This chapter is a lot shorter than the others, I plan on making shorter chapters but to pump them out faster, though I have had a ton of work and finals so sorry for the delays
Forces Under UNSC Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
Office of Naval Intelligence- Op. 40 Teams
UNSC Army- Green Berets
UNSCMarines- Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
UNSC Navy- Orion Program Spartan Supersoldiers
FLASH MESSAGE
Priority
/Start Message...
/ONI Action Report
- Sender
-Prowler Class Vessel Sturmghewer
:Station- Alpha Rendara System
Message Reads,
Drastic action against POWs taken during the defense of Cienna. Read following report about action taken. Possible Violation of Geneva Convention of 2312 against POWs.
*Attachment* Video file
March 17th , 2561
Reach
Epsilon Eridani System
New Alexandria, Espoz
ONI Headquarters, Olympic Tower
Towering over the impressive skyline of New Alexandria the iconic black form of the 2 kilometer tall Olympic Tower seemed to watch over the city of 55 million and the endless activity on the bustling streets below.
The Tower, covered in a near ridiculous amount of triple failsafe security, was the "official" home of the Office Of Naval Intelligence Headquarters and research divisions for outsourced projects under the UNSC Navy. At times the tower would serve as a secondary headquarters for UNSC Highcom, but the Real High Command headquarters were in the expansive and immaculate High Com Center in the middle of a gigantic proverbial fortress of reinforced concrete, Bunkers and weapons that was Fort Leventhal outside of Manassas several hundred miles away.
However the tower, with the impressive backdrop of New Alexandria's expansive skyline , mountians and three orbital elevators 10 miles off of the coast, the tower was a symbol of the mystery that was ONI and the power of Reach as the crown jewel of the UN and UNSC colonies.
The powerhouse which Reach was, mankind's fortress among the stars as many called it, would put most other planets to shame (aside from Earth and the Sol System), with its massive fortifications of 95 semi mobile Super Mac Orbital Defense Platforms, thousands of smaller defensive satillites and the 650 strong Epsilon Eridani Fleet on top of the near 50 million plus strong military manpower groundside in addition to the other defenses of the other Colonies in the system. Its defensise aside the planet was fast becomming recognized for its importance by the galactic community for its power and wealth, though its exact location was still mostly a mystery.
The 7 billion people that inhabbited the planet made Reach into the largest of the Colonies, as well as the economic center of trade for most of the UN due to its superior jump point and its almost perfect slipspace connection with Sol's inferior Jump point.
Along with the other planets in the rather large Epsilon Eridani system , Circumstance, Tribute, Tantalus and Beta Garbrial, the system was the center of UN and UNSC activity outside of Earth and Sol, and as such the system was on overdrive as of now.
With war officially on with the Republic, Olympic Tower seemed to radiate with constant communication and military activity as the UNSC began the very first motions of gearing up for war.
Such was the highly secure room where the heads of the sections of ONI, Section I, Section II, the highly secretive Section III, Prowler Corps and Signal Corps were all meeting, nicknamed the "Chamber".
"Can we confirm that Alpha Rendara is still ours?" the head of Section I asked from his seat at one of the emaculate consols that encircled the large white washed room.
"Yes we can, Admiral White managed to destroy or disable up to 93 percent of the Republic Fleet and groundforces. His fleet suffered losses with up to 70 percent either destroyed or disabled, but considering he was outnumbered three ships to one its still a massive victory." the head of the Prowler corps answered.
"So can we expect our forces to have around a three to one advantage during confrontaions with Republic fleets?" the man asked.
"Approximatly that, give or take, though the numbers do change when taking into account enemy capital ships such as star destroyers versus our Escort ships and lighter Republic ships versus our Capitol ships. "
He paused as he took a drink from a glass of water, "And it is mainly due to larger engagement ranges of our ships. However I do want to point out that the Republic has enough ships and fleets to throw at us to make that number seem un noteworthy and mitigate our advantage."
"Indeed," Section III replied, "That is why HighCom and POTUN has tasked ONI to begin Counter Op operations on key worlds where instability is present to draw off Republic forces and gain allies. We already are drawing up plans to arm Rebels and incite civil wars on planets under Republic control that have "negative" views of the Republic."
"What of the CIS?"
"The CIS has effectivly regrouped enough that its homesystems such as the capital Raxusand its system along with, Muunilist, Rendilli , and Duros to name the largest ones and their primary backers are secure. It is also note worthy that the CIS managed to Retake Boz Bity and have already opened it for UNSC forces to use. The re-arming of the militias and retraining them into the new Confederate Army is going smoothly. On note of the Insurgency Black Ops, what assets do we have at our disposal?"
It was Section One's turn to join in.
"We have Army Green Berets ready to be deployed to Nal Hutta, Fondor, Jabiim , and Abregado-Rae." he answered as the room darkened to show a truly massive display of the galaxy map, with the sectors mentioned highlighted in green.
The Green Berets were the Elite of the elite in the UNSC Army. When the UEG was formed the military power of the old United States was the most powerful of the four super powers and largely led the newly formed UNSC during the Intersystem war until its final years when the militaries of the various nations were all finally integrated . As such many aspects of the old US military survived despite the best efforts to prevent one of the Superpowers from having more power than the other nations and made their way into the UNSC. One of the most prominent of which were the Green Berets. Under the UNSC the Green Berets became an elite special forces division which specialized in operations such as instigating insurgencies and armed rebellions, counter insurgency operations,and other Black Operations, generally the same role that they had before.
The UNSC battle plan was to try and tie up the much larger Republic military with as many incited rebellions as it could support and incite as well as using the CIS to draw off and attack as many Republic fleets and forces as possible. As such the UNSC would be able to fully exploit one of the key weaknesses the Republic had.
Though the Republic hundreds of times larger then the UN, its numerically superior forces were spread out. If the UNSC could draw off more of their fleets and armies, the UNSC could effectively fight on its own terms.
"They can be deployed within 24 hours. The stealth cruisers Point of No Return, Nightingale, and Dark Watch, are on station in the Jabiim system and Taris System and can have them planet side in as little as an hour. Our contacts on Jabiim have put us in contact with the Jabiimi Rebels for several months now and we can actually begin the first shipments of weapons at 6:00 am current time ." Section II finished as She sipped at her coffee.
"What weapons are we shipping the rebels on Jabiim again? Hopefully not our best up to date weapons." the Prowler Corps head questioned.
Section I chuckled, "Dont worry we are giving them the stuff we keep in the shed. MA5s with AP rounds, BR55s we pulled out of storage on Mars, SRM-99 Sniper Rifles, old BDUs, LAWs, older M247 Machine Guns, mortars and medical supplies. We also are giving them 30 Warthogs, ten APC style Hogs and the rest armed with the M41 LAAG."
He paused before adding, " And that is just this weeks shipment, a much larger one is due in next week that is much more hefty, including 10 retired Shortswords complete with simulators and a team to train them to maintain them , 20 of the old Hornet gunships, small 5 inch towed artillery pieces, TOW missiles, six UH-144 Falcons, and eventually two older model Pelicans and a retro fitted Corvette we are pulling out of retirement all along with enough instacrete to remake Hitlers Atlantic wall twice over. "
"Not to mention what we are giving to the other Seperatists holdouts cutoff from the Confederacy. "
Chuckling Section III waived them all down, "However there is something that the Admiralty will know about soon which is what happened after the battle with Republic forces."
The section heads all nodded at once as the video feed changed to that of hundreds of dead, clearly murdered Clone Troopers all riddled with bullet holes and thrown off of a cliff.
"As you know Admiral White is known for being ruthless, but this is not the Covenant anymore." Section One said while staring at the images before him with a blank face, as if not effected by the carnage before him.
"The Admiralty will take measures for punishment most likely but they will probably let this slide. The rules of the Geneva convention were not stated to be in place yet and as we all know the Covenant destroyed all meaning of that document. We need to publicly reinstate it and reiterate the rules of war. Also the Admiralty and President Vladislov will likely ignore it as Gregory did allow them to surrender only to have the enemy commit a clear atrocity. " he finished.
"The Admiralty, particularly Cole and maybe Lord Hood himself will be pissed, but they will probably just give him a reprimand. Admiral White is too valuable an asset not only for his battle skills but for the moral he brings to military personnel and the public. He will more than likely lead the counter assault when it comes."
The room lit up again as the projector turned off as Section I spoke up.
"Alright this session is over, the President will be making his announcement soon."
Earth
The streets of the major cities around the homeworld of humanity were always busy with endless throngs of people going about their business with the calm and security that spoke of some ignorance that all civilians of most races had.
In the streets of Washington's Manhattan district waves of people walked on the sidewalks about their business below the towering skyscrapers that stretched miles in the air as the never ending traffic of cars, busses and flying transport taxis seemed to dance among the people and buildings.
Times Square, celebrated for hundreds of years for the vast amount of people from every human culture imaginable having either walked, worked, or visited, was a sea of people as gigantic holographic screens and the endless amounts of light from them bathed the area for a mile in artificial light in defiance of the afternoon sun with advertisements and news from all over UN space.
It was as if at once that all of the advertisements showcasing the latest in fashion, food and personal technology suddenly went blank for a second before showing the unmistakable flag of the UN and UEG, with the white Eagle clutching Earth with the old UN wreath of Olive branches surrounding it in its talons and under its outstretched wings the dozens of stars that symbolized the Colonies all beset by a blue backdrop
Under the flag were the words, written in English as well as French, Arabic and Mandarin, office of the President of the United Nations.
The image stayed on for several seconds as the masses all stopped and looked up at the screen. Others stole quick glances at the towering Capital Building if their view was not blocked by the city-scape before all asking each other what was going on.
The screen suddenly changed to the image of President Reagan Vladislov sitting at his desk in the upper floors of the Capitol Building with a concerned look on his unmistakable face.
"My fellow Terrans.."
The term Terrans had only been adopted recently in light of the discovery of many more humans throughout the galaxy, as such the ancient latin term for human was re-adopted to describe the humans of Earth and her colonies.
"..Approximately a day ago the forces of the Galactic Republic mercilessly attacked the outer rim colony of Cienna."
People's eyes widened as they began to all talk to one another and cars on the streets all stopped as their drivers or passengers got out to see as well.
An eerie silence had taken over Times square and the other parts of Earth from Moscow to the metropolises of Sao Paolo and Mumbai to the small towns of the American midwest and Africa.
The screens switched to show images of first little known world to then switch to the images of a fleet of UNSC ships firing their MAC guns in streaks of light at unseen targets off in the expanse of stars. The image then switched to a camera image taken from no doubt a UNSC ship of the Republic fleet, a close up shot of a massive Imperator Star Destroyer before zooming out to show the dozens upon dozens of other enemy warships before a faint hint of green energy coalesced on each ship before their main batteries spat forth a wave of fire.
The video continued as a good sized UNSC fleet killed dozens of enemy ships before the enemies' own fire struck, obliterating several Terran ships and damaging a dozen others.
The screens reverted back to the face of Vladislov.
"The UNSC forces fought gallantly. Under the command of Admiral White and outnumbered more than three to one, UNSC forces managed to defeat the Republic handedly."
People began to stir at this.
"However our victory was not without sacrifice."
Images of disabled or destroyed UNSC ships in orbit above the world flashed by before switching to burnt out UNSC ground vehicles on the dusty plains of the colony. The images then showed a line of still bodies covered with a UN Flag and their rifles shoved barrel first into the ground with their helmets on top.
People began to clamor and chatter amongst themselves louder as the voice of the President of the United Nations spoke over the video.
"But the enemy paid dearly for their actions,"
Images of dozens of utterly destroyed Republic ships in space above or beyond the Colony were shown as one video showed a Venator with its guns firing being struck by three MAC rounds, the first two causing its shields to collapse and the third striking amidships, destroying up to a tenth of the ships mass and hitting something vital as the ship then turned into a nova.
More videos of UNSC Grizzly II tanks firing their main guns at Republic walkers, helmet cam footage of Marines engaged in combat with Republic Troopers and winning, and burnt out shells of Republic war machines with dead bodies of Clones all around as a line of Terran tanks and APCs charged past and a Sparrowhawk shot overhead with its guns spitting flame at an unseen target.
"However UN civilians paid the ultimate price as a cowardly enemy commander who surrendered turned the weapons of his ship on the small and defenseless colony."
The pictures of a flaming cloud of fire appeared before switching to show the husk of what once was a pre-fab colony homestead with the number 50,000 presumed dead written at the bottom.
People were silent at this before the image of President Vladislov re appeared.
"Citizens of the UN and her Colonies, we are at war with the forces of the Republic who brutally attacked the UN and UNSC forces without any provocation and murdered fifty thousand civilians. The UEG general assembly and the UN Parliament have unanimously drafted a declaration of war with the Galactic Republic ."
Corellia
Orbiting the heavily populated world of Corellia amongst the dizzying amount of civilian ships and transports, and Corellia's massive shipyards was a massive military space station and Republic fleet support base.
Fleet Node 6 was built in the second year of the Clone Wars in response to CIS attacks on the Corellian Sector to help buff up Corellia's defenses along with a fleet of 40 Warships ranging from Frigates to ten Venator Stardestroyers which operated independently of Corellia's own independent Fleet of ships.
Inside the vast command center of the station amongst the display screens and control consoles the station's radar operator tried to stay awake as he watched some of the system's civilian traffic make their way out of Corellia's gravity well past a group of Corellian Defense Forces Corvettes to transition to hyperspace.
The young man sighed as he looked to one of the several Clones that worked in the CIC with the name Gabe.
Gabe had a mechanical left arm which he wore his white armor over to cover that he had lost during one of the battles in the Outer Rim sieges
"I wonder what is on the Holo net right now." he asked aloud as Gabe paused from his work a second before answering.
"Probably more of those useless debates on the upcoming war with the UN. I cant stand to watch anymore news and I think its odd that I am saying this but I would rather be pleased to simply enjoy some piece and quiet on my next shore leave, maybe drop by a few shops on Coronet."
"You check out the latest Terran music?" he asked.
Gabe grinned, "Of course. Some of their stuff is downright awful to my eardrums but that Flip music or "Rock" as they call it I cant get enough of."
The radar operator laughed as he glanced to check if any of the officers were nearby.
"Yeah me too. I picked up some or their older stuff in that genre, some band called Metallica from several hundred years back. I cant get some of their stuff out of my head. You should see the night clubs their dance music is almost all they play when they can get a hold of it."
The Trooper chuckled, "I dont think you will see me in one of those anytime soon."
Suddenly the threat board on the station lit up and alarms began to wail as three contacts, huge contacts came on the screen only one hundred thousand kilometers distant almost right in the middle of a civilian shipping lane over one of Corellia's moons.
"What the hell! I have contacts!" the man all but yelled as the station went to battlestations and the Correlian Fleet and the Republic fleet all did the same, several ships and starfighters moving to intercept.
"What have we got?" the senior officer shouted as he ran over to the radar station.
"Three large contacts, profiles coming in ...wait I have three Friendly IFFs coming in!"He exclaimed as the advancing Republic and Correlian Ships slowed their approach and ceased targeting the ships.
"It reads as Imperator Class Star Destroyer Executrix, Venator class Star Destroyer Ashallia and Victory Cruiser Duroban."
"The Executrix? All of those ship were part of Yularen's force!"
Civilian ships were scattering to move out of the path of the ships as more readouts came in on Gabe's screen.
"Sir those ships are heavily damaged, my god that Imperator is falling apart almost. I am reading a message from the captain."
"Put it on."
The image of a young and exhausted captain and a nearly inoperable bridge behind him came on the screen as the captain, Piett, saluted.
"What happened? " the officer simply asked as the assembled crews of the station and the Republic and Corellian ships present listened in.
"The UNSC, the damned Terrans... They beat us."
