Sigmus IV

by Connor Xfor

It has been months since Humanity and the Covenant ceased hostilities. While searching for replacement colony worlds, the UNSC finds that a separatist group of hostile Covenant has occupied their target planet. Naval Intelligence dispatches a team of Spartans to investigate. They soon discover that Sigmus IV offers more valuable assets that its real estate.

6. Chapter 6: Engagement

Hall

"Athena, status report?" barked Hall, looking out of the view-screen at the second moon of Sigmus IV.

Athena's avatar appeared by his side, straightening her robe "Captain, we've re-entered normal space with a deviation of less than one kilometre. Apparently the Antoinette's advanced drives guided us through slip space."

Hall whistled "Hostiles?"

"Negative, sir, all enemy ships are ground side, and until we round the moon, they shouldn't know that we're here." She chuckled softly "unless of course they had any sort of radiation detectors, you should see the space around us through the alpha-filter, it's lit up like a Christmas tree."

Hall grunted, looking around at the busy bridge "Alright people, what's our combat effectiveness?"

"Sir, all weapons systems green, Vice Admiral Yao has fire control." Harrison reported

"Engines at 100% efficiency sir, slip-space drives re-optimising." Chorused Winters, sipping his coffee.

"Message from the Admiral, sir, your eyes only" called Mallard.

Hall strode over to his console, reading the brief yet powerful message.

Clear MedBay and the halls from there to the Hangar, myself and my recon team are coming aboard ASAP. Yao

Hall deleted the message, then rubbed his temples.

"Sir! The Vice Admiral has transferred control of the Battle-Group to Admiral Marden aboard the Babylon, but we're still under her command, sir." Said Mallard, looking confused.

"Sir, unidentified contact, closing fast on our hangar, automatic defences finding targeting solution" rattled Harrison, hands flying across the console.

"Belay that, Lieutenant, it's ONI business." Spoke Hall, standing up, hands behind his back. "Athena, evacuate the medical bay, hangar and clear a route from one to the other. No one gets in to those sectors, understood?"

She nodded after a pause, tapping a stylus onto her holographic tablet. "Affirmative sir, will you be greeting our guests?"

"I will indeed." He turned to Mallard "Lieutenant, keep me up to date about the fleet's movements, synchronise to my datapad. You have the bridge, Lieutenant Winters. I'm going to find some answers to all of this." He checked for the synchronisation icon on his pad before leaving the bridge and heading towards the Hangar. Things were suddenly getting a lot more interesting.

Jacob

"That was a close one" Muttered Jacob-209, relief spreading across his face as the 50mm close-point defence guns on the hull of the Hydra retreated into their nacelles. He gently guided the battered Pelican dropship towards the single hangar bay aboard the London-class destroyer. The rest of the Battle-Group hung around them, frigates, corvettes, three other destroyers and the mammoth UNSC Babylon, a Marathon-class heavy cruiser.

The bulky Pelican lumbered through the transparent shield across the hangar's entrance, before gently coming to rest. Jake powered down the engines, spotting the only person in the space, a grey haired, tall man wearing the stripes of a Captain. He pushed himself up from his seat and walked into the crew bay, and saw that Josef-G167 had already disengaged his harness and was helping Rachel-G023 to her feet. They had all been injured in the destruction of key Covenant anti-air defences around their fleet mere hours ago. Sabina stood, walking with a slight limp towards the back of the bay, one arm held stiff at her side.

Jake keyed the ramp hydraulics and watched as the door slowly opened, revealing the Captain standing about 10 metres away from the back of the Pelican, datapad held under his arm. As the man recognised the towering figures as Spartan warriors, a brief look of awe flashed across his face.

Jacob stepped forward and saluted, hearing another ligament twang in his shoulder. "Chief Petty Officer Jacob-209, I was told to report to the med, bay, sir."

The Captain returned the salute, craning his neck to get a good view of the others. "Captain Hall, commander of the UNSC Hydra, at your service, Spartans." He took in Rachel's arm draped over Josef's shoulder, and the scorched and dented MJOLNIR armour that all of them wore. "Med bay's right this way, Athena will direct you, Vice Admiral Yao is right behind you."

As he spoke, the holographic face of a Greek Goddess materialised next to the door their left, waving once. Sabina placed Rachel's other arm over her own shoulder, and together, the three Spartans walked over to the door and disappeared from sight.

Jacob didn't move. "Sir, I'm waiting for Admiral Yao also." He looked down into the man's face. The Captain looked a little shocked, but he kept his composure.

"Affirmative." He said, looking up and down Jacob's towering form.

Jacob watched as another, matte-black Pelican entered the Hangar, the downdraught whipping at him as the craft settled smoothly down onto the other pad. The side exit opened, and Vice Admiral Yao stepped down, her black hair whipping in the wind. As the engines on the drop ship settled into silence, Yao walked over to the pair, prompting both of them to salute her. Jake concealed a gasp of pain as he did so, holding himself tall.

Yao saluted, nodding in greeting to the Spartan before turning to the Captain. "Captain Hall, my apologies for this, but as I'm sure you're now aware, my reconnaissance team is a little too secret to be seen walking around the Nightingale. Admiral Marden is barking into my ear about withholding such a valuable asset such as the Hydra from battle, but we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

Hall nodded "We are at your disposal ma'am, as well as your team's." He cleared his throat quietly before continuing "With your permission, ma'am, I'd like to return to the bridge, duty calls."

"Absolutely Captain, it'll be like we were never here. Because we were never here." She said, an edge of secrecy accompanying her words. "We have all we need in our shuttle and in the Med-Bay."

The Captain saluted, and, with a sideways glance at Jacob, he walked through the Hangar doors and out of sight. Jacob immediately turned to Yao, questions forming in his mouth. However, she had already turned back to the black dropship and was talking to someone over her earpiece. The ramp doors opened, and three crate-loaded dollies, pushed my technicians, skidded down the ramp, heading straight for the medical bay. None of the Techs even gave the Spartan as much as a glance as they passed, wheeling the trollies away.

As the muffled thunder of the wheels on the floor was cut off by the closing doors, two figures walked slowly down the walkway towards them. One was a serious-faced ONI Warrant-Officer, clutching an MA5C. The other, shorter person was a middle-aged woman with short grey hair, wearing a white laboratory coat over a blue shirt and a grey skirt. She held her hands in front of her, and it was only after a second look that Jake realised that her hands were bound in front of her.

Dr Catherine Halsey's face lit up momentarily as she spotted the Spartan, before settling into a blank expression. Jake jerked his arm, a signal of his intense discomfort at seeing the creator and director of the Spartan-II project marched like a petty criminal. Yao turned to the Warrant Officer.

"McGrath, wait in the Pelican" She commanded, and the man turned and marched back to the black transport without a word.

Halsey turned to the Admiral, gesturing to the cuffs on her wrists. "I hardly think that these are necessary, Admiral." She spoke coolly, her expression a mixture of curiosity and disdain.

Yao shook her head "I don't think so, Dr Halsey, Admiral Parangosky was quite clear about the conditions of your transport." She grabbed hold of her arm, looking unblinkingly into Jake's visor "Let's go, Chief Petty Officer, time is of the essence."

Jake stood rooted to the spot for a second, torn internally, balancing on the edge of a knife, where on one side stood loyalty to the Corps, and on the other stood his intuition, which was screaming at him that this was wrong. He buried his concern, and followed them through grey corridors until they walked through into a large Medical Suite, complete with Omni-Scanners, sterile field generators, and a full surgery. The other three were at one end of the bay. Rachel sat up on an examination bed, Sabina and Josef were crouched down, manually removing her leg armour. Josef looked over and spotted the Admiral, immediately jumping to attention.

"Admiral on deck!" He barked, and Sabina stood to attention by Rachel, who settled with sitting up as straight as a board. Jake paid close attention to Sabina's face, watching a cascade of confusion, anger, disbelief and finally calm indifference wash over her features in a fraction of a second. He also kept an eye on Halsey; she would have instantly identified Sabina, he was sure of that, but what would she make of the others? Her pursed lips and flaring nostrils spoke volumes.

"As you were" spoke Yao, leading Halsey over to a private examination room at one end of the room. "209, with me."

Jake strode across the room, discretely signalling to Sabina with one gloved hand. He entered the small room and closed the door, standing in the doorway. Vice Admiral Yao stood by the wall, looking warily at Halsey, who was standing defensively by the desk, arms folded as much as the cuffs would allow.

After an awkward pause, the doctor spoke. "Jacob. It's been too long." Her voice wavered slightly with repressed emotion and she blinked rapidly.

Jacob grunted, she had always been able to tell the Spartans apart despite their monolithic appearance, and much to their annoyance. Jake slid his helmet off and stowed it, looking at Dr Halsey, then to Vice Admiral Yao, for some kind of explanation.

"Dr Halsey here is currently under arrest for aiding the enemy; she kidnapped Spartan-087, deceived Admiral Hood, and her long involvement in the inhumane and morally reprehensible Spartan-II Programme cannot be overlooked" She listed, keeping her eyes fixed on his. "I'm sorry. Her services are being loaned to us by Ivanoff research station."

Jacob reeled internally, struggling not to let his shock show. How could this be? However, one glance into Halsey's eyes told him that it was all true. He steadied himself before replying "If this is all correct, ma'am, why is Dr Halsey here and not answering for her alleged crimes?"

Halsey cleared her throat "Because officially Jacob, I died when Reach fell. Very convenient for ONI, having me on a leash." She raised one eyebrow "I also happen to be humanity's leading expert on the Forerunners."

Yao nodded. "We need the good doctor's expertise to help us analyse the Forerunner structures beneath the surface."

Jake took all this in "Affirmative, can we attend to my team now? We took out all of the Tyrants, ma'am."

Halsey stood and held out her wrists. "Firstly, these need to go. It is highly impractical to perform medical examinations in this way. Plus, I don't like the comparison to a common criminal." Even under arrest, she was audacious.

Yao walked over and unlocked the cuffs. "You're on thin ice, doctor. Understand that." Halsey rubbed her wrists, her eyes already lighting up.

Jacob walked out of the room and into the med bay, to find Rachel sitting on the edge of an examination table, unarmoured from the waist down, wearing only a tight bodysuit. She was pale and sweating, wincing every time Josef's armour brushed against her swollen knee; Halsey immediately walked over, activating the bed's panel. Josef and Sabina stepped back, and Athena's small avatar appeared before the doctor.

"I am Athena, ship-board AI of the UNSC Hydra, how may I assist you, Dr Halsey?" She chimed, clutching her stone tablet tightly, carrying a caduceus in the other hand.

Halsey blinked "Another 4th gen. I've been kept out of too many loops." She grabbed a tool from the surface next to her, and it glinted in the harsh medical lighting. "Athena, generate a sterile field and take detailed imaging of the left knee. And you…" She looked Josef up and down dismissively, her voice icy "Get the rest of her armour off."

Josef moved into action, popping release mechanisms in Rachel's battered MJOLNIR suit as the doctor worked. Soon, Rachel was clad in nothing but her bodysuit, and Halsey had identified the injury. As she treated the injured Spartan, Jake began releasing his armour, plate by plate, laying it neatly down onto a nearby surface, tossing the units beyond repair. The discarded units were replaced by brand new ones, taken from the three trollies of crates that Jacob had seen wheeled away from the dropship. Soon he and Sabina were devoid of MJOLNIR, and he felt oddly exposed without the comforting layers of ceramic and gel layers.

It was at this point that Rachel's patella was relocated with a sharp crack, accompanied by a moan of pain and then relief from the pale Spartan. Halsey nodded in satisfaction. "She's done. No serious damage apart from the knee and some minor burns." She turned to Josef "And now for the other III." She said, mouth twitching.

Josef detached the last of his armour and lay down on the bed, letting the omni-scanner hover above him. Halsey muttered to herself as the scan appeared on the screen "Lower bone density than I'd expected. Ackerson's cut a few corners has he? Athena, show me the sites of greatest osteological compromise, and play some music, Debussy's Claire de Lune if you please." She set to work on Josef's injuries as the gentle melody emanated from the PA system.

Jacob tilted his head to look at her actions, a spasm of pain stabbing up his spine. Sabina sat next to him and he sighed, proceeding to quietly whisper to her, outlining recent developments. Her eyes widened slightly at the information and she frowned uncomfortably.

"Jay, why would Yao say that about the Spartan-II programme? About us? We were needed to defend Earth, and we did so, we helped save the human race from extinction, and this is how they repay us?"

"Because, Petty Officer..." Said Yao from just behind them, just loud enough so that everyone could hear"... the ends do not always justify the means."

Halsey shot Yao a glare, cheeks flushed, jaw clenched, before turning slowly back to her patient. Yao walked over to Jacob and Sabina, addressing the male Spartan in low tones.

"We need to brief the team. The fleet's moving; SENTINEL detected a detachment of covenant ships preparing to intercept us, everything but the Battle-Cruiser, one of the cruisers and a few escort ships is heading this way. ETA 30 minutes."

Jake nodded, looking up as Halsey finished her laparoscopic surgery on Josef. "Understood ma'am" Sabina walked over to be treated, and Josef joined Rachel in re-assembling his armour, swapping out damaged pieces for new ones, grimacing.

"We need to re-insert you." Yao muttered "We still don't know what technology is down there, and you're in the best position to infiltrate the ruins and find whatever it is they're looking for."

"Affirmative, we'll go for HEV insertion." Jake replied, watching Dr Halsey fusing Sabina's fractured clavicle back together with considerably more care and delicacy than she had exercised on the younger soldiers. Sabina was unconscious, knocked out by the powerful general anaesthetic that would normally keep a Marine still for 16 hours. She would wake up in 20 minutes.

Yao cleared her throat and moved towards the door, finger pressed to her earpiece. Jake felt the deck beneath him vibrate and felt acceleration tug at him: the Hydra was gearing up for battle. Halsey looked up from her operation, waving over Jake with a wave of her hand.

"Jacob, the fractures have been repaired and she's stable and will be operational in 15 minutes. Somehow I feel like this room is going to be necessary sooner." She snipped the final stitch in Sabina's exposed shoulder and sealed it with bio-polymer. She lowered her voice "I might not get to say this again Jacob, but it's good to see you, alive." She laid a hand on his arm "I know you and Sabina aren't too happy about my incarceration, but no one can be allowed to get away with what I have done." She smiled sadly "I don't suppose you've heard anything about him?"

He shook his head slightly, internally in turmoil. "No, he's been gone for months, Doctor. There's always hope, especially for John, but even his luck has to run out someday." He sat up on the adjacent bed, tensing at the jolts of pain the action caused him. "My turn, doc."

She activated the bed and Athena popped up from the holo-pad next to his head. "Well, for a 40-year old man, you've kept in good shape, Spartan. I'm detecting a hairline fracture on the right scapula, and an avulsion fracture to the pelvis, I recommend local anaesthetic, doctor, as we are on a relatively tight schedule."

Halsey leaned over him and cut a small hole in his bodysuit on the side of his hip, rubbing a powerful numbing agent on the skin before making a small incision and inserting two probes into the flesh. Jake felt the metal tools move around, pushing aside enriched muscle fibres and ligaments, reaching the damaged bone. He gritted his teeth against the discomfort, breathing quickly.

"Ma'am, why weren't you on board with the Spartan-III project?" Jake asked through his deep breaths.

She paused, her glasses slipping down her nose a fraction. "I didn't know about the Spartan-IIIs until the fall of Reach. I encountered a fire team of Spartan-IIIs and Jorge during the defence of Sword Base." She stopped talking as she activated the fusing laser against his bone, and he gasped in pain, gripping the edges of the bed. "The threes were an administrator's solution to the problems of the Spartan-II project. The fact is, Jacob, that you and your armour are worth more than most cruisers, and the Spartan-IIIs are considerably more…" She tried to find the right words "… expendable. The reason that my follow up research was cancelled is that I couldn't find enough genetic candidates, not enough with the correct genotypes. The candidates for Ackerson's project are genetically inferior by my criteria, and the modifications used less durable ceramics." She paused for breath, withdrawing the bone-fuser from his hip and beginning to seal the incision. "They couldn't even use MJOLNIR until the last generation of Spartan IIIs and even then the suits aren't on the same scale as yours. And then there's the frontal lobe modifications." She finished sealing the wound, and stepped back from the table. "Turn over, please."

As he lay on his front, something that had been bothering him in the back of his mind was suddenly clarified "The anti-psychotics. They modified their neuro-chemistry…" He felt her slice open his bodysuit around his shoulder blade and apply the same powerful numbing agent.

"Yes, it gives them an edge in moments of duress, makes them more likely to survive, but as a result, their higher functions are inhibited, and they are more unstable. Hold still" She carried on her operation as she had for his hip.

Jake thought about his comrades, about how fluid and deadly they had fought during the assault on the last Tyrant gun. It made sense. They had been aided by their impaired frontal lobes, all of their energy focussed on survival.

She finished her work quickly, sealing the incision and injecting him with powerful painkillers "You're good to go."

Yao walked over from the corner, looking concerned, brow furrowed

"Chief, Doctor. The Captain wants us on the bridge. The covenant fleet is just about to crest the moon, and Admiral Marden is forming up to attack."

Jacob stood up quickly, rolling his shoulder back to test the movement. "Roger that, Spartans, fall out to the Pelican, grab the weapons, get extra from the armoury if necessary, and get ready for a HEV insertion to the surface." Sabina stood, now awake and clad in her matte-grey MJOLNIR. Rachel stood next to her, in her replacement Scout MJOLNIR, which was a dull grey with blue visor, and Josef stood last, clad in a mixture of his original blue EVA armour and the replacement grey components. They saluted and exited the room, pounding down the corridors towards the hangar.

Jake grabbed a standard slate-coloured Navy uniform from a locker and slid it on over his bodysuit, pulling on the boots quickly. Halsey closed down the medical instrumentation and walked over to the Vice Admiral, who escorted her out of the room. He followed them down narrow corridors, action stations klaxons blaring throughout the passages. They followed the signage to the bridge, and entered the spacious room, walking into a battleground.

Hall

As the ONI officer, the civilian doctor and the Spartan walked onto the bridge, Hall was reminded of a bad joke he'd once heard in a Sydney bar. He nodded greetings from his console, before turning his attention to the stream of information coming his way.

"Sir, MAC actuators are at full charge sir, all Archers online and 50mm auto-canons online."

"Captain, Primary fusion drive is running at 95% efficiency, engines giving 60% thrust forward."

"Admiral Marden sending firing solutions for the Battle-Group now sir."

He looked over the schematics and SENTINEL imagery of the enemy fleet. Two light cruisers, four destroyers and several smaller-tonnage hostiles. They approached the second moon slowly, their plasma lines cool and inactive for the moment. The continuously translated stream of Sanghelli communications streamed along the viewscreen, showing them their enemy's every move. When the lined-up Battle-Group sighted their adversaries, the Hydra would target one of the destroyers, the Jubilant Revelation. The entire fleet was co-ordinated, and more than twenty MAC guns would fire a volley of hypersonic slugs through space at the alien crafts.

The two opposing forces powered towards each other, the Babylon released her compliment of Broadsword interceptors, and the Frigates of the Battle group released their Broadswords and Longswords. The formations of fighters soared ahead of the fleet, on an intercept course with the swarm of Covenant Seraphs and Banshee fighters.

Athena chimed up "Time until line-of-sight is 2 minutes, sir."

"Lieutenant Harrison, fire Archer pods A1 through A6"

"Aye, sir, pods A1 through A6 firing now sir." replied Harrison

On the sides of the destroyer, ARCHER missile turrets rotated in their cradles and activated, sending seventy-two missiles streaking ahead of the vessel, using the moon's gravitational pull to give them a burst of additional speed. Hall watched as other ships did the same, and saw hundreds of vapour trails accelerate towards the moon's horizon.

Athena spoke calmly amid the tension on the bridge. "Line-of-sight establishment in 1 minute sir. SENTINEL systems have identified approximately 50 high-energy plasma projectiles on an intercept curse, sir."

"Winters, prepare for evasive manoeuvres."

"Aye sir, engines running at 100% capacity."

Hall looked out of the main view screen, and saw the Covenant fleet crest the horizon. The two menacing, bulbous cruisers lead the pack, four destroyers fanned out on either side, their point-defence lasers powering up, and their plasma weapons cycling. He also spotted the barrage of plasma torpedoes heading straight for them, now 10,000 km distant, glowing an angry blue.

"Fire MAC, staggered shot!" He commanded, and Harrison keyed the fire mechanism.

The entire ship thundered and shuddered as the two main MAC canons discharged gigajoules of energy into two 600 tonne ferrous projectiles, accelerating them to 5% the speed of light within 0.5 seconds, sending them hurtling towards the Jubilant Revelation. A few seconds later, the thunderous roaring of the MAC canons sounded again as a second barrage of MAC slugs was fired. The last volley of fire rocked the ship just after the second, and the rest of the battle-group followed suit. Frigates rocked and bucked as they belched projectiles; the other destroyers and the mammoth Babylon thundered away, loosing a dozen rounds at the enemy formation.

There was no sound for 10 seconds, and then the Archer Missiles, with their gravity-assisted speed boost, met their targets. Some were neutralised by pin-point accurate laser weapons, but the majority of the High Explosive warheads found their mark. All around the curved alien ships, blossoms of fire developed as the charges detonated; the enemy shields shimmered, fire rolling off of their silvery light. The corvettes' and frigates' shields were completely drained under the onslaught, flickering out of existence, the metal of their hulls caving in and collapsing, leaking atmosphere.

Then, the interceptor fighters met in between the two fleets, bright blue plasma fire, the yellow flashes of the UNSC fighters' canons and the vapour trails of UNSC missiles filled the space between the advancing lines of ships.

Hall turned his attention to the incoming plasma fire. "Change heading, 045 degrees starboard, 25 degrees lateral, full burn!" He barked, and the destroyer darted out of the way of the advancing plasma, the torpedoes coming close enough to the hull to melt the port comm arrays.

The plasma bolts curved around in space, looping back around towards the Hydra, chasing after her, gaining ground.

"Deploy countermeasures" Hall ordered, and the destroyer was suddenly ablaze with burning flares ejected from every surface. The plasma torpedoes exploded inside the chaff, scorching the engines coverings.

"Engines hit, sir, evacuating breached lines, re-routing coolant." Said Winters, furiously tapping at his console.

"The Redeemer's been hit sir; hull integrity lost" informed Athena, as the heavy frigate above them was lost to coiling blue plasma. Hall spotted several lifeboats escaping the doomed ship.

"Athena, track those Bumblebees and transmit co-ordinates to the Nightingale." Hall said

"Aye sir, MAC impact in 5 seconds" She replied, her calm tones at juxtaposition with the chaos of battle.

"Sir, the enemy frigate, Righteous Monarch, is hit - her reactor's going critical" voiced 2nd Lieutenant Mallard

On the viewscreen, a small speck flashed bright white, and expanded, consuming a trio of corvettes in its overloading reactors blast, leaving only twisted metal in its wake.

As the frigate exploded, the barrage of MAC rounds struck the fleet. Their target, the Jubilant Revelation, rocked under the assault, its shields flaring as the first two MAC rounds flattened themselves on the energy wall, the huge kinetic energy knocking the destroyer out of line, causing it to spin wildly and crush a nearby corvette, which detonated against the shields, making them flicker. The second round of MAC slugs hit their diminished shield, which died and faded. The doomed destroyer had enough time to fire off a volley of plasma before the final volley gutted her, one slug ripping clean through her midsection, eliminating the control centre, the other burying itself into her rear section, crushing the hull and tearing through the engines. The Jubilant Revelation, venting all of its atmosphere, span out of control, spiralling downwards to the moon below, shedding layers of composite hull and deck sections.

All across the enemy fleet, ships were engulfed in flames, punctured by the immense magnetically accelerated projectiles. As the single ships of the covenant fleet approached them, the Hydra's point defence 50mm canons activated, enveloping the small fighters in overlapping fields of fire before they could do any damage.

"Sir," vocalised the Smart AI "The Divergence is hit, hull integrity is at 10%, Captain Steer has ordered to abandon ship, co-ordinating lifeboat retrieval now, sir." As she voiced her actions, the Infamous-class destroyer broke apart, cleaved in two by concentrated fire from the two cruisers, its halves spinning away into space, the fore section swatting the UNSC corvette Julius from orbit, batting it away.

"Bring us around, get me a targeting solution for those cruisers" Hall ordered. All of the enemy destroyers were damaged, but those cruisers were blasting their smaller vessels from space.

"Aye sir, solution posited" Series of calculations scrolled across the viewscreen rapidly.

"Fire, Athena." Ordered Hall, before turning to Harrison "Lieutenant, nuclear safe code override is authorised, designation OH-278-D-8."

"Aye sir, FENRIS, HAVOKs and SHIVAs armed and ready sir." The man replied, perspiring visibly.

"Staggered firing, two rounds of MAC, time it so that a SHIVA detonates just as their shields fail" he said.

"Aye sir, SHIVA away." Athena toned, and a single jet of vapour soared away from the destroyer.

"Fire Archer pods B1 through B10 at corvette and frigate escort"

"Archers away."

The lone vapour trail was joined by dozens more as the archer missiles streaked away. Hall saw other volleys from the Babylon and other ships in the battle-group soar towards their targets, and three more frigates disappeared behind the expanding balls of fire.

"MAC away, sir." Came Harrison's voice, and the thunderous racket rocked through the decks.

"Incoming plasma fire, sir, from the cruiser Majestic Deity! Engaging evasive manoeuvres." Cried Winters, sending the ship into a gently roll, presenting a small target area.

"Brace, brace, brace!" shouted Hall, as the last volley of plasma from the downed destroyer combined with fresh fire from the cruiser and splashed across the starboard hull, melting through the armour plating and causing explosive decompression in multiple sectors. The force threw the ship sharply in the opposite direction.

"Decompression in sectors 7-D, C and F, sealing bulkheads" said Athena. "MAC impact in 5."

The massive barrage from the fleet battered the two cruisers, draining their shields rapidly, as the wall of Archer missiles ploughed into the corvette and frigate escorts, decimating their numbers.

Fresh plasma fire from the remaining destroyers burned away the hull and superstructure of the UNSC frigate Injustice; in an act of desperation, she suddenly accelerated, engines glowing white in the darkness as she hurtled towards the covenant lines, trailing flame and burning vented atmosphere in her wake. She crashed into a destroyer, crumpling her forward bows like paper. One single lifeboat ejected from her port side, before her fusion drive detonated, consuming half of the bulbous alien craft in an enormous explosion.

The battlefield had just darkened from the blast, when the SHIVA from the Hydra, along with two FENRIS warheads from the Babylon and three other SHIVAS from other ships, detonated as one, engulfing the remains of the covenant task-force in brilliant white orbs, which blinded the bridge crew temporarily, despite the maximum tint of the main view-screen, before fading to reveal nothing but broken hulls and shattered husks drifting in the abyss.

Hall looked on the tactical screen at the debris around them; chunks of titanium armour plating, scorched and blackened, joined by half-melted parts of covenant hull, the strange purple metal pitted and cratered. The entire covenant fleet, save for the ships still on the surface, had been annihilated, but they were not without their losses: one destroyer lost, another badly damaged, and the Hydra was red-lining their reactors; five corvettes and four frigates had fallen and the remainder were in need of immediate repair. Miraculously, the Babylon had escaped with only minimal damage sustained to her port bows.

The search for survivors began. They painstakingly tracked down and retrieved every stranded lifeboat. In the eyes of the men they rescued, Hall saw what he had expected: fear, despair, anguish, pain, everything which would eventually be the downfall of them. Despite this, Hall saw in the eyes of every single man and woman on his ship something much, much more powerful. The one idea, that no amount of glassing could ever drive out from humanity...

That idea was hope.