grillpanzer harassed Clones from a embankment with his 20 millimeters, brutally killing several unlucky troopers, he chuckled.
"Boys it looks like we are going to be doing some big game hunting."
Republic LAAT Gunship
Clone Pilot RP-188 cursed as he threw his LAAT into a dive to avoid yet another stream of cannon fire from the accursed UN Gunships.
"Blast I cant hit them! How are you doing Ran?" RP-188's copilot asked his side gunner manning the port beam cannon.
As he twisted his LAAT away from a stream of fire from a enemy triple A vehicle, he noticed that Ran was not responding.
Pulling up a video image of the port ball turret the image confirmed what he feared.
The ball turret was shattered, and the tattered remains of Ran and his armor was slumped over in his seat, blood splattered all over the place.
"Ah kryff, the gunship's chin gun must have got him." his copilot whispered.
"If it were the side cannons that hit we wouldn't be having this conversation." he stated angrily as he flipped the craft over to make a strafing run on the Terran's primary defensive line, for all the good he knew it would do. It seemed that every Fifth Terran had a missile launcher whose missiles had proven could seriously damage the lightly armored LAAT's, many that had attempted to support the ground pounders advance were swatted down by enemy AA vehicles rapid fire projectile cannons, missiles and even shoulder fired Lasers and missiles from the entrenched enemy infantry, only a few had made successful strafing runs, only to be immediately punished.
He had never seen anti air fire this intense.
In fact he had never seen a battle that was this dynamic before, as aside from their fixed positions and artillery, the UNSC forces were very mobile, not willing to trade punches with the GAR and instead simply maneuvering and attacking the GAR's flanks.
After he had dropped off his troops at a rocky hill, whom were overun by mechanized infantry and those downright impressive Terran tanks, he had been engaged in constant air combat with the Terran gunships and dropships, and had watched as his wingmates were shot down, one ripped apart by a terran AA battery, the second to a terran Gunships missile salvo, and the third to massed heavy projectile weapons fire from the UNSC defensive lines that killed the pilot and sent the LAAT crashing into the ground.
Sending his craft into a tight turn he found himself on the tail of a UNSC Dropship that was strafing Republic lines with its cannon.
The pilot of the craft saw him and threw his craft into a tight turn in an attempt to evade him, but the more maneuverable LAAT stayed tight on its tail as he received a lock on for its heavy cannons, immediately sending a double burst into its tail engine mount, blowing them off and sending the dropship into a tailspin into the ground.
Pumping his fist in victory his demeanor paled when he looked at his tactical display to see another of the lead AT-TE's disappear off the screen.
Flipping his craft over he saw the source of the destruction, a line of 16 UNSC Tanks charging the leading AT-TEs directing and covering the Troopers attacking the main Terran defensive line, and they were the only thing allowing the Troopers groundside to not be pushed back.
He watched as the leading tank plowing through sand and debris as its treads propelled the armored war machine at surprising speeds as its turret rotated to face another AT-TE, the range between the two at a little over a mile, and its large mass driver cannon belch electricity, superheated air and a streaking white projectile that hit the AT-TE, which was itself bringing its weapons to bare, laser bolts and the heavy Mass Driver cannon impacting all around the Terran tanks, one being clearly disabled by the AT-TE's main gun.
The AT-TE however exploded as the round the lead tank had fired impacted in the AT-TE's most vulnerable spot, its cockpit and penetrated, the AT-TE exploding fantastically a second later.
Cursing he sent his craft into a dive intent on using the last of his missiles against them.
To his surprise the tanks all swiveled their turrets towards him.
Where they going to try to hit him with their main gun...
He didnt get to answer his question as all he saw was guns on the side of the turrets fire and felt rounds tear through the windscreen and his body.
"Target down! That was too close!" Grillpanzer called out as yet another blast of laser cannon fire hit the side of the Grizzly, jarring Taylor and his driver as the beaten armor managed to defeat it, but his port armor was now going to have to be replaced when he got back to base, if he managed to.
The LAAT that had tried to strafe them had been shot down by their combined fire from their 20 millimeter LAAGs, doing just as their designers had intended them to do, give UNSC tanks an ability to defend themselves against low flying attackers.
Outside of the armored cocoon of the tank was what could only be described as hell going by at 40 miles an hour as his armored battalion cut a swath of destruction into the Republic advance as his now 10 Grizzlys along with another two Platoons of Grizzly IIs and supporting Cobras, Wolverines and Cougar IFVs that were just now linking up with him for a charge right down the throat if the Republic Assault.
The twin 20 millimeter cannons fired a stream of orange tracer rounds into the rising cloud of dust, green and blue bolts of plasma answered back, 120mm tungston rounds accelerated to Mach 12 tore through the air with a deafening crack, one fired from Taylor's own Tank's main gun hitting the main drive leg of an AT-TE that had took out one of his own Grizzly IIs with its main cannon (the UNSC tank had its turret ripped completely off), three more shells ripping the offending walker open seconds later.
Beside his tank a Cougar IFV lurched wildly as it took a hit from a TX-130's beam cannon, most of its side armor destroyed and melted the driver fought to maintain control as the vehicle fired its twin 60 mm bushmasters in return, four shells exploding against the hovertanks side repulser pod sending the fighter tank into a spin that led it right into the sights of the twin 16 Mega Joule railguns of a accompanying Cobra, the twin slugs ripping the vehicle apart.
Another LAAT came crashing down in flames as six more Sparrowhawks flew overhead providing cover for his small Blitzkrieg.
Just as he shifted his fire to a group of AT-ST's a ball of plasma and energy slammed into the side of the Cougar 30 yards beside his and 50 yards to his left.
It exploded in a fiery white ball of plasma and fire and revealed the stricken UNSC APC to be completely disabled and left a wreck.
As the crew began to bail out another energy missile hit it, turning the tank into a fireball that consumed the crew.
Cursing he followed the trail of the missile to yet another rocky knoll where Clone Troopers with some sort of missile launchers were dug in along with supporting infantry.
"Fucking sons of a bitches!" a Commander in a fellow tank cursed as he stopped to stitch the hillside with his LAAGs, throwing up tons of dirt as the Clones scurried to cover, two of them not fast enough.
Suddenly the tank exploded into pieces of shrapnel as one of the active AT-TEs obliterated the stationary target.
"Dammit, Grizzly's move to engage the walkers, have the Cougars offload their troops and clear out those Clones, I want a couple of Cobras and Wolverines to cover them, the rest are on me." he ordered as his driver threw the tank forward at 50 mph, leading the charge into the Republic AT-STs and AT-TE's and hovertanks.
Firing at the cockpits of the AT-TE's three went down in quick succession along with ten AT-STs and 15 fighter tanks.
The two sides charged each other at range firing everything they had at each other.
UNSC Defensive Line
RCT-2310 "Jic"
Running over the bodies of fallen Troopers, he and a platoon of 40 Clones of the Star Corps charged headlong into the firestorm of battle as his heart pounded in his chest.
His mind was focused on one thing, survival.
And there was only one way to survive, to break through the UNSC line.
A task that several thousand had tried for the past hour and had died brutally for it.
Now without any armor support and the remnants of their artillery pulling back, the cut off Clone regiments had no choice but to charge headlong into the defensive line and overwhelm it.
He knew that he would most likely not return from the battlefield alive, the UNSC made the CIS forces he had faced dozens of times look pale in comparison.
Leveling his Blaster Carbine as he cleared a rocky knoll that was the scene of a brutal hand to hand combat where a UNSC Foxhole was clearly overrun, (after the two Terrans had clearly killed dozens of his own, which littered the ground most of them dismembered) the Terrans shot dozens of times and their armor burned through, had died with surrounded and with combat knives and holdout weapons covered in blood.
Years of training allowing him to ignore the burnt and charred remains of a Terran female soldier as he and the fellow troopers crested the ridge to see the main trench where a seeming white carpet of clone bodies in their armor covered the sandy ground, a wall of blue blaster bolts slamming into the UNSC defenders and their positions as they too fired back frantically as much as they could, sending streams of hypersonic bullets into the charging Republic Troopers, a fact that was pointed out by the trooper next to him spinning around in a spray of blood from a burst of fire.
Running as fast as he could he fired from the hip at a UN Soldier 30 yards away from him in the a foxhole closest to him, pinning the Terran down as the enemy soldier ducked down, two bolts striking the man's shields, dropping them with an electric spark.
Huffing he closed the distance he fired another burst into the man, catching him in the face and blowing most of his head away.
Jumping into the foxhole he kicked away the limp body as he angrily watched more clones fall, cursing as he sholdered the carbine and letting lose a stream of fire as out of the corner of his eye he saw a large flying wing of a craft streak overhead and release large canisters.
As they fell what was left of the Terran defensive line took cover or cut and ran, those that could as the defensive line had been breached and gory hand to hand fighting took place as the outnumbered UNSC Soldiers halted dozens of attacks to be overwhelmed by pure numbers of Clone Troopers.
"By the force!" was all that he had to say before the first canister exploded into a massive firestorm which surged outwards towards him, enveloping whole platoons of Troopers who tried in vain to run.
As the wall of fire filled his vision he exhaled and dove into the foxhole, making the grizzly decision to hide under the body of the Terran he had just killed.
The still warm body became hot as all that he could feel was fire enveloping him.
UNSC Command vehicle
"I say again Broken Arrow! They have overwhelmed us! Broken Arrow!" Alexi heard the commander of the defensive line screaming into the mike as yet another Longsword streaked by releasing more Napalm into the Clone army that had broken his line with sheer numbers.
He watched with a mix of awe and horror as the expanding firestorm enveloped Clones and his own soldiers that were too wounded to escape to the awaiting transports that would take the remaining UNSC defenders to the fallback position, out of the original 4,000 men that manned the defensive line only just a thousand had survived.
Watching on the video feed he was reminded that unlike the last war he was killing humans, his own species, so the emotional disconnect that allowed him to heartlessly kill Covenant hordes in droves with his command was not there.
As the napalm expanded the camera zoomed in to show Clone Troopers on fire, their white plastoid armor doing little to prevent the extreme heat from the napalm, all of them burning alive.
"God forgive me." he muttered as his staff looked away from the sight, the screen shifting back to a tactical display a second later.
The bombing run, which was allowed because of the suppression of the enemy anti air units thanks to his successful armored assault, had let his remnants of his defensive line to pull back to their fallback position.
Though the defensive line was lost his armored units and mechanized infantry as well as his Airborne units were still active and for advancing. The enemy infantry assault was crushed by the defensive line and the resulting air strike one it was overrun, however there were still enough enemy units out there to crush him, and though he was winning his forces had all taken damage and were at 63 percent efficiency, they could beat them but they would more likely be obliterated in the process, he needed a way to attack them from behind and draw them off.
Turning to his AI assistant named Vernard he spoke, "Have all forces halt their advance and use our armor to form a mobile defensive line coupled with out air support, move the artillery we have left to cover them. Vernard estimate the chances of our forces defeating the Republic with acceptable losses."
The ghostly AI's monotone avatar blinked as it replied.
"Estimate a 21 percent chance of victory with losses mounting to 50 percent and with total destruction of enemy forces. We have a 72 percent chance of achieving victory but a 79 percent chance of our forces incurring losses of up to 80 percent."
Cursing he knew he had only one option and one more ace up his sleeve.
"Get me a line to Admiral White."
Command AT-TE
"The enemy forces have stopped advancing and they appear to be using their tanks and mechanized units coupled with their air support to form a mobile defense." Galle reported as the AT-TE, now with a new driver and a hastily replaced viewport shook as it fired it main cannon at the enemy far off in the distance.
Bly shook his head as the reports of the failure of his units to defeat the Terrans poured in.
First and foremost their armored forces, namely their tanks had taken his armor out of the equation and then proceeded to outmaneuver his forces allowing their mobile airborne and mounted infantry to flank his Clone Troopers, then the assault on the main defensive line had been a blood bath that turned from a pyrrhic victory to a slaughter by a heartless enemy firebomb air strike. His air support was almost all either downed or were pulled back to cover him and his core force.
He went from being the attacker to the attacked.
If there was one good piece of news it seemed that the UN Army had incurred enough losses themselves, no doubt mainly to the sheer numbers he had fielded against them, that they were clearly hesitant to finish him off without they themselves suffering unacceptable losses, though they were still doing hit and run attacks to keep the momentum on their side and not allowing his forces to dig in and keep from advancing , turning the battle to a bloody stalemate.
"Sir," another Lieutenant spoke, "General Shaak Ti is unable to make it planet side, she is helping the fleet with wounded on the Medical and support ships, they were struck by UNSC heavy strike bombers."
Several of the Clones, Galle included cursed at the news, however it was official now that he was no longer simply the interm commander.
"Get me a line to the Fleet." he ordered.
UNSC Warhound
"Transition into a orbit with the T7 gas giant successful, tightening the orbits of the fleet to allow the battlegroups to intercept at a 60 degree axis. The Republic fleet is also entering orbit, they are chasing after our particular battlegroup." MacArthur informed as the mighty and bloodied battleship increased its pitch and executed a burn to bring the interception point of the enemy fleet closer, as the Republic fleet was surprisingly fast.
"Take the safeties off of the Shivas and get ready to launch three of them, I want thirty missiles to hit them." Gregory ordered as the ship shuddered, the bluish gas giant passing under the fleet at a low orbit and filling most of the viewscreen as two of his remaining Cruisers passed below him, followed shortly by three of the Midlothian Heavy Destroyers, their thrusters burning a bright white as they accelerated to match the maneuver.
Two minutes passed by as he watched the enemy fleet of thirty ships, led by one of the Republic force's remaining Imperator Star destroyers, disappeared off of the screens due to the magnetic interference and the curve of the Jupiter sized gas giant.
That was the signal that he was ready to initiate.
The two separate UNSC Fleets, already on course to intercept one another further corrected their trajectories with one last burn to match the Republic fleet, the message sent moments before they too lost contact with the other task force.
If it worked the two fleets would intercept each other head on with the Republic fleet between them , the enemy helpless with UNSC forces "above" and "below" them, trapped.
And as the Republic fleet also could not see where his fleet was and so they would be totally unprepared.
"Time to intercept three minutes, " Captain Haithum informed him as the weapons officer reported that the weapons were optimal.
"Please fall for it" he thought as the timer counted down and the Republic fleet began to faintly appear on the sensors, the curve of the planet coupled with the magnetic interference cutting the sensor range down to a scant three million miles.
"Time to weapons range thirty seconds, increasing to full military thrust." the weapons officer and the helmsman called out as the 2.4 mile long warship shuddered as its gigantic engines redlined.
The Republic fleet was in range of the optical telescopes, which projected the image on the video feed, first showing the Republic fleet as the twinkling constellation of lights and then zooming in to show the top of the lead stardestroyers and cruisers, which kept on their same course, their sensors also harmed by the radiation.
"Increase ECM to match that of the planet's natural radiation and magnetism, hopefully they will not see us until we are right on top of them. Switch to passive sensors and thermal sensors" Gregory ordered.
However in so doing meant that he could not use his primary weapon systems, his MAC guns as the electro magnets would cause the fleet to stick out like a sore thumb when they were charged, and the radiation of his and the Carrier's energy projectors were also out of the question, so he had to use his missiles.
"Range half a million miles, our Shiva's have an extended range lock." MacArthur announced as the gathering lights of the Republic fleet grew larger, they had to appear on their sensors any moment now.
"Launch them now!" he ordered with haste.
As soon as the words left his lips three dull popping thuds could be heard in the sections of the ship closest to the missile bay as three 100 Megaton Thermonuclear missiles shot away from the ship via their electromagnetically assisted launch tubes and joined the fellow missile contrails of the rest of the missiles the fleet had launched, forming almost an arrow of Thirty missiles speeding away from the fleet.
"Come on," he muttered looking longingly at the radar display.
Then to his relief thirty missile contacts appeared on the screen as they sped towards the Republic fleet from below.
It had worked.
"They have noticed us and are orienting to attack us, enemy counter battery fire is commencing on our Shiva's!" the radar operator yelled as the first heavy turbo laser blasts began to sail past.
"Go evasive! Turn the fleet to go behind the Republic ships and regroup. Status of the missiles?" he ordered and asked as the ship shook as a double blast of twin 300 megaton turbo laser blasts slammed into the ship, which took the punishment.
The video feed showed the missiles streaking towards their targets on seemingly random trajectories as the Shiva's were designed to "wobble" to avoid counter fire when nearing their targets unlike the conventional missiles. The sporadic Republic anti missile fire managed to down several but the fleet seemed to be ignoring the few missiles, thinking that they were only the conventional missiles used earlier, and only sixty of them would do little damage.
Just as the range dropped to a scant 50,000 miles and one of his Frigates spun out of formation belching fire from a quadruple blast from the heavy turrets on a Venator the streaks of light connected to their targets as the UNSC fleet, now in visual range, threw their ships onto a wild trajectory away from the hell fire that was about to happen.
It seemed serine for a full second as one, then two and then thirty and finally 43 suns replaced the tiny dots that were the outlines of the Republic warships.
Gamma radiation and EMP from the blasts wrecked the shields of the mighty Republic ships as 100 megatons of TNT tore open the shields and armored hulls of mile long warships with the heat of 1,000 Stars the size of Sol which instantly burned through thick duranium steel and turned armor into its basic elements.
The Imperator Star destroyer Fossac shattered and vaporized from no less than three direct hits as its escorts were blown into hundreds of pieces.
The UNSC fleet shook as the dispersing plasma hit the ships, causing some to loose their footing and knocked out gravity plating on some ships for several seconds as Admiral White watched the display in silence.
When the light faded the largest piece of the Republic battlegroup left was the aft half section of a Venator that was almost burnt beyond recondition, the funeral pyre continuing its trajectory to begin its silent endless orbit along with the rest of the debris of the Enemy fleet.
Cheers from the bridge crews reverberated throughout the ships and the fleet as MacArthur turned to him.
"Congratulations sir, but I am afraid the situation on Cienna is looking doubtful and we have an urgent request from General Hudung."
RNS Resolute
"The...They are all gone sir, Commodore Sceriny's battlegroup had been wiped out." the Bridge officer informed him in horror as the fleets sensors registered dozens of large scale nuclear detonations in the lower orbit of the Gas giant sir, they fell into a pincer trap.
The sketchy communications from the Commodore's task force had all ended after he had engaged the Terrans whom had pulled a surprise flanking maneuver by using the planets gravity and the resultant magnetic and radiation interference to sneak up on him from "above" and "below" his respected position and launched missiles from close range after being almost undetected by the Commodore's sensors until it was too late.
"Thirty ships gone for the price of one confirmed kill," Admiral Yularen murmured as reports kept flooding in.
The battle was looking like an exercise in futility as the battle over the now trashed battle station was beginning to turn to the Terran's favor, and the main objective of capturing navigation data was rendered moot as the UN had some protocol that immediately wiped all navigation data and other sensitive data from its compute banks, as was found out when the specialists tried and failed miserably to crack the Terran's computer database, in fact they ended up having their computers wiped from a malicious AI.
The situation planetside could be described as a disaster, Commander Bly's forces were outmaneuvered and he had lost nearly half of his forces, not including those that were vaporized by a Nuclear strike.
His fleet was down to 78 Ships and most had incurred damage, as evident by the burnt remains of his flagship's flight ops bridge outside the port windows of the command bridge.
Worst still Aayla Secura's fighter had apparently been knocked out of action by the UNSC's cowardly strike on his Medical and Support ships , he had a recovery team that was towing her fighter back to the Resolute , the Twi'lek having been knocked unconscious for several hours as the battles raged.
Shaak Ti had failed to even make it groundside as she was forced to help those on the remaining Medical ships deal with the carnage they were dealing with over there, and she was reporting back to him on the Flagship in several minutes.
The battle was lost, and now the Republic was at War with an enemy that had proven itself able to defeat them while outnumbered.
He had a growing knot in his stomach about the implications of such a thing.
However he still needed to deal with that fleet in order to get his forces out of the system.
Turning to the Holographic forms of his commanders he said what he thought he would never say, "Commanders it looks like we have underestimated our opponents, We will pull our forces back and withdraw."
He saw on their faces the grimaces.
"Yes sir" all but one answered .
The man who failed to answer was Captian Piett of the Executrix.
"But sir we can still defeat the Terran's, we just need to.." he objected.
"That is an order." Yularen sternly cut him off.
Piett had always been too aggressive for his liking, but he was a good captain and thus he would have to be put up with.
"We still need to draw that fleet off and engage them to allow our forces time to withdraw." he commanded as he rubbed his mustache.
Turning to the bridge crew he stood straight as he spoke.
"Have the fleet form into attack formation and meet the UN Fleet, we cant let them have a shot at the planet.
The UNSC fleet had regrouped and thanks to their slingshot orbit were accelerating towards the fleet at almost alarming speeds.
They were still some 30 million miles apart, the gas giant was a bright blue dot in the distance, and it would take nearly an hour to close that distance, but that was the point.
UNSC Warhound Launch Bay
John checked over his suit one more time as the Booster Frame, fully loaded and readied for launch, was lowered into position.
His MJOLNIR Mk. VII was in perfect order, and this would be the first time he got to use the latest generation of the most advanced series of power armor created in real combat.
The Mk. VII was slightly more bulky than its predecessors, but its capabilities left them in the dust.
In appearance everything looked similar to the older Mk. IV, save the helmet which was the same as the MK V and VII.
His suit had a new hybrid Plasma and fusion reactor that provided 4 times more power than the previous models and was actually half the size as the older reactors, which helped powered the other major enhancements to his suit.
On his back was a built in booster/ jet pack that took up much of the space left over from the older reactors, the folded up assembly small enough and built into the suit so that although he was a little bit more bulky, he could still hold two weapons on his back magnetic strips. The uses for that addition were tremendous, as aside from flight (which thanks to the near unlimited power from the reactor was almost unlimited) he could perform a maneuver that Kelly had created called Power Sliding, where he would balance himself like a baseball player sliding into a plate with his legs and his left or right arm and using the booster pack to push him forward, slide around enemy fire at speeds of 30 mph while using his free arm to fire his weapon, a technique that was invaluable for strafing and avoiding large volumes of fire.
Next were his shields, as expected they were far more powerful than before but what was really the improvement was that he could now shape his shields into anything he so chose, like a wall or an airfoil that could act as a parachute, allowing him to effectively enter an atmosphere (safely) without a SOEIV and land on a planet unharmed.
The armor of the was improved and thickened, the already impressive Titanium A, Vanadium and Ferro composite shell all but impervious to all but heavy weapons fire, a full clip from an MA6, around 20 direct hits from a Gauss Rifle, Half a battery pack from a plasma Rifle or Repeater, and several dozen heavy blaster bolts.
Next was the Reactive Liquid Metal Cyrstal layer, which was now even more refined allowing a further increase in his reaction times and strength by a factor of one over the already remarkable previous systems and the Spartan's Superhuman augmentations.
It was all topped off by a series of small micro conductors built into the hands and the shoulders which allowed him to power weapons with his suit, effectively giving the Spartan Laser MK II attached to his back unlimited ammo.
"You seem almost excited about the upgrades." Cortana spoke as the Booster Frame was lowered into position and the bay door opened as he prepared to launch.
"You got me, actually I have to admit I am impressed with the new Rifle John replied.
Before he had mounted Booster Frame one of the Weapons officers had given him a new weapon that ONI and the UN Armaments commission were testing.
He liked what he saw.
To the casual observer the weapon now attached to his back looked like an MA6 and MA5 but with one barrel like the BRM-99 Gauss Rifle and the magazine like battery pack in front of the trigger.
It was called the LAR, or Linear Assault Rifle.
It was a Gauss rifle that fired 8 mm rounds just like the BRM-99 but what made it special was that it had a built in energy capture system like those on the Pillar of Autumn and all UNSC warships that was small enough to be portable.
What it did was where as a standard Gauss Rifle could fire one round per charge, the Energy Capture system built into the overhear barrel cowling recycled the electricity and immediately shunted it back into the rails until the charge ran out, allowing him to fire three round bursts of hypersonic 8mm Tungston every time he pulled the trigger, a major leap in technology.
The Scientist at ONI and Misiah Armories had claimed that this was the future or firearms, and he had every right to believe them.
The weapon also had a built in 30 mm grenade launcher under the barrel that was only a complement to the 90 rounds of 8 millimeters of tungsten it carried in its bullpup magazine.
He calmed himself as he did before every mission, waiting for the confirmation to launch.
Cortana then informed him of what he was waiting for.
"Launching in 3, 2, "
The Booster Frame's two oversized engines ignited as he gripped the controls.
"..One.. Launch!"
