War
The UNSC Everest ripped a hole in the fabric of space-time as it forced its way back into normal space around the former colony Bliss. The massive ship was soon joined by the other 27 vessels of Task Force 240, the Super carrier Trafalgar among them.
On the cruiser's bridge Admiral Preston Cole stood, gazing out the window. "Admiral, all ships have safely exited slip space and are reporting no problems. We are in the green," the Everest's AI, Julius, said.
Admiral Cole nodded. He moved back to the large holopad in the center of the room. "Julius, bring up a map of the system and send the order for weapons hot across the fleet. Charge MAC and slip space drive capacitors and bring all Archer systems online. Launch fighter patrols."
The AI simply nodded as it relayed the orders, numbers flashing more quickly along its avatar. Cole leaned over to his aide who was standing nearby and whispered, "The Olympics have started." The aide nodded and moved to tell the SPARTANs to prepare themselves for combat.
After several minutes the aide returned. "The torch is lit." Admiral Cole nodded. "Admiral, dozens of massive ships just appeared from the far side of the planet. Four don't match the previous alien ship design," a technician said.
"Size! Julius, can you get me a picture with the bow cameras?" "The largest new ship is over 3 kilometers long, the other three are about a kilometer each." At the same time, a magnified image of the enemy fleet appeared on the overhead monitor. There were about forty enemy ships of the previous type in a loose perimeter around a formation of four, triangular ships. Three were smaller and were in a triangle around the largest ship.
"My god, that thing is massive," a technician said. The entire bridge was staring at the monitor, awestruck. The Admiral was the first to recover.
"Pass the order for the fleet to launch all fighters! Take the safeties off the Shivas and prep Archer pods for immediate launch. I want all MACs fully charged in twenty seconds!" The various communications and weapons technicians moved about their stations, passing along orders and getting the fleet ready for battle.
The enemy ships quickly closed, their distinctive shapes becoming almost distinguishable to the naked eye. They also began shedding fighters, thousands spilling from their hulls. The tactical computer was having trouble tracking all the activity.
"Admiral, I am detecting a hailing signal from the enemy's largest ship," Julius said.
"Put it on screen." As he said that, the large screen at the front of the bridge between the windows flashed to life, revealing a horrifying sight. The face that appeared was a sickening green with slits on its cheek. Its hair was an unnatural white. The enemy's bridge was also a disgusting shade of green, as if it was fabricated from plant life and had fog floating on the floor.
"I am the representative of the Wraith. You will surrender your fleet immediately or be destroyed!" It snarled as it said this, revealing grotesque yellow teeth.
"I am Admiral Preston Cole of the United Nations Space Command. You are trespassing in UNSC space. My quarrel is not with you. Leave immediately or be destroyed with the rest of the enemy fleet. You have thirty seconds to comply. If after that you have not selected an out-system vector, it will be considered an act of war," the Admiral said back proudly.
The creature simply smirked an eerie grin and the screen went blank. Admiral Cole relaxed.
"Two first contacts in less than six months and they both turn out to be hostile. What are the odds?" he asked sarcastically. As if waiting for the Admiral to finish his sentence, the enemy ships accelerated towards his fleet even faster.
"How long until we are in weapons range?" he asked. He heard a reply of "Fifteen seconds," and a small screen began ticking off the numbers.
"Julius, they're going to try to jump in close and grab us by the belt so we can't use nukes. When you detect the flash of their FTL engines, I want you to pass the word to the other A.I.s to make a half second jump. Is that understood? Tell them not to wait for their captains' approvals."
Julius' avatar looked at him strangely but did as it was told. As the timer neared zero, anticipation in the bridge was heavy. Sweat beaded on Admiral Cole's forehead. When the clock read '1:2 SECONDS REMAINING' the enemy ships disappeared in bright flashes of light.
Before Cole's brain could process what was going on, the entire fleet lurched into slip space. The window of the bridge was bathed in a near constant light for almost a full second from the two near-simultaneous jumps.
"All ships, use all available thrust, including emergency, to turn us around. Begin preparing firing solutions immediately. Launch Archer pods A1 through B7 to buy us time. NOW!" Before the crews of Task Force 240 were able to recover from the slip space journey the ships in the fleet began to lurch hard, the emergency and conventional thrusters struggling to overcome the massive inertia of the titanium and steel behemoths.
Finally, after an agonizing wait that was probably only about several seconds, the ships were turned around, their heavy weapons pointed straight at the enemy ships.
"Admiral, targeting solutions completed. All weapons ready to fire." "Fire," Cole said in the steely voice of a commander who was signing thousands of death warrants.
The entire fleet was hurled back in space as the literally thousands of Archer missiles rocketed away from their launch platforms. They were joined by the 37 MAC slugs of varying size that quickly pulled ahead.
The enemy fleet, still recovering from the unexpected maneuver and under fire from the Long Sword fighters that had been left behind, was attempting to turn in formation, quite difficult for ships of that size in such a formation.
The MAC rounds impacted first, their white-hot tungsten cores gutting several of the smaller starfish shaped ships. Two impacted one of the new enemy's smaller ships. The force of the double blow ripped a small part of the bow off. However, the ship was resilient as it managed to stop its tumbling and recover.
Four MAC rounds impacted against the largest alien ship. The first burrowed deep into its hull, debris spewing out. The second and third landed near each other in succession, the second widening a large crack the first opened. The fourth grazed the ships engines, causing them to flicker. The combined force of the MAC rounds impacting the ship's hull sent it spinning.
The way it was spinning put it in perfect firing position for the behemoth to fire a full broadside at the UNSC ships who were now left to drift after discharging their weapons, blueish energy spitting forth from several points along its surface.
Almost as soon as the enemy ship fired its weapons, the Archer missiles began impacting. Almost one hundred impacted one of these 'wraith's' smaller ships. It halted in space before fire began flowing out of a MAC wound before it exploded. Most of the remaining starfish ships, now recovered from Cole's extreme maneuver, moved into positions to absorb the missiles that would have hit the Wraith ships.
The enemy fighters were also beginning to arrive from the opposite side of the enemy fleet and intercepted dozens of the anti-ship missiles.
The bridge was chaos as the crew attempted to prepare the ship for another volley to fire at an enemy who had just survived an attack that would have destroyed any ship humanity could conceive.
"Julius, status report!" Admiral Cole yelled.
"Long Sword squadrons have sustained fifty percent casualties and are currently engaging roughly one third of enemy fighter force. Enemy flagship has launched energy weapons at the frigates In Amber Clad, Memphis, Odyssey, and the destroyer Argonne," the AI replied, its avatar flickering as power was redirected from nonessential systems to recharge the weapons systems.
The Admiral walked to the window to watch as the bluish energy hit the ships. The pulses hit the ships' bows and burned away sections of it. The frigates began spewing atmosphere from dozens of holes in their hulls.
"How long until the MACs are ready to fire again?" Cole asked. "Forty seconds sir. Archer systems are reloaded," a technician replied.
"Pass the word; all ships launch half their next volley of Archers at the Wraith ships and break formation. Engage at will. Ship commanders are free to use nukes at their discretion," the Admiral said.
The ships fired another few thousand missiles and broke their tight formation, ships using thrusters to accelerate in all directions. Another enemy starfish ship was destroyed before the enemy fleet began returning fire en mass e. Most of the enemy starfish ships were nothing but debris but the Wraith ships and the few remaining starfish ships still launched hundreds of missiles and energy pulses in return.
The UNSC and alien fleets closed, quickly devolving into a series of one-on-one duels. The space above Bliss was filled with bright Wraith weapons fire and missile streaks. The occasional nuclear detonations flooded the battle scene with a haunting rainbow of radiation and heat.
The three frigates that had been damaged earlier were quickly destroyed when the Wraith flagship targeted them, barely managing to get a shot off before they were engulfed in nuclear fireballs. A destroyer had immediately targeted one of the Wraith cruisers and it used the last of its emergency thrusters to evade two volleys of weapons fire.
As it evaded, it fired its twin MAC guns, the double impacts at point blank range gutting the ship. The cruiser shuddered from the 1200 tons of molten tungsten. An section of the ship was ripped off when the cruiser tried to halt its tumbling and the weakened hull buckled and tore.
The destroyer then fired its remaining complement of Archers. The missiles were the sparks that started the fire of the cruiser's funeral pyre. It ignited in a brilliant explosion. The shock-wave destroyed the destroyer, its engines flaring in a last ditch attempt to escape before they were engulfed.
On the tactical monitor ships began winking off left and right. Two frigates and a destroyer attempted to gang up on the largest enemy ship only to be destroyed by swarms of fighters and a volley of weapon pulses.
"Admiral, we've lost four destroyers and seven frigates. The Trafalgar and five other ships are leaking atmosphere," Julius said, sounding distracted as he did his best to avoid another volley of Wraith pulses.
"Order all critically damaged ships to jump to inter-system space and await the rest of the task force. Have the rest of the ships fire their MACs and the last of their Archer missiles to cover their retreat," Admiral Cole ordered. The ships quickly began moving as ordered.
Bright flashes of light appeared everywhere as the UNSC ships tore their way away from the battlefield. The few remaining ships launched their MAC rounds, the molten metal opening holes in the enemy formation. A fourth of the MAC rounds hit the largest Wraith ship. The massive ship absorbed the rounds, spewing even more debris into the surrounding space but remaining annoyingly intact.
Archer missiles spilled forth from their housing tubes and rocketed towards the enemy fleet. The element of surprise lost and with distance between them, almost all the missiles were intercepted by enemy fighters.
"Admiral, all damaged ships have jumped away. All conventional ordnance away," the weapons officer said.
"Has the torch passed?" Admiral Cole asked his aide. He nodded.
"Good. Julius, the entire fleet is to launch all Shiva missiles at the largest enemy ships at full burn then jump to rendezvous coordinates," Admiral Cole ordered.
The ships launched their nuclear missiles. The Shivas sped away from the UNSC ships at full burn, their navigational computers moving them in erratic flight paths. At the same time the remains of the UNSC battle force accelerated out of the system, quickly disappearing in bright, sustained flashes of light.
The Shivas meanwhile finally reached their target. The Wraith flagship was engulfed in almost two dozen brilliant flashes of light. Mini-suns ignited on its surface. The combined stresses of this and the previous impacts finally overwhelmed the sturdy ship.
It exploded in a massive blue light show. Pieces of ship flew in all directions. Some were so large they damaged nearby Cylon vessels. The remaining Wraith cruisers, which had remained close, were engulfed by the heat of the explosion and themselves detonated.
The combined destruction of all these vessels, Cylon, Wraith, and UNSC, made it so no one noticed the single Pelican drop ship that had taken refuge on the underside of a large piece of UNSC Titanium-A battleplate.
And no one noticed when its engines ignited and it rocketed towards the planet Bliss.
"Have they detected us yet?" Spartan 117 John, code named Blue One, asked Spartan 029 Joshua, code named Red Three. Joshua just shook his helmeted head. "No, but they will as soon as we hit the atmosphere. The heat this thing will give off will light up every infrared sensor in range."
John just gently nudged Joshua's shoulder, a symbolic action as no motion the Spartans made was a mistake. He moved back to the cargo bay and opened a channel to the other eleven Spartans, including Joshua.
"Spartans, when we hit the atmosphere we're going to have to stay high speed. Its going to be a rough ride so double check the straps on the supply crates and make sure you hold on." The Spartans quickly moved about to carry out his orders. He himself checked the straps on a large crate of 9.5x40mm BR55 ammunition.
The dropship began to vibrate and Joshua yelled back, "Grab on to something!" The Spartan began doing a series of micro-maneuvers. He did this to keep the speed and angle of reenty as extreme as he could without turning the Pelican into falling chunks of burning metal. He peered at the altimeter and other instruments as they tumbled toward zero.
When the altimeter hit 250,000 feet, Joshua raised the nose of the ship and hit the afterburners. The indicator on the altimeter slowed, finally becoming stable near seven thousand feet.
"Okay we're in. Setting course for LZ Zebra. ETA is three minutes. Going nap-of-the-earth," he called back, his helmet speakers magnifying his voice.
"Spartans, pack this extra ammo in the duffel bags. We're not leaving anything on the ship." As he said this he opened several crates of ammunition and began filling his own with ammo for his Battle Rifle and shotgun.
The other Spartans also filled their respective bags with ammunition for their weapons. The Spartans had armed themselves with BR55 Battle Rifles, M90 shotguns, SRS99C-S2 sniper rifles, M6D pistols, and a few M19 rocket launchers.
The Spartans completed their preparations in less than a minute and waited until the Pelican landed softly on a green patch of grass surrounded by trees. Joshua powered down the engines and ran back from the cockpit, Battle rifle and duffel bag in hand.
"Sir, we need to get out of here. The Cylons are sending a welcome party. Three fighters and two drop ships. They'll be here in about a minute," Joshua said as he shouldered his ammo.
John nodded. "Did you set the self destruct?" Joshua nodded.
"Spartans, we're moving out. Red team take point. Blue will take rear guard." The Spartans ran to the treeline, their MJOLNIR Mk IV suits causing them to appear as nothing but green blurs to any normal human. They began heading toward their objective; a large Cylon installation they had established near Bliss' capitol city which had been spared nuclear bombardment.
John motioned for the rest of Blue Team to wait. They waited until they saw the enemy's ships land. Large, shiny machines about the same height as the Spartans spilled out. About fifteen in total. After they exited they formed a perimeter around the field and several humanoids, the Spartans had been briefed by ONI so they knew they weren't actually human, came out and began inspecting the Pelican.
The first to appear was a small asian-looking woman. The next was a white man of average build with brown hair. After him came a thin white blonde in a red dress. The last one was a seemingly old man.
They approached the UNSC ship and entered, seemingly cautiously. They were inside for about five seconds before the ship exploded in a massive fireball. Debris was thrown in every direction as the Spartans slipped away to rejoin the other Spartans.
The four heard the clanking of the enemy machines as they silently sprinted forward. The only sign they had been though were the small indentations left in the leaves that coated the forest floor.
They quickly caught up with the rest of the Spartans. The twelve super soldiers moved in synch. They covered the three miles between their LZ and the Cylon was in about fifteen minutes and arrived without breaking a sweat.
They stopped on a hill overlooking the base. The encampment itself was a conglomeration of prefab buildings and gun emplacements manned by the enemy's drones. Around its perimeter was a chain link fence almost nine feet high. A large building in the center must have been the HQ building because it had a dozen drones guarding its doors and several antennae were attached to its roof.
The Spartans had gathered together in a loose circle as they waited for Blue Team to rejoin them. The standing soldiers opened up to allow the four members of Blue to enter. The eleven other soldiers looked to John, waiting for orders.
"Okay, we're going to do what we were sent here to do. Green team is going to provide a distraction near the north gate. Blue is going to assault over the fence on the south side ninety seconds after that.
Red team is going to help us get silently over the fence then provide cover and keep our escape route secure.
Linda, you're going to stay in the trees and take out the guard posts on the south wall. Any questions?" he asked. The soldiers shook their heads.
"Good. Secure com channels only from now until mission complete." With that Green team began sprinting off into the bushes, intending to maintain distance from the base to avoid detection until they launched their attack.
Linda began setting up her sniper rifle for the assault. The other Spartans also prepared their weapons. John simply stared at the enemy encampment.
It wasn't long before the blue acknowledgment lights from Green team lit up on John's HUD. He motioned for the other soldiers to move into their positions. They were ready quickly and he opened the secure com channel to Green one, Spartan 044 Anton, and said, "Weapons free."
Almost instantly gunfire erupted on the opposite side of the camp. A rocket from an M19 hit a guard tower which promptly disappeared. The timer on John's HUD read sixty seconds. Linda peered down the scope of her rifle. John knew she was prioritizing targets.
John got the feeling of anticipation he always got right before he went into battle. He checked his BR55 for the fifth time and prepared himself for a sprint.
Finally, after an agonizing wait, the timer hit zero. Without waiting for orders, the seven Spartans of Red and Blue teams, excluding Linda, who was now reloading after emptying her four-round magazine into the heads of three drones and a surveillance camera.
Red Team intentionally arrived first, turning their backs to the fence and sticking their armored hands out for Blue to use as steps so they wouldn't make a sound when they jumped the fence. They could have jumped the fence but they would have run the risk of rustling the fence which could quickly turn into a snag.
John jumped into Red three, Spartan 043 William's, hand and launched himself over the fence. He bent his knees to absorb the force of him landing and began sprinting towards the nearest building, a steel prefab that bore a slight resemblance to old Quonset huts. He slid to a stop just short of impacting it and waited for the rest of Blue team.
He didn't have to wait long as they were right behind him. He also saw Red team falling back uphill to the trees to provide support if anything went wrong.
Raising his rifle, John peered around the corner. He could see the large, two story com HQ building. There were only two drones left guarding the door, their hulking frames standing on either side of the steel door. Their hands had folded back to reveal three-barreled machine guns.
John looked back at the three other armored Spartans and held up two fingers. They nodded their helmeted heads.
John quickly peered back around the corner and fired two three-round bursts at each machine's head. The metal burst apart as the high powered semi-armor piercing rounds tore through their face plates.
The Spartans stormed across the empty space between the prefab building and the thin concrete prefab structure. John tried the handle and found it locked. He motioned for Blue two, Spartan 034 Samuel, to place a small amount of thermite paste on the door. He did and lit it, quickly backing away.
The paste burned the handle and a sizable chunk of door off, allowing John to push through, rifle at the ready. Inside there were about a dozen enemy humanoids crowding a table bathed in red light. Several had their hands in a translucent, mucus-like fluid.
Behind them four more drones were standing and suddenly came alive, two moving to attack the Spartans hand-to-hand in the cramped space. John put one of them down as he sidestepped to allow the other Spartans through before the other grabbed the barrel of his rifle, pushing it toward the floor and bringing its clawed hand up in attempt to claw John's face.
He released his grip on the barrel and grabbed the machine's hand in his left and twisted it. The thin metal groaned as his armored fingers bent and tore the metal hand. He grabbed the creatures head in his right hand and kicked the drone's left leg hard.
It collapsed when it was unable to balance itself on its other leg. John leaned down and grabbed his rifle, putting a burst through the machine's red visor.
When he looked up he saw the smoking remains of the three other drones. Blue Four, Spartan 051 Kurt, was tying the humanoids up with zip strips while Blues two and three held them at gunpoint. He motioned for Blue three, Spartan 087 Kelly, to follow him up the stairs. Their footsteps thudded as they ascended, rifles at the ready.
The top of the stairs led directly to a hallway with a single door. After disposing the door's single guard, they used more thermite paste to open the door and John kicked it open and stormed in.
The room had bright white walls and a red line at waist-level extending around the entire room. On the far wall, a man with short hair and several semi-healed puncture marks on his chest. He looked up at the Spartans with caution, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.
"Are you Corporal Matthew Flagg?" John asked. The man simply nodded. John and Kelly moved to either side of him and cut the restraints on his arms and legs. Kelly caught him when he began to fall.
She placed him on his feet before just deciding to carry him over her shoulder when his legs proved unsteady. John held up a finger to signal the man to be quiet before he moved to go down the stairs, Kelly in tow.
"All teams, we have the package. Green maintain fire for thirty more seconds and break contact." Green's acknowledgment lights lit up as the Spartans arrived down stairs.
Samuel pointed toward the prisoners to ask what to do with them. John held up one finger to signal one was to be taken prisoner. Samuel nodded and knocked one unconscious and picked him up to carry him over his shoulder.
Kurt pulled out his knife and slit the throats of the other ten people. He also placed his duffel on the floor and attached the detonator to the C12 inside. The Spartans, prisoner and ODST in hand, then ran across the compound.
John and Kurt ripped a large hole in the fence to allow the other two Spartans through. They sprinted up the hill, quickly arriving. After a moment, Green team's fire slackened as they broke contact and ran to rejoin the other Spartans.
They waited there for several minutes before Green appeared near them from the bushes. John looked at Kurt and nodded. Kurt hit the detonator and the Cylon compound was destroyed by enough C12 to blow a hole in the side of a destroyer.
Before the debris even began to fall, the Spartans were moving off to their exfiltration craft, an ONI Calypso class Exfiltration craft.
It took them roughly an hour to reach it because of a large number of enemy patrols and fighters.
When they finally reached it John used the remote ONI agents had given him to open the rear ramp. The Spartans climbed into the small ship before John closed the ramp again.
Joshua moved to the cockpit to initialize the AI the ship was equipped with to navigate them home. Kelly sat Corporal Flagg down in a chair and strapped him in. The other Spartans also began strapping themselves in.
"So, how did you guys find me?" Flagg asked.
"ONI spy satellites spotted you being captured by the Cylons several weeks ago and also caught you being moved into that building earlier today. What we don't know is why they moved you. Care to share?" John asked.
The ODST just shook his head. "I don't know. They said it was to keep me alive before their masters arrived to take me themselves."
John cocked his head. "Masters?" "These hideous, green skinned bastards. You see these-" he said, pointing to the marks on his chest, "these are from one of them. I guess they suck the life out of you with their hands. One of them has done it to me every day for god only knows how long."
"Sucks the life out of you?" John asked sceptically. The marine nodded.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I felt it. This thing pulled the life right out of me, then he put it back. Every day, every goddamn day," he said.
"You know who this one is?" John asked, pointing towards the unconscious Cylon. Once again the marine shook his head.
"We didn't exactly exchange business cards. By the way, who are you guys? Why would ONI waste time on a single shock trooper?" John shrugged.
"Who we are is classified, and nobody told me why we were supposed to get you, but our orders said we were not to leave without you."
"Well, its nice to know the spooks are looking out for me," the ODST said sarcastically.
John cracked a small smile before the ship's engines ignited and the ship left Bliss' atmosphere and entered slipspace. As the Spartans settled in for their several hour journey to rejoin Task Force 240, John drifted off to sleep.
Okay, you guys have been asking for this chapter since I started this story, so here you go. I was going to wait until Christmas to release this but I finished it early.
Here is a full list of the Spartans on this mission so you don't get confused, complete with numbers and teams for this story.
SPARTAN-117: John Blue One
SPARTAN-034: Samuel Blue Two
SPARTAN-087: Kelly Blue Three
SPARTAN-051: Kurt Blue Four
SPARTAN-104: Frederic Red One
SPARTAN-058: Linda Red Two
SPARTAN-043: William Red Three
SPARTAN-029: Joshua Red Four
SPARTAN-044: Anton Green One
SPARTAN-130: Alice Green Two
SPARTAN-059 Malcolm Green Three
SPARTAN-093 Grace Green Four
Some of these don't appear in the games for you guys who haven't read the novels. Merry Christmas.