Chapter 10

Ten Thousand Suns

October 25, 2562

Planet: New Eden, Sigma Ceti II System

Location: Altar Mountains, Battle of New Eden

For an Assault Carrier the Harbinger was exceptionally fast, she raced across the valley at an alarming speed, a sonic boom echoed and billowed away from her wings as she breached the sound barrier; only tens of meters above the tree canopy. As she approached the 2 Super MAC cannons on direct sides of the CASTLE II base she gained altitude and banked hard to port, placing herself directly in front of and above the base. Close to 50 kilometers away another Covenant Assault Carrier leading a small task force had broken through the MAC cannon volleys. In tandem the two cannons guarding the base let loose two cracks of thunder, one round slammed dead center of a destroyer on the flank of the formation, the other clawed a fissure in the side of a battle cruiser, ramming the cruiser into another. As all 3 ships detonated in a plume of plasma and ash, the formation maintained a steadfast speed; in response the Harbinger fired both of her forward plasma batteries. The searing white blue lances made contact with several ships and slowly carved their way to the assault carrier. Just before the lances made contact with the carrier, it launched hundreds of Phantom and Spirit drop ships.

It was a ground fight now.

Harbingers Bridge was as hectic as ever, alarms sounding, officers exchanging information and the commander himself shouting orders, Sanctus helped to break the commotion…only to start another.

"Alert! Commander, Covenant ground forces have landed, they're quickly approaching the Reclaimers base!"

"Raise the ship 300 meters and prepare for Sentinel launch! Bias how many drop ships are there?"

Pressing his hand to his forehead, Bias quickly attuned Harbingers sensors to the surrounding valley. Instantly, his vision was a dull blue, a shrill ping echoed the entire battlefield highlighting the drop ships.

"Commander, I count well over 250 Phantoms and Spirits, all inbound to the stronghold, they're advancing along the bases' North-West and Western perimeter, it appears some of them are going to try and take one of the cannons offline."

"Understood, bring Sentinel battalion 3 online and drop them into combat, calibrate IFF protocols and identify the humans as friendly forces, primary objective is the destruction of all Covenant soldiers, secondary objective is to capture the Covenant Field Marshall leading this army!"

"Aye Aye Commander!"

Sanctus and Mendicant Bias' words were in perfect unison as they began working, their commands and communiqués overlapping and flowing together in Harbingers local COMNET. Ever since Bias was let into Harbingers systems, the ship ran nearly ten-fold faster. Sanctus had objected at first, but now the two were nearly inseparable.

Several ports opened on Harbingers belly, within seconds hundreds of sentinels poured like a river out of the ship and raced across the forest. Unlike their cousins that guarded the Halo Array, these sentinels were far more deadly. The battalion was compromised of varying sentinels, the most notable were the "Onyx" sentinels the humans had encountered on the appropriate planet years ago, formations of them glided with their eyes an angry crimson glow. The other was the Sentinel Interceptor, more resembling their Halo Array cousins. On the interceptors dorsal and ventral frame were 6 stabilizer fins angled back, 3 on top 3 on bottom; the fins could be energized to become deadly blades if deemed necessary. Primary weaponry however, like the Onyx Sentinel, was a powerful plasma projector on the Sentinels "eye," and just like the Onyx Sentinel, these were fast…VERY fast.

As they raced through the forest, the Sentinels evaded the trees with such precision they were nothing but blurs to the unaware. Without warning a small group of jackals were vaporized by a formation of the Onyx drones; right behind them were the interceptors who began engaging a larger Covenant group lead by Brutes and Hunters.

The Interceptors moved like frenzied sharks, darting in the air, in confusing lines so the troops couldn't get a bead. Each sentinel paused and fired a volley before returning to its evasive maneuvers. It was like watching a swarm of hornets angered by an attack on their hive. Within moments the Covenant platoon was wiped out, the Interceptors continued towards the CASTLE II base.

Half a click a way from the closest MAC cannon, a platoon of Brutes, Jackals, and grunts marched ever closer. This group however had armor support; Wraith tanks echoed a deep hum as they dredged their way to the human strong hold. When they got in range their armatures arched up and billowed out heavy rounds of burning plasma. Without missing a beat nearly 30 Interceptors darted in front of the plasma mortars, their eyes flashed a hot white, their stabilizer fins rotated directly vertical to their frames, and a massive crystalline energy shield materialized in front of the sentinels. The mortars made contact with the shield, quickly dissipating, and the sentinels unaffected by the mortar shockwaves.

Bursting from behind the Interceptors, a formation of Onyx Sentinels tightened formation and began to interlink until 4 massive floating "super" sentinels, each one taking the shape of a giant equilateral triangle. The super sentinels glided and banked until they locked on, white hot lances of heated plasma erupted from the focusing booms of the constructs finding their targets. Wraiths vaporized into clouds of ash along with the surrounding hapless infantry.

October 25, 2562

Planet: New Eden, Sigma Ceti II System.

Location: Control Bridge of the AAC-H101 Harbinger, Ascender Class Assault Carrier

"Commander."

"What is it Bias?"

"We've got a problem."

"…And just what is this problem…"

Sarcasm had taken a hold of Xarrha's voice as he nodded toward the battlefield, his wavy auburn hair flicking in response. Sanctus' hologram materialized next to Bias as they gave the sitrep.

"Commander our analysis of the battle has brought to light several key facts. The first being that at least 100 Covenant warships have breached the atmosphere while the rest of the fleet has backed off a considerable distance from the planet, they have taken heavy casualties from the heavy cannons, we estimate they've lost roughly 132 ships since the fighting broke out. However we are hard pressed, we are only one ship, the nearest reinforcements will arrive in 2-3 hours. The biggest problem lies in our defenses, in order to keep the human base intact we need to keep as close to it as possible, but if we do that we cannot use the Magnetic Distortion Field."

Xarrha's eyes began to dart left and right trying to calculate the reason as to grasp why, unable to find an answer he demanded one from his AI's.

"Elaborate…"

Sanctus in a nervous tone continued the rest of the report.

"Considering the properties the field has on covenant weaponry, it would warp their plasma torpedoes at such extreme angles that at our current altitude would cause them to impact allied fortifications at 48.6 percent of the time. By the time reinforcements' got here, there wouldn't be anything to defend."

"Damn it, tactical analysis of our armor and their weaponry."

"Commander the materials used to construct ANYTHING of forerunner is of a greater magnitude than that of any covenant warship, but Commander it is PLASMA. We could survive maybe 10 or more round before the ship was put out of commission, at heavy casualties."

"I see, thank you Sanctus."

Before the Commander could ponder this anymore, Mendicant interrupted him with a proximity warning.

"Covenant battle group detected on an assault trajectory…Warning! I count 3 plasma torpedoes inbound, recommend immediate action!"

"Evade! Hard to starboard, burst our aft engines, get those torpedoes to overshoot! Charge plasma batteries 1 and 3 and fire at will! Officer Tielha, activate jamming protocols, disrupt the magnetic field around those torpedoes so they can't double back!"

Harbingers hull groaned at the stress from the sudden burst of speed, the plasma torpedoes arced over Harbinger into the clear sky; moments later the torpedoes plasma blossomed into bright explosions.

"Commander the magnetic fields have been dispersed, I'll be ready for further action."

The young officer had a look of concern that was shared by everyone on the bridge, her sapphire eyes however, didn't once look away from her screen. Xarrha admired her determination, she and everyone else would need it.