The Artemis jumped into dark black space, surrounded by a field of HAVOK nuclear warheads, just like the thirty some other ships had probably already done. To keep such vital mission information from his own men sparked a twinge of guilt in Nathanial, but if something as imperative as the location of an inner colony had been discovered or worse yet, been leaked to the Covenant, security and secrecy had to be maintained in the highest degree, even if that meant pulling the wool over his own men's eyes.
"Did any of them manage to follow us?" Nathanial immediately questioned, waiting for a response from the aft of the ship. Their exterior sensors and communications antenna had been completely melted away. Hopefully, the aft viewports had managed to disengage their emergency shutters and lookouts could see if anything jumped in behind them.
"Maintain speed and ready the Translight generators for another jump. Use map coordinates number two."
"Sir, Covenant!" came a transmission from the aft decks. "It looks like we lured a heap of them in." The Artemis was the flagship of the CSB, and in its damaged state, not something the Covenant could pass up. With her engines above the redline of maximum burn, the vessel had put enough space between itself and the nuclear mine field to be safely out of range.
Eight nuclear HAVOK charges detonated as two destroyers, seven frigates and a docking station full of corvettes entered normal space. Even though they had their shields raised and ready, the combined force of the nuclear devices overwhelmed their defenses, turning the once pristine ships into crispy charred pieces inside the expanding bubble of nuclear fusion.
"Are there any survivors?" Nathanial demanded, realizing that with their sensors down, his guess was as good as any with all the interference the explosions had caused.
"Admiral, Covenant cruiser of unknown class entering normal space, five-o-clock!"
Jumping in nearly a thirty seconds after its friends, the gigantic Covenant flagship reverted to normal space, half a million kilometers short of the molten cloud of fragments that used to be the enemy pursuit force.
"Bring us up to speed, new bearing seven-six-seven." A picture of the Covenant craft appeared on the bridge main screen. Someone had grabbed one of the internal security cameras from the aft deck and positioned it out a rear viewport. Barreling through the haze of debris that lit up its shields like a bonfire, the Covenant giant began to run down the much smaller USNC destroyer like a firestorm from Hell.
"Sir!" the communications lieutenant shouted. "Incoming transmission!"
Given the long range antenna had been melted into slag, the signal must have been coming from in-system.
"Admiral Hawkins, you are to change your exit vector to bearing zero-zero-three-seven by eight-two-eight." The encryption code the transmission boasted was that of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Even if their sensors had been in working order, Nathanial knew he wouldn't have been able to track the incoming message to its source.
"Do what they say," he affirmed, then added, "on the double."
The helm of the Artemis repositioned according to the new departure coordinates and boosted to full speed. An incoming barrage of laser fire impacted the aft portion of the destroyer. Emergency alarms sounded as the plasma tore though deck after deck, melting the Titanium-A armor like it was ice cream.
"Report!" Nathanial shouted.
"Sir, decks 4 through 18 breached, sections 5, 9 and 12 are venting atmosphere. Safeties are not responding!"
"Compensate for the venting," Hawkins ordered, noticing the stars tilted slightly as the Artemis listed to port compliments of the escaping atmosphere. AI controlled maneuvering thrusters corrected the imbalance.
"Course correction complete," the digital voice responded.
"Thank you, Dietz," Hawkins gave, his eyes focused on an invisible point in space where they were going to make the jump. "Status on enemy incoming."
"Enemy is fifty thousand kilometers away and closing at thirty-five hundred kilometers per second."
"Deploy all Shiva nukes and drop two HAVOK mines," the admiral ordered.
Though the Archer pods and machine turrets had been melted away prior to their Slipspace jump, the nuclear missile launchers on the Artemis were contained deeper within the ship, set on extenders that could be slipped out through heavily armored launch doors.
"Sir," weapons called back over the intercom. "Shiva nuke's launch doors are melted shut."
Another decompressing blast shook the ship. "Status," Hawkins barked.
"That was the doors of launch bay seven opening," Dietz informed. "Interior cameras show two squadrons of Longsword fighters are disengaging from the ship. Note that launch bay seven will remain decompressed until the airlock doors are repaired."
The two squadrons had used their 110mm cannons to blow a hole in the airlock gate large enough for them to slip out.
"Sorry for not clearing this with you," a transmission crackled, "but we didn't have the time to discuss this as a committee."
"Commander Watts, what are you doing?" Hawkins demanded, recognizing the voice of his close friend instantly.
"Taking our nukes out for a little ride, Admiral," was his casual response. "Don't wait up for us though, if you know what I mean."
The bridge crew could see as two dozen Longswords cut through space towards the massive bulk of the Covenant flagship. Point defense lasers erupted from the large cruiser, spitting laser fire that instantly reduced five of the Longswords to balls of incandescent flames. It didn't appear that the ships that had been hit had been carrying nukes. They were just diversions for the larger surprise. Hawkins quickly realized that the larger surprises were simple diversions for the Artemis.
The unknown-class Covenant ship had refrained from launching fighters of its own, under the correct assumption that normally equipped Longswords would not be able to penetrate its defenses – a mistake they would pay for dearly.
The cloaked ship from the Office of Naval Intelligence unveiled its position as a small hole in Slipspace opened, the activated Shaw-Fujikawa translight generators disengaging the cloaking device and propelling the small craft from the system. They weren't planning to stay around for the fireworks and neither was Hawkins. At the range the Covenant ship was currently at, the nukes would undoubtedly destroy them too.
"Are all decks sealed for Slipspace?" he asked systems.
"Yes, sir," the systems lieutenant answered, not wanting to know how many men and women had just been trapped in sections leaking air per his handwork locking down the remaining breaches.
"Good, engage Translight generators and…" A huge explosion rocked the ship from stern to bow. "Status report!" Hawkins howled.
"The engines!" engineering called. "We've taken a direct hit! Propulsion systems failing. Shit, the reactor core is leaking too!"
"Is the Translight drive still functional?" Nathanial demanded.
"It is, sir!"
"Then engage, damnit!" Space exploded into flurry of light. Luckily, the Artemis didn't.