Universal Journey Chapter 21 Those few lucky

Aleppo bridge

2550, August 27th, 19th day

"Dropping out of hyperspace in ten seconds, sir," the airman beside Callahan informed.

He had assumed Marks role until he had completely recovered. Although still using her cane, Callahan had tired of doing nothing. She could still command Aleppo without needing to run. With the alliances signed three days ago, it was time to once again prove Aleppo's value. They would soon enter the system designated RP6Q.

"Be ready to raise shields and fired the Asgard beams," Callahan said.

"Yes ma'am."

"Seven."

Gate stood behind Callahan's command chair. He glanced at Jovakhin who stood a meter away. Callahan and Jovakhin had barely spoken sense he told them about the wormhole generator. He understood why she was angry with him, but also why he didn't tell them.

"Five. Four…dropping out."

Aleppo violently reentered normal space and shields and weapons was activated.

"What about the targets?" Callahan asked.

"Six ships, colonel," Kyle informed her. "Like our sensors detected. Two Light Cruiser sized, three thousand life signs each. Minimal weapons and defensive capabilities."

"Troop transports," Gate surmised. "Can you identify species."

Kyle looked at Callahan.

"Jiralhanae, sir."

Callahan arched an eyebrow.

"The other four ships?"

"Three Destroyers in escort formation and a Light Cruiser," Kyle answered. "Two Destroyers are turning towards us and both troop transports are powering up slipstream engines."

"Are we in range lieutenant?"

"Aye."

"Fire."

"Yes ma'am," the airman responded.

The Asgard beams blasted at the closest Light Cruiser. Focusing on the engines, the aft of the ship was torn apart. With a few shots in the right place, it was ripped into pieces. All three thousand brutes aboard was doomed in moments. They maneuvered around the defending escort and blasted the second troopship apart. After a two hits, secondary explosions from the engine compartment ripped the Covenant ship to shreds.

"Nice shot, Airman Wells," Callahan complimented.

"Thank you, sir."

Two hits was enough to tear one of the Destroyer apart. The ship exploded and the shockwave damaged the other two Destroyer. Without shields, both Destroyer was shook and many secondary and primary systems were disabled. They were easy pickings for Aleppo at that point. That left the Light Cruiser alone.

"Let's get our last friend," Callahan said. "Probably feeling lonely."

"Hold on, sir," Kyle alerted. "Twenty-seven warships approaching from a space station over the planet."

Callahan looked out the front viewport.

"Space station, huh. Scan the planet."

"Done, sir," she replied. 50,000 life signs."

"Alright we've done enough damage. Let's jump to our last target and then withdraw to New Australia. Inform them of the raids success and that we discovered a Covenant colony," the L. colonel decided.

"Aye, sir."

Aleppo entered hyperspace and left the Covenants responding forces too late, with countless Jiralhanae dead. Several ships destroyed. And sense ships was both expensive to construct and took time and manpower to construct, Aleppo's raid did more damage than it would first appeared. It wouldn't deter the Covenant a bit though.

It wasn't their first attack either. Yesterday they attacked two Covenant positions. With their advanced hyperdrives, the journey was made a very quick one. And their sensors made it easier to defect ships that was far away. As long as they weren't in slipspace.

"I hope the UNSCs appreciating all of this," Gate mused.

"They do," Jovakhin answered from his corner of the bridge. "The thought of going on the offensive is good for moral. Finally the Covenant's on the defensive, to some small extent. Moral is surely rising as news spreads. Furthermore, you cannot win a war by only reacting to your enemy. To win, cease the advantage."

The systems they headed for was nearby. The trip in hyperspace took only minutes. When they dropped out into regular space, Kyle scanned the system. When the results came in, she frowned.

"Sir, I'm detecting the six signatures we found before, but I can't locate them."

"What you mean you can't locate them?" Callahan asked confused.

"I'm detecting some kind of minerals in the asteroids that's messing with sensors. I'm not getting much of anything. There is something on the other side. Mass of signatures, colonel. Presumably a space station and…over two hundred ships." Kyle held her collected expression.

"I assume they can't see us?" Gate inquired.

Kyle shook her head.

"No way sir. Their sensors is certainly as-and more-gutted then ours. We're all flying blind."

Callahan leaned forward and rubbed her chin.

This system seemed like a perfect battlefield. All sensors scrambled. Meant everyone had to rely on their eyes and skill. A perfect defensive position. But also a perfect offensive position, assuming you knew what you were doing or where you had the enemy. And clearly the Covenant had a major fleet here.

"Cloak and take us in," Callahan ordered.

"Aye, ma'am," airman Wells replied.

Aleppo moved in, through the asteroids and towards the scrambled Covenant signatures. When the fleet came in on the front viewport, they saw a huge space station and the huge fleet. The station was at least a hundred kilometers long and forty kilometers in height.

"How many on that station?" Callahan asked.

Given their advanced sensors they could get a somewhat clear picture of the situation.

"Approximately a few hundred thousand," Kyle suggested. "I believe they could fit up to a million men aboard without a problem. Maybe more. Could be close about half a million or more Covies on board."

"An armada and army ready to invade a human world," Jovakhin theorized.

"Jesus," Gate muttered in awe. "That's a lot of ships and folk."

"I am counting three Assault Carriers in total," Jovakhin informed. "Thirteen Heavy and Light Carriers. Thirteen, no. I am sorry, fifteen Battlecruisers."

Gate looked at him with arched eyebrows.

"How can you recognize everything so fast. I don't know what half this stuff is."

"Learnt with time."

"Oh. Make sense."

"Adriana, this fleet is less impressive then it looks. Slightly over half of their numbers consist of Corvettes and Frigates," Jovakhin explained. "It is built on mostly numbers."

Callahan whistled.

"Colonel," Kyle spoke up. "I've identified one of the Assault Carriers."

"From?"

"Scans from Yorktown. It was there. Definitely."

Gate tensed.

"What do we do, sir?" He asked. "They're gonna use this armada to attack human worlds."

She nodded slowly.

"Wells, stand by to decloaked and activate shields."

"Aye, sir."

Jovakhin left the bridge.

"Kyle, beam a Naquadah nuke and three UNSC nukes onto that space station, then two UNSC nukes right into one of those Assault Carriers." She paused. "The other two are much further away. We'd have to make our way through their fleet to get within range. Instead, start beaming nukes onto the bridges of as many Battlecruisers as you can."

They had to be careful when using their Naquadah enhanced nukes sense they didn't have an unlimited stockpile of them, but this was a good situation to use the devastating effects it brought.

"Got it."

Callahan leaned back again.

"Wells. Now."

"Aye."

Aleppo decloaked and raised shields immediately as she headed towards the Covenant. Before the aliens could open fire, the massive docking station erupted in flames from a huge internal explosion. At least four dozen starships was destroyed by the explosion, or the following shockwave. Countless was badly damaged and disabled.

Aleppo avoided incoming plasma fire by quick maneuvers. A few shots hit dead on. Shortly afterwards, the closest Assault Carrier was ripped asunder in several nuclear explosions worth of chaos. Three screening Corvettes was obliterated by simple proximity.

About a fourth of the fleet was maneuvering to intercept Aleppo. The rest was recovering and trying to figure out what just happened.

"Shields at ninety-five percent," Wells informed.

"Beaming nuke onto Battlecruiser bridge," Kyle update.

The front of the battlecruiser in question was obliterated. Turned into metal dust.

"Reengage cloak," Callahan ordered.

"Aye, sir," Wells affirmed.

At the right opportunity he switched from shields to cloak and Aleppo disappeared.

Callahan slowly turned to Wells.

"Let's not try out luck. Let's get back to New Australia."

He nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Suddenly Kyle turned to her.

"Colonel, we're missing an puddle jumper," she announced with confusion.

"What? How? When?" Callahan asked confused. When did it leave?

"I'm not sure. I don't understand why we didn't detect it leaving. We should have noticed the hangar doors opening."

"Who took it?" She asked, with a worrying feeling of who it might be. She pressed a button on her panel. "Bridge to Jovakhin." She waited. No response. "Bridge to Jovakhin, respond please."

Gate frowned deeply.

"What the hell is he doing?!"

Callahan sighed.

She worried he was going after this Azzadira person. Assuming she wasn't vaporized when Malevolence blow up. They had a heavy history, of some kind. Was he going to finish it? He did feel bad for keeping knowledge to himself. What if her anger directed at him pushed him to do this.

She put her head down in her hands and cursed to herself.

"Do we return for him?" Gate asked.

"He's certainly cloaked or we'd noticed a puddle jumper leaving. Damn it Jovakhin. What are you thinking?"

New Australia orbit, Longstreet station, Colonel Wadsworth's office

Brian Wadsworth read the latest report of Doctor McKay's work. Major Eric Dare sat across his desk, looking back at him as he looked up. beside him sat Lt. Colonel Felix Kenmore. The Asian man sat with a straight back and a calm expression.

"Is he staling?" Wadsworth asked.

"Wouldn't put it passed them," Dare said suspiciously.

"It wouldn't make sense," Kenmore tried being the voice of reason. "Why would Doctor McKay stall? We've signed a treaty with them. A military defense pact. Stalling the hyperdrive installment on our ships makes no tactical sense. Our technologies are different so it should be no surprise that some issues would appear. Installing the shields back on Yorktown wasn't a cakewalk either, if you read the reports."

Dare just snorted.

Wadsworth put the report down and leaned across the desk. He looked at Kenmore for a moment.

"Big talk for a man that abandoned his duty at Dagger base. Evacuated against orders," he said with a grim look.

Kenmore kept his cool.

"I wasn't abandoning my duty or disobeying orders. We were under orders to evacuate the base. The military-"

"-Isn't who you take orders from," Wadsworth interrupted rudely. "ONI is. Understood?"

"They were in charge. Not ONI."

"Our base," Dare sneered.

"We all protect humanity," Wadsworth said firmly. "But, ONI's willing to do whatever it takes to defend Earth. Unlike the military."

It wasn't much of a counter argument to Kenmore. Basically he said that he didn't give a damn.

Dare looked at Kenmore with anger in his eyes.

"If they hadn't worried about civilian casualties and evacuating them, we could have inflicted grave casualties on the Covenant. Far graver then anything we got now." He glared with intensity. "Sacrifices is how you win wars. The bigger, the better."

Wadsworth raised his hand to silence the major.

"Look. It doesn't matter anymore. Now we're preparing operation Anchorage. Major Dare will be in command of the majority of the operation, while you will command a specific operation aboard Longstreet itself." He paused. "We act when Aleppo returns from its mission. The future of Earth is at stake." He looked firmly at Kenmore. "Remember that, Lt. Colonel."

"What is my part, sir?" Kenmore asked.

"For now, you need to remember that your family can die in a horrible accident at any moment with a few calls." Wadsworth smiled. "A friendly reminded of your duty. Wouldn't want your sons to die, right? Dismissed Lt. colonel."

Dare kept his laugh contained.

Hyperspace

Course, Hollow Faith

Jovakhin sat in the pilot seat of the puddle jumper. It wasn't the easiest task to construct a functioning hyperdrive to it on so short notice, but doable all the same. He had just sent a subspace message on an ancient frequency. He hadn't used it for millennia. No one had. But he knew only one person in this reality would pick up his message.

He could feel that Azzadira was alive. He could just feel it. So many had died so he couldn't let her continue with whatever plans she had. If she wanted him, she'd have him. this time, it would be a fight to the death. Just them. one on one. If he managed to kill her, the alliance with the Covenant would die. no new tech. No war droids, no wraith or Aeyaen commandos. No Mephini, which she was probably planning to bring to this reality to shore up her position and military capacity. Especially after losing Malevolence.

Hollow Faith

military compound

Prophet of Secrets and Prophet of Enlightenment both sat back in their gravity thrones and Enlightenment clipped his fingers together calmly with a smile. They looked at the holographic images of Fleet master Rtas Demmuda and a dozen other Sangheili officers was present. Three of them were Zealots.

Secrets tapped his fingers against the edges of his gravity throne.

"We have spoken with the Hierarchs," he explained. "And we all agree what needs to be done now." He paused. "We mustn't risk the human heretics upgrading their technology."

"Azzadira is stalling," Enlightenment promptly added. "What must be done to safeguard the Covenant's future is clear."

A few Sangheili exchanged a few glanced.

Secret looked at them all, one by one.

"This alliance is no longer in the best interest of the Covenant as a whole. Sense her Super Dreadnought is gone, she provided no advantage any longer and her wish to bring a fleet here is a threat."

Demmuda put the pieces together for what they wanted to do. He hated Azzadira, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to cut her off as an ally. She did prove herself at the human colony. As long as she stayed in place and didn't try to push the Sangheili aside, he could keep his feelings of her in check and contained. For the glory of the Covenant.

"She will be eliminated as a potential threat," Secret continued. He gestured to a Sangheili in a Zealot armor. "General Zumee will command the operation."

The Zealot stepped forward.

He wasn't as giant as Kaaldrumee but he was tall and muscular enough to be threatening, even by Sangheili standards.

"Please General. Go through your plan of action."

Zumee nodded appreciatively to the two San'Shyuum. He put his gauntleted hands down on the round table they were gathered around.

"Our first step will be to disable her ship in orbit and board it," he started explaining. "Our forces will occupy it and claim the wormhole generator for the Covenant. As this happens stealth forces will eliminate her officers. Our soldiers will be engaged and slaughtered by Sangheili forces. The whole base will be surrounded until this is finished." He paused and looked at his fellow Sangheili and the Prophets. Enlightenment nodded approvingly.

Zumee cleared his throat and clicked his mandibles. Before continuing. "Step two, Azzadira will be located and executed. Assuming she isn't on the ship when we begin. If she is, she'll be executed all the same."

"Why isn't Field marshal Kaaldrumee leading this operation?" Demmuda asked pointedly.

Zumee glared at him.

"The Field marshal will be busy with other things," Secret answered. "he will prepare the invasion of several human populated worlds and mining colonies."

Demmuda presumed these locations was those Azzadira had provided them with a few days ago as a sign of good faith after scanning several sectors with long range sensors. An impressive technology for sure. Anyway, this plan. The wormhole generator technology was probably the most important part of this operation. It could allow them to spread the Covenants grip into other realities and universes. They would be unstoppable and immortal.

He nodded in response.

What worried him was if Azzadira opened the wormhole and her fleet ascended upon Hollow Faith. They didn't have more than a few dozen ships here. Mostly support class warships too. This was a gamble if he'd ever seen one.

"I heard rumors of a massive fleet lost," a Sangheili spoke up.

"As did I. The human ship Aleppo was responsible for an attack in a nearby system. It could not be a coincidence."

A murmur of agreements was shared amongst the Sangheili.

Demmuda cleared his throat and raised his hand.

"I have the report. One hundred and sixty starships destroyed and thirty eight gravely damaged. Counting the crews aboard all ships, we are counting eight hundred thousand dead."

A Sangheili smacked his fist into the table.

"The humans filth will pay!"

"They will," Enlightenment concurred plainly. "Field marshal Kaaldrumee will secure that outcome for us. We must focus on our own plans."

He leaned forward in his throne. He didn't seem faced by the massive casualties. Nor did Secret. Demmuda picked up on that and growled quietly.

I'm sorry this took so long, but I've been on vaccation, had work and rewriten a part of this chapter. It was a new part of the plot I decided to remove completely. It didn't seem to fit and just complicated the story without a real point so I got rid of it.