"Ballast"
"This should be fun," Nathan said sarcastically as Luke stood rigid in the bridge of the Kamiak with the rest of his team waiting back near the door so that he was standing alone near Ambresio. When they had arrived in system the commanders had decided that a ground operation wasn't worth the losses that were sure to be incurred in what would most likely be a vain attempt to defend the planet. Instead, they had agreed that the UNSC forces would make a stand in space to repel the Covenant fleet but if it got out of control they would enact the Cole Protocol and abandon the planet to the Covenant. The planet only had a few major population centers and they were clearing out quickly but not all of them would be able to escape. That was just a risk that would have to be taken.
Since there would be no ground engagement, Luke had tried to get approval for his team to assault a Covenant ship but Ambresio quickly vetoed that and told them they would be assigned to guard duty like the rest of the Marines who were waiting to repel any Covenant forces that tried to get aboard. He didn't like it but there was really no other choice for his team which was how they found themselves on the bridge. Out in front of them were thirty UNSC ships of varying sizes. Most of them were Heracles-class Destroyers which lacked deployable fighters but made up for it with extra armor and weapons, while the remaining ships were the lighter Pegasus-class Frigates that the Kamiak had been modified from. Sitting in the center of the mass of vessels was a single Marathon-class Cruiser, the UNSC Paladin. Despite their incredible armor and firepower, the Marathons were still outmatched by the Covenant CCS although they could destroy a CPV-class Frigate in a one-on-one fight without suffering too much damage. Rounding out Ballast's defense grid was a number of orbital weapons platforms and some repair stations, the tactic of using the enormous constructs as a shield from the initial volley of Covenant fire had proven to be an effective tactic and they were going to use it again. It might buy them enough time to use the devastating MAC and Super MAC cannons that were one of the only weapons truly capable of crippling a Covenant ship.
With butterflies in his stomach, Luke couldn't help but feel a little more jittery and nervous that usual. He wasn't alone though. From the moment he walked into the bridge the tension had assaulted his mind incessantly although it was perfectly normal for everyone to be stressed. It almost felt worse considering he couldn't do anything if they got in a ship-to-ship engagement but watch and pray. They had been hearing whispers of Covenant ships in the area for the past hour but nothing had materialized and Luke was getting the feeling the Covenant were toying with them. Most of their damage was caused in the initial surprise attack, before the UNSC forces could regroup and retaliate. Without that they would be facing a coordinated and cunning enemy, an enemy that was desperate and dangerous. By throwing up false flags they would be too acclimated to react quickly to counter the first salvos.
"Make sure all of the mines are warmed up and prepped for launch," Ambresio said to his weapons officer who had already triple checked the systems and knew that all of them were 100%.
"Aye sir," he replied back and went through the motions, already knowing the answer.
"We've got another ping. Looks like three ships this time," a young woman said on the other side of the bridge from the weapons officer. She had her face buried in scanners and other monitors when she almost jumped back in her seat. "Actually…I think the fleet has arrived." What was once three small dots on the screen had become a mass of twenty or so Covenant ships all jumping into system at once. Peering out through the front windows Luke could see the bright white pinpricks of light that expanded into stable rings shining as the very fabric of space was torn open. A moment later the enormous purple vessels slide through the opening and the Slipspace portal closed behind them. In a matter of seconds the entire Covenant fleet had appeared and were already preparing to fire their weapons. The repair stations fired all of their adjustor rockets and slid in front of the UNSC forces as beams of plasma lanced through space and torpedoes streaked away from the Covenant ships. Plasma slammed into the enormous stations and fire erupted along their hulls as the oxygen went up in flames, debris spewing out in all directions. The three of them held against the first volley and by this time the lead Destroyers were beginning to close the distance while some of the smaller Covenant CPVs jumped out in front of the CCS class ships and began to engage the Destroyers in the no-mans land between the two forces. Golden flashes of light clashed with the purple and blue pops of the Covenant weapons, explosions appearing around the ships and in between each other.
"Full ahead, right for those big ships!" Ambresio ordered, pointing to the cluster of CCS Cruisers that hadn't advanced forward. The engines went to full power and the Kamiak jumped forward towards the Covenant, quickly moving past the Destroyers engaged in the center. Amazingly the captains had kept their ships alive as they danced in between the Covenant Frigates before they broke off and began to run back towards the main fleet. The Covenant continued the pursuit but were caught in the trap that had been laid. All along the lines of the weapons platforms, the smaller guns began to fire their enormous rounds and the missile pods came to life.
"Sir, flak field is up!" one of the officers reported. Just as the Destroyers fell in behind the repair stations the entire area began to fill with orange explosions as the Frigates got caught in the field of fire. Missiles struck their weakened shields that were flickering silver before they shut down and the flak began to pockmark their hulls and the missiles opened up the purple shell, exposing the innards of the ships. Five of them were caught in the trap and the nearby ships let loose with everything they had at their disposal. Two of them eventually succumbed to the onslaught while the other three pushed through the carnage but were still facing overwhelming odds. A sudden flash of light caught Luke's attention and he watched one of the ships consumed from explosions blossoming out of it's superstructure before the reactor detonated and consumed the entire ship in a blinding white light before the remaining debris was jettisoned in every direction. Another flash of light and he saw that one of the Super MACs was firing and a second Frigate was crippled while the Tungsten round tore through it with easy, traveling at almost 40% of the speed of light. The port sections of the ship exploded away and the remaining corpse of the ship floated away harmlessly. The remaining ship was swarmed by the smaller UNSC crafts who must've hit a vital spot when suddenly all of it's lights flickered and died along with the engines.
Still traveling towards the Covenant fleet, the Kamiak made a last minute change and began to travel horizontal to their main line while it deployed HORNET anti-ship mines. The nuclear mines would position themselves to get closer to any nearby Covenant vessel before detonating on their shields, severely damaging it, if not outright destroying the ship if they were lucky. Their size was a problem, though, and the Kamiak was only able to deploy twenty in a long line before the launchers were empty.
"Mines away sir." Ambresio remained silent as the Kamiak flew away from the Covenant fleet, positioning themselves on the far side of the battlefield. Still not used to space battles, Luke was thoroughly surprised that the Kamiak was able to slip by unnoticed like it just did. It was back to waiting though as the fleets began to maneuver again. The Covenant CPVs began to push forward while the four CCS class cruisers remained behind but were slowly nudging forward.
"They're waiting for the Paladin to make her move," Ambresio said, glancing between the two groups. "Either these captains are very new or they're very smart. Not sure which it is, yet." Luke wasn't sure if it made a difference though considering the firepower they had at their disposal. If they threw everything they had at the UNSC fleet they would probably still be able to win.
Leading the UNSC ships forward were the remains of the repair stations that were miraculously still in one piece. Atmosphere was venting from thousands of holes and leaks in the hull and debris was constantly falling; off but it prevented the Covenant ships from getting a bead on most of the UNSC fleet. The flak field let up from the defense platforms and the UNSC fleet had reached the halfway point and they opened fire on the Covenant ships. Long trails streaked away from the Destroyers from their missile pods and small orange explosions rippled across the shields of nearby Covenant ships but they held as another salvo was launched. Point defense lasers popped through the air and intercepted the missiles but enough made it through to take down a few shields from the Covenant ships. Other ships jumped on the opportunity and a bright flash of light erupted from their bows when their MAC cannons launched the enormous Tungsten slugs through the Covenant Frigates, disabling another ship. The Covenant's fire finally took out the repair stations but instead of blowing up in a grand display of fireworks they simply broke apart into a million pieces and began to create an enormous debris field that was already being filled with pieces of ships. The incredible success of the UNSC fleet was beginning to turn, though. Luke watched three Destroyers fall to the Covenant as their plasma torpedoes cut through their armor and detonated inside of the ships. Explosions blossomed out from the Titanium-A plating as it buckled and warped before shattering in a mixture of flames and plasma. A second torpedo hit the same area and the front half of the Destroyer broke off and tumbled away, the last of it's atmosphere sprayed out into space behind it. One of the other Destroyers took a direct hit to it's magazine and was instantly consumed in an explosions that shredded all but the bridge and sent chunks of it hurtling off into space.
"This is Admiral Yamata of the UNSCPaladin. Deploy all fighters and coordinate with my ship's AI." The Captain's voice echoed through the bridge of the Kamiak. Luke looked over towards the large ship and saw that it had begun to maneuver into position, it's forward facing guns firing at full speed leaving a long golden trail of tracers. The larger guns chugged as it fired each round and he could just barely watch the white hot shells slamming into the shields of a CCS class which was quickly followed up by one of the most terrifying salvos of Archer missiles Luke had ever seen. Beginning near the bow, the pods fired in order along the hull towards the bow and encased the entire ship in their exhaust trail as thousands of the missiles raced towards the CCS. Point defense lasers frantically began shooting at them which left a trail of explosions in space but hundreds still impacted the shield and it began to flicker but it held. Nearby ships moved to help but it wasn't needed when there was a sudden blinding flash of light and a shockwave of energy when a HORNET detonated on the nose of the CCS and engulfed the entire ship in the nuclear explosion when the enormous craft moved too close to it. Another flash off in the distance and a CPV was completely engulfed and disappeared when the explosion subsided, it's debris flying away. Their attention was focused back on the CCS who's nose had been obliterated and the rest of the ship had taken serious damage, leaving it dead in the water and easy pickings. A number of MAC rounds cut through it and the ship exploded in a brilliant light show. Luke was doing a mental count in his head to figure out as best he could how many ships had been taken out on either side and it looked like the UNSC was still coming out on top despite having lost a few more Destroyers and Frigates. Shifting slightly, he wasn't sure what to do other than continue standing there.
"Oh my god!" Alarms began to scream in the bridge and red lights pulsed quickly, jolting Luke from the lethargy that he was about to slip into.
"Alert! Proximity warning! Alert! Proximity warning!"
"Slipspace rupture right behind us and it's something big!" the woman in the scanner seat called out.
"Shut those alarms off!" Ambresio ordered and the bridge went back to normal. He began to project a small hologram at his chair that showed the radar that she was seeing. Another Covenant fleet had jumped in system behind them and was moving quickly into the fray. Already on either side he could see CCS-class Cruisers slinking past in the darkness, their purple hulls illuminated by the golden sunlight.
"We have a CKM-class Assault Carrier bearing down right on us and CCS Cruisers flanking her on either side. Suggest we get out of here ASAP," she reported but the Captain remained silent.
"Disarm the mines and move us out of the crossfire." He tapped a few coordinates in and the Kamiak's navigators began to maneuver her in that direction.
"Sir, all signals are being jammed. The Covenant must have a stealth ship in the area," the weapons officer reported. "If we get close to them we can give them a shortwave burst but it'll light us up like a spotlight on Covenant sensors."
"Do it, this is going to get up close and personal in a few seconds and we can't have those nukes detonating near our ships. Take us to the nearest mine." Ballast had slid into their view as the Kamiak maneuvered out of the battlefield but now the planet began to disappear again as they turned back towards the battle that was getting more hectic as it drug on. The two groups had shifted their focus and they could see all of the Longsword fighters turning towards the new fleet to engage the swarm of Seraphs was making it's way towards he main engagement. Explosions began to flash orange and blue as they took each other out, a few Longswords straying too close to the Assault Carrier which promptly destroyed them with their point defense weapons. Once the Kamiak had settled on it's final bearing Luke got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Just watching the way the battle was panning out he could see that they were going to be flying right into the center of the engagement if it continued to shift like it was. Slowly moving from their starboard as the Covenant ships tried to regroup with their larger brethren, the UNSC ships were forced to follow them through the mine field that they had set up, two more mines detonating in the middle of it all. Luke winced when he saw this and he could only imagine what Ambresio was feeling. They had planned on trying to bring the Covenant forces back towards them, pulling them through the minefield, but now that the second group had arrived they were being forced to fight through them and only some of the platforms were in range. The ones closest had actually begun to fire their heavy guns and their flak cannons as a new field of engagement erupted near the Seraphs and the Longswords tried to pull them near it but the Covenant fighters wouldn't budge and they continued to fight on the edge of the flak. Keeping his eye on the enormous Assault Carrier, he could see it's main energy projector almost "sniping" ships as it warmed up on it's underside before cutting through the air and destroying a ship in a single hit. Thankfully it seemed like it took a while for the weapon to charge and cool off but it was still devastating to watch their ships obliterated in a single hit. He could also see the effects the Covenant stealth ship was having when Archer missiles would fly straight and then suddenly start darting off in odd directions or just explode for no reason. The missile wasn't the best tool in the UNSC's arsenal but to have it almost completely nullified was a serious blow to their chances.
"You won't believe this…one of our battlegroups has jumped in-system, Battlegroup Eon."
"I won't believe it but it's good news. What are they bringing to the party?" Ambresio replied, his voice still tense although Luke could see that his body language had softened up a little bit.
"Twenty-three Destroyers, two Marathons, and a Carrier, the Eon." It was a formidable force and Ambresio had a feeling they hadn't been sent here to reinforce them, they'd just gotten damn lucky. Almost obscured by the small view port, Luke could see the tell-tale signs of Slipspace ruptures as the remainder of the Battlegroup Eon arrived. Already the Marathons had jumped out ahead of the fleet while the Eon moved in closer to deploy it's fighters. Still diving into the maelstrom, they were beginning to see the Longsword and Shortswords dance around them, their own cannons auto-targeting the Seraphs and firing quick bursts at the quick moving ships. The Kamiak seemed to be moving much faster than usual and he figured it was because this was the most dangerous part while they cut in front of the competing fleets. Already missiles and MAC shots were being fired off while plasma came burning past them, completely destroying a Frigate just ahead of them. Luke looked for escape pods as explosions rippled across the hull but it had all happened so fast he doubt anyone knew what hit them outside of the command crew. Enormous shells from the heavy guns the Marathons had on them hissed past and slammed into the shields of the Assault Carrier which easily shrugged them off and continued to cut through the UNSC forces.
"Arriving at the first mine," the weapons officer said and the Kamiak quickly came to a stop as it came in close to the mine that was still floating where they had left it. A few moments passed and then the high powered burst reached the mine and it disarmed itself.
"Covenant weapons are targeting us!"
"Ahead full then cut back on my mark!" Ambresio replied and Luke grabbed onto a nearby railing as the g-forces piled on and the ship hurtled forward. Alarms began to blare again as the plasma torpedoes locked onto them and began to close in quickly. The Kamiak dove into the maelstrom and was engulfed in a hellish mixer of plasma, explosive rounds, and burning ships. Debris bounced off their hull, the largest pieces making distressing but harmless sounds as it echoed through the super structure. "Turn us hard!" Luke gritted his teeth as the ship swung starboard as hard as it could and dodged another Destroyer that was moving perpendicular to them. The maneuver was too quick and sharp for the torpedoes to track and they continued off into space without any target. Settled, they found themselves near the orbital platforms as they slinked out of combat. A quick rundown of the damage showed that it was mostly superficial. A few of their redundant sensor modules had been taken out and some of the armor had been breached by stray point defense guns but the hull had remained intact and their stealth hadn't been compromised. To say the Kamiak had gotten lucky would've been an understatement.
By now the two groups had converged completely and the battle was raging. All three Marathon cruisers were sparkling from the guns all firing non-stop, the momentary flashes of their heavy guns catching Luke's attention and the small barrages of missiles being fired at Covenant ships with their shields down. Occasionally a MAC cannon would streak across their field of view but because of the close proximity of the battle and the hectic nature as ships danced around each other it was incredibly dangerous. If every ship had an AI they would be able to coordinate with each other but only the Marathons and the Eon had one and they were most likely devoted to controlling their own weapons systems. As Luke was scanning the battle he saw something that caught his attention when one of the long CCS cruisers flew past the Marathon-class UNSC Hoplite. It wasn't anywhere near the ship itself, but from his view he was able to see a slight refraction as it flew past.
"Sir.." he said, stepping forward. "I think there's something by the Hoplite. It might be that stealth ship."
"Why do you say that?"
"The ship was distorted when it moved across that plane, same as the stealth that Elites use," Luke replied. Ambresio didn't say anything and examined the area that Luke had pointed towards but without anything to show up the distortion they were blind.
"Alright…fire off a salvo in that corridor and let's see if anything pops up."
"Aye sir," the weapons officer replied and a second later one of the missile pods fired off twenty missiles and they streaked towards where they thought the ship was at. One way or another they'd figure out if Luke had seen something, either by hitting the ship or watching them fly off into space. Time passed slowly as they kept flying away from the Kamiak, a few being taken out along the way. He was a little let down when it looked like they had missed their target but then suddenly explosions filled the empty space and a piece of purple plating appeared in space almost on top of the Hoplite.
"There it is!" someone called out and the exposed part of the ship quickly moved away from the enormous Cruiser and it's stealth reactivated in the damaged areas and it melted into the darkness. As they raced back into the fight Luke could see something more important when he spotted squads of Elites crawling around the hull. They seemed to be ignoring the hatches and were instead looking for something.
"What are they doing?" Luke asked, moving closer to try and see the small shapes moving across the hull and were getting dangerously close to some of the hardlines that the ship used to connect between the bridge to the mainframe that was held in an armored compartment deep within the ship. In one fell swoop they would be able to disable the ship's main control systems and have complete access to the navigation database. "We need to get on there now and stop them!"
"It's not that easy getting you over there," Ambresio said. "With everything going around you can't just go floating over there."
"What if we use one of the escape pods? We can navigate it close and get out then." Luke took the silence from the Captain as a sign that he was going to approve it. He got the subtle nod and Luke quickly led his squad out of bridge toward a cluster of Bumblebee escape pods. The pods could be launched without a pilot and the auto-pilot would bring the pod to the nearest planet or UNSC ship, or it could be manually guided to wherever. Nathan would be able to pilot it without issue and put them right where the wanted to be. Ducking into life-pod he was shocked at how cramped it was and when he turned around he could see that there was only space for one other person. Claymore jumped in right behind him while Dagger and Katana hunched over in the airlock and looked in.
"What do you want us to do?" Luke took a second to look over the situation.
"Just stay here. If things get rough get over if you can but defend the ship if the Covenant try and board us too." The both sent him acknowledgements and stepped out as the airlock slammed shut. Looking out the front window through at the chute the lifepod sat it, he could see the Hoplite come into view and then there was a sudden acceleration and the pod shot out of the chute. They traveled at full speed for a few seconds as the pod headed straight for the Cruiser before it fired it's retro-thrusters and slowed down. Nathan flipped the small craft over so that the rear door was facing the ship and they continued to get closer before it finally came to a stop only a few hundred feet away from the ship. Thrusters fired all over to keep the ship perfectly in line.
"I'll explosively decompress the pod and you'll get pushed towards the Hoplite," Nathan said matter-of-factly into Luke's ear. The Bumble settled even closer and he let go of everything inside the cabin. With his rifle attached to his back so that his hands were free, he squatted down behind Claymore who was waiting at the door. In his ear, Nathan counted down before he gave the call and the door blew off the back. He heard a rush of air for a split second until everything went silent and he was yanked out of the pod in space.